Ask mathematicians to describe mathematics and they'll use words like "playful", "beautiful", and "creative". Pose the same question to students and many will use words like "boring", "useless", and even "humiliating". In Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You'd Had, author Tracy Zager helps teachers close this gap by making math class more like mathematics. Zager has spent years working with highly skilled math teachers in a diverse range of settings and grades and has compiled those ideas from these vibrant classrooms into this game-changing book. Inside you'll find:
 

Following up her best-selling book, Number Sense Routines: Building Numerical Literacy Every Day in Grades K-3, Jessica Shumway turns her focus to upper elementary classrooms. Number Sense Routines: Developing Mathematical Understanding Every Day in Grades 3-5 is about tapping into every child's innate number sense and providing daily, connected experiences that are responsive to children’s learning needs.

Consistent, Daily Routines Work: Adaptable to any curriculum, Shumway's 5, 10, or 15 minute warm-up routines are an easy and effective way to build and solidify students' number sense foundations as a supplement to any program

Planning and Facilitating Your Classroom: No matter how familiar the routine, Shumway provides insight on how to keep daily warm-ups fresh. She reveals careful thinking and planning that goes into each routine and offers detailed vignettes and dialogues of how they unfold in real classrooms

Assessment Strategies: As students engage in the process, each routine becomes an exciting opportunity to gain insight into where they are in their understanding and help students articulate their mathematical thinking

Identify Big Ideas: Not only will these math routines help develop students’ mathematical understanding as they move towards using standard algorithms, but teachers will learn to better recognize the big ideas that emerge in discussions, how to encourage important strategies based in number sense, and how to facilitate conversations on key mathematical concepts.
 

“These routines may appear in other places, [but] I have never seen them written in such detail and with so many variations.. . .. Although she makes what she does sound easy, we all know that teaching math well is anything but easy. It is challenging and complex. Unpacking what students are saying, helping them make connections not only to the math but to each other’s ideas, while simultaneously recording their ideas using mathematical models, visuals, or equations is no easy task. Jessica provides wonderful visuals, examples of student work, and so much more to help educators develop the tools they need to improve their practice and in so doing improve student learning.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 – From the Foreword by math coach and consultant Lucy West

The Teacher's Bundle includes the 84-page Teacher's Guide, 36-page hardcover student book, and access to digital formats. 

Which One Doesn’t Belong? has won the Mathical Book Prize, which will be presented to Christopher Danielson at the National Math Festival in Washington, DC on April 22, 2017. The Mathical Book Prize is an annual award for fiction and nonfiction books that inspire children of all ages to see math in the world around them.

Every colorful page of Christopher Danielson’s children’s picture book, Which One Doesn’t Belong?, contains a thoughtfully designed set of four shapes. Each of the shapes can be a correct answer to the question “Which one doesn’t belong?” Because all their answers are right answers, students naturally shift their focus to justifications and arguments based on the shapes’ geometric properties.
 
In the companion teacher’s guide, Danielson shows how to facilitate rich discussions and teach mathematical argumentation using Which One Doesn’t Belong? He models how to listen closely and respectfully to students’ ideas about shapes. Danielson synthesizes research about how children learn geometry, discusses the role of geometry in the mathematics curriculum, and gives plenty of practical advice about different ways to implement Which One Doesn’t Belong? in classrooms. He also discusses the mathematical ideas likely to emerge on each page and—drawing from his direct experience using Which One Doesn’t Belong? at several different grade levels—helps teachers anticipate and think about students’ likely answers.
 
Most curricula treat geometry as little more than vocabulary lessons. Which One Doesn’t Belong? and its accompanying guide are powerful, flexible resources teachers can use to provoke lively discussions and deep learning about shapes with students of all ages.