Really Good Mainstream Math Resources

Though there are a lot of great Waldorf math resources, I sometimes found that I needed a little more than what I found there. Waldorf resources are great for detailing how to go about explaining a concept holistically, but when you just need a whole slew of problems for practice, mainstream resources are the way to go. Here are my recommendations.

Elementary and Middle School Mathematics by John van de Walle — Okay, so this isn’t a mainstream book with a whole slew of problems, but it is an incredibly good book that takes a holistic, sensible approach to math, unlike anything I’ve seen in other mainstream resources. It so clearly builds upon knowledge and content that the children already know, helping you, as the teacher, to increase your students’ number sense, rather than simply increasing their dexterity with juggling numbers. As a result, they’ll know why a certain “trick” works, as well as how to implement it with ease. It’s pricey, but it will take you from the very beginning, right up through algebra, so it’s worth it.

Key to Fractions by the Key Curriculum Press — The “Key to . . .” series is really wonderful. Though it does not focus on the content in a holistic, developmental way, it does break down the information in very easily digested chunks and it provides A LOT of practice with each concept. I had my students complete the Key to Fractions series, as well as the Key to Decimals series. We did this work not in the midst of the block but waited until the following year, using these books as review. This way the fresh, imaginative approach to the content held sway during the block while the sometimes tedious practice came later. I used the Key to Algebra books for my own preparation in teaching Algebra in 7th grade. For students who struggle with a concept, these books just can’t be beat. They’re also quite affordable (a little more than $3 per book, there are usually four books in each series.)

Saxon Math — The Saxon Math series of books are great for practice. Each book covers a wide breadth of material and gives LOTS of practice problems. One of the best things is that within each lesson practice problems from the previous lessons’ material is incorporated so your students will not learn something one week and forget it the next. I do sometimes wish these books gave more problems that dealt exclusively with the new material for each lesson, but for staying in practice with many different types of problems, Saxon is great. I have experience with the Saxon books for the older set — from about 4th grade and up. I understand that there are books out there for younger children, too, but look at them carefully. To me, there is nothing more important in those younger years than building strong number sense. Saxon does not do this very well, in my opinion, so I would not use it for presenting new material, particularly with younger children. But this does not discount it’s merit for providing a wealth of material for practice problems.

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