Table Talk Math: A Practical Guide to Bringing Math into Everyday Conversations

by John Stevens

Exploring math with your kids can be fun. Really! Maybe you love math. Maybe you still remember anxiety you felt as a student in math class. Either way, your kids are learning from you and deciding whether or not they are "good at" math. How can you help ensure that your children and teens learn to love math? Talk about it! Make it fun and casual and interesting. (And please, make sure math conversations aren't just about grades.) Bring math into your everyday conversations. It's simple because... Math is everywhere! From cooking (and eating) to playing games to estimating how much toilet paper is left on a roll to creating elaborate patterns with LEGO bricks, you don't have to look far to find numbers to wonder about with your kids. In Table Talk Math, John Stevens offers ideas for initiating authentic, math-based conversations that can benefit (and be fun for) everyone at the table--no matter how young or old. The more often you can get your kids to notice and be curious about all the numbers, patterns, and equations in the world around them, the more likely they are to start thinking about math as something that is fun, even if it isn't always easy. And that's when you'll really have something to talk about.

Genres: Mathematics, Education, Nonfiction, Teaching

138 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 11, 2017

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

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Reviews

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Stevens wrote a book to help anyone who spends time with children see opportunities to have conversations involving math in every day situations. By embedding math into game-like, curiosity-provoking questions, adults can engage kids in talking about and thinking about mathematics in very non-threatening fun ways!

The book includes easy to implement activities, prompts, and links to websites that can be used to boost math conversations around different concepts. You can also subscribe to Stevens' newsletter to get idea to share with students for homework that involves their parents' input. As a teacher, I see this as a win-win-win situation.

I recommend this book to parents, teachers, math coaches, and administrators who want to increase math talk and turn kids onto math. As I was reading, I was envisioning ways to use this in a parent book club followed by an all-school math night.

Thanks, John, for your light-hearted and practical guide to making math fun and worthy of dinner time air space!

[Stella Pollard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an easy read. It’s written both for parents than for teachers. It takes everyday situations and makes them relatable for math. The truth is, if we continue to put a negative mindset towards math, our future generations will too. Stevens does a good job at helping us understand to make those healthy connections.

[Heather Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books to help guide math that I have ever read. I’ve already implemented many of the ideas in my classroom!

[Dana Grasso · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for math educators and parents. It was filled with many valuable resources and thought provoking ideas!

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource for parents and teachers about everyday math discussions that can be held anywhere at anytime.