Introduction to Communication: Grades 3-5 (Math Process Standards Series)

NCTM's Process Standards were designed to support teaching that helps children develop independent, effective mathematical thinking. The books in the Heinemann Math Process Standards Series give every elementary teacher the opportunity to explore each one of the standards in depth. And with language and examples that don't require prior math training to understand, the series offers friendly, reassuring advice to any teacher preparing to embrace the Process Standards.

In Introduction to Communication, Susan O'Connell shows you ways to help students explore, express, and better understand mathematical content through talking and writing. She offers an array of entry points for understanding, planning, and teaching, including strategies that help students put their ideas into words, clarify them, elaborate on them, and conjecture about them. Full of activities that are modifiable for immediate use with students of all levels and written by a veteran teacher for teachers of every level of experience, Introduction to Communication highlights the importance of encouraging children to develop insights through writing and speaking, while also recommending ways to implement language-based teaching without rewriting your curriculum.

Best of all, like all the titles in the Math Process Standards Series, Introduction to Communication comes with two powerful tools to help you get started and plan well: a CD-ROM with activities customizable to match your lessons and a correlation guide that helps you match mathematical content with the processes it utilizes.

If your students struggle to describe their mathematical thinking. Or if you're simply looking for new ways to work the communication standard into your curriculum, read, dog-ear, and teach with Introduction to Communication. And if you'd like to learn about any of NCTM's process standards, or if you're looking for new, classroom-tested ways to address them in your math teaching, look no further than Heinemann's Math Process Standards Series. You'll find them explained in the most understandable and practical way: from one teacher to another.

NCTM's Process Srandards were designed to support teaching that helps children develop independent, effective mathematical thinking. The books in the Heinemann Math Process Standards Series give every elementary teacher the opportunity to explore each one of the standards in depth. And with language and examples that don't require prior math training to understand, the series offers friendly, reassuring advice to any teacher preparing to embrace the Process Standards.

Susan O'Connell is the editor of Heinemann's Math Process Standards series, as well as the author its volumes Introduction to Problem Solving (grades PreK - 2, 3 - 5, and 6 - 8) and Introduction to Communication (grades PreK - 2, 3 - 5, and 6 - 8). She also wrote the popular Now I Get It (Heinemann, 2005). Sue has a varied background, including years as a classroom teacher, a school-based instructional specialist, a testing coordinator, a talented-and-gifted teacher, a district school-improvement specialist, and a university professional-development schools coordinator. Currently she is a project consultant for a federal teacher-quality grant in the College of Education at the University of Maryland. Additionally, she is an educational consultant, conducts mathematics seminars for teachers throughout the country, and a Heinemann Professional Development Provider.