Math Circle by the Bay: Topics for Grades 1-5 (MSRI Mathematical Circles Library) (MSRI Mathematical Circles Library, 21)

We were looking for a math book that taught skills and thinking, not just calculations. Something like Russian Math. This one fit the bill more than any other we tried.

I have been doing some of these with my 2nd grader, and she loves them. The problems are challenging, engaging, and fun.

Great ideas for maths circles.

great resource for math circle

This book was given to me this summer to teach math at the International Chess Academy summer program that they run. I am a long time proponent of visible thinking widely offered by the Singapore Math System. I have used all books in the SS sequential math series of books. However, my Masters degree is not in mathematics, and often, as a teacher certified to teach gifted students, I struggled with some of my students' questions as to why should they believe that a certain formula and various rules that I teach work this way for any numbers. Any teacher with a strong math background from their undergraduate studies as I was, would greatly benefit from this book and significantly improve the quality of their math instructions not only in the elementary math level but also in the middle school level.

I'm currently teaching a second chapter out of this book, and I've been very happy with it.The chapters are organized in such a way that students can see patterns from earlier chapter emerging in later ones, but each chapter can be taught independently without prerequisites (I taught chapter 5 in the fall, now teaching chapter 2). This book does a good job of spending extra time on a concept when necessary, while maintaining a fast enough pace to still be engaging. The students love the colorful problem descriptions, and I love the notes to the teacher pointing out where students might get confused. The authors have clearly taught this material many times in order to arrive at this thoughtful layout, and I can only hope that further books are on the way.