Math Mammoth Review

Has your child ever asked you, “When am I going to use this in real life?”  Making It Real Learning concentrates on helping students answer that question.  Each workbook also has a mathematical theme, such as “linear functions”, so that you can find materials on the appropriate level for your students.  Each activity-lesson in the book contains several questions about the situation, starting with basics and going into more in-depth evaluations, and should be adequate for one-two complete class periods.

The Make It Real Learning Arithmetic I workbook focuses on real-world situations that may be effectively analyzed using arithmetic concepts such as addition, subtraction, estimation, division, bar graphs, and place value with large numbers. This book suits best grades 3-6. View a sample here.  This set includes 10 activities plus a step-by-step answer key.

Munchkin’s favorite lesson in this series was the lesson involving Webkinz.  She liked the idea that she could have been included in the data.  Analyzing the data based upon something that she likes made the math more enjoyable and realistic for her.

The Make It Real Learning Fractions, Decimals, Percents I workbook focuses on real-world situations that may be effectively analyzed using proportional reasoning concepts such as fractions, percents, and unit conversion. This book suits best grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. View sample here.  This set includes 10 activities plus a step-by-step answer key.

One of the things Munchkin learned in this series was how to adjust recipes.  Fractions became very realistic when she saw how she would be using them in her every day life.  In addition, she learned how to figure out the cost of making a loaf of bread.  She got a kick out of trying to figure out how much a loaf of our gluten free bread would cost.

The Make It Real Learning Fractions, Decimals, Percents II workbook focuses on real-world situations that may be effectively analyzed using decimals, ratios, histograms, and percents. This book suits best middle and high school, meaning that some activities here suit best middle school students, and some suit best high school students.  This set includes 10 activities plus a step-by-step answer key.

The lesson in this series that made the biggest impact on Munchkin was learning about sales tax.  She’s decided that she really dislikes sales tax.

The Make It Real Learning Linear Functions I workbook focuses on real-world situations that may be effectively modeled by linear equations. This book is suitable for both algebra 1 and algebra 2 students.  View a sample here.  This set includes 10 activities plus a step-by-step answer key.

In Linear Functions I, Munchkin will learn about topics such as how to chose the best cell phone plan.  These types of skills are critical in a society where most people have a cell phone.  (The sample lesson shows one of the cell phone lessons.)

The Make It Real Learning Linear Functions II workbook focuses on real-world situations that may be effectively modeled by systems of linear equations and linear inequalities.. This book is suitable for both algebra 1 and algebra 2 students.  View a sample here.  This set includes 10 activities plus a step-by-step answer key.

In Linear Functions II, Munchkin will apply linear functions to real life situations such as trip planning.  (The sample lesson shows an example of the trip planning for Florida.)

The Make It Real Learning Sets, Probability, Statistics I workbook focuses on real-world situations that may be effectively analyzed using principles of probability and statistics. This book suits both middle and high school math classrooms.  View a sample here.  This set includes 10 activities plus a step-by-step answer key.

Once again, this set hit a home run with Munchkin as situations that were relevant to her were presented.  From figuring out mean, median, and mode with fruit snacks to figuring out meal combinations at El Pollo Loco, Munchkin enjoyed the real life application of her math problems.

The Making It Real learning sets do not teach how to do the various topics.  These are meant to supplement or enhance current teaching.  The sets are available individually for $4.99 a piece or as a set of 11 for $39.99 (not all sets in the Making It Real learning series are featured above).  You can view a sampler containing 10 activities from this series here.

My thoughts:

I appreciated that this series genuinely took math concepts that Munchkin had learned and made them more real for her.  While we haven’t finished all of the books above (or in the series), I feel confident in saying that these would be a useful addition to most students/teachers.  The problems that we were doing often lead to working on more real life situations based upon things we were dealing with at that point in time.

The sets featured a lesson followed by an answer key that laid out how to come up with the correct answer.  Some of the answer keys used methods different than what had been taught to myself (back in the day) and to Munchkin.  This did cause a little confusion when we were checking problems if her answer was incorrect.  We were able to work through it since I understood the concepts. This may cause a little problem for some people.

Overall, this is a great series, and I look forward to using more sets as we move along in Munchkin’s learning.