Primary Math 1: GeometryReview by: Alan HofferThe Arithmetic Teacher, Vol. 28, No. 1 (September 1980), p. 59Published by: National Council of Teachers of MathematicsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41189374 .

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kick, Pronto, look at division as repeated sub- traction; Hatman (he looks a little like Batman) and Sparrow work on division with a one-digit remainder, Zero takes care of divisors as multi- ples of 10; and finally Superfred does division with two-digit divisors.

The second side of each card and the compan- ion side of the cassette have the form of a soap opera called "The Dividing Light," with heart- tugging music and all. In each case, the exercise deals with the same division skill as the one on the front side of the card.

All the lessons are strictly skill-building in di- vision. There are no problems that require think- ing or insight, but the students who are just learning to divide, or possibly need a review of a division algorithm, could benefit from lessons like these. This is not a self-contained kit for learning division, however. Supplements will be needed.

Growth in Mathematics. Set of 5 film- strips: "Decimal Places/ Mixed Numerals," "Graphing Points /Area and Volume/' "Frac- tions/Beginning Long Division," "Congruence/ Metric Measure," "Compass Constructions/ Es- timating Measures." 1979, $48 ea. Har court Brace Jovanovich, Inc., Saddle Brook, NJ 07662.

Search through the catalogs of supplemental teaching material for a dancing compass. They are marvelous! One of the units in this package shows a dancing compass (specializing in Dix- ieland) performing all sorts of amazing feats such as bisecting angles, constructing perpen- diculars, and copying angles. The music is great - you will feel like jumping out of your chair and dancing along.

The ten cassettes and accompanying filmstrips cover a good range of topics at the middle school level. You will find some pirates (a male pirate with a wooden leg and a female pirate with two good legs) solving some long division problems a la Robinson-Caruso. Even though they are stranded on a desert island, their pirate humor produces a snappy song, "Divide the tens, divide the ones. Add them all up, and your work is done". Another lesson shows real children and animated birds singing their way through some fraction exercises. The rhyme and rhythm are catchy and the blend between live people and animation is well done, as is the development of the mathematical ideas.

A tall fellow uses a guitar to measure objects because a guitar is "about one meter." This is OK for these filmstrips, but in practice not many little children could climb a tree with a guitar in order to measure it. Anyway the filmstrip carries the idea of measuring nicely. The people shown are attractive and it is fun to experience the esti- mating activities with them.

Other lessons deal with area and volume - by a cool-cat painter and some snappy music; graphing points; and congruence via sewer cov- ers and other shapes that "must match." Con- gruence is displayed visually with several pic- tures and a Trinidad-type jingle. The idea is conveyed without a lot of words.

But the best of all is the lesson on compass constructions. During the circus performance

when the dancing compass showed how to bisect an angle (accompanied by a drum roll, pomp and circumstance of the center ring of a circus), I felt like applauding. If you find a store that sells dancing compasses, please tell me.

Growth in Mathematics. Set of 7 film- strips. "The Tens Place /Add and Subtract," "Simple Shapes/ Made to Measure," "Approxi- mating Numbers/ Percent," "Add, Subtract, and Rename/ Ready to Multiply," "Solid Shapes /Time," "Place Values/ Ready to Di- vide," "Symnetry/ Graphs." 1979, $48 ea. Har- court Brace Jovanovich, Inc., Saddle Brook, NJ 07662.

These lessons consist of filmstrips and compan- ion cassettes. They are educational and enjoy- able, and could be used with children at several post-primary grades - selectively, even at junior high school level.

The symmetry lesson has a visual emphasis - the pictures and music almost tell the complete story without words. The children are lovely and there are numerous pictures of real objects that are symmetric.

The place-value lesson starts with a singing number that shows how numbers grow. The plot moves to Aunt Mary's Rapid Roadside Berries store where berries are purchased in containers of different sizes for (you guessed it) different place values. For example, besides the single berries, there are packs of 10; boxes of 100 (which are 10 packs in disguise); cartons of 1000; and crates of 10 000. Someone orders 20 001 ber- ries and Aunt Mary shows how to fill the order - a good demonstration of place value. Just when you think that we are finished with place value, Big Foot appears (or is it King Kong?). In his cute English accent (he doesn't come from Ore- gon like other Sasquatch) he (or she) orders 999 999 berries and Aunt Mary fills the order. Then Big Foot leaves with the profound remark "If Fd have one more, Fd feel like a million." Sigh!

The percent lesson shows a huge grid of 100 blocks and an animated little old lady who is a friend of George Burns walking on the blocks. She demonstrates several percents on the blocks, only to be interrupted occasionally by Buford, a big voice that makes the announcements - often at inappropriate times just like all big voices. Oh yes, a singing centipede that looks a bit like Errol Flynn makes an appearance with its 100 feet and different percent shoes. Then George Burns's friend returns with a slide show demonstrating how to "percentify" by making percents equiva- lent to ratios.

In addition to their entertainment value, these lessons actually teach something and they could easily be followed up by real learning activities that you create.

Primary Math 1 : Geometry. / pme io cassettes. 1979, $129.50. QED Productions, Inc., Burbank, CA 91507.

Pam and Freddy are compulsive measurers. They don't seem to be happy unless they are measuring something - not unlike all the other animated children in the country. This kit con- tains five cassettes and companion filmstrips that show some of the measuring escapades of Pam and Freddy. The lessons deal with size, com-

parisons, unit comparisons, units, and metric measurement.

The children use their footprints to measure paths in the sand and realize that different-sized feet give different measurements. Freddy's foot, which is bigger than Pam's, has fewer prints than Pam's. This leads to the need for a standard unit. The idea carries over to area, where they use pails to estimate the size of a region of sand con- tained within a curve. Again there is a need for a standard unit.

Each cassette lasts about ten minutes. The teacher's guide has good metric and even a list of competencies for those people who are still using checklists. A twenty-two-page workbook of spirit masters has activities related to each of the cas- sette lessons. The activities are not extensive, however, so you are faced with the decision of whether to use duplication paper for such a small amount of student work.

The metric units in this kit use the "re" spell- ing - metre, litre, and so on.

Primary Math 2: Metrics. / pme 20 cas- settes. 1979, $109.50. QED Productions, Inc., Burbank, CA 91507.

When you are planning to do a unit in geometry, it might be wise to take your children on a field trip to the beach. There you will find a treasure chest (maybe one of the parents could plant it for you) that contains all sorts of geometric objects with different shapes, sizes, and colors. Anyway, that's what happened to Pam and Freddy. Pam and Freddy, remember, are those animated kids that love to measure things. This time they are concerned with geometric figures. They carry us through six lessons entitled "Shapes," "Curves, Open and Closed," "Shape, Size and Color," "Points, Curves and Angles," "Same Shape, Same Size," and "Polygons."

The lessons are presented via filmstrips and cassettes. Each cassette lasts about eight minutes. The teachers' guide has two lists of references, one for teachers and one for young readers. The teachers' list, however, is far from complete. Many other good references dealing with the teaching and learning of geometry at the elemen- tary school level are available. There is also a list of suggested classroom projects that could ex- tend some of the ideas in this kit.

Much of the vocabulary related to geometry at the elementary school level is covered in this kit, but there is very little of what could be called problem solving. There are, however, some nice

questions that relate to attributes and classifica- tions of figures that require some thinking. The graphics and sound tracks are good. W

September 1980 59

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