Math Mammoth - A Mosaic Review

Math Mammoth

Taina Maria Miller, 2012
Visit Math Mammoth Website for more info or to order
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Maria's Blog has math teaching tips, articles, news and reviews

In the past we've used a variety of math materials, including some early elementary materials from Math Mammoth.  When an opportunity for members of the Mosaic Reviews team to review Math Mammoth materials from Maria Miller came up, I signed up to check out her materials for a few topics that my oldest needed to review.  Since I was allowed to pick which materials we would review, I chose Fractions 1 and 2,  Fractions and Decimals 3, and Order of Operations (with a Touch of Algebra).

Take a peek at what each worktext (workbook and textbook) includes:

• The Four Operations (with a Touch of Algebra) includes mental math review, review of the four operations, terminologies, expressions, equations, exponents, order of operations, long multiplication and division, an introduction to fractions.  (107 pages)
• Fractions 1 includes terminology, fractions, mixed numbers, equivalent fractions, adding and subtracting like and unlike fractions, adding and subtracting mixed numbers, and comparing fractions. (111 pages)
• Fractions 2 includes simplifying fractions, multiplying fractions, multiplication and area, dividing fractions mentally and with the shortcut, multiplying and dividing mixed numbers, converting fractions to decimals, and ratios.  (110 pages)
• Fractions and Decimals 3 includes place value, the four operations with decimals, the metric system, the four operations with fractions, ratios, and scaling in maps.  (128 pages)

I just love the way Maria has set up these books!  The books I received were e-book downloads.  The books present terms and a description of concepts followed by practice exercises.  Each topic is covered thoroughly, but manipulatives and Maria's videos are encouraged for supplementation as needed.  Each book has links to many helpful internet resources (websites, worksheets, math games) as well as links to advice for parents/teachers and links to free sample pages and worksheets.  At the end of the books are review sections and answers to the exercises.  Maria's videos are easy to understand and make teaching and learning extremely easy!  

I really like the ability to print just the pages we need. When my daughter zipped through a section quickly and easily we could just move on and not worry about completing each page.  I also like the flexibility of printing pages as you go rather than lugging around another book.  Binders are a good thing, really!

The lessons are as long as you choose to make them, and each section builds upon the last. Fractions were a breeze with these books.  There are just enough pictures to help understanding without being distracting.  I personally prefer to check out the book then watch the video followed by the exercises.  I LOVE the extra links too because they allow for fun along the way.

The only thing I was hesitant about is the ink and paper used to print out the book. While it could get spendy, that wasn't a big deal since we followed the print as you go option.  I would have been somewhat disappointed if I printed it all out ahead of time since we don't always use all of the pages included.

Over at the website (see link above) there are several different options available and prices vary depending on choices and bundling.  The books are available as e-books or on CD.   

There is a Light Blue Series for early grades which contains two student worktexts with instructions exercises, answer keys, tests, reviews and a worksheet maker.  The next option is the Blue Series which is for no particular grade level and covers addition, clocks, measuring, money, division, multiplication, fractions, decimals, ratios and proportions, and geometry.  A third option, the Golden Series is for teachers/tutors who can explain math and contains worksheet collections for grades 
3-8.  Another option, the Green Series intended for teachers/tutors or parents who can 
explain math and contains worksheet collections by topics. Lastly, there is the Make It Real Learning option for grades 3-12 which covers how math is used in real life.

To see what other team members thought of Math Mammoth visit Mosaic Reviews.