When given the opportunity to choose from an abundance of different worktexts from a company called Math Mammoth to review with my children, I spent some time looking at all of the choices.
Rather than going with a full curriculum, I chose to focus on two worktexts which would specifically focus on areas some of my kids have problems with because of various special needs. I was actually thinking mostly of “The Batman”, who will always have problems with time and money as a result of pre-natal damage due to his birth mother having drank alcohol during pregnancy. He has Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). So, I chose two supplementary workbooks, Clock and US Money.
I chose to have “The Batman” work with these topics, but wanted “Mr. Loquacious” and “The Puzzler” to do them, as well, so when I received access to the pdf downloads, I printed three copies of each workbook.
I really like the trend lately of curriculum being made available as a pdf download. First, it’s almost always less expensive, because the vendor doesn’t have to add in the cost of printing a book, or charge you shipping to mail it to you, second, because you can generally use it for more than one child, and third, as those who know me well are aware, I don’t wait well. I like the instant gratification of getting my product as soon as it is ordered. As I have mentioned many times, my motto appears to be “instant gratification takes too long”, lol!
So, you can purchase the instant download of Math Mammoth Clock for $4.00, or a black and white printed copy for $10.85, by going here.
There are also links to sample pages here.
From the Webpage:
“Math Mammoth Clock is a worktext that covers telling time and reading the clock, telling time intervals, and understanding the calendar. It is suitable for grades 1, 2, and 3.”
The pdf worktext is fully printable, which is how I chose to use it, printing out the pages as needed and having the kids fill in the answers on the paper. However, if you prefer, this pdf is enabled for annotation. What this means is that you could, if you choose, have your student work directly on the computer, by using the typewriter and drawing tools in Adobe Reader version 9 or greater.
More from Math Mammoth Clock:
“Math Mammoth Clock covers reading the clock, figuring out simple time intervals, and using the calendar, all in one book. The topics progress starting from the first grade level to the third grade level. Therefore, you also can let your child work the pages of this book in different time periods, and not go through it all at once, depending on your child’s current level.
The lessons are divided to the grade-levels this way: reading the clock to the half-hour is first grade material; reading the clock to the five-minute intervals is second grade; and reading the clock to the minute is third grade level. I realize this is somewhat arbitrary, and there is no need to follow it exactly but I want to explain it so you can keep it in mind that the material in this book does get more difficult towards the end.”
Here are some pictures of my kids doing clock pages:
First, we have “The Puzzler” . . .
Next, we have “Mr. Loquacious” . . .
And finally, “The Batman”!
In the Clock worktext, the only real issue my kids had was that when they were learning about time to the half hour, they kept wanting to put in answers such as “5:30”, instead of “half-past five”, the latter being the format being taught. It was mostly just a matter of this being the way they had always heard it referred to, and once they caught on that this was the way the book was teaching it, it became easier.
This is a 78 page worktext (including answers), covering time from learning the clock all the way into elapsed time, calendar, and changing time units. We are still working our way through the clock, as these particular three boys need a lot of help learning to read an analog clock. However, I was pleased to see how quickly “The Batman” picked up on it, as he is the one who has always had trouble in this area. “The Puzzler” was actually the one child who had the most problems understanding it, and “Mr. Loquacious” picked it up very quickly. I did find similar results when we worked in the US Money worktext, which I will go into next.
The Math Mammoth worktext US Money can be purchased here. The pdf download is $3.25, or you can order a black and white printed copy for $9.50.
Math Mammoth Money is also available in the following:
Canadian Money
European Money
British Money
Australian Money
This is a 51 page worktext, including answers, and there are sample pages available here.
From the webpage:
“Math Mammoth Money is a worktext that covers U.S. money-related topics usually encountered during grades 1-3. The book contains both textbook explanations and exercises, and is designed to be very easy to teach from, requiring very little teacher preparation (you do need to find some practice coins before the lessons).”
The pdf version of this worktext is also enabled for annotation, just as the Clock worktext is, meaning, as I said above, should you choose to have your student fill in his or her answers on the computer, you can do so if you have Adobe Reader version 9 or greater.
Here is a description of what the US Money worktext covers, from the webpage:
“The book starts with first-grade topics such as counting pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. While the lessons use pictures for the coins, practicing with real coins is, of course, even better and you should have real money on hand to practice with.
From there, the lessons advance towards second-grade, and finally to third grade topics. Therefore, you can also let your child work the pages of this book in different time periods, and not go through it all at once, depending on your child’s current level.
The lesson Making Change explains two basic ways of finding the change: counting up, and subtracting (finding the difference). This is all done with mental math. The next lesson also practices money problems using mental math.
In the last lesson we solve money problems by adding and subtracting money amounts vertically (in columns).”
We are going very slowly through this one, because of the various special needs we deal with. So far, “The Batman” is doing pretty well, though I imagine he will need a lot more help when we get to the “counting change” part of the lessons. “Mr. Loquacious” is doing exceptionally well counting various coins together to get to the total, but “Mr. Puzzler” still has considerable trouble when counting coins if we switch from one coin to another.
Here are the only pictures I managed to get of the boys doing worksheets from US Money:
First, we have “The Puzzler” and “The Batman” . . .
. . . and then we have “Mr. Loquacious” doing his!
Overall, and to my surprise, we really liked Math Mammoth Clock and Math Mammoth US Money. Whenever I tell them that we’ll be working in these worktext, they are all quick to come to the table, which just shows that they are actually enjoying learning about these topics. As far as I’m concerned, that’s all I need for an educational product to be a success, and the added bonus is that the prices are great, too!
The Schoolhouse Review Crew used many different products from Math Mammoth, and have written wonderful reviews to give you an idea of what they thought of this and other products. Please click the graphic below to see what they all thought!
My Journeys Through Life . . . Herding Cats In New Mexico! 