My 9-year-old needs to get into the groove. A math groove, that is. Back to fractions, multiplication and all the other “fun” stuff that goes along with fourth-grade math. After a few months of fun in the sun, it’s finally back to the books, and I fear she’s not ready for all that lies ahead. Because the dollar store workbooks I picked up over the years don’t seem to hold her interest any longer (and I’d rather not always resort to apps and other PC games), we were on the lookout for something else. Well, when the Lakeshore Learning catalog arrived in our mail, it was like Christmas had come early. Ever the lover of playing school, my daughter happily flipped through the pages and eventually came across Problem Solving Cubes, a set of 15 soft-sided cubes containing word problems that range from money to measurement, to addition and subtraction. After we received a test sample, she got down to business and I was delighted with the results. With the variety of choices, my daughter was able to come up with a ton of word problems that tested her strengths–and weaknesses. What I liked about these cubes is how easily you can mix things up and create a entirely new puzzle to solve simply by turning over one of the cubes. And because word problems become a classroom staple as students advance into older grades, it’s a great product to help kids get comfortable reading and solving these, minus the pressure.
In a Nutshell: Math gets the hands-on treatment with cool cubes that make problem-solving as easy as 1-2-3.
