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Now an Associate Professor with Dakota State University, Dr. Kevin Smith began his career as a high school math teacher. Eager to help his students understand that there is more to math than adding and subtracting, Kevin wrote and illustrated Yucky!
Educational, entertaining, and relatable, Yucky! follows Lilly’s math struggles until the right teacher comes along and shows her that math can be fun. Once Lilly discovers that math can speak to her creative side, she realizes—“Maybe math isn’t so YUCKY!” |
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About the Book
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Many people think that math is simply about doing calculations or executing procedures. That makes sense because often times the majority of our time in school involves doing just that. However, when you talk to mathematicians, they will tell you that mathematics is about so much more than doing calculations. In fact, we have powerful tools such as calculators, spreadsheets, and other software programs that can do calculations much quicker than we can and more accurately. Math is really about things like looking for patterns, modeling different situations, and becoming creative problem solvers. Helping students understand what math really is and giving them engaging opportunities to experience math is really important.
Yucky! introduces you to Lilly, a student that doesn't like math because she thinks math is only about doing calculations. On top of that, her mom tells her she isn't a "math person" and Lilly thinks that must be true for her too. Fortunately, Lilly has a great teacher that helps her realize what math really is! We can't wait for you to read this book to your students, children, grandchildren, and anyone that needs help realizing that math isn't YUCKY! We hope the book sparks conversations about math and how important attitude and effort is. Stay tuned... We will be adding resources to this page to help you continue the conversation about math at home including articles, videos, iPad apps, and games that you can do at home to help boost your child's math-esteem. |
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