Thinking Algebraically Across the Elementary School Curriculum

This article was a great way displaying how a teacher should integrate mathematics across the curriculum. The author stated facts showing how a teacher can use any subject, twist it so that it fits in their specific lesson but also incorporating math. Schools put literacy at a high priority over other subjects, so teachers tend to just teach literacy because that is what students will be tested on and not pay a lot of attention to other subjects. However, using other subjects to incorporate math is very beneficial to the student's learning abilities. For example, reading a trade book to open up a math lesson is more efficient then starting a lesson teaching arithmetic. Integrating algebraic thinking into multiple subjects has an advantage to student learning because it allows students to think in an engaging way. The arthur continued to state activities that a teacher used with his/her third grade class that allowed his/her students to think algebraically. Using literacy to motivate a student learning ability shows that the teacher is using creative ways for students to learn and understand mathematics. In the article the author also integrated science, social studies, and real life connections, which is also really important. During a student's elementary years it is very important to be able to generalize the use of everyday language. In conclusion the author summed up the article with strategies to follow if a teacher wants to integrate algebraic thinking across other subjects.
When I become a teacher, I definitely want to be the type that is able to integrate subjects with each other. I want my students to really obtain how much knowledge can be gained by integrating subjects. I would put into consideration using the activities the author stated in the article because I think they were ways to engage student's learning. From reading the article I obtained that the students were able to grasp the arithmetic a lot faster by using algebraic thinking across curriculum's. When I was learning how to forms equations by word problems or by looking at graphs, became very hard for me. Depending on your background knowledge being able to solve problems by forming equations can be difficult for a student to understand, especially older students. The way these third graders were taught seemed far more beneficial then just learning this is how you do it because this is how it always has been done. Having the teacher integrate other subjects and having the students solve problems by thinking algebraically gives the the student that prior knowledge to be able to obtain the concept easier. This article was very interesting, reading the different ways on how to incorporate across the curriculum.

Soares, J., Blanton, M. L. and Kaput, J. J. (2006). Thinking algebraically across the elementary
school curriculum.Teaching Children Mathematics 12 (5), 228-235.