Fluency in Math: Blank Glossaries & Math Word Walls COMMUNICATE MATHEMATICAL IDEAS USING LANGUAGE Prerequisites none Preparation Copy of blank glossary sheet & 3-prong folder for each student Math Word Wall banner and a copy of each glossary term for the wall Blank Glossaries I often ask students to explain a problem in their own words. I do this to ensure students truly understand the concept and are not merely regurgitating the thoughts of others. For this same reason I began using blank glossaries, a booklet of words in which the students record definitions based on their individual understanding. My students definitions are not always complete or exact, as are the definitions in the back of the math textbook. However, a student s task of trying to chose and arrange words in a clear and concise manner can be a challenging one, one that students need much practice at, and one that students can learn much more from than copying down and memorizing the textbook definition. A sample blank glossary is provided here, or you can create your own, personalizing it to meet the individual and unique needs of your students and curriculum. The pages can be copied and bound together using a 3-prong folder. Make sure to leave adequate room for students to write complete definitions. I assign words to be defined through out the year. I rarely have students write definitions right after they have been introduced to the word. I find students need numerous experiences working with a term before they are comfortable enough to generate their own definition. Sometimes writing definitions is a homework assignment; sometimes it is part of class work. After the assignment, I have students discuss what they came up with as a class or in small groups, focusing on the similarities and differences in their definitions and their word choices. As always, students are instructed to create the definition in their own words. Periodically I collect all the glossaries and give the students a grade on completion and accuracy. I allow, and in fact encourage, students to use their glossaries on assignments including quizzes and tests. Students benefit greatly when their definitions are well crafted, much more so than if they had access to a typical glossary because the explanations are in their own words. This can be a strong motivation for students to write clear and complete definitions. Math Word Wall I had all the math vocabulary for the year printed in big bold letters. After laminating this paper, I cut out each word. I also printed a banner that says Math Word Wall. As we discuss terms through out the year I stick the vocabulary word to the wall with tape beneath the banner. This is the basic concept of a Math Word Wall. There are many ways to use such a wall. For starters, there are a couple options for which words to display and when. Some teacher might decide to only put the words from the current chapter on the wall so as to focus students on that material. While others, myself included, may choose to build the word wall all year long, letting the words accumulate until the whole wall is covered. Students may be amazed by just how large their math vocabulary has grown. In addition to specific activities involving the word wall, there are some advantages to having this display in your classroom. When students are searching for the proper math term, instead of resorting to a more generic or basic word, they can scan the wall to jog their memory. Math word walls can also serve as a quick spelling reference when students are writing in math class. One possible approach is to add a term to the wall at the same time it is assigned in the blank glossary. In this way, the math word wall is also a running list of all the definitions students should have defined in their glossaries. : www.mathlessonbank.com pg. 1 of 1
Absolute Value - Area - Acute - Average (arithmetic) - Addition Property of Equality - Arithmetic Sequence - Algebra - Associative Property of Addition - Angle - Associative Property of Multiplication - pg. 1 of 20
Axis (axes) - Circle - Bar Graph - Circle Graph - Base - Circumference - Benckmark - Coefficient - Box-and-Whiskers Plot - Combination pg. 2 of 20
Common Denominator - Compound Event - Commutative Property of Addition - Congruent - Commutative Property of Multiplication Consecutive Numbers - Complementary Convex Polygon - Composite Number Coordinate Graph - pg. 3 of 20
Coordinate Plane - Cylinder - Corresponding - Decagon - Counting Principle - Degree - Cubed - Denominator - Cup Dependent Event - pg. 4 of 20
Dependent Variable - Divisible - Diameter - Divisor - Difference - Division Property of Equality - Distributive Property - Equation - Dividend - Equilateral - pg. 5 of 20
Evaluate Factorial - Event - Factor Tree - Experimental Probability - Fair Game - Exponent - Function - Factor - Gallon - pg. 6 of 20
Geometric Sequence - Hexagon - Gram - Hypotenuse - Greatest Common Factor - Identity Property of Addition - Height - Identity Property of Multiplication - Heptagon - Independent Events - pg. 7 of 20
Independent Variable - Interquartile Range - Indirect Measurement - Interval - Inequality - Irregular Figure - Inner Measure - Isometric View - Integer - Isosceles Triangle - pg. 8 of 20
Least Common Denominator - Line of Symmetry - Least Common Multiple - Line Plot - Leg - Line of Symmetry - Linear Equation - Liter - Line Graph - Lower Extreme - pg. 9 of 20
Lower Quartile - Mode - Mean - Modeling - Median - Multiple - Meter - Multiplication Property of Equality - Metric System - Multiplicative Inverse - pg. 10 of 20
Negative Number - Opposites - Nonagon - Order of Operations - Numerator - Ordered Pair - Obtuse - Origin - Octogon - Ounce - pg. 11 of 20
Outcome - Parenthesis - Outer Measure - Pentagon - Outlier - Percent - Parallel Lines - Perfect Square - Parallelogram - Perimeter - pg. 12 of 20
Permutation - Positive Number - Perpendicular Lines - Pound - Pint - Power - Polygon - Prime Factorization - Population Density - Prime Number - pg. 13 of 20
Principal - Quadrilateral - Probability - Quart - Product - Quartile - Proportional - Quotient - Quadrant - Radius - pg. 14 of 20
Random - Rectangle - Range - Rectangular Prism - Rate - Reflection - Ratio - Regular Polygon - Reciprocal - Repeating Decimal - pg. 15 of 20
Rhombus - Scale - Right Angle - Scale Drawing - Right Triangle - Scale Factor - Sample - Scalene - Sample Space - Scatter Plot - pg. 16 of 20
Scientific Notation - Solids - Sequence - Square - Similar Figures - Squared - Simple Interest - Square Root - Simplest Form - Straight - pg. 17 of 20
Subtraction Property of Equality - Term - Sum - Terminating Decimal - Supplementary - Tessellation - Surface Area - Theoretical Probability - Survey - Ton - pg. 18 of 20
Transformation - Unit Rate - Translation - Upper Extreme - Trapezoid - Upper Quartile - Tree Diagram - Variable - Triangle - Venn Diagram - pg. 19 of 20
Vertex - Y-Coordinate - Volume - Zero Pair - X-Axis - X-Coordinate - Y-Axis - pg. 20 of 20