Educators:
Children must build a solid foundation in these 10 essential skills to succeed in middle school math and beyond. For each of these skills, children will understand the concept, develop fluency, and learn how and when to apply the skills in problem solving. The Zillio hands-on activities focus on concrete examples. The lesson is then expanded so children will understand how to apply the concept abstractly and to manipulate very large and very small numbers beyond the physical representation of Zillio.
The basic lessons focus on additive reasoning, including all operations relating to putting together and separating sets of objects. The tokens are first used by themselves to represent quantities. Children learn counting, number order, counting on, adding and subtracting. They will enjoy using these same skills on the Mountain which presents numbers in a different way. In this context, children learn the basic elements of a number line, see how addition and subtraction are inverse properties, and refine their understanding of more or less. Games help develop fluency in basic math facts.
The second group of lessons focuses on multiplicative and proportional reasoning, including multiplication, division, fractions, ratios and linear equations. Using one or more staircases on the Mountain children explore concepts separately and then in relation to each other. The visual structure of the Mountain helps children learn how multiplication, division, number lines, and fractions are all interrelated. Children understand the meaning of variables at an intuitive level. Using pattern recognition abilities at an early age, children develop a keen understanding of variables and how to manipulate them. Using the same procedure or algorithm with a different set of numbers (staircases), children understand the “learn once, use many” concept as it applies to math. This builds confidence and a feeling of accomplishment.
