If you teach children in the primary grades, you’ll enjoy this new series from the wonderful Steve Wyborney. Every day for the rest of the school year, Steve will post a new estimation or number sense resource for grades K–8 (or any age!) at his blog:
“This is my way of providing support and encouragement – as well as bringing math joy to your classroom… I’m going to stick with you all year long.”
—Steve Wyborney
One more time, because I’m still finding people who didn’t get their Kickstarter rewards…
Thank you so much! I’m amazed and awed by how many people from all around the world showed interest in my books. You’re the greatest!
ALL the pledge rewards have now been sent, both digital and physical books.
Everyone should have received two emails:
Even if you ordered paperbacks, you should have gotten the digital book email.
But we’ve had trouble with things getting lost in the tangles of the internet. If you don’t see these emails, check your Spam folder — or if you use Gmail, look in the Promotions or Updates tab.
If you did NOT receive the emails mentioned above, please let me know!!
You can contact me through Kickstarter or use the About/Contact page on this blog to send me a message.
P.S.: There are still two people who ordered (and paid for) paperbacks but haven’t filled out the Kickstarter survey. I can’t mail out your book package until I get an address. If you can’t find the survey email, feel free to message me directly.
As I mentioned last Saturday, I decided to try my hand at rewriting the Standards for Mathematical Practice into student-friendly language.
Here’s the second installment…
In fact, mathematics is the closest that we humans get to true magic. How else to describe the patterns in our heads that — by some mysterious agency — capture patterns of the universe around us?
CREDITS: Photo by Greg Rakozy via Unsplash.com. I am an Amazon affiliate. If you follow the book link and buy something, I’ll earn a small commission (at no cost to you).
Clearly, I won’t need my desk chair today…
Have you read the Standards for Mathematical Practice? Good idea in theory, but horribly dull and stilted. Like math standards in general, the SMPs sound as if they were written by committee. (Duh!)
I’ve seen several attempts to rewrite the SMPs into student-friendly language. Many of those seem too over-simplified, almost babyish.
Probably I’m just too critical.
Anyway, I decided to try my hand at the project. Here’s the first installment…
Download the poster, if you like:
What do you think? Would this resonate with your students?
What changes do you suggest?
You can find the whole SMP series (eventually) under the tag: Posters.
I had so much fun making these posters that I decided to put them into a printable activity guide. It includes the full-color poster shown above and a text-only version, with both also in black-and-white if you need to conserve printer ink.
Here’s the product description…
Join the Math Rebellion: Creative Problem-Solving Tips for Adventurous Students
Take your stand against boring, routine homework.
Fight for truth, justice, and the unexpected answer.
Join the Math Rebellion will show you how to turn any math worksheet into a celebration of intellectual freedom and creative problem-solving.
This 42-page printable activity guide features a series of Math Tips Posters (in color or ink-saving black-and-white) that transform the Standards for Mathematical Practice to resonate with upper-elementary and older students.
Available with 8 1/2 x 11 (letter size) or A4 pages.
“Mathematics, besides being beautiful and useful, is fun. I hope [my book] brings mathematical joy to many.”
—Bernardo Recamán, The Bogotá Puzzles
Dover Publications occasionally posts free samples from some of their wonderful collection of books. This month’s sampler includes several puzzles from The Bogotá Puzzles by Bernardo Recamán.
Inspired by such illustrious collections as The Canterbury Puzzles, The Moscow Puzzles, and The Tokyo Puzzles. Colombian mathematician and professor Bernardo Recamán assembled these 80 brainteasers, word problems, sudoku-style challenges, and other math-based diversions while living and working in Bogotá.
Enjoy!
If you’d like to receive future Dover Sampler emails, you can sign up here.
THE FINE PRINT: I am an Amazon affiliate. If you follow the book link above and buy something, I’ll earn a small commission (at no cost to you).
Here’s a classic bit of Halloween math from the Playful Math Archive, featuring Thomas Woolley and James Grime:
Here’s another round of books for the Math You Can Play Kickstarter. Almost finished.
If you backed the Kickstarter, thank you!
You should have already received the following:
And most of you should have already received your paperbacks in the mail. The packages above are for those who ordered the 9-book paperback set. Hopefully, they’ll get to you sometime next week.
If you did NOT receive the emails mentioned above, please let me know!!
We’ve had some trouble with things getting lost in the tangles of the internet. You can contact me through Kickstarter or use the About/Contact page on this blog to send me a message.
And if you are one of the two people who bought paperbacks but still haven’t filled out the survey, please do that soon. I can’t mail out your book package until I get an address.
Patrick Vennebush shared this puzzle from his new book, One-Hundred Problems Involving the Number 100:
It’s easy to cover a hundred chart with 100 small squares: 10 rows of 10 squares = 100.
It’s easy to cover a hundred chart with one big square: one 10×10 square = 100.
But can you cover the chart with 20 squares? Or with 57 squares? The squares do NOT have to be all the same size.
If we only consider squares with whole-number sides, so they exactly fit on the grid, then:
- What numbers of squares work to cover the chart?
- What numbers don’t work — and can you prove it?
Click to read the original puzzle along with some teaching tips at Patrick’s blog:
If you’d like some printable hundred charts for coloring in squares, download my free Hundred Charts Galore! file.
And discover more ways to play with these printables in my classic blog post: 30+ Things to Do with a Hundred Chart.
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 