Just like the games we play, the fun in learning mathematics is in the challenge.
— Erlina Ronda
CREDITS: Today’s quote is from Erlina Ronda, The fun in learning mathematics is in the challenge. Background photo courtesy of USAG-Humphreys (CC BY 2.0) via flickr.
Happy 11/12/13, otherwise known as “tenty-one, tenty-two, tenty-three.”
Do your young children have trouble counting in the teens? Try making up Funny Numbers to help them! It’s a great habit to develop, because Funny Numbers will come in handy as mental math tools throughout their school math career.
If you’d like to make your own Happy Math Day post, check out the instructions here: Every Day Is Mathematics Day. And please share a link in the comments section below — I’d love to see what math holiday you invent!
Update: The numbers 11, 12, and 13 form an arithmetic progression. If that sounds too scary for your kids, check out Patrick’s bedtime math discussion Making Progress, Arithmetically.
Fawn Nguyen’s Visual Patterns website just keeps getting better and better. Check it out:
In addition to the 115 puzzle patterns (as of this writing), the site features a Gallery page of patterns submitted by students. And under the “Teachers” tab, Fawn shares a form to guide students in thinking their way through to the algebraic formula for a pattern.
How can you use these patterns to develop algebraic thinking with younger students? Mike Lawler and sons demonstrate Pattern #1 in the YouTube video below.
A good problem should be more than a mere exercise; it should be challenging and not too easily solved by the student, and it should require some “dreaming” time.
— Howard Eves
CREDITS: Today’s quote is from Howard Eves, An Introduction to the History of Mathematics. Background photo courtesy of Brenda Clarke (CC BY 2.0) via flickr.
Any fool can know. The point is to understand.
— Albert Einstein
CREDITS: Background photo courtesy of Backgrounds Etc (CC BY 2,0) via flickr
Another fun discovery from the #MTBoS Challenge: Brian Miller (@TheMillerMath) posted this interstellar puzzle on his blog today.
[Right-click image to download a pdf you can print for your students.]
If you liked the Centauri Challenge, you may also enjoy the following blog posts:
I’ve dipped my toes in Twitter lately (as part of the Explore #MTBoS program) and been swept up in a crashing tsunami of information. There’s no way to keep up with it all, but I’ll let the tide wash over me and enjoy the tidbits I happen to notice as they float by. For instance, yesterday I discovered a writer who offers tip on writing about injuries and was able to get some great advice for Kitten’s sequel to her first novel.
And then today, Steven Strogatz posted a link to Saramoira Shields, a new blogger I might never have discovered on my own. I think you’ll enjoy her video:
Here’s one more entry for my 20+ Things to Do with a Hundred Chart post, thanks to David Radcliffe in the comments on Monday’s post:
(30) Can you mark ten squares Sudoku-style, so that no two squares share the same row or column? Add up the numbers to get your score. Then try to find a different set of ten Sudoku-style squares. What do you notice? What do you wonder?
[Suggested by David Radcliffe.]
Can you think of anything else we might do with a hundred chart? Add your ideas in the Comments section below, and I’ll add the best ones to our master list.
This month’s Math Teachers at Play blog carnival features games, activities, and playful math from preschool to high school. Here are just a few treats from the carnival:
It’s great fun! If you’re interested in how children learn math, check it out:
Here’s a new entry for my 20+ Things to Do with a Hundred Chart post:
(29) Blank 100 Grid Number Investigations: Challenge your students to deduce the secret behind each pattern of shaded squares. Then have them make up pattern puzzles of their own.
[Created by Stuart Kay. Free registration required to download pdf printable.]
Can you think of anything else we might do with a hundred chart? Add your ideas in the Comments section below, and I’ll add the best ones to our master list.
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 