What do you think math is all about? What do your children think? Here is the start of a promising new video series:
Let’s Play Math Now in All Digital Formats
For all of you who read ebooks, my book is now available in almost every format imaginable:
Hundred Chart Idea #28: Hang It on the Wall
Math is beautiful when it communicates an abstract idea clearly and provides new insight. Yelena’s hundred chart poster does just that:
[From the Moebius Noodles blog]
Check out my newest home decor item, a hundred chart. The amount of work I put into it, I consider getting it framed to be proudly displayed in the living room. The thing is monumental in several ways:
1. It is monumentally different from my usual approach to choosing math aids. My rule is if it takes me more than 5 minutes to prepare a math manipulative, I skip it and find another way.
2. It is monumentally time-consuming to create from scratch all by yourself.
3. It is monumentally fun to show to a child.
— Yelena McManaman
Moebius Noodles
Now she’s provided a fantastic set of free hundred chart printables:
- The Hundred Chart and Game Cards
If you print and cut out the individual cards, you can arrange them so the bigger numbers are higher up, as shown in Yelena’s original blog post.
Thanks, Yelena!
Share Your Ideas
It began with a humble list of seven things in the first (now out of print) edition of my book about teaching home school math. Over the years I added new ideas, and online friends contributed, too, so the list grew to become one of the most popular posts on my blog:
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.
Math Teachers at Play #59 @ Learners in Bloom
Math Teachers at Play is a monthly Blog Carnival showcasing math activities and puzzles from teachers, parents, and homeschoolers all around the blogosphere.
It is organized by Denise Gaskins at Let’s Play Math, and I’m very excited to be hosting the 59th carnival on Learners in Bloom.
Here’s a little puzzle for you:
59 is the smallest prime that can be expressed using the digits 1 through 9 in order with only the addition and multiplication symbols between them. Can you find a way to express it with these rules? (one solution is at the end of this post).
And now on to the great ideas that were submitted this month…
Your Brain by the Numbers
Math Teachers at Play #58: Crazy, Funny Math
[Feature photo (above) by Alex Kehr. Photo (right) by kirstyhall via flickr.]
Welcome to the Math Teachers At Play blog carnival — a smorgasbord of ideas for learning, teaching, and playing around with math from preschool to pre-college. If you like to learn new things and play around with ideas, you are sure to find something of interest.
Let the mathematical fun begin…
PUZZLE 1
By tradition, we start the carnival with a pair of puzzles in honor of our 58th edition. Click to download the pdf:
Continue reading Math Teachers at Play #58: Crazy, Funny Math
Book Updates
My ebook Let’s Play Math has a new cover. Do you like it?
After wrestling with the files for a couple of months, I finally figured out how to add the toc.ncx navigation (the ebook magic that lets you skip ahead to the next chapter). While I was messing around, I added a few more references, expanded a couple of sections, and fixed all the typos that we’ve found so far.
I sent Amazon an email asking them to give everyone who already bought a copy the option to get the latest version. Unfortunately that’s not automatic, but if the powers that be decide that these changes were “major,” you should get an email telling you how to update.
2013 Mathematics Game
feature photo above by Alan Klim via flickr
New Year’s Day
Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.
Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. We shall also reflect pleasantly upon how we did the same old thing last year about this time.
However, go in, community. New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion.
— Mark Twain
Letter to Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, Jan. 1863
For many homeschoolers, January is the time to assess our progress and make a few New Semester’s Resolutions. This year, we resolve to challenge ourselves to more math puzzles. Would you like to join us? Pump up your mental muscles with the 2013 Mathematics Game!
Vi Hart: Snowflakes, Starflakes, and Swirlflakes
Vi Hart is back with some wintery fun!
Math Teachers at Play #57 via So I Teach Math and Coach?
From preschool through high school, mathematics offers a wide range of puzzles, games, and interesting ideas to explore. The Math Teachers at Play blog carnival brings you a variety of mathy treats every month. Check it out!
Welcome to the 57th Edition of Math Teachers at Play the Blog Carnival!
The number 57 has often been used in entertainment. As in Agent 57 from the Hit TV Show Danger Mouse, Bruce Springsteen once sang about 57 channels (and nothin’ on), and I can’t forget one of my favorite movies Passenger 57 staring Wesley Snipes.
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 