Mark at Good Math, Bad Math came up with the most creative theme I’ve seen for a blog carnival yet, with his Carnival of Math: The Spam Edition. Apparently most of us have been too busy to send anything in. Even though it’s a small carnival, there are several good articles to visit. Enjoy!
[Photo by jimmiehomeschoolmom.]
Fractions confuse almost everybody. In fact, fractions probably cause more math phobia among children (and their parents) than any other topic before algebra. Middle school textbooks devote a tremendous number of pages to teaching fractions, and still many students find fractions impossible to understand. Standardized tests are stacked with fraction questions.
Fractions are a filter, separating the math haves from the luckless have nots. One major source of difficulty with fractions is that the rules do not seem to make sense. Can you explain these to your children?
Start with an easy one…
If you need a common denominator to add or subtract fractions…
What can you do when you are stumped? Too many students sit and stare at the page, waiting for inspiration to strike — and when the solution doesn’t crack their heads open and step out, fully formed, they complain: “Math is too hard!”
So this year I have given my Math Club students a couple of mini-posters to put up on the wall above their desk, or wherever they do their math homework. The first gives four questions to ask yourself as you think through a math problem, and the second is a list of problem-solving strategies.
Almost all math problems call for the student to assume one thing or another. Without assumptions — definitions, postulates, axioms, common notions, or whatever you want to call them — mathematics of any kind is impossible. Tony at Pencils Down (who plans to be a math teacher when he grows up) reminds us that, necessary though it may be, we are stepping on dangerous ground when we assume:
Carnival of Math #18 was posted Saturday evening at JD2718. Jonathan has put together a tremendous list of 52 blog posts, with these instructions:
1) Scroll, 2) Click, 3) Enjoy, 4) Repeat.
It is too much to take in on a sleepy Sunday afternoon, but I know I have some great math reading to look forward to this week.
Edited to add: There is an addendum post, too. Enjoy!
Classes are back in session at our homeschool co-op, so I am again collecting short quotes for the blackboard. Here are the ones I used in September:
Any fool can know. The point is to understand.
Life without geometry is pointless.
You don’t understand anything until you learn it more than one way.
92nd Carnival of Homeschooling
Charlotte Mason Carnival: Music/Composer Study
And the Homeschool Blog Awards site is gearing up for this year’s program, for anyone who reads homeschooling blogs — and that’s all of us, right?
The ability to solve word problems ranks high on any math teacher’s list of goals. How can I teach my students to solve math problems? I must help them develop the ability to translate “real world” situations into mathematical language.
In two previous posts, I introduced the problem-solving tools algebra and bar diagrams. These tools help our students organize the information in a word problem and translate it into a mathematical calculation.
This time I will demonstrate these problem-solving tools in action with a series of 3rd-grade problems based on the Singapore Primary Math series, level 3A. For your reading pleasure, I have translated the problems into the life of Ben Franklin, inspired by the biography Poor Richard by James Daugherty.
Continue reading Ben Franklin Math: Elementary Problem Solving 3rd Grade
Do your students know how to protect themselves from email scams? Can they recognize fraudulent websites? Can you? Test your online security savvy by playing this educational game from Carnegie Mellon University:
The Carnival of Education: Week 137…er, 138?
Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival – First Edition
And what goes together better than homeschooling, families, and frugal living?
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 