Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math

Natural Math Multiplication Course

Posted on March 19, 2014May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

This April, the creative people at Moebius Noodles are inviting parents, teachers, playgroup hosts, and math circle leaders to join an open online course about multiplication. My preschool-2nd grade homeschool math group is eager to start!

Each week there will be five activities to help kids learn multiplication by exploring patterns and structure, with adaptations for ages 2-12.

Click here to join the Natural Math Multiplication Course.

The course starts April 6 and runs for four weeks.

Preliminary Syllabus

Week 1: Introduction.
What is multiplication? Hidden dangers and precursors of math difficulties. From open play to patterns: make your own math. 60 ways to stay creative in math. Our mathematical worries and dreams.

Week 2: Inspired by calculus.
Tree fractals. Substitution fractals. Multiplication towers. Doubling and halving games. Zoom and powers of the Universe.

Week 3: Inspired by algebra.
Factorization diagrams. Mirror books and snowflakes. Combination and chimeras. Spirolaterals and Waldorf stars: drafting by the numbers. MathLexicon.

Week 4: Times tables.
Coloring the monster table. Scavenger hunt: multiplication models and intrinsic facts. Cuisenaire, Montessori, and other arrays. The hidden and exotic patterns. Healthy memorizing.

Sounds like lots of fun!

Pi Day Roundup

Posted on March 7, 2014November 1, 2024 by Denise Gaskins

[Feature photo above by Nicolo’ Canali De Rossi.]

Math holiday alert: March 14th is Pi Day. But why limit ourselves to a single day? Playing with math should be a year-round adventure! Here are some ideas to help you celebrate…

Pi Day Posts on Let’s Play Math! Blog

Happy Pi Day I
Happy Pi Day II
Happy Pi Day III: Visualizing Pi (an infographic)
Poetry for Pi Day

Continue reading Pi Day Roundup

Reblog: The Case of the Mysterious Story Problem

Posted on March 5, 2014May 21, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

[Feature photo above by Carla216 via flickr (CC BY 2.0).]

Seven years ago, I blogged a revision of the first article I ever wrote about homeschooling math. I can’t even remember when the original article was published — years before the original (out of print) editions of my math books.

I hope you enjoy this “Throw-back Thursday” blast from the Let’s Play Math! blog archives:

The Case of the Mysterious Story Problem

I love story problems. Like a detective, I enjoy sifting out clues and solving the mystery. But what do you do when you come across a real stumper? Acting out story problems could make a one-page assignment take all week.

You don’t have to bake a pie to study fractions or jump off a cliff to learn gravity. Use your imagination instead. The following suggestions will help you find the clues you need to solve the case…

[Click here to go read the original post.]

Reblog: A Mathematical Trauma

Posted on February 25, 2014May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

Feature photo (above) by Jimmie via flickr.

My 8-year-old daughter’s first encounter with improper fractions was a bit more intense than she knew how to handle.

I hope you enjoy this “Throw-back Thursday” blast from the Let’s Play Math! blog archives:

Improper Fractions: A Mathematical Trauma

Photo (right) by Old Shoe Woman via Flickr.

Nearing the end of Miquon Blue today, my youngest daughter encountered fractions greater than one. She collapsed on the floor of my bedroom in tears.

The worksheet started innocently enough:

$\frac{1}{2} \times 8=\left[ \quad \right]$

[Click here to go read the original post.]

Math Is Like Ice Cream

Posted on February 19, 2014May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

$Math is like ice cream$

Math is like ice cream, with more flavors than you can imagine — and if all your children ever do is textbook math, that’s like feeding them broccoli-flavored ice cream.

— Denise Gaskins

CREDITS: Today’s quote is from my About page. Background courtesy of Pinstamatic.

Math Teachers at Play #71 via Math Mama Writes

Posted on February 17, 2014December 28, 2019 by Denise Gaskins

The February math education blog carnival is now posted for your browsing pleasure, featuring 71 playful ways to explore mathematics from preschool to calculus:

Math Teachers at Play #71 (with 71 links)

Math teachers at play know that math is best learned when the student is thoroughly engaged, through their body, their imagination (story-telling), or the world of games. I’ve started out this month’s post with those three categories.

Most of the submissions this month described hands-on, or feet-on, activities. It’s as if there had been a theme agreed upon without anyone mentioning it. Some of the following posts are from submissions, and others are posts that I wanted to share from my internet wanderings.

This post has 71 links. (You might need to digest it in smaller bites.) Enjoy!

Click here to go read the whole, wonderful post.

Quotable: Math as a Second Language

Posted on February 15, 2014May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

photo by fdecomite via flickr (CC BY 2.0)

I sat in class three days ago and thought to myself, “They need a class called ‘Math as a second language’ or MSL for short.”

It is easy to understand what a median is, or what attributes a kite has, or why is a rectangle a square but a square not a rectangle… for a minute or a day.

It is easy to temporarily memorize a fact. But without true understanding of the concept those “definitions” fade. If the foundation of truly understanding is not there to begin with then there is little hope for any true scaffolding and even less chance of any true learning.

—Duncan
Comment on Christopher Danielson’s Geometry and language

Alexandria Jones and the Strange Attractor

Posted on January 30, 2014May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

[Feature photo above: Clifford Attractor by Yami89 (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons.]

Alexandria Jones collapsed onto the couch with a dramatic sigh. Her father, the world-famous archaeologist Dr. Fibonacci Jones, glanced up from his newspaper and rolled his eyes.

“I don’t even want to hear about it,” he said.

Alex’s brother Leonhard was playing on the floor, making faces at the baby. He looked up at Alex and grinned.

“I’ll take the bait,” he said. “What happened?”

“Mom called my bedroom a Strange Attractor.”

“Oh? What does it attract?”

“I don’t know. Mostly books and model horses. But what’s so strange about that?”

The Mathematics of Chaos

Animation of a double compound pendulum showing chaotic behaviour.

Dr. Jones laughed and put down his paper. “Strange attractor is a technical term from the branch of mathematics called dynamical systems analysis — often called chaos theory.”

“So my bedroom is a math problem?”

“No. I think Mom meant your bedroom was chaos.”

“Oh.” Alex looked like she might pout, then she shrugged. “I guess she’s right, at that. So what is a strange attractor, really?”

“Well, when scientists first drew graphs of classical, non-chaotic systems — like a planet’s orbit or the flight of a football — it was surprising how often they got an ellipse or parabola or some similar curve,” Dr. Jones explained. “For some reason, nature seemed to be attracted to the shapes of classical geometry.”

Click here to continue reading.

Playing with Pinterest: New Math Boards

Posted on January 23, 2014May 13, 2022 by Denise Gaskins

Do you like Pinterest? I’ve enjoyed exploring the site lately, so I set up a few boards where I can pin the goodies I find. It may take awhile before I get all the old games and posts from this blog loaded up, so save the links and come back often…

Playful Math Games & Activities

As our children (and their parents!) play around with mathematical ideas and the relationships between them, we develop deep understanding that is strong enough to support future learning. Playful math links include math games, activities, and interesting lesson plans.

Math Doodling

$Math Doodling$

Making abstract math visual: Math doodles let us see and experiment with a wide range of mathematical structures — and even to feel them, if we include hands-on 3D doodles in clay or other media. Links include art projects, geometry constructions, and physical models to explore.

Math Doodling

Math Teaching Tips & Resources

$Math Teaching Tips$

A variety of math teaching ideas for homeschool families or classroom teachers. Learning mathematics is more than just answer-getting: help your students make conceptual connections. These links are more “schooly” than on the other boards, and they include conceptual lessons that build your own understanding of mathematics as well as that of your students. And math notebooking resources, too.

Math Teaching Tips & Resources

MTaP Math Education Blog Carnival Archive

Since early 2009, the Math Teachers at Play (MTaP) blog carnival has offered tips, tidbits, games, and activities for students and teachers of preschool through pre-college mathematics. Now published once a month, the carnival welcomes entries from parents, students, teachers, homeschoolers, and just plain folks. If you like to learn new things and play around with ideas, you are sure to find something of interest.