Rate Puzzle: How Fast Does She Read?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins


[Photo by Arwen Abendstern.]

If a girl and a half
can read a book and a half
in a day and a half,
then how many books can one girl read in the month of June?

Kitten reads voraciously, but she decided to skip our library’s summer reading program this year. The Border’s Double-Dog Dare Program was a lot less hassle and had a better prize: a free book! Of course, it didn’t take her all summer to finish 10 books.

How fast does Kitten read?

Continue reading Rate Puzzle: How Fast Does She Read?

How To Host a Blog Carnival

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Photo by ell brown.]

Update March 2012

The blog carnival website has been unreliable for several months, which is why you will see strike-through on the paragraphs below that deal with that site. Please read the current information on these pages:

Do you want your blog to grow? One of the best ways to draw new readers to your blog is to get involved in an active blog carnival. Mike wrote an excellent article (What is a Maths Carnival?) explaining how carnivals work and how to submit an entry.

Now, if you’re ready to raise the ante a bit, let’s bring the carnival itself to your blog.

These instructions are specifically about the Math Teachers at Play (MTaP) blog carnival for classroom teachers, homeschoolers, and independent math learners. After all, that’s the carnival I know best. Still, most of the principles should apply to any blog carnival you might want to host.

Continue reading How To Host a Blog Carnival

How To Start a Math Teacher Blog

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[“Sophisticated Blogger” by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.]

Blogging is more than just writing. It involves reading other people’s blogs and commenting, comparing thoughts about mathematics and ideas for teaching it, even getting involved in debates like the multiplication is or isn’t repeated addition kerfluffle. In a way, the blogging community acts like the Chinese “teaching research groups” mentioned in Liping Ma’s book, Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics.

What a coincidence! I wrote that paragraph last week for Math Mama’s book, and then this weekend I opened my backlogged rss reader to discover a series of posts from some of my favorite math bloggers offering excellent advice on how to start a blog.

If you are a classroom teacher, homeschooler, or independent math learner who would like to get into blogging, check out these posts. And if you’re an experienced hand, please add your favorite blogging tips in the Comments section below.

Continue reading How To Start a Math Teacher Blog

Math Teachers at Play #27 via Math Mom

Posted on by Denise Gaskins


The carnival is up at Ramblings of a Math Mom, a day late but well worth the wait:

Mathmom herself wrote a wonderful post for the carnival, which I was glad to see. I’ve missed her!

You May Also Enjoy

Here’s a puzzle I found to fritter away time while I was waiting for the carnival:

[Warning: The answers are in the same blog post, so don’t scroll down until you’ve tried the puzzle!]

Hobbit Math: Elementary Problem Solving 5th Grade

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Photo by OliBac. Visit OliBac’s photostream for more.]

The elementary grades 1-4 laid the foundations, the basics of arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions. In grade 5, students are expected to master most aspects of fraction math and begin working with the rest of the Math Monsters: decimals, ratios, and percents (all of which are specialized fractions).

Word problems grow ever more complex as well, and learning to explain (justify) multi-step solutions becomes a first step toward writing proofs.

This installment of my elementary problem solving series is based on the Singapore Primary Mathematics, Level 5A. For your reading pleasure, I have translated the problems into the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic, The Hobbit.

UPDATE: Problems have been genericized to avoid copyright issues.

Continue reading Hobbit Math: Elementary Problem Solving 5th Grade

Math Carnival News

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

The new edition of the Carnival of Mathematics is well worth visiting at Wild About Math!:

And while we’re thinking about carnivals, it’s time to send in your submission about learning or teaching pre-K through 12th grade math for next week’s Math Teachers at Play, which will be hosted at Ramblings of a Math Mom:

Meanwhile, if you haven’t seen the current Math Teachers at Play, you’re missing a lot of fun:

There’s a new math blog carnival, taking submissions now for a first edition next month:

Would anyone like to host the Math Teachers at Play blog carnival for July? It is a bit of work, but it’s pleasant work, and it usually results in a spike of traffic for your blog. I had planned to do it myself, but other responsibilities are demanding attention. If you’re free, I’d be glad to turn it over to you. Just let me know in the comments here or by email.

Best Articles about Solving Word Problems

Posted on by Denise Gaskins


[Photo by scui3asteveo.]

I’m still working on that Best of Blog page. [It’s done! :D] Here are the 20 best Let’s Play Math! blog articles about solving word problems (also known as story problems)…

Solving Word Problems

More recent posts tagged ‘Word problems’

Bar Diagrams Help Students Think

More recent posts tagged ‘Bar diagrams’

Other Post in the Best of Blog Series

Update: My New Book

You can help prevent math anxiety by giving your children the mental tools they need to conquer the toughest story problems.

Check out Word Problems from Literature: An Introduction to Bar Model Diagrams—now available at all your favorite online bookstores!

And there’s a Student Workbook, too.

Math Teachers at Play #26 via Math Hombre

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Click over and check out the wonderful selection of math blog posts at Math Hombre:

John included one of Kitten’s recent posts in the carnival:

(I’m not sure where the random coughing came from. Perhaps she meant it as a warning that the post wasn’t about actual policemen?)