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 Bloglines 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

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 paperback Student Workbook, too.

20 Best Math Games and Puzzles

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Photo by fdecomite.]

UPDATE

See the new, expanded games post here:

Original Post

Over the years, Let’s Play Math! blog has grown into a sprawling mess of 480+ posts, which can make it very hard to find the specific math tip you’re looking for. The Archives page is nearly useless, with the articles organized by month of publication.

Therefore, I’ve begun putting together a Best of the Blog page, collecting the all-time favorite blog posts from each category. [It’s done! :D]

And where better to start than with my top hands-on activities?

Skim. Click. Explore. Have fun!

Continue reading 20 Best Math Games and Puzzles

What is a Math Carnival?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Over at Walking Randomly, Mike has posted a great explanation with FAQs:

You can send in articles now for either carnival:

Top 10 Posts of 2009

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Photo by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.]

Can you believe we’re almost a whole decade into the no-longer-new millennium? Traditionally, the last week of December marks a time to look back and to look ahead: What have we accomplished this year? And what comes next?

More specifically, for bloggers:

  • What did people like to read?
  • And how can we give them more of it?

Maria beat me to it. John did a twist on the topic. And here is my own retrospective look at the most popular blog posts from this year, along with related blogging goals for 2010.

Warning: All Lists are Biased

I’ve checked the total post views count as of Wednesday morning, December 30th. Any such list is biased toward posts that appeared earlier in the year. It’s almost impossible for anything written in November or December — even something as popular as Narnia math — to work its way into the Top Ten.

Continue reading Top 10 Posts of 2009

My New Project: Blogging 2 Learn

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Beginning in January, I will teach a 4th-12th grade Blogging 2 Learn class through our local homeschool co-op. For now, here is my research blog, testing ideas and trying to imagine myself as a new blogger:

Have you used blogs with your students? If so, I would love to hear your suggestions and comments. And whether you are an experienced or a wanna-be blogger, please share: What do you think a “Blogging to Learn” class should cover?