It’s high time I got back on track with my Alexandria Jones posts, so I’ve been working hard on a short introduction to probability, to go along with The Birthday Surprise. Or, more honestly, I’ve been procrastinating on a short intro … well, anyway, here’s a little of what I’ve been reading around the interwebs lately.
Continue reading A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That…
[Photo by dougwoods.]
Today is my daughter Princess Kitten’s blogiversary. Check out her post:
And then take some time to browse her blog. I think you’ll enjoy her stories. She’s even written a few things about math:
[Update: I just noticed that this is the 500th post to be published on Let’s Play Math! blog. Wow! I guess Kitten and I will both be celebrating today…]
[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?
[Photo by Omar Omar.]
Here’s one more thing you need to know about How To Host a Blog Carnival.
Some of the Math Teachers at Play carnival hosts have asked about setting a theme for their carnivals. That can be either a good idea or a bad one, depending on what you mean by a theme…
[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:
- MTaP Blog Carnival
(which includes upcoming carnivals and the new “How to Host” information)- MTaP Archives
- MTaP Submission Form
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.
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.
Skim. Click. Explore. Have fun!
[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)…
More recent posts tagged ‘Word problems’
More recent posts tagged ‘Bar diagrams’
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.
[Photo by T. Ruette.]
The Best of Blog project has become the monster that ate my life, but I am determined to finish the thing. [It’s done! :D] Meanwhile, I’m enjoying the chance to explore long-forgotten blog posts. If you’d like a laugh, try some of these…
[Photo by fdecomite.]
UPDATE
See the new, expanded games post here:
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!
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 