Tangrams and Other Dissection Puzzles

tangram-cat[Photo by jimmiehomeschoolmom.]

One of the things I meant to do with my elementary math class (the one that got canceled due to low enrollment):

And then we would play around with Tangram puzzles, and perhaps make up a few of our own.

Continue reading Tangrams and Other Dissection Puzzles

Kids’ Project: More Math Calendars?

tulips-by-kuzeytac[Photo by Kuzeytac.]

Several people enjoyed the April calendar and asked if there would be a May version. Unfortunately, my homeschool co-op classes are out until next fall, so I don’t have enough kids to make up problems for me. But if your children would like to send in some puzzles, I will be glad to put another calendar together. If we get enough participation, we could have calendars every month for the rest of the year!

Continue reading Kids’ Project: More Math Calendars?

Math Teachers at Play #5

[Photo by Alex Kehr.]

Welcome to the Math Teachers At Play blog carnival — which is not just for math teachers! If you like to learn new things and play around with ideas, you are sure to find something of interest. Let the mathematical fun begin…

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April Math Calendar

april-math-calendar

My homeschool co-op classes had a lot of fun creating this April calendar to hand out at our end-of-semester party on Friday. It’s not as easy to read as a traditional calendar — it is more like a puzzle. The expression in each square simplifies to that day’s date, so families can treat each day like a mini-review quiz: “Do you remember how to calculate this?”

Download your own copy:

If you’ve been wanting to start your own math club, you will find plenty of helpful ideas here:

Update

Check out my May Math Calendar post for more ideas about how to use these puzzles.

 
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Which I am going to say right now. Thank you!

“April Math Calendar” copyright © 2009 by Denise Gaskins.

Math Teachers at Play #2

[Photo by Sister72.]

Welcome to the second Math Teachers At Play blog carnival! Some articles were submitted by their authors, other were drawn from the back-log in my blog reader, and I’ve spiced it all up with a few of my favorite quotations.

Let the mathematical fun begin…

Continue reading Math Teachers at Play #2

Happy Square Root Day!

square-roots-by-arsheffield
[Photo by arsheffield.]

Check it out:

And coming soon: Pi Day.

Edited to add: Jonathan‘s class enjoyed extending the concept to include other products. Using the m/d/yy format (not the 4-digit year), how many times in your life has it been true that month \times day = year ?

Math Teachers at Play #1

[Photo by StuSeeger.]

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Math Teachers At Play blog carnival! I hope you enjoy this collection of tips, tidbits, games, and activities for students and teachers of preschool-12th grade mathematics.

For this first carnival, I’ve drawn several recent posts from my blog reader as examples of the types of posts I’d love to include in future editions of Math Teachers at Play. I tried to find something for everyone, from multiplication drill for elementary students to advice for understanding high school math equations.

Let the mathematical fun begin…

Continue reading Math Teachers at Play #1

A Mathematician for President

In 1876, a politician made mathematical history. James Abram Garfield, the honorable Congressman from Ohio, published a brand new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem in The New England Journal of Education. He concluded, “We think it something on which the members of both houses can unite without distinction of party.”

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Online Game: Math Caching

In the treasure-hunting game of Geocaching (pronounced “geo-cashing”), players use GPS systems to locate boxes hidden at different geographical locations across the country.

Now, the creative people at Mathbits.com have come up with an online treasure-hunting activity for junior high and high school students, called MathCaching. Students solve mathematical problems to find hidden “boxes” on the Internet. Each box reveals clues to the location of the next one.

The MathCaching game covers pre-algebra through trigonometry topics, with calculus levels under development. For more information, visit the MathCaching site, or read the post on my Frugal Homeschooling blog.

Answers: Euclid’s Geometric Algebra

Remember the Math Adventurer’s Rule: Figure it out for yourself! Whenever I give a problem in an Alexandria Jones story, I will try to post the answer soon afterward. But don’t peek! If I tell you the answer, you miss out on the fun of solving the puzzle. So if you haven’t worked these problems yet, go back to the original post. Figure them out for yourself — and then check the answers just to prove that you got them right.

Euclid’s Geometric Algebra

Continue reading Answers: Euclid’s Geometric Algebra