It was 6:45 a.m. this morning when I heard the pitter-patter of little feet on the floor. It was my 7-year old niece who was visiting for a few days. I was shocked to see her peek into my office that early in the morning; I’ve seen her sleep til 10. But today was the last day of her short visit and I’m guessing she didn’t want to miss out on anything. Ryan was up and fixing himself breakfast, John…
If we take the time to notice our surroundings, I think we may be surprised at just how much math we have in our every day environment. Take the photo to the left. It’s something most kids are familiar with. But do they know that it represents the multiplication problem 4 x 6. If they count the number of rows (4) and then multiply by the number of columns (6), they can quickly discover how many total eggs there are….
My niece stopped by for a quick visit on her way through to Burning Man. She was driving my sister’s 2003 Honda Accord. “Yup, it’s my car now,” my niece smiled. I knew she had been having problems with her 1993 Toyota Tercel . But I didn’t know what the problems were. “So what happened to your car?” I asked. “I ran out of oil.” Really? That’s what the problem was? Not an old transmission or faulty spark plugs? But…
I love starting the school year teaching geometry. I use it as a hook to get my students interested in math. Not that they aren’t. But often, kids come into class thinking that math is all about adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. I know this because it’s the first thing I ask during day 1 math. So I kick off the math school year in geometry. It’s visual, hands-on, and fun. All math is…as students will discover through the course…
This is Nathan. He’s playing By Loch and Mountain, one of my absolute favorite pieces he learned in middle school. That was five years ago. Nathan is now headed off to college soon and will not be taking his saxophone with him. So I’m selling it. Until today, it had been three years since he tooted a note. He quit band his sophomore year in high school. Even so, I’d been holding on to the sax in the off-chance that he might…