Karyn's Blog

The Artistic Side of Math – Spiral Geometry

February 9, 2012 Karyn Comments 0 Comment

Mathematics and nature often go hand-in-hand. In this lesson, students study the spirals of the nautilus and tie it in to a numerical sequence called the Fibonacci sequence. They use the sequence to re-design the nautilus using home-made compasses. I begin the lesson by showing the first few terms of the Fibonacci sequence and have students work together to see if they can figure out the pattern and the next few numbers in the sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5,…

Teaching Kids Multiplication Facts, Factors, Primes, Composites

October 6, 2011 Karyn Comments 0 Comment

See how simple objects like tiles, stickers, rubber stamps, dice, and graph paper help teach students important concepts in number theory: factors, primes, composites, and square numbers…not to mention the great reinforcement of multiplication facts. Grades 2 – 5 To get the pdf version, click here. If you do any of these activities with your kids/students, let me know how it goes!

The Most Important Thing About a Square

August 25, 2011 Karyn Comments 0 Comment

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…