Whether you're literally outfitting a child or you want a few tchotchkes for a classroom of kiddos, Pi Day is mainstream enough that you can find everything from t-shirts, to temporary tattoos to Pi plates and tins with just a click these days. But the best stuff is the stuff you make yourself, right? So try your hand at making a colorful Pi Day Necklace.* This post contains affiliate links. Make a Pi Day Necklace Supplies Perler ... [ Read More ]
Save the Date for STEMchat with Texas Instruments!
Back to school, back to STEM. We're going to be talking about both topics at the upcoming STEMchat with third time sponsor, Texas Instruments Education Technology! We're going to talk STEM goals, attitudes about math and the impact of things like computer programming and the Maker Movement on the traditional math class. Join us on Twitter Thursday, Sept. 24 from 9-10 pm Eastern. The new TI-84 Plus CE color graphing calculator is available at ... [ Read More ]
Candy Construction Challenge
The Candy Construction Challenge is what one of my friends refers to as a snacktivity. Snacktivities combine the best of all worlds: playing, learning, and eating. The Candy Construction Challenge is super easy and provides many ways to learn and play. And it's a fun way to prevent the summer slide. The idea is to have kids explore math and engineering concepts with toothpicks and candy. I'll share a few of my favorite ways to play. ... [ Read More ]
Use Sports to Build Math Skills
Is your child spending more time on the soccer field than in the classroom this summer? That can be a good thing. Summer sports provide compelling real-world opportunities for kids to apply and grow their math skills. Whether keeping score for a game or calculating batting averages, math is key to sports. It goes both ways: sports can also help with math—and other subjects, too. In addition, recent studies indicate a link between ... [ Read More ]
Eat Your Math Homework: a Book Review
Of the four main areas in STEM, the M, or math, gets the worst rap. Why is that? We use math every day, but science, technology, and engineering seem to take center stage. Therefore, when I was offered the chance to review an active and *fun* math book, I took it. Eat Your Math Homework (affiliate link), by Ann McCallum and playfully illustrated by Leeza Hernadez, introduces math concepts in a most natural environment--the kitchen. But the ... [ Read More ]
Mesmerizing Math: A Book Review
Mesmerizing Math (affiliate link) by Jonathon Litton and illustrated by Thomas Flintham is a different kind of math book. It's described by the author as a book of "incredible ideas plus interactive flaps and tabs" and that's pretty much true. There's almost nothing in the way of narrative, so the book is really just a quirky colorful math dictionary with playful illustrations, and brief descriptions. And yet, it's more fun than you'd expect a ... [ Read More ]
When I’m Not Here, I’m There: Bedtime Math
Early last summer, I took on the role of managing editor of the new parent blog at Bedtime Math. It's been an exciting position working with other bloggers I admire and creating a resource to help parents celebrate the math in daily life.I've been meaning to share my posts here, but keep forgetting to do so. You can fin them in my social media streams. Since I've got a bit of a backlog at this point I'm just going to share a few of my ... [ Read More ]