Silly Putty Turned Serious Learning!

It's raining here and we're stuck inside.  No problem -- time for some indoor fun (and learning).

Today, my 2 year old and I were exploring the magic of Silly Putty, and I saw a perfect opportunity to practice our shapes, numbers and letters, while (you guessed it) having fun!   We took turns the rolling the Silly Putty into "sticks", that we then shaped into different letters, numbers and geometric shapes.  The best part was "sticking" them to the front of our cabinet doors in the kitchen.  I have to admit that it wasn't just my 2 year old who was loving this.

We even got the 6 month old involved when we made a Silly Putty "stick figure" and started introducing Stickman's ears, nose, mouth, etc to her.

If you don't have Silly Putty, any sort of play dough (homemade or store bought) or clay should produce the same effect!

If you have older kids, have them sound out new words that you make out of the Silly Putty, or have them practice their latest math concepts.  This tactile form of learning is a great way to make old (dare I say "boring") concepts seem fun and exciting!

Going on a road trip? Let them bring a hardback book as their "desk" and roll out the Silly Putty right in their laps!

Silly Putty turned serious learning!

Bringing Math into March Madness

Never mind the complicated algorithms needed to get team seeds and brackets, here's a great way to sneak in a little math with your kids while rooting for your favorite teams.  Give your kids a possible score (let's say 14) and ask them to figure out different ways the team could have reached a total of 14 points (i.e. 2 points + 2 points + 2 points + 2 points + 2 points + 2 points + 2 points). Then follow up with, "Hey, that's 7 groups of 2 point shots, [7 x 2]..."  What a beautiful way to bring multiplication in!  Next, ask if there is another way the team could have gotten to 14?" (i.e. 3 points + 3 points + 3 points + 3 points + 2 points)

Simplify it a bit by saying that your team has, say, 6 points.  Then ask how many more points the team needs to get to reach 10 points.  Or, compare your teams score (let's say 10) with the opponent's score (let's say 15).  How many MORE points does your team need to score to beat the opponent?

Complicate it a bit by asking questions like, how many groups of 2 point shots did our team get if it has a score of 42?  How many 3 point shots did we get if the team has a score of 42?

Let the Madness be an inspiration for more Math!

Math? Hop to It!

This "winter" has been incredibly warm of late so my 2-year-old and I were outside yesterday playing with sidewalk chalk.  After we had drawn our umpteenth star, flower and family portrait, I decided to make things a little more educational.  So, I took a second to write various letters and numbers all over the sidewalk in no particular order or spacing.  Then, her job was to run and jump on whatever letter or number I called out.  Simple as it may sound, she absolutely loved this "game".  She couldn't get enough of scouting out the 3 or the K or the M.  I made sure to only write the letters and numbers that she is familiar with, so it wasn't overwhelming, but rather good practice.
I got to thinking that this could easily be extended to kids of all ages.  The youngest kiddos, like mine, should just stick to basic identification.  Kids who need a bit more of a challenge, though, could be asked to find sums or differences, or products and quotients.  For instance, if you wrote a 6, 10, 12, 16, 18, and 20, you could ask your child to find and jump on:
- the sum of 4 and 2
- the difference between 12 and 2
- the product of 3 times 4
- the quotient of 40 divided by 2, and so on.

You can cater this to kids of all ages and abilities.  Again, the possibilities are endless, and kids have a blast because they think it's a game more than anything else.  The physical part of running and jumping on the letters and numbers make it more fun than seeing the numbers written on paper and chalkboards.  What do you think?

Homemade Number Cards

I was at Target earlier this morning and was so close to buying a pack of "Number Cards" for my 2 year old, since she is really getting into number identification and counting.  Luckily, before I checked out, I realized that I could save myself a few bucks and make math so much more meaningful just by making my own.  Do I really think she is going to know/care about the difference between factory-made and mom-made? I think not.  Rather than spend the $4.99 on the pre-made cards, I got a pack of blank 3 x 5" index cards.  All I need now is a Sharpie.  The nice thing about making these homemade cards is that I can:

1. go up to whatever value I want (we're at 30 right now),
2. decide if I want to write only numerals, or words and numerals, or even add pictures (see #3)
3. draw pictures of things that I know she will love! (right now she's in love with Max and Ruby, so I can draw 10 bunnies or 15 carrots or whatever)  The fact that the pictures will relate to something she loves will make the cards a positive thing that she really enjoys, as opposed to an isolated math threat.

The possibilities of these cards are truly endless.  We'll start with identifying and ordering from least to greatest, but from there, we could do so many different FUN (and educational) things with these cards -- all for the cost of a pack of index cards!

Remember, kids need to make connections to really make learning meaningful.  What does your child love? Find out and use that as the base for any learning opportunity!

Happy Educating!

More Math Fun!

I had someone ask me again about ways to make math less scary for kids of all ages.  I find that kids get most overwhelmed when they lack a solid foundation; in other words, getting kids to understand and have number sense is my first suggestion.  Obviously, this is much easier when kids are younger, but even 8, 9, 10 year old kids benefit greatly from breaking down numbers and playing with them. 

Making math more into a game is a great way to build basics, but without the stress! One fun activity that you can do with your kids is to find some flat rocks and allow your kids to paint different numbers on them, one number per rock.  Vary the number range based on your child's age (maybe 1-5 for younger children and 1-9 for older kids).  If you don't have rocks, allow your child to pull 3, 4 or 5 playing cards from a deck of cards.  If you don't have cards, use scraps of paper.  The point is, kids see rocks/cards/scraps of paper as "game" pieces and all of a sudden, math is fun instead of stressful.

Ask him different questions about the numbers on the rocks/cards/papers and give him a chance to manipulate them to answer the questions, and more importantly, justify his reasoning.

Sample questions include:
"What happens when you add the number on this rock (e.g. 4) to the number on this rock (e.g. 3)?"  "Now, what do you notice when you add the number on this rock (e.g. 3 -- the 2nd rock from the first question) to this number (e.g. 4 -- the 1st rock from the first question)" -- the idea here is that your child will begin to see the Commutative Property of Addition, which states a +b = b + a.  You child will have to explain WHY 4 + 3 = 3 + 4.  Have him try multiple additions combinations to prove to you (and him) that this property always works.

"What is the largest number you can make with these three rocks (e.g., 7, 8, 3)?"  Assume your child chooses to manipulate the rocks to make the number 738.  Ask, "Great! Why is 738 better than 378?"  Then push further and ask about the place values of each of the digits in a 3-digit number.  Try to tease out that the number in the first place represents hundreds and the larger the number in the hundreds place, the larger the number overall.  "So, would it be better to have an 8 in the hundreds place, or 3 in the hundreds place? Why?"  "What is the value of the 2nd digit {tens}?"  "What is the value of the third digit {ones}?  Obviously, you want your child to get to 873, but be sure to praise and question each step along the way.

Ask your child to come up with her own questions about the rock numbers and let her "quiz" you.  See what questions and discussions arise, and go from there.

Good luck and happy math exploring!

Math Phobia - Let's Cure It Together!



Math Monster, be gone!

 I taught 5th and 3rd grade for 7 years and am taking a little time off as I prepare to have my 2nd kiddo.  Someone recently asked my opinion about kids' math-phobia, its source and more importantly, its solution.  Here's what I think.

As you well know, many kids struggle with math.  I'm probably not going to get a whole lot of love from parents or fellow teachers, but one of the biggest disservices we do for our kids is teach them "tricks" to remember math algorithms.  As teachers, we are so pressured by making sure our kids do well on state tests that we look for a quick fix, and teach kids tricks that we assume they'll remember long enough to get them through the test-taking period. 

For example, when teaching kids long division, I've heard many fellow teachers teach their kids the saying, "Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister", which is supposed to help kids remember the steps,  "Multiply (Mom), Divide (Dad), Borrow (Brother) and Subtract (Sister)."  It seems like a great system until it's crunch time, the kids are under stress and have no idea if it was Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister or Sister, Dad, Mom, Brother or Uncle Sam, Aunt Patty, Grandpa, Cousin.  There's no meaning to which the kids can connect, and therefore, there's little chance the kids will remember the correct steps in the long-term.  Summer comes and goes and as the child enters the next grade, he's right back at square one as far as long-division proficiency.  So, his next teacher teachers him the saying "McDonalds, Dairy Queen, Burger King, Sonic" to "help" him remember the steps of long division and here we go again....

Our U.S. educational system is also very flawed (in my opinion) in that we spend small amounts of time on each of 6-7 math strands each year.  In Kindergarten, kids get a quick unit on number sense, geometry, patterns and algebra, etc., and then they see each of those units again in 1st-8th grade.  The problem with this is that there are so many units that each one is only touched upon for a short time.  There is a ton of breadth and not a lot of depth.  As compared with many Asian ways of teaching math (which focus on 1-2 strands only for the entire year), our system doesn't allow the investigation needed for kids to truly grasp what they are doing.

Unrelated as these two points may seem, they actually are very similar to one another.  My suggestion to parents and teachers who have math-phobic students is to start back at square one, and really spend time with your kids helping them to truly understand the basics of math.  If your child struggles with long division, I'd be willing to be that he doesn't grasp that it's really repeated subtraction.  (Have you ever sat down to think about division in that way?)  Asking a child to learn division, when he doesn't understand subtraction is like asking a kids to string together a compound sentence when he doesn't know the alphabet.  Without the proper foundation, his math tower (upon which more and more is constantly piled) is bound to topple. 

This all sounds great in theory, but what about reality?  My suggestion is to start small.  Kids know more than you (or they) think.  Obviously, the younger your child is, the easier it is for her to catch up.  If fractions are your child's nemesis, "catch" her talking about sharing half her cookie with her sister, or dividing up the pizza among her 4 friends.  Use real-life, meaningful scenarios to get your kids thinking about math.  Ask them tough questions and make the commitment to do some research yourself.  Do you really understand what it means to "borrow" from the hundreds place when solving a subtraction problem, or do you just cross out the 7, make it a 6 and put 10 on top of the 0 in the tens place? 

Kids are like dogs in that they smell fear.  If you grew up eeking by math class and clearly don't get it, I'm willing to bet your kids are going to hate math and try to slip through as well.  Maybe it's time for both of you to make the commitment to learn more about math than just the tricks that your teachers taught you years ago. 

Just "sum" food for thought!

The Buzz about Buzz!

Don't worry about getting stung! This has nothing to do with those pesky pollinators in your garden.  Rather, this is a game that school-aged kids absolutely love (and there's even a bunch of math hidden in it).  The rules of the game are simple and flexible.  You (or your child[ren]) determine which number's multiples you want to focus on.  Let's say you pick the number 3.  Start counting and alternate between you and your child.  If there are more kids, even better.  Each person takes a turn.  You start by saying, "1".  Your child says "2".  Then, instead of you saying, "3", you say "BUZZ!"  This is because the object of the game is to say, "BUZZ" rather than the multiple of the chosen number and 3 x 1 = 3.  Now back to your kiddo who says, "4".  You say, "5".  Your child does not say "6", but rather "BUZZ" (because 3 x 2 = 6, meaning 6 is a multiple of 3).  Play continues.  You say, "7", your child says, "8", you say, "BUZZ" [not 9, since 3 x 3 = 9].  If someone misses their opportunity and says the multiple instead of BUZZ, they have lost.  You can play to a certain number, change the object number, count down instead of up, or even play in a different language.

Here's another sample round:
Parent: "Let's play Buzz!  The number is 5.  I'll start.  1."
Child 1: "2"
Child 2: "3"
Parent: "4"
Child 1: "BUZZ!"
Child 2: "6"
Parent: "7"
Child 1: "8"
Child 2: "9"

Parent: "BUZZ!"

Child 1: "11"

Child 2: "12"

Parent: "13"

Child 1: "14"

Child 2: "15" 

Parent: "Oh no! You should have said, BUZZ! because 5 x 3 = 15, so 15 is a multiple of 5.  Child 2, you are out this round, so now Child 1 and I will continue until one of us makes a mistake.  Keep listening to make sure you keep track of who says what!"

It's Raining, It's Pouring....It's Math Time

It's raining here with no signs of letting up -- what a perfect day to do some math! As a teacher, I absolutely love(d) the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) website called Illuminations.  This site is full (absolutely exploding) with math games, ideas, objectives, activities for all ages and all math strands.  If your child needs extra help in algebra, there's a game/activity.  If geometry stumps your child, no problem -- they've got you covered.  And, when I say all ages, I truly mean, all ages.  We tend to think of Pythagorean theorem when we hear geometry, but don't forget that even preschoolers are practicing their geometry skills when they sort shapes and put them into patterns.  I highly, highly recommend this site to fellow moms, dads, teachers, whomever.  It's safe, free and educational.

Here's a screen shot of just one of the many activities: "Pan Balance - Shapes" -- a wonderfully rich activity that introduces kids to algebraic thinking without them even knowing it!  You definitely want to read each activities rules and explanations before playing and as always, you want to make sure your child is properly supervised.  This game's gist is as follows:  I learn that 2 red squares are the same "weight" as 1 blue circle.  In the next round, I learn that 2 red squares and 1 purple triangle are equivalent to 1 blue circle and 3 yellow diamonds.  From there, I can continue to figure out the value of each shape. I get to pick which shapes I place on which of the two balances and deduce their values from the results.  Amazing, isn't it?