Math Monday Blog Hop #12

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Math Monday Blog Hop #11

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Children's Math Book: The Button Box

Button, button, who's got the button? Yesterday, I gave my 5yo a container of buttons and a bunch of tiny plastic containers. Left to his own devices, he prepared "snacks" for me; I got to choose the color of "snack" I wanted.

After our delicious purple and pink snack, we settled in to read a favorite book, The Button Box. In the story, a child sorts buttons from Grandma's button box, using a wide variety of categories, including looking at where the buttons may have come from: sparkly buttons from kings, leather ones from cowboy shirts, tiny buttons from old fashioned shoes, and shiny buttons from uniforms.  I've always thought this book a must-have for preK-kindergarten! ;) You might also read Grandma's Button Box, a Math Matters book.

Math Monday Blog Hop #10

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Slugfest

Here's a slug math problem for ya...

   84 slugs found by our neighbor in his garden this morning (which borders our garden)
+183 slugs found by my son and husband tonight in our garden
______________

what does that equal??? (I accept creative answers!)

Words + Math + Seasons = Mathematickles!

Want to tickle your math bone? Try reading Mathematickles, a "collection of poems written in the form of mathematical problems and grouped according to seasonal themes." A few examples from the book:

crisp air

shadows tall

+ cat's thick coat

signs of fall

pumpkin - seeds + face = jack-o'-lantern

Using Betsy Franco's poems as models, today we wrote some of our own poems. We first composed these together:

cool air

birds sing

+ flower buds

signs of spring

hot weather

squirt gun

+ popsicle mustache

summer fun

To make the writing process more manageable for independent work, I set up a few templates.

For a poem describing a rainy day:

descriptive phrase

descriptive phrase that ends with ay

+ descriptive phrase

rainy day

Summer:

descriptive phrase

descriptive phrase that ends with un

+ descriptive phrase

summer fun

Or poems to "solve"...

children

-bedtime

(tell what this equals)

This would be a great book and activity to explore descriptive writing, poetry, seasons or math symbols. It would also make a nice "welcome summer" lesson!

Ocean Math...and how 'bout those whipped cream waves???

We just began a little study using the amazing book, Awesome Ocean Science! On p. 7-8 it describes how to make a pie that compares the ratio of the earth's water to land. We modified it for a gluten-free edible ocean math lesson.

The book says that 70% of the earth is covered with water, 30% land. We decided to use blue jello in a 9x13 baking dish to show the water. So the first question...how could we divide the pan into sections to accurately model 70%?

We problem solved by drawing diagrams on the whiteboard. My student knew he wanted to begin by dividing the area of the pan in half, lengthwise. He also knew that he wanted 10 sections, each representing 10% of the earth. At first he thought he could make 5 horizontal cuts to make 5 horizontal sections. Quickly realizing that 5 cuts made 6 sections, he modified, making 4 horizontal cuts. We measured the pan to determine that each cut would need to be somewhere between 2 and 3 inches in length. This wasn't exact measuring...a simple estimate made cuts that gave us 10 more-or-less equal sections.

The boys then covered 30% of the surface with blueberries to indicate land, leaving the other 70% to show water. Finally, a few "white waves" (whipped topping) finished off the ocean surface.

Yummy math!

Math Monday Blog Hop #9

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Summer Math Reading

Ready to gear up for some summer reading? Consider adding some math-related children's literature* to your list. I have a long list of updates that I'll be adding to my math book list over the next several weeks as I prepare to teach a class on Linking Math and Literature.

And please let me know of any new titles you discover! I've got a goodie to share with you soon.

*Disclaimer: If you use a link on this blog to go to Amazon, any purchases you make result in a small commission (no cost to you) that is then sent in its entirety to Grace and Hope (see button above), the organization that provided foster care for my son while in China. My goal for this year is to earn enough commissions to put one additional child in foster care. Thank you for your help.