Welcome to the 37th edition of the Math Teachers at Play blog carnival. I’m delighted to host the carnival here this month at Maths Insider!
For those new to the Math Teachers at Play carnival, this carnival celebrates some of the best maths teaching articles written by teachers, parents and bloggers each month. Along with the articles submitted, I’ve added some gems that I’ve found and shared on the Maths Insider Twitter and Facebook pages over the past weeks (Click those links to follow me and read maths goodies that have caught my eye!)
In keeping with tradition, I’ve presented a “37” puzzle and some interesting arithmetic facts about the number 37 below.
Let the carnival begin!
Puzzle:
Use five 5 s to make 37.
Can you make a target number 37 by using five 5s?
You can use many maths operator as you want!
ELEMENTARY CONCEPTS
- Cindy and her son investigated patterns in Exploring Growing Patterns with Snap Cubes posted at love2learn2day.
- Tracy H’s class made individual times tables posters in Tuesday Teacher Tips: Multiplication Posters posted at Math Learning Blog: DreamBox Learning.
- Becky Johnston shows her son playing with a Möbius Strip in Wide Open Campus · Round and Round posted at Wide Open Campus.
- Arlynda made a numbers board game Learning Numbers posted at My Daughters are Princesses, am I a Queen?.
- Nicole Taulman mixed maths and nature and explains, “On a Spring Day we just had to get some Math outside! This was a fun Spring math activity that incorporated butterflies, pebbles, sidewalk chalk and the great outdoors.” Find out how in Spring Math ~ Taking it Outside! posted at Journey to Excellence
ARITHMETIC
- John Cook shows how mathematicians combined chess and magic squares in A knight’s tour magic square posted at The Endeavour.
- Denise introduces her post ,”While cleaning up my archives, I re-discovered my cutest ever blog post. What memories!” Backwards Math is posted at Let’s Play Math!.
There’s also a follow-up story here: http://letsplaymath.net/2008/09/03/more-backwards-math/
- Crewton Ramone from Crewton’s House of Math shows a You Tube video where he uses blocks to teach a 4 and 5 year old the 9 times table in Playing Nines
- Tom Kendall presents an amazing time lapse video and an accompanying list of maths questions to ponder, in Birth to 10 Years in 1 Minute 25 Sec posted at Mr. Kendall recommends….
- Dan Finkel and Katherine Cook present a mathematical comic turn in the One Minute Math Video: Adding 1000 numbers versus opening a bag of chips posted at math for love. Your kids will love this one!
- David Ginsburg ponders division of fractions in Fractions: Divide and Conquer posted at Coach G’s Teaching Tips.
MATHEMATICAL PUZZLES
- James Tanton shares “why” in his essay: What Made Me a Mathematician “This piece is the opening introduction to my THINKING MATHEMATICS! series. I’ve had many requests to share this piece as I describe in it an intellectual experience that I truly believe made me a mathematician. It is all about my bedroom ceiling and the design on it I looked at every night as a youngster going to sleep.” It’s posted at www.jamestanton.com.
- Nancy Staples from The Math Hub highlights some mathematical poems for National Poetry Month in Math is Poetry; Poetry is Math
ABOUT TEACHING MATH
- Peter Price suggests a great way to get more mileage out of basic arithmetic facts: What are Extended Number Facts And How Do Students Learn Them? posted at Classroom Professor.
- Bon Crowder provides a personal example of the power and responsibility teachers have in How a Math Teacher Can Change Lives posted at Math is Not A Four Letter Word.
- Mark Eichenlaub uses a lesson on the volume and surface area of a sphere to assert that teachers can simplify mathematical definitions to help students understand complex concepts in My Brown Big Spiders posted at Arcsecond.
- Rebecca Zook explains, “Sometimes a student’s needs are so particular that a teacher just can’t address them in a crowded classroom, despite their most playful efforts. Here are three situations where a teacher might consider recommending a tutor who will work with you as a team and encourage your student to take ownership of their work.” Read more in When should a teacher recommend a tutor? posted at Triangle Suitcase – Rebecca Zook’s Blog About Learning.
- I’m also sharing a post from Maths Insider: 21 Seriously Cool Careers That Need Maths: Grab Your Free eBook – The special “Share to Get” button let’s you share the link to that post on Facebook or Twitter in order to grab a piece of maths-inspiration.
BASIC ALGEBRA & GEOMETRY
- Jeremiah Dyke, whose blog has the byline “Burn The Textbooks, Shred The Worksheets, Teach Math”, presents a cool and practical maths homework idea in Creating A Math Clock (Indirect Homework) posted at Hands On Math.
- Mimi Yang uses a Pringles box as a cannon to demonstrate an Intro to Instantaneous Rates posted at I Hope This Old Train Breaks Down….
- Sue VanHattum shares some cool methods and facts related to factoring in Math Mama Writes…: My Math Alphabet: F is for Factoring posted at Math Mama Writes….
- Math Monday at Make showcases a quirky piece of furniture for maths lovers: a Mathematical Coffee Table
- Amy G. from Square Root of Negative One Teach Math does an algebra 2 Scavenger Hunt with her students with the help of her Rock Star intern.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this 37th edition of the Math Teachers at Play carnival!
The May carnival will be hosted by Guillermo Bautista at Mathematics and Multimedia.
Also, check out the other math carnivals : Carnival of Mathematics and Mathematics in Multimedia Carnival.
Puzzle and arithmetic facts from thirty-seven.org. Photos by ElektroSpaceRanger, ?Kentigern?, Leo Reynolds
Did you work out the answer to the puzzle? What was your favourite part of this carnival? Tell me in the comments below!
About The Author: Caroline Mukisa is the founder of Maths Insider. A Cambridge University educated math teacher, she's been involved in math education for over 20 years as a teacher, tutor, Kumon instructor, Thinkster Math instructor and math ed blogger. She is the author of the insanely helpful ebook "The Ultimate Kumon Review" and insanely useful website "31 Days to Faster Times Tables" You can follow her math tips on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @mathsinsider
Caroline, thanks for all of your hard work putting together such a fun carnival! The layout is great and I’m really looking forward to investigating the articles. Thank you for including me! :)
Thanks for contributing your article! Glad you liked the layout. I’m sure you’ll love many of the articles in this months carnival!
Great job! I love the cool facts about 37. :) Thank you for hosting!
Thank you Denise for starting the Math Teachers at Play carnival! It’s great to such a wide variety of maths teaching articles all in one place each month.
Caroline, thanks so much for compiling all these wonderful articles, and for including mine. I’m glad to know about Math Insider–a great resource that I’ll be using myself and recommending to others.
Thanks for your kind words – glad that Maths Insider has found Coach G too!
37 = 5*5 + 5 + 5 + [sqrt(5)]
Nice collection. Unfortunately, it seems that I have forgotten to submit. LOL. Anyway, Caroline, you are also invited to host the Math and Multimedia Carnival. And others of course who are interested.
This is so wonderful. Thank you all for your contributions. I cannot wait to dig in!
(gamma 5 ) + (sigma 5) – ((5+5)/5)