Part of the Count 10 Read 10 series to help parents connect with kids through math a little each day.
Did you know that the alphabet song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Baa Baa Black Sheep are all the same tune!?
Well, now there’s another!
Thanks to all the great folks who have public domain images out there that I could use for this.
Specifically
In an attempt to join the Wordless Wednesday crowd, I’m sharing this photo. But as you can see, for MathFour.com, this is only a Somewhat Wordless Wednesday.
Before this photo we were discussing size of shirts – a numeracy concept that is visually displayed through the inability for grownups to fit 4T nightshirts on their bodies. Count 10 Read 10 is part of our family’s afterschooling routine.
Written as part of the Count 10, Read 10 series.
For my 40th birthday, I bought myself this beautiful Lokta paper book from a fabulous little store in the Houston Heights called Write Now!
It has circles on it – one of my “things.” I love circles. But then I saw how the colors were laid out.
“Holy cow! This is a teaching opportunity!” I thought.
And it got even better at the Texas Home School Coalition’s convention this last week. I shared it with former math teacher and now-homeschooler Sharon Brantley and she saw even more goodies in it!
Anything that has more than one aspect/characteristic/color (pretty much everything) can be checked for patterns. Patterns are an essential, perhaps even the most important, building block for mathematical thinking and development.
Here’s what you can see in this book cover:
What Sharon pointed out to me was that you can draw an L from any dot to another dot of the same color!
Optional: This “L” thing links directly to the slope, by the way. Between any two points of the same color, the slope is either 1/2 or -2. Cool, huh?
Where do you see patterns in your world? Share it (and a link to the picture) in the comments!
Written as part of the Count 10, Read 10 series.
I noticed Daughter attempting to bejewel Husband with a strand of my faux pearls the other day. I watched, enthralled with the math learning taking place.
She held the necklace in her hands – one on each side. Just about equal. So the space available for Husband’s head was almost non-existent. Like this:
If she were to hold the necklace at two points that were closer together, she would create a “dip” in the necklace where his head could fit. Like this:
This made me think of all the nifty things you can show about the relationship of perimeter to area and how you can have the same perimeter but change the area to all sorts of sizes.
If you aren’t wearing a necklace, find some mardi-gras beads. Daughter has many strands, so I’m guessing your house might be littered with them as well. If not, join the club. Go buy some.
Play with them in the bathtub or right before bed. (Make sure they give them up before going to sleep, though – it’s a strangulation hazard!)
Move the necklace around on a flat surface (or on the bed) and let your child experiment with the ways the area changes. Ask questions like:
Don’t forget, activities like this should be fun. For your child as well as you. So don’t get too in depth talking the math talk if it feels weird. Go with the flow.
And let me know how that flow goes, would you? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Learning math isn’t just about being taught math. It’s about fun, discovery and experimentation. In the Count 10, Read 10! program, parents get to spend 10 minutes a night playing math with their children.
Like many games you’ll find here, this is a version of Calvinball (from Bill Watterson’s Calving & Hobbes cartoon). You and your children make up the rules as you go along or as you see fit.
This is merely a guideline or starting point.
Objective:
Have fun with numbers, counting and quantities.
Breakable rules:
Leader: Five!
Player 2: Plus three is eight!
Leader: Plus one is nine!
Player 2: Plus two is eleven!
Leader: WINNER!
The round ends when the youngest child reaches their limit of counting or adding. The winner is determined by a rule or random choosing. The older the children, the more “real rules” you’ll need to follow.
Possible winning rules:
The point is to have fun with counting and math. As your children grow, you’ll have to adjust the rules to give them more challenge and to fit the “real game” model. Here are some options for variations:
All games created at MathFour.com are tested or will be tested on Daughter. The rub is that Daughter is almost 2 – we’ll have to wait a while to do this one. So your input is important.
Will it work? Did it work? Try it and let me know how it goes in the comments, please. Also share your own variations.
