Do you use maps? Perhaps you use your GPS but it gives us a map to follow. Today I get to share with you a new picture book that shares a bit of the history of maps and how they have been made over time. The book is The Shape of Things: How Mapmakers Picture Our World by Dean Robbins and illustrated by Matt Tavares. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8.
Today I get to share an online educational toy store with you. When Hazel was young, I loved getting educational toys for her and especially loved when they were made from natural materials. Today I get to share with you my experience and a toy from Alphabet Trains and Toys. I was approached to review a toy and share my experience with you.
We are in final exam week at our school. The stress levels are high everywhere. But it also means that school is almost done, and summer is almost here. Summer can be so much fun, but it can also be a time for kids to lose some of their learning. Today I am sharing some products to give you and your kids some fun activities as well as learning in fun ways! We will begin with some creative activity books. Today (May 30th) is National Creativity Day and these books are perfect to get your kids and you creating and having fun! The first are two books by Alberto Lot. There is Crayon Racing which I reviewed a couple of years ago and Crayon Adventures. They are recommended for ages 4 to 8 or as the publisher states 4 to 104. I know my high school students have been having lots of fun with them!
Last week was a stressful and emotional week at school and home, so I wasn't able to post. I have realized when I'm not in the right mindset my reviews are hard to write. For a while I have wanted to share some ideas I use in my geometry class with origami paper. I will be sharing four new packages of origami paper with you in this post. I keep a box of origami paper in my classroom and students come and get some when they are feeling creative or need to relax. I also use it in my geometry class. I have the kids do a project using geometric terms project using geometric terms, but I also use it for some easy discovery and illustrating properties. I have been wanting to share these ideas with you. May is the perfect time to introduce it since origami is a Japanese art form and ties into Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
As a math teacher I know that being able to see and recognize patterns is important. When kids are young, we teach them simple pattern finding. When they are older, we teach harder pattern finding that goes into things like equations of lines and other graphs. I know because I just taught patterns to my algebra class. I also teach patterns in geometry. Patterns are important in life and in developing our brains! Patterns are also a huge part of our lives. We see them all around us. We create them in our daily lives. Patterns can be dances, songs, daily routines, fabric prints, bead colors or shapes, spirals, branches, etc. Even our bodies are made with some patterns. They are truly everywhere. Today I get to share a new book about looking for patterns both to learn patterns and to help give you a break when needed. The book is Look by Gabi Snyder and illustrated by Samantha Cotterill. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8.
On March 14, mathematicians and much of the world celebrate Pi Day. Since the approximation of the number pi is 3.14, March 14th was picked for the day. It was first celebrated in 1988 in San Francisco. As a math teacher I get excited for Pi Day, however our school is always on spring break on March 14th so I don't get to celebrate it with my students. This year I thought I would do a round-up of Pi Day activities and try to share ones for different age groups since much of what I see are for younger kids and I teach high school. Be sure to start your celebration with some pi jokes and riddles like these. Some of the Best Things in Life Are Mistakes shares a round-up of free Pi Day decorations! By the way Pi Day is also Albert Einstein's birthday. You can also have a birthday celebration for Albert!
With the new year approaching I have to share something I am excited to add to my classroom. I am sharing two math-themed calendars or what I will call math themed. I have two page-a-day calendars that will work in my classroom. One is Origami Page-A-Day 2024 Calendar by Margaret Van Sicklen and Workman Calendars, and it will be perfect in my geometry class as well to enterain the kids who visit my room for origami paper. The other one is Original Sudoku Page-A-Day 2024 Calendar by Workman Calendars and Nikoli Publishing, and it is perfect for adding some problem solving and logic skills to kids.
One thing I love to do is bring origami into my classroom. Whether using the old patty paper methods to discover theorems and such or doing origami and perhaps an origami project to demonstrate using geometric terms or just to have cool geometric shapes around the room, I love adding origami. I actually have a box of origami paper in my room-- a boot box covered with Asian wrapping paper. Students come in all the time to have a piece or two just to create something for a relaxed moment. Today I am sharing a book full of geometry and geometric shapes all created by origami and two different packs of origami paper (which all will be added to my classroom supply). I have a shelf full of origami books and kits as well. The book is The Art & Science of Geometric Origami by Jun Maekawa. The packs of paper are Origami Paper 300 Sheets Vibrant Colors 4" (10 cm) and Origami Paper in a Box Japanese Washi Patterns.
It is very rare to find a good math novel. I was once gifted The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzenberger by a student's family. It is a middle grade novel, so I thought it was a bit strange (to receive as a high school teacher), but then I read it. I loved it. Unfortunately, it is out of print, and I loaned my copy to someone and never got it back. That is my biggest experience with a math novel. However today I am sharing a new math novel with you. It is not a fantasy as The Number Devil, but it has some great math in it and it is explained in ways that kids will be able to understand. The book is volume 1 of the Math Mysteries series. It is Math Mysteries: The Triple Threat by Aaron Starmer and illustrated by Marta Kissi. It is recommended for ages 8 to 12.
The start of this year is tough. My schedule is tough. I teach straight through on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with only lunch as a break. I have two prep periods on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but they are usually spent giving extra help to students. Our school requires teachers to be there from 7:30 to 4. School goes from 8:15 to 3:15. I have to say the extra time until 4 is a waste for me because my brain just needs a break before I can really think or function on work. I often have to wait until after dinner to get any more work done. As a teacher I feel it is a little ridiculous for any school to have set hours for teachers besides the required ones when the school is open. Teachers by nature will do the work they need to on their own time. We are not teaching because we want to be rich or famous. We teach because we want to teach and be with the kids. After three weeks in, I'm still getting use to the schedule and figuring things out.
I am heading back to school for teacher training and the pre-school year prep. One of the things I always have in my room is origami paper and books. I use them with my geometry classes and pull them out during breaks and students come in to get some when they need a break or something to do with their hands. Today I am going to share with you an origami kit and three packs of origami paper which I will be adding to my classroom collection! We will start with the kit which is Fun with Origami Animals by Sam Ita. It is recommended for ages 6 to 10. I would say it is perfect for beginners no matter the age.
It was very different teaching last year versus when I left teaching 17 years ago. So much has changed from technology to expectations. When I taught previously every high school used Geometers' Sketchpad and now there are free and easier to use programs like GeoGebra. Graphing calculators were a huge deal and it was hard to get students to buy them. We actually often had a class set or at least a few for the ones who could not afford them. Now if they do not have the calculators, they can use online programs like Desmos. Although I did not permit Desmos during tests since it was too hard to monitor what they were really doing on their devices with online searches and such. I discovered I liked Desmos better for some things because of the ease to use it. However, I still teach kids to use their graphing calculators because they are able to use them in standardized testing like the SAT and ACT.
One of my goals this year is to bring fractals into my teaching, especially in geometry class. Today I am going to share the fractal tree. It can easily be done on a computer but is also great for practicing measuring with a ruler and protractor. Now a fractal tree is probably one of the most basic fractals and well-known or at least its cousin, the fern is certainly seen as a fractal.
In geometry class we have been talking about the special segments in triangles. It is the perfect time to introduce my origami project. To start I shared a tutorial with them making an origami bunny balloon. I use terms from our lessons like median, midsegment, angle bisector and more throughout the tutorial. The kids make one with me in class. Then I give them my assignment. The kids enjoyed spending the class trying different origami projects. You can watch my tutorial here. I love that I am making an origami bunny balloon when lunar new year is going on and it is the year of the rabbit in Chinese Horoscope.
In 2019, I started picking a word for the year. I find the word helps me focus on something for the year. Last year my word was positivity because I really felt like my life needed more positivity. The year before it was inspire. I have also picked connect and flourish. This year I tried to think about what word I wanted and where I wanted to focus in my life. I was thinking I wanted something to do with my teaching. I thought of prosper, resolve, and thrive, but they didn't feel right. I saw a display at our local mall with "JO" in greens and you stand as the "Y". It is put out for the holidays each year. I thought about choosing "joy". Again, I wasn't completely sure. I tried a couple of word of the year generators like this one over at Mama Smiles. I tried hers twice and came up with transform and reflect.
One of my goals now that I'm teaching is to share some of the projects I am doing with my classes. Before break I was teaching my geometry classes the congruent triangle shortcuts: SSS, SAS, SAA, ASA, and HL (for right triangles only). In one class I assigned a congruent triangle project. I gave the kids the choice of building a truss bridge, making a gazebo, or making a congruent triangle picture that had at least five different pairs of congruent triangles (one for each shortcut) and they needed a page showing each of the pairs as congruent with one of the shortcuts or needed to mark them in their drawing. Most of the kids picked the drawing. I wasn't in love with the gazebo tutorial, or the gazebo made in it so I thought I would make my own. Today I am going to share my gazebo as well as a project sheet to assign it. (I am still deciding if I am going to assign it to my other class or not as they are about half a chapter behind the other one.)
Over the years I have shared my love for fractals with you. I began with my introduction to frozen fractals after Elsa sings about them in "Let It Go" in Disney's Frozen. A fractal is an object that has self-similarity, or each part looks like the whole. It introduces new ideas of symmetry, dimensionality, and more. Fractal geometry often explains some of the irregularities of our world. It can be a very complex topic to understand, but it is an important one. Fractals are making advances in our medical world, entertainment (movies, computer games and more) as well as science. There are some topics that kids even young kids can understand. Since they were introduced in Frozen, many kids have now heard of them. I feel it is important to teach kids about them and give them a true idea of what they are.
