C'mon, you can't help it. You HAVE to say "who do we appreciate?!" It's one of those automatic things that just happens. (I am willing to concede that perhaps this only happens if you've grown up the U.S. and have had some exposure to cheering for a team.) You might roll your eyes at it,... Continue Reading →
I am holding on to the belief that it is possible to take my kids somewhere - out to dinner, on a car trip -- without having to hand over an electronic device to keep them occupied. To that end, I am always on the lookout for little things to have at the ready in... Continue Reading →
I love lazy math. Not the kind of lazy math that students do when they don't show their work or document their reasoning, but the kind of lazy math parents do when we inspire our children's curiosity without having to do a lot of planning or instruction. It is one of those unwritten rules of... Continue Reading →
I got rid of our blocks the other day. I sent them over to my sister's house so that they could clutter her space rather than mine. Oops. What I mean to say, really, is that I sent them over to her house so that her nearly one-year-old child could enjoy them as much as... Continue Reading →
Here's another way to reinforce multiplication concepts with your elementary school kids. You just need a hundreds table and some markers. You can present it like a puzzle. Or you can be fancy and tell your kids that they're going to make the Sieve of Eratosthenes. Yes, that will get their attention. Here's the quickie... Continue Reading →
I can't say that I've ever been very intrigued by tessellations. I needed a good activity to do with pre-school-aged children, though, and tessellations combine patterns and crafts...always a winner with the three to four year old set. As usual, anytime I dismiss something as not-so-interesting, I ultimately discover how mistaken I was. It's great... Continue Reading →
It's good to have quick and easy mathy moments at your fingertips for young children. Especially the kind that look like fun games. Today the 5-year-old was being...well...a 5-year-old. He was just home from school and his 8-year-old brother didn't want to play with him. So he lay on the floor and cried. I asked... Continue Reading →
"Pam. We're having a mathy moment over here. You'd better write about it." Thus spoke my husband. And he was right. He and the 5-year-old were spending quality time with the measuring tape. The measuring tape (the kind that a builder uses, that self-retracts) is a brilliant, simple, and effective way to get mathy with your... Continue Reading →
If you have Magna-Tiles hanging around your house, you no doubt have seen a lot of cubes built. Maybe you've even made a few yourself. In my house, these cubes become Hot Wheels garages and airplane hangars. Today they became a spatial reasoning and visualization tool. Take 6 square tiles and lie them down in... Continue Reading →
"Hey, Pam. The 5-year-old says you told him that there is no 15 when you count by 5's." Huh? It was 7:00pm, and the kids were brushing their teeth before bed. This is a time when the most interesting conversations tend to pop up. My husband was assisting the 5-year-old when this one happened. "Show... Continue Reading →
mathy moments 