Math and Social Justice

Ever wanted to integrate math and social justice? Me too. Check out the Radical Math site. You can search by issue or math topic. If you wanted to teach about percent, say, you could look at How Rising Oil Prices Affect the Poor Disproportionately, or at Rising Rent, a series of lessons on the gentrification [...]

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Math is a Tool

The clay city is still going strong. Tee usually starts projects and abandons them, so his continued interest in doing this is a bit of a change. He’s added “land” for friends that come over to play, and is now busy with making maps that delineate borders. He found it quite challenging to recreate the [...]

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Marshmallows and Toothpicks

This is a fun way to learn about polygons and geometric solids. Tee learned quickly that a triangle is the most stable shape, and was thrilled with the size of tower he was able to build. Once the marshmallows dry, they’ll harden, and the models will be even more stable. Some of the words learned [...]

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Pizza Fractions

Jay has been after me for some time to “teach her how to read recipes.” I didn’t quite understand what she meant, because she can read, so what’s to know? Then I thought she meant that wanted me to tell her what the tsp and Tbsp bits meant, but she finally explained that she wanted to know [...]

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Sugar-Coated Math

Cookie map finished, what to do with the leftover Smarties? (No need to worry about those little chocolate rosebuds. I ate them all last night after the kids went to bed.) I actually had it all planned out. No opportunity to teach goes to waste in this house. Can’t have fun, or just plain enjoy [...]

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Math Game I

Here’s a simple and fast math game for two or more players. It helps with place value, and addition. Make a chart for each player. Divide the charts into two columns; one for tens and one for ones. Add seven rows, one for each of the seven turns. The players take turns rolling one die. When they [...]

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