Kingdom on the Wall, Multiplication is Calculus, Math Inspirations: Newsletter March 23, 2016
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Kingdom on the Wall: a new Physics+Math+Art adventure for your children!
HIGHLIGHTS of what your children and you get from our new workshop: all Kingdom on the Wall recordings; advanced topics in algebra and geometry made accessible; cross-discipline experience in physics+math+art; live meetings with leaders and participants from all over the world.
- What: A two-day online workshop on physics+math explorations for your and your children ages 3 to 12. Topics include center of gravity, symmetry and ratios in algebra, spatial transformations in optics and geometry, and more.
- Why: Learn how to help your children play with rich, beautiful, and deep math and physics concepts.
- Who: 25 parents, teachers, math circle leaders, and their children, with Dr. Irina Malkin Ondik and Shelley Nash as organizers.
- When: Live meetings April 7 and 12 at 1:00 PM EDT (New York) = 7:00 PM CEST (Paris).
Multiplication is calculus? And my five-year-old can do it?
One of our most popular online courses is Multiplication Explorers. It is artistic, creative, and a little bit wild. Next week, we are offering a LIVE intro into the large self-paced collection of activities, videos, and discussions.
HIGHLIGHTS of what your children and you get with this workshop: all past and future Multiplication Explorers recordings; bridges to topics in calculus and algebra; understanding, appreciation, and smart memory skills for multiplication.
- What: An intensive two-day online workshop on multiplication for parents and teachers with children ages 3 and up, PLUS access to the online course materials and forum.
- Why: Learn how to help your children play with rich and beautiful math.
- Who: 25 parents, teachers, math circle leaders, and their children, with Marina Kopylova and Sally Bishop as organizers.
- When: Live meetings March 28 and 30 at noon-1:30 PM EST (New York).
Go to the course page for sample Math Sparks and more info.
P.S. When you ask children to show their creation, they lift it up – as if looking at the world through mathematics:
This beautiful photo is from the Little Chalk blog.
Free and open Math Future event
Come help the Natural Math crew interview leaders of projects that make mathematical futures happen. Meet other people who care about math ed, listen to a short presentation from the guest speaker, and ask questions about the future of teaching and learning mathematics – happening now!
On Friday March 25, we will talk with Emily Dyke of Math Inspirations. The right math experience is challenging, purposeful, and fun, while meeting your unique, individual goals. Math Inspirations exists to teach students and parents to take ownership of their math experience and empower them with a system that makes their efforts fruitful.
Join us live, or check out recordings of other Math Future events since 2009.
Dr. Maria Droujkova and the Natural Math crew
Questions? Email reach.out@naturalmath.com or ask in comments to this page.
Posted in Make & Grow, Newsletter
Multiplication Explorers LIVE March 28-20, bloggers at play, book bundle sale: Newsletter March 19, 2016
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Multiplication Explorers LIVE March 28-30
We are running a live, highly interactive online workshop for 25 parents, math circle leaders, and teachers, with children ages 2 and up, on March 28-30, with live meetings at noon-1:30 PM EST.
Multiplication Explorers LIVE will help you grow your math intuition, share the joy and beauty of mathematical activities related to multiplication, and develop your confidence in leading activities with your family, math circle, or class.
Do you remember how you felt studying the multiplication tables? For so many people we meet, the dislike and fear of math can be traced all the way back to their struggles to understand (and not just memorize) multiplication. Can we change this pattern so our children feel curiosity, joy, and affinity – rather than fear, anxiety, and alienation? Can multiplication be more about smart play, rich mathematical thinking, and usefulness everywhere in life?
Multiplication Explorers materials explore holistic approaches to learning multiplication. We invite you to boldly go beyond the familiar representations of multiplication such as skip counting and repeated addition, to work and play with many meaningful, beautiful, and fun models. This live workshop will get you started with adventures across the universe of multiplication.
Math is what you make of it: play along with these bloggers and their children
Natural Math is all about going on your own adventures, and using ideas in your own ways. Want your story featured here? Contact us!
Sara and her four girls at Happiness Is Here blog play with mirror book activities from Moebius Noodles, and share many gorgeous photos as they explore symmetry, angles, multiplication, and spatial transformations.
Sara writes: I love this rainbow flower by Miss 7. An accidental discovery. When she was going to pack up the rainbow flower she moved the mirrors back and noticed she’d created something different. She then played around with the angles for a while creating different variations with the same parts. They now do this after every creation.
Even Miss 2 had a go. She enjoyed gently throwing some pieces and watching all the reflected pieces fall in synchronicity.
Jen Mendez at PERMIE KIDs posted a 25-minute podcast story inspired by activities from the book Socks Are Like Pants, Cats Are Like Dogs. She expands on an early algebra activity called This Is Like That, where you seek variables that link different things, like cats and dogs. Jen connects the activity to a philosophical idea she’s been exploring.
Jen writes: All in Relation can feel like a big, abstract idea, especially when talking about it philosophically, so how can we help children start to look at themselves, others and the world through this lens? One of the fundamental premises of All in Relation as an ethic is understanding how seeming unrelated things have a relationship. This book [Socks Are Like Pants] inspires families and groups to play, solve, talk, and make math-together. The book is filled with a diverse collection of math games, puzzles, and activities exploring the mathematics of choosing, identifying and sorting. Ready for some hands-on, minds-on learning activities that will inspire deeper connections? Play math today and let inspiration grow!
Book bundle sale is now for ebooks too
The latest Natural Math book for parents, math circle leaders, and teachers is called Bright, Brave, Open Minds: Engaging Young Children in Math Inquiry. To celebrate, we offer a limited-time sale on our book bundles. Several of you asked if we have an ebook bundle in addition to paperbacks, so here it is! You save $29 on the paperback bundle and $16 on ebook bundle.
Dr. Maria Droujkova and the Natural Math crew
Questions? Email reach.out@naturalmath.com or ask in comments to this page.
Posted in Make & Grow, Newsletter
Making Rice & Understanding Circumference
Rice and circumference go together? Why, yes, they do!
Yesterday, I was playing with the Going in Circles spark from the Inspired by Calculus class with my online class and my children. We did this activity.
We had so much fun verifying that the difference in the lengths of string was really the same no matter how big or small your original circle seemed to be. One student even did the activity in reverse. He noticed that drawing a new circle with a radius that was 1/2″ longer added 3″ to the string. When he did a circle with a radius that was 1″ longer, it added 6″ to the amount of string needed to go around the new circle (as compared to the original circle). So he guessed if he had a 9″ difference that the radius would increase by 1.5″ compared to the original circle. Then he tested his hypothesis! I was so excited by his thinking process! It was a bit challenging to use string and get accurate measurements.
Another neat question that arose, when we showed that the difference in circumference is always the same amount no matter the original circle size, was WHY!? Two of my students were really annoyed and wanted to know “Why! Mrs. Nash. How is that possible!” After racking my brain for a moment we settled on the analogy of making rice. It’s a proportion, and that’s where Pi really started to click (even for me!) Just like making rice is always 1 part rice : 2 parts water; circles are always increasing by 2π.
photo by Deborah Austin. CC-BY-2.0
So if I need 9 cups of rice I measure 3:6; if I need 24 cups of rice I measure 8:16; but no matter how BIG the amount of rice I need, the proportion will be the same. That’s when they got it—that’s when I got it! No matter how big my starting circle (even if it’s the earth), the proportion I add is connected to 2π . It’s a ratio!
Here’s a bit of my own math I did after the class.
- Original Circle: Radius of 10, circumference abt 60
- 1/2″ larger: Radius of 10.5, circumference abt 63
- 1″ larger: Radius of 11, circumference abt 66
- 1.5″ larger: Radius 11.5, circumference abt 69
Ta da! Can you see the 3 (or 3.14….) ratio! So much fun for my brain to see it!
If you’d like to try the sparks too, watch for our next Inspired by Calculus class.
Posted in A Math Circle Journey
Where’s math in this play? Open Minds book is out, and our new book bundle. Newsletter March 7, 2016
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Where is mathematics? Playing with blocks online, March 10
Sian Zelbo, a co-author and illustrator of the popular math circle and family book Camp Logic, is working on her next book, Playing With Blocks. Parents and teachers often tell us, “Yes, we see how your activities are beautiful and playful, and we want that for our children’s math. But we can’t find the math in our play. Help!” Sian’s book helps you to see deep mathematics in playful activities. And now, you have a chance to work with Sian Zelbo and Sally Bishop live, during a workshop we offer.
The activity you will explore in the online workshop is a joyful and elegant example of mathematics that starts easy, and then takes you far. The areas of math you will touch come from the subjects of geometry, number theory, and combinatorics.
You will help your children grow their math eyes, and notice unexpected links between concepts such as angle and area, minimum/maximum and perimeter, combinations that form a sum and types of triangles (equilateral, scalene, and so on). You will make bridges to other rich math activities, such as pentaminoes and tangrams.
As we talk, you will pick up good math terms for this exploration, and good search phrases for when you want to investigate these topics more. You will also collect questions you can ask about any problem, to learn deeper, more joyful math. For example:
- What makes Thing One and Thing Two similar or different? (For example, a triangle and a square.)
- What is the largest thing you can make? How do you measure your things? (For example, using a grid to measure areas.)
- What if you change your numbers around? What other things you can change? (For example, 10 toothpicks instead of 12.)
Check out a sample activity you can try, from our online workshop centered on the new book’s ideas. It runs on March 10 and 11, and is for parents and teachers with children ages 5-12.
A new Natural Math book is out!
The latest Natural Math book for parents, math circle leaders, and teachers is called Bright, Brave, Open Minds: Engaging Young Children in Math Inquiry. Go to the book’s page to try out several activities with your children, and get a taste of the inquiry-based approach to playful, deep mathematics.
In the introduction, the author Julia Brodsky writes:
I will share with you what I have learned as I tinkered with teaching problem solving to curious young children, ages six to eight. The purpose of this book is to invite you to experiment with your own children or students, without any preconceived notions of how the outcome will look. Instead, allow your personal taste and the children’s feedback to guide you.
As all our books, Open Minds is available in paperback as well as electronic formats and name-your-price PDF. To celebrate, we offer a limited-time sale on our book bundle. Check it out!
Dr. Maria Droujkova and the Natural Math crew
Questions? Email reach.out@naturalmath.com or ask in comments to this page.
Posted in Make & Grow, Newsletter
