Sunflower Bluebird Pi Day 2023
This year, Natural Math is celebrating Pi Day with many math friends around the world. We’ve been partying for weeks! Today, we celebrate at the big event organized by the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Bluebird Math Circle, Alliance of Indigenous Math Circles.
Pi Day is all about circles. Here are two Math Trek printouts from our Inspired by Calculus series. The series is for children ages five and up and their families. This is literally ELI5 Calculus (explain-like-I’m-5). You can also use these short embodied activities for a warm-up with a group at any level. Happy Pi Day!
MATH TREK Integrals: Shapes out of Shapes
MATH TREK Integrals: Time-Lapse Vision and Shapes of Revolution
Posted in Make & Grow
Calm Math Playlist: Learn to lead online groups
Do you want to lead online math circles or casual math playdates for friends and family? Join Dr. Maria Droujkova and math friends for a live online event. We will explore a few activities together. We will also share online teaching tips, and crowdsource a playlist of math activities that feel calm.
- When: Wednesday April 1 from noon to 1 PM EDT
- Math topic: start with symmetry (algebraic geometry) and bridge to more
- Education topic: emotional support via mathematics for children ages 5 and up
- Who: parents, teachers, and math circle leaders
- Where: Natural Math Zoom
- Supplies: plain paper, graph paper (print here if you need it), scissors, colored pencils or markers, reliable internet, microphone
After you register, you will receive an email from reach.out@naturalmath.com with a link to login instructions. If you can’t find the email, send a message to that address and we’ll figure it out. Please log into Zoom on the device you will use for the event and check your audio and video systems at least fifteen minutes in advance.
About
Natural Math makes advanced mathematics accessible to everyone in kind ways. How? At Natural Math, families with toddlers do projects on symmetry and tessellations; four-year-olds design function machines; and six-year-olds build fractal models of infinity. Our motto: “Math is what you make of it.” Natural Math has more than two decades of proven track record in curriculum development, experience design, and publishing.
Dr. Maria Droujkova focuses her research and development efforts on learning communities, informal education, online education, advanced mathematics for young children, and game design. She holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from NCSU, and M.S. in Mathematics from Tulane. Maria is the founder of Natural Math, an educational design, consulting, and publishing organization started in 1996. Her approach to teaching focuses on the easy complexity (such as calculus for five-year-olds), openness, and kindness. She co-authored Moebius Noodles and Avoid Hard Work, popular books with innovative math activities for parents, teachers, and math circle leaders.
Posted in A Math Circle Journey, Grow
Ying is here; Five Fabulous Activities is next – some math for every age! Newsletter February 2020
First of all, congratulations! And thanks! After a successful crowdfunding campaign, Ying and the Magic Turtle is published and available. In that story book, readers experience mathematics, problems solving, and the rewards that come with perseverance. Children ages five and up, parents, and teachers can enjoy this retelling of an ancient legend for its rich beauty in mathematics.
Read more about the book and print out bonus magic square puzzles for your family, math circle, or class.
Five Fabulous Activities – crowdfunding ends February 29
Next up! Tenth book to be published by Natural Math, Five Fabulous Activities for Your Math Circle, is up for crowdfunding!
A math circle is any group of people gathering to explore mathematics—it could be in your home, in school, or even online. Math circle activities are often interactive, exploratory, flexible, open-ended, and social. How does one make it happen? Five Fabulous Activities by Samuel Coskey, Paul Ellis, and Japheth Wood, veteran math circle leaders, will help show you how. This book is a guide and a collection of recipes for anyone who wants to help others discover joyful and challenging math.
The book is primarily for middle and high school students. Each chapter also includes activities and explanations intended for younger math friends. The underlying mathematics can be of interest even to adult learners, including the authors!
The funding campaign quickly reached its goal. At the current stretch goal, for every $100 we raise, we will donate a copy of the book to a math circle serving groups of people who are underrepresented in STEM fields.
Check out this fabulous new book and preorder it for your family or math circle!
Our math friends shared these function machines. Can you guess what they do?
Posted in Newsletter
