Math Supplies: Must Haves for Homeschool

Math Supplies: Must Haves for Homeschool

Want to teach your kid math but don’t know where to start? These are the essential tools to help you on your way.

FREE App: Digital Geoboard by Math Learning Center

FREE App: Digital Geoboard by Math Learning Center

Geoboard are a classic math manipulative, and this is our favorite free digital one!

Volume: Give to the Hand

Volume: Give to the Hand

A basic principle of education: always give the concrete before the abstract.  In other words, give a new idea to the hand before you give it to the mind. We are generally awesome at this with little kids.  Walk into

Quick Line and Rotational Symmetry Project

Quick Line and Rotational Symmetry Project

A quick project to introduce symmetry: You can either provide or have them use a protractor to draw some simple geometric shapes on construction paper.  I typically require a square, an equilateral triangle, and a third polygon of their choice. 

Popsicle Stick Snowflakes: A Holiday Craft

Popsicle Stick Snowflakes: A Holiday Craft

I saw this Popsicle stick snowflake craft on Pinterest and immediately fell in love!  My preschooler loves Popsicle stick crafts, and he has been itching to get ready for Christmas, so this was a perfect fit for a recent Saturday

Math Storybooks: Sir Cumference

Math Storybooks: Sir Cumference

I am always on the lookout for resources that make math more fun and exciting for kids. Several years ago, a colleague of mine loaned me a copy of Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland to read to

Tessellation Tip

Tessellation Tip

In order to keep them from crawling up the walls in their last week before summer vacation, I’ve given my seventh graders a tessellation project.  There are about ten million youtube videos explaining how to do this, so I won’t

Area of Mixed Polygons

Area of Mixed Polygons

In 7th grade math, we’re working on area.  We’ve gone through all of the basic formulas with careful attention to how they are related to one another — the triangle being half of a rectangle, the trapezoid being a combination

Units vs. Square Units (vs. Cubic Units)

When teaching basic geometry concepts, such as perimeter and area, you will save yourself quite a bit of grief if you start by making clear the difference between units and square units. Our common abbreviations for these, such as cm

Pythagorean Theorem Follow-Up: Solution

Monday I asked my students to determine whether this triangle was equilateral, isosceles, or scalene, and to prove their answer.  The hint is in the post title: this is a Pythagorean Theorem activity.  Here is the original triangle: If you said