MathStuff

Hi All, Here's another simple game, that believe it or not, you can play happily with kids from PK through Grade 12. It's BOWLING FOR NUMBERS. With this game you can work on adding and subtracting, data collection, and data recording. You can deal with whole numbers, fractions, negative numbers, square roots, whatever kind of number you want. First get some pins. You can buy very inexpensive plastic bowling sets at toy stores or online or you can use plastic bottles to create your own. Any kind of ball will do. I like to use a smaller ball like a tennis ball or golf ball so it is more challenging. Now label the pins with the numbers you want your players to deal with. I just write the numbers on pieces of paper and tape them on the pins (or use sticky notes) so I can re-use the pins any way I want as my players change in ability. Choose the number of pins you want, set them up in any design you want, then players roll the ball, knock pins down, and add up the VALUE of the...

Hi All, Today's problem/activity is called WHO'S LEFT STANDING? It's based on playing a simple game, but has lots of intriguing patterns to investigate. You can use this activity with Grades 2 -12. Young kids will see the mathematical patterns emerge as they play while older kids will see the same and may even be able to express what they find algebraically. The game is simple. Kind of a "Duck, Duck, Goose." If you were to have a few people get in a line and then start with the first person on the left and say, "in," and the next person, "out," the first person stays standing and the second sits down in place.  You continue down the line alternating each person as "in" or "out." When you reach the end of the line, you go back to the beginning to the first person still standing and continue till only one person is left standing. Played with two players, #1 would be left standing. In the photos here, you can see when pla...

Hi All, To try and help folks out in a small way during our current Coronavirus circumstances, I thought I might share some free math ideas with any teachers, parents, and/or kids who are looking for good problems, projects, and activities to do.  Some of you may know me as having been an elementary teacher, curriculum developer, math coach, and supervisor in the West Windsor-Plainsboro Schools in Princeton Junction, NJ or as an author of math books for Scholastic. I try to develop problems and activities that are interesting, fun, and challenging. I plan on posting a piece every couple of days. I'll give you a brief description of the activity and then attach a pdf you can download and print.  Today, as an introduction, here's a link to an activity called The Fraction Museum. https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/videos/teaching-content/fraction-museums-bob-krech/ This is a video of me teaching the lesson with a third grade class.  You can do this activity with ...