Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Upcoming Book Club and Math Circle {Math and Magic in Wonderland}


There is no Frigate like a Book  
To take us Lands away,  
Nor any Coursers like a Page  
Of prancing Poetry –   
This Traverse may the poorest take         
Without oppress of Toll –   
How frugal is the Chariot  
That bears a Human soul.
                               -Emily Dickinson

Have you ever read a book that you just had to tell all your friends about?  What about an enthralling math problem you just had to share?  If you nodded at the former suggestion and chuckled at the latter one, you are not alone!  One of the reasons I wrote my book, Math and Magic in Wonderland, was to make the world of mathematics as fun and accessible as the world of literature.

My family has been having such a wonderful time playing along with my math adventure novel, that I just have to share it with others.  Today I'm excited to announce the Math and Magic Book Club and Math Circle.  I invite other families to join us as we read through the book and "play math" together...


The twins made a little promotional video for the book club. The club will run from August 1st through the week of October 10th.  Every week, we'll read one chapter of Math and Magic in Wonderland and explore different math concepts from the book.  The twins and I will make videos that explain each topic and demonstrate the go-along activities.  You'll join along at home and get a chance to win fabulous prizes by solving riddles and sharing pictures of your own mathematical explorations (like deciphering secret codes, designing unique tessellations, writing acrostic poems, and more).


Full Book Club Schedule

Here is the Book Club / Math Circle schedule (you can join any time):

 Week of August 1st:
  • Book Club Kick-Off Party!
  • Read Chapter 1: Mrs. Magpie's Manual
  • Alliteration
  • Memorizing digits of Pi
  • Palindromes
  • Calculating your age on other planets
  • Read Chapter 2: Magic Square
  • Making tangrams
  • Acute, obtuse, and right angles
  • Magic squares
  • Adding consecutive numbers using Gauss's trick
  • Read Chapter 3: Secret Codes
  • Word permutations
  • Cartesian coordinates
  • Operations on odd and even numbers 
  • Read Chapter 4: Rabbit Trails
  • Drawing a perfect circle
  • Making a compass
  • Finding the center of a circle
  • Exploring Pi
  • Famous mathematicians who followed rabbit trails
  • Read Chapter 5: Two Worlds Join
  • Mobius strips
  • Fractals
  • Tessellations
  • Read Chapter 6: River Crossing
  • River Crossing Problems
  • Build a boat and explore buoyancy
  • Read Chapter 7: Seven Bridges
  • Seven Bridges of Königsberg problem
  • The power of exponents
  • Word ladders
  • Thales's method for calculating the height of an object
  • Read Chapter 8: Veracity
  • Truth-tellers and liars
  • Finding a fake coin using a balance scale
  • Archimedes buoyancy principle
  • Read Chapter 9: To Catch a Thief
  • John Napier's Rooster
  • Doubling pennies and calculating exponents
  • Towers of Hannoi
  • Read Chapter 10: The Vorpal Sword
  • Square numbers
  • Prime numbers
  • Fibonacci Sequence
  • Relativity and time dilation
  • Acrostic poems
  • Read Chapter 11: Two Great Powers
  • Book Club Finishing Party with Prizes!

You don't need to sign up to join our Book Club / Math Circle or to be eligible for prizes- just be sure to purchase Math and Magic in Wonderland, and visit the LearnersInBloom blog on August 1st to get started in the fun.  If you have any questions about the book club, feel free to email me: creativetotmom@gmail.com .

Here's an affiliate link to my book... See you in the book club!



7 comments:

  1. Will you link the videos here? I will not be able to begin in August, but would love to follow along!

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    1. Yes, I'll write a little blog post each week describing that week's activities and linking to the videos. All the posts and videos will continue to be available after the book club ends so others can follow at their own pace. It should be fun!

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  2. What a great idea! We can't wait to get started. ☺

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  3. We've just received our copy, and cannot wait for the book club to begin!

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  4. How fun! We are excited to join you on this amazing math adventure!

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  5. What is the target age range for this book?

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    Replies
    1. This is such a tough question because I designed the book to be enjoyed on so many different levels. I think the target age for independent reading is around 10, but the book makes a great family read-aloud for younger children where they can work out the problems with their parents or older siblings (my kids, ages 4 and 7 loved the story and the activities we did together). Most of the problems do not require mathematical knowledge beyond basic multiplication, but the higher level thinking / problem solving can be fun for a variety of ages (even adults!).

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