Math and Magic in Camelot!

After a long hiatus from blogging, I'm back with a wonderful surprise!  I'm very excited to announce the release of the second book in the Math and Magic Adventures series - "Math and Magic in Camelot"...

When Lulu and Elizabeth find themselves in Camelot, they are expecting to meet King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Instead, the twins enter the world of the Lily Maidens, an organization of women who travel through legends and time in pursuit of knowledge.  

But dark forces are uniting against the Kingdom; Merlin, the Black Pig, and a vast army of men and mythological beasts are marching for Camelot's gate. Only the magic of science, mathematics, and poetry can preserve honor's code and defend the Kingdom against the impending onslaught of evil.

Book Club Week 7 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

In chapter 7 of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland, Lulu and Elizabeth collect and deliver a tribute of Tum Tums to the Bandersnatches.  To accomplish this, they must calculate the height of a tree and build a word ladder with the correct number of rungs.  They deliver the Tum Tums to seven bridges which, based on graph theory, look like the seven bridges of Königsberg.  Let's play along...

Book Club Week 6 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

Chapter 6 of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland centers around the classic "River Crossing" logic problem.  If you take the time to follow rabbit trails, however, there are so many more learning opportunities to be found...

Book Club Week 5 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

Chapter 5 of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland, is full of visual puzzles and "math art".  Crafts are always a big hit around here, and those involving fractals and tessellations were no exception.  Here's what we did...

Book Club Week 4 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

In chapter 4 of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland, we draw circles, find their centers, understand what Pi really represents, and learn about the "rabbit trails" that famous scientist followed.  Kids always do great with geometry because it is so easy to visualize.  I bought my twins new compasses in the "back to school" section of a local store (only about a dollar!) and they spent a lot of time making circle art and investigating the properties of circles...

Book Club Week 3 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

The third chapter of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland, was about cracking "secret codes".  This inspired me to put together an entire spy-themed week for my children.  I sent the kids on missions around the house where they had to find and decrypt each secret message to reveal the next clue. We enjoyed reading mysteries and watching the Spy Kids movie, but didn't forget that great spies are also good at math!  Join us this week as we play with cryptography, learn about permutations of letters, discover a new ending to "The Walrus and the Carpenter", play "Battleship" to practice finding Cartesian coordinates, perform a mathematical proof, and more...

Let's Play Math {Book Review and Giveaway}

"Why are you smiling?" asked my 7-year-old girl as she peered over my shoulder.  I glanced up from my book - "Let's Play Math" by Denise Gaskins - but before I could answer her question, my daughter disappeared.  A minute later, she returned with a piece of paper and a box of sparkly markers.  "Can I play too?"  I looked at the book on my lap and my smile widened.  My daughter had noticed this image on the open page:

We spent the next hour playing with the Fibonacci sequence (using crackers) and making patterns out of Tangrams. That's what I love about "Let's Play Math"; This book not only gives parents ideas for making mathematics fun for children, but it also provides concrete examples that foster a family culture of enthusiasm around math.  At our house, playing with math as a family is just part of life.

Inspiring Kids to LOVE Math

It was a warm Saturday afternoon and the smell of fresh tortillas wafted through the Mexican restaurant. Scarcely had the food arrived before I roughly pushed my plate aside and began scribbling on a napkin at a feverish pace.  "What are you doing?" asked my younger sister, raising an eyebrow and swallowing a mouthful of food.  I mumbled something about Pythagoras and the tile floor.  I don't know if my sister shrugged, rolled her eyes, or stuck out her tongue in response; I was too busy writing to look up.  A minute or two later, I slammed my hand on the napkin dramatically.  "Q. E. D.!" I declared aloud.  My parents gave me an inquisitive look before continuing their meal.  I picked up my burrito and took a large triumphant bite.  My entire face glowed with a secret delight.  I was 14 years old, and I had just found a new proof for the Pythagorean Theorem...

Math Games and Activities for Preschoolers

L and E are 31 months old.  Here is an update on our preschool math curriculum...

We're still doing RightStart Math Level A.  We've gotten through lessons 1-9, with a lot of repetition.  The girls don't like practicing the same thing over and over so I always try to come up with creative ideas to bring in new math manipulatives or come up with different games and activities.  I'm probably going to stay on these lessons until I feel that the girls have mastered the concepts before moving forward.  Considering this is a Kindergarten math curriculum, we can definitely take our time.

The girls have become really good at identifying groups of objects to 5.  We practice this in lots of different ways:

The picture above is from the Number Lap Books we're creating.  I photocopied some of the pages from the appendix of the RightStart Math manual, and the girls choose the items that represent a specific number (two sticks, two fingers, number two, two abacus beads, etc..).  Then the girls practice drawing a certain number of lines and circles (see L's paper in blue above).

We also play a game with a deck of Uno cards, where we flip over one number and then demonstrate that number using objects, tally sticks, fingers, or the abacus:

(and then they eat the corresponding number of Goldfish Crackers!)

We sing 'Yellow is the Sun' almost every day.  It's a song that helps kids memorize how numbers from 6 to 10 are decomposed using 5 (6 is 5 and 1, etc..).  We often use manimulatives to illustrate the concepts as we sing the song:

I've also been demonstrating what addition really means by showing them how to add up various objects, and by using the Add It Math Game Free Printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler:

Patterns and blocks are really popular with the girls, as well.  Here is a photo of a game I made for them by cutting up non-stick shelf-liner into various shapes and letting them place blocks on them (blocks came from a game from older kids that we found for a clearance price.. great fine motor activity):

Since all the math activities we do are very hands-on, not just flashcards, the girls are really getting the concepts.  I know this, because they demonstrate the things that they know whenever they play (even when they're just playing with each other and I'm overhearing them) - I love that math is not reserved for a special 'class at school', but is integrated into the activities and games that we play every day.

Check out Part 2 of this blog:  Ten More Early Learning Math Games - Number Line and More

Some other math-related activities from Learners in Bloom:

• Yertle the Turtle Number Recognition Activity
• Number Olympics
• Math Game: Grouping Fish
• Blocks In Socks: Early Math Game
• Bumblebee Math Game

Here are some links to other Mommy/Teacher Blogs with ideas for math activities and games appropriate for the preschool age-group:

• Everyday Math in Preschool from Deborah at Teach Preschool (with Linky)
• Six New Math Games from Peaceful Parenting
• Everyday Math Play from Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds

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