Just Playing with Numbers

Fall is in the air! Check out these two new activities.
Out of the Pumpkin Patch https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Out-of-the-Pumpkin-Patch-10301240
and Count and Compare 0-5 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Count-and-Compare-0-5-10306725

Out of the Pumpkin Patch Students practice +1 and -1 and +10 and -10 on a pumpkin-themed number chart. This product includes a 1-100 chart and a 101-200 chart for practice with larger numbers. (Please note that the charts start with 1 and 101 at the bottom of the page.)...

Great examples of subtracting without the standard algorithm from Howie Hua!

Howie Hua on Twitter “New TikTok video: 4 strategies for subtraction besides the standard algorithm”

My family and I went to a pizza-making class this weekend. As I added each ingredient to the bowl, I just added the weights. So if the recipe called for 240 gms of all-purpose flour and 165 gms of semolina flour, I knew the weight needed to be 405 gms total. Add 3 gms of yeast, 408 gms total, and so on. I noticed others zeroed the scale between each addition. What would you do?

https://www.justplayingwithnumbers.com/7-good-reasons-to-teach-the-area-model-for-multiplication/

7 Good Reasons to Teach the Area Model for Multiplication From arrays to algebra, the area model is a useful tool that can help students with multiplication and division.

Check out these math activities for the first day of kindergarten!

5 Nifty Math Activities for a Terrific First Day of Kindergarten - Just Playing with Numbers Dive into math on the first day with these fun activities to help your students learn about their new classroom and classmates.

Teachers Pay Teachers Back-to-School Sale https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Just-Playing-With-Numbers

Today is International Children's Book Day! I love to use books to launch lessons. I even required students in my math methods class to create a math lesson based on a children's book. There are so many great ways to link math to literature. Here are some great counting books, but you can find a book for almost any topic these days. What are some of your favorites?

Read-Alouds to Support the Counting Stages and a Google Slides Freebie! - Just Playing with Numbers Children progress through counting in stages. Here are some great story books that can support them as they move through those stages.

If Lord Byron had been a present father, we might have had to wait for what many believe to be the first computer program. Lord and Lady Byron separated when their daughter, Augusta Ada, was just a few weeks old. Lord Byron left England shortly thereafter and died when Ada was 8. Ada’s mother pushed for Ada to learn mathematics and science in an attempt to prevent Ada from developing the temperament of her poet father. When Ada was 17, she met mathematician and inventor, Charles Babbage. Babbage, known as the father of the computer, invented machines to perform mathematical calculations called the difference engine and the analytical engine. Ada was asked to translate an article about the analytical engine and added her own notes, which ended up being longer than the article! Her notes, published in 1843, described how codes could be created so the machine could understand letters and symbols in addition to numbers and the process known as looping that computer programs use today. Because of this work, Ada is often considered the first computer programmer. In 1835, Ada married the Earl of Lovelace, becoming the Countess of Lovelace. She is better known as Ada Lovelace. In 1980, the U.S. Department of Defense named a newly developed computer language “Ada.”
Is there a mathematician you'd like to know more about during the last week of March?

Are you using Mathematical Language Routines with your students? One of the things I hear frequently from teachers is how challenging math is for struggling readers and English learners. Mathematical Language Routines can be good for all students, but especially students in these two groups.

Math Language Routines

You may know Florence Nightingale as the founder of modern nursing but you may be surprised to know that she is considered a pioneer in the visual presentation of statistics. Nightingale collected data during the Crimean War and then created the polar area diagram to show the causes of death during the war. Nightingale used this diagram to explain that unsanitary conditions were to blame for the high death rate. The diagram made it easier for government officials to understand the information that she was presenting. The diagrams also showed the positive effect of Nightingale’s reforms in reducing mortality. Now graphic presentations of statistics are a common means to make data more easily understood. What are some ways you include graphing for your students?