March 14

Pi Day Resource Round-Up

Today is Pi-Day. What is Pi-Day? A day for celebrating the awesomeness that is a hot, gooey, flaky-crusted apple pie? While that would be awesome, it is not exactly the purpose. However, eating pie today would definitely be a wonderful way to celebrate as pies are round and pi is the constant that allows us to find the area, circumference, and volume of a circle. (It’s also a Greek letter, but that has nothing to do with today.)

The first few digits of the constant pi are 3.14…which in calendar-speak is March 14. Thus, today is Pi-Day!

We are on Spring Break this week, but if we were in school, I would expect my son’s math class to celebrate pi day with some sort of activity. In my own class some day, I plan to make sure we celebrate to the fullest! Here are some ideas I’ve rounded up for you:

March 8

Book Review: The Multiplying Mysteries of Mount Ten by Krista Van Dolzer

The Multiplying Mysteries of Mount Ten

Krista Van Dolzer

Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Published: April 9, 2019

Fiction, Middle Grade

ISBN: 9781681197708

Amazon Goodreads

 

The Multiplying Mysteries of Mount Ten is a puzzle based middle grade novel centered around a group of children at Camp Archimedes math camp.  Esther, an artistic child on her way to Camp Vermeer art camp, finds herself stranded at a math camp when her step-father’s truck gets stuck in the mud. At first, Esther is not happy to be a part of the “number crunchers”, but as mysteries begin to unfold, she finds herself making friends as she solves riddles and unravels puzzles.

Esther is the main character in this story. She is funny, witty, and often sarcastic. She goes from not wanting to have anything to do with the math campers to sadness about leaving. Watching her grow throughout the book is interesting, although her character is not deeply developed.

 

I love mysteries, and math, so the two combined? This ought to be great! Unfortunately, reading this as an adult, I know too much about puzzles and math and I solved the clues way too quickly for the book to have much staying power for me.  I knew by the middle of the book how to go about solving the main puzzle, even though Esther didn’t get there until almost the end. I think kids who don’t have a lot of experience solving logic puzzles would find this much more enjoyable than I did.

If you have middle grade students, maybe 3rd or 4th grade, who like math, this would be a good suggestion for them. For older students, I think you might be better off with Chris Grabenstein’s Mr. Lemoncello books which have more difficult puzzles to solve.

NetGalley provided me with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

Category: Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
February 15

Valentine’s Day STEM Cards Round Up


A day late and a dollar (or more) short, but what can I say? It has been crazy rounding up materials for over-the-top Valentines Day boxes and creative ideas for cards for my elementary kids to pass out.

*Note to teachers: parents, especially those with multiple children, do not always appreciate having to “help” create a Valentines box based on a Greek myth, or shaped like an animal, or with specific parameters outlawing glue, tape, cardboard and paper. I get it, I do! You want to foster creativity and don’t have time to work it in to the curriculum. But let’s be real here. Between ballet class, church groups, my work, my husband’s work, two scout groups, and the kids expecting to be fed, we barely have time to do the “normal” homework. Then we are assigned to make an over the top creation (like the one pictured above – not mine, BTW. Someday I’ll dig out a pic of Poseidon’s ship…) Did we get it done? Yes. Did we enjoy the process? No. Did it serve a purpose other than proving which kid’s parent has the most crafting skills? Not really. OK. Stepping off my soap box now.*

Different schools do different things for Valentines Day. Our elementary has the big class party with boxes and cards for everyone (but no candy!) and games. The junior high I was subbing at yesterday allowed kids, or teachers, to purchase candy-grams with heart-shaped suckers and send them to friends. My kid’s junior high basically ignored the fact that it was happening. It all got me thinking about my future class. Even 12-14 year olds like Valentines – even though the boys roll their eyes and act like they are too cool. Or maybe that’s just when they come from mom. So I put together some fun (and appropriate) Valentines card ideas for science and math teachers on my Pinterest board:

February 9

National Pizza Day Ideas Round-Up

Did someone say PizzA?

One of my favorite foods is pizza. I know pizza is different all across the country: from big, thin, floppy slices in New York to thick, deep-dish in Chicago. Even where I live, the Quad Cities, has our own style of pizza with malt in the crust and super-finely ground sausage.  How ever you slice it (pun intended), pizza is a part of American food culture. We even have a day to celebrate this food marvel: National Pizza Day, February 9.

Pizza in the Classroom

I love when teachers find ways to incorporate special days into the classroom. I realize that with crack-downs on food in classrooms it may not be feasible to have a pizza party in the class. However, there are fun ways you can play with your food!  I’ve put together a few ways to teach math or science using pizza. These are mostly middle grade (4-8) ideas since that is what I plan to teach, but there are tons more out there. These can just get you started.  Check them out on my National Pizza Day Pinterest board, and feel free to follow me while you are there.

Do you celebrate fun days like this in your classroom? If so, drop me a comment and tell me how! I’d love to hear your ideas!

Now I’m off to grab a slice…