Maria's Math News, Vol. 70, March 2013
I love teaching, and I love math. This newsletter is my way of reaching out and helping you to teach it, too.
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On-line, self-paced, multimedia math help that is reasonably priced. Go to www.teacher4-u.com/Offer.html for your free lesson. |
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Welcome to the 70th edition of my math newsletter! Wow, it's been many years now that I've been making it... and I'm still enjoying writing it and finding neat math resources for you. :)
~Maria
1. Math Mammoth news
2. Basic operations worksheets generator UPDATED!
3. Social bookmarking at my sites
4. Inspirations from Math
5. Tidbits
1. Math Mammoth news
Homeschool Buyers Co-op has a GROUP BUY for the large Math Mammoth and Make It Real Learning bundle products! The discount will be 20% - 50% depending on the number of participants. The sale runs till March 31, 2013.Apart from that, the next regular sale for all downloads & CD will be in the latter part of MAY.
Hands-On Equations® enables your
child, 8 years old and up, to learn to solve
algebraic equations such as 4x + 3 = 3x + 9
and 2(2x + 1) = x + 14 in only six lessons—while having fun!
The secret to this success is our unique visual and kinesthetic approach combined with a pedagogically sound sequential development of concepts. The Hands-On Equations Deluxe Home Set is normally $79.95 and includes the DVD instructional manual and introductory verbal problems workbook. Order online with a credit card prior to midnight Pacific Time on March 31, 2013, and receive a 20% discount on this product on www.Borenson.com when you use the coupon code Maria Promo.
child, 8 years old and up, to learn to solve
algebraic equations such as 4x + 3 = 3x + 9
and 2(2x + 1) = x + 14 in only six lessons—while having fun!
The secret to this success is our unique visual and kinesthetic approach combined with a pedagogically sound sequential development of concepts. The Hands-On Equations Deluxe Home Set is normally $79.95 and includes the DVD instructional manual and introductory verbal problems workbook. Order online with a credit card prior to midnight Pacific Time on March 31, 2013, and receive a 20% discount on this product on www.Borenson.com when you use the coupon code Maria Promo.
2. Basic operations worksheets generator UPDATED!
I have updated the Basic operations worksheet generator at HomeschoolMath.net—with new features!Now you can add a border around each problem, add additional workspace below the problem, and use a variable instead of an empty line. From before, you can change the font size and control the amount of problems.
Thus, you could easily make only 2-4 problems per page, with large font and lots of working space - great for children with ADD or learning disabilities.
Even more: instead of choosing only one operation, you can also choose addition and subtraction, or multiplication and division.
This worksheet generator makes printable worksheets for both whole numbers and integers, and for both horizontal and vertical form of operations. It is very versatile. You can make worksheets for...
- basic addition/subtraction facts
- mental addition and subtraction (for example, whole hundreds)
- multiplication tables, including missing factors
- basic division facts, including with remainders
- mental multiplication and division (for example, by powers of ten)
- column-form addition and subtraction, including subtraction with or without regrouping
- column-form multiplication (long multiplication)
- long division
- simple equations using either an empty line or a variable (choose missing addend/subtrahend/minuend/factor/dividend/divisor). This is usable from first grade up to pre-algebra/algebra 1!
3. Social bookmarking at my sites
I have added some buttons for social bookmarking on my sites www.homeschoolmath.net and www.mathmammoth.com.Many people have of course shared links from my sites (thanks!) even without those buttons, and you can see the number of "tweets" or Facebook "likes" now by surfing on the pages.
Anyhow, now such sharing is even easier for you! Feel free to share the pages on my sites at Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, or Google+.
I'm sure some are wondering when I'm going to have Math Mammoth on Facebook. Well, I've considered it several times over the years, and my main problem has been the lack of time. but, I AM now planning on it happening sometime mid-year this year... stay tuned!
4. Inspirations from Math
Inspirations is a short 3-D computer animated movie inspired by Escher's work, showcasing various famous mathematical objects through history.
The video itself is a quick watch, but after that, take a look at
this page that shows in detail the mathematical objects used, as beautiful 3-D art. Included are such well-known artifacts as the five platonic solids, cycloid curves, Galton Box, Leonardo's bridge, Tangram, and The seven bridges of Königsberg, and more. It's sort of like visiting a museum of mathematics.
Which brings me to an idea: you could use any of those objects as a math project for your students (or, they could use one of their choosing). The task would be to research the history behind the object and make a poster, a slideshow, or other presentation about it.
The movie and the site is by Cristóbal Vila, from Spain, and thus the website is bilingual (Spanish & English).
He's also made another movie, Nature by the Numbers, which features the Fibonacci series and the Golden Ratio.
5. Tidbits
- Largest prime yet found
Curtis Cooper at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg has found the largest prime number yet. It is a Mersenne prime, which means it is of the form 2P − 1, where P itself is prime. The one Cooper found is 257,885,161 − 1, and it has 17 million digits!!
- World Maths Day
World Maths Day will take place on March 6, 2013. Last year, more than five million students from all around the world took part in this fun, free contest!
- Math Teachers at Play carnival
The name says it all... this is a carnival for all math teachers or parents who teach math... filled with fun ideas & posts.
- Complete the Quadrilateral
Join the dots to complete these quadrilaterals. Where there are options, try to find the one on the grid with the largest possible area. The author, Fawn Nguyen, wishes, "If appropriate for your class, I hope you'll consider doing this lesson — it'll make the hours I spent recreating the handout and key worth it! :)" Great for 5th grader or whenever you study classifying quadrilaterals.
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Till next time,
Maria Miller