Category Archives: General

MathTalks.net

By Fawn | Published: September 6, 2014

My old math talks site needed to die. It was riddled with missing image icons and plagued by shitty formatting. I had to fix the main blog and do other things, so this could wait. Only 2 or 3 people in the universe were checking it out anyway. Although traffic to math talks is low to nil, I’m really fond of it. […]

Also posted in Teaching | Tagged algebraic thinking, math talks, mental math, Number Talks, pattern talks, student thinking, warm-ups | 15 Responses

VisualPatterns.org Again

By Fawn | Published: September 4, 2014

Who needs sleep. It’s been an exciting past couple of months sitting at my desk rebuilding blogs and websites. The only thing more stimulating would be to poke needles in my eyes. I re-created visualpatterns.org so you can now copy and/or save the patterns. It looks pretty much the same otherwise. Once again, I want to mention all these good people who have contributed […]

Posted in General | Tagged algebraic thinking, contributors, visual patterns | 6 Responses

Pacing Guide

By Fawn | Published: August 19, 2014

For someone who has openly admitted to not following curriculum pacing guides, I sure spent a ridiculous amount of time churning one out. Our middle school is adopting CPM Core Connections 1, 2, and 3. Aside from our own reviews, the decision to go with CPM were also based on: Desmos is embedded in many lessons Other teachers’ reviews, […]

Posted in General | Tagged CPM, CPM Core Connections, math talks, pacing guide, supplementing the curriculum, warm-ups | 14 Responses

Math Talks and 180 Days Restored

By Fawn | Published: July 18, 2014

It often takes just one teacher* to ask me to do something — like putting the sites back up — that motivates me like no other. Because I know that if I could do this for this one teacher, then I’m doing this for his students. I have heard a few teachers say, “I’m not sharing my stuff […]

Posted in General | Tagged 180 Days, How To Learn Math: For Students, Jo Boaler, math talks, Number Talks, teachers helping teachers | 9 Responses

Playing With Math: Stories from Math Circles, Homeschoolers, and Passionate Teachers

By Fawn | Published: June 20, 2014

Sue VanHattum’s blog Math Mama Writes was one of the earliest math blogs I frequented. Sue and Shireen, Dan, Kate, and Sam were among the first people who showed me – through their passionate writing – that there was an online community where we may share the teaching and learning of mathematics in the classroom. When I started this blog, Sue dropped in to […]

Also posted in Teaching | Tagged crowd-funding, homeschoolers, new book, Playing With Math, Sue VanHattum | Leave a comment

McDonald’s MONOPOLY Game

By Fawn | Published: May 4, 2014

Dan’s Money Duck makes me think of McDonald’s MONOPOLY game. Can’t remember the last time I was in McDonald’s, but now I’m curious about the odds of winning in this popular game. I look up the Official Rules for the 2013 game and focus only on the Instant Win Prizes of the In-Store Game. For each prize, McDonald’s discloses its value, how […]

Posted in General | Tagged expected value, McDonald's MONOPOLY Game, odds, population, probability | Leave a comment

I Can’t Afford Not To

By Fawn | Published: March 10, 2014

When I share with teachers what my students do outside of the textbook/curriculum, I get the familiar and reasonable concern from them that there’s not enough time to cover the content as is, how is it possible to do “other stuff,” such as: Math Munch Problem Solving (weekly, in-class, group) Math Talks (including Visual Patterns) My reasons for […]

Also posted in Teaching | Tagged Explore Mathematics, Math Munch, math talks, out-of-curriculum, problem solving | Leave a comment

Barbie Bungee Revisited and Better Than Yours Class Lists

By Fawn | Published: January 22, 2014

This year I’ve taken away a lot of my step-by-step instructions for the Barbie Bungee activity that I’d posted 1.5 years ago. They get no handouts, only some verbal instructions: See that gob of tape up there? That’s leftover tape from previous years where Barbie had taken her jump. It should be at 3 meters up. Well, […]

Also posted in Algebra | Tagged Barbie Bungee, Barbies, class lists, extrapolate, linear equation, rubber bands | 5 Responses

The Name is Munch, Math Munch

By Fawn | Published: September 4, 2013

I’ve mentioned Math Munch before and tweeted its scrumptious bits every now and then. I wanted teachers to see the site and share its contents with their students. But truth be told, we teachers often get side-tracked, we’d be all gung-ho about something in September, only to see it vanish by the first snowfall. (I’m a nostalgic […]

Also posted in Teaching | Tagged Anna Weltman, enrichment, Justin Lanier, Math Munch, math project, Paul Salomon, recreational math | 2 Responses

I have 6^2 students. How many do you have?

By Fawn | Published: May 14, 2013

When my daughter Sabrina was 2^3 years old, her grandfather would have been 3^4 if he were still alive. Unfortunately my father had already passed away on his birthday when I was 6^2 years old. While the above paragraph is all true, I don’t know of anyone who writes or talks like this. No one writes or speaks […]