Everyone Can Learn Math

This one’s for the grown ups that say, “I can’t do math” or “I was never good at math.”

I see your planned weekly workouts. Your runs are organized by intervals and progressions and paces.

I see your strength plans. Your lifting sessions revolve around reps and sets and volume.

I see your planned meals. Your daily intakes involve macros and carbs and water levels.

What else do I see? Lots and lots of math! You do math all the time in your regular routines. Give yourselves more credit (and tell your kids about it 😊).

🔶What shapes do you see?
🔶How many different shapes?
🔶Are any of the shapes congruent? How do you know?

New school year is coming up! Time to restock your classroom library? Start your kids off with a positive math mindset with our two children’s read-alouds.

Would you rather…

2 jugs for $12.99 or 1 jug for $7.49?

Why? Give an explanation for each choice!

We counted 65 pepperoni slices in our package. The kids had to figure out the best rectangular array to arrange the slices on our pizza.

Some requirements:
🍕maximize the number of slices (use as close to 65 as possible
🍕don’t go over 65 (we don’t want bare spaces on our pizza)
🍕think about the ratio of length to width so the pepperoni are evenly spaced out

This was an excellent way to problem solve. They made some initial guesses but had to modify because of the ratio.

The kids are prepping to participate in the Canadian Math Kangaroo contest happening this March. They’re both really enjoying the puzzle-like problems, especially the youngest. This is a problem he was working on today from the 2020 Grades 3-4 contest.

The figure is a 4x4 grid. How many squares in the figure (possibly different sizes) do not contain the black dot?

This problem is similar to other “how many squares” problems we’ve seen before, but I like this new variation.

Have your kids try it and share their answers!

Bought a new set of dumbbells. Let’s do some mental math!

There is one pair of each weight:
5 lb
10 lb
15 lb
20 lb
25 lb

💪🏽 What is the total weight of the entire set?
💪🏽 How did you find the total? Could you find the total using a different strategy?
💪🏽 The set was delivered in three separate boxes. How much weight do you think was in each box?
💪🏽 How might the ten dumbbells be combined so that each of the three boxes held the same amount of weight?
💪🏽 What shape is on the end of each dumbbell? How many sides does it have?

BONUS: The stand came in a separate box and was not assembled. How long did it take me to assemble the stand?? 😆😆

One of our favourite things about the holiday season is all the different box shapes we can find!

We take them apart to inspect the net of the shapes. Love the creativity of all the boxes for cakes, chocolates, candies, etc.

What unique boxes have you seen this season?

🛞How many tire swings?
🛞How did you count them?
🛞Write a multiplication sentence that describes how many tire swings there are.

Beauty and math in flowers all summer long!

🌸 Count the petals.
🌸 Count the white spots.
🌸 What patterns do you see? Describe them.
🌸 Can you draw a line of symmetry? Where?