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| Your
2 Cents |
Kids |
| What’s
the most fun way you use math in your everyday life (outside
of school)? |
I
use math when I jump on my pogo stick. Every time I do it,
I count my jumps and try to beat my best number. I also ask
my Mom to time me when I ride my bike around the block and
I see if I can do it faster than the last time.
-Alaina, 7, Concord I
like to swim. I keep track of my times and sometimes a best
time comes down to tenths or even hundredths of a second.
I also like to see what the pool or meet records are and
figure out how close I am to beating them.
-Carter, 11, Concord
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Parents |
| How
do you help your children see the math all around them? Do
you have a favorite activity or place to visit? |
One
of the best activities I created with a group of children
was making sundials to tell time with. We made the dials using
paper plates, sticks and some clay. We started first thing
in the morning and went out every hour to make a line where
the sun’s shadow fell. The time was tracked over several
days, and we ended up with some pretty accurate time-telling
devices!
-Ellen Gibson, children: grades 7, 5, and 2, Northwood
I think
it’s important to help kids see the “practical”
everyday uses of math such as looking for sale prices on
items in conjunction with a budget or clipping coupons to
save money. My daughter now understands that if she saves
a little here and there, she then can have extra to buy
something fun or to save for a large-ticket item. We also
practice counting change in our Girl Scout cookie booth.
Counting back change to customers is very important to help
in the understanding of money.
-Nicole Willette, children: grade 2, and 2 year old twins,
Concord
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Teachers |
|
What
is your favorite way to show students “real”
math either inside or outside of your classroom? |
When
I begin to review angles and basic geometric shapes, I take
my students outside. They take paper and a pencil with them
to sketch and label the different angles and shapes they see
around them. Instead of only seeing angles as two adjoining
rays, they suddenly see them in tree branches, bricks, their
friends’ arms and legs, swing sets, etc. They locate
rectangles, circles, trapezoids, and octagons in very creative
places. They are only limited by their imaginations and are
left with a much broader understanding of basic geometry.
-Sue Pribis, Grade 5, Bow |
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