Math Blog Part 2 - Post #5: "Mathemagical" Resources from a Wonderful PD

A few weeks ago my fellow teacher candidates and I attended a PD called Mathemagical Ideas led by Cathy Chaput and it was SO GREAT.

So practical! So engaging! So many resources! 10/10 Bernadettes would recommend. 

I am very excited to share the resources I gathered from this PD so get ready for....

Resource Round-up!

Educational Books 

Cathy mentioned many educational books, but I wanted to highlight these two because I found them particularly interesting.

One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab by April Pulley Sayre and Jeff Sayre

Retrieved from walkerbooks.com

This book uses the number of legs a creature has to demonstrate how different combinations of steps can combine to make a certain number. For example a human is two, because we have two feet, and a crab is 10, so 30 could be three crabs or ten people and two crabs. This book could be introduced in any elementary grade depending on how it is used because it activates number sense skills. (Plus how cute is the illustration??) 

Six-Dinner Sid by Inga Moore

Retrieved from weebly.com

Six Dinner Sid is a great math resource that teachers wouldn't necessarily hear about because there is actually no specific mathematical focus in this book, it's simply a fun story about a very naughty cat. Sid has six different owners who all think he is their cat, which eventually lands him in trouble when he gets sick and is brought into the vet six different times. There are several connections that can be made from this story, and you can flexible about the level of entry. A teacher could ask questions that are directly mathematical: if Sid has six owners how many meals does he get a day if each owner feeds him three times? Or questions that are more hypothetical: If Sid gets one meal from one owner each day but moves to a new street that has four houses, how many meals is he getting now? Can we estimate?



Educational Websites 

Again, many resources were shared, but I would like to focus on these two in particular!

https://www.youcubed.org - Jo Boaler website

We've been watching a lot of Jo Boaler videos for our math modules so I thought it would be useful to explore the website connected to her research. Boaler focuses on math mindsets, particularly how we as educators can fight the negative mindsets that often come with math and the website has many videos and resources specifically directed towards educators. 

https://gfletchy.com Three-Act Lessons, Cookie Monster Video

Graham Fletcher has a bunch of these Three-Act Lesson videos where students can employ various math skills (in this video it is estimation) in fun life-based situations. 

After watching this first video the students are given this picture:

Retrieved from gfletchy.com

How many cookies did the Cookie Monster eat?? 

Estimate.

What is a number that is too high? Too low? 

These kinds of little activities are very open and moldable. Students could work on the question on their own or in groups depending on the needs of your classroom and the website provides possible modifications for different levels of readiness. 

It feels good to have concrete resources to share and I hope to continue to fill my blog with them!

Only one more week of math blogs! It's strange how quickly the time has gone by, and how thoroughly I have enjoyed the process! But, stranger things have happened! 

(on another note, VERY much excited for Season 2 of Stranger Things !!! ) 

Until next week, 

"Forth and fear no darkness"

Bernadette