Showing posts with label mathematically gifted. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mathematically gifted. Show all posts

Monday, August 3, 2020

Math Challenge Problems

This summer I've been sharing some of my favorite math enrichment problems with a small group of students via Zoom. It occurred to me that others might enjoy these. 

For starters, a list of useful strategies to keep on hand.








The next problem is VERY old--take some of the social situation references from the early 1960s:

Here are the clues. Use them to name each player that fields each of the nine positions on the diamond.

Clue # 1 – Andy dislikes the Catcher

Clue # 2 – Ed’s sister is engaged to the second baseman

Clue # 3 –  The center fielder is taller than the right fielder

Clue #  4 – Harry and the third baseman live in the same building

Clue # 5 – Paul and Allen each won 20 dollars from the pitcher at pinochle

Clue # 6 – Ed and the outfielders play poker during their free time

Clue # 7 – The pitcher’s wife is the third baseman’s sister

Clue # 8 – The catcher, pitcher, and infield except for Allen, Harry and Andy are shorter than Sam

Clue # 9 – Paul, Andy and the shortstop lost 150 dollars each at the racetrack

Clue # 10 – Paul, Harry, Bill and the catcher lost to the second baseman at pool

Clue # 11 – Sam is undergoing a divorce suit

Clue # 12 – The catcher and the third base each have two children

Clue # 13 – Ed, Paul, Jerry, the right fielder and the center fielder are bachelors, the others are married

Clue # 14 – The shortstop, third baseman and Bill each won betting on a fight

Clue # 15 – One of the outfielders is either Mike or Andy

Clue # 16 – Jerry is taller than Bill. Mike is shorter than Bill. Each of them is heavier than the third baseman.

Who plays each position?











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Monday, January 22, 2018

CTD Parent Seminar - Saturday, February 24, 2018

CTD Parent Seminar

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Parent Resources for 

Encouraging and Enriching Math at Home

Dr. Marsha Landau

mathmarsha@comcast.net

from Ways a Parent Can Help with Math


Websites and Readings for Parents



High School Math Review Tutorials Problems - a free resource with examples, problems, explantions and exercises.  Parents can use these free resources and problems to help your child learn math.

Maths activities for children | Family Maths Toolkit has collections of activities for age ranges 3-13. Topics include: around the house, math and money, games, out and about, books and TV. From UK.

Technology

ONLINE


Here's an example of an app that's available online from NCTM. It's pitched at grades 3-8, but I wouldn't hesitate to share this with much younger children--it provides an exploration of algebraic thinking about equations using a balance scale:

Pan Balance – Shapes

Here's a screenshot:


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you remember LOGO or Turtle Geometry from the early days of home computing, you'll like Turtle Pond. This introduces children as young as pre-K to rudimentary coding.

I also like Pick-a-Path (one of my favorites, suitable, at the higher levels, for grades 3 and up) (and me--I had trouble with this one!)





and Isometric Drawing Tool, Tessellation Creator, Equivalent Fractions.



Several good online games are available at PBS Kids Odd Squad Games. In particular, I liked "Down the Tubes." The underlying math includes number stuff (different sums to make a particular target length of tube) and geometric transformations (turns and flips). The levels build slowly, but eventually get mathematically interesting. 



The graphics are sufficiently eye-catching so your child will have the patience to continue to a challenging level.


MOBILE DEVICES

NOT free:

DragonBox - Discover the game of Math 

The game claims it "secretly teaches algebra," which is true, but I think there are advantages to having a parent or teacher ask the occasional question or suggest recording what is happening in the game on paper so the algebra can be made more explicit. A good description of the game variations can be found here: DRAGONBOX ALGEBRA - The game that secretly teaches algebra.



DragonBox Algebra 12+ - The award-winning math learning game on the App Store $7.99

DragonBox Elements - Geometry Proofs on the App Store (iPad  $4.99)




Get both:  DB Advanced Math Pack on the App Store $9.99 and worth it. 

Where to buy DragonBox for Android – Customer Feedback for DragonBox.

Mystery Math Museum  $3.99 on iTunes.  (It has occasionally been offered at no charge. I was lucky that way!)  My granddaughter asks to return to this one. I'll show you why I like it enough to spend $ on it.
















Greater Gator on the App Store $0.99 Currently (as of Jan. 22, 2018) 

24 Game – Math Card Puzzle on the App Store $1.99 Also available daily FREE online.







*Links to free mobile device versions of pick-a-path, equivalent fractions, and others from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics here.

Big Seed is one of my favorites. It develops visual-spatial skills as you flip shapes to cover the presented puzzle. I find it much more challenging than my granddaughter does!

BigSeed on the App Store on iTunes FREE

Sushi Monster on the App Store  FREE

Geoboard, by The Math Learning Center on the App Store  FREE

Daily SET Puzzle on the App Store  FREE (one puzzle per day); 


alternatively, Combinations on the App Store  FREE; The Daily SET Puzzle | America's Favorite Card Games® (my desktop home page!)

LetsTans Classic presents an outline to fill in, the seven tangram pieces in rich colors, and a mechanism (tapping a piece) for rotating. Many puzzles and many play options. I think this is the winner in the category. $0.99. iPad and iPhone. 
http://bit.ly/letstansclassic  


There are variations: Classic 2, Contours, Kids ("for the youngest solvers only"), and Silhouette (challenging! the shape you must create is NOT presented at the full size) are available as separate downloads.

Khan Academy 

GeoGebra on the App Store















Educreations Interactive Whiteboard on the App Store


Collections

Games


Everyday Activities

Math and Literature

Arts/Music/Crafts


Holidays and Seasonal


Test Prep for PSAT 8/9


Competitions


Art of Problem Solving   a comprehensive resource

 List of mathematics competitions - Wikipedia includes international events

 5 Elementary School Math Competitions in US - LogicRoots for grades K-5 and beyond

 Top 9 International Math Contests for Gifted Students K-12

American Mathematics Competitions | Mathematical Association of America

 Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools

                    Sample Contest

 Sample Contests

 wnmathcompetition - Home

Continental Mathematics League – CML

Continental Math League - Mrs. Nordberg

Welcome to the Math League

‎Math League's Homeschool Contests

Sample 4th Grade Contest from 2004-2005 - Math League

Sample 5th Grade Contest from 2004-2005 - Math League

www.mathleague.com/ml-files/grade_6_2004-05_contest.pdf

MATH LEAGUE GRADE 7 2006.pdf | BetterLesson

Math League Contests (Questions and Answers) Grade 4, 2007-12 for iOS - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com


MATHCOUNTS | Fun Math Competition and Club Programs for Middle School Students


Problem Solving and Puzzles


BOOKS

For starters, go to my blog entry on Mathematics and Literature. You'll find suggestions for books that have mathematics in them available to your learners and ways to guide that math learning.

And, please, read the story that I have written and posted here Yes, That's My Mother! and let me know what you and your child think of it. So far I have received some useful suggestions for improvement, so I'll be posting a revision when I've had time to mull over the new ideas and create a new version.

Stuart J Murphy has written a plethora of easy readers for young children that address math topics. I'm not wildly enthusiastic about them, but they do contain pages of activities and games for parents to use to go beyond the stories. His website has free pdfs.


How to access Math Expressions online:  start here and follow the directions for you child's grade level book and resources.


Links verified on February 15, 2018.

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Sunday, October 16, 2011

CTD Parent Workshops, October 22, 2011



 Working with 
gifted children at home, 
whether it's reading, 
workbooks, projects



Math and Literature


An excellent resource to use when creating a list of books to look for at the library is Math Patterns in Children's Literature. 


Another is amazon.com's lists of books keyed to specific mathematics content. For example:


K-5 Math Teaching Resources - Counting


K-5 Math Teaching Resources - Place Value 


     I recently paid 25 cents at a yard sale for the picture book Zero is the Leaves on the Tree. It introduces the number zero to young children.
Zero Is The Leaves On The Tree

K-5 Math Teaching Resources - Division


A book I read with my granddaughter is The Doorbell Rang:












 I found photos of a chocolate chip cookie and a plate from my everyday china pattern to make it realistic, and we acted out the story, sharing a dozen cookies among an increasing number of children. My granddaughter  personalized the experience by using her stuffies to replace the humans in the story. I'll show you the video and photo in the presentation (I don't put pictures of her online!).
(files are named sharing cookies)


I can share the cookie and the plate:


Activity card for The Doorbell Rang



81 Roses - Buffalo State College offers a lesson available within StoriesByFrederiqueSet I and links to additional stories at Stories By Frederique Set I- Ages 5 to 8.



FOR PARENTS: 


Math And Literature, Grades K-1. Marilyn Burns, Stephanie Sheffield, Toby Gordon.


Math And Literature, Grades 2-3. Marilyn Burns, Stephanie Sheffield, Toby Gordon.

Math and Literature: K-3 Book 1 by Marilyn Burns 

Math and Literature (K-3) Book 2 by Stephanie Sheffield


Math Through Children's Literature: Making the NCTM Standards Come Alive
by Kathryn L. Braddon, Nancy J. Hall and Dale Tylor. Math activities designed for 132 different children's titles.  Designed for classroom use. 


It's the Story that Counts: More Children's Books for Mathematical Learning, K-6. David J. Whitin, Sandra Wilde.











Project Resources






Example: Halloween (see link at right)





QUILTS

I was especially pleased to find a link to a free online quilt designer. Quilters  made it easy for me to create my own patterns.  Here's an example:




TESSELLATIONS


To make your own tessellations, simple directions can be found here: 
Making your own tessellations. 






Cuisenaire Rods: Space, Color, and Mathematics introduces Cuisenaire rods and explains in detail how to get started with them. The rods are a very versatile manipulative, so worth the investment.  They can be used to explore all the important whole number concepts and operations, but also factors and multiples, fractions, area and perimeter, etc.












Speaking of manipulatives, here is a nice description (with pictures) of most of the useful math manipulatives you might consider purchasing for your home:
Math Manipulatives Page from USI STEM






Interactive Games and At Home Activities For Kids, LICM Kid’s Page is sponsored by the Long Island Children's Museum. There is another quilt designer here, and other interactive drawing games. The at-home activities include printable games for children 9-12.





The Math Kit "At Home with Math" at the TERC website has this description, from their introduction:

A word to parents  This math kit contains activities and games to help you make math a natural part of your family’s everyday work and play. The kit contains two books, one for everyday math activities and one for math games.
Everyday math activities  As parents, we use math all the time—as we shop, figure out how much time to allot for errands, and schedule time for cooking, eating, and cleaning. Often, our children are with us during these tasks. Perhaps they are even helping out. Why not involve them in the math?
The ten everyday math activities in this kit build math into the things most families already do—ordinary routines such as figuring out ways to save money, to share fairly, or to get somewhere on time. With these activities, children practice adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and using other important math skills while doing tasks that are a regular part of life.


I particularly liked the activity using estimation and counting while putting away toys that are scattered about, and the one developing ideas of probability and statistics through collecting junk mail for a week.


This link, also at TERC, provides questions that can be the basis for a series of projects:

How many different ways are there?


Finding different ways to make fourths on a geoboard is one of my favorite activities when I work with gifted students.










Not Workbooks:  PRINTABLES available online

This manual for the project “Parents Teach Math: A Family Literacy Approach,” funded by the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, has wonderful activities for doing math at home, starting on page 18. 



Esso Family Math Early Years Resource Book provides more than 100 pages of activities and ideas for sharing math with your child. Although parents of gifted children are not the target audience for the book, the activities will certainly be appropriate for your children, ages 2-6. The book continues in this link: Extended Weeks (7-10) Resource Book.


Figure This Challenging math problems for families to work on together.

GROCERY STORE BINGO is one example activity from Activities . Grades 1 and 2 . Early Math . PBS Parents | PBS.  For younger children, check out










OTHER LINKS FOR PARENTS



Making the Most of Math explains important math skills that can be developed, starting in two- and three-year-olds, that will ultimately support math in school but connect math with fun and play for children and parents.

Mathwire.com | Math Enrichment offers a comprehensive set of links for gifted math students of all ages.  So does the website Developing Mathematical Talent.

Parents Guide / Math Skills Development at Chateau Meddybumps provides information about math skills and links to appropriate activities for developing each skill. The page also contains a link to a page of counting books. Another page at meddybumps, Fun and Games / Learning Activities / Spatial Concepts, helps parents work with their child's understanding of over, under, in, and out using cute animal cutouts.


4 Great Math Games from Marilyn Burns are intended for the classroom but can certainly be played at home.



Explore a page of links on symmetry and tessellations posted by Jill Britton, based on material in her book:  Investigating Patterns: Symmetry and Tessellations

















Elsewhere on this blog I have already recommended the book, Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity.  It is worth mentioning again.

In addition to the print version, which I think is quite expensive, the book is available from the National Academies Press to read online: Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity.






I encourage you, as parents of budding mathematicians and scientists, to read My Mother, the Scientist to understand why your gifted daughters deserve the same support and attention in these fields as your gifted sons.







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