Fractions are Fun!

Photo: http://www.imaginativeteacher.com/Fractions_ebook.html

Fractions are everywhere, from cooking, to time telling. But sometimes understanding fractions can be a difficult concept to grasp, especially when it's listed so abstractly such as with numbers. I found a cute game on PBS kids, Melvin's Make-a-Match, which asks kids to pick two bottles off the shelf that match; one having the fraction listed numerically, the other depicted with a pie style diagram. What I like so much about this game, is that kids get to see the fraction listed both numerically and as a picture, hence the fraction is no longer abstract, but pulled into focus and visually tangible.
FUN GAME ----> Melvin's Make-a Match

So what is a fraction anyway? It represents a portion of a whole. Let's say I have 3 quarters out of a dollar. We can write this a few ways but they all mean the same thing.
                                     75             3        
                                     ----    =     ----
                                     100           4         

They are both equal. Why? A quarter equals .25 and a dollar equals 1.00. We have 3 .25 quarters. .25x3=.75 so we have .75 out of 1.00. Also, there are 4 quarters in a dollar, and we already have 3 of the 4. Therefore, 75/100=3/4!

Can't get enough? Want more? Here's a nice little source for all your fraction needs: Fraction Lessons

One valuable lesson I'll take away with me from my Math for Elementary Teachers class is to not underestimate the importance of visual aides. My classroom will most likely be loaded with them as you never know which visual or musical aid may reach which student. While the school district may assign the curriculum and tell me what and which methods they'd like me to teach primarily, how can I help but offer alternatives? Could this not put a new spin on the lesson or perhaps reinforce what has been taught and learned? I look forward to Fall 2013 when I will be able to have my own classroom with 20 pairs of wide little eyes looking at me with the whole world in front of them. I look forward to learning right along with them.

Math's Uniting Powers

"A yupana (Quechua for "counting tool") is a calculator that was used by the Incas. Researchers believe that calculations were based on Fibonacci numbers to minimize the number of necessary grains per field.^[1]"


The Fibonacci Sequence is really an elegant pattern building upon itself by adding a given number to it's preceding number in the sequence. The sequence can begin with any number but generally beginning with 0, 1, 1. 0+1=1, 1+1=2, 2+1=3, 3+2=5, 5+3=8 and so on and so forth creating the pattern 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21...

BEAUTIFUL FIBONACCI VIDEO -----> The Fibonacci Sequence

 It is amazing to me how math is the undisputed universal language, tying together different cultures, periods in history that are hundreds, even thousands of years apart, varying levels of technological sophistication and advancements, as well as the enduring quest of humankind for understanding of the order of things. To think that the Fibonacci sequence is found naturally occurring in places such as the makeup of nautilus shells and  petal organization of flowers, and was recognized and mastered by humans is, to me, a testament to the importance of mathematics and it's influence of the world both around us and in us.

Photo and quote found on Wikipedia from http://www.quipus.it/english/Andean%20Calculators.pdf Holder of the copyright grants permission for use by anyone as it is released into public domain.

Video found on YouTube

Photo on file from Wikipedia Commons.

A Math Blog?

     I was really unsure of what to expect from my new math class; it's been about twelve years since my last math class, which had been right here in Bodie Hall back in 1998. Would I be able to follow along? Could I hold my attention on math for almost three hours? I have classmates in my university class who have been in a Math for Elementary Teachers class and I've heard mixed reviews; it's fun, it's hard, it's easy. So, I had no choice but to walk in with an open mind. So what did I think? Turns out, elementary kids are smart! This is kind of tricky! But, wow, I'm surprised how much of the math knowledge I had collecting dust and completely unused in the back of my brain for all those years was returning to me and FINALLY clicking! As I sit in class, it's really hitting home the importance of mastering different ways to solve and teach a problem to my future students. My teachers throughout the years would answer, "because that is how we do it" when I would ask, "but why?"

     Because of my loathing of math as a young student, I owe it to my future students to not impose the same feelings upon them by lacking a well-rounded knowledge of math and how to effectively teach it to them. As a result of this pact I have with them, I have taken more notes than my previous twelve years of math class notes combined. Who knows, maybe through the benefit of my aging and maturing as a student, this will be the time I not only learn math but understand the how and why of math. Anything is possible I guess; after all I never would have guessed I'd have a math blog.

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