Math Lesson: Math Books Perfect for Homeschoolers and Summer Vacation

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Since I have not done a math post in awhile I thought I would share a few of the great math books I have found recently at my local library. There are many new ones out there and I promise to share more soon as well.

 The first one is a great book for any homeschooler wanting a fun way to introduce some geometry. Shapes in Math, Science and Nature:Squares, Triangles and Circles by Catherine Sheldrick Ross is an amazing book to really learn about three basic shapes. It is full of information and activities to explore circles, triangles and squares and as a former geometry teacher, I highly recommend this one. It even includes some of the geometric constructions where only a compass and straightedge (with no measurements on it) are used. The grade level recommendation for this one is fourth through ninth, but there are definitely some activities younger children could do it in it.

If you are trying to introduce some algebra here is a book for you, Mystery Math: A First Book of Algebra by David A. Adler. This book introduces the concept of a balanced equation, a variable and solving the equation while keeping it balanced in a fun way. In order to do this, a child must be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Since it has a theme of a haunted house, it also would be fun to read and introduce around Halloween.

Are you doing any traveling this summer? Here is a perfect book to teach math while traveling or about traveling. It is Travel Math by Pia Awal. This book introduces time and distance calculations, as well as calculations with things like population size, mountain height, temperatures, etc. The math involved is recommended for fourth grade and up.

So those are my recommendations for today with more to come. For more Math Lessons, check out:

• For the Love of Geometry 
• Finding Shapes and Patterns Everywhere! 
• Math in Nature 
• Number Importance and Number Sense 
• Egyptian Math--Pyramids 
• Pi Day 2013 and 2012
• This Plus That: Life's Little Equations
• My Math Pinterest Board

For the Love of Geometry: Math Lessons at Crafty Moms Share

It has been awhile since I did a Math Lessons post. Here is one for older children that can be adapted for any who can read and write and know a bit of geometry. It is a seasonal one for Valentine's Day. I used it in my high school geometry class for several years. It is also a nice crossover to writing and English classes. I gave the students a list of vocabulary words from the geometry book glossary. Some of the words we had learned and some would be taught later in the year. They had to write love poems or odes using some of the words. For some classes I gave a certain number of words to use and in others I graded based on how many were used. Click on the picture to go to get a Word version of the page.

Math Lesson: Finding Shapes and Patterns Everywhere!

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I haven't done a math lesson post in awhile, so I thought I would share some great picture books on shapes and patterns and a fun activity I use to do with my geometry students made easier for younger kids. The first book I am sharing is Round is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Greenfield Thong. Since it is still Hispanic Heritage Month, this is the perfect book to share and use for shapes. The book goes through many shapes: circles, squares, rectangles, stars and more. Each shape has several different things that are that shape. Many of the objects are mentioned in Spanish or are Hispanic in origin. We really enjoyed reading this book as it taught a bit about the culture as well as the shapes.

The next book is A Star in My Orange: Looking for Nature's Shapes by Sana Meachen Rau is a fun book about looking for stars in nature. Some we have thought of are on the leaves of tomatoes. This one had a few of its points bent and/or broken, but you can get the general idea.








 Another place is in an apple when you cut it horizontal instead of along the length of the core.

Our final book for today is part of the Math Every Day series and it is Patterns Outside by Daniel Nunn. It is a wonderful book to introduce looking for patterns. The focus of  the book is patterns found at a park in nature.




Now to go with these three books, I thought a fun activity would be a shape scavenger hunt and scrapbook.  This is an activity I use to do with my high school geometry students. Their list was much longer and harder, but I made a simple one in Word that you can use or change to what your child knows. (I did this project with the students at the beginning of the year to introduce many of the vocabulary words to them.)

The activity itself is to find different triangles either in a picture from a magazine, newspaper (some place they can cut it out) or take a photograph of one. Ideas would be the triangle formed to make a roof, a triangle musical instrument, the triangle in a butterfly wing, etc. I gave numbers for each shape. The list is done by pages so all the pictures of the triangles will be on the same page, then the pictures of squares, etc. The object of the activity is for kids to see geometry and shapes everywhere as well as get use to the terms. If you try it, please let me know how you like it! Again feel free to adjust the shapes and vocabulary words to make it age appropriate for your child(ren).

Caterpillar & Geometry Cube

So today we headed to Lakeshore Learning for their free Saturday craft. I had a burst of energy so Hazel and I went. I stopped at Starbucks first for my chai. The craft today was a really cute caterpillar. I may use this idea for our butterfly party. It was just a rolled strip of green paper (which they had prepared), a brown piece of construction paper and another strip of green and glue, eyes and decorations. The antennae are just a pipe cleaner poked through the head. Isn't it cute?

While there we did some shopping. As always, we never buy things that are not on sale or clearance. On our way out, however, I found this great cube. As a former math teacher it really intrigued me, so I bought it. Getting it home I realized it would be easy to make one. So I made one as well. I made it from milkshake straws and stretchy string. You need six pieces of string and 12 pieces of straw (I cut them in half).

Step 1 is to string four of the straws and make a square. Tie the string tight (tighter than you think you need to since I went back and tightened mine up). Next using one of the straws on your first square make another square with three additional straws. Now you should have two attached squares. Using a straw from each of those (in other words stick another string through each one) and two more  straws make the third square. Keep making squares using the sides you have until you have the complete cube. The final straw should have two strings running through it (actually all of them will).

Now for some of the neat things you can do. Hazel enjoyed playing with this. She needed some help, but had fun moving it around. The little tag on the one I bought showed each of these being made.

Two-dimensional shapes are square, triangle, rectangle, trapezoid, and hexagon. The three-dimensional shapes are a cube (or square prism), tetrahedron (or triangular pyramid), and a square pyramid. It also showed how to make A, b, c, and d and discussed it as a game. Any letter that can be recognized by others works.

So much fun and so many things you can teach with it. Plus it is relatively easy to make and not too expensive to buy already made. Enjoy!

Tomorrow there will not be a Multicultural Monday since it is the first day of the Virtual Book Club for Kids Link Party. This month's author is Kevin Henkes. Stay tuned this week for lots of fun with this!