What Are Frozen Fractals? A Lesson on Fractals to Go with Disney's Frozen Movie and Let It Go Song

Hazel and I LOVE Disney's movie Frozen. We are constantly listening to the soundtrack in our car. One of our favorite songs from the movie is Let It Go. If you have not heard the song or seen the movie you can
check out the song from the actual movie (with movie scenes) from Disney's website.

Math Lesson: Math Books Perfect for Homeschoolers and Summer Vacation

Do you have an Octonauts' fan at home? Make sure you enter my current giveaway for the newly released DVD.

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

Sharing Saturday 14-11

Thank you to all the Crafty Moms and Teachers who shared with us last week!! There were so many wonderful ideas shared. But before I give you my features, I wanted to share with you my past posts for Pi Day which was Friday, March 14! There are many ideas there to celebrate Pi Day as well as some great lessons I use to use as a teacher. Now onto our fun features!! I am providing a few with two pictures so you can see the details that I fell in love with!

Sharing Saturday 13-11

Well once again I was inspired by so many of the posts shared last week. If you have not had a chance to check them all out you should. There are lots of St. Patrick's Day ideas there. Also make sure you check out the features over at my co-host blog, Having Fun at Chelle's House. Now onto my features. This week we had a tie for most clicked.

1) From Gift of Curiosity: Magic Leprechaun Rocks (What a neat idea to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!)

2) From The Wilderness Wife: Easter Egg Decorating Ideas (A wonderful round-up of all sorts of ideas for children of any age!)

I guess everyone is thinking about two of the upcoming holidays or at least were last week when you visited each other's posts.

A Few of My Favorites

1) From Like Mama ~ Like Daughter: Beautiful Mess (A wonderful post reminding us how important the mother/child bond is even when we are overtired from being up with a sick baby. Now I'll admit I spent the day with a very sick little girl and am not feeling so great myself, so this may have had something to do with this post being a favorite today.)

2) From The Usual Mayhem: Walk to Talk (Wonderful ways to use nature walks to get your children talking and helping with language.)

3) From We Made That: Water Density Experiment (Who wouldn't want to make a rainbow in a glass?)

4) From School Time Snippets: Number Line Smash (A wonderful game to practice your arithmetic facts. Just remember I am a math nerd as a former math teacher, so they tend to be my favorites.) 

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! If you were one of the ones picked as a feature here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog.

Button Code:

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My Week in Review: This week I shared Lady Winter & Sister Spring and Our Weather, Signs of Spring & Irish Chicken and Leek Pie, Pi Day and the history of pi, Rainbows, Leprechaun Trap and an Irish Cinderella

 

Now for This Week's Party 
 
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow Crafty Moms Share and Having Fun at Chelle's House via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post. 

3) Post the newly updated button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

Button Code:

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4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest as well as Having Fun at Chelle's House at Facebook and Pinterest

Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share and Having Fun at Chelle's House permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest. 

Happy Pi Day

Today is the official holiday of Pi Day!! As a former math teacher, I love to celebrate it. Last year I gave you some of the sheets I used with my high school classes to celebrate it and to justify our having pie. This year I thought I would look at a bit of the history of pi.

Happy Pi Day!

I'm showing my geeky roots and going back to when I taught math. On March 14, math teachers have started celebrating a holiday called Pi Day! Earlier in the week I gave you some links and ideas of lessons to help with the celebration. Since Hazel is 3 and we are pursuing a Waldorf education we didn't bother with all the geometry stuff and we went to my favorite part--baking pie!

Ways to Celebrate Pi Day!

As a former math teacher, I am definitely an advocate of Pi Day which is on Wednesday this week--March 14 or 3.14. Math teachers don't always get the fun part of teaching so we have to take it whenever we can get it. Pi Day is one of those times.