Math is Real Life - February 2015 Edition

 I am happy to once again join up with the fabulous linky hosted by Miss Math Dork, 4mulafun, The Teacher Studio, and Teaching to Inspire in 5th! 

My use of math this month doesn't actually include any numbers, but as we know there is so much more to math than just the numbers. This month's post is all about logical thinking and problem solving.

So my 3 year old son, like most young boys, has a love for Thomas the train. For his second Christmas my husband made him an amazing train table, complete with the island of Sodor (where Thomas lives for those of you that have never had to sit through an episode). He used it off and on and the table was a main piece of furniture in his room until recently. Seeing that his love of Thomas seemed to be fading we decided to move the table downstairs to the play area to make room for other things in his bedroom.

Well, a change of location seems to have peaked his interest again, because every time we come downstairs he wants to make a train track. When he was younger we often heard the phrase, "mommy/daddy, can you make me a train track?", which has evolved into, "mommy/daddy, can you help me make a train track?", which will hopefully, one day become, "mommy/daddy, look at the train track I built!".

So how does building train tracks relate to math? A lot!

First of all, my son quickly discovered that there were a lot more possibilities if we built the track on the floor, that way he wasn't restricted by the perimeter of the table.

He would often start with a plan of what elements he wanted in his track, i.e. the loop, the mountain, bridges, junctions, etc. From those elements we would start to build.

Once you start building you will quickly realize that it does take a little bit of thought, you need to think ahead to how you want the track to look and how you are going to be able to make it a complete track.

The beginning stages are pretty easy, but when you get down to the end of actually connecting everything together, it takes a little problem solving. Often times, we would have to backtrack and make a few adjustments in order to make it work, but in the end we created some pretty neat tracks.

 Now we just need to problem solve a little more, and figure out a way to prevent his baby brother from destroying the track 5 minutes after we build it!

The best part of the whole thing, other than spending time with my son, is sitting back, and just watching him deep in thought. I could honestly see his brain working when we got to those last few pieces of track! From very young he has always been a very logical thinker. He has always been happier figuring out how a toy works, rather than actually playing with it!


So, here we are a little later, and the train track phase is fading once again. So what do I have planned to keep him busy and thinking next month? He discovered a maze in one of his activity books and has been hooked ever since. I found a great site to print off free ones here, then realized that I was wasting a lot of paper. So, being a teacher, I remembered that I just so happen to own a laminator. So here we are making double-sided reusable mazes!

Mazes are a great activity to have on hand for those early finishers or just a break from the ordinary. I guarantee those reluctant learners who might "struggle with numbers" will love them.

Math is Real Life - December 2014 Edition

 I am happy to once again join up with the fabulous linky hosted by Miss Math Dork, 4mulafun, The Teacher Studio, and Teaching to Inspire in 5th! 

Last year was our first Christmas in our new house, and when it came to putting up the Christmas lights...our house looked a little sad. The amount of lights it took to decorate our old house, covered a small fraction of our new house. My husband and I started to dream of creating this winter wonderland, but I wasn't about to shell out hundreds of dollars on lights when I knew they would be going on sale within a month! So our dreams of a colourful lit up house would have to wait a year.

Fast forward to this year, we have a lot more lights...thanks to hitting up the clearance racks after Christmas (additional 60% off!!)...but do we have enough?

When standing before the clearance rack my husband and I did a little estimating to determine how many boxes of lights we would need. Each box of lights was 33 feet, 3 inches long. We knew we wanted to put lights up along the eavestroughs and peaks of the roof, but of course we didn't think to actually measure how much we would need before hitting the stores.

My husband had a rough idea of the dimensions, so using a little mental math and estimation, we decided upon 4 more boxes, on top of the 2 we already had. That gave us 199 feet and 6 inches to work with.

So up on the ladder went my husband while I nervously held the bottom steady. Attaching the lights to the eavestroughs wasn't so bad but I was holding my breath while he put them along the peaks of our roof.

Did you know...it's estimated that more than 15,000 people end up in emergency rooms from injuries resulting from hanging holiday decorations?!?!
I didn't want to become one of those people!

Turns out that one set of lights was exactly the length of the peaks on our roof.

In the end we had enough lights that we even brought them down one side of the house and ran them along our foundation. I'd say our estimation skills were on target.

Once the lights were up and my husband was back on solid ground...we still weren't quite happy with how it looked...we needed more. So off to the store we went and bought 2 more boxes (luckily on sale...this time only 25% off)

The extra lights we wrapped around the railings of our front porch.

Voila we have lights!

I still might hit up the clearance section again this year. I think lights around the garage door would really give it a finished look!

How did you use math this month in your life?

Math is Real Life - September 2014 Edition

 I am happy to once again join up with the fabulous linky hosted by Miss Math Dork, 4mulafun, The Teacher Studio, and Teaching to Inspire in 5th! 

School has officially started and fall is in the air. Though I am sad to see summer end, there is just something about fall...

What's not to love??

One of my favourite things about the end of August is harvesting the garden. As some of you know from an earlier post, my dream garden did not come to fruition this year, but I found the next best thing. A u-pick garden (amazing idea) just 5 minutes from my house.

When we went to check it out we weren't sure what we might get, but once we saw the variety and multitude of fresh veggies at our finger tips, it was hard to stop picking. Our biggest haul was 25 pounds of pickling cukes at $1.10/lb (much cheaper than our local farmer's market).

Now, I love pickles, but I have never attempted to make them before. With 25 lbs of cukes sitting on my counter I didn't have much choice but..........to call my mom.

As a child I remember going into our basement pantry and seeing jars upon jars of pickles, tomatoes, jams, jellies and more, so I knew I was dealing with a seasoned pro. Especially when she showed up with recipe from a special edition of Better Homes and Gardens from 1977!!

First we started by squeezing the cukes into the jars along with some garlic, dill and pickling spice.

Next we needed the pickling solution. We brought 3 quarts water, 1 quart vinegar, 3/4 cup salt, and 3/4 cup sugar to a boil. Once it was up to temperature, we then poured the solution into the jars up to the rim and put on the lids.

Canning can be a tricky business, as you plan to store these items for a fairly long period of time without any type of refrigeration. It needs to be done right, so that nothing spoils. Spoiling would lead to wasted food or sickness. Technically if your solution is hot enough, the jars should seal within the next few hours. However, after years of experience, my mom swears by placing the jars in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, just to be on the safe side.

Voila - we have pickles! Well technically they need about 2 weeks to fully pickle. We've already sampled them, as my husband isn't the patient type. They were delicious! Nothing compare to home-made!

We even went on to make a few jars of bread & butter pickles using the larger cukes that we picked. YUMMMMM!

Hopefully we have enough to last through the winter, but at the rate my husband and son are eating them, we may go through these fast!

Now I wonder how much money we saved by making them on our own vs. buying them at the store???

'Til next month,

Math is Real Life - July 2014 Edition

 I am happy to once again join up with the fabulous linky hosted by Miss Math Dork, 4mulafun, The Teacher Studio, and Teaching to Inspire in 5th! 

Here we are, the first week of July! It is officially summer vacation! Even though I have been off with baby for over 3 months now, it will be nice to have hubby home with me for the next 2 months!

One of the things I most look forward to in the summer is visiting the local Farmer's Markets. There is nothing like farm fresh veggies and fruit. My dream has always been to have a large garden of my own one day from which I can make pickles, can tomatoes, and harvest veggies to last us into the winter months. Now that we have the land, we just need to find the time. I had big hopes for my dream garden becoming a reality this year, but alas with baby and the huge amount of rain we've had, it just isn't going to happen this year. Never the less, we will have some fresh veggies.

My "garden" this year consists of some plants in this old abandoned well that was on our property when we bought it, and some pots around the house. Not quite what I had in mind, but it will have to do for now.

Gardening really is quite a science... and of course math. There are a lot of things to take into consideration, to maintain a plentiful garden. Where to plant, what to plant, how to plant, and so on. My grandpa was an avid gardener and he has shared a lot of his wisdom with me. I use to love going into his garden as a child (and even an adult) and popping fresh cherry tomatoes in my mouth. I want to pass this love of homegrown, fresh food on to my own children. So when it was time to plant our garden, I asked my son to help.

Here was my son's pick for his garden - Rattlesnake beans.

When you buy a packet of seeds, they come with directions stating how to plant.

 According to the package, for best results, the seeds need to be planted 10 cm/4 in apart and 2.5 cm/1 in deep. (Now try telling a 3 year old you can only plant 4 seeds in our tiny garden. We may not have followed the directions perfectly, but he is so excited to see them grow.)

We ended up putting in 2 rows with 8 seeds per row. So we should hopefully end up with 16 plants covered in 20 cm / 8 in green beans streaked with purple.

So now we wait...

Apparently I am suppose to construct a tepee like structure for them to grow up, as they grow to 10 feet! I'll add that to the hubby's to-do list!

If each seed we planted takes, my little garden is going to be overtaken by rattlesnakes! Can't wait!

The package claims that we will have beans in 60-90 days. As of yesterday, we are off to a pretty good start!

If you are a gardener as well, I wish you a plentiful garden this summer!

Math is Real Life - April 2014 Edition

 I am happy to once again join up with the fabulous linky hosted by Miss Math Dork, 4mulafun, The Teacher Studio, and Teaching to Inspire in 5th! 

Here we are, the first week of April and we are very happy to welcome our newest little "addition" to our family. My post this month will be short and sweet as newborns have this way of taking over your life...in a good way!

I know, as a math teacher, we are always trying to convince our students that numbers are everywhere. Well here's proof  about how true that really is, in fact numbers become part of your life from the moment you are born!

Without further delay...

Introducing...our baby boy Evan!

Now, let's get down to the numbers...

Date of birth: March 24, 2014

Time of birth: 4:57 a.m.

Weight at birth: 8 lbs, 12 oz

Length at birth: 22 inches

Some other numbers that will stick with me (not necessarily for good reasons)...

Length of labour: Roughly 8 hours, with 3 hours of pushing!!
Contractions:  3 minutes apart from the time they started to delivery.
There are a few other number details I could go into but I don't want to over-share! The results of childbirth are beautiful, but the actual act of childbirth...not so much!

Now that Evan has joined our family, I am definitely outnumbered.
Ratio of boys to girls in our house: 3:1 (4:1 if you count the cat!).
So of course everyone's first question is, "Are you going for a third?"

Well, I am off to nap, as my regular 8 hours of sleep per night, no longer exists...

Math is Real Life - March 2014 Edition

 I am happy to once again join up with the fabulous linky hosted by Miss Math Dork, 4mulafun, The Teacher Studio, and Teaching to Inspire in 5th! 

Here we are the first week of March...and it is still WINTER! I'm not one to complain about the weather but this year is enough to give anyone the "winter blues". At least for this month's post I was able to stay warm by the oven as I had a little baking marathon.

I officially worked my last day on February 28, and am now awaiting the arrival of our second child. The best thing I ever did before my son was born was have an all day baking/cooking marathon with my sister-in-law. Having my freezer stocked with prepared meals for dinner, and baking for breakfast made a huge difference after baby arrived! So here I am entering nesting phase for the 2nd time...so I've made a list of things to make and freeze over the next few days in preparation for life with a newborn. At least I will know that while I am busy feeding baby, my husband and son won't starve!

First up, we love muffins for breakfast in our house, so I pulled out my recipe box and decided to make some Buttermilk Berry muffins (since buttermilk just happened to be on sale last week - BONUS!). Now, when I bake, I want it to be worthwhile, so I usually double, triple, or even quadruple the recipe to make sure I am going to have enough to last us awhile. So, here come my math skills into play. I needed to determine how much of each ingredient I would need to make a double recipe. After a few calculations I was ready to bake.

In the end I decided to make 2 separate double batches, one cranberry orange, and one lemon blueberry. Therefore, I technically had to calculate a quadruple recipe, just to make sure I had enough of all my ingredients before I started baking.

Here are the final products. They turned out fluffy and delicious, even with a couple healthy substitutions of apple sauce and oat bran.

I ended up keeping one dozen out to eat, and froze 3 dozen for those inevitable mornings when we will be too sleep deprived to make anything for breakfast.

So there, you have it...math and food...not a new concept by any means, but I find students always relate to something when food is made a part of the equation.

Next up for me, is a double batch of chili, and a double batch of spaghetti sauce...I have to keep my math skills sharp while on maternity leave the next little while.

 

Math is Real Life - February 2014 Edition

 I am happy to once again join up with the fabulous linky hosted by Miss Math Dork, 4mulafun, The Teacher Studio, and Teaching to Inspire in 5th! 

Here we are the first week of February, and I don't know about you, but January was a loooooooooooooong month! This cold weather has been insane, we've gotten outside to play maybe a handful of times in the last month. My husband lucked out with 2 snow days...which makes me consider transferring to a rural school, as schools in the city never close!

So, let's get to my "Math is real life" post. This month I want to share an activity I do with my students that I find to be really successful...and very REAL! Let's be honest I can tell them that "math is real life" until I am blue in the face, and still there will be those unbelievers. So I need to prove it, by having them work through some real life math scenarios. 

Just before starting the following activity, I actually came across this picture on Facebook.

It makes me cringe to think that any of my students would say some of these things after being in my class. If we aren't teaching them real-life skills, what are we teaching them?

I also had to giggle a bit, as I am now teaching the Pythagorean Theorem, which I think is also a very important skill to have, especially for those students that will end up working in a trade.

So back to my activity...

Over the course of a week I present my students with some real-life math scenarios. I usually do these activities as a culminating activity to a unit on decimals and percentages. To make the activity a little more exciting, though not necessarily real-life, money is no issue. Therefore I call the activity "In My Dreams".

Day 1 - The students are asked to pick out one "dream" item they wish they could buy. 

Once they have selected their item from a flyer, they then need to calculate the amount of tax they will need to pay on top of the regular price. BUT WAIT...their item has been discounted due to too much inventory!














At the beginning of class I have students select a task tag from me when they walk into the room.

The color of tag they choose, determines the percentage they will receive off the regular price (which I don't reveal until later). I am always surprised at how excited the students are who get the higher percentage, and the disappointment of those with the lower percentage. I think it really shows that they are engaged in what they are doing...at least I like to think so!

Now that they have their discount, they must now calculate the final price of their item, including the discount and sales tax.

Day 2 - The students are asked to pick out their "dream" car.

I allow the students to go online to find their cars, with the only requirement being that it needs to include the actual price. (One student found the original Bat mobile...it only costs $2,000,000! No biggie!)

Once they have their cars we discuss additional costs associated with owning a car, deposits, loans, etc.
The students are then required to calculate their deposits, and the loans they will require, with interest.

Again, the percentage of their deposit and the percentage of interest they will have to pay are determined by which color task tag they select at the beginning of the class. (Their first question, is always, "Is purple still the best one?")

Day 3 - The students are asked to pick out their "dream" house.

On the morning of, I do a mad dash into my local grocery store and grab a stack of "Real Estate News". I get a few strange looks, but hey, they're free!

Once they have their houses, we discuss additional costs associated with purchasing a house, property taxes, water, electricity, mortgage, etc. I have tried to make these activities as realistic as possible, however I did not want to “lose” the students by adding information that would go over their heads. Of course you could have a discussion about other factors that might come up when purchasing a house, i.e. insurance, negotiating purchase price, amortization rates, etc. 

The students are then required to calculate their mortgages (including interest), and payment plans (monthly vs. bi-weekly)

Again, the percentage of interest they will have to pay on their mortgage will be determined by which color task tag they select at the beginning of the class.

After completing this activity, I feel that I have prepared my students for scenarios they will inevitably encounter in their future. I strongly believe that I have provided them with some valuable tools with which they can use to make informed decisions later on in their lives.

OR....I may have scared them off of buying a house completely! Some students realize that they will pay double for their house, by the time they pay it off! Every year I have at least one student say, "I'm never buying a house". This begins a great conversation on renting vs. buying, and the fact that once you hit 18, living at home forever doesn't seem like the best idea anymore!

If you are interested in working through these real-life math scenarios with your students, you can check them out here.