I wrote about two competing theories recently. Each is an answer the question Why do you never see a square on the rectangle page of a shapes book for young children? That question stands in for lots of other specific questions, such as Why do counting books tend...
Why do you never see a square on the rectangle page of a shapes book for children? This is the sort of book I'm talking about. I asked this question of a colleague this summer. It turns out that my colleague and I have different answers to this question. I'll share...
I received this note recently: I teach 1st and I'm also in ... M.Ed program for K-6. I'd be interested in having you come to our class. Let me know if that's still possible this year. Can I make time to talk math with young children? Of course I can! Pretty soon,...
![Selfie. From left to right: Me, the 16 year-old, and [locally famous Radio Gal] on a sunny summer evening.](https://talkingmathwithkids.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/probability-radio-gal-1024x768.jpg)
I am currently writing the teacher guide for my next book, How Did You Count? (See a couple of teaser photos at the end of this post!) A section of a chapter of that teacher guide has the heading Seek to Understand and to Be Understood. Those who know my teaching...
I am obsessed with this shape toy I saw in the gift shop at the Science Museum of Minnesota last week. Seen from above in the first photo, the triangle looks like a triangle. Seen obliquely, we notice that the triangle is embossed on a half-sphere, and so the sides...
A very snowy winter is turning to a long, slow spring here in Minnesota. It is the kind of spring that makes us joyful for sunny 45° days. So I went for a long walk Sunday afternoon. Together with a meaningful percentage of the population of the city of Saint Paul,...
I am very excited to let folks know that Dan Finkel of Math for Love has scaled up 21st Century Pattern Blocks production and availability. They've been available here on this site for a few years now. At first I was making them on a maker-space laser cutter, then...
I was invited recently to give a talk to Reach Out and Read Minnesota, a lovely organization that supports early literacy development by connecting with children and caregivers in medical offices. They are beginning to explore similar work for early math...