Musings of a Mathematical Mom

aofradkin.wordpress.com · English

Introducing the beauty and elegance of mathematics to little kids, through fun activities and discussions.

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Modultown! live on Kickstarter
Oct 21, 2025 · original
Modultown!, our second math-inspired children’s fantasy with Allison Bishop, is live on Kickstarter. You can check it out here . We are on a mission to write a series of books that help children build up intuition for deep mathematical concepts by personifying them. We believe that our engaging stories will help reach not only children who already love math, but even those who may have struggled with typical classroom presentations. Our first book, Funville Adventures, introduced children to the concept of functions through magical beings with powers. Modultown!, explores the concept of modularity through beings with inherent periodicity. A bit about Modultown: Modultown is a place where history repeats itself … but friends learn and grow along the way. Each inhabitant of Modultown is driven by an inner cycle that is reflected in their number of hands as well as their sleep patterns. Whe
7th Annual Main Line Math Festival
Oct 8, 2023 · original
Our 7th annual Math Festival on the Philadelphia Main Line for children ages 5-12 is happening on October 22, 2023! It will take place at Main Line Classical Academy and is jointly sponsored by MLCA and Golden Key Enrichment . If you’re in the area (or not too far from it ), come and discover for yourself the joy and beauty of mathematics! Solve challenging puzzles, build tricky structures, learn fascinating magic tricks, create colorful symmetrical artwork, play games, and most importantly, have fun! Volunteer opportunities for interested high school students (community service credit can be provided)! This event is free for all attendees. However, registration is required – please use the RSVP link to register in advance so we can be prepared for the right number of participants! REGISTER HERE: https://forms.gle/uCYES626Tf2qAqQbA Find out more about the festival on the FB event page: h
How Many? – A book and a math adventure
Jul 27, 2018 · original
It was a rainy day in the middle of summer vacation. Ben and Zoe (6 and 5 yo) were home together because they were too young to join their older siblings on their adventure. They were a little sad and not sure what to do. “Let’s do some math,” Zoe’s mom suggested. “Okay…” they agreed somewhat reluctantly. “But no pluses or minuses,” said Zoe. “I like multiplication,” chimed Ben. “I have an idea,” said mom and took out a book that Zoe and Ben had never seen before. “How many?” Ben read the cover. “I know,” he said. “It’s a fraction book.” “Why do you think that?” asked Zoe’s mom. “Because I saw the back of the book,” Ben explained. “I guess we’ll see,” said Zoe’s mom and opened the book. On the inside cover there was a picture. “How many?” asked Zoe’s mom. “How many apples?” Ben replied with a question of his own. But Zoe was already busy counting away. Before Ben or mom could say anythin
Naming Numbers at Bedtime
Apr 16, 2018 · original
Setting: I am putting Zoe (5 yo) to bed. Z: Mom, what comes after one hundred? Me: One hundred and one. Z: No, I mean when you’re counting by tens. Me: One hundred and ten. Z: But then what comes after one hundred ninety? Me: Two hundred. Z: But what comes after nine hundred? Me: Nine hundred and one. Z: But by tens. Me: Nine hundred and ten. Z: So what comes after nine hundred ninety by tens? Me: One thousand. This conversation continued for a very long time, with questions about what comes after one thousand, one thousand ten, one thousand ninety, one thousand one hundred, and so on. I understood fairly quickly that when she asked “what comes after…?” she really wanted to know the name of the next order of magnitude. But for a while I answered her questions very exactly and made her figure out a way to get precisely to what she wanted to know (yes, I can be cruel to my children like th
Main Line Math Festival on April 22
Mar 18, 2018 · original
On April 22, Golden Key Russian School and Main Line Classical Academy are hosting their fifth Main Line Math Festival for kids ages 5-12. Date: Sunday, April 22 Time: 4 PM – 6 PM Location: Temple Brith Achim, 481 S Gulph Rd, King of Prussia, PA 19406 For more details and to register visit the festival site . To find out what you can expect, read about previous festivals here and here . Stations will include: -Discover the One Cut Theorem -Building Extravaganza using newspaper rolls, Kapla Blocks, chickpeas+toothpicks -Explore symmetry through various math and art projects -Logic puzzles galore -“Guess my rule” Function Machine -Paper folding problems -And more! Here are some pictures from previous festivals:
Funville Adventures is on a Web Tour!
Feb 19, 2018 · original
Through March 15, Funville Adventures will be visiting blogs, forums, and other communities throughout the web. Today, the tour had its first stop at Talking Math With Your Kids by Christopher Danielson. The title of his post is Things that Give me Hope and in it Danielson lists some of his favorite math projects, including Funville! I could tell you what the others are, but I want you to read the post; it is beautifully written and inspiring. More details about the tour and coming attractions can be found here . If you have a web page, a blog, a podcast, a community, or another way to share mathematics, we would like to invite you to take part in the Funville web tour. Please email reach.out@naturalmath.com to join the adventure! Don’t have any of those but still want to participate? Send us your stories, quotes, and fan art and we will feature them on the site! Or you can write a revie
Secret 3-digit numbers
Jan 28, 2018 · original
For the past two weeks, in my first grade math class, we had been playing with 3-digit numbers. Many of the students in this class are the same ones that participated in the lessons described in the posts 3-digit numbers are tricky!, Part I and Part II , from last year. But now, 3-digit numbers are their old friends and they are ready to do much more sophisticated things with them. I have found a number of interesting activities in the Super Source – Base Ten Blocks book for grades K-2 for us to try out. One of the activities was a particular hit with the students. Here is how it worked. One student would go to the special table and build a 3-digit number inside a box using base-10 blocks. That student would then give out clues about the number until another student built the same number. Here are lists of clues that three different students came up with. Can you guess the numbers? For r
Witnessing the woes of math homework
Jan 19, 2018 · original
Every week, I spend several hours in the waiting area of a large gym where my kids take gymnastics lessons. The room has several large tables where parents and siblings can do their work while waiting for their gymnasts. Many kids use this time to do their homework and by far the most common subject that I see them working on is math. About half the time, the parents are helping them. The kids rarely look excited but they are generally resigned. Last week, I witnessed a scene that left me very disturbed. A mom was helping her daughter, who looked to be about 9 or 10, with math homework. The girl would alternate between crying, yelling, or even occasionally hitting the mom. She also kept repeating the following phrases, “I don’t understand this,” “You are wasting my time,” and “I hate you/this.” The mom was generally much calmer than I would expect someone to be in this situation. Her mos
The mathematical boundary between a joke and a lie
Jan 16, 2018 · original
Like all siblings, my children occasionally quarrel. I generally try not to get involved unless it gets loud or one of them complains to me. Sometimes, however, I hear something that amuses me and I tune in or even join the conversation. Today, it began with Zoe (5 yo) accusing Katie (9 yo) of lying to her. Katie, in her turn, was claiming that it was just a joke. This is how the conversation continued: Katie: You don’t even know the difference between a joke and a lie. Zoe: Yes I do. K: Oh yeah, what is it? Z: For example, if you say “I ate 100 crepes”, then that’s obviously a joke. But if you say “I ate all the remaining crepes”, then that’s either the truth or a lie. K: That depends on how many crepes were left. This is where I joined the conversation. I was very intrigued to find out exactly at which point the joke turns into a lie. So I started asking some questions of my own. The g
Highlights of 2017
Dec 31, 2017 · original
2017 was a very exciting year for me. Here are some highlights in three categories. Teaching This has been my first full (calendar) year of teaching. The first words that come to mind when I think about teaching are “wonderful” and “amazing”, but “hectic” and “stressful” are close seconds. That being said, I feel extremely fortunate to have found something I feel so passionate about and to work with awesome kids on a daily basis. Book This year I became a published author. The excitement of holding my first published book in my hands compared only to that of holding my newborn baby. The main difference is that with a baby your initial concerns are all about protecting it from “the world” while with a book they are quite the opposite – how to get it out there (and in the spirit of getting it out there, here’s the link where you can get it or write a review ). Family Zoe started Kindergart

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