Math Teachers At Play: Blog Carnival Edition # 77

Welcome to the 77th edition of the Math Teachers at Play Blog Carnival!  I’m super excited to be hosting this carnival because I’ve been reading it for years!  Yes, I am that crazy person who started reading math teacher blogs as a high school junior.  I think you are going to enjoy going through the submissions.  I know I found several new-to-me blogs to add to my RSS reader!

But, first, facts about the number 77.

77 is the smallest positive integer requiring five syllables in English.
77 is the sum of the first eight prime numbers.
It is possible for a Sudoku puzzle to have 77 given numbers and still lack a unique solution.
The 12th perfect number has 77 digits.

Want more information about the MTaP Blog Carnival?  Want to host it at your blog?  Want to submit a favorite blog post?  Click here for more info.

Finally, on to the submissions!

Teaching Math To Kids

Cody Meirick believes that algebra begins in pre-kindergarten (or
before).  Check out these suggestions of some suggestions of books that may inspire you to explore algebraic thinking with your children.

Bon Crowder responds to an anti-CCSS photograph that’s been floating around Facebook.  She compares different algorithms for subtraction and encourages teachers to explore different methods of solving the same problem with their students.

Julie, a homeschooling mom, shares several activities she has done to teach her kids math in a fun, hands-on way.  She provides complete and detailed instructions to construct your own four star mandala, and the posters her kids made to describe the platonic solids are amazing!

Denise Gaskins shares some new touches she added to the old Math War Game.  She was inspired by some presentations given at Twitter Math Camp this summer.

Teaching Math To Teenagers

Lisa Bejarano shares how she combined Kagan strategies and the Frayer Model to start out the year exploring definitions in geometry.

Katie Steckles and Peter Rowlett have started a podcast aimed at teachers and students in years 10-13 (UK System) to highlight how people use mathematics in their work.  Each episode is roughly 25 minutes long and includes a fun mathematical puzzle.  Check it out!

Jo Morgan is a UK maths teacher who has been collecting awesome ideas shared by the MTBoS (Math-Twitter-Blogosphere) on her blog.  Here’s her first installment of 6 maths gems found around the web.

Elissa Miller provides a template to create your own wheels for practicing solving one and two step equations.  Students can easily check their work when done solving.

Lisa Winer is a fairly new blogger who has been teaching math for 25 years.  Her blog is called Eat Play Math and combines her love of math, teaching, and cooking.  Check out her first blog post to learn more about her passions.

At TMC14, Rebecka Peterson shared two of her favorite things: Friday Letters and the Mathematician Spotlight.  Visit her blog to learn more about these strategies to get to know your students better and to get your students researching famous mathematicians.

Celeste Sinclair shares fun ways to get your students learning outside the math classroom.  Her math scavenger hunt looks super fun!

Teaching Math In General

Andrew Shauver shares why he isn’t THAT worried about the future of math education.  Visit his blog to find links to math educators who he considers are doing things right and sharing resources in the process.

Stephen Cavadino offers a list of five books that he advises mathematics teachers to buy to improve their instruction.  One of the books recommended by Stephen is Tina Cardone’s Nix the Tricks.  Download this free book to learn how to avoid teaching shortcuts that cut out math development.

Classroom Decorations, Back to School, and More!

Margo Gentile shares a fun, pencil forest she made to manage pencil use in her classroom.  She even provides ideas on how to use it to reinforce graphing skills.

Amy Fine writes about her plan this year to create dynamic displays that change throughout the year according to what they are learning in her sixth grade math class.

Jacqueline Richardson shares pictures of her adorable middle school math classroom where she challenges students to “Do Math Like A Champion Today.”

Pam Wilson created an awesome bulletin board in her classroom with accountable talk starters.  During the first week of class, she models and encourages students to agree, disagree, state their claim/warrant, etc.

Gretchen Watson is an Algebra 2 teacher who loves The Big Bang Theory.  Check out her Big Bang Theory themed math classroom and syllabus.

Do you know of an awesome link that’s missing?  Add it in the comments!