Posts Tagged ‘too hard’

A Maths Fairy Tale for Grade 2
May 12, 2016Once upon a time, Grade 2 students did very boring work in maths. And they had to do lots of tests too.
Sometimes evil witches wrote the test questions. These Year 2 (Grade 2) questions were very, very scary. Here is one of those very scary questions. It was so scary lots of people turned into angry birds when they saw this question. The angry birds tweeted that this question is ” too hard’. Tweet! Tweet! (The Telegraph , UK, 9 May, 2016)
A very wise old Mathspig worked out the answer.
X -19 +17 = 63
X = 65
Mmmmm, this is a scary question for Grade 2.
Many Grade 2 teachers are Wonderful Maths Wizards. They make maths magical and fun everyday. Students must sharpen their pencils and put on their wizards thinking hats to practise their maths. But maths can be magical and fun too. So here is:
A MATHS FAIRY STORY
by Mathspig
A Wonderful Maths Wizard teacher can read the story out loud and the little Grade 2 Maths Wizards can write down their answers.
Printable Version below.

Maths isn’t TOO HARD; it’s TOO BORING, Sir!
January 15, 2016Hello my little Peeps,
In 2012 The New York Times ran an article by Andrew Hacker titled ‘Is Algebra Necessary?’ The argument was, basically, that too many students find algebra difficult and colleges in America use math results to screen students thus further disadvanting already disadvantaged students. The author had a point. eg. Of all who embark on higher education, only 58 percent end up with bachelor’s degrees. The main impediment to graduation: freshman math.
Perhaps, algebra could be taught in a different way. Mathspig was inspired by New York Grade 3 teacher, Alycia Zimmerman, who uses Lego to teach fractions (See next post) and came up with the following examples.
But Mathspig has always lerved Lego Maths. Here are just a few examples;
Ratios: The Rosetta Project Scaled down to a Lego Universe
Other links to Lego Maths.
And while you are doing your Lego Maths you an also use the Lego Template to design your own Lego Figurine.
Download Template here.
Have fun peeps.
Cheerio
Mathspig