Archive – A Pocketful of Pi

This page shows the blog posts published when I first created the site. These posts reflect the original purpose of the website.

What is Math, Anyway?

If I asked you to define “mathematics,” what would you say? Is it solving problems? Is it memorizing number facts and rules? Is it fun or boring, easy or challenging? Is it a set of useful tools to help you through life or is it a bunch of irrelevant nonsense that you will never use?…
How Do You Use Math?

One of my favorite things to do on the first day of a math class is to get my students thinking about what math is and how they use it. I once had a student in a community college class who made it his mission to prove to me that it is possible to go…
How Experience Shapes Our Views

We all have that one memory, or a series of memories, that shapes the way we feel about school. Some of us loved everything about our grade school experience. We loved being with our friends every day. We loved having access to books and crayons and monkey bars. We loved our teachers. We loved learning…
The Power of Growth Mindset

Photo credit: HLB Teachers; https://tinyurl.com/y4waowzy This idea of growth mindset is prevalent in education right now. Actually, I hear about it in other contexts, as well, including in the small business and network marketing realm. It is at the forefront of personal growth discussions, too. You may have seen or read about mindset in a…
Talking in Math Class

Most of us probably remember math class in elementary school (and beyond) as quiet work time. Traditional instruction included the teacher giving a few examples of how to complete a calculation, followed by students sitting in silence and working problem after problem on a worksheet. This might be one reason many of us say we…
Welcome

Welcome to A Pocketful of Pi! This site is one math teacher’s effort to change the way the world views math. If you are looking to understand the math your child is learning in elementary school, searching for ways to bring joy to your budding mathematician, or looking for some research-based information about mathematics instruction and…
The Many Wonders of Building Blocks

Do you remember playing with blocks as a child? Wooden blocks, alphabet blocks, interlocking bricks, over-sized cardboard bricks. Building blocks come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. The simplicity of the idea is fascinating, and yet there are so many things you can do with blocks if you just let yourself dive into the…
Dice Magic

Dice (or number cubes) are one of my favorite things to use in math class. They are super versatile and can be used to teach and practice a ton of concepts. They also come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes, which expands the possibilities, and playing games is a great way to teach…
How Many Fingers Do You See?

Featured Photo Credit: Atlas Green Have you ever noticed that when someone holds up a few fingers and asks you how many you see, you don’t have to count them? You just intuitively know that three fingers is three fingers and that five fingers is five fingers. Same kind of deal when you a playing a…
Fun Game! Math Dice, Jr.

Maybe you have already seen my post on the versatility of number cubes…aka dice…in the post titled “Dice Magic.” In it, I describe how to use dice to practice all sorts of math skills as your child grows in mathematical thinking. This post goes into detail about a great, commercially available game called Math Dice,…
Number Puzzles

There has been a lot of discussion in recent years about making math relevant for students. Making math relevant really just means showing a student the practical purpose for math in a way that feels useful. The thinking is that kids will be more likely to take an interest in learning a particular math concept…
Nix the Tricks!

Have you ever had trouble remembering how to “carry the one” or had difficulty understanding what it means to “borrow?” Do you pause when deciding which way to “move” a decimal or how many zeros to “add” to the end of a number? Most people I talk to believe math is a {really, really large}…
Making Math Moments Series

I have been away from blogging for a while now. Actually, since I began a new job teaching math to middle school students back in August. I didn’t intend to step away from blogging, but with the 65 mile each way commute I have now, it’s been a process to find time to do all…
Be a Chance Taker – Making Math Moments Week 1

Be a chance taker. What does this mean in math class? For me, this means putting into practice what I know from research and what I believe about how humans learn math. In many areas of life, this seems like not much of a risk. We learn things all the time that make our lives…
Curiosity Instigator – Making Math Moments Week 2

Instigator. Not a word we usually associate with something good. Often we speak of “problem” students as instigators of mischief. The second module of the Making Math Moments workshop changed my perception of what it means to be an instigator. I already knew part of my job as a math teacher is to get students…
Coordinating the Struggle – Making Math Moments Week 3

You may have heard talk of this idea of “productive struggle.” You may even have wondered what it is and how it’s different from any other kind of struggle. We know from research that the brain grows through challenges, or struggles, just like other parts of the body. Let’s take muscle growth, for example. You…
How to Be a Fueling Sense Making Ninja – Making Math Moments Week 4

Fueling sense making. This is the point of being a teacher in any subject, right? Finding ways to push students from being mere recipients of information to thinking critically about that information and using it to construct their own real knowledge. For years I have battled within myself about the merits of memorizing math facts.…
Igniting Your Next Move – Making Math Moments Week 5

So, this week is kind of where it all starts to come together. How to take everything we know to plan a really engaging lesson that students latch on to and that moves their thinking forward. Being an Ignition Expert means you, as the teacher, take into account where students have been mathematically, anticipate strategies…
Getting the Most out of Your Math Moments – Making Math Moments Week 6

There are only a few instructional days left with each of my classes before end-of-year testing begins and things have been getting a bit crazy, as they tend to do this time of year. I finally finished up the coursework for this workshop last weekend and have spent some time letting it all ruminate in…
Slides Are For The Playground

One of the questions I get asked most frequently as the school year comes to an end is What can we do over summer break to keep our children from forgetting what they learned during the school year? Oh, the dreaded “summer slide.” It’s one of the reasons I loved the year round schedule used…
What do you think?

Scene 1: In a typical first grade classroom. Student: {staring at a broken pencil} Teacher: Looks like your pencil is broken. Student: {shifts stare to teacher} Teacher: What do you think you should do? Student: {continues to stare at teacher} Early in my teaching career I had a class of first graders in a fairly…
YouCubed

For a while now I have wanted to write about this fantastic resource. Well, I am finally getting around to it! YouCubed.org is a site that was founded by Stanford professor of education, Jo Boaler, “to give teachers, parents and students the resources and ideas they need to inspire and excite students about mathematics.” The…
Two Tens and Eight

How we talk to kids matters. But did you know that the way the English language names numbers is often confusing and doesn’t reinforce important mathematical concepts? If math is about patterns, then counting should be a pattern, right? Well, counting does follow a pattern, but the language we use doesn’t make it intuitive. Think…
Algebra is Not the Enemy

My t-shirt says it all. “When will I ever use this?” is a question I get a LOT as a math teacher. Especially from middle school level students. Believe it or not, I’ve even had conversations about this at the college level. Have you ever told someone (maybe even your child) that you didn’t see…
Can you spot a SET?

Last week my class participated in Global School Play Day. I was a bit nervous about an entire day of “unstructured” play with my high energy crowd, but I stepped through my fears and let it happened. It wasn’t completely unstructured, I guess. Our day is kind of broken up into manageable chucks with the…
How Many Pennies?

A three act math discussion Many years ago, my husband’s best friend made this bank for him using and old post office box. They were both postal workers and this friend is no longer with us, so this bank is pretty special to us. We use it to save our pennies. I shared about this…