Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”

This game reinforces the most important model for understanding numerical and algebraic multiplication.

Writing to Learn Math: Number play doesn’t have to follow school math methods.

“In most sciences, one generation tears down what another has built, and what one has established another undoes.

This game offers young children a chance to practice counting and early addition skills while racing to beat their parents.

Writing to Learn Math: People learn math by playing with ideas.

We’ve been looking at Deans for Impact’s white paper, “The Science of Learning,” which summarizes cognitive science research and its implications for teachers (and homeschoolers).

This game features the Cuisenaire rods, but you may play with any math manipulative based on length: Montessori bead chains, Mortensen or Math-U-See blocks, etc.

Writing to Learn Math: When students create their own math, they forge a personal connection to mathematical concepts and relationships.

We all want our children to thrive, to grow, to learn, to succeed in school and in life.

This game helps students master multiplying and dividing fractions.

Would you like some great ideas for reading and playing math with your kids?

Writing to Learn Math: What did the author mean?

“Puzzles are made of the things that the mathematician, no less than the child, plays with, and dreams and wonders about, for they are made of things and circumstances of the world he [or she] lives in.”

This game builds mental math skills in young students, and is fun for all ages.

Writing to Learn Math: Research prompts help students view math as a human endeavor.

“The value of a problem is not so much coming up with the answer as in the ideas and attempted ideas it forces on the would-be solver.”

This game gives students a fun reason to think about calculating with exponents.

Writing to Learn Math: When students learn to visualize shapes, designs, and patterns, it makes them better at math.

“One factor that has remained constant through all the twists and turns of the history of physical science is the decisive importance of the mathematical imagination.”

This game builds number sense and a playful approach to math.

Writing to Learn Math: Math journal explanations avoid the formality that turns so many students away from geometry proofs.

And now for something completely different… The intrepid Quote Investigator played around with math recently: “You know, people think that mathematics is complicated.

This game uses the area model to visualize and build understanding of integer multiplication.

Writing to Learn Math: Problem-solving cares less about whether an answer is right and more about whether a solution makes sense.

“I am inclined to believe that one of the origins of mathematics is man’s playful nature, and for this reason mathematics is not only a Science, but to at least the same extent also an Art.”

This game requires students to make logical deductions about number relationships.

Writing to Learn Math: What did the author mean?

“Using mathematics to tell stories and using stories to explain mathematics are two sides of the same coin.

This game takes strategic thinking and planning ahead, and it makes a great journaling prompt, too.

Writing to Learn Math: When students create their own math, they forge a personal connection to mathematical concepts and relationships.

“I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.”

From the very first review of my new book, Charlotte Mason’s Living Math: “This book gives parents permission to believe that mathematics is something children can reason about, wonder about, discuss, investigate, and enjoy.