Keep Math Alive This Summer

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Fun ways to keep math alive this summer


The school weeks are winding down and summer is quickly approaching. While teachers and students alike welcome the break, it’s important to keep math skills alive over the many weeks of summer vacation.

Here are four fun ideas for helping your kids use their math skills this summer:

 1. Download and play My Dear Aunt Sally

This new, engaging math game by Ron Larson reinforces many of the Common Core skills that are vital to math literacy. Playing the game for 15 minutes a day is a fun, easy way to keep math skills fresh! My Dear Aunt Sally includes number sense, number operations, order of operations, and problem solving.

2. Set up a family game night

The Big Ideas Math Game Closet includes dozens of interactive math games that can be printed and played at home. Get the family together once a week, make some popcorn, and have fun with math!

3. Ask the kids to help with dinner

Cooking together is a great way to reinforce math skills! Using measuring cups is a perfect way to practice adding or subtracting fractions (example: The recipe calls for ½ cup of flour. How many quarter cups could I use to get the same amount?). Cutting a pizza into equal parts lends easily to fraction questions as well.

4. Get active

Get your child a pedometer to wear and keep track of his/her daily steps. Keep a record of the daily count for a week (or more) and graph the results to compare the steps taken each day. Students can also record their heart rate while performing various activities (resting, walking, running, climbing stairs, jumping, etc.) and compare the results.

Are there any activities you would add to the list? Please share them with us in the comments!

Big Ideas Learning Announces New Math Game Partnership

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My Dear Aunt Sally

Big Ideas Learning has partnered with RD Imagine to launch a new math game, My Dear Aunt Sally, that reinforces many of the skills demanded by the Common Core State Standards in grades 2-8.  The over 300 difficulty levels of the game range from adding whole numbers to multiple operations involving rational numbers.

My Dear Aunt Sally was developed by Ron Larson, Ph.D., author of the Big Ideas Math program. The game was 6 months in development and incorporates successful learning styles recommended by the new Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice.

Larson said “When I started looking at the math games that are available, I realized two things.  First, they aren’t fun.  Second and more importantly, they don’t employ higher level thinking that is so necessary for success in mathematics. With My Dear Aunt Sally, we changed that.  The game is both fun and employs higher level thinking.”

The game covers the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and exponents, as applied to whole numbers, integers, decimals, fractions, and rational numbers.  Embedded in the game are dozens of animations and bonus games.

My Dear Aunt Sally is available free at www.MyDearAuntSally.com.  It is also available for purchase as an App at the Apple App Store and at Google Play.

Check out the fantastic review of My Dear Aunt Sally over at Fun Educational Apps.

Recap of NCTM 2013 Annual Meeting in Denver

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We had a fabulous time exhibiting Big Ideas Math at the NCTM 2013 Annual Meeting in Denver last week! We would like to thank all of you that visited our booth and brightened our days with your Big Ideas Math stories and experiences.

This year we exhibited with a brand new booth design. We were very excited to showcase our new Common Core Curriculum program, and the new design highlighted it perfectly. In case you were unable to attend the conference, here are some pictures of our new setup:

Big Ideas Math at NCTM 2013

Big Ideas Math at NCTM 2013

Big Ideas Math at NCTM 2013

Big Ideas Math at NCTM 2013 Annual Meeting

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Big Ideas Math will be exhibiting at the NCTM 2013 Annual Meeting in Denver, CO from April 18 – 20, 2013. If you are attending the conference, stop by and visit us in Booth 1630!

Big Ideas Math authors Ron Larson and Laurie Boswell will be signing books on Thursday, April 18th, at 11:00 am in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt booth # 1517.

Big Ideas Math at 2013 ASCD Annual Conference

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Big Ideas Math will be exhibiting this coming weekend at the 2013 ASCD Annual Conference in Chicago, IL. The conference is being held at McCormick Place West from March 16-18, 2013.

Our Big Ideas Math Director of Curriculum, Denise McDowell, will be presenting a session called Using Mathematical Practices to Promote Active Learning and Higher-Order Thinking on Monday, March 18 at 10:00 am in Room W185A.

If you are attending the conference, consider attending Denise’s informative session as she shares instructional strategies that promote active learning and higher-order thinking. Also, be sure to visit Big Ideas Math in Booth 725 in the Exhibit Hall.