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News

September 2015

In this edition of the News you will find:

Red Square New Picture Puzzle Menu

Red Square New Order Form

Red Square New Web Paper

Red Square Tasks of the Month
Task 216, Square Pairs
Task 217, Kids On Grids

Please feel free to distribute this information.

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New Picture Puzzle Menu

Picture Puzzles ... one screen, two learners, concrete materials and a challenge.

The image shows the title slide from one of the six Picture Puzzles slide shows in the new Number & Computation B menu. Each show has a sequence of 53 slides which invite students to choose their own time limit to complete 20 Times Tables Torture questions. Then, using array images they correct their work and find two ways of knowing each table.
Knowing how to represent each times table as an array and exploring the links between the arrays, provides the flexibility that empowers the requirement to 'know your tables'. This menu is based on the Calculating Changes activity of the same name and another called Exploring Times Tables. The five other Tortures involve the 2 & 4, 4 & 8, 3 & 6, 3 & 9 and 9 & 10 times tables.

Picture Puzzles work on any Internet-connected device.
Picture Puzzles is a resource. The Free Tour samples will help you decide if you want to use it with your i-screens. You purchase once and as new menus are added those with access can return to Mathematics Centre and download the new puzzles to their school server.
Picture Puzzles are provided as menus in which the 5 (in this case 6) puzzles involve the same content. Students can choose their own mathematics or teachers can decide which ones are used and when. Teaching Notes provide answers and support for taking each investigation further. See Link List below.

Around 80 teachers (primary and secondary) from the Canberra Goulburn Diocese
of the Catholic Education Office getting hooked on the Pattern & Algebra B menu.

Picture Puzzles ... one screen, two learners, concrete materials and a challenge.

New Order Form
We have reviewed our stock, reconsidered our pricing and refreshed our order form. Believe it or not, our pricing either stayed the same, or has reduced. The significant changes are:
1. Picture Puzzles available at 110ドル discount to Calculating Changes members.
2. Decrease in the price of Working Mathematically with Infants from 396ドル to 330ドル and five additional Poly Plug in the kit.
You may like to print the Order Form and review the Resources & Ordering link as you prepare your budget for 2016.
See Link List below.

New Web Paper

Aha! Teaching Maths is Simple
First published in Primary Mathematics, Mathematical Association, UK, Spring 2010, Volume 14 Issue 1, this paper begins with the proposition that 'Teaching maths is simple ... but subtle.'. It moves on through examples leading to the statement 'Let the kids do it. The subtlety is in being the teacher who can facilitate this.' and draws near to conclusion with 'This is the simple but subtle description ...(of the Working Mathematically Process)... that has brought success to hundreds of classrooms from K to 12.'. The examples are drawn from Calculating Changes and as the article unfolds the reader develops a deeper understanding of the philosophy and practice of this Mathematics Centre network. See Link List below.

Tasks of the Month
Two new cameos this month.
The Task Cameo Content Finder has been updated to include these tasks.
- Square Pairs was added the collection following the recommendation of two professional mathematicians who proved the theorem behind it. They saw that it has several elements appropriate for school students and in particular the opportunity to construct proofs. Easy to state and easy to start the challenge is, given a list of numbers from 1 to an even number, to pair the numbers so that the sum of each pair is a square number. The task involves finding lists which do and don't work.
- Kids On Grids is both an opportunity to introduce or refine concepts related to location on a plane and to explore graphical algebra, especially straight lines, in a visual and kinaesthetic way. Calculation, number patterns and generalisations develop naturally from the hands-on activity.
Square Pairs Kids on Grids
Click a photo to access its cameo, or access all current cameos through the Link List below.

Keep smiling,
Doug.

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Link List

Did you miss the Previous News?
If so you missed information about:
1. My Year 1 Would Love This!
2. Professional Development at Work
3. Iceberg Information about two Tasks of the Month
  (Tasks 215, 241)
4. ...and more...

Did You Know?

You can Search Mathematics Centre.
Our Site Map acts as a Table of Contents to help you find what you need in Mathematics Centre.
You can find photos of every task using the Task Library.
You can find tasks by content using the Task Cameo Content Finder.
Calculating Changes offers Content Finder & Year Level Finder tools.
You can find tasks coded by Year Level and Curriculum Strand in the Task Centre Catalogue. (PDF file)
You can search for lessons by Year Level, Curriculum Strand, Lesson Features & Keyword at Maths300.
You can connect Tasks to their Maths300 companion lesson using Tasks & Maths300 (a PDF file).
Excel version provided by Pymble Ladies' College
All these links, and more, appear in Working with Mathematics Centre (a PDF file).

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Continue exploring our history back to July 1992 through the Sense of History link.

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News

September 2015

Aha! Teaching Maths is Simple

Link List

Did You Know?