Month: February 2015

Betcha! Estimation in Menlo Park

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Betcha!, a MathStart book by Stuart J. Murphy, is a story about two friends just like you. They hear about a jelly-bean estimation contest in their Menlo Park hometown, and in hopes of winning tickets to a sports game, they decide to trek down to Planet toys (where the contest is held) and try their luck!

mathnasium math books

Image from amazon.com

You get to join in on the ride as they make their way to the toy store, stopping in various places to try out their estimation skills. As they do, they show you a logical and accurate way to estimate people on a bus in Menlo Park, cars in traffic, prices of store products, and at last, the jelly beans in the jar! But I won’t ruin the ending for you.

In order to estimate so well, the boys split the items into several sections, and use multiplication for the final result. This is a method you yourself can use whenever you need to estimate things in real life or at your school in Menlo Park. This book includes great watercolor images, and even diagrams of the items being estimated! If you want to check out this book, make sure to pay a visit to either the Menlo Park or Palo Alto children’s libraries.

For more fun ways to learn math, visit the Mathnasium of Palo Alto-Menlo Park.

Chinese New Year Math in Palo Alto

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Happy Chinese New Year! The Chinese New Year is a holiday celebrated by many in Palo Alto and the rest of the world. It is a fun holiday to celebrate since it has lots of yummy food and lots of fun traditions. A popular food to eat in Palo Alto during the Chinese New Year is dumplings. In China, dumplings are supposed to grant one a prosperous life. A fun tradition is to give children red envelopes with an even amount of money or chocolates. These packets are supposed to give the person who receives the packet good luck and fortune.

new years math problems

Picture from freedigitalphotos.net

 

Celebrating the Chinese New Year in Palo Alto proves to be a great way for your child to practice his or her math skills. Here are some practice problems:

Chinese New Year Math Problems

  1. Many people watch fireworks during the Chinese New Year. If fireworks go off every 15 seconds for 8 minutes and 30 seconds, how many fireworks went off?
  2. Plum Blossoms are used to decorate during the Chinese New Year. If each flower has 5 petals, how many flowers do you need to have 1585 petals?
  3. Lanterns are also used as decorations during the Chinese New Year. If there are 90 lanterns and every 3 are red, how many are red?

As you can see, celebrating the Chinese New Year in Palo Alto is a great way for your child to have fun and brush up on his or her math skills.

For more problems and information about math in and book recommendations, check out Palo Alto – Menlo Park Mathnasium’s website.

Perimeter, Area, and Volume in San Carlos

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San Carlos Math Monsters

What do monsters and math have in common? Not much… until now! Perimeter, Area, and Volume: A Monster’s Book of Dimensions by David Adler is a terrific book that will teach your San Carlos child about dimensions, perimeter, circumference, radius, area, volume, and measurements. The monsters keep the book interesting and kid-friendly, while the content is rich in important math information that will be used in San Carlos schools. Let the monsters teach your San Carlos child through word problems that they will enjoy. Any child who struggles with perimeter, area, and volume would benefit from reading Perimeter, Area, and Volume: A Monster’s Book of Dimensions. The visuals are useful in demonstrating the concepts in a clear manner. Read this book with your child and help them develop the skills they need to be successful in math in San Carlos. I recommend this book to all of the older children I tutor at the Mathnasium of Palo Alto-Menlo Park. Head over to your local San Carlos public library or bookstore and get yourself a copy of the one and only Perimeter, Area, and Volume: A Monster’s Book of Dimensions by David Adler if you want to make sure your child has fun learning geometry.

math teaching in San Carlos

Image from amazon.com

Valentine’s Day Math in Menlo Park

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Valentine’s is not just a great holiday for showing your love for someone, but it is also a wonderful holiday for your Menlo Park child to practice his or her math skills. On Valentine’s day, do some arts and crafts projects with your child. Here are some fun things you can do with your child on Valentine’s Day in Menlo Park.

Valentines Math Problems in Menlo Park

Image from freedigitalphotos.net

 

  1. Take colored paper and cut it into a heart shape. Have your child figure out the perimeter and approximate the area of the heart before they decorate.
  2. Another fun math-related activity to do with your child on Valentine’s Day is to trace their hand and then figure out the surface area of their hand. After, they can decorate their hand print.
  3. Make red velvet cupcakes. Have your child find a common denominator for all of the ingredients. You can also ask your child to find the volume of a cupcake. If you have 36 edible candies to decorate the cupcakes, and you make 12 cupcakes, how many candies can you put on each cupcake?

Another way to celebrate a mathy Valentines Day is to take your kids to their favorite Menlo Park restaurant. Here are some questions you can ask them.

  1. Have them calculate how much everyone’s meal costs. Then make them incorporate tax into the total cost. Then tip.
  2. Have them calculate how much time it will take them to get to the restaurant from Palo Alto-Menlo Park Mathnasium if they are given the distance and an average speed.

Your child will have loads of fun on Valentine’s Day by spending time doing fun activities with you and brushing up on their math skills.

For more problems and information about math in and book recommendations, check out Palo Alto – Menlo Park Mathnasium’s website.

Counting in the Silicon Valley

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Counting quickly and accurately can be a very challenging task for kids just learning math in Silicon Valley. But thankfully, Greg Tang is here to help with another fantastic book! The Grapes of Math is a wonderful book that contains catchy rhymes and colorful images to convey math tips and tricks to your children! We like it so much that we bought a copy at Mathnasium of Palo Alto-Menlo Park. The Grapes of Math contains phrases that are just as witty as its title. In no time, these easy tricks will have your child in the Silicon Valley count with speed and ease. Greg Tang’s books are some of my absolute favorites and The Grapes of Math is no exception. The Grapes of Math is sure to be a parent and child favorite. I recommend this book to all children in the South Bay Area and Silicon Valley who are learning to count. Whether your child needs extra support or not, this book is bound to help them and lead to higher scores in math. The more practice with counting your child gets, the better off they will be. With this book, your child will love counting. Head over to your local bookstore or library to pick up a copy of The Grapes of Math. You will not be disappointed!

Silicon Valley early math help

Image is from gregtangmath.com

Cookie Math in Palo Alto

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A great way for your child to practice his or her math skills while doing something fun is by baking cookies. There are two ways to make cookies. The easiest way to satisfy a cookie craving is to go to your nearest Palo Alto grocery store to buy some cookie dough, and simply pop them in the oven. Although that task is easy, you can still make loads of math problems for your child. Here are some examples.

Palo Alto cookie math

Picture by Dezidor on Wikimedia Commons

  1. Each packet has 12 premade cookies. If there are five people in your family and each person says that they want at least 3 cookies how many packets do you need to the nearest fraction?
  2. The cookies need to bake for 12 minutes. If each cookie tray only fits 6 cookies, how many minutes will all the cookies bake for (remember, each person wants 3 cookies)?
  3. The cookies bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. How many degrees is that in Celsius (F = ((9/5)*C + 32)?

The other way to make cookies is by making them in your home in Palo Alto. Find a recipe and make them with your child. Here are some problems you can ask your child while making the cookies.

  1. Have your child convert all of the ingredients to a similar fraction. For example, lets say the recipe calls for half of a cup of sugar, 1/4 of a cup of brown sugar, 1/8 of a cup of milk, and a cup of butter. What would be the common denominator? Then, tell your child to convert all of the fractions to a fraction with the same denominator.
  2. It takes you 3 minutes to mix all of the dry ingredients, 4 minutes to mix all of the wet ingredients, and 5 minutes to mix the wet and dry ingredients together. If someone mixed the wet ingredients while you mixed the dry ingredients and you mixed both together after, how much faster would you finish mixing than if someone else didn’t help you?

There are so many fun questions you can ask your child when making cookies in Palo Alto. For more problems and information about math in and book recommendations, check out Palo Alto – Menlo Park Mathnasium’s website.

Math Money Practice in San Carlos

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I am sure you can recall the excitement your child had the last time they got their face painted in San Carlos! Now, there is a book that combines face painting and mathematics, and we like it so much that we’ve bought it at Mathnasium of Palo Alto-Menlo Park. Next time your child wants a face painting, make them count out the money so that they get practice with money. In The Penny Pot, by Stuart Murphy, Jessie wants to get her face painted at a fair like the one in San Carlos but she doesn’t have enough money. She begins a penny pot so that other children getting their face painted can put their extra money in the pot as a donation to Jessie. Each child that comes to the face painting station counts their change and your child can practice their money skills as they count along with the characters in the story.

With practice questions and practical applications in the back, The Penny Pot is a good book of any child in San Carlos who needs additional practice with counting money. There are also activities in the back that will help your child learn how to count money in an easy and fun way! I recommend this book to all young children in the Redwood City and San Carlos area who would like to improve their money counting skills.

San Carlos math book

Image from amazon.com