Bedtime Math in San Carlos

San Carlos Bedtime Math Stories

The only thing I like more than math is bedtime stories at home in San Carlos! Now, I can have it all with Bedtime Math by Laura Overdeck. Featuring math word problems in fun categories like exploding foods, wild pets, extreme vehicles, sports you shouldn’t try at home, this book will appeal to kids in San Carlos with various interests! Each page features three different kinds of problems based off of a particular topic. There are three questions per page- one for wee ones, one for little ones, and one for big kids. This allows the book to be relevant for San Carlos children of most ages. In the back of the book, there are answers for each question with work showing how the answer can be obtained. The Bedtime Math series by Laura Overdeck is by far my favorite math book series!

Regardless of if your child is a math wiz or struggles with math, this book will be a fun way for them to practice math and love learning! I know your child will enjoy the book just as much as I do, so head on over to the San Carlos library or Redwood City’s Barnes and Noble book store. The math in this book will help your child succeed in math in San Carlos schools! And if you’re looking for other book recommendations and math help, go to http://www.mathnasium.com/paloalto-menlopark to learn more!

San Carlos math help

Image from amazon.com

Perimeter, Area, and Volume in San Carlos

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

Math Money Practice in San Carlos

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

 

Probability Math Problems in San Carlos

Practicing Probability in Palo Alto

Probably Pistachio by Stuart J. Murphy is a humorous story of Jack’s rather unlucky day. As Jack takes you through his series of unfortunate occurrences on an atypical  Monday in a city like San Carlos, you will begin to wonder what are the chances of that occurring? This is where probability will come in to play and answer that question. What is even better than the laughs this story will give you is the fact that the story will teach your child probability right here in San Carlos!

While the primary focus of Probably Pistachio is probability, it also incorporates other mathematical concepts that will be useful to children in San Carlos schools. At the end of the story, there are follow up questions related to probability based on the reading. There are several tips and activities in the back of the book on ways in which parents can incorporate concepts of probability into a child’s daily life in San Carlos. Additionally, there are suggestions for other books that review some of the same concepts as Probably Pistachio. If your child is ready to learn probability, head over to Books Inc. in Palo Alto or Barnes and Noble in Redwood City and purchase a copy of Probably Pistachio. For more math help near San Carlos, visit Mathnasium of Palo Alto-Menlo Park.

Image from harpercollinschildrens.com

San Carlos school shopping frenzy!

Now that school is in full swing, some of you may have realized you are missing some essential school supplies. However, lucky you, now that almost all San Carlos kids are in school (and not shopping for school supplies anymore), many of the items go on sale! Let’s do some exercises to figure out how much you will have to pay for school supplies with the available discounts.

San Carlos school supply math problems

If you head to an office supply store in San Carlos and buy 2 protractors, each cost $3.84, and the sale is a 50% discount on the second item, how much will you pay for both total?

Your entire school shopping list comes out to $52.75, after a 15% discount on all items. what was the cost of the items before the discount?

You buy $14.35 worth of supplies for 10% off, and $42.50 worth of supplies for 25% off. How much do you have to pay for everything total?

If one store in San Carlos offers pencils for a buy one get one 50% off, each pencil costing 75 cents, and another store offers each pencil for 55 cents, which store will be cheaper to purchase 10 pencils at?

 

Here are some possible stores in San Carlos to buy supplies:

office depot san carlos

Morrison school supplies

 

San Carlos Cupcake Problems

Like cupcakes? Of course you do! Sweet frosting, convenient size options, and fun colors all make cupcakes a popular treat around here, especially when it’s too cold out for ice cream. Vanilla Moon Bakery in San Carlos caters to all cupcake lovers, offering classic flavors as well as unique ones, ranging from Pumpkin to Rocky Road pumpkins. Make sure to visit this bakery to taste these delectable treats, and try out these problems to brush up on your number skills as well!

Cupcake Problems

1. Each cupcake costs $1.50. You want to buy 4 cupcakes of each of the 6 flavors to bring to the instructors at Mathnasium. How much do the cupcakes cost altogether?

2. If 27 people come to San Carlos to buy cupcakes on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, 32 people buy cupcakes on Wednesday and Sunday, and 43 come on Friday and Saturday, how many people visit the bakery throughout the entire week?

cupcakes

 

If you really enjoy cupcakes, don’t forget to join our cupcake contest! Create a cool and creative drawing of your favorite type of cupcake (real or fictional), give your drawing to us, and you may win one of our three prizes! Remember to make your cupcake math-related, and don’t forget to have fun!

Want more? Make sure to check out our other posts about summer camps around the bay area. In addition to registering for cool camps, don’t forget to leave time for relieving summer “brain drain” at Mathnasium this summer! Visit our website at  http://www.mathnasium.com/paloalto-menlopark

5 Fun Math-Related Art Projects for San Carlos Elementary & Middle School Kids!

Math and art have always been linked closely, so why not try exploring this link in a fun way with your San Carlos kids? Math in art is everywhere–just look at M.C. Escher’s cool geometric tessellations, or the use of proportions in Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Virtruvian Man.” By incorporating math into fun art projects, you can increase your child’s love of learning, and their creativity when exploring math! Making math fun is an important key to your child’s success in the subject, so why not up the fun quotient with some new math-related arts and crafts? Below are five tips to make this summer an art and math filled experience:

tessellation math math-related art mathnasium

Tiled Hexagon Tessellation by Urban Hafner via Flickr

5 Fun Math-Related Art Project Ideas for Kids

  • Make a tessellation just like M.C. Escher or the one above! Here’s a link explaining how to easily make an impressive tessellation; all it requires is a sheet of paper, some scissors, and some markers or colored pencils.
  • Create a 3D sculpture of one of the five platonic solids! They’re a blast to create and make great decorations for any room. Directions can be found here.
  • Create a compass mandala! These are fun because they can be as complicated or simple as you choose to make it, and all you need is a compass, pencil, and some coloring materials! Click here for the simple directions.
  • Here’s an edible math treat! Use toothpicks and marshmallows/gumdrops to create cool 3D shapes, like cubes, pyramids, and cones, then branch out to see other shapes you can make! See who can get the biggest/most complex sculpture without collapsing, then enjoy eating the losing sculptures.
  • Make a number pattern graph like the one found here! Test out different graphs to find the different exponential curves you can make.

These art projects are fun and help strengthen the connection between math and the real world. Try taking your kids to an art museum afterwards, and see if they can point out any math they can see in the sculptures, paintings, and photographs! Comment to let us know which of these math-related art projects worked for you.

~ Mathin’ Catherine, 6/2013

> Learn more about Math Tutoring at Mathnasium of Palo Alto – Menlo Park