Marvelous Math with Mrs. Rose

Math Enrichment, or extending our students’ thinking in mathematics, comes in many forms.  It happens in the classroom; at home; while working on projects in other subject areas; and even on the computer.

One of my favorite sources of Math Enrichment is using technology, especially virtually manipulatives, on the computer.  Parents–please visit some of links I’ve included in “Wonderful Websites” on the banner of my blog.  Worthwhile opportunites to extend our children’s thinking in number sense, algebraic expressions, geometry and measurement, data and probability, etc., are available from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) websites, found at:

 http://illuminations.nctm.org/

I really like this site because you can search by content area, grade level, math standard, etc., etc.  Student can work with virtual manipulatives online and parents can read about standards, problem solving, sample lessons, you name it!

Please check this site out  as well as others listed on my blog banner for some family Math fun!

Parents:  This is a great conversation to have with your children!

I had this chat with a group of elementary school children recently and you can’t fool them.

Most will describe the attributes of a rectangle to you.  They’ll say a rectangle . . .

• is a four-sided polygon
• has opposite sides of equal length
• is a quadrilateral
• has four right/90 degree angles
• has opposite sides, which are parallel

What about the attributes of a square?  ALL of the above, PLUS:

• ALL four sides are of EQUAL length

So, in answer to the question:  “Is a Square a Rectangle?”. . . .

the answer is YES!!!!!

A square is a special kind of rectangle.

ALL SQUARES ARE RECTANGLES, BUT NOT ALL RECTANGLES ARE SQUARES!!!

Parents:  Ask your child to explain this to you!