September 2021
Welcome to EFM's September Newsletter!
News
Languages: Complete versions of EFM are now available in Chinese, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish — with many more coming soon! In order to make EFM available in more languages quickly, we are now using some Google Translated versions of the material (which are clearly marked). If you find yourself laughing at an unintended bad translation, please consider helping us improve them. The Google Translated files are on a convenient, sharable Google drive and you can make improvements in your spare time.
Website: We have made minor changes to the site that we hope you will enjoy. If you have suggestions for improvements, please share them with us.
UC Merced CS Capstone Teams: The capstone project at UC Merced is generously including EFM this semester as a project for two of their teams. We can't wait to see the new capabilities that this collaboration brings!
New Activities to Enjoy!
Here are some active Activities for your family to enjoy. Two of them come from the relatively new website for Beast Academy Playground. The third comes from a combination of sources: Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math, Gordon Hamilton, and Patrick Vannebush. Children enjoy being outside and active, and these Activities are a good change from doing inside activities.
Chapters 2 – 3 – Smallest Single Number (from Gaskins, Hamilton, Vannebush)
This is for times when you have a group of children to play a game with. This game starts with each player thinking of a number for that round. When everyone is ready, the adult starts slowly counting aloud from 1. With the announcement of each number, any children who were thinking of that number call out. If more than one child calls out, those children are "out" and the adult continues to count. If only one child calls out, that child is the winner and that round of the game is over. This is also a quick, fun game to play with a large room full of adults — it can be quite surprising when no one picks a particular low number (such as two).
To make this an active game, do the following. With two to four children, play it like Rock, Paper, Scissors. Have the children raise some number of fingers on one or two hands behind their backs. At the count of three, everyone brings their hands out and the game is played as described above. With more children, have them thinking of their number while crouched down in a ball on the floor, looking at the floor. When the adult calls their number, they get to stand up, and the game is played as described above.
Chapter 4 – Fox and Hare (from Beast Academy Playground)
This simple game is played by two players using a grid of points with paths marked between the points. The fox and hare are assigned the indicated starting corner spots, the fox gets the first move, and the players take single steps choosing a path to go along. The fox is trying to catch the hare by moving onto the hare's current square, and of course the hare is trying to keep away from the fox.
This can be played with markers moving around on a grid on a piece of paper, but it is much more fun to play outside with the players walking on a grid marked with sidewalk chalk.
There is a strategy for the players to discover. Think of the points as being marked with alternating black and white colors. Notice that moving along almost every path will cause a player to change colors (the one exception is the diagonal path in this first pattern). To catch the hare (or avoid the fox), the player must be smart about using the paths that don't change his square's color at the right times.
Here are some variations for the grid you can use. Make your own variations of the playing board. Discuss how different size boards effects the strategy for the game.
Chapter 5 – Kanga-Ruler (from Beast Academy Playground)
While this game could be played with tokens moving on a piece of paper, it is a lot more fun to play outside. Using sidewalk chalk, write the numbers from 0 up to some number the children are comfortable with. Going from 0 to 10, 0 to 20, or 0 to 30 are typical ranges.
A target (such as a stick or stone) is placed on a number by the current Kanga-Ruler (one person can be picked to be the first Ruler). The players then alternate turns. On a turn, a player rolls a die (or picks a random number card). The player then jumps by that number starting at 0. For example, if they roll a 3, then they start at 0 and jump on 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18. If at any point they land on the target, then they become the new Ruler. The new Ruler gets to place the target on any number, and they also get to make up a jumping rule if they want. Some possible jumping rules are: jumping with two feet, jumping with the a designated single foot, and jumping with alternate feet.
There are lots of possible variations you can make up with your child. If a player rolls a special number (say 6), then they become the new Ruler without doing any jumping. By using number cards or playing cards, you can increase the number of possible jumping numbers; however, if you do that, be sure to draw the numbers close enough together so it is possible to jump by those amounts. You can also make up some fun, crazy moving rules, such as bouncing a ball while you jump. Another variation allows players to stop at some point of their jumps so that they can start at that number on their next turn, rather than 0. For example, if the target is 11 and the player rolls a 3, the player might elect to stop at 3 so that there are more ways to win on the next turn.
This game emphasizes divisibility and skip counting. After playing for a while, discuss how some of the target numbers behave differently than others. For example, targets which are larger prime numbers (7, 11, 13, 17, 19, ...) will only be reachable by rolling a 1, while composite numbers, such as 12, have lots of ways of being reached.
If you have any questions or comments, please send them my way. I would enjoy the opportunity to chat with you. Also, if you are interested in collaborating with us or supporting us in any fashion, I would love to talk with you about ways we can work together.
- Chris Wright
September 18, 2021
chris@kitchentablemath.com