DreamBox Learning®» Math fun

New Math Activity Coloring Page #5: Find and Color the Missing Mischievous Kittens!

Sue — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:51:11 +0000

For the last in our series of math activity coloring pages we’ve created a scene from one of our Pet Friends stories. Pet Friends are one of our most popular themes for younger children – if your child has played a Pet Friends math adventure you’ve probably heard about helping Hemi and Bunny build a pet-mobile and winning first place. Or finding all the hats taken by the silly Pigeons and returning them to their rightful owners. Or helping Hemi find his way home from the Post Office after he accidently got picked up with the mail. These are just a few of the math adventures around the neighborhood! Now you can download the PDF for the coloring page for one of the favorite Pet Friends stories. Print out this pets math activity coloring page and your kids can “Help Cool Cat Kelly and his pals find the missing mischievous kittens!” Then you can print out the other math activity coloring pages so your children can:

Color the Dinosaurs coloring page to “Help Professor Pickles and the gang get home in the time machine!”
Color the Pixies coloring page to “Help give Snorg a surprise birthday party in the enchanted world of the pixies!”
Color the Pirates coloring page to “Help Barnacle Beard and the pirates find the map and recover their treasure before the sea monster gets it.”
And when you print out the Adventure Park coloring page, your kids can make Stella and her friends the colors of the rainbow.

We hope your children have fun with these DreamBox characters! And if you haven’t already, you can sign up to try DreamBox Learning K-2 Math free for 14 days. Children think DreamBox Learning K-2 Math is a fun adventure full of stories, interactive games, and more! Parents know it’s an individualized, effective math game, made highly engaging so children will be motivated to play and learn — it’s serious learning that’s seriously fun!

The Math Behind Christmas Magic

Tracy — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:46:13 +0000

Believe it or not, there’s math in the magic of the holidays! On December 24, Santa will put on his hat, hopefully remember his gloves (it’s cold out there) and make a trip around the world. He has to travel to far off lands and be back to the North Pole before Mrs. Claus wakes up. How does he do it? By magic of course! If Santa was a regular guy, could he pull off such a feat? Just for fun, let's look at the math behind Christmas magic.

How Many Homes?

How many homes does Santa visit in one night? Assuming Santa only visits children under the age of 18, there are roughly 2 billion children in the world and approximately 15% of those children celebrate Christmas. At an average rate of 3.5 children per household (with at least one good child in each house), according to the Mathematical Association of America, Santa would have to visit 108,000,000 individual homes. We guess by the time he finishes his trip, he's pretty full of sugar cookies.

How Much Time at Each Home?

Taking in all the different time zones and the rotation of the earth and also the logical conclusion that Santa would travel east to west, he would need to make 822.6 visits per second. So for each household that celebrates Christmas, Santa has 1/100^th of a second to park his sleigh on the roof, slide down the chimney (assuming he doesn’t get stuck), fill the stockings, put the presents nicely under the tree (avoiding the barking dog), climb back up the chimney, get in the sleigh, exclaim “On Dasher” and move onto the next house. But the Science of Santa Claus brings up a different point:

"Based on his advanced knowledge of the theory of relativity, Santa recognizes that time can be stretched like a rubber band, that space can be squeezed like an orange and that light can be bent," Silverberg says. "Relativity clouds are controllable domains -- rips in time -- that allow him months to deliver presents while only a few minutes pass on Earth. The presents are truly delivered in a wink of an eye."

How Many Reindeer?

If Santa hired regular reindeer from a local farm in the North Pole, he’d need a lot more than eight. According to the Mathematics of Santa Clause, if Santa used regular reindeer and they generated about 1 horsepower each, he would need 2 billion reindeer to pull his sleigh. And if the sleigh was hitched two-by-two it would reach from here to the moon and back twenty times. But according to the Science of Santa Clause, the reindeer don't pull a sled full of toys:

His reindeer -- don't actually pull a sleigh loaded down with toys. Instead, each house becomes Santa's workshop as he utilizes a nano-toymaker to fabricate toys inside the children's homes.

Santa is high tech!

Track Santa’s Trip

Whether you think it's magic or Santa is just really, really fast, you can track him with your kids. Find out where Claus is flying this Christmas Eve with the official NORAD Tracks Santa. Since 1955, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is the most trusted source to find updates on Santa's trek around the world on Christmas Eve. Have a truly magical holiday season! And don't forget to ask Santa for a subscription to our online math game. It's fun, educational, and he wouldn't even have to carry it on his sleigh full of toys (wink, wink).

New Math Activity Coloring Page #4: Color Barnacle Beard and his Treasure Seekers!

Sue — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:09:06 +0000

DreamBox Learning K-2 Math is a serious math curriculum, with more than 350 math lessons that adapt with each child. but it’s effective teaching because at DreamBox we know that when kids are having fun they’re more receptive to learning. We’ve made it a fun and adventurous math game so kids build confidence and a sense of accomplishment! Students choose from 4 math adventure themes (Pirates, Dinosaurs, Pets, or Pixies), each with 8 stories, and hundreds of choices for activities in the online adventures. The pirates are a wacky crew of treasure seekers led by their captain, Barnacle Beard. Several of the Pirates stories were inspired by talking with DreamBox kids about fun stories that they would like to see – one even features a giant Sea Turtle! Kids who choose the Pirates theme can collect the supplies needed to repair the pirate ship and make it shipshape. They can help keep the whale Doby Mick free by destroying all of Peg Leg Meg's traps. Or they can gather supplies to make Humungous Gus sneeze out the trapped pirate ship. They can even find the six levers hidden across the island of Atlantis, freeing the pirate ship and sending Atlantis back under the sea! And when you print out the newest DreamBox pirates math activities coloring page, your kids can color it to “Help Barnacle Beard and the pirates find the map and recover their treasure before the sea monster gets it.” Once they’re finished, you can print out the other coloring pages so your children can:

Print the Dinosaurs coloring page, and “Help Professor Pickles and the gang get home in the time machine!”
Print the Pixies coloring page to “Help give Snorg a surprise birthday party in the enchanted world of the pixies!”
And when you print out the Adventure Park coloring page, your kids can make Stella and her friends the colors of the rainbow.

New Math Activity Coloring Page #3: Color the Whimsical World of the Pixies!

Sue — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:02:50 +0000

When kids play DreamBox, they personalize their experience by choosing a math game character and a theme — Pirates, Dinosaurs, Pets, or Pixies — turning their lessons into fun adventures. When they choose an adventure with a Pixies theme, they can explore an enchanted forest full of pixies, sprites, butterflies, and mermaids. They can rescue the sprites from the nasty trolls, help Tempest the Sky Pixie gather the clouds for the spring storm, and collect sprite blossoms for the Lantern Festival. Or they can collect forest gems to create a fantastic fireworks show. And when you print out the newest DreamBox math activity coloring page, your child can “Help give Snorg a surprise birthday party in the enchanted world of the pixies!” Throughout their adventures, DreamBox cheers students on. As they progress through the math lessons, kids earn rewards for both effort and academic achievement. They can collect Adventure Friends cards, and tokens that can be used in the Carnival, where kids can play a variety of games, puzzles, and activities just for fun! Don’t miss the other DreamBox math activity coloring pages we’ve introduced here before.

When you print the Dinosaurs coloring page, your kids can “Help Professor Pickles and the gang get home in the time machine!”
And you can print the Math Adventure Park coloring page, so your kids can color Stella and her friends the colors of the rainbow.

New Math Activity Coloring Page #2: Professor Pickles and His Time Machine

Sue — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:55:47 +0000

Dinosaurs are fascinating for many kids, and DreamBox kids are no exception! When students play DreamBox, they can choose from a number of different math adventures with a Dinosaurs theme. They can join silly Professor Pickles, Dr. Kim, Hasan, and Misha as they explore a museum and travel to the time of the dinosaurs. While they’re there, students play math games and earn rewards as they hunt for hiding dinosaurs, track tyrannosaurus footprints, or free a triceratops from the tar pit! Now you can download the PDF for the next in our series of math activity coloring pages. When you print it out, your child can “Help Professor Pickles and the gang get home in the time machine!” The developers, designers. and teachers at DreamBox have enjoyed creating a fun world of dino time travel for kids to explore. We hope your kids have just as much fun discovering these fanciful worlds as they learn math! If you haven’t already, be sure to download the Math Adventure Park coloring page, so your kids can color Stella and her friends the colors of the rainbow.

Why is Math Important for a Pirate?

Neil — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:00:24 +0000

Counting is very important if you want to be a wealthy pirate. Finding buried treasure requires good counting and number sense. How many steps does it take to get to the spot marked with an X? When you have dug up the treasure, how do you divide it among the crew? If you have many kinds of coins in your treasure, how do you make sure that you have the most valuable coins? Is a piece of eight worth the same as a Maria Theresa silver Mexican dollar? If you are cruising in your ship close to shore, say a Treasure Island, taking soundings is a must. How many feet are in a fathom? What's the draft of your ship and how many fathoms under the keel are needed for you to not run aground? Understanding angles is very useful if you want to navigate nearshore, or by the sun and the stars. Every pirate needs math! (And no matter what your child dreams of being someday, you can enter the DreamBox "Dream Big" video contest here!)

Introducing Free Summer Math Activities Calendar

Tracy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:04:04 +0000

July Summer Math Calendar

A lot of parents work at DreamBox Learning, so we know what it's like when school ends and summer begins. Kids get out of their learning and bedtime routines (no, waking up at noon is not OK), your house fills to capacity with their friends (who is that kid?), and your hardwood floors turn into a slip-and-slide (when will kids finally grasp the concept of inside or out?). Sound frighteningly familiar? Summer is wonderful (s'mores anyone?), but it's a challenge to keep kids learning when their brains are on summer vacation.

Summer math calendar keeps boredom at bay

Our free, printable summer math activities calendar keeps them practicing math all summer long. They'll have an easier time transitioning back to school. It's full of zany holidays, math learning tips, and fun facts. Don't miss National Strawberry Sundae Day, Embrace Your Geekiness Day, or PI Approximation Day (beloved holidays at DreamBox Learning). And stay tuned for next month's calendar. Hang our summer math calendar on your fridge and you'll never be short of summer math activities! And repeat to yourself: only a few more months until back to school... only a few more months until back to school...

10 Secret Celebrity Math Learning Geeks

Tracy — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:09:09 +0000

In a departure from our normally serious-minded focus here in the DreamBox blog, we decided to have a little fun. Because we've discovered that there's a secret math geek lurking beneath the polished surface of each of these celebrities!

DreamBox Learning Presents 10 Celebrity Math and Science Geeks

1. Danica McKellar

(The Wonder Years) Kevin Arnold was infatuated with Winnie the entire run of the hit show, The Wonder Years. If her character was anything like the actress, he should have wooed her with math wizardry. Danica McKellar is not only a former child star, she's a New York Time best selling author and renowned math teacher. She wrote Math Doesn't Suck and Kiss My Math, books that encourage middle-school girls to learn math. Winnie might have been whiny, but we love what Danica McKellar is doing for math.

2. Mayim Bialik

(Blossom) Every young woman remembers the character Blossom's iconic hat, best friend Six, and cool leather-jacket clad boyfriend. But few realize Mayim Bialik, the star of the 80's sitcom would go on to get a Ph.D. in neuroscience at UCLA. Her dissertation was an investigation of Prader-Willi syndrome. Talk about an overachiever!

3. Lisa Kudrow

(Friends) She played a spacey musician on the hit show "Friends", but Lisa Kudrow is incredibly smart. She graduated from Vassar College with a degree in biology. And she briefly dated Harvard graduate and fellow celebrity geek Conan O'Brien.

4. Huey Lewis

(Musician) Before Huey Lewis was with "The News," he got a perfect score of 800 on the math portion of the SAT and studied engineering at Cornell. However, he dropped out after his junior year to continue studying music.

5. Montel Williams

(Talk show host) Don't mess with Montel! The award-winning talk show host and former Marine studied Mandarin and graduated with a degree in general engineering with a minor in international security affairs. After graduation, he was selected as a special duty officer specializing in cryptology. Who knew?

6. Terrence Howard

(Hustle & Flow, Iron Man) No one would suspect that beneath his tough exterior, Terrence Howard is a science geek. He has a chemical engineering degree from Pratt University and desires a doctorate in physics. When asked, Howard effortlessly explains wave-particle theory and the law of entanglement. Howard definitely doesn't fit the pocket-protector-wearing math geek stereotype.

7. Dr. Dan Grimaldi

(The Sopranos) He played mobster twins Philly and Patsy Parisi in "the Sopranos", but his one true love is math. He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics, a master's degree in operations research from New York University, and a Ph.D. in data processing. He teaches in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York. With his mobster mystique, we're sure he has no problem getting students to turn in their homework.

8. Art Garfunkel

(Musician) Can Garfunkel add anything else to his long list of interests? He's a Grammy award winning musician, as well as a poet, and actor, but he's also a math geek! He holds a master's degree in mathematics from Columbia and his brother, Jerome Garfunkel was the former member of the America and International Committees that wrote the specification for the COBOL programming language.

9. Cindy Crawford

(Actress and supermodel) The super model is also super smart! Cindy Crawford was her high school Valedictorian. She received a full-ride scholarship to study chemical engineering at Northwestern University. After one quarter, she dropped out to model full time, but she could have had a fabulous, albeit less glamorous, science career.

10. Tom Hanks

(Oscar award winning actor) He's an academy award winning actor, but all he really wanted to be was an astronaut. Hanks is on the Board of Governors of the National Space Society. He wanted to join the astronaut program but we're pretty sure he was meant to be an actor. And hey, he got to play an astronaut in Apollo 13. Now, whenever your kids complain about their math homework, tell them that even cool celebrities study math and science! Lisa Kudrow image courtesy of thebuibrothers.com

Learning Math Through Play, from Guest Blogger Dawn Morris

Tracy — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:21:32 +0000

by Dawn Morris, M.A. of Moms Inspire Learning I can remember making “trains” with upright dominoes as a child. It took a long time to set them up just right, but then it was so much fun to watch them falling into each other so quickly! It was kind of like watching a tiny roller coaster in motion. Little did I know, though, that playing around like that was actually helping me to develop important spatial skills! It’s important to remember that children learn a lot through play, including how to be creative.

Children love “hands-on” learning, and manipulating objects like these dominoes is not only great for improving fine motor skills, but it can also make it easier for them to understand important math concepts.

Children between the ages of 4 and 6 are just beginning to understand addition. The dots on the dominoes make them the perfect tool for beginners. While 4 year olds will enjoy simply counting up the dots and matching up the ones with the same number of them, 5 year olds can begin to make simple equations with the dominoes. For example, you can ask your child how many ways he can add to five. Let him have fun showing you which dominoes add up to 5. If your child already understands what a “+” and “=” sign is, you can also ask her to write the equations that add up to 5:

4 + 1 = 5 2 + 3 = 5 5 + 0 = 5

Then, have your child turn them around to get:

1 + 4 = 5 3 + 2 = 5 0 + 5 = 5

A great book to go along with this activity is called Domino Addition, by Lynette Long, Ph.D. The same process can later be used to reinforce the operations of subtraction and multiplication as well. People from around the world have been playing all kinds of games with dominoes for many centuries. If you’d like to learn how to play them, and learn a little bit about culture and geography along the way, a great picture book is called Dominoes Around the World, by Mary D. Lankford. Children of all ages can learn important math and social skills through games played not only with dominoes, but with dice and cards as well. Board games and card games, such as Uno, make number recognition and other math concepts fun to learn, and children can also learn so much about the importance of cooperation and taking turns by playing math games regularly. How has your child learned math through play?

Number Jokes!

Sue — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:37:34 +0000

Recently I heard this one on the radio: What did the 0 say to the 8? (“Nice belt!”) My giggling 6 year old traveling companion had to call his friend to tell him. So when we got home we went looking for more number jokes! Teacher: How much is half of 8 Student: Up and down or across? Teacher: What do you mean? Student: Well, cutting it in half up and down makes a 3, but across the middle makes two zeros!

More Math Jokes for the Summer Months

Like everything else on the web, you can find hundreds of math jokes, but only a fraction are very funny. So as a public service for moms everywhere who are stuck in the car with kids, I’m repeating a few that we found here! Why was the number 6 afraid of the number 7? (Because 7 ate 9) Why was the snake so good at math? (He was an Adder!) How do you make 7 even? (Take away the s!) Why didn't the quarter roll down the hill with the nickel? (Because it had more cents.) What do you get when you divide a jack-o-lantern's circumference by its diameter? (Pumpkin pi) Need more? Here are a few of the sites where we found these:

Now it's your turn. Share your number jokes with us!