Weather maps use colours, numbers, symbols and lines to show us what the weather is, or is predicted to be, at a certain place. If we know what the symbols mean we can read the weather map. Some common symbols that we will need to know in order to understand the map are: H – when we see the letter…
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This carnival is all about the world around you and the math we encounter every day. It’s time to discover, explore and investigate our world. Come and have fun with us! Be prepared to find a rabbit trail or two, so don’t forget to bookmark this page, then you can come back and explore more. Playful Math Education Carnival is…
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This week for the 40 week math challenge we were contemplating rotational symmetry. I love to look around in our world and see where we can find real examples of math in nature. We first needed to define what is meant by ‘rotational symmetry’ before we could even begin to look for examples. Once we thought we had a grasp…
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Over the Easter break we enjoyed a trip to the Bendigo Planetarium, it is part of the Science and Technology Discovery Center. It was fun to sit in a beanbag – filled room and gaze at the ceiling, while our guide took us on a trip into the night sky. The children recognised some of the common star constellations that…
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A simple puzzle with more than 6000 solutions, challenging enough for an expert and simple enough for a child, tactile and visually impressive? What else but Tangrams! I love playing with tangram pieces, I hope that after exploring some of the possibilities they present, you will enjoy them too and add them to your math teaching. Here you will…
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“Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong, Under the shade of a coolabah tree And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.” Banjo Paterson (Waltzing Matilda) Would you like to spend time by the Billabong? Listening to the frogs and admiring the beautiful plants? Well, this post is…
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Dive into the ocean with me and let’s swim amongst the schools of fish. We’ll encounter beautiful fish, ugly fish, huge fish, tiny fish, and weird fish. Some fish carry lanterns on their head, others imitate rocks and some look like snakes. Some fish teeth are so enormous, they can’t close their mouths. Did you know some fish can fly?…
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The Sun’s cycle is ramping up The Sun goes through cycles where sunspot activity increases roughly every 11 years when the poles flip. We’re now about two years into the 25th cycle recorded since 1755. Dr. Schunker says the solar maximum in this cycle is likely to occur around 2025 (give or take a year). “That means that the Sun…
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The current floods Australia is experiencing gave us a learning opportunity to understand how floods occur, how we can prepare and recover. I’ve collected a few resources to discuss the natural disaster of floods with our children. Floods occur all over the world and they have been happening for the longest time. Many ancient cultures have legends about floods and…
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When we think of plants we generally imagine those plants growing in our gardens and the countryside around us. We wouldn’t normally think about the truly incredible plants growing in our oceans because we don’t get to appreciate them on a daily basis. Maybe you have been snorkeling, diving or been able to visit a marine center where you have…
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These visual math challenges have been created to intrigue and inspire your children. They are designed to be hands on, open-ended inquiries, to challenge them to think deeply about the world around them.
“On Saturday 15 January, at 5:10pm local time, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai undersea volcano erupted in a blast 600 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It could be felt as far as away as New Zealand and Alaska. It prompted a tsunami.” The Guardian Jan 24, 2022 Do you use current events to trigger learning opportunities for…
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