Pi Day 2020

Seattle, Washington

COVID-19 has arrived, and it's time to spend more time at home. Even if we can't share them, we decided we'd better carry on with our annual Pi Day baking tradition--and get ready for St. Patrick's Day, too.

Work party

Tukwila, Washington
Saturday, September 23, 2017

Spent a beautiful fall day working on a service project with some students from our department. Met interesting people, re-learned a bunch of power tools, built a handrail, ate some good snacks, admired the homeowner's garden, and enjoyed the weather. Someone said, "Thanks for giving up your Saturday for this project." What did I give up? It all felt like a GIFT to me.

Work PARTY, indeed.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Vashon Island, Washington
Saturday, May 20, 2017

This weekend's Girl Scout camping adventure at Camp Sealth had a Dr. Seuss theme. Lots of fun activities, but my (math teacher) heart leapt with joy when I saw a mom wearing this very fine t-shirt.

Pi Day rolls around again

Seattle, Washington
Tuesday, March 14, 2017

You'd think that the novelty of celebrating Pi Day would wear off at some point, but for me that doesn't seem to be the case. Today, I shared the joy of pi with colleagues, friends, and anyone else who happened by.

Before long, all that was left in the cookie tin was the square root of 2...

Pi Day 2016!

Seattle, Washington

Monday, March 14, 2016

This year I decided to "marry" the two great traditions of Pi Day and St. Patrick's Day--and here they are!

The world joins in

Seattle, Washington
Thursday, March 10, 2016

In browsing the weekly ads that come to our house, this week I find that the whole world (including Safeway!) is coming to see the world as I do: that March 14 is a day to celebrate! No longer do we math teachers toil alone with our vision...check out those prices...

Barnacle domains

Lopez Island, Washington
Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Beach combing with the kids today when I came across this miniature barnacle compound on a palm-sized shell. The shape of the barnacles reminded me strongly of Dirichlet domains. Do barnacles indeed grow according to the principles of Dirichlet boundary conditions?

World Cup Prom

Madaba, Jordan
Thursday, May 22, 2014

Tonight was prom and the theme was the upcoming World Cup in Brazil: everything in green and yellow, flags, and more. A magical evening for all.

Oh, Africa!

Madaba, Jordan
Thursday, April 30, 2014

In honor of Earth Day, I once again assigned the "Make a World" project in my Geometry Class. My students never know how to get started drawing their polyhedral globes. My advice? Start with Africa: two-thirds of it lies above the equator, one-third lies below, and the shape is fairly simple--and then go from there.

Once again, the results were very nice--some of them stunningly so.

GEO 2014

Madaba, Jordan
Monday, April 21, 2014

I am just getting ready to assemble this year's Geometry class quilt. As usual, a very eclectic combination of squares--just as eclectic, in fact, as the wonderful students who made them...

Inverse dragons

Madaba, Jordan
Saturday, April 19, 2014

Spent the weekend grading a big stack of tests. The top two images are part of the answer key, and the bottom images are one student's work: perfect sketches--and a lovely creature to boot. This particular test made my day.

Model fleet

Check out the tires...

Madaba, Jordan
Thursday, April 10, 2014

After a disappointing experience with trying to teach the idea of scale and scale drawings to my geometry students, I decided it was time to try something new: making scale models of the school's vans. I marched up to Motorpool one evening, measured the vans by headlamp, and made my own model. Then I returned the next day to Motorpool with students in tow--so they could measure for themselves. Each student got a different ratio to work with so all the vans were different sizes. I was pleased by the model vans they produced--and the fun (to-scale) details they added. (Part of the project was to add four to-scale details.) This 3D project was sure a lot more successful than those 2D drawings...

...and the license plates...

Polynomial Press proudly presents...

Madaba, Jordan
Saturday, February 15, 2014

"Polynomial Press proudly presents the premiere of 'Polynomial Primers', a progression of pamphlets planned to promote polynomial proficiency among primary pupils! Pure pleasure promised! Please peruse the list and plan your purchases…"

For the culmination of the chapter on polynomials, my students were required to write a "Polynomial Primer." They were supposed to write a story for children 6 to 9 years old. Some of the results were outstanding--funny, sweet, and full of good math references/puns. Other stories were pretty mundane, but all students got a chance to practice graphing polynomials. And learn what alliteration is...

Here's one of the best examples, complete with pictures. Nice job, S!

Henna reimagined

Madaba, Jordan
Sunday, February 9, 2014

Yesterday our students held a carnival for refugee students (both Iraqi and Syrian) here on campus. There were games, an obstacle course, face painting, henna, and more. As we cleaned up afterwards, I found a partially used tube of henna and was inspired to give myself a (temporary) henna tattoo.

This week in Algebra 2 we start exponential functions!

The broken made whole

Madaba, Jordan
Friday, January 31, 2014

Ninety percent of the "Broken Plates" have now been turned in--and lots of fun they were! A few are pictured here. Here's a link to the instructions--from last year's go-around. For a sense of scale, all plates were made on A3 paper.

Sierpinski's Triangle

More math earrings for me...

Madaba, Jordan
Wednesday, January 29, 2014

A received a set of Perler beads from her cousins for Christmas, and by now she's pretty much addicted. But so am I, I think. This week I made a pair of Sierpinski's triangles--just what every math teacher needs!

Some of A's recent designs...

The ORIGINAL "Broken Plate" project

Madaba, Jordan
Friday, January 17, 2014

So, it's almost time once again to do the "Broken Plate" project in my geometry class. It was lots of fun last year, and I hope this class will enjoy it, too. But all the potsherds around this place got me to thinking: I'm going to bring in some real potsherds and see if my students can't use their construction skills (for circumscribing triangles) to make some predictions about the sizes of these pots. I DO wonder how big they really were...The arcs are probably too small (percentage-wise) to get very accurate answers, but who knows!

Tessellate!

Madaba, Jordan
Tuesday, January 14, 2014

This is the week my students' tessellation projects were due. As usual, some really fun work came in. A was even inspired to give it a try as I sat grading the projects. I think you'll be able to spot hers below...

Okay, you found it...