April 30

The History of Math

Have you ever wondered about math? Why it’s useful and why you need to learn it? Where it came from? Math is a way to upgrade our brains and it makes us smarter. We can learn alot from math and other subjects. Without math the world wouldn’t be the world it is today, and that means nothing like video games, computers, tablets, and other things you might love. Imagine your life without things like video games and tv, does that sounds good?

The Mosque-cathedral of Cordoba Spain 3D

Sumerian Lugal (king)

Math was created in the 6th century BC by the Sumerians. The Sumerians inhabited the land of Southern Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Tigris was 1250 miles (2000 kilometers) long. Each Sumerian city-state was independent and ruled by its own Lugal (king). Each city had fine public buildings including some temples that had a huge tower guarding it. The Sumerians used math to measure land, tax individuals, chart the sky, and even to develop an lunar calendar! So…math was invented 2500-2600 years ago in the 6th century by the Sumerians in Southern Mesopotamia!

Carl Friedrich Gauss

There are many famous mathematicians in history, but I’m gonna tell you about Carl Friedrich Gauss, one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. He was born in April 30,1777 in Brunswick, Germany. A popular story about this mathematical genius is like this:

One day his elementary school teacher asked the class 1+2+3+4+5+6+7…+98+99+100 and surprisingly, Gauss found the answer. He did 1+100, 2+99, 3+98,4+97 and each number sentence equaled 101. Since there was 50 pairs, he multiplied 50 by 101 which equals 5050. Gauss died in February 23, 1855 from a heart attack.

Math challenges your brain and helps us to think better. We develop our reasoning abilities. Reasoning skills are important because they help us solve problems and look for solutions. Every career uses some sort of math. More importantly, doing math helps the mind organize complicated problems into clear, simple, and logical steps. Math has a huge affect on all of our lives. Math helps us do every day tasks like cooking , cleaning, and shopping. Math helps us complete these tasks without completely messing it up. For example, you need math for cooking because you need to measure things such as cups of flour. In a classroom where students speak to each other about mathematics, the ideas of those students are valued. It also allows students learn to new ways to understand the world.

Without math, Earth wouldn’t be how it is today. When math was invented, it was used to help with things that might have usually took a long time to do. Mathematicians invented new ways to do math and teach other people these ways. It took math for a lot of things to be made like video games, computers, TV, and a whole lot more. Since math helps us so much, it’s very important we learn more about math. Math workbooks, math classes, and learning math at young ages can all help us learn more about math. If we learn alot about math in the future, we could uncover unbelievable not just more about Earth, but also more about the universe.

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January 17

Common Core

 

Did you know that the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) will cost Washington state about $300,000,000 of taxpayer money itself?  Common Core is a school standard nationwide that was imposed on us and almost all schools had to go with. Most people don’t like it. It should be repealed nationwide. CCSS is one of the biggest changes in education. It brings grades down, teaches nonessential material, wastes money, and provides insufficient training and resources for teachers.

 

CCSS uses money to bribe schools to use CCSS.Washington state of Superintendent of public instruction estimated that CCSS will cost the state itself $300,000,000 of taxpayer money but that’s a waste,  although instead why not focus on important things wrong with America such as the homeless, curing cancer, hunger, or even child obesity.

 

CCSS makes math different and harder to understand. Sandra Stotsky a professor at the University of Arkansas who served the committee to validate that CCSS said the “Standard dumb American education down by 2 grades worth to comply with CCSS.” That’s like if you were in 5th grade and your school or state didn’t fit the CCSS you would  maybe do 3rd grade learning as a 5th grade student but a bit more advanced.

 

CCSS teaches material that lack essential info or don’t make sense at all,. Only 33% of California 4th graders were proficient according to the scores on the 2013 national assessment of educational progress. That ‘s less than the results before CCSS. CCSS drains your friendship with education and makes you friends with confusion

CCSS provides insufficient training and resources for teachers. 54% of teachers claim they had no CCSS training and that’s over half which is the majority of teachers who claim it. Also more than 63% percent of teachers said that they need new formative and summative assessments that make sure how well the students are learning the standards  and that’s the majority of teachers.

this doesn't make sense

this doesn’t make sense

CCSS reduces the money states pay for test development, scoring,and  reporting, but is it really worth it when we get bad grades due to CCSS. If we get bad grades then we probably won’t get to a good college and if we don’t even get to college , how will we earn money back? CCSS might finally become Common Corpse because states are dropping out such as New York, South Carolina, North Carolina, Indiana, Missouri,etc.It brings grades down, teaches nonessential material, wastes money, and provides insufficient training for teachers .Support the standards before not the Rotten Core.

 

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October 15

Math Strategies

How do you subtract 2 and 3-digit numbers? For this week’s blog challenge we thought we’d share our math thinking on how we subtract numbers. Just check out all the ways we use our math skills. We are using strategies like: make an easier problem or as we call it “monkey see, monkey do”; the traditional algorithm or as we call it “the mom and dad way”; and adding to subtract or as we call it “Megan’s way” because she invented it.

So how do you subtract numbers?

Try our slideshow maker at Animoto.

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