Fractal Kitty (Page 9)

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paper torn with ink showing a person walking toward the sun

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 31: Angle Inquiry

Sometimes the simplest things have wonder hidden within. This week, learners can play with the angles of polygons. How many degrees are in a triangle? In a quadrilateral? In a hexagon? Is there a pattern? Here is a warm-up activity: Draw a triangle (any triangle), and cut it out. Next,

a magpie (corvid) with tag 19 and a map with red dots

Kitty is dumbfounded as to why a bird map causes panic…

With mom in chemo and sitting in the hospital 2-4 times a week lately, we have found the lack of access to masks and all the craziness a bit much. Humor is how we cope.

a mountain scene with 4 colors (blues, grey and yellow)

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 30: Coloring is not just for Kindergarten

This week, I challenge learners to play with coloring sheets. Make your own. Share them. Color them. Contemplate them. Can you restrict the coloring to four or less colors? It may take some problem-solving for more complex sheets. In graph theory, there is the study of graphs that are made

a rough sketch of a board game

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 29: Design a Game

This week, learners can brainstorm game ideas and test them out with family and friends. Games can be prototyped with paper, clay, cardboard, maker equipment, and/or craft supplies. When I do this with classes, we often play or analyze games that we love prior to designing our own. This

a box that says dead or alive? with a cat pawing at it and a thought bubble showing the box and whisker with not whiskers

Fractal Kitty Investigates: Box and Whiskers

radioactive halflive plots of how its effects might apply to a cats nine lives through the door titled nuclear medicine

Half-life effects on nine lives?

a comic showing the math of how bushtits explode with they hit critical mass on the feeder

Kitty Counts Birds – Critical Mass

a kitty with a white board showing kittens attacking laserlights

Laser Lights – Plan of Attack! 500,000 Kittens

a laser cut black circle with smaller turquoise circles laid on top to make a gasket

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 28: Apollonian Gaskets

Apollonian Gaskets are a creative way to play with circles, fractals, and mindfulness in math. Students can cut out circles and place them within circles or practice their drafting skills with a compass and ruler. The idea is to draw a large circle and then fit smaller and smaller circles

A kitty rubbing on a Friday 13 with the word Friggatriskaidekaphile below

Friggatriskaidekaphile

frig·ga·tris·kai·dek·a·phile/fɹɪɡə,triskīˌdekəˈ,fīl/ nouna person who has an extreme love for the friday the thirteenth.

a cat running with a watch while thinking about instantaneous speed and delta t

Kitty’s deep thoughts while running…

paper woven so that 4 yellow suns repeat with red, yellow and red

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 27: Patterns in the Paper Weaving

I love fiber arts and weaving. So, I have one more weaving post for this series, but this time it’s with paper. This activity is great for all ages and can be done with ribbon, bias tape, or strips of paper. I like to use origami paper strips. The

music with the pisano period harmonies of mod 12 and 24

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 26: Musical Math

You don’t have to be a musician to play with music and math. This week, I encourage learners to experiment with sound and patterns. Below is a list of ideas to experiment with: 1. Create a rhythm as an individual or a class that follows a sequence and build

kitty with yarn and knot diagrams

Good Gordian! – Knotty Kitty

a picture of an orange wave pendulum looking down the line

Makings: Wave Pendulum

I have decided to start a new category on this blog for my “makings” – items and projects that I have designed/created for classroom use, art, fiber musings, or just because. Today I decided to create an easy to store, easy to demonstrate, easy to build wave pendulum. I’ve built these in STEM classe

a fox draw with a single curved line with 2 colors orange and white

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 25: Loopy Doodle Math

Doodling and math? Yes, we can play with doodles and see what patterns emerge. Finding patterns and problem-solving are big parts of math. For this week’s hands-on math, learners are going to draw a loopy doodle where they start and end at the same point without lifting the pencil

A cat at a whiteboard with a curve and the integrals of the curve showing the tension and impulse of a plot

Kitty Teaches Literature

an abstract pastel drawing with math elements of spirals a broken octahedron

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 24: Pastel Diagrams and Plots

Sometimes, math diagrams, plots, and examples can be a little dry in our books and on the board. This week, learners will be taking a diagram or plot that they want to improve upon and sketch it up with pastels, paints, or other media. Color, composition, and artistic embellishments can

a kitty playing cards with the probability formula explaining that cards aren't counted - just remembered

Kitty Doesn’t Count Cards…

a laser cut loom with blue and white yarn

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 23: Fibonacci Weaving

If I am not playing with math, then I am tangled in yarn and thinking about math. This week I combined the two and wove A small fibonacci washcloth. Fiber arts are so versatile and an insanely fun way to express mathematics. In future weeks we will look at collage

a kitty dreaming of a kitty, dreaming of kitty, etc.

Fractal Dreaming

I had a dream last night in a dream in a dream, so I decided to sketch this one up…

a laser cut rotation tessellation made with black and red tiles

Have you Tessellated today? Rotational Play

I posted on translating tessellations yesterday, and ended up playing with a rotational tessellation on my ipad. I had to laser print it of course and see all the various patterns. I love math!

$a cat drawn from catenary curves with its equation and fractal kitty sitting close by$

Kitty likes Catenary Curves

two hands copying a tessellation on paper

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 22: Tessellations – Paper Method

This week we will do tessellations that fit together through translation (moving without rotation). We will look at reflection and rotation in other weeks. There are a few different ways to do this, but we will use the paper method today. I always start the class by talking about what different kind

diamonds of 3 colors placed to make what appears to be a stack of cubes

52 Weeks of Math Activities

Week 21: Hexagon Tessellations

I love tessellating! This week, we are playing with hexagons. Learners can either draw or cut various hexagonal designs with various colors. It is fun to see what secondary patterns can occur. Do other polygons tessellate? This is a wonderful activity to practice mindfulness and presence as you play with

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Sophia

Mathematics educator and creative coder exploring the beauty of mathematical concepts through interactive visualizations and playful learning.

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Education

Creative Coding