National Math Festival

​The National Math Festival is a week from today, Saturday, May 4th, in Washington D.C. I’ll be honest until last month, I didn’t even know we had a National Math Festival. That’s embarrassing to admit because I am a member of National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), but it’s the truth. I found out about the National Math Festival on March 7th, when the Mathematics Science Research Institute (MSRI) named 100 Bugs! a 2019 Mathical Honor Book.

I couldn’t believe it when I clicked on the National Math Festival website. Twenty-thousand people attend this amazing, free event that brings together world-renown mathematicians, children’s book authors, artists and scientists for a day centered around the magic of math.

Of course after I explored the website I knew I had to figure out a way to attend the conference. But the even bigger challenge was deciding which events I would attend. There are so many fascinating talks and activities that there’s no way I can participate in all of them.
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At 10:00 I’ll be attending the Math Maypole Dance with Nancy Scherich. In my classroom, I integrate math and art throughout the year. We create tulip gardens to demonstrate fractions, build pictures out of geometric shapes, piece together square number quilts and more. So, I couldn’t pass up the following opportunity: “Participants will weave ribbons into beautiful and mathematically interesting designs. Start your day at the Festival with this full-body, full-color activity that will get your creative juices flowing.” There simply isn’t any way I could pass up this opportunity.

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​In the same room, they’re also coordinating the Make or Take Spiral activity. “Explore the mathematical mystery of the Moebius Strip! Come make your own strip and take a list of exciting Moebius strip and take a list of exciting Moebius Strip activities to do with your friends or classmates back home.” I’m hoping to be able to have some Moebius Strip fun before my next must-attend event at 11:30—Math, Ice Cores and Planet Earth.

Dr. Mary Lou Zeeman from Bowdoin College will present Math, Ice Cores and Planet Earth. “Come and see inside an ancient ice core, and find out about cool ways you can use math to understand our climate and to help keep Planet Earth healthy.” Our science curriculum used to touch on this idea and I always wondered how an ice core could tell us so much. Looks like I’ll find out a week from today!

​The last event I’ll be attending as a participant will be at 12:45: The Power of Primes presented by Dr. Holly Krieger. I have to be honest. I’m a little worried about this one. Here’s the description: “Learn what prime numbers can tell us about Fermat’s Last Theorem, chaos theory, the Sierpinski triangle and more of your favorite mathematical theorems and structures.” I don’t know what any of those terms mean and the only one that’s familiar is chaos theory. But every year I teach prime numbers and I really don’t know anything about them. The last two lines of the description convinced me to give it a try, “You don’t need to remember your high school math classes to enjoy this talk. Just come prepared to jump in.” Hopefully, I’ll enjoy the plunge and not be kicking myself for choosing this talk over Math and the Movies which shows how they made the ocean flow in ​Moana and the snow swirl in Frozen—fun!

From two-to-four o’clock I’ll be hosting the Mathical Reading Room and Coloring Corner. Here’s the description: “Take a break from the action, and curl up with a good book—or do some coloring… Comfy furniture, mathematical patterns to color, and washable markers are provided.” I’ll also have 100 laminated bugs for people to hide and find in the room. It should be lots of fun.

Even though all these events sound incredible, I’ve yet to tell you the best part. My sixteen-year-old son, Corbin, will be attending the festival with me. I’m so excited to spend the weekend with him. If you’re in the Washington D.C. area, I hope you’ll stop in and say hello.

Junior Prom 4-27-19

Yosemite July 2018