Tag Archives: math

Education

Math is All Around You: Unique Ways to Find Mathematics in Nature

There’s plenty a child can learn from a textbook, but at CodeREV Kids we’re big believers that hands-on lessons are the best way to get kids excited about learning. Here are some cool ideas for connecting nature to math.

Teaching addition and subtraction

There are butterfly gardens all around California and if you’re lucky enough to live near one, take a trip there with the kids. You likely can’t count every butterfly in the room but you can pick a flower and count the butterflies that land on it. If you’re not near a butterfly garden, go outside and sort rocks you find by their size and color. Add each group together to come up with a total. How many rocks are there in total and how many more are there in one group than another.

Another idea to teach addition and subtraction is to count how many birds you see on a specific tree. Count it at two different times of day and compare how many birds were in at either time. Then subtract to find the difference and talk about why the time of day matters.

Teaching kids how to measure

It’s a good idea to teach kids how to measure with standard tools and with non-standard tools. Start out by measuring vegetables in your garden or that you have in your kitchen. Use a ruler to get a real measurement or guess first. Take a walk outside and look at the rocks. Are there more that are shorter than three inches or longer than three inches? Bring a ruler to verify.

For more advanced students, pick a tree and measure the diameter and how close it is to other trees. You can figure out how tall it is by using the Pythagorean theory.

Comparing attributes

Pick two different leaves. Make a crayon rubbing of each and then label all its attributes, including its length, width, color, shape, number of points, etc. Or find two rose bushes and compare the roses colors, size of blossom, length of leaves, thorn size, and how many blooms are on each.

These are just a few ideas of using nature to teach math. For more fun, sneaky ways to get kids excited about math, check out the Minecraft options available at CodeREV Kids. We pride ourselves on our ability to get kids truly excited about learning!

Coding Education

You May Be Surprised by the Ways Coding Can Help Your Children Excel

If you’re like many parents, you may think of coding as a technical skill. While it certainly is a technical skill, it’s also a lot more. It helps kids interact with the digital world in a different way and encourages them to become makers instead of doers. Studies have shown that coding improves computational thinking skills, which can give incredible advantages you may not have thought.

Coding is a great way for your children to practice math in the real world

People used to say that if a person is interested in programming then they should get good at math. Now it looks like the opposite may be true. Parents and educators alike agree that when kids learn how to code, their math skills are naturally improved – and they claim that math is more fun. Indeed, it certainly ends that age-old question kids typically have of math: When are we even going to use this?

Coding can help improve writing skills

Above all else, coding is creative. It allows children to combine their love of technology with a (sometimes) newfound love of art. Kids can tell interactive stories, they can create their own storytelling parties, and they can learn new skills that will improve their writing – all while having the time of their lives.

If you want to boost creativity then coding is a great place to start

There’s plenty of research out there that creativity isn’t just something we’re born with – it’s a skill that can be taught and that can be developed. When kids learn coding, they cultivate three qualities that can all improve creativity:

  1. Whole-brain thinking
  2. A desire to become a creator
  3. The mindset of an experimenter

Confidence is important and coding can help increase it

Don’t get stuck thinking that the only reason you’d want your kid to learn how to code is because you want them to grow up and become a programmer. While it’s true that it may open up doors in the future – in a variety of fields – it’s also true that psychologists agree that the way to boost confidence in kids is to boost independence and problem-solving. Coding can do all that and more.

Are you ready to learn more? CodeREV Kids is here to teach your kids the fundamentals of this exciting, invigorating, and creative field.