Living Maths

Once again I had the privilege of teaching one of Ms Carlene Andesen's classes in Paterson New Jersey, USA.  Her grade 3's were just so excited and they asked such wonderful questions about South Africa and our history.  When it came to the brainteasers, they were on top form.  It was such a joy to watch the students using their problem solving skills to tackle my sneaky and tricky teasers.  I bet they will try and catch their parents out when they get home today!  The connection was great like the last time and there were no issues with the sound and this allowed us to get through quite a bit.  We ended off with a cool magic trick where a R10 note (equivalent to just a little over one dollar) was torn in font of the students and then magically it was reparied in font of their eyes.  I look forward to hearing fom the students how the trick was done;-) The wondeful students in Ms Carlene Andersen's Grade 3 class

Today I taught a fun class in Athens, Greece at the Winners School.  We had a small class of High School students that were dessed nice and warm - while I sat enjoying 30C temperatures here in Cape Town ;-)  The students showed enthusiasm and came up with some lovely solutions to some of my mind bending teasers.  Many thanks to Effie Kyrikakis, the Director of studies at the school for setting up the class.  I look forward to interacting with more of her students very soon. I am also waiting for a very cool Baklava recipe ;-) After watching what the Greek children get to eat for lunch I knew that this would be an interesting class to teach!

Today I ran a 2 hour workshop with the Grade 12 Herschel Girls.  We spent some time learning about various study skills to help the students prepare for their final exams.  We touched on topics like study environment, stess reduction, memory techniques, time tabling and prioritising and a few other essential points.  While it was HOT HOT HOT - the girls were very enthusiastic and made a concerted effort to concentrate! 

This year I will be attempting to teach 100 Living Maths classes in different countries around the world!  With schools in India, USA, Denmark and Austria already under my belt, I will be posting updates on every new school. Last week I taught a class in New Jersey in the USA.  My colleague Ms Carlene Andersen allowed me to spend some time with her 3rd graders at Paterson Public Schools - School #12.  The connection was great and the children were happy to participate!  She has blogged about this class on her site: http://www.globalpointsofview.blogspot.com/ I will get to teach another of her classes later on Tuesday! Today I had a lesson with children in Denmark in Class 1A  at the Vonsild School.  My colleague, Mr Stefan Nielsen allowed me a few minutes to give his students some brain massage.  While the voice connection was not great, after typing some of the discussion, he was able to translate from English into Danish - the only Danish I know is an Apple one!  Read Stefan

Living Maths never stops for a second! Last year we were privileged to have had access to a few NASA Astronauts and Astronomers during their visit to Cape Town, South Africa for the I.A.C. We took the Head of NASA to a local school to speak to the students. We had the other Astronauts (including the head of NASA Mr Charles Bolden) giving public talks and children got to meet the Astronauts face to face. They had many questions and the Astronauts were outstanding. See some photos posted below. NASA Head Charles Bolden speaking to South Peninsula High School Students NASA Head Charles Bolden motivating students at South Peninsula High School   NASA Astronaut Dr Catherine Coleman giving a presentation  NASA Astronaut Dr Catherine Coleman met with the excited audience Kids just loved meeting Dr Catherine Coleman  NASA Astronaut Dr Catherine Coleman and NASA Head Mr Charles Bolden hand out awards to children in the Space Art competition  NASA Astr

Living Maths is now officially Blogging!   We will be posting news of events, projects and other interesting snippets which we believe to be very interesting.