My Very First (very occasional) Newsletter!
Hello!
Welcome to the very first (very occasional) Stuart J. Murphy newsletter!
Our newsletter posts will only come out a few times a year.
But every other Wednesday we will be publishing a selection of free MathStart Activity Sheets and an I See I Learn Skills Poster.
You can view our first one here.
Click to sign up for free biweekly email alerts:
These materials are always available on our websites, but it can be nice to have them delivered to your “e-door,” too. That’s what “following” will allow us to do.
Please share with teachers, parents, grandparents and caregivers! Click here for the link to share this post on social media and newsletters.
Thank you!
— Stuart
My New Book
Show and Tell, my latest book, is an introduction to infographics. Information graphics combine symbols, colors and artwork with charts and graphs to make often complex data easier to understand. I am thrilled that it has been selected for the 2023 Best STEM Books List by the National Science Teachers Association (NTSA) and the Children’s Book Council. For more background, here is my interview in American Statistical Association magazine, Amstat. Illustrated by Teresa Bellón. (Charlesbridge)
Math Story Contest for Young Writers 8 to 15
Sharpen your pencils! It’s time again for the YMSA: The Young Mathematical Story Author Competition.
In its first four years, nearly 2,000 students from 160 schools in 18 countries submitted original stories. That’s amazing! And 2023 is shaping up to be our best year yet. Entries will be accepted until Friday, March 31 at 17:00 UK time. Check out the link above for details.
There are prizes!
The competition, which is sponsored by publishers HarperCollins and Charlesbridge, is organized by Math Through Stories, a fabulous website with all sorts of resources for teachers and parents.
Children love stories. Well, everyone loves stories. Stories are a powerful way to learn mathematical concepts because they allow you to understand how they are used in context. I can tell you from years of experience that writing math stories is also a lot of fun!
YMSA is the brainchild of Dr. Natthapoj Vincent Trakulphadetkrai, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Reading in England. “Vince,” as we call him, has a written a wonderful article about the competition that includes photos of student winners.
I am a judge, along with Cindy Neuschwander, author of “Sir Cumference” stories. So start writing and send in those entries!
Spring Math Symposium
The first Early Math Online Symposium took place while we were still in the Covid lockdown. It was originally supposed to be an in-person event for a few hundred math administrators in California. The incredibly talented and resourceful team at the California Early Math Project turned it into an international web event attended by thousands of math teachers from dozens of countries.
I gave one of the keynotes and it was thrilling! In the midst of a scary global pandemic, math once again proved to be an international language.
There are now several seminars scheduled throughout the year. The Spring Seminar will take place on Thursday, February 23, 2023, from 6 pm to 8 pm, Pacific Standard Time).
And it’s fabulous!
Bonus!
This is one of my favorite videos from one of my favorite days. I traveled to Lincolnwood, Illinois, near Chicago to visit Susan Fahey, director of the CCDC (the Children’s Care & Development Center). Of course, this was before Covid when I was visiting schools.
It was so much fun to work with Susan and wonderful staff of early childhood teachers. Reading I See I Learn and MathStart stories to the students was the best!
The hallways were decorated with art of Percy, Freda, Carlos, Camille, Ajay and Emma — the kids in the stories who are in Miss Cathy’s class at Ready, Set Pre-K. I See I Learn books focus on teaching social, emotional, health & safety and cognitive skills for Pre-K / Kindergarten.
Taken separately, the 21 Level Mathstart titles rank among the most extensive early math series available.
Even the youngest children are accomplished visual learns and, of course, they love stories. We had a great time together.
Thank you, CCDC!