Category: Teaching

  • Chutes and Ladders Infinite Loop

    I play Chutes and Ladders with my kids sometimes. It isn’t a game of skill. Many months ago I was involved in a game that went on and on and on. As soon as someone would get close to the end he or she would land on a chute and be shunted nearly back to…

  • Typefaces

    Updated February 5, 2014 to correctly display the LaTeX screenshot, minor prose edits, and added discussion of font styles. I do not know if you have a favorite font. I do. I really like Microsoft’s Calibri font because it is very readable on screen and paper and it looks professional. With that in mind, it…

  • Glue on Paper

    Last summer I assigned my son, then six years old, to do an “inquiry.” Inquiries are guided studies of something, and empirical inquiries are like mini science fair projects. At the time I asked him to pick a topic he selected “how does glue work?” Exploring this at the chemistry level seemed like too big…

  • Back Yard Oriole

    We were visited by a female Bullock’s Oriole Icterus bullockii this evening, and the last.  She came to the feeder for the grape jelly.  I guess her kids eat like mine.  What a treat to see her.

  • Simple Gifts

    The melody for Simple Gifts is one of my favorite, going back to Copland’s interpretation I heard on vinyl when I was small.  My son learned the song, to sing, in preschool this year. Since he likes the song I made an insert card for our Melody lap harp.  It prints on letter paper (8.5…

  • Clock for Teaching

    I made a print-and-cut clock for teaching my son to tell time with an analog clock.  It is linked here.  If you find it useful or have improvements please leave comments.