I’ve been a math teacher for 30 years now, and I’ve also been a parent of a math student. I know from experience that high school students don’t rush home every afternoon to share with their parents what they’ve learned that day! So, in order to foster parent/teacher communication and parent/child communication this year, I’ve been emailing newsletters to the parents of my students.
They aren’t long or complicated, but they always have three components:
- A quick summary of what we’ve covered since the last newsletter;
- A topic or concept parents can discuss with their child;
- An interesting website, article, or blog that is math-related.
The response from parents has been very positive, and it’s well worth the time it takes to put together. I use GeoGebra to create the illustrations, and if I want to link to an interactive applet, http://tube.geogebra.org/ has thousands to choose from. One word of advice: make sure you put your recipients’ email addresses in the bcc address box to protect their privacy.
Here’s the latest one I just sent to the parents of my geometry students:
Greetings, Parents of my Geometry Students,
It’s hard to believe we have finished our first quarter. One down, three to go!We are wrapping up Chapter 3, which is all about parallel lines and angles. When you have two parallel lines intersected by a transversal, all kinds of congruent and supplementary angles are formed. Ask your daughter to point out to you which angles are congruent in the figure below, and which ones are supplementary (adding up to 180 degrees):
We also learned why all the interior angles of a triangle always add up to 180 degrees. The figure below is a visual proof of this (if you don’t get it, ask your daughter for help!):
One of the most amazing facts in Euclidean geometry is that the sum of a polygon’s exterior angles is 360 degrees, regardless of how many sides the polygon has. It seems counter-intuitive, but to see why, click here, and drag the slider in the applet (created by Aeolus Ophion).In our next chapter, we will be exploring triangles and all the ways we can prove that they are congruent.For the cool math site of this edition of the HH Geometer, click here.Have a restful Fall Break!
FracTad's Fractopia 