My aperiodic mono-tile quilt adventure!

It's been forever since I wrote and also, I can't seem to get this site to direct to my regular kidsmathteacher.com. This is how far I have gotten with my aperiodic monotile quilt!

4 columns of the 19 column 57" square aperiodic monotile quilt are done! : )

Here's the story of this quilt and how I've been working on it.
Luke (my engineer husband) sent me a link to a new type of mathematical pattern https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/hat/ on March 28th and said it should be my next quilt. I do really like making my own patterns and this would be a good challenge.
I looked at the design for a bit and thought of a way to create it using columns. This is what I first drew on my phone.

I needed to figure out the size I wanted each piece to be. I printed out a few pieces of triangular paper. 
With the small one I made the basic shape and then with one having the triangular dots spaced 2” apart I was able to make a mock up of the size I wanted.

Each side of the kite/diamond piece was 1.75” along the long part of the kite and 1” along the short sides.

My measured out finished size and the five shapes that are used in the quilt.

Each column would be 3” wide.
I cut out a few cardboard models to envision what my quilt would look like. I realized that the dark blue piece in the pictures has the shirt tile flipped upsidedown.
I decided to make that piece with black fabric in the quilt.
I had a packet of colorful fat quarters that I thought would work really well.

I liked these colors and the colored in paper is after a lot of work making sure I balanced out all the colors.

Because it doesn’t repeat I needed to make a big template.

I decided I wanted my quilt to be 57” square (mainly because if it was 60 it would be considered a large quilt in my quilt guild competition).

Luke sent me a picture of a large section of quilt.

I took a part of that large picture and picked out the 19 column section (3”x19=57” that I wanted) and cropped it to be a perfect square.

It turned out to be able to fit on a regular sheet of paper. I printed a few copied to color in to plan out the color scheme.

I used colored pencils to represent each color. My colored have 8 hues with each a leaf shape pattern fabric and a wavy pattern fabric. I drew it on an envelope and then used the colored pencils to color in the small sheet of paper.
I had ordered from my local UPS store to print as large as they could a blown up of the image. They said they do 44”, but the first try they did cut off some of the tiles. Turns out their paper is only 42” even though the printer has the capability to do 44”. I resized it to a 41” square to make sure they did it right and had them reprint that.

UPS Store accidentally printed it too short.

I made another copy after I shrunk the size a bit.

Then I took time drawing out the divisions of the columns and sections as I did on my phone,

but then I discovered instead of cutting the diamond lengthwise, the pieces could be broken up much more simply and I would be sewing a lot of pieces that were based off of triangles and Y-seams.

With this discovery there were only five shapes that I was working with to make the quilt. In the above picture you can see that that T-shirt (they called it the hat, but to me it looks like a T-shirt) has three kite pieces, one triangle, and one mountain piece.

Here is how the pieces were looking for the start of column one and two. I realized that with only a fat quarter of each fabric to work with (which is only a 18"x 22" piece of fabric) I should do all my cuttings first, so I make sure I have enough fabric. 

I had to reference my little picture and map out each colored T-shirt on the paper. 

My column one through nineteen then had a shirt number for column and letter going down (1A through 1L and so on for each column. In order to cut out the colors I made these tables and cut out accordingly.

I was cutting them extremely close together. Because of the angles of the design I could really get a lot of the fat quarter. Luckily there was just enough, except on two colors where I ended up having to sew a little kite out of a couple pieces.

This came out extremely close and I almost didn't have enough fabric.

It felt like it took forever to cut them all out. I waited to cut out the black backwards shirts because I had plenty of that fabric. Here's what the piles look like...

I would color in each shirt once I put it's pieces together and pinned it with it's number/letter tag.

Then onto the assembly! Column one and two came together pretty quickly and you could start to see a complete shirt or two. 

Each time I would go down the column I would inevitable run into where I needed to take a piece from the column to the right, so I would go through the pile and pick out the one I needed. It also happened that when working on a column it would have some pieces that belong in the next column. In that case I would pin the piece to the sheet of paper.

And that is how I am assembling the aperiodic monotile quilt based off Smith, Myers, Kaplan, and Goodman-Strauss's mathematical discovery : )

I just finished the first four columns out of the 19 planned, and it shouldn't take too much longer to finish the top. Once I have the top done I plan on quilting it with black thread and sewing a few millimeters from the edge of each T-shirt tile. Some of the colors (especially the blues) when they are next to each other blend a little and I think the black quilting will help distinguish them more.  

I can't wait to show you the finished product!

I saw on Reddit that one woman had worked on a very detailed block with about 16 pieces each. That looks like a TON of work. Good for them, but I think I made it as simple as possible, although this has still been a lot of work. : )

Moving Forward--What to do?

Hello out there,

As you may have noticed I haven't been super active in posting math activities or things in general. I have been taking time for me, my health, and my family. I have missed doing some of the business side of things, but honestly it was nice to take a breather.

I'm excited that over the last three years since I made my Kids Math Teacher YouTube channel it's grown from about 50 subscribers to over 350! It seems like my most watched video is about 100 charts, but I do have some other good ones, like this one with shoes...

What did you think? Do you think I should pursue doing more video content? I'd love your input.

Have a safe and happy day,

Guest post: Talking about the Stock Market with your Kids--Risk vs. Reward game! Intuit printables for kids : )

Pretty much everyone knows what the stock market is—a place to buy and sell shares of a company that reduces individual risk. But how many people do you know can tell you the ins and outs of how these stocks are bought and sold, what companies have what shares, and how to make a smart investment that will bring a nice reward? Not that many. Which is why it’s important to start teaching these difficult concepts early enough that children grow up to be both smart with their money and smart investors. 

It can be hard to believe that one day, your little one will be choosing what shares in what company to buy and for how much. They grow up quickly, so it’s extra important to teach them these complicated concepts soon. The team at Intuit Turbo put together a list of handy printables to facilitate these conversations with your child, so that before you know it, you’re raising a money smart little one. 

Start simple with the concept of risk vs. reward as a game of dice.

Give your little one five candies, and tell them if you roll a 3 or a 6, they can have three more candies. If you roll a 1 or a 2, they lose all the candies they have. Let them choose whether or not they want to roll the dice, or keep the candies they already have. Use a risk and reward scale to help them visualize the differences, and soon you can work up to more complicated concepts, like investments.

Speaking of investments, these can be easy to teach at the beginning.

If you give your little one an allowance, set up two mason jars labeled with saving and investing labels.When they get money, let them choose if they want to save or invest. Explain that they can take money out of the saving jar at any time, but the longer and more money that is in the investing jar, the more money you will add at the end of each month. This will get your child to start thinking about not only the value of saving, but the value of investing to get even more money. 

Another interactive activity to get your child aware of the stock market is simply to track stocks themselves.

Together, look up three or four stocks and write down their current price in a stock tracker. Each week, remind your kid to check the price of the stocks. Over time, they’ll understand the way stocks fluctuate up and down, and the importance of investing in a strong and steady stock. 

No matter how you choose to teach your little on about the stock market, the important thing is to raise money-smart kiddos who understand the value of a dollar. These concepts can be difficult, so help them through it with hands-on activities like these!

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Thanks Emily! Some great content and ideas for young kids who want to be savvy with their money.

Emily Borst is the Junior Content Marketing Specialist at siegemedia.com

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Wow! Emily, some great companies use Siege Media. I wonder if they can help me and my brands of Enjoy Learning Something, Kids Menu Books, and Kids Math Teacher : )

One-on-One vs. Group Learning: How They Differ & How It Affects Students (Guest post)

Image courtesy of Unsplash

When you’re planning out your child’s education, there are lots of factors to consider.
Some of the questions that you may find yourself asking include:

• What is my child interested in?
• What is my child’s learning style?
• What kind of education can help my child to achieve their goals in life?

Different types of education can be better for certain children and certain subjects, and one factor
that has a big influence on your child’s learning is whether the teaching format is one-on-one or in
the context of a group. Let’s consider each of these modes of learning separately to see when each
might be helpful and how each type affects your child.

One-on-One Learning

One-on-one learning refers to a teaching session in which the student has the teacher’s undivided
attention for the entire duration of the class. One-on-one teaching is most common in the following
situations:

• Homeschooling
• Academic tutoring
• Specialist tutoring in music and language
• Therapy sessions

In each case, the content of the lesson is individualized to the needs and interests of the student
and the student can learn at his or her own pace.

Advantages of One-on-One Learning

The personalized nature of one-on-one learning can make it more effective for helping the child to
make quicker progress. As there are no other students demanding the teacher’s attention, the child
has constant support, can ask questions whenever they want and can receive immediate feedback
on their work. This focused attention can help the teacher to correct misunderstandings and bad
habits quickly and also allows the teacher to try a different approach if the child is struggling to
understand.

One-on-one teaching is ideal for students that are significantly behind or ahead of the class, who
want to learn a subject with low demand locally (like an obscure language or instrument), and who
thrive on undivided adult attention. It is an excellent choice for cerebral subjects like academics
and music.

Disadvantages of One-on-One Learning

The main disadvantage of one-on-one learning is that it is the most expensive option, as there are
no other students to share the cost of the teacher’s time. This can put one-on-one learning out of
the reach of some families. This kind of learning also requires extended focus from the student and
could prove too intense for children with short attention spans or those who thrive on peer interaction.

If your child does well with self-paced learning but a one-on-one tutor is too expensive, you could
consider investing in pre-recorded video classes that your child can watch again and again until
they have grasped each key point. Many of these online courses also offer email support if your
child has questions that aren’t covered in the course material. For supporting learning at home,
you can find simple hands on math activities and activities for other subjects that you can do
one-on-one with your child.

Group Learning

In a group, students typically receive some initial standard-level instruction from a teacher and then
break into pairs or small groups to complete a task based on the content presented. Group instruction
is typically used for:

• Classroom learning
• Creative classes like art, dance, and theater
• Sports

In all of these situations, the difficulty of the lesson is based on the level of the average or majority
of the students or is designed to be open-ended so that each student completes the activity to his
or her own ability.

Advantages of Group Learning

For creative and team activities, group learning is the only method that allows students to
collaborate and negotiate without constant teacher input. This helps the students to develop
more independence and practice their problem-solving skills. It also provides opportunities for
competition, which can be a great motivator when used with discernment. Extroverted and very
active children tend to do well with group learning, especially when they are encouraged to ask
questions and seek additional support when needed.

Disadvantages of Group Learning

While this kind of learning works well for the majority, those on the lower and upper ends of the
curve may find that group learning doesn’t meet their needs. If the student falls too far behind the
group, they can feel like a failure and lack the support they need to keep progressing at their own
pace. Gifted students who move too far ahead can stop trying hard and become complacent with
their learning, become frustrated at the lack of challenge, or feel resentful if the teacher uses them
too often as a tutor for their peers.

Image courtesy of Unsplash

Finding the Best Combination of Learning Formats

Taking the pros and cons of each learning format into account, it becomes clear that a combination
of one-on-one and group learning is usually the best. For one child, that might entail classroom
learning with individual tutor support after hours. For another, it might mean homeschooling for
academic subjects and group classes for the active and creative ones.

The most important thing is to keep communicating with your child about how they are doing with
their learning and helping them to become more aware of the factors that help or hinder them. You
can also observe how your child behaves in different learning situations and use that information
to help you form a plan together with your child.

Build on Their Strengths

While it’s important to give your child additional support in their weaker areas (such as specific
difficulties with reading or math), capitalizing on their strengths is important for improving their
confidence and helping them to maximize their potential. We all like to feel like we’re good at
something!

If you’re interested in supporting your child’s learning at home, be sure to check out the math
activities on this site. You can also read the instructions and blog posts in languages other than
English with the handy Google Translate feature on this site. Happy learning!

____________________________________________________________________________

Author Bio: Tiffany Young is a freelance writer, content strategist, and former graduate assistant.
She frequently writes about the latest developments in teaching, public policy, standardized testing,
and educational technology for sites like HeyTutor.

____________________________________________________________________________

Thank you Tiffany for the great info and suggestions!

Fun new game I created with teachers in mind!

Hello,

I wanted to let you know that I created a fun game that helps kids and can be used up through college or any class setting... It's called A Taste of... (your students) and gets them to think about things they personally like as well as what they like about you--the teacher. Then they go around the room looking for other individuals who have the same answers as them.

You can congratulate a winner for having the most similar things, but sometimes you want to also congratulate the person with the least names, since it probably means that they put very unique answers on their sheet.

Here is the link the the TpT product... https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Taste-of-Your-Students-A-getting-to-know-peoples-similarities-game-4070531

Enjoy! So far I have had a lot of people download my free product of the ice cream cones : )

Make it a great day!