Mathematics is the Science of Patterns ...

Hi Ellie,

I keep telling all my students this over and over again: Mathematics is the science of patterns!

I keep saying it because it's true. Not only that, but everything, and I mean everything is math. ;-) Everything that you learn or even the stuff that happens in your life over the course of a day has patterns to it. Good math isn't knowing the answer to a problem, good math is knowing what to do when you don't know the answer. Good math is looking for patterns. In all the games below you'll be looking for a pattern. Keep your eyes open and your thinking hat on. When you get stuck (and you will get stuck) don't give up. Go get a snack, come back and try again. You will figure it out if you keep trying. But then, you already knew that. ;-)

Here we go ...

• Spy Guys Interactive - Summarizing/Extending Patterns - Click Skip Intro, then select Lessons, and then click on Lesson 8 (Although it says it's grade 6 stuff, we do it in grade 7 too.)


• Mystery Operations - In this activity the computer makes up a mystery operation, and you have to figure out what the operation is. You give the computer two numbers to calculate, and it tells you the answer.


• Number Cracker - Help Mr. Cracker obtain the secret code before the insidious Prof. Soup catches him by guessing what number comes next in a series of numbers. Start with the easy level and work your way up. The Super Brain level is really hard!

Let me know what page of your textbook your on and whether or not these activities are helpful for what you're learning. Also, remember that I've asked you to write something on the blog that describes what you're learning at least once each week. I'll write a blog post about it tomorrow to help you figure out what you're supposed to write.

Love ya!