New job

I left my previous job over the summer. (What happened? Buy me a drink sometime and I’ll tell you the full story!)

I am delighted to announce that I’m back in the curriculum game, working at CPM, a nonprofit secondary math curriculum and professional learning company. I have connections with folks there going way, way back, and it is lovely to be working closely with them now. I started as Director of Strategic Projects in mid-September. I spend my days on a wide variety of tasks that all involve building new collaborations inside the organization.

Keeping the turtle factory open

After finding a new job (✅), the next big challenge is revenue streams to keep the Turtle Factory humming, since that was partially paid for by being an outpost of my previous employer. I’m working on a bunch of ideas, but the biggest need is some 21st Century marketing expertise. Do you know a marketing student looking for a project, or someone looking for a small side project? Get in touch! (A paid opportunity, of course!)

21CPB frames

Speaking of the 21st century, I did a special order of some frames for 21st Century Pattern Blocks recently. This was a set of five large, regular hexagons with cutouts—one has seven smaller, tiled hexagons; one has a heart (shoutout Chris Nho!); and the others are one each of three stages of the Koch Snowflake (a design adapted from MathHappens). 

These frames are also compatible with traditional pattern blocks. Sizes of blocks vary, so if you’d like a set of frames, reach out and we’ll make sure to get you the right size.

WODB, 2nd Edition

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Which One Doesn’t Belong?, I am working on a second edition. There will be a second picture book—this one purely photographic—and a fully revised and expanded Teacher’s Guide. If you’re interested in helping out, click through on this short survey form . There, you can share what you’ve learned, as well as volunteer to talk further or to try out some of the new sets.

Tile Farm

I had a couple of really delightful conversations with the good folks at Tile Farm at a conference this past fall. Super smart and super thoughtful people. If you like playing with beautiful, mathy imagery, go check them out. Also, they have a Teacher Fellow program with a deadline that’s coming up fast. 

Modultown

I will always be a big and loyal A. O. Fradkin fan. She has a new book via Natural Math, Modultown. The math is solid; the spirit is joyful; the audience is 9–14 year olds. Preorders are open now; publication expected in May.

More books!

Eugenia Cheng has a new book, Unequal. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m looking forward to doing so! Another one on my list to read is Mathematica by David Bessis. Zak Champagne has a book on the way! Curious Kids in the Math Classroom is due in autumn of 2026. This one I have to read soon so I can blurb it. Can’t wait!

And of course, don’t forget How Did You Count?, published earlier this year.
picture book: Amazon—Bookshop.org—Stenhouse/Routledge—TMWYK (for a signed version)
picture book with teacher guide: Amazon—Bookshop.org—Stenhouse/Routledge—TMWYK (for a signed version)

Ten years of Math On-A-Stick: A really big mosaic

We celebrated ten years of Math On-A-Stick this past summer. We had all the usual math fun, some exciting new visiting mathematicians, and we built Minnesota’s Largest Pattern Block Mosaic. More pieces than the mosaic in the famous book of world records, but smaller in area because we used standard-sized blocks. Is it a record? You be the judge!

Are you interested in building such a mosaic in your school or at your event? Get in touch! We’ll figure out how to make it happen. We can even make it just a little bit bigger to ensure you’ll break our [informal] record!/

Vehiclechat

Chris Nho (@nhoskee on Instagram) has been doing amazing work on Instagram this year. In late summer, he asked whether 100≈101, and then the next day whether 100≈102, and so on, with the condition (threat?) that the polls would continue until everyone agreed they had gone too far. The conversations that resulted over the course of 50 days(!!!) were delightful and offer insights into the ways people think about numbers as both pure and contextualized ideas.

Chris spent November polling on vehicles. Each day a new example with the same question—Is this thing a vehicle? He offered a yes/no poll and discussion in the comments. More brilliant stuff; more deep engagement. You should go explore. The best way is to go to his Instagram profile, and then scroll back to Day 1 (of 27): Is a horse a vehicle? Dig the poll results. Read some comments. Appreciate the thoughtful music selections. Watch the interstitial videos all the way through. Enjoy!

The origins of vehicle chat are here.

Large numbers

“Which is bigger, a jillion or a zillion?” Forty-leven or umpteen? These answers are unclear, but I learned recently that a linguistic anthropologist traced the first appearances of almost twenty “indefinite hyperbolic numerals”. You can see them in the order in which each first appeared on the Futility Closet website. Print that list, fold it and stick it in your pocket for the next long drive or wait at the doctor’s office. You’ve got a good five minutes of delightful math talk ready to go!

The Talking Math with Your Kids newsletter is lovingly compiled and written by Christopher Danielson. No AI ever. Comments, questions, suggestions, and requests always welcome.