Bedtime Math

Bedtime Math. Sounds crazy right? I thought so too but as I continued to look at the site I realized how great this site is. Bedtime math is a website/app/book that uses stories to incorporate math into a daily bedtime routines. For example tonight’s story is about swimming in hot chocolate. At the end of the short story there are math questions that the parent/guardian asks the children. There are four levels of difficulties to challenge the children to think harder about math problems. I personally love this website, I feel that this would be a great site for parents and guardians to use with their children at home.

There is a place on the website that the creators of Bedtime Math directly states that the bedtime’s stories is not made for the classroom. Their explanation was that if you do the stories in class they will become more like a chore and the students would think that it is fun anymore. The creators solved the problem by creating an after school club curriculum called “Crazy 8s Math Club.” Basically students do fun math activities that allow them to see math as a fun, interactive subject. To that I say you could be right in terms of not making math into a chore, but there are times when I think schools could benefit from doing a story a day. In schools where parents/guardians work more than one job and try hard to make ends meet struggle to support their children in their educational journey because they need to do 10 other things in the house hold. In cases like this, taking time out of the allotted math time could very well benefit those students that struggle in math class. Teachers could go through all four of the levels at the end of the story so that no matter what level the students are at they are able to be challenged. This could also ensure that the students are being challenged no matter what level of math they are able to do.

Overall I think that Bedtime math is a phenomenal tool to use in the classroom and at home. I know that I will be using it when I become an educator.