Maths Snaps

On the holidays, my 14 year old had a photography assignment where she was required to take a number of different photos. There were different requirements: one had to include people, one needed to be at night, one was a landscape and one needed to involve symmetry.

I found this to be a really engaging assignment, not just for my daughter, but for our whole family. We were all constantly on the lookout for possible great ‘shots’. We talked about symmetry and looked out for it when we were out and about.

This got me thinking… What if we invited families to take ‘maths snaps’ and share them at school. It could be a competition you run in the newsletter for the whole school community (you could even have an exhibition? too far??), or you could simply have a pinboard dedicated in your classroom where students can share cool maths inspired photos.

You could have categories that families needed to find, for example symmetry, parallel lines, right angles, or if you were about to explore multiplication, you could ask for photos relating to multiplication.

I think the discussions and links to the student’s home life would be so valuable!

You could even take it a step further and use the photos as a stimulus for a “what do you notice/ what do you wonder?” discussion. How engaging would that be for students?!

I hope this simple idea sparks your interest, and encourages you to take a practical step towards strengthening those connections between home, school and ‘real world’ maths.

For those of you wondering, this was my favourite symmetry inspired snap from our holiday:

BTW: If you are looking for photographs to use as a Notice and Wonder prompt, I have gathered many and sorted them according to various maths topics (Multiplication, Mass, Money, Volume, Fractions, Time, Length etc. You can find them all  here  on my website! I have also created a training where I explain how you can introduce the notice and wonder routine in your classroom. You can watch this Numeracy teachers Academy training here.

Have a great week!

Ange