Some of the types of worksheets on The Math Worksheet Site have stories behind them. The stories are interesting to me, so I would like to share one today, thinking that maybe you’ll like it too.

Scott had the idea for Adding Dice. It would assist children to bridge the gap between counting concrete things and the abstract concepts involved with working with numbers on paper. Also, most children play with dice, so on this worksheet they’d be working with something familiar to them.

Scott worked and worked to get the dice to look right to us. It took about two full days of work just to get good-looking dice. (Those are not just graphics that are dropped in place. There are complicated mathematical formulae involved in drawing those “simple” little dice every time they are placed on a worksheet.)

In the course of testing, Scott produces a lot of scratch paper. Try this, print. Try that, print again.

Our son Paul, then age 8, picked up an Adding Dice worksheet from the large scratch paper pile. This particular worksheet involved adding just two dice. He answered all the problems. Then he went back and erased his answers.

Paul “did” the worksheet again, but this time he wrote an ‘x’ between the dice on each problem, and gave the answer for multiplying, instead of for adding.

As I processed laundry in the laundry room, Paul brought the worksheet to me, to proudly show his recent acquisition of the skill of multiplying, as well as the way he’d changed his daddy’s worksheet. I looked at it, something “clicked” inside me, and I told him to go show his dad. He ran to do so, and two hours later Scott had taken Adding Dice and modified it to become Multiplying with Dice.

Paul now proudly calls Multiplying with Dice HIS worksheet.

–Denise

You may have noticed that a handful of types of worksheets on the subscribers side now include the option: Worksheet Instructions in Spanish. Yes, we are adding that option to all the Number Problems worksheets. After all, there is not a lot of English on the page anyway, so I thought it would be pretty easy to add Spanish as an option. Well, as with many things I propose, it turned out to be more complicated than I first thought, but we’re proceeding anyway.

I’m really excited to make Spanish instructions available. This will make the worksheets more useful to bi-lingual classes, add an interesting twist to math instruction for children who are learning Spanish, and of course, assist the math instruction of Spanish-speaking children.

The translation is being done for us by a 12 year old young lady. She’s bi-lingual, but doesn’t really appreciate that skill. Her father’s first language is Spanish, and I know how very articulate and well-spoken he is in English, so I’m confident that he’s just as articulate and well-spoken in Spanish, even if I don’t have the skill to verify that for myself. So the young lady is doing the translation, her parents are checking her work, and we’re getting an excellent translation.

I’m really excited about this opportunity from her perspective, too. She has the opportunity to contribute to a commercial web site (won’t that look good on a résumé?), using a skill she rather takes for granted (I’m hoping she’ll appreciate that skill more), and getting paid more than she’d earn for babysitting. As she’s homeschooled, her mother is giving her school credit for the work, too. It’s a great deal all the way around!

We’ll be adding the Spanish worksheet instructions option to each type of worksheet as we 1) receive the translation, and/or 2) get Scott’s help, as some of the additions will require more complicated programming changes than those he’s taught me thus far.

I’m excited to increase the usefulness of The Math Worksheet Site for a broader variety of people.

Thank you for your interest in the events “behind the scenes” at The Math Worksheet Site.

–Denise

I’m absolutely thrilled to open the new blog for The Math Worksheet Site!

I, Denise, have long wanted a means to communicate with our subscribers, as well as to the users of the free side of The Math Worksheet Site. The FAQ and tips pages I tried just didn’t sound good, and they also didn’t indicate that I would add new information frequently. They never got past the proposal stage. Now I’ve discovered blogs! It looks like blogging will give me an outlet for all the things that are bubbling up inside of me to share with you.

I’m also very interested to hear from you, including your experiences using The Math Worksheet Site and your assistance when we need clarification in the design of a new type of worksheet.

Thanks so very much for reading and rejoicing with me!

– Denise Bryce