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 Hello again! I know, I know, right now you have entered here wondering what in common could be those two concepts but luckily I am a woman of my word and I am going to show you that maybe they are not too far away. Imagine learning about shapes, fractions and volume while baking cupcakes or slicing up a pizza. Sounds delicious, right? Let’s learn more about it. Cooking is full of hidden math and geometry is the secret ingredient! In the kitchen, we cut, measure, fold, stack, divide and decorate, all actions that involve spatial reasoning. That means we can turn every recipe into a hands-on, tasty math lesson.  According to Sarama and Clements (2009), hands-on experiences like these help develop children’s spatial thinking, a foundational skill for success in geometry. Furthermore,  Verdine et al. (2014) said that, early spatial skills are predictive of later success in mathematics, especially in geometry and problem solving. Pizza Bring in a pizza (real or paper) and sud...

 Hello! The nature and ecology are topics that are more and more talked about in classes due to the climate change to increase awareness about it. However, rarely children get to connect with the nature itself,  to engage directly with nature through hands-on experiences (Waite, 2011) . Well, guess what, the approach we are going to talk about today is the perfect balance between everything that concerned us today.  Let’s step outside for this time, dig in the dirt and let geometry bloom right alongside the tomatoes. Welcome to one of my favorite cross-curricular adventures: geometry meets ecology in the school garden! Children love hands-on learning, and what better way to teach area and perimeter than by creating real-life garden beds? In this outdoor math mission, students become garden designers, measurement masters and eco-warriors, all in one. By designing garden beds and calculating real areas and perimeters, students begin to understand mathematical concepts as us...

 Good morning/afternoon/noon/night! This theme is probably the most interesting nowadays since we are going to talk about the use of a very recient tool that has been surrounded by controversy. The AI. There is always a debate between if we should use it or not, if they are good or not. Well, I am afraid I can not answer those questions but what I can do is show you how we can use them for a good purpose in classes, to make them funnier and to learn also how to take advantage of something that has been created to make our lives easier. Holmes et al. (2019), exposed the fact that AI has the potential to enhance learning by enabling personalized support and fostering creativity through visual tools.  Let’s imagine this: you are about to start a lesson on 3D shapes, and instead of drawing cubes and pyramids on the board for the hundredth time… you pull out your tablet and let an AI assistant generate a rotating 3D model of a dodecahedron. Your students' eyes light up. Magic? Not ...

Welcome back! What if I told you that some of the most powerful geometry learning happens not on paper, but in play? Yes, we are talking  LEGO bricks or blocks,  those colorful, hands-on tools that can turn an abstract concept into something you can actually hold, twist, and explore. Sarama and Clements (2009) stated that manipulatives like blocks help children build mental models of spatial relationships, fostering a deeper understanding of geometry. Why blocks? Why now? Children (and adults too, let’s face it) learn better when they  touch, build, and create . Geometry is not just about naming shapes, it is about  thinking spatially , understanding relationships between forms, and recognizing patterns in the world around us. Research has shown that block play is strongly correlated with spatial reasoning and school readiness in mathematics (Verdine et al., 2014). When students manipulate blocks, they are not just “playing.” They are: Visualizing 2D and 3D shap...