Making Math Fun with Danica McKellar: Fact Families
Sponsored by Random House Kids
New York Times bestselling author Danica McKellar’s latest educational math book for children, Do Not Open This Math Book, is here to make math fun again. The book is an accessible introduction to the essentials of math for kids in first through fourth grade.
Danica is best known to some from her acting roles, but she also has a background in math graduating summa cum laude with a mathematics degree from UCLA. She founded McKellar Math in 2007 and has since released several educational math books for a variety of ages.
In part three of our series, Smart Girls spoke with Danica about fact families and what she loves about math. ❤️
SMART GIRLS: What are fact families and why are fact families important in math?
Danica McKellar: A fact family is a group of addition & subtraction facts using the same 3 numbers, like 3 + 4 = 7, 4 + 3 = 7, 7–3 = 4 & 7–4 = 3. They are important because they show the relationship between addition & subtraction. (There are also fact families showing the relationship between multiplication and division, but addition & subtraction are what we focus on in “Do Not Open This Math Book.”)
SG: How did you come up with the idea of using a turkey sandwich to explain fact families?
DM: Ha-ha, I’m not sure! I love coming up with fun analogies to teach what otherwise could be dry topics in math. It’s what I do throughout all my books. Let’s make math fun, y’know?
Hungry for more 😉 watch the video below👇:
SG: What do you love about math?
DM: Math not only prepares kids for better-paying jobs later in life (and a whole host of jobs they might never have considered!) but math also sharpens our brains and makes us better problems solvers in all areas of life. Doing math is like going to the gym for your brain and is great for building confidence. When you face a math problem you’re not sure you can do, but you stick with it and figure it out, you’ve taught yourself that you’re stronger and smarter than you thought. That’s very powerful!
Make sure to check out the other parts of our series:
Find out more about Do Not Open This Math Book and Danica’s other educational math books on the McKellar Math website. You can also follow Danica on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Find out more about Random House kids by following them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
