Math for Mom

Mother’s Day is another reminder that while traditions may look different across cultures, gratitude for the people who care for us is something shared around the world. It is a common holiday recognized across many cultures and countries.

As an American teacher, one of the trickiest parts of the school year can be knowing which holidays to acknowledge in the classroom and how to do it thoughtfully. Every family looks different. Over the years, I have learned to approach special days with care and flexibility.

This year, when I decided to invite students to recognize their moms for Mother’s Day, I wanted to find something meaningful. I wanted it to connect to our curriculum and give students a chance to think deeply about someone they love. So this year, we did Math for Mom.

Students wrote equations for Mom, assigned meaningful numbers to Mom, and completed analogies and written reflections connected to their mothers using favorite numbers, ages, infinity, and other interesting numbers that stretched far beyond simply using their mother’s age. Some students also designed multiplication and fraction problems inspired by activities they enjoy together, while others became more creative by designing technology themed packets that included text bubbles and visual designs.

Please see the link for the assignment guidelines: Mother’s Day Math

In the end, it was one small way for students to reflect on their own learning in a meaningful way that said, “I love you, Mom,” through mathematics. That is just one more reminder that math is universal.

As the founder of World2Math, moments like these continue to remind me that mathematics is more than numbers. It is connection, communication, creativity, and a language that can bring people together across classrooms, cultures, and generations.

A Note on Mothering Sunday

England’s Mothers’ Day was back in March (always the fourth Sunday in Lent).

The traditional wording here is ‘Mothering Sunday’ but in recent years that’s more or less disappeared for the American version ‘Mothers Day’. If you ask ChatGPT to explain the difference, you’ll see it goes back centuries and came from visiting your ‘mother church’.