About the Booklets, Author and Illustrator
About the Booklets
Summer should be fun. Kids should include some time reading and working on skills gained through the course of their school year. Towards that end, the Summer Math Booklets are designed to be done just once a week by a Lucky Child with a Math Mentor. Parents should either plan to set aside a special hour to work with their student or arrange for a grandparent, older sibling, nanny, etc. to play the role of Math Mentor. Each activity is based on a summer theme and has creative math activities that accompany the theme. Go to an area park and swing through your multiplication facts, throw a water balloon up in the air and recite as many multiples of 11 as possible, create a coordinate grid on your driveway and use rocks to mark the ordered pairs, or make playdough and explore fractions, perimeter, and area. Math shouldn’t be about pencil-to-paper worksheets; it’s about real-world problem solving.
The message to your Lucky Child should be: “I care about you and I know math is important. Let’s make it fun this summer.” Your Lucky Child should walk away each week feeling happy and looking forward to next week’s special time with their Math Mentor.
About the Author
Ann Kotopka has spent the last thirty years developing and nurturing extracurricular academic programs in the Catholic school system of Lincoln, Nebraska. She created the Page One Program for the Lincoln diocesan schools, coached her parish’s MATHCOUNTS program for 15 years, and started Pius X High School’s Junior High Summer Math Camps. She currently coaches Pius’s Academic Decathlon Program.
Ann lives in Lincoln with her husband Mike. They have seven children and three grandchildren, one of whom will be the “Lucky Child” to her “Math Mentor” this summer.
About the Illustrator
Annie Timmerman is studying Elementary Education at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. She teaches Art out of her home to grade school students. While she aspires to be an elementary school teacher for English Language Learners, she has always had a love of illustrating. She is excited to take on this project because as a child, math was a sore subject for her. She is proud to help make math approachable and fun this summer!