David K Butler

Wordle 1,724 5/6

1: b b b b G …
2: b b b b G …
3: b b G b G …
4: b G G G G …
5: G G G G G …

Five guesses is a long game to have no yellows! Also it’s as close to exactly half green as you can get with five guesses.

Very happy to have helped Will get one five thousandth closer to his goal for the number of books he wants to sell this year. He seems like a great guy, and I think he’s a good author.

The cover of my copy of Rebel Gods, by Will Kostakis. Under the title is a 3D maze with many stairs and arches and bridges drawn in gold and blue, with two women in off-the-shoulder dresses standing apart from each other. Above the title are three teenagers: a boy has a plant growing out of his hands, another boy has a sword strapped to his back, and a girl has fire encasing her hands.

#read2026
Rebel Gods, by Will Kostakis
The creator gods imprisoned some of their children millenia ago and Connor, Locky and Sally have to deal with them escaping their prison. Suspenseful and funny and poignant, and a great conclusion to the story started in Monuments.

Wordle 1,723 6/6.

1: b G b b b …
2: b G Y b b …
3: b G b Y G …
4: G G b b G …
5: G G b b G …
6: G G G G G …

Decent bit of suspense there at Guess 5. Glad my instincts were right so that I got Guess 6 right.

I have read the Phantom Tollbooth aloud to my wife and to each of my daughters, and to my Year 7 class when I was their home room teacher.

He had had a nasty feeling that that might be an idiotic thing to do, but he did it anyway, and sure enough it had turned out to be an idiotic thing to do. You live and learn. At any rate, you live. You also panic.

A single yellow balloon with a long white string drifts high in a bright blue sky.

A single yellow balloon with a long white string drifts high in a bright blue sky.

The nail salon is deserted, so the five nail technicians sit in a row with their elbows on the bench and their phones in both hands right in front of their faces.

The nail salon is deserted, so the five nail technicians sit in a row with their elbows on the bench and their phones in both hands right in front of their faces.

The fact that students can do the problem and not the interpreting in plain English says they are separate skills and need to be taught separately.

I recommend this. Interpretation in context is the last bit of a long process and if they don’t finish the process they don’t get to it, so many of your students never get to it. Separating it and just doing the interpretation allows students the chance to practice that one skill they often miss.

Wordle 1,722 6/6.

1: Y Y b b b …
2: b G Y Y b …
3: b G G G b …
4: b G G G b …
5: b G G G G …
6: G G G G G …

Who knew there were so many words with those three letters in the middle?

A woman on the train holds a takeaway bioplastic cup of water on her lap. Poked through the hole in the lid where a straw would usually go is the stalk of a long vine which trails down halfway to the floor, supporting several bright green leaves along the way.

A woman on the train holds a takeaway bioplastic cup of water on her lap. Poked through the hole in the lid where a straw would usually go is the stalk of a long vine which trails down halfway to the floor, supporting several bright green leaves along the way.

A brown penguin chick of some kind. It looks very much like a man in a suit. It is bedraggled and miserable

Made it to Friday but at what cost

My grandparents on my father's side met because he was investigating her father's disappearance.
My grandparents on my mother's side were cousins.

A2: There's also the Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins, where they try to figure out how to share out their cookies as more and more people arrive. #ElemMathChat

A2: I love Window by Jeannie Baker. The book has no words, but just the most fabulous pictures.
I once saw a talk at a teacher conference, where they tracked how many birds/cats/houses were on each page, and it was fascinating to see the patterns. #ElemMathChat

YouTube video by David Butler Maths Sheep Play Sheep

A4: This probably doesn't count, but this is me reading Maths Sheep Play Sheep, inspired by Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek. youtu.be/7Sr_pMbqgsE #ElemMathChat

A2: Phantom Tollbooth seconded. I deeply love this book and never get tired of reading it (though the language and logic parts are much stronger than the maths parts, in my opinion). #ElemMathChat

A2: There's something about the Very Hungry Caterpillar. So much maths is happening there, that you can talk about if you give it time, but it's all so gentle and cute and beautifully made. #ElemMathChat

A1: The Ladybugs Twelve is from Sesame Street is also burned into my brain. #ElemMathChat

A1: "Five little candles"
Five little candles straight and tall
Burning brightly count them all
*whhhhh* I blow with all my might
And out goes one little candle light

Four little candles straight and tall...
#ElemMathChat

Talking about people's resilience always irks me. Why do we always have to be resilient, rather than fixing the things we have to have resilience to endure?

Life has found a way…to disrupt production of our next episode. We must regretfully push it to April.

But we won’t leave you empty-eared! For International Women’s Day, we’d love to share your recommendations of female authors for Pratchett fans!

Diana Wynn Jones, Ursula Le Guin…who else?

If you specifically like Terry's young adult / younger reader stuff, then I can thoroughly recommend
Jessica Townsend (author of Nevermoor series)

Wordle 1,721 5/6.

1: b b b b b …
2: b b b b b …
3: Y b Y Y Y …
4: b G G Y G …
5: G G G G G …

What a roller coaster ride today’s game was!

A whiteboard with calculations written all over it. A yellow laminated paper in the top right corner has the title “Numbers Game” and says “Help to make as many target numbers as possible, using numbers from the list, and any combination of plus, minus, times, divide, and brackets.” Below this is a list of numbers 4, 5, 9, 10, 125, 25. Below this is a grid of 15 consecutive target numbers from 613 to 627. All of these are crossed out. The calculations each have several of the target numbers combined with various operations, and an equal sign then one of the target numbers. One calculation in particular has been highlighted, which says “Open bracket 125 times 25 plus 10 close bracket divided by 5 minus 9 = 618”

Extremely proud of this solution in a Numbers Game from today, and it was the result of true teamwork too.

I was dying of thirst when you gave me water, yet it was not the water alone that saved me. It was the strength of the hands that gave it.