# Presentation: 128355

## Eye Spy MATH in American Memory

**The Learning Page****http://www.loc.gov **

## The Library of Congress’ Collections are full of primary source images and documents that can be used to enhance the teaching of math!

## Slide 3

## Getting Started

- Brainstorm math words to use as search terms.
- Encourage students to think about words describing shapes *(****octagon****, ****triangle****, ****pentagon****, ****cylinder****, ****square****),* large numbers *(****thousand****, ****million****),* measurement devices *(****abacus****, ****ruler****, ****scale****, ****calculator****),* and mathematical terms *(****intersect****, ****parallel****, ****circumference****, ****diameter****).*
- Hunt for images across the American Memory Collections using these terms.

## You will find hundreds of wonderful images and documents to choose from...

## Giant wheels ten feet in diameter, once used for carrying logs 

- Giant wheels ten feet in diameter, once used for carrying logs
- to sawmill. Michigan (1936 photograph)

## If you can’t go – buy war bonds: Our bonds are their security!! (1940s poster) 

## Colville men on horseback ride around inside circle of tipis on July 4th, Nespelem, Colville Indian Reservation, Washington. (1905)

## Yellow Owl – Mandan...Description by Edward S. Curtis: A face approaching the type of pure Mandan. The neck ornament consists of beads and cylindrical bones, and from the eagle-feather war-bonnet hang numerous weasel-tails. (1909 photogravure)

## Three men seated at table with checkerboards, spectators looking on (1941 photograph) 

## We’ve a million in the field , 1,000,000 (1862 sheet music)

## War Department. Pentagon, aerial view I. (1920-1950 photograph)

## New York, New York. Chinaman counting on an abacus in a Chinese grocery store in Chinatown (1942 photograph)

## Row of automobiles parked perpendicular to two other rows of automobiles on a rooftop parking lot (1928 photograph)

## The corner is squared and reinforcement nailed over joints. Screen door construction demonstration. Charles County, La Plata, Maryland. (1941 photograph)

## What’s next? Have your students create “Eye Spy” type questions to go along with each image. 

## I spy men playing a game with circles and squares. What game are they playing?

## I spy a necklace made of white cylindrical beads. How many cylindrical beads can you count?

## I spy a poster that has two graphs. What does it ask you to buy?

## I spy a man calculating with a special device. What is it called?

## I spy a number equal to 1000 thousand written two different ways on this song sheet. What is the number?

## Conduct the “Eye Spy” Activity

- Print out and mount the images on construction paper. (Make sure to include the image title and summary on the back of the paper.)
- Display the mounted photos on a bulletin board or along a hallway.
- Give the class time to study the display.
- Have each student read his or her “Eye Spy” question aloud.
- Have class members try to be the first to find the correct matching image.

## Use your observation skills  to create your own“Eye Spy” questions with these Washington, DC images! 

## White House Grounds and Ellipse

- _[http://memory.loc.](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0798)))__[gov](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0798)))__[/](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0798)))__[cgi](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0798)))__[-bin/query/r?](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0798)))__[ammem](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0798)))__[/](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0798)))__[hh](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0798)))__[:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0798))](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0798)))_

## U.S.Capitol

- _[http://memory.loc.](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0253)))__[gov](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0253)))__[/](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0253)))__[cgi](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0253)))__[-bin/query/r?](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0253)))__[ammem](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0253)))__[/](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0253)))__[hh](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0253)))__[:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0253))](http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(DC0253)))_

## Or.... try your hand at writing a math word problem based on these documents with more text! 

## Photo Button Manufacturing Company (page 3 from undated catalog)

- _[http://scriptorium.lib.duke.](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/eaa/databases/ephemera/@Generic__BookTextView/39341)__[edu](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/eaa/databases/ephemera/@Generic__BookTextView/39341)__[/](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/eaa/databases/ephemera/@Generic__BookTextView/39341)__[dynaweb](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/eaa/databases/ephemera/@Generic__BookTextView/39341)__[/](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/eaa/databases/ephemera/@Generic__BookTextView/39341)__[eaa](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/eaa/databases/ephemera/@Generic__BookTextView/39341)__[/databases/ephemera/@Generic__](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/eaa/databases/ephemera/@Generic__BookTextView/39341)__[BookTextView](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/eaa/databases/ephemera/@Generic__BookTextView/39341)__[/39341](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/eaa/databases/ephemera/@Generic__BookTextView/39341)_

## Public Sale (1858 broadside)

- _[http://scriptorium.lib.duke.](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/broadsides/B01/B0101/B0101-72dpi.html)__[edu](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/broadsides/B01/B0101/B0101-72dpi.html)__[/](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/broadsides/B01/B0101/B0101-72dpi.html)__[eaa](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/broadsides/B01/B0101/B0101-72dpi.html)__[/broadsides/B01/B0101/B0101-72dpi.html](http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/broadsides/B01/B0101/B0101-72dpi.html)_

## Have fun and...

- ...get started spying!

**Yerkes Observatory**

**Yerkes Observatory**
- (1910)