F is for fibonacci fun for you plus a few fictive(or not) fragments for more fun!

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🎉 Fibonacci Fun For You!

Where Math + Words = Magic

🍲 Lesson Plan: Fibonacci Fun

Grade Level: 3rd–5th
Time: 45–60 minutes
Subjects: Mathematics

🎯 Objective

Learn the Fibonacci sequence and write a Fib poem. Mix math + poetry in a creative way!

🔗 Connections

• Learning Connection: Math: Learn about the fibonacci sequence (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and so on); Science/Nature: Connect how you can see fibonacci patterns in nature.
• Poetry Connection: Syllabic counting
• Book Connections:
  • Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D’Agnese and illustrated by John O’Brien (Picture Book Biographies)
  • Fibonacci Fun: Fascinating Activities With Intriguing Numbers by Trudi Hammel Garland and illustrated by Rachel Gage (Children’s Math Books)
  • Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature by Sarah C. Campbell with photographs by Richard P. Campbell (Children’s Math Books)
  • Wild Fibonacci: Nature’s Secret Code Revealed by Joy N. Hulme and illustrated by Carol Schwartz (Children’s Animal/Math Books)

📚 Materials Needed

• Optional: Colored pencils or crayons for illustrations
• Chart paper or whiteboard
• Markers
• A book (see suggestions above!)
• Paper & pencils
• Photos of the fibonacci sequence in action in nature and the world around us (or the books – Growing Patterns/Wild Fibonacci)

📚 Lesson Details (45–50 min)

🔢 Warm-up: Fibonacci 101 (15 min)

• Use cool pics: 🐚 shells, 🌻 sunflowers, 🌀 spirals
• Show the pattern:0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8…
• Define the series: The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers, starting from zero where every number after one (so 0,1,….) is the sum of the two numbers preceding it.
• Read for Inspiration: Pick any of the books from suggested list and read together for inspiration

What’s the Fibonacci or the Fib poem?

A Fib poem uses the Fibonacci sequence to count syllables in each line: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and so on. So the Fibonacci poem or the Fib is a verse where the number of syllables in each line equal the sum of the number of syllables in the preceding two lines. It’s math you can hear!

You can choose to have as many lines as possible, and there are no other rules except to follow the sequence. But note that it can get challenging pretty soon, and you can see why when you see the sequence itself : (0), 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, and so on!! So having a poem with five to six lines works best (and if you want to continue writing, then you can reverse the sequence backwards to one syllable at that point)

Here is an example for you:

The Art of Stacking Joy
Snap (1)
bricks- (1)
LEGOS– (2)
together. (3)
No need to water! (5)
Plastic stems hold steady bright hues.(8)
Forever flowers bring joy to many many yous.(13)
~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

✍️ Let’s Write! (20 min)

1. Pick a topic (nature, snacks, cats, ANYTHING!)
2. Clap out syllables as you go
3. Write your Fib poem!
4. Decorate it with doodles or spirals!

🗣️ Share & Celebrate (10 min)

• Read poems out loud with a partner
• Talk: “How did math help your poem?”
• Share all the poems on a ‘fib’ board!

🧩 Quick Adaptations

For younger kids, you can do this exercise together as a class, use pictures to spark ideas, and/or clap syllables as a group. For older kids (grades 6 through 8), add more lines (13, 21, syllables). Connect with art (spiral designs!). For everyone, try to reverse the fib after a certain number of lines.

Fictive(?) Fragments

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt asks us to write a self-portrait poem, in which you explain why you are not a particular piece of art (a symphony, a figurine, a ballet, a sonnet), use at least one outlandish comparison, and a strange (and maybe not actually real) fact. Use Jane Yeh’s “Why I Am Not a Sculpture” for inspiration: it has a sense of playfulness, as she both compares herself to a sculpture and uses a series of rather silly and elaborate similes, along with references to dubious historical “facts.”

My Attempt

Why I Am Not

Poe’s Raven
To be peered at by high school students everywhere,
their pens like scalpels,
breaking me down, word by word,
taking me apart—tearing down my world—
yet leaving me trapped right there on the page
(pardon me, on a device perhaps—in this age).
To have teachers read me out loud,
as half the class dreams on.
Did you know that ravens can read
(even Morse code and minor heartbreaks)?

Maroon 5’s “Memories”
To be this melody
would be like drowning myself in my tears
with each repeat of myself,
spinning through the same sad circles
on the victrola, or through the car radio.
Each time I play, I melt a bit,
drowning in regret, in guilt,
and that cactus in Arizona
sheds a flower it didn’t grow yet.

Munch’s The Scream
To have the face trapped in agony,
mouth wide open as the sky cracks open.
To not be able to fill the silences with words—
who can speak with a mouth wide open?
To let that silent noise swallow me,
like the hum of a sound machine on the sea,
to be forever staring like a sock puppet that knows too much.

M.C. Escher’s Artwork
I am not the staircase that bends in on itself,
an endless loop to nowhere.
I would never twist your mind so much
you’d need a compass just to walk straight—
I’m lost enough as it is.

~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, do you find the fibonacci series fascinating? Where have you seen it recently around you? Do share a poem if/when you write one! And which book would you pick to read first?

I am linking up to A-Z, Blogchatter, UBC, NaPoWriMo.

And you can find all my A-Z posts (this year and previous years’ as well) here:

A to Z Challenge Posts