fractions – Page 2 – iLearn Technology

Kids Numbers

October 22, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment1674 views

What it is: Kids Numbers is a website from the Kids Knowit Network (they also have spelling, biology, history, etc. sites). Kids Numbers is a free collection of resources for the math classroom. Math skills include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, telling time, mixed skills, geometry, and Algebra. When you select a skill to focus on, you will get a week by week break down of skills to practice and accompanying online games and activities. There are games to play and mini tutorials to go through that will teach the foundational skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Everything on Kids Numbers is research based and designed by teachers to increase your students math abilities.

How to integrate Kids Numbers into the classroom: I love the way the mini tutorials on Kids Numbers teach students foundational math skills. They are easy to follow along and perfect for your visual learners. Throughout the tutorial students are asked to participate by counting, sorting, etc. There are games aligned to each skill that act as a practice area for the skill. This is a great site to keep on your classroom computers as a math center year-round. Students can use Kids Numbers to learn new skills, review skills that have been taught, or practice skills that they are learning in the math classroom. Kids Numbers could be an excellent homework helper for students who are getting hung up on the basics and need a little extra help.

Tips: Kids Numbers does have advertisements on their pages. Help your students identify the advertisements and use this as a learning opportunity about what an ad is and what they are used for. Identify the differences between advertisement links and game and activity links on the site.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Kids Numbers in your classroom.

iPlay Math Games

September 12, 2009Kelly Tenkely6 Comments3096 views

What it is: iPlay Math Games is an outstanding collection of printable math games for grades k-12. Math games can be searched by grade level or skill. These math games are printable pdf files and can be played with common items (dice, cards, and other manipulatives). iPlay Math Games helps students build math skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percents, algebra, long division, measurement, graphing and exponents, problem solving, puzzles and games, geometry, probability, reasoning, logic, numeration, patterns, and counting.

How to integrate iPlay Math Games into the classroom: iPlay Math Games is an excellent collection of printable math games that can be downloaded and printed out for the classroom. Use these games as math center activities, and to reinforce math skills being learned. These games are a great way for students to practice math skills sans worksheet.

Tips: iPlay Math Games has not always been a free resource, take advantage of the new free status!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using iPlay Math Games in your classroom.

Arcademic Skill Builders

June 23, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3345 views

What it is: Arcademic Skill Builders are educational games that help students learn basic academic math and literacy skills. The games are all research-based and standards-aligned. This site blends the fun of arcade games and key educational skills into fun online games that engage, motivate, and teach students. All games are free to play and have the option of multi-player or single player games.

How to integrate Arcademic Skill Builders into the classroom: Arcademic Skill Builders has games that will help students practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, ratios, and language arts word skills. These games can be used as a center in the classroom during math or literacy. They can also be used with the whole class in a computer lab setting. I look forward to the addition of the student tracking so that teachers can see trends in student learning and differentiate instruction and practice accordingly. These games will help excite your students about learning while building important basic learning skills.

Tips: Arcademic Skill Builders has plans to add features that will allow students to save records, teachers to differentiate instruction through the games, and pinpoint students problem areas.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Arcademic Skill Builders in your classroom.

Number Nut

June 19, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1894 views

What it is: Number Nut is a site all about math. I love their catch phrase: “enough math can make anyone nutty”. This site certainly has enough math for that! Topics on Number Nut include: shapes and colors, numbers and counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, order of operations, dates and times, fractions, decimals, percent values, estimation and rounding, ratios, and money math. There is something for every math class here! Each topic gives an overview of the math concept (kind of like the break down students would find at the beginning of a new math chapter). This is followed by two interactives where students can practice their new found knowledge. Number Nut is standard aligned and has a great math glossary.

How to integrate Number Nut into the classroom: Number Nut is truly like an interactive math textbook, there are multiple pages for each concept and each page is followed by two interactive practice areas. I love this as an alternative to math textbooks because students get immediate feedback as they work. They know whether they have mastered the concept or need to keep working at it. With traditional math textbooks, a student doesn’t know if they understand a concept until they turn in their math worksheet and get it back a few days later full of red marks. Number Nut is good for teaching new math concepts on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector. Students can read along as you explain and demonstrate new math concepts. Then, students can practice on their own. Ideally, Number Nut would be used in a computer lab setting where every student is using a computer. This would allow students to work at their own pace and on the skills they need the most practice on. Number Nut could also be used as a math center where students take turns visiting and solving problems.

Tips: I learned about Number Nut from a tweet by @kellyhines she is full of great classroom resources and one of my favorite education follows! Number Nut does require flash so make sure that you have the appropriate flash plugins before using this site with your class.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Number Nut in your classroom.

Number Gym

March 4, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment3609 views

Number Gym is math software that can be purchased for the math classroom. However, they have a number of free online activities (examples of their software) that are perfect in the math classroom. I want to review each of these freebie mini-math games:

Exploring Fractions

What it is: Exploring Fractions is an interactive way for students to learn about fractions. Students see the fractions represented graphically and numerically. As students change the numerator and denominator of the fraction, they see the graphic change accordingly.

How to integrate Exploring Fractions into the classroom: Exploring Fractions is a great interactive site to teach your students about fractions. This is a wonderful website to use with an interactive whiteboard for whole class fraction instruction. Invite students up to the whiteboard to take turns adjusting the numerator and denominator of the fractions. Have students observe the graphic changes taking place and describe the changes as a class. Exploring Fractions is also very useful as a math center on the classroom computers. As students are learning about fractions, they can visit the computer as a visual manipulation center.

Tips: All parts of the Exploring Fractions website can be hidden (hide the numerator, denominator, or graphic). This is a nice feature for having students “fill in” the missing information.

Mr G’s Place Value Chart

What it is: Mr G’s Place Value Chart is a great mini-site to teach students about place values. The chart has a thousands, hundreds, tenths, and ones column. Students can drag counters up and down the chart to create numbers. Every portion of the Place Value Chart can be hidden from view depending on what you are using the chart for.

How to integrate Mr G’s Place Value Chart into the classroom: The Place Value Chart is an excellent visual manipulative to teach students about place value. Each time a student moves a counter, the number at the top of the screen adjusts accordingly. Use the Place Value Chart to teach your whole class with an interactive whiteboard. Call students one at a time to adjust the number with counters. Encourage students who are at their seats to observe how the numbers change. Hide the number at the top and have students move counters and say what the number is aloud as a class. This is also a great mini-site to set up as a math center in the one or two computer classroom. As students are working on place value, they can visit the math center for a visual manipulative.

Tips: Hide the columns that are not being used to teach with so students aren’t confused by all the ‘extras’.

Bond Builder

What it is: Bond Builder is a mini-game that gives students a ‘dot spotter’ that looks like a dice, students add the numbers on the dot spotter and drag it to the correct sum on a dial. They are timed as they drag the dot spotter cards to the correct location.

How to integrate Bond Builder into the classroom: Bond Builder is a fun basic addition or counting reinforcement game. This game could be played as a center activity in the one or two computer classroom or whole class with an interactive whiteboard. See who can get the fastest time and practice those addition facts at the same time!

Tips: There are two levels of dot spotters (really just different sets of dot spotter cards).

Table Extender

What it is: Table Extender is a multiplication game that gives students a challenging multiplication problem and asks them to drag the problem on top of the correct answer. Students are timed as they go through the various challenges.

How to integrate Table Extender into the classroom: Table Extender is a good way to get students practicing their multiplication. It makes them think quickly and attempt to beat their own fastest times. Split students into teams and take turns sending students to the interactive whiteboard to solve the problems. This mini-game would also make for good practice as a computer center in the classroom.

Tips: There are three different levels of Table Extender for students to work on.

Getting to Grips with Graphs: Trigonometry

What it is: Getting to Grips with Graphs: Trigonometry lets students explore the equation y=aSin(bx*+c*) through adjustments to a, b, and c in graphical form.

How to integrate Getting to Grips with Graphs: Trigonometry into the classroom: This mini-site is a wonderful visual representation of Sin. Students can adjust a, b, and c and watch the affect of changing numbers on a graph. Use an interactive whiteboard and call students up to change the values of a, b, and c. Encourage other students to observe and describe the changes of each value that is adjusted.

Tips: The scale of the graph can be changed to fit your classroom needs.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Number Gym in your classroom.

Kids and Cookies

November 4, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment1970 views

What it is: Kids and Cookies is an online flash game that teaches elementary students about fractions in a game setting. Students choose characters to be their “friends” and then choose how many cookies they have. They have to evenly share the cookies with their friends and can use different cutters to divide the cookies. The site provides a great introduction to rational number fractions.

How to integrate Kids and Cookies into the classroom: This is a great site for introducing your students to the concepts of fractions, especially those at the “sharing” and “fair” age because of the way that they have to share and split up the cookies fairly. This would be a good whole class activity with an interactive whiteboard or a projector where students take turns sharing their cookies. As they share the cookies, talk about the fractions of cookies (for example when they split the cookie in half or in thirds.) This would also be a perfect site to use as a math center. Students can visit the center in groups and discuss their findings as a whole class after every student has had the opportunity to interact with the site.

Tips: You can find more advanced (much more advanced) flash math games and activities on the Center of Technology and Education site where the Kids and Cookies game is hosted. This is also a great game for those of you who don’t have Internet access in your classroom because their is a free downloadable version of the game for Macs and PC’s…cool!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Kids and Cookies in your classroom.

Math Arcade

October 22, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1826 views

What it is: Math Arcade is a branch of the Fun Brain Website. Students in first through eighth grades can practice math facts and math skills through fun, interactive games. When students go to Math Arcade, they will see a board game board. They have to successfully complete each game before they can move their game piece to another spot on the game board. Each spot on the game board represents an appropriate age level game. Students can write down a special password to save and return to their saved game at another time. There are 25 games at each grade level to play.

How to integrate Math Arcade into the classroom: Math Arcade is a great website to help students practice math facts and skills. There is enough variety on the site to keep kids interested. The game board atmosphere gives students a goal to complete, they have to successfully play all 25 games to reach the end. This site would be a great one to use as a math center, or in a computer lab setting as a math treat once a week. Students can progress through the site based on their math ability.

Tips: Bookmark this page on your classroom computers for students to access throughout the school day or during free time.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Math Arcade in your classroom.

Math TV

October 7, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2566 views

What it is: Math TV is a series of video word problems for math. Each math problem comes with a step by step video solution, follow up problems, an online calculator, and sketch pad. Word problems include topics such as fractions, percentages, ratios, probability, geometry, averages, and algebra. I would have been a completely different kind of math student if I had tools like this one in school. I could solve a math problem without any trouble but a word problem was a different story all together. I think for the majority of students, word problems are a source of anxiety and frustration. Math TV is an incredible solution, it is perfect for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. You can’t go wrong!

How to integrate Math TV into the classroom: Math TV is the perfect way to teach your students the method for solving both simple and complex word problems. Use the videos for whole class instruction with a projector (an interactive whiteboard would also be great for the problem solving portion but is not necessary). The videos are also perfect for individual student practice. Set up Math TV on a classroom computer to reinforce the math skills being practiced in class. Each student (or group of students) can take turns at the Math TV center to solve the problem. Come back together as a class after each student has had a chance to solve, and go through the problem together. I love the interactivity of this tool and the ability to reach multiple learning styles which can be difficult in a math class. As an alternative to the traditional math homework, assign a Math TV episode for your students to watch and solve.

Tips: The Math TV videos are a part of a larger math site called Math Playground. Because the site is so comprehensive, I’ll be breaking it down into a few separate posts. Stay tuned for other math videos, math games, word problems, and more!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Math TV in your classroom.

Studio4Learning

September 12, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment9813 views

What it is: Studio4Learning is a great site for students in fifth through twelfth grades. It provides students and teachers with free, high-quality videos that can be watched online. There are ten categories of videos to choose from Math, Sciences, English, Languages, Social Sciences, Business, Arts, Test Prep, Find a Job, and Tutor Corps. Each category is broken down into several sub categories. Videos are engaging and teach key skills and concepts in a fun way. Students can also use the sites search feature to search for a specific topic.

How to integrate Studio4Learning into the classroom: Students can use Studio4Learning as a place to stop for homework help and to learn or review concepts learned in class. Teachers can use Studio4Learning as a center, with a projector, or on individual student computers to illustrate new teaching or as a place where students can review information. Studio4Learning is free to use, if students register (also free) they can bookmark videos. Teachers can upload class topic videos to Studio4Learning, again free. (Are you seeing a theme here? It is all free!) As an added bonus, if you have a class website or blog, you can embed videos directly into your site for students to watch on any subject you are studying in class.

Tips: Browse through a couple of videos on the site, I know you will be hooked!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Studio4Learning in your classroom.

Cyberchase

November 14, 2007Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2470 views

What it is: Cyberchase is a website aimed at teaching kids that math is everywhere, that everyone can be good at it, and that math can be fun. The Cyberchase website is based on the PBS TV show, teachers can view episode guides, video clips, and character descriptions. The website has two main sections for math enhancement, games and quests. Games include interactive math games and puzzles. Quests are interactive games that allow students to create their own cyber characters and go on cyber quests. Math topics include measurement, patterns, deductive reasoning, saving, spending, budgeting, making hard problems easier, growth by doubling, inverse operations, decimals, negative numbers, combinations, place value, elapsed time, angle measurement, linear measurement, timekeeping, area, volume, bar graphs, equivalent fractions, fractions, data clusters, probability, algebraic thinking, perimeter/area relationship, patterns in music, scale and size, patterns, codes, functions, estimation, counter examples, logic, point of view, using models, 2d and 3d geometry, navigation, symmetry, navigation, proportional thinking, circles, and percents.

How to integrate Cyberchase into the classroom: Cyberchase is an incredible website! With the number of math topics, there is a game to fit every curriculum. The games are fun, interactive and teach critical thinking skills. Students experience math when they use the games and quests. This site really makes math come alive! Use this site to introduce new math concepts (students probably won’t realize that they have learned a new math concept until you dissect it for them afterwards!) The site would also be great to reinforce math concepts that have already be learned. The games and quests make an excellent practice field. Games could be used with the whole class and a projector cart (be ready for a lot of volunteers on this one!) Or individually as a math center or all at once in the computer lab setting.

Tips: Visit the Cyberchase teachers page for lesson plans using the Cyberchase games. This is an outstanding math resource! Even your most resistant math students will love this site!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Cyberchase in your
classroom.