Math – Page 12 – iLearn Technology

BBC Build a Catapult: the science and math behind the catapult

May 11, 2011Kelly Tenkely1 Comment5579 views

What it is: Any time students can dig in and discover learning for themselves, I consider it a success. Recently I ran across the BBC’s DIY build a catapult. The site lets students explore the history behind the catapult, learn how to build one step by step and then discover principles of velocity, acceleration, force, distance and math. With the popularity of games like Angry Birds, I think a lesson in the science and math behind the catapult is in order. I like the step-by-step nature of this site and the way that kids are guided through a series of directions.

How to integrate BBC Build a Catapult into the classroom: Begin with a time of inquiry where students can inquire into how catapults work, what they can launch, what they have been used for in the past and the science and math behind the catapult. This site will help answer a lot of their questions and even prompt some additional questions. Students can follow the step-by-step directions for constructing their own catapult. Give students the opportunity to test their catapults, using the science and math concepts behind the catapult to predict where object will land based on angles and mass. The science section of the site does a fantastic job of illustrating vertical velocity, horizontal velocity, the circumference of a circle, acceleration, force and mass. These can be hard to understand concepts on paper (or in textbooks) but when students can see the concept illustrated and apply it, they will begin to build a framework of understanding.

After students understand the concepts of building a catapult, ask them to try building a catapult out of different types of supplies, do some energy sources work better than others? Ask students to think about objects in our modern-day lives that use the principles or science used in a catapult.

Students can access this site from classroom computers as a learning/building center or go through the steps as a class using a projector-connected computer or interactive whiteboard.

I really appreciated the step-by-step directions for students to follow. This is such a necessary life skill, and one that I don’t see practiced enough. If students know how to read, understand and follow directions, the whole world opens for them and Google becomes useful!

Tips: At the bottom of the site are printable versions of the directions for building a catapult.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using BBC DIY Catapult in your classroom!

Sophia: learning made social

March 18, 2011March 18, 2011Kelly Tenkely3 Comments3206 views

What it is: Sophia is a site that I have been playing around with for the past few months in their invitation only, beta space. Now that the beta has been released to everyone, I’m excited to share it! Sophia is a platform that connects teachers, learners, experts, and parents. This is an academic community that supports and enriches the traditional classroom. Sophia is a social network of sorts that connects everyone in meaningful ways so that knowledge, help, instruction, standards-aligned content, and experts are available for learners everywhere. As an educator, Sophia will help you to share your knowledge and make it available to anyone, anywhere. Sophia can help students by offering them support in areas of weakness, opportunities for deeper learning, and the ability to follow areas of interest that aren’t being met in the classroom. Currently the Sophia subjects include the arts, business, English/language arts, learning strategies, mathematics, science, and social studies. Each of those subject contain several sub categories as well. Packets of learning can contain text documents, slide shows, videos, and useful links. In addition the packets are rated by users as to how academically sound the resource is. Individual users of Sophia get scores based on how well they contribute to the community.

How to integrate Sophia into the classroom: As a teacher, Sophia can be used to supplement instruction, for blended learning opportunities, for “flip” learning (remember that Fisch flip I mentioned earlier in the week?), and for private personal learning networks (PLN). Students can use Sophia for additional classroom support, homework help, to participate in study groups, and to help others in their learning. Use Sophia to facilitate study groups between students, to create an online learning community for your team to create and share resources, and to create groups that include other classrooms for collaborative learning opportunities.

Tips: Sophia is best for middle, high school, and college right now. I hope that they will scale this down for elementary students as well!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Sophia in your classroom!

Fakebook and Twister- Create custom social media pages for learning

March 14, 2011Kelly Tenkely8 Comments9827 views

What it is: I don’t know if you all noticed, but I have been on a serious social media kick lately. 🙂 There is just SO much for students to learn from the social media sphere. Last week (or was it the week before?) I shared that I had created a Facebook Template that could be used with students for creating a fake Facebook profile. Since then I have come across Fakebook created by teacher, @russeltarr. I have one word: Brilliant. Seriously this is the BEST Fakebook tool I have seen. It is simple to use. Just click and type. The profile pictures get pulled automatically based on the name that students type in. Especially good for literary and historical characters! The focus here really is on the learning that it enables, there are NO advertisements (unlike Myfakewall which I have deemed unusable because of all of the ads).

The other fake social networking tool I want to feature is called Twister. This is a fake Twitter wall that students can create just by filling in a few key bits of information like a username, the real name (this is what the photo pulls from), a status update, and a date. When students click submit, they have their very own fictional status update. Very cool!

These tools are fantastic for the classroom because they don’t rely on actual social network sites (which are often blocked by filters), they are not limited by age to use them, and they provide a fun way for students to reflect on learning. So neat!

How to integrate Fakebook and Twister into the classroom: These two teacher created tools are fantastic. They produce results that look like the real deal and were obviously created by teachers who understand that the focus should be learning and not the tool (or advertisements surrounding the tool). These fake profile/status creators are a wonderful way for students to learn about historical and literary figures in a manner that they can personally connect to. Students can create profiles or updates from the perspective of historical figures, literary characters, government, artists, composers, etc. Students can also use these tools to help them develop characters for their own writing.

Take a page out of the Grammaropolis book and have students personify things they are learning about like parts of speech. Students can create a profile for each part of speech. How about creating a profile page for math functions like Number Gossip does? Students could even practice dialogue in a foreign language using either tool.

Teaching your students netiquette? Let students create two versions of a Fakebook page, one with appropriate online interaction and another that “breaks the rules” to compare/contrast.

The Twister site only lets you create one status update at a time. This makes it really nice for memorializing famous or favorite quotes. These would be fun to print out and display on a bulletin board.

Tips: Students can save or print out their Fakebook page. To save, they will create a password and need to write down the unique URL for their page to access it at a later date.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Fakebook and Twister in your classroom!

IDroo: Online educational multi user whiteboard

March 7, 2011Kelly Tenkely2 Comments4771 views

What it is: IDroo is an educational multi user whiteboard that lets students instantly collaborate online. Everything that is drawn or written on the whiteboard is visible to all participants in real-time. IDroo supports an unlimited number of meeting participants, the only limitations are computer power and internet connection speed. There is a professional math typing tool built-in making it easy to teach or work through math problems collaboratively. Best of all, IDroo can be used with Skype! IDroo is free for non-commercial use. Now for the downfall (and this is a HUGE downfall in my humble opinion), IDroo is currently only available for Windows. I know, disappointment for us Mac lovers. *sigh* If you are using a Windows computer this is a great way to collaborate online!

How to integrate IDroo into the classroom: IDroo would be a great app for collaborating with other classrooms around the world. Students can use the multi user whiteboard space to work together, share ideas, and brainstorm. IDroo would also be fantastic as a way for teachers to tutor students virtually. Set up an “open lab” time once a week online where students can drop in and get extra help. Virtual lab times are especially helpful for elementary students who can’t dictate their own schedules and often can’t stay after school for extra help.

Tips: Don’t forget to allow IDroo to access Skype API after you download!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using IDroo in your classroom!

MinyanLand: A virtual world for economics and finance

March 3, 2011Kelly Tenkely2 Comments4119 views

What it is: I love virtual worlds that go beyond just play and incorporate learning opportunities. MinyanLand is a virtual world where students get to play games and make friends while they learn about earning, saving, spending and giving. Best of all, it is free to use! Students begin their time in MinyanLand with $50,000 in MinyanMoney and a condo. They can visit the ATM in the MinyanLand bank to invest their money. Each time students visit, they can check to see if their balance has gone up or down. Students can earn more MinyanMoney by playing fun games, or doing real life chores or classroom jobs to collect a virtual allowance. Students can use their MinyanMoney to buy things for their home, add rooms, and move into a new neighborhood.

MinyanLand has it’s own newspaper called the MinyanLand Journal, it will keep students up-to-date with what is new every day. Students can play games where they practice their math skills and test their knowledge about money. Games include a Lemonade Stand, Guitar Mayhem, Paper Route, Concentration, Balloon Quiz, Fill in the Face, Fill in the Name, Catch the Money, Word Search, Money Sorter, Cluedoku, Boo Blvd., Where Did You Get That Money?, and Quiz Boxes. Students will need to keep their virtual character healthy by fueling up at Ollie’s Diner.

The characters in MinyanLand are fun and varied, there is Hoofy the Bull, president of the bank; Boo the Bear, a retired dot-com millionaire; Daisy the cow, executive producer of MinyanLand’s TV station; Cassidy the Bear, a school teacher; Sammy the Snake, an administrator in City Hall; and Snapper the Turtle, the go-to guy in town.

MinyanLand is a fun way for students to learn about and interact with economic and financial concepts. The economic system in MinyanLand can even take advantage of real-life pricing of general goods and services. Students are encouraged to charitably give within MinyanLand. The idea is to offer every child the opportunity and platform to be financially literate. MinyanLand is ideal for students in 3rd-5th grade but younger students would enjoy it as well.

How to integrate MinyanLand into the classroom: MinyanLand is such a fun way to work toward financial literacy in the classroom. It offers students a virtual economy where they can practice real-world skills of buying, earning, investing, and giving. I love the way that MinyanLand ties the real world to the virtual by allowing students to earn virtual MinyanMoney for real chores and jobs.

Registering is free and easy enough for young students to register themselves. A parent or teacher email address is optional for registration. If students include a parent or teacher email address, they can earn MinyanMoney for chores or jobs that you assign.

MinyanLand is one of those sites that would be great as a year-long project. Students can visit MinyanLand throughout the year in the classroom (and at home) to learn about money, investing, spending, earning, and the economy. It is a natural fit in the math classroom where students are already working with money and numbers. MinyanLand would be best in a lab setting where each student has access to a computer. If you don’t have a lab for students, use classroom computers as a learning center. Students can visit the center throughout the week to interact in MinyanLand.

Tips: Even if you don’t want to use the virtual money in class, consider letting parents know about the opportunity to tie household chores to learning. Students can play in class and earn virtual money at home.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using MinyanLand in your classroom!

World Math Day 2011

March 1, 2011Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1685 views

What it is: It is March 1st which means that World Math Day is here!! The official competition runs for 48 hours, as long as it is March 1st somewhere in the world. World Math Day is a live worldwide math competition for students. Students login to the World Math Day site and compete against each other in real time to see which country can answer the most mental arithmetic problems the fastest. Each game lasts 60 seconds and students can play up to 100 games. Students who answer the most math problems correctly get featured in the World Math Day hall of fame. There are 5 levels of mental arithmetic competition each with 20 games, there is a something for every student k-6. My students look forward to World Math Day every year. We hold competitions throughout the day in my lab and students play in their classrooms in a 60 second math center rotation. Students ask (beg really) to play on World Math Day at home. When is the last time you had students begging to practice mental arithmetic at home? Registration is easy and quick, during registration, you will also be signed up to have your students participate in World Spelling Day which will be March 3 (2011). Register as many or as few students as you would like (individuals and home school families are also welcome!) This is such a fun day of friendly competition and it gives students the drive to practice, and get fast, at math fact and math fact recall.

How to integrate World Math Day into the classroom: It couldn’t be easier to get your students involved, just sign them up by registering, pass out usernames and passwords and away you go. Students can play in a computer lab setting (they like to try to login at exactly the same time so they can play against each other in games) or on classroom computers in 60 second rotations. The 60 second time limit on games makes it easy to pass all of your students through a World Math Day center on classroom computers. In addition, students can take their login information home with them to play at home. World Math Day takes place every March, now that you know it is coming, plan to make it an Olympic type event in your classroom. I have been known to hold opening ceremonies in my classroom prior to the event.

Since your students are competing against students from around the world, why not use the competition to practice using a map and identifying countries? Since I had a Promethean board, I did this digitally with a Google Map. Each time a student competed against a country, they would come up to the board and put a “pin” in the map. Don’t have an interactive whiteboard? The paper map and actual pins are just as fun!

Tips: Don’t forget to check back for World Spelling Day- a new competition!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using World Math Day in your classroom!

Little Bird Tales

February 25, 2011Kelly Tenkely6 Comments4658 views

What it is: I am late on this post, but it is too good to skip a mention! Little Bird Tales is a new way to digital story tell with primary students. With Little Bird Tales, students can upload their own artwork, record their voice, add text and email their finished creations to family and friends. Sign up on Little Bird Tales requires an email address for verification purposes. This can be a parent or teacher email address (the site is geared for 3 to 14-year-old children so a student address is not necessary). Little Bird Tales includes a built-in art pad where students can create pictures online. They also have the option to upload photographs and images they have created offline. Each page give students a place to add a picture, text and voice recording. Finished books can be saved and accessed online or sent via email.

How to integrate Little Bird Tales into the classroom: Little Bird Tales is a brilliant option for digital storytelling in the primary classroom. I love that it includes both online and offline student creations, as well as student voice recordings. Students can use Little Bird Tales for creative writing and imaginative stories, as a way to reflect on learning, or as a keepsake for parents. Students can take pictures of science experiments and create a digital science journal detailing the experiment with text and student voice reflections included.

Use Little Bird Tales to create whole class stories where each student contributes a page. This type of book can be made over a few weeks using classroom computers as a writing center. This would be a fun way to create an A to Z type book of learning, reflections by students after a unit, a 100 day book, fact vs. opinion book, an interactive glossary, a class book of poems, a phonics book, or a class book about a field trip that students took. The finished product can be shared with parents and families easily through an email. For a back to school night activity, take a picture of each student to add to a class book and record students sharing what their favorite part of the school day is. This same idea could be used in preparation for parent-teacher conferences. Students can upload pictures of their best school work, record thoughts about why they are proud of the work they did, and add reflections in the text field. These can be shared as a starting point for conferences, at the end of the conference, parents have a keepsake.

Because of the voice recording capabilities, Little Bird Tales, would be a great way for students to practice a foreign language. They can illustrate a word or phrase accompanied by the audio. Classes could work together to create a “living” digital glossary.

Do you have a planned absence coming? Why not create a digital story that your substitute can share with students? Upload pictures that support learning, text, and your voice.

Tips: If you have parent email addresses in Google, Yahoo, or Outlook, they can be directly imported into Little Bird Tales as contacts.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Little Bird Tales in your classroom!

17 Ways to Meet Individual Learning Needs in the Math Classroom

February 15, 2011Kelly Tenkely12 Comments5387 views

Cross-post of an article I wrote for The Apple, you can read the original article here.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, The Apple is a social network for educators that is also a great resource for inspiration, lesson ideas, educational news, videos, and job postings.

Kelly Tenkely | TheApple.com

Differentiating instruction can be challenging. Student’s educational strengths and weaknesses can be widely varied, making it a difficult task to meet each student’s needs in any given lesson. Math is one such subject area where student skill levels can be very different. Some students have their basic math facts so well mastered that completing more complex tasks isn’t hindered. Other students have a logical mathematical mind and math just seems to click for them. Then there are the students who really struggle with math facts; they just can’t seem to get them down. Every other area of math feels painful because they don’t have the building blocks mastered. Still other students have no trouble solving equations but when a story problem is introduced, they are stopped dead in their tracks.

For most students, math takes a lot of practice. Unfortunately, the students who need the most practice are the most reluctant to do so because they haven’t been successful in the past. Many of these students have convinced themselves, through negative self-talk, that “I’m just not good at math.” What is a teacher to do with such a mix of skill and comfort levels in the math classroom? Technology can be a great equalizer in the classroom. It provides struggling students with extra support and attention at exactly their skill level, and makes it possible for the student to pace their own learning. Students who have mastered the basics and need to be challenged, can attend to tasks that require them to think in new ways using the skills they already have. The Internet abounds with outstanding free math resources that can be used to encourage struggling students and challenge students who are excelling in math. These websites can be used as a center in the math classroom that is limited to a few computers, for individual learning and practice in the computer lab (1 to 1 setting), or used with the whole class and an interactive whiteboard or projector. The sites are well designed to meet the various learning needs in your classroom, and motivating enough to keep all of your students engaged in learning and practice.

Offline Math Practice:

1. If you are lacking student computers for math practice, consider visiting iPlay Math Games. http://iplaymathgames.com has a collection of printable math games for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. The games are easily searched by grade or skill level. These math games can be played using common items like dice, cards, and other manipulatives. The games have been created to build skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percents, algebra, long division, measurement, graphing, exponents, problem solving, puzzles, geometry, probability, logic, reasoning, numeration, patterns, and counting. Search for games that will meet your different learning needs. Next, group students together to play the games. Grouping students with similar learning needs helps students practice the math skill with others who are in need of the same practice. Create a math learning center where students can easily access the games and manipulatives needed for the games. Hold a math mania day once a week where students can practice the skills they have been learning in math class by playing these fun games.

2. 3D Vinci (http://www.3dvinci.net/ccp0-display/freestuff.html) has downloadable pdf lesson plans to teach math concepts using Google’s Sketchup. The site also has an impressive collection of printable puzzles and mosaics for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade to solve. This site helps bring 3-D concepts to life in a way that textbooks can’t. 3D Vinci also has a YouTube channel where students can watch several ModelMetricks projects.

Math Fact Practice:

Nothing is more motivating than a little friendly competition. Several sites offer competition that helps students practice their math facts, some are seasonal competitions, while others are available year-round. These sites make it a breeze to differentiate math practice. Each student can play games at their own ability level. This keeps the lower math students engaged and feeling successful in their math skills while the higher level students are challenged.

3. Math Mania and World Math Day– Vmath Live hosts these online competitions each year for students around the world to compete in. Math Mania (http://www.voyagerlearning.com/mathmania.do) is a back to school challenge where students compete against other students in real time using the Vmath Live math program. Students face off with other students from around the world while practicing their math facts. As students answer questions, they can see, in real time, how other students from around the world are doing answering the same questions at the same time. The goal is to answer all of the questions as quickly as possible (correctly) and finish before the other students. The live competition is highly motivating and has students asking, “can I play this at home?” World Math Day (http://worldmathday.com/) is a competition that is held each year in March. Just like Math Mania, World Math Day is a competition between students from around the world. Each math fact game lasts for 60 seconds and improves student’s mental math. The World Math Day competition is for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Visit both competition sites for more details about the competition and dates.

4. Make 5 (http://www.fi.uu.nl/toepassingen/00091/toepassing_wisweb.en.html) Make 5 is a fun way for students to practice addition, subtraction or multiplication. Students can play this game individually or against another student. This game provides a great platform for students to practice math facts and to start recognizing relationships between numbers. Students are given a target number and a goal to choose an equation on the grid that equals that target number. There are multiple correct answers on the grid. The goal of the game is to get 5 answers in a row on the grid (like Tic-tac-toe or connect 4). If you don’t have access to classroom computers to play this game, split your class into two groups and play with the whole class with an interactive whiteboard or projector. Each student should be given the chance to represent their team and match an equation with a target number. Give teams 30 seconds to plan their move before sending up the representative.

5. Arcademic Skill Builders (http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/) is a collection of fun arcade-like games that help students practice their math facts. Students can play games for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fraction, and ratios. The games are research based and standard aligned. It blends the fun of arcade games and key math skills into fun online games that engage, motivate, and teach students. All games have the option of single or multi-player mode.

6. Tut Pup (http://tutpup.com) is a free math fact practice website. Students are matched up with other students from around the world where they play fact games and compete in real time. This site does not collect personal information about students and there are several games to choose from, each with multiple levels. Students can practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, algebra, and a mixture of those skills.

7. Free Rice (http://freerice.com) is an amazing website that helps students practice math facts, it has the added bonus of donating rice for every correct answer. Students can choose to practice basic math facts or multiplication. For each answer that is correct, grains of rice are donated to hungry people around the world. Add some additional math practice by figuring out how many grains of rice are needed to create a bowl of rice, and keep tally of how many total grains that your students have earned.

Math Puzzles:

Math requires students to look at the world in different ways than they may be used to. It is about seeing relationships and patterns. Students may not be used to thinking in this way. Math puzzles can be a great way to help students start to think about relationship and pattern. This is a fun way to get your students in the math mind set. Your reluctant math students won’t realize that they are practicing math skills as they complete these puzzles.

8. Tangram House (http://games.ztor.com/tang/) This Chinese puzzle challenges students to create a shape using only 7 tans (shapes) to complete a puzzle. The tans can be rotated, flipped, and dragged into place. Tangram House can be used as a math center on classroom computers, completed individually in the computer lab setting, or used as a whole class activity with an interactive whiteboard. To play as a whole class activity, split students into teams that will take turns at the board forming the tangrams. Students who are not at the board can help their teammate using good directions and clues for the student working on the puzzle. This is a great way for students to practice giving and receiving quality instructions and descriptions.

Better Than a Text Book:

Math textbooks can be very dry and hard for students to read for understanding. So much of math involves relationships, patterns, and 3-D objects that a static textbook just can’t do justice to. Online supplements can give students a better understanding of relationship, pattern, and 3-D objects with video and animation.

9. Number Nut (http://www.numbernut.com/index.html) is an interactive math textbook, there are multiple pages for each math concept and each page is followed by two interactive practice areas. Topics on Number Nut include shapes, color, numbers, counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, order of operations, date, time, fractions, decimals, percent values, estimation, rounding, ratios, and money math. The site is standard aligned and has an exceptional math glossary. Number nut is an excellent alternative to math textbooks because students get immediate feed back as they practice a skill they have just learned. With traditional math textbooks, a student doesn’t know if they understand a concept until they turn in their math worksheet or test and get it back a few days later full of red marks. Often they will not go back and re-practice unless they are required to. This site is ideal in a computer lab setting where each student can work at his or her own pace.

10. Learning Clip (http://www.learningclip.co.uk/index1.aspx) is a collection of interactive activities for primary math. Resources and activities include topics such as using and applying math, understanding numbers, number facts, calculating, understanding shape, measuring, and handling data. Each activity includes a brief description, a pdf of notes that accompany the activity, the age appropriateness, and a corresponding worksheet that can be printed out. When an activity is loaded, a video clip explaining the math concept plays. Each activity includes a game or interactive space for students to practice what they are learning. This site is ideal for struggling students, they can replay the video portion of the lesson as many times as they need to so that they understand the concept. The practice area is a great place for students to try what they have learned.

11. Harcourt Multimedia Math Glossary (http://www.harcourtschool.com/glossary/math2/index3.html) will help students in kindergarten through sixth grade understand math vocabulary. The glossary is easily searched by grade and alphabetic order. This glossary is not your typical textbook glossary, it doesn’t just define math terms, it actually shows them what it looks like. Each word and definition can be read aloud to students by clicking on the speaker icon next to the word.

12. Math TV (http://www.mathplayground.com/mathtv.html) is a series of video story problems for math. Each math problem comes with a step by step video solution, followup problems, an online calculator, and a sketch pad. Word problems include topics such as fractions, percentages, ratios, probability, geometry, averages, and algebra. Story problems are often a source of anxiety and frustration, these videos are perfect for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. You can’t go wrong!

Real World Math Practice:

“When will I use this?” is a common phrase muttered in math classrooms around the country. As students advance in math and learn more complex skills and equations, they are often puzzled by how it relates to real life. Students want to know that what they are learning is relevant to their lives. Bringing real world math practice into the classroom helps students relate what they are learning with how it is applied in life.

13. The Stock Market Game (http://stockmarketgame.com/) gives students a chance to practice hands on real-world math. Each student gets the chance to invest a hypothetical $100,000 in an online portfolio. While playing the game, students learn economic and financial concepts that they will use the rest of their lives. The game is intended for students in fourth through twelfth grades.

14. Kids and Cookies (http://www.teacherlink.org/content/math/interactive/flash/kidsandcookies/kidcookie.php) is a flash game that teaches students about fractions in a real-world situation. Students choose characters to be their friends and then choose how many cookies they have. Students must evenly share their cookies with their friends and can use different cookie cutters to divide them up. This is a great introduction to how rational number fractions are used in life.

Interactive Math:

15. Illuminations Resources for Teaching Math (http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activities.aspx?grade=1&grade=2&grade=3&grade=4) is a treasure trove of activities for the math classroom. The site has more than 100 interactive math activities for teaching and practicing math in the kindergarten through twelfth grade classroom. The activities help students understand concepts that can be difficult by inviting them to interact with the concept. These activities are ideal for an interactive whiteboard but can also be a wonderful math center activity.

16. Math Arcade (http://www.funbrain.com/brain/MathBrain/MathBrain.html) is a website where students in first through eighth grades can practice math facts and math skills through fun interactive games and activities. Math Arcade plays like a board game, each space on the game board is another activity that must be completed before students can move on. Students receive a special password that they can write down to return to their saved game. There are 25 games at each grade level to play. Students can play games that build skills at the specific level they are at.

17. Math Playground (http://www.mathplayground.com/index.html) is packed full of games, videos, and puzzles all centered around math for elementary and middle school students. The games are interactive and a great place to practice the skills they are learning. Students get immediate feedback as they play the games and go through the activities. If they are correct, they can move on to the next game or problem. If they are incorrect, they will try again. The word problem section is divided up by grade level, ensuring that students are challenged at an appropriate level. The Math video section contains videos that introduce students to math concepts.

There are oodles of other ways to meet the needs of your individual learners in math, check out these posts for some more ideas!

HIP2B²: Science/Math edutainment magazine and videos

February 11, 2011Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3649 views

Open publication – Free publishing – More science

What it is: HIP2B² is an edutainment site that aims to show students that subjects that are generally labeled as “difficult” or “hard” can be fun and are important to our future success. HIP2B² is a website, digital magazine, and TV show that work to equip learners with vital life skills including analytical thinking, problem solving, and a curious mindset. The goal is to encourage curiosity in science and math in everyday life. The magazine is a high-quality quarterly publication that is free to view online, the magazine uses the Issuu platform for the digital viewing. You can see an example of the digital HIP2B² embedded above. The TV show can be viewed online, powered by YouTube.

How to integrate HIP2B² into the classroom: The HIP2B² videos and digital magazine are a fantastic way to invigorate a sense of curiosity and discovery in your students. The digital magazines are really well done, students will eagerly read through them. Each of the digital magazines is focused on a science or math topic such as mysteries, senses, the environment, technology, origins, animals, safety, food, intelligence, and much more. Students can view the digital magazines all the way back to June 2007. Use the digital magazines as inspiration for science and math inquiry. Students can read through the digital magazines on a classroom computer set up as a reading center, as a class using an interactive whiteboard or projector connected computer, or individually in a lab setting. Do your students get silent reading time in class? Allow them to use the computers to read through the HIP2B² digital magazine.

In the video section, students can learn about “tricks” of science like invisibility cloaks and floating paperclips or more serious science like nanotechnology and extreme weather. These videos can be used to introduce a topic or science/math concept or to illustrate a concept.

Are your students working on science and math that encourages analytical thinking, problem solving, and curiosity? Why not have them create their own HIP2B² inspired digital magazine. Students can put together their own magazine using any word processing or publishing program and upload the finished product to Issuu to share with the world.

Tips: For those of you who don’t have access to YouTube in your building, you can still use these awesome videos in your classrooms with a little bit of pre-planning. Download and save YouTube videos so that you can show them at school without accessing the YouTube site. UseKeepVid, YouTube DownloaderHD, Kick YouTube, SaveVid, or Zamzar. Some of these tools will even let you download at school if you know the YouTube url. The downloaded video should have no trouble playing at school!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using HIP2B² in your classroom!

Announcing: Voki Education!

January 26, 2011Kelly Tenkely11 Comments3345 views

What it is: Voki is a free web tool that let’s students create personalized speaking avatars that can be used in a variety of online formats (blogs, email, direct link, social network profiles, etc.). Now, Voki has released an exclusive education edition of their service. Voki Education has some additional features that make it even more useful for the classroom. Sharing is now easier than ever. Students and teachers can embed their finished Voki in webpages, email, and social network profiling, they can also share using a “Voki link” which will allow students to share a simple URL to a Voki page. Students no longer need access to a website or blog to share their Voki scene! Voki also provides custom links for educational partners like SymbalooEdu, very handy. A new lesson plan database provides teachers with a searchable database of lesson plans that utilize Voki for learning. Teachers are encouraged to share their Voki enhanced lesson plans. In the new Teacher’s Corner, teachers and “expert” users can discuss anything related to Voki. There is even a Newbies corner with a series of discussions in Q&A format. Voki is now ad-free, this makes it an even sweeter deal for the classroom!

How to integrate Voki Education into the classroom: Voki lets students create custom characters that they can personalize and make speak. These speaking avatars can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom, now that Voki Education includes the ability to “Voki Link” it is easier than ever for students to create and share. Students can make their characters speak by recording a voice via phone, text to speech, record by microphone, or upload a sound clip. Students can use Voki to create characters modeled after historical or literary characters. Students can bring those characters to life-a virtual wax museum of sorts! Those finished Voki’s can be embedded in a class website or blog, or shared by a Voki Link. In math, students can create Voki’s that speak a riddle or word problem. The Voki’s can be shared with other students in the class with a challenge to solve the problem. At the beginning of the school year, students can create Voki’s to introduce themselves to you (the teacher) and classmates. Are your students learning how to speak a second language? Voki’s are a fun way for your students to practice that second language. They can record by classroom phone or built-in microphone. Throughout the year students can add characters to their new language and hear the progress they have made. Voki’s make a great accompaniment for the beginning reader. Students can create a virtual character and record themselves reading. They can play back their Voki to listen to their fluency, pronunciation, and annunciation. Once again, these recordings can be collected throughout the year as a way for students to track and hear their progress. Students can use Voki characters to summarize any learning (how about a summary of the State of the Union Address?). Have a science fair coming up that needs a little tech infusion? Have students create a virtual scientist that describes their experiment or the science behind it.

In my last post, I talked about how I integrated technology in my 2 computer classroom with a tub system. Voki’s would be an outstanding way to record instructions for students that can be played back. Because they can be saved with a Voki Link, the speaking character can be open along side other activities. It will be like having a virtual teacher there next to them! Voki recordings are perfect for transitional instructions. These can be put up on a projector-connected computer or an interactive whiteboard to be played back for students.

Tips: When students publish a Voki they can choose to login or register to save it, or click “No Thanks” to go directly to the published Voki with embed codes and links.

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