Math – Page 16 – iLearn Technology

Arcademic Skill Builders

June 23, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3649 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 Comment2119 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.

3D Vinci

June 19, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment16160 views

What it is: 3-D Vinci is a math website that has a great free resources page for math teachers. The site has downloadable pdf lesson plans for using Google’s SketchUp to teach math concepts using designs such as tessilations. For students in grades k-12 3D Vinci has puzzles and mosaics that can be printed and solved. 3D Vinci has a YouTube channel where students can watch several ModelMetricks projects.

How to integrate 3D Vinci into the classroom: 3D concepts can be hard to grasp through 2D methods of instruction. Textbooks are especially difficult to learn 3D concepts in because there is no interaction. 3D Vinci is a great website for bringing 3D concepts to life for students. Not only can they print and interact with math in 3D, they can also learn how to create in 3D using Google’s Sketchup. This is a great way to grab students attention and excite them about math. Using Google Sketchup gives students a real-world connection to math concepts that you are teaching in class.

Tips: The site is set to add more resources sometime in June and will be co-managed with one of the leading online communities for math teachers.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using 3D Vinci in your classroom.

Collection of Math Flash Games

June 10, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2426 views

What it is: This collection of Math Flash Games is free to download or use the source code to embed the games on your website. The collection of Math Flash Games includes Maths Hangman where students guess the math words before kicking the bucket, Mathionaire where students play the popular TV game with math questions, Higher or Lower where students use knowledge of probability, Countdown-a popular number and letter game, Numbers and Letters- another version of countdown with extra classroom controls, Maths Word Search where students hunt for hidden math words, Decanting puzzle -the classic jugs problem, Broken Calculator which challenges students to solve a problem with a broken calculator, Matching Game- memory matching up geometric shape and their names, and Hexagons where students put seven hexagons together like dominoes.

How to integrate Collection of Math Flash Games into the classroom: This collection of Math Flash Games is perfect for use with an interactive whiteboard, set up as a classroom math center, or played individually by students in a computer lab setting. The games will emphasize math vocabulary, problem solving skills, and several math concepts. Split students into teams and play games as a whole class using the interactive whiteboard. Embed games in your classroom website for students to play at school and at home. Hold a math challenge once a week where students can compete and play these Math Flash Games.

Tips: All of the games in the Math Flash Games collection are free to download and play. Every game requires a flash player.

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

Illuminations Resources for Teaching Math

May 19, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment4155 views

What it is: Illuminations Resources for Teaching Math is a gold mine of interactive activities for the math classroom. The site has over 100 interactive math activities for teaching and practicing math in kindergarten through twelfth grades. These are high quality games, interactives, and simulations for the math classroom. You are sure to find something to use in your math class that will increase understanding!

How to integrate Illuminations Resources for Teaching Math into the classroom: This site is ideal for use with an interactive whiteboard in the math classroom. The activities help students understand concepts that can be difficult by inviting them to interact with the concept. If you don’t have access to an interactive whiteboard, you can demonstrate math concepts from a teacher computer connected to a projector. Students can practice and interact with concepts on classroom computers set up as a math center or individually in the computer lab setting.

Tips: To narrow the list of activities, choose a grade level to narrow activity results.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Illuminations Resources for Teaching Math in your classroom.

Teacher Led Interactive Whiteboard

April 15, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2734 views

What it is: Teacher Led IWB is a collection of resources for use with an interactive whiteboard. This is an outstanding collection of 46 math tools and games, 3 geography maps and map makers, 6 English tools and games, and two multipurpose games. The collection is visually appealing and helps teach key concepts visually in each content area. There are too many great resources to go in depth here, I recommend heading over to Teacher Led IWB and taking a look right now!

How to integrate Teacher Led IWB into the classroom: This collection is VERY impressive. The tools and games are perfect for whole class instruction and practice in math, geography, language arts, and creating custom activities for other subjects. Most of the tools are designed for the elementary classroom but there are some that can be used in middle school as well.

Tips: If you have an interactive whiteboard, go to Teacher Led now and check out these awesome resources!

Leave a comment and tell us which of the Teacher Led resources you have used in your classroom.

Learning Clip

April 7, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2663 views

What it is: Learning Clip is a site that I reviewed in Nov. 2008 that I took another look at today and was even MORE impressed than I remembered being the first time I saw it. Learning Clip is a collection of interactive whiteboard resources 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 is interactive and encourages students involvement and discovery in math. Each activity comes with a brief description of the activity, a pdf of notes that accompany the activity, the age appropriateness, and a corresponding worksheet that can be printed out. Each topic has several sub-topics and each sub-topic has several interactive activities. When an activity is loaded, a video clip explaining the math concept will play. Each activity includes a game or interactive activity space for students to practice what they are learning.

How to integrate Learning Clip into the classroom: Learning Clip is an outstanding resource for interactive math activities! The video clips help students understand the math concept that can be practiced in an interactive environment. This site is perfect for use with an interactive whiteboard and whole class or small group instruction. Students can take turns interacting with the content to strengthen understanding of math concepts. Learning clip could also be successfully used in a computer lab or on classroom computers for individual student learning and practice. One thing that Learning Clip has added since I visited last is the ability to choose what currency you would like students to practice with in the Money activities. This site was created in the UK so this feature makes it very user friendly for us Yanks. 🙂 The activities are all wonderful!

Tips: Registration is required but it is free. If you create a username and password, consider creating one that is class friendly. This way if you do decide to use the activities in the lab setting, students will be able to logon and access activities easily.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Learning Clip in your classroom.

TutPup

April 2, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2213 views

What it is: TutPup is an outstanding, free math and spelling practice website. At TutPup students can compete in fun, educational games against kids from all over the world live. The site reminds me a lot of the World Math Day competition. Students are matched up with other students from around the world where they play fact games and compete in real time to see who best knows their stuff. I love that TutPup is available to students all year long (unlike the World Math Day site), it doesn’t collect personal information about students, and there are several games to choose from each with multiple levels. TutPup helps students build math skills in the areas of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, algebra, and a mixture of those skills. TutPup also helps students build spelling skills with a spelling game, students listen to a word and have to spell it before their opponent. The site is highly motivating, takes into account different learning levels, and builds a variety of skills.

How to integrate TutPup into the classroom: My students absolutely love this website. Any time they can take part in a little friendly competition they are ready to compete. The great thing about TutPup is that it can be differentiated for your different levels of learners. Each student can play games at their own ability level. This keeps the lower math students engaged and feeling successful and the higher level students challenged enough to hold their interest. These types of sites have my students asking, “can I play this game at home too?” When have you ever had a student ask if they could practice math or spelling facts at home?! They truly love the competition of this site and get the added benefit of increasing their math fact recall skills. Use TutPup as a math center in the classroom where students can practice math facts, or a practice center in the literacy block for additional spelling practice. This is also a fun whole class activity with an interactive whiteboard or projector, students can call out the answers to the questions as a class for the teacher to enter. You won’t have to assign this site for homework, students will ask to play from home. Tell parents about this site as an alternative to flash card math fact practice.

Tips: TutPup offers teacher accounts and student accounts for free. However, right now their are no available login ID’s. I contacted TutPup about this dilemma and they are working on a solution. In the mean time, students can access all the games as a guest player. I’ll update this post when TutPup has solved the registration issues.

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

Ideas to Inspire

March 30, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2651 views

What it is: Ideas to Inspire is a truly wonderful site and wealth of resources for teachers. On this site you will find a collection of Google Doc presentations that include a number of ideas for engaging lesson activities in a variety of curriculum areas. The collection comes from inspiring teachers from around the world. You can find Ideas to Inspire on Writing, Interactive Math, Incredible Science, Amazing Art, Marvelous Music, and learn interesting ways to use Google Docs, Pocket Video Cameras, Interactive Whiteboards, Google Earth, Twitter, Netbooks, Webcams, and Visualizers. Ideas to Inspire also has great tips for non-techy teachers (I remember being one of those once-upon-a-time). Ideas to Inspire is very easy to navigate and each presentation is jam packed with truly inspiring ideas.

How to integrate Ideas to Inspire into the classroom: It happens to the best of us, we get settled in our ways and fall into a teaching slump where we can’t come up with a creative lesson idea to save our lives. Sound familiar? Ideas to Inspire is the place to go, here you will find inspiration, helpful tips, and get those creative juices flowing again! Take a few minutes and look through some of the presentations, you will be happy you did. 🙂

Tips: This is my last post for the day, head over to Ideas to Inspire and be inspired today!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Ideas to Inspire in your classroom.

Toy Theater

March 19, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3395 views

What it is: Toy Theater is a fun place for students to practice math, reading, art, and music through puzzle type games. Toy Theater encourages students in k-4 to get their problem solving brain cells working as they explore and discover the games in Toy Theater. In the art section, students can animate their own cartoon character, put on a puppet show, or make a Matisse. In the music section, students can make music with the Composer, interact with notes with The Music Maker, or go on a pounding mission with the Drum Beats, you will have miniature maestros in no time. In Math students can practice math facts with flippy flashcards, or feeding Freddy, and take a math practice test to put those math skills to the test. In the reading section students can enjoy a good joke, play with words with a sliding crossword puzzle (highly entertaining for teachers too), write their own road sign, or practice their typing skills. In the puzzle section students brains gt put to the limit with tic tac toe and memory games. In the playset section, students can create their very own virtual diorama about cars, sea creatures, plant, insects, ships, characters, aircraft, blocks, dinosaurs, and buildings.

How to integrate Toy Theater into the classroom: Toy Theater is a great website to use as a learning center in your classroom. The short, easy to play games are perfect for short center activities. I love the puzzle type environment that encourages problem solving and bends the brain a little. The playset universe would be a great section to use with an interactive whiteboard, students could take turns creating a ‘universe’ to showcase learning on a topic such as ocean, plants, insects, dinosaurs, geometry, etc. Students can work together to show what they know together. After students create a playset, have them pull out a writing journal and journal about the playset the class created. Being a computer teacher I am constantly looking for fun ways to let students practice typing skills. In the read section you will find a game called letter fall, letter blocks fall from the sky, students have to type the letter before 5 blocks can stack up. There are multiple speeds to make the game a challenge for your different typing levels. In the computer lab setting, see who can last the longest before 5 letter blocks stack up (there is a timer at the bottom of the screen).

Tips: This is a great site to send your students to when they finish work early and are asking “what can I do now?”

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Toy Theater in your classroom.