Media 4 Math: Math in the News

What it is: Media 4 Math: Math in the News helps students view current events through the “prism of mathematics.”  Every week features a new story that makes headlines and the underlying mathematical story gets extracted.  The Math in the News site is a little bit confusing to navigate at first (it isn’t really clear where to find each issue of Math in the News).  Scroll down to see an archive of stories.  Each entry has a Slideshare version of the presentation, a YouTube version or the Math in the News app version.  These presentations are full lessons with embedded background knowledge articles and videos, data  sets, current event explanations and a walk through of how to solve.

In addition to Math in the News, Media 4 Math also has Math Tutorials, Promethean Flipcharts, Powerpoint slideshows, Math Labs, Print Resources, a Video Gallery, Math Solvers and more.  I really like the Math Solvers, students can choose a problem type, input their own data and see a breakdown of how to solve the problem.  The Math Labs include PDF worksheets and YouTube Videos that lead them through real-math problem sets.

How to integrate Media 4 Math: Math in the News into the classroom: Media 4 Math: Math in the News is a fantastic way to help your students make the connection between the upper-level math they are learning and life. I’m fairly certain that every math teacher in history has heard “what are we ever going to use this for?”  This site helps students not only see that math is everywhere, but also walks them through how to think mathematically.  There are plenty of resources that walk students through common mathematical functions.  This site is a great supplement to any math curriculum!

With new content weekly, your curriculum will be fresh and relevant!  Share Math in the News using an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer, as a math center on classroom computers, individually with laptops or iPads, etc.   Flip your math class and have students explore a Math Tutorial to prepare them for the next day of learning.  Then they can test a few scenarios in Math Solvers and come up with their own explanation of the concept.  In class, students can work with you to solidify and practice the learning.

Tips: Sign up for the free weekly newsletter to have Math in the News delivered right to your inbox.  Do you have a classroom iPad?  Math in the News now has an app!

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

Illuminations Resources for Teaching Math

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

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.

ActivInspire

 

What it is:  ActivInspire is a new software from Promethean that is free!  The free edition is a ‘personal’ license that can be used by anyone.  The ActivInspire software works with ANY interactive whiteboard (SMART, Mimio, Wiimote Whiteboard, eBeam, etc.)  and even for those of you who do not have an interactive whiteboard, use the software with just a computer and projector!  The Promethean Planet website has thousands of lessons and resources that are free to access and can be used with ActivInspire to engage your students.  ActivInspire has two launch options, the first is to launch in Primary function.  In Primary, ActivInspire is very user friendly for primary elementary students.  The second option is to launch in Studio with tools that are perfect for older students.  ActivInspire works on Windows, Mac, and Linux based machines.  Some of the goodies in ActivInspire include interactive protractors, rulers, clocks, grids, and more.  New power tools include intelligent shapes and handwriting recognition.  There are themed templates for fast and easy lesson building.  ActivInspire supports flash files that can be embeded in Flipchart lessons.  ActivInspire can open SMART and PowerPoint files, making it quick and easy to pick up any lesson and improve it.

How to integrate ActivInspire into the classroom:  ActivInspire is software that can keep students engaged in any lesson in your curriculum.  The software is incredibly intuitive and makes it easy to create amazing interactive lessons.  The lessons (flipcharts) can be saved and shared among colleagues.  Begin building a library of interactive lessons for your students.  Be sure to visit Promethean Planet for thousands of ready made (FREE) flipcharts and activities to use with the ActivInspire software.  

 

Tips:  To see the possiblities of the ActivInspire software, take a look at Flipcharts created by the developers of ActivInspire.  Promethean also has a great set of support tutorials that will have you up and running in no time! 

 

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