Technology made simple!

Last year we explored the activies at Math Wire and I have forgotten how much they have available. I guess this is an issue for experienced teachers, and I have to find a way to get my technology to keep my ideas organized. Next year, perhaps like other teacher websites, I just need one long link page with short summaries.

One of my fifth grade classes is having problems understanding that a variable stands for an unknown number. At Math Wire, one book suggestion is “Two of Everything” by Lily Toy Hong to help them get established with patterns. From there the site offers many good ideas on algebraic expressions http://mathwire.com/standards/alg.html There are a lot of intereactive sites included.

Really, I can’t keep up with Free 4 Teachers this week. I just watched a video with rappers recording in a studio and explaining the importance of math. An algebraic math challenge follows the video. There are two other videos and challenges on this site. We will use the videos, but we will have to use the challenges for the higher grades.

http://www.thirteen.org/get-the-math/the-challenges/math-in-music/introduction/20/

If you are visiting college campuses this spring with your students, I can’t think of a better lesson to teach students the value of a college education. Teacher Richard Byrne developed this lesson to show students the constraints of earning minimum wage. I think that this would make a great center while they research future professions at favorite universities.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/11/life-on-minimum-wage-lesson-in-personal.html#.TxMIpLsHrks.facebook

Just found this fascinating site at http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ and fell in love with it. It is for middle school students, but I suspect some of my students might enjoy it. I will check it out during the next break. My favorite way to teach is through long term projects.
http://architectstudio3d.org/AS3d/design_studio.html

Sometimes I think that we don’t challenge our students with interesting and difficult problems and projects. I also think we need to be careful on wrapping up projects in one class lesson. Giving additional days, allows students to think further about class activities, and allows them to approach each endeavor in fresh ways if they have become frustrated. Additional time also allows teacher to look over student work and make appropriate suggestions.

I have heard about “Locker Problems” but have never seen them on the internet. Perhaps because they are geared towards an older student, teachers think it will be too hard. I think that this project will be an excellent opportunity to challenge my students later in the year.

This project was developed by:
*NOTE: This lesson was developed by Suzanne Alejandre. At the time she was a middle school mathematics and computer teacher at Frisbie Middle School in Rialto, CA. She left the classroom in 2000 to join the Math Forum staff full time. A collection of her lessons/activities can be found on the Math Forum @ Drexel site.
Credit given to the Math Forum at Drexel University for making it available on their site: http://mathforum.org.

http://mathforum.org/alejandre/frisbie/student.locker.html

Seriously? Did I really have to find such a great website at 11:00 PM on a school night? If you recall the quality of the “How Things Work” movies, you know that you will be excited. I just finished viewing movies on geometry in structional designs featuring the inside of the Trump Towers, math used in building the Rose Parade floats, and the algebra used in organic rice farming. All of the movies come with activities that some fifth grade students could handle.

http://www.thefutureschannel.com/index.php

I tend to be a bit lazy. If I can’t figure out a fast way to do something, I go for the longer but sure way to get the job done. If you have noticed lately, I have a lot of screen shots on my websites. I use my ActiveExpression software to take pictures and record videos. Embedit.in is a great way to easily share files or website shots on your site.

http://embedit.in/

I think that the art of letter writing can be improved with this interactive tool at http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/letter_generator/. I would use it freely with young children – it even prints out borders. With older children, I would have them write their own letters and then use the letter generator to check the format on their letters. For the paperless classroom, you could save the letter and then send it to its destination. I found a better way to make brochures. I used to use Microsoft Publisher, but younger students sometimes have problems with the boxes. An on-line activity to make a brochure is My Brochure Maker at http://www.mybrochuremaker.com/.

We love this picture and we feel like we know all of you know. What a great idea to take a fun classroom picture. We will be sure to take one for you when we return from our break. Maybe we will be lucky and we will have some snow!

Here is the description of our Geobug that we released today. Here is a link if you want to learn more – http://www.geocaching.com/

Please send me to river regions around the United States and try to return me to my home by our school Multi-cultural Day in May. We are two schools (Rustavi School Number 20 in the COUNTRY of Georgia and Smith Elementary in Richmond, Texas).
Our lure named Georgia (named in honor of our friends) is attached to our bobbin. We hope not to catch a fish, but that it will pop up in cities near rivers along the way.

Georgia the River Explorer orginates from the home of the Brazos River in Fort Bend County. Both schools would love to hear about the history of your area. We will patiently wait for your exciting stories!