Math Teacher or Pirate?

I couldn't resist... :)

2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi

The Winter Olympics begin soon so these are some links we'll use in the classroom to 

help us learn more about the games, the history behind them, the Olympians, the countries they represent and the location of the games this month. Go USA!

Here's the main website for the Olympics... olympic.org
There you can find schedules, information about athletes, countries that participate and more!



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"The 2014 Winter Olympics will take place in Sochi, Russia, from February 7 through February 23. Events are divided into 14 sports—15 if skeleton is counted as a separate sport from bobsleigh. (Here, we’re counting them as a single sport.) Some sports have multiple disciplines—men’s and women’s competitions, relay competitions, and races of different distances. Each discipline will have three medalists—gold, silver, and bronze." ~ from National Geographic Education

For information about the sports played in the winter games, check out Sports of the 2014 Winter Olympics on National Geographic Education.

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From NBCLearn:

Science and Engineering of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games
This 10-part video series, produced by NBC Learn and NBC Sports, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, explores the science, technology, engineering and math of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Science of the Olympic Winter Games
This original video collection explores the physics, biology, chemistry, and math behind the Olympic Winter Games.

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http://cybraryman.com/olympics.html

This is a great collection of things you might want to know about the Game as well as teaching materials from Cybraryman, former teacher Jerry Blumengarten.

Tangrams = Fun with Geometry

We did some work last week with tangrams, as a part of our study of geometry. Tangrams are often used to tell stories so after much discussion about the math behind the polygons, we created some characters and things from the tangrams to be used as a part of some writing this week. We posted some videos on our Twitter page but I wanted to share them here as well for easy access...

Frequently Used Websites

In the classroom, there are some websites we use a lot. These sites are available to students for quick access from our school computers, but they may want to visit them at home as well.

http://everydaymathonline.com
This is the online component of our math program. Your child will have login and password information in his/her binder, attached to the Math Letters sleeve.

http://www.worldbookonline.com/kids/home
LdVCS students have access to World Book Online. There are five different options to allow access by all levels of learners. We primarily use World Book Kids but World Book Student is another great option for more advanced readers.
Login: sdcoeldv
Password: library

http://wonderopolis.org/
Learning is happening everywhere, all the time! We have bottled a little bit of that learning in each Wonder of the Day®. Experience a daily dose of time with your child to make the most of each and every moment together — learn something new, try out an idea, create a masterpiece, imagine possibilities. It’s easy. It’s fun. But the learning is big!

 http://www.starfall.com/
Starfall.com opened in September of 2002 as a free public service to teach children to read with phonics. Our systematic phonics approach, in conjunction with phonemic awareness practice, is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education, homeschool, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL). Starfall is an educational alternative to other entertainment choices for children.

http://www.abcya.com/
ABCya.com is the leader in free educational kids computer games and activities for elementary students to learn on the web. All children's educational computer activities were created or approved by certified school teachers. All educational games are free and are modeled from primary grade lessons and enhanced to provide an interactive way for children to learn.

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/
The kids version of the amazing National Geographic website.

http://www.funbrain.com/
Since 1997, kids, teachers, librarians, and parents have enthusiastically turned to Funbrain for its free educational games, online books, and comics. Funbrain, created for kids ages preschool through grade 8, offers more than 100 fun, interactive games that develop skills in math, reading, and literacy. Plus, kids can read a variety of popular books and comics on the site, including Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amelia Writes Again, and Brewster Rocket.

Teachers and librarians can confidently encourage students to use Funbrain during their free time in class, assured that kids will enjoy an educational, safe online learning experience. Funbrain's games help students build on what they have learned in class and acquire new skills in reading, math, and problem solving.

Toys From Everyday Objects

I just watched this fascinating video of Arvind Gupta and his ideas for making play things out of ordinary items. It got me thinking about all of you creative kids who are always using the tools I give you in new ways... :) As a teacher, that has sometimes frustrated me but this video made me think about it differently! Time to explore and create new things is so important. Check out this video and see what it inspires you to create...




Please email me or comment below if you come up with something you'd like to share. Hope you're staying cool and enjoying vacation! :)Ms. G

Everyday Mathematics

On Monday, I will be giving the kids their login and password information for the online content that goes along with our Everyday Mathematics program. I will show them how to access the site and what is available to them on it so that they will know what to do when they want to use the site at home. The site offers educational, fun math games as well as an online version of the Student Reference Book that we use in class.

The site offers a wealth of resources for parents as well. Some highlights are:

 

These are the same letters we put in the kids' homework binders at the start of each new chapter. Here, you can find them in other languages.

Many of you have asked for help with the methods EM uses to teach different math algorithms. I'm excited to tell you that the website offers animated, step-by-step instructions for all of the algorithms we use! Once you LAUNCH the Free Family Resources, click on Algorithms in Everyday Mathematics and you can select your child's grade for easy access to the algorithm you need.

https://www.everydaymathonline.com/

Everyday Mathematics Online at Home

As you are aware, we have adopted Everyday Mathematics as the core mathematics’ curriculum for our school. A website with online programs to assist your child accompanies this curriculum. These programs can be utilized on any computer that has internet access. The site allows access to a number of math games as well as the Reference Book we use in class. (Your child brought this home at one point to share with you. It's the hardcover book.)

Tomorrow in class, I will be reviewing the site with the children and giving them an opportunity to try it out. I will also be sending a letter home with your child that explains the process of logging on so that you can try it out together. Each child will have their own unique login and password to personalize their experience.

If you have any trouble getting set up or accessing the site, please feel free to contact me and I will do what I can to help out. You can also stop in after school on Tuesday or Thursday and we can go through the steps together on one of our classroom computers.

https://www.everydaymathonline.com/