mathematics – Page 8 – iLearn Technology

Math Two

January 7, 2010January 7, 2010Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3914 views

What it is: Math Two is a great alternative to flash cards for students who are practicing math facts. Games are leveled by difficulty and include addition and multiplication facts. Students are given a problem and must type the answer. Students receive immediate feedback about their answer (correct or incorrect).

How to integrate Math Two into the classroom: Sometimes you just have to mix up the flashcards a little bit when practicing math facts. Math Two isn’t overly interactive or “gamey” but it will give your students another opportunity to be drilled on and practice math facts. My students actually love practicing math facts this way, I tell them it is good practice for World Math Day where they compete against other students from around the world. When they think of it as training in preparation for upcoming competition, they are excited to practice. Math Two is best for individual computers or as a math fact center on classroom computers.

Tips: Send this link home to parents, they are often looking for new ways to practice math facts at home. Thank you @2sparkley for introducing me to Math Two!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Math Two in your classroom.

Math Snacks

January 5, 2010Kelly Tenkely3 Comments3260 views

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What it is: Math Snacks is my new favorite teaching resource for math! Math Snacks are animated videos and games that help students understand math concepts. Each “snack” offers a math concept that students can learn, review, and practice. The snacks are available online or can be accessed for free on a mobile device like the iPhone or iPod. The snacks focus on math concepts that are appropriate for 5th-8th grade. Print materials are available that can be used to help students in applying their conceptual understanding to math problems. Concepts on Math Snacks include ratios, proportions, scale, number line properties, equality and order on the number line, tables, graphs, measurement, and equations.

How to integrate Math Snacks into the classroom: Math Snacks is a fun way for students to visualize difficult to understand math concepts. There are short humorous videos that demonstrate the math concept in action. These videos can be viewed as an introduction to a new concept or as practice and review of learning. The videos can be paused for class discussion about the concept and for solving of problems. All videos are available for viewing online and can be downloaded to an iPod. Some of the iPod downloads also include subtitles. Each video also comes with a learner and teacher guide. Print these guides to direct you in discussion throughout the video and activities.

Tips: A huge THANK YOU to @summersj who introduced me to Math Snacks via Twitter!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Math Snacks in your classroom.

iboard: How Far Away do You Live?

December 27, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1491 views

What it is: iboard’s How Far Away Do You Live? is an excellent interactive activity for the interactive whiteboard or for use with a projector. Students create labels with their names and pin them on a graphic chart to depict how close they live to the school. Students can also add places to the graphic such as restaurants and stores. This is a great way to begin discussions about distance and introduce some new math language. When students have finished placing themselves on the graphic, they can compare the results on a block graph.

How to integrate iboard: How Far Away Do You Live? into the classroom: How Far Away Do You Live? is a neat interactive to teach students math language about distance, how to read a graph, and how to describe objects in relation to each other. Begin by defining what it means to live close to the school. What does it mean to be “very close” is that one block away, around the corner, less than a mile, a 5 minute walk, closer than the shop on the corner? Define what each distance will mean on your chart. Then, invite students to the board to add a sticky note where they think their house falls on the chart. After everyone has been added to the chart ask questions such as: “Who lives closest to the school?” and “Who is the furthest away?” Finish by looking at the block graph and discussing how many students fall into each category. This is a great way to teach your students to create and read informational charts and graphs.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. How Far Away Do You Live? is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: How Far Away Do You Live? in your classroom.

iboard: Deck Chairs

December 27, 2009Kelly Tenkely3 Comments2034 views

What it is: Deck Chairs is an interactive activity from iboard that allows students to explore pattern and symmetry. Students can create patterns with three different colors. Then, they can test out their pattern to find out if it is symmetrical.

How to integrate iboard: Deck Chairs into the classroom: Deck Chairs is a simple interactive activity that lets students explore pattern and symmetry. Deck Chairs was created for use with an interactive whiteboard but would be just as effective as a math center on classroom computers. For use with an interactive whiteboard, create a pattern on half of the deck chair. Invite students to the board to finish the pattern to make it symmetrical. Test out the pattern to find out if it is symmetrical. As a math center, send pairs of students to the classroom computers. One student will create the initial pattern. The second student will try to mirror the pattern to create a symmetrical design. I like the way that this activity checks students progress and gives immediate feedback. If the design is not symmetrical, the pair should try to solve the problem together.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Deck Chairs is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Deck Chairs in your classroom.

iboard: Alien Pairs to 10

December 27, 2009December 27, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3444 views

What it is: Alien Pairs to 10 is a fun warm up game for the primary math classroom. Students are given 60 seconds to find as many pairs of 10 as they can. The numbers students have to choose from are written on Aliens, with the target number (always 10) on the spaceship. Students drag pairs of aliens into the spaceship and check the answer to find out how many pairs that equal 10 they can find.

How to integrate iboard: Alien Pairs to 10 into the classroom: Alien Pairs to 10 will bring out the inner competition in any student. To use this site with an interactive whiteboard, split your students into teams. Have students face off to find out who can find the most pairs of 10 before their 60 seconds are up. This site was created with interactive whiteboards in mind but, to be honest, I think this site is best suited for classroom computers as a math center activity. Keep a running scoreboard next to your classroom computers where you post the high scores of the week.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Alien Pairs to 10 is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Alien Pairs to 10 in your classroom.

iboard: Treasure Hunt

December 22, 2009December 22, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1660 views

What it is: Treasure Hunt is an interactive game where students practice following directions to coordinates on a grid. Students are given a set of directions that they must follow to find a hidden treasure. Directions are in the format of left, right, up, and down.

How to integrate Treasure Hunt into the classroom: Treasure Hunt gives students a platform to practice direction. Students are given directions such as take 3 steps right, take 1 step down, take 4 steps left, dig. If students have followed the directions correctly, they will reveal a hidden treasure. Use Treasure Hunt for a whole class game. Split students into two teams. Have each team form a line at the interactive whiteboard. Team one sends up their first player to follow the first direction, then the next player on team one takes a turn, etc. If they correctly follow directions and dig up a treasure their team receives a point. Repeat with team two. Students could also practice coordinates at a math center on the classroom computers.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Treasure Hunt is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Treasure Hunt in your classroom.

iboard: Shopping to a Budget

December 22, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2919 views

What it is: Shopping to a Budget is another of iboard’s offering. Students are given a set amount of money to spend. They can choose to “purchase” a variety of candies to spend all of their money. This is a UK site so all of the coins are British (not US dollar). There are 3 levels of difficulty to choose from. With each level of difficulty, the amount to spend increases.

How to integrate Shopping to a Budget into the classroom: Shopping to a Budget helps students practice budgeting and counting coins. Shopping to a Budget gives students the opportunity to use and practice addition and subtraction. Students also practice using math language (“you’ve spent 10p, how much more to 27p? What is the difference?”) This is a fun little activity for practicing counting money, addition, and subtraction on the interactive whiteboard. Split students into teams and reveal the target numbers. Students can work within their teams to decide what their team would buy. Invite one team up to the board to demonstrate how they solved the problem. Other teams can offer ideas about how they solved the problem differently. Shopping to a Budget would also make a great practice center on classroom computers or in a computer lab setting.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Shopping to a Budget is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Shopping to a Budget in your classroom.

iboard: Crossing the Water

December 22, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments1979 views

What it is: Crossing the Water is a great logic game for the interactive whiteboard that encourages problem solving as students try to get a family across the water safely. Teachers can set up the activity with a set number of adults and children, students guess how many trips will have to be made to get the whole family across the water. If there is too much weight in the boat, it will sink.

How to integrate Crossing the Water into the classroom: Crossing the Water is a fun logic and problem solving activity for students to work out. Use Crossing the Water as an introduction mind bending activity to begin math class. Students can work individually or in small groups to work out their strategy. Call groups up to the whiteboard to demonstrate their solution. Compare the solution with the way that other groups solved the problem. Because you can change the number of adults and children in the problem, each day can present a new challenge. Crossing the Water could also be used as a math center activity on classroom computers.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Crossing the Water is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Crossing the Water in your classroom.

iboard: Balancing Animals

December 16, 2009Kelly Tenkely3 Comments2885 views

What it is: Balancing Animals is another fun activity for your interactive whiteboard that lets students use animals as ‘non-standard’ units to weigh others. Students can drag an animal (or animals) up to the scale, other students try to balance the scale by choosing animals that would cause the scale to be balanced.

How to integrate Balancing Animals into the classroom: Balancing Animals is a nice visual for students to use to learn about weight. Choose an animal to weigh and drag it to the scale. Encourage students to whisper a guess of how many animals it would take to balance the scale to their elbow buddy (the student next to them). Groups of students can come to the board and test out their guesses. This game could be completed on an interactive whiteboard or on classroom computers as a math center.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Balancing Animals is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Balancing Animals in your classroom.

iboard: Visual Numbers

December 14, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1359 views

What it is: Visual Numbers is another great sample application from iboard for interactive whiteboards. Visual Numbers lets students add numbers (1-20) to the workspace above. You can show or hide counters to represent each number. This is a fantastic visual for students learning how to count, add, subtract, or multiply.

How to integrate iboard: Visual Numbers into the classroom: Visual Numbers will help your students to visualize number concepts. Ask students to add all the numbers on the workspace without the spots, then reveal the spots for students to check their answers. Put several numbers in the workspace and ask students to order numbers from smallest to largest. Reveal the spots so that students can check their answers and visualize which numbers are smallest and which are largest. Teach beginning multiplication skills by putting groups of numbers on the board (for example three groups of eight). Students can visualize what 3 groups of 8 looks like by revealing the spots. Visual Numbers is wonderful for the interactive whiteboard or as a math center on classroom computers.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Visual Numbers is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Visual Numbers in your classroom.