Mathematics Resources

I have been researching different Mathematics resources and found some great resources that I wanted to share. At Illustrative Mathematics you can find PDF illustrations, drop down/ color coded illustrations and also videos of standards K-12. I think that the best part is the example problems, especially as I am a non-math teacher, it is important for me to get a chance to see how the math standards are layered.

Khan Academy has changed and developed a lot over the past few years. So, instead of just thinking, "oh, yeah... I've heard of Khan Academy." I'd suggest giving it another try. You can now create your own learning account or coach students through a program and see how they are working through their problems and moving from level to level. The coaching aspect that Khan Academy has now is much more exciting than just the videos. So, you have to go back and revisit Khan Academy... you can teach yourself coding, all levels of mathematics, chemistry, biology, organic chemistry even world history and finance! It is definitely a way that you can personalize your teaching/ learning for students as you can see where the student is struggling or advancing.

Desmos is another web app that I think has developed a lot as well. Make your graphs dynamic with interactive sliders, data tables and even challenge your students to replicate or create their own student art! You can do a lot with graphing calculators, plat circles and quadratic formulas, but how do you have them explain what they just did? Here's how: 1) Have students install Chrome Extension "Awesome Screenshot" to take a screen shot of their graphing, 2) Students can save the screenshot on their Google Drive, 3) Import the image they took of their drawing on a Google Doc, and 4) Have students explain on the doc the steps that it took for each of them to work through their problem and solve it with the graph. Students can go back to their Desmos problems to change them if they are incorrect, but it is a good way to have them do the explanation of their work and also integrate writing into the classroom.

Geogebra and it's supplementary video site, Geogebratube, are both great resources. Geogrebra is a construction piece to create three-dimensional or plane shapes. Geogebratube has tutorial videos that could be used just to be a bell-ringer activity, flipped classroom activity or even more!

Socrative is something I have used before, but I recently read a new way to use it in your classroom. First off, create your Socrative account and start creating your quizzes. The quizzes are self-graded and you can use this with iPads or Chromebooks. I have read some teachers use Socrative and have students log in with their device, choose about 5 different problems and have students just answer the problems with their final answer. Socrative self-grades and then you have just a good "check" on how students are progressing. I could see this being used easily for vocab quizzes, quick "check" for reading quizzes or even surveys. It will work well for exit tickets or there is even a feature for "space rocket races" where you could project the results on the board as the students are randomly put in groups and race to the finish.

Here are just a few ideas... for the math classroom. Hope you get a chance to try them out!

"Into the Outdoors" Series for Science

A friend of mine forwarded me this site, and I thought that I'd share. Especially as a South Dakota country girl, I love it when we can integrate some "home grown" topics into our science curriculum. Into the Outdoors is a collection of videos and supplemental materials that teaches everything from Farm Science to Biology. Check out this video about Soybean Farming:




To me, seeing the the John Deeres out is common place in my morning drive, but to many non-farm kids, tractors are foreign machinery. I think it is incredibly important to learn about where our food comes from and how important agriculture is to our economy in America and this site seems to have a few good items to help that pursuit. There are also some great learning tools associated with the beef industry as well.

I hope you get a chance to check it out and use it in your classroom!

10 Apps for Tuesday

I found some great free apps that I had to share! 1) Click on the link below 2) Click on View in iTunes and iTunes will open for you 3) Click on Purchase and put in your password. If you have any questions about downloading, please let me know and I will stop down and help.

1) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/endless-alphabet/id591626572?mt=8 The Endless Alphabet App is an interactive 'monster app' that has almost like alphabet flashcards and upon selecting a flashcard a word starting with that letter comes up. Students have to plug in the letter and as they drag the letter it makes it's sound. So cute! It is updated on a regular basis with new words. 

2) https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/hudsonalpha-icell/id364882015?mt=8 HudsonAlpha iCell App is an interactive app to travel through plant, bacteria, and animal cells. It is color coded and I wish I would have had this when I was in science classes! 

3) https://itunes.apple.com/app/powers-of-minus-ten-bone/id591722396?mt=8 Power of Minus Ten- Bones is an app to show you the inside of bones, a broken hand bone and how it heals. You can zoom in both ways and has scientific names with explanations. 

4) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/disney-fish-hooks/id550005327?mt=8 Disney Fish Hooks App looks a lot like just a game, but it cleverly disguises critical thinking and process skills as learners have to get the fish out of the bubble at the top of the screen to the aquarium tube by carefully angling series after series of logs with the correct angle. I thought it looked easy until we got to the higher levels and then, it got really fun. It reminded me of a Rube Goldberg machine. 

5) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gesundheit!/id591696651?mt=8 Gesundheit! is the app of the week on iTunes and, again, at first looks like a game, but to get your "guy" from place to place, you have step on levers, get fruit, and... okay, fine. It's more of a game, but fun to learn how to use the multitasking gestures on the iPad with short tutorials coming up when needed. Not to mention, it has fun flute music. 

6) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wheels-on-bus-all-in-one-educational/id543545550?l=es&mt=8 The Wheels on the Bus Activity Center has counting, racing games with spelling, puzzles, and other fun activities centered around transportation. The full version has more, but this is free and has quite a lot. 

7) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toontastic-free/id404693282?mt=8 Toontastic was mentioned in a past email, but it keeps getting better with updates. You can have students create their own cartoon based on many fun characters, backgrounds, record their own narration, and it even coincides with the traditional plot diagram with a story arc. I can see a lot of possibilities for Elementary all the way up to Middle School. Even if you do not have an iPad right now, stop in and use one for a day or so to check it out and use them in class. The iPad checkout is located here: http://tinyurl.com/deuelipad

8) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/language-development-preschool/id554622105?mt=8 iLearn with Boing has multiple apps, but you can only do the "words" portion of each app for free. The words portion allows you to take the seals (in the ocean app) and move the letters in the order of the word. There are many other iLearn with Boing apps too.

9) https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/geodash-wild-animal-adventure/id573679651?mt=8 GeoDash combines a Mario World type game with learning animal characteristics and specific animals in different biomes. As it is a National Geographic sponsored app, it has a lot of great information read aloud to the students as they go through the game. 

10) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/where-do-i-go-group-match-words/id499190609?mt=8 The Where Do I Go? App is a fun way for students to learn how to group and classify animals, food, geography, climate, and home. It is fun to watch as they are given a theme and have to choose all of the applicable items in that category. 

I'll stop at 10 for today, but had to share some of the latest. Also, a new update is available for iPads as of yesterday. Go to your Systems App, General, Software update and tap install. You cannot install software using the school's wireless, but you can at home. I can also do this install when I hook iPads up to the MacBook Pro in my office that does not use the wireless. If you need help with this process, let me know. 

Have a great day! 

Crash Course YouTube Channel for Biology or World History

There are 73 videos on this channel that are quick-paced and have interesting graphics. They are between 12- 15 minutes long and may be interesting to show in class. There are topics in both World History and Biology. Take a peak and see if any may be relevant for your classroom. There are some that are better than others, but worth a look to help reinforce an idea learned in class. 

Crash Course YouTube Channel