Fabulous App Find!!
I just discovered a new app called Show Me similar to an interactive white board on the ipad. A kindergarten teacher shared with me today how she uses this app in her classroom. She uses a class set of ipads and has the students record themselves talking as they are solving math problems. The app has the ability to record the students’ voices and actions on the screen as they are thinking through their problem. Students can write on the screen with their finger or a stylus in several different colors while they are solving their problem. Pictures can be imported from the ipad files or you could email yourself a picture from another file to have it on your ipad. For example, if you wanted to solve problems with color tiles, then you could build some colored squares in another program and email them to yourself. This particular kindergarten teacher, however, explained how she had students solve CGI problem types on the ipad while they recorded their voice and writing on the screen. She did this in order that she could hear their thinking because she wasn’t always able to make it to every student to hear their thinking. Later she would take the ipad home so she could hear the students solving their problems.
You Will Want to Bookmark This Freebie!
The librarian at school forwarded me this fabulous site with ready made smart board lessons! Great for K-5 students. There are many fun and interactive lessons for math, geography, history, science, phonics, literacy. Take the time to browse.
Need an Engaging Way to Introduce Equations?
The first grade teachers at school absolutely love introducing subtraction and addition number sentences to their kids using the book Ten Flashing Fireflies by Philemon Sturges. I discovered this book in a lesson recorded in a Math Solutions book entitled Minilessons for Math Practice K-2. There is also a similar lesson (I think…not positive) in another Math Solutions book entitled Teaching Arithmetic. In the lesson students model the action of gathering fireflies into a jar using snap cubes. In the book there is a jar printable to use or the lesson suggests using a sheet of blue construction paper to represent the night sky. Not only is this lesson good for introducing the action of subtraction and addition, but it is also good for discussing one more and one less. Because this is such a beloved book that builds a great foundation for addition and subtraction, I worked on building this free SMART Board lesson to accompany the book this weekend, and so here is an example of this lesson. Just click to download the SMART Board lesson for free.
8 Free Math Websites for Your Classroom
1. www.math playground.com –free worksheets, math games, and interactive manipulatives
2. www.classzone.com–math games, interactive lessons, games, and math vocabulary cards
3. www.mathtv.org–interactive problem solving videos
4. www.hotmath.com–math games and learning activities
5. www.softschools.com–free worksheets and interactive games
6. www.coolmath.com–math lessons, interactive games, interactive math and art
7. www.math-play.com–free interactive games
8. www.nlvm.usu.edu–national library of virtual manipulatives


















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