Math Monday Blog Hop #46 (February 27, 2012)

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Exciting Freebie - Number Rack!

The Math Learning Center has an amazing new set of freebies. The Number Rack App can by downloaded from the iApp Store in iTunes -OR- used as a free Web application.

The moveable beads work with counting as well as addition and subtraction strategies. You can also download a free activity/lesson book to use along with it. I'm interested in trying it with subitizing.

This could be used at home or in the classroom with individual children or with a large group lesson. Read more about it here.

Math Monday Blog Hop #45 (February 20, 2012)

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Math Monday Blog Hop #44 (February 13, 2012)

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Little Numbers and Pictures That Show Just How Little They Are

I frequently facilitate grade 3-5 math workshops for teachers. Whenever we discuss decimals I always mention the book Little Numbers and Pictures That Show Just How Little They Are! I think it's a nice book to use with 3rd-5th grade students because:

1. The "unit" is a dinosaur. Specifically, a seismosaurus. Kids need to understand that a "unit" can be flexible. In this book, everything is measured in terms of a dinosaur unit.

2. The book depicts increasingly smaller measurements. If a dinosaur is worth 1, then a dinosaur shrunk to 1/10 will fit in the front yard. It talks about various other tenths, like a dime being a tenth of a dollar. It shows both decimals and the fraction equivalent.

3. The numbers creatively get smaller, each time decreasing by powers of ten. For example... 1/10,000 is an ant. 1/1,000,000 is an amoeba. Some kids will be very intrigued by the exponents, which are also included.

4. The book is big (13 x 8") and good with crowds.

If you teach decimals or fractions, I recommend it!

Math Monday Blog Hop #43 (February 6, 2012)

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Fun, FREE!, Hands-on Math Units

Two of my favorite units from The Math Learning Center are now FREE!! They include:

Hands-On Math: Measurement with Marbles (click to free pdf)

Hands-On Math: Geometry with Geoblocks (click to free pdf)



I've repeatedly used the lessons with math groups. You can find my reflections on the geometry lessons here. And the marble roll lessons here and here.

Greater Than/Less Than - DIY Whiteboard Tool

On Mrs. T's First Grade Class blog, I first saw some very cool greater than/less than/equal to tools for kids to use on desktops with manipulatives. LOVED THEM! And wanted something like it to use on my whiteboard.

I cut one square of black posterboard and two strips of white posterboard. You could use any brad, but I happened to have tiny ones for scrapbooking, so I used those to anchor the white strips to the black background. (I just poked a tiny hole all the way through the two layers of paper and then shoved the brad through.) I then put a piece of packing tape on the back of the brads so they wouldn't scratch my whiteboard. I grabbed an advertising magnet off my fridge (you know,...the kind you get in the mail), cut it in half, and glued one strip to each side of the back of the black posterboard. And voila...a greater than/less than/equal to tool to use on my whiteboard. 

You could use it with any magnet...including regular magnetic math manipulatives. The above photo shows a problem before it's solved, using base ten pieces. Then all the child needs to do is pivot the white strips to show greater than, less than, or equal to.