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Lincoln Unified School District - Lodi Unified School District - Stockton Unified School District |
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Navigating the Web can be overwhelming if you are new to it. It can be frustrating for veterans as well when they are hoping to find a particular kind of site. Sometimes searches take you just where you want to go, the first time. Other times you go so many places you get lost.
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Where to start:Click on "Virtual Library" to explore a large number of very well done interactive visual representations. A nice place to start is with any of the base blocks activities. There are several different levels of base blocks focusing on different operations.Be sure to try, under Geometry, Platonic Solids. There you can see solid shapes, change the size, rotate them, change colors of faces (helps keep track if you're counting!).
As you explore, be sure to check higher grade levels than your own. This is from Utah. You will find some activities in 9-12 that are in our California standards in elementary grades.
Issues:
I had trouble loading the activities in two versions of Netscape on my iBook. In Internet Explorer they sometimes required two attempts before they would load. I tried closing the activity window and clicking the button for the same activity. It worked. The activities are worth the effort.
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Where to start:From the home page, Click "Principles and Standards Resources" on the left of the screen. This will take you to a page where you have two choices: "Principles and Standards" and "Illuminations."
"Principles and Standards" These standards make great professional reading. If you are looking for the Big Ideas, this might be a good place to start.You might choose one strand for your grade in the Principles and Standards to read carefully. How is it different from other standards you are required to work with? How might it help clarify and support your implementation of those standards?
"Illuminations" There is a real wealth of resources to support great mathematics teaching here.I-Math Investigations and Interactive Math•lets are interactive activities for your students that support conceptual understanding.
Inquiry on Practice offers video vignettes, research reports and articles for teachers.
Links to lesson plans and web resources are also available here.
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Where to start:Anywhere, depending on what you are looking for. Here are some of the kinds of things you can find here.You can find answers to your own math questions. Dr. Math has a library of questions and answers. And if you don't find your answer there, you can submit your question.
You can find lots of grade- and strand-specific links to many kinds of resources as well as access to lots of teacher created lesson plans.
You can find interesting and challenging Problems of the Week from different strands, and with different levels of difficulty.Try some yourself!
There are lesson plans and information about any area of mathematics you can think of. Want to know what an eleven-sided figure is called? You can find it here. Want to know why a negative times a negative equals a positive? You can find it here.
One of the most powerful aspects of this site is that you can search it for specific areas of math. You will get all kinds of possibilities to explore.
Where to start:This site offers a number of ways to do facts practice, including printable worksheets, at different grade levels.Issues:
Try the interactive areas before letting kids do them. I found the java flashcards didn't work properly on my computer. The worksheets seemed to set up nicely.
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Where to start:I would recommend the games. There is quite a selection of them. They are for intermediate students, but great for adults too. Mathematical information and tips for playing the game are easily available. There are printable puzzles. The designer of this site clearly has a sense of humor as well as a love of math.Issues:
I was prompted to obtain and install the latest version of Shockwave. I don't tend to stay up with such things. But it installed easily and when I returned to the site everything worked very well.
Where to start:This is a very rich site. I would recommend the tour, just to get the idea of how the site works. It is very well organized. You will find every imaginable kind of teacher support for the teaching of mathematics there. I found the Maths File Game above from the ENC site.This site is a very good resource for teachers who want to grow in their mathematics teaching, and who are interested in the enjoyment and understanding of math for their students.
Issues:
Everything seemed to work just fine, but this site is so big and rich, I have a tendency to get overwhelmed. It's important to remember you can bookmark it and come back. Explore it a little at a time.
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Where to start:I just started by visiting the "Resource Room" and then chose "Browse our database." From there I chose Elementary. I looked at two of the strands listed there and was very impressed. There seems to be a strong emphasis on activities that promote student understanding of the mathematical concepts.Teacher resources seemed very complete, with very nicely illustrated worksheets, gameboards, and task cards ready to print. Included are: multicultural mathematics lessons with excellent picture support, great background information and detailed information on games & activities that allow practice and application of math skills (many include printable resources)
I especially liked a page entitled "Hands On Math Activities for Grades 4-6" by Wendy Sawatzky which had activities that made me want try them right away. Some included specific variations for each grade level.
http://mathcentral.uregina.ca/RR/database/RR.09.99/sawatzky1/There are illustrated glossaries with very brief definitions that seem to assume a lot of prior knowledge. Not the best thing available on the site.
This site also has its own set of math links.
Issues:
This site was easy to navigate and explore. No problems were found.
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Where to start:This site has an alternative text only address which is: http://www.c3.lanl.gov/mega-math/menu.htmlI would suggest starting anywhere. Keep an open mind!! You will find engaging activities to explore interesting big mathematical ideas that may challenge our more traditional ideas about what constitutes elementary mathematics! There is strong mathematical background information. Each group of activities has the same kind of organization, making it easier to find specific kinds of information.
Excellent opportunities for developing mathematical vocabulary and concept understandings.
Issues:
This site is easy to navigate and seems to offer a consistent quality of activity. There were no problems navigating with a Mac.I felt I would really enjoy exploring this site by having time to do "recreational math" for myself, trying one activity, reading all about it, then doing some thinking and reflecting before I would try it in the classroom. Many mathematical ideas were not familiar to me, but these lessons were intended for elementary age students, and the ideas were very intriguing.
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Where to start:I came upon this site while searching for something else. It seemed, with a name like that, one might come across it fairly often, so I took a look.I'd be inclined to say, "Don't bother." The parts I looked at were very procedural definitions and explanations. There was no picture support at all, even for ideas that could obviously be well supported by a variety of images. If you are interested in resources that enhance student understanding of mathematical concepts (or your own), this site will not be very helpful.
Issues:
Interactive practice activities did not work on a Mac.
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Where to start:It's worth exploring a little. You might find something handy. The Brain Teasers are changed weekly and offered at 3 levels. They are good but not outstanding. I thought the collection of graphic organizers, available in downloadable files, might be a handy resource for all subjects, not just Math.Overall, this site doesn't seem to offer much that is exciting or different from standard curriculum offerings.
Issues:
The site is well organized and easy to navigate.
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Where to start:I chose "Elementary," then "Math Safari." The next page prompted for grade and math subject as well as personal information. It allowed me to go, however, without entering any personal information. I did have to choose a grade and math area. Clicking on "Submit" at this point takes you to a quick explanation of the quiz. Then you can choose to "Start Quiz."The quiz was an interactive test style (multiple choice) group of questions. Wrong answers get an informative response and questions stay until answered correctly. Correct answers get a noise and message also. The style of questions vary, and some require a deeper understanding than others.
After each question, data is offered regarding the percentage of children at that grade level who answered that question correctly. A disclaimer explains that this data not necessarily current.
Testing style and data is based on information from the Third International Mathematics and Scienc Study (TIMSS).
As test prep materials go, these questions seem more thoughtfully developed than many. This might also be a good resource to recommend to parents who are interested in helping students develop test taking skills.
Issues:
Some of the pages seemed slow to load on my Mac, but not slow enough to be annoying. And everything functioned well once it loaded.
California Department of EducationThe Mathematics Standards and its accompanying framework are on this site and can be downloaded as a PDF file. Test score and API information can also be found here. |