I'm Glad I Read the Book...

I just came home from viewing the movie, The Hunger Games. I enjoyed seeing the book come alive in film, yet I always find myself thinking, "I'm glad I read the book..." Perhaps that is because I make movies in my head as I read books. I find it sad when I talk to someone about a book and I can just tell that they didn't see their movie in their head, or that they had not visualized the text in their mind.

As a child, I read many of the "Wizard of Oz" series of books. I  loved when I would catch the Scarecrow coming up with the idea that would save the day, or the Tinman stepping carefully as they walked to Oz so he wouldn't kill the ants in the road. "He's so smart already. Why doesn't he know it? That Tinman already has a heart, in fact, he cares so much he can't bear to unknowingly hurt an ant."  Then people would be excited because the movie was going to be on TV that week, and I would find myself thinking, "I'm glad I read the book... because you just don't know all that you are missing."

Do you ever share those same feelings? Do you see movies in your head as you read books?

Deborah Devine

Strategies to Remember Multiplication Facts

This video explains the strategy that students can use to remember the following multiplication facts:
6 X 2 =            6 X 4 =          6 X 6 =              6 X 8 =

I designed some flashcards that students can use to practice the strategy of using this pattern to HELP them  remember the product. 

To

To obtain a copy of the flashcards CLICK HERE.

Deborah Devine

Little Builders Will Especially Love This Fun Way to Recognize the Shape of Numbers 0-9

Can you think of students in your class that would just love to build with Legos during math center time?

Here is a fun, yet educational, experience in which students are provided with step-by-step drawings that illustrate how to make number shapes with legos.

Here is a direct link to the site:  http://creative.lego.com/en-us/ParentsCorner/MonthlyBuilds/201105.aspx

I printed it out for my 5 year old granddaughter and she starting building with a smile on her face.  I was making dinner while she was working at the kitchen island. While she was building, we were talking about numbers.
"What number come before that number?"
"What number comes after that number...or what is one plus that number? " 
"If I wanted to make the number 12, which two numbers would I have to build?"
"What is one less than 100?

If you are thinking, "Deborah, just let her play?"  My response would be that together we are playing with numbers with our hands and fingers,  and playing with numbers in our head too."

Deborah

educreations

Did you see my video from yesterday?  I am sOOOOOOOOOOO excited. Why?
I just love the help that bloggers give other bloggers. I played with the application educreations on Sunday to figure out how to it (which is a free download!). 
Next, I had to signup for www.dropbox.com ( which is a free download for the basic package).
Then I tried embedding the video myself and it was just okay, but you had to link to another screen to view the video.

SO, I emailed the creater of  educreations- Chris Streeter, and he emailed back within a couple of hours and explained exactly how to embed the video so it could be played directly from my blog and now it looks WONDERFUL!

I can see lots of possibilities with this app-for our creative students, because it is so easy and fast to use.  What about students explaining how to do a math calculation or create a reaction to a story.

I think I'm going to do a video about how to do LATTICE Multiplication....so look for it coming soon.

And I wanted to explain my flip book about Strategies to Help You Remember Your Multiplication Facts
............Yippee........I can hardly wait.


Deborah

Video Comment About Playing "The Calendar Game"

I created a short 2 minute video that discusses what skills are necessary to play this game, and how to play the game.


I created the video using the app- Educreations. (It's a first....)

Deborah