See Eric Marcos student’s generated math tutorials at Mathtrain.TV (The link seems to be down for now; so, try this feed link to view the tutorials: Mathtrain.com with Mr. Marcos!!!
Our power was off for several hours this evening and it was a pleasant experience. We had children sitting at the dining room table doing homework by candle light, I told stories about the olden days when I was a cowboy, and we were together because it was dark. There were no computers on nor television; yes, iPods were charged and available but no one thought to use them. The technology we used was mostly paper, pencils, and books. These forms of technology have served their purpose well for many years, and I have a feeling they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon because, you know, the power could go out at any moment.
Open source typing and math programs (FREE)!!!
Plus, find loads more educational open source software at School Forge!!!
Genius Boxing!!! You have got to try this, but you had better know your math!!! Enjoy!
I came across Childsplay today: open source (FREE) software that works on Mac, Windows, or Linux operating systems. There are several games in the software that test basic math and language arts skills along with other exercises that practice matching, listen, and memory skills. The activities help children learn fine motor skills as they navigate the computer keyboard and identify specific number and letter keys, mouse, and mouse pad movements. My 4 year old daughter and 6 year old son think these games are awesome!!! I do to, and best of all they are free. Download, install, and try them at home or school, but remember to get permission from your parents or the technology department or both! 
Enjoy!
This site, for me, is an oldie but a goodie: Science News for Kids. As their site states:
“Science News for Kids is a new Web site devoted to science news for children of ages 9 to 14.
Our goal is to offer timely items of interest to kids, accompanied by suggestions for hands-on activities, books, articles, Web resources, and other useful materials.
Our emphasis is on making the Web site appealing by offering kids opportunities to comment on and grade the subject matter, get ideas for science projects, and try out mathematical puzzles. At the same time, we offer teachers creative ways of using science news in their classrooms.”
I came across iKnowthat.com today and found their K-6 activities quite engaging. The “tutorials” are divided by grade level and subject area, and I was able to do all the activities I tried without registering. Give it a go to see if it is something that can be used with content and students in your classroom.
I have used the Edheads site for the weather activities in my geography classroom, but it has so much more. My students always liked to try out the “Virtual Knee Surgery” activity especially when one of them had to go through the real thing! The Edheads site states:
“Edheads brings you high quality, free educational activities for your classroom
Edheads helps students learn through educational games and activities designed to meet state and national standards. We partner with various school systems in the United States, which help us research, design and test our activities every step of the way!
Not only do teachers and students appreciate our free activities, Edheads has been recognized by almost every major award on the Web for our excellent educational content!
So dive into an activity to let the fun and learning begin!”
Give it a try with your students!
Today I guide you to the Schools of California Online Resources for Education SCORE Online Mathematics Resources.
Millsberry.com is an online virtual town sponsored by General Mills. You can take a video tour of the site to get an idea of what is offered. Although the site is an obvious marketing tool targeted toward young people (elementary-middle school students) it is a favorite of my oldest four children. They have been using the site for a few years now, and I am impressed with the economic skills my children garner from playing on the site (earning “money” to purchase items for their homes, etc). It does require FREE registration, and I know there are similar sites out there. Millsberry just happens to be one “advergame” that my family has found to be entertaining and educational.
The ongoing saga of state testing continues in Wyoming as you can read in the article below. I have touched on this issue before, and I know it is simply a requirement to meet the “standards” of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The unfortunate part of this entire process is that children are being “tossed around,” manipulated, experimented on, and deceived by the powers that be. My own children have been in the middle of this mess in which no one seems to care about how it influences students. Many students consider this testing a joke, something to toy with, and that it has no meaning or bearing on their lives. I suppose they are right.
The state has spent the better part of a decade trying to figure out how to implement a statewide test. I have been part of that problem/solution. My family and I are moving on, and we may face the same challenges in our new home, but the mismanagement and indecision that has existed in Wyoming is not good or fair for my children, my neighbor’s children, and the students that have graced my classrooms for the past ten years. Good luck trying to figure out what you are going to do Wyoming, but I am no longer going to help or wait for you to figure it out. My children are precious and don’t have the time for you to find out what you are doing!
By AIMEE TABOR
Star-Tribune staff writer
“Wyoming’s student proficiency test will have fewer questions and only one official testing window next year following an overhaul of the program, which stemmed from problems schools had this year with the current test.
State officials and Texas-based Harcourt Assessment announced the revisions to the Proficiency Assessment for Wyoming Students during a press conference Friday, saying they have a solid partnership and a new plan that addresses all the problems.
This year, schools encountered late and incomplete test results, which made it difficult for teachers to determine if their students should take the second test. Plus, some schools reported problems logging onto the system.
“We’ve developed a good working relationship with Harcourt,” said Jim McBride, state superintendent of public instruction. “We believe that they can and will perform to address the best needs of our students.”
For the 2007-2008 school year, only one official test will be given. In 2008-2009, a series of informative tests will be given to students before the official test so that teachers can determine what areas need to be worked on, McBride said. The year wait for the informative test will give Harcourt the chance to develop it.
“The idea will be that they will have the information available immediately to them to help them guide instruction,” McBride said of the informative tests. “That’s what it was about in the beginning. It was about improving achievement for our students.”
The state also is expected to save a significant amount of money with the changes because it will renegotiate its $13.9 million contract with Harcourt, McBride said.
Although the districts received the results late during this testing cycle, McBride defended his decision not to impose fines, saying it would destroy the working relationship between Harcourt and the state.
“If we start down the fine path now then we’re in an environment of litigation,” McBride said. “Then every single phone call, every e-mail and every piece of correspondence is filtered through the lawyers.”
Instead, McBride and Harcourt wanted to establish a cooperative environment where everyone works together to resolve the problems. They did that by meeting in Texas recently to discuss the problems. Plus, the state has put together a task force where members defined the problems and brought them back to McBride.
Michael Hansen, chief executive officer for Harcourt, said the company is committed to working with the state.
“We believe the best way to serve the state of Wyoming is to be in a partnership with the state of Wyoming, with the children, the districts,” he said. “We believe we have a good plan moving forward.”
School districts around Wyoming complained that the computerized testing was extremely slow at times.
“What we have experienced in the recent administration was a slowdown of the mainframe server that the test was on and we needed to stop and reboot the server that caused the slowdown,” Hansen said. “The students could still take the test but it took them longer.”
The PAWS test is how Wyoming school districts measure whether students are proficient on state education standards. The federal government uses the test results to determine if Wyoming schools are meeting required progress under the No Child Left Behind law. Students are not required to pass the PAWS to graduate high school or to earn good grades.
District officials anticipate the changes will be beneficial as long as they’re made and teachers can get the results of the informative tests immediately.
Larry Heslep, associate superintendent for instruction for Campbell County School District No. 1, said he’s heard from many teachers in his district who said they wished they didn’t have their students take the first PAWS test in January because of the late results.
He said he’s in favor of the test time being reduced considering other college entrance exams take about two and a half hours to complete rather than a total of eight to 20 hours.
“I think we can decide if a student is proficient in less than 20 hours,” he said.
Mike Flicek, research assessment director for the Natrona County School District, said the overhaul will be beneficial because it will give back instruction time for the faculty. Plus, having one official test will keep the scores consistent and easier to track, Flicek said.”
I have been fiddling around with an Edubuntu 6.10 install for the past few months. Edubuntu comes with a superior educational program with applications for young children called GCompris. One of my problems was getting the children’s software GCompris to work without crashing. The simple solution was bringing up the terminal and typing in “gcompris -x.” Easy, but frustrating if you don’t know!!! The GCompris software is excellent for young children. There are so many applications from matching, counting, to problem solving, and more. Now that I have it running, I will have my soon to be 4 year old daughter try out the “games” to test them. My other 4 children will want to try too! It is nice having a test lab and subjects built in at home !!!
My experiment for the day is to get Edubuntu running on an old Power Mac 5500. I am downloading the Edubuntu .iso image to create a live CD, and then I will be off to the races. So many times I have watched legacy hardware lined up in the “boiler room” to be taken away for salvage (most of the time to the landfill!!!), and I honestly believe that in a school we can find continued life for old computers. Edubuntu is one of the answers to extend the life of some of these machines. I realize there comes a time when the value of maintaining legacy equipment is not cost effective, but I also believe we must get the most out of the tax dollars that fund technology in our schools. If we can take old iMacs and install Edubuntu on them and put them to good use in K-3 classrooms, for instance, why not do it!?!
Please share your utilization of legacy hardware and any experience using Edubuntu in the process. Also, what are your experiences using GCompris in the classroom? Inquiring minds would like to know!
My good friend Brad Kovach at BradKovach.com is always coming up with interesting and helpful tools and entertaining podcasts! Today I present you with his Ultimate Trig Card! Brad states at his site:
“I’ve finally compiled all the trig stuff into one standardized 5 X 7 card. There is plenty of room for your annotations, too. I’m making two versions: one that can print directly to a 5 X 7 card and one that you cut from a regular sheet of paper.”
You can click on links from the following web page to the full report by the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance on the effectiveness of education technology. Their site states:
“Test scores were not significantly higher in classrooms using the reading and mathematics software products than those in control classrooms. In each of the four groups of products-reading in first grade and in fourth grade, mathematics in sixth grade, and high school algebra-the evaluation found no significant differences in student achievement between the classrooms that used the technology products and classrooms that did not.”
What do you think about the results?
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