WOW! - Celebrating Math! 03/04/16

Websites Of the Week! - Celebrating Math

All of these and other sites are located here:
http://illuminations.nctm.org/Search.aspx?view=search&type=ac

Fraction Models
http://illuminations.nctm.org/tools/mlearner/phase%20two/content/fraction_models/index.html
Explore different representations for fractions including improper fractions, mixed numbers, decimals, and percentages. Additionally, there are length, area, region, and set models. Adjust numerators and denominators to see how they alter the representations and models.

Grouping and Grazing
http://illuminations.nctm.org/tools/mathresources/nctm_groupingandgrazing.html
Help the alien spaceship move cows into corrals by counting, adding, and subtracting..... learn grouping, tally marks, and place value. 

Geometric Solids
http://illuminations.nctm.org/tools/mathresources/NCTM_GeometricSolids.html
Learn about various geometric solids and their properties. You can manipulate and color each shape to explore the number of faces, edges, and vertices, and you can also use this tool to investigate more.

Flashcard Math
http://ascendmath.com/fcm/html5/index.html

Coin Box
http://illuminations.nctm.org/tools/mathresources/nctm_coinbox.html
Learn how to count, collect, exchange, and make change for coins.

Dynamic Paper
http://illuminations.nctm.org/tools/mathresources/NCTM_DynamicPaper.html
Need a pentagonal pyramid that's six inches tall? Or a number line that goes from ‑18 to 32 by 5's? Or a set of pattern blocks where all shapes have one-inch sides? You can create all those things and more with the Dynamic Paper tool.


Equivalent Fractions
http://illuminations.nctm.org/assets/0/77/ed39bd77-5569-4fd2-bb1a-fb44d424cae5.swf
Create equivalent fractions by dividing and shading squares or circles, and match each fraction to its location on the number line.

Factorizing
http://illuminations.nctm.org/tools/mlearner/phase%20two/content/factorize/index.html
Visually explore the concept of factors by creating rectangular arrays. The length and width of the array are factors of your number.

Fractal Tool
http://illuminations.nctm.org/assets/0/77/2cc8cd7e-92d6-4ba5-93d9-4a79207f6dc2.swf
Play with shapes that grow, shrink, and change over several stages. Explore self-similarity and patterns in fractal measurements.

TTM - New Custom Backgrounds! 03/04/16

Think Through Math
New Custom Backgrounds for Your Student Homepage!

Check out the cool new custom backgrounds for your student homepage! Click on the “Customize TTM” button on your homepage and choose from the following options:

- THINK!
- Fantasy
- Music
- Shoes
- Space
- Spy
- Texting
- Winter

*The background is only applied to your student homepage. It does not change the background in the math sections of the program. 

Learning.com Update 02/19/16

The following email is in response to Learning.com Customer Support tickets that have been submitted during the last few weeks/months....maybe even years.

From: Amber Jeffers [mailto:ajeffers@learning.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 10:45 AM
To: Support Main <support@learning.com>
Subject: Learning.com: Tab Key Issue Resolved

Good Morning,

I am reaching out today because you have contacted our Customer Support team regarding an issue with the tab key not functioning in some EasyTech lessons. I am happy to inform you that we have released a fix for this issue!

Even though this issue was isolated to the Chrome browser, we understand that many schools use Chrome as their primary (or only) browser choice. Additionally, we heard many reports where this issue was confused with a separate issue in Adobe Flash Player that some customers experienced earlier this year. Although some symptoms were similar, this tab key issue was separate and required an independent fix to resolve. The combination of these two things raised the impact of the tab key issue and we strongly felt that it was important to get a resolution out to your students sooner than our normal updates cycle.

The fix we released this morning [February 17, 2016] is only for students at this time. Teachers can press “shift” and then “tab” when opening affected lessons from their accounts as a workaround, and the fix will be in place for teachers as part of our next scheduled update March 4th. Please share this information with any teachers using Learning.com in your school or district.

If you have any questions, please reach out to our Customer Support team by emailing support@learning.com, calling 1-800-580-4640 x2, or through the live chat button at support.learning.com.

Respectfully,

Amber Jeffers
Director, Customer Success
ajeffers@learning.com 
O: 800.580.4640 x4446

Annotation Tools 02/19/16

ActivInspire has a useful and easy way to annotate over other applications, still images, PDF documents, etc. 

But you don't have ActivInspire? What are other ways to annotate easily?

Check out some of these ideas....depending on the device and Windows version that you have.

OneNote

If you want to annotate over a screenshot, a PDF document, or some other graphic still image…..

OneNote allows you to insert a file, graphic or other still image into a OneNote page and you have annotation tools on Drawing Tab.

Windows 8 Apps

If your device has Windows 8 (Dell Venue Tablet, etc.), you might consider looking for an app like Doodle Buddy or something similar in the App Store.

Free Websites with Whiteboard Capabilities

If you want an online whiteboard, here are a few:

https://awwapp.com/

https://awwapp.com/draw.html

http://webwhiteboard.com/

http://www.sketchlot.com/demo.php

http://www.pixiclip.com/beta/ - lets you easily add still images or screenshots of a document

Adobe Reader Annotation Tools

Easily annotate onto a PDF even if you only have Adobe Reader

And here are some other possibilities for annotating onto a PDF document:

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/free-pdf-annotation-tools/

Disclaimer: Except for the Adobe Reader suggestion, we haven't tried any of these.

ActivInspire

If you have the ActivInspire – it works well on a Dell Venue and a Windows 7 computer. Use the Desktop Annotation Tool (blue square with dark squiggly line) to display anything (website, document, etc.) and annotate “on top” of it.

Jellybean Scoop 02/19/16

Jellybean Scoop is a website with a mission to inspire children to read by providing a way to make reading and writing a fun and positive part of daily life.

Read Aloud Books

Jellybean Scoop - http://www.jellybeanscoop.com

Stories are divided into four different levels:

• Starter - beginner readers
• Single - intermediate readers
• Double - advanced readers
• Triple - fluent readers

Click a category across the top
Click one of the captions
Click play at the top and have the story read aloud



Jellybean Writer - write your own books
http://www.jellybeanscoop.com/autopub/



Jellybean Games

http://www.jellybeanscoop.com/games/

Interactive Books 02/19/16

Listed below are some interactive ebook sites that might interest you, your students and/or teachers:

Zing - http://www.schoolwide.com/zing

Unite for Literacy - http://www.uniteforliteracy.com/?redirect=true

Free Children's Stories - http://www.freechildrenstories.com/

StoryPlace! - https://www.storyplace.org/

Speakaboos - https://www.speakaboos.com/ - cost factor

International Children's Digital Library - http://en.childrenslibrary.org/

3-D Printer 02/19/16

Want to know more about 3-D Printers? This video provides a great overview of what their potential can be.  

We're not suggesting you purchase one!  Just consider this FYI if you aren't familiar....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysCaqh38JVQ 

Tech Apps Teachers - share this with your students
Ask Santa for one next Christmas?