I can’t believe it took me this long to figure out that there were annotation tools built into Power Point! I was looking for some applications that would work with a Wacom Bamboo tablet…A potentially useful inexpensive technology tool…An Interactive White Board – Like environment for right around $100.

In a somewhat related note…I found these great power point templates. Since it seems I’ll be taking another look at power point for instruction, I thought these would come in handy.

Arcademic Skill Builders are fun skill practice “games” designed for student use, but I think I’m addicted to it myself. Multi-player and Single-player options are available. Students can play with classmates or any of the other people anywhere in the world who are logged in at the same time.

It is important to make every minute of every day count instructionally. This is one of those tools that could be used to get students engaged in a valuable practice activity that is not teacher-dependent.

I’m a fan!

This is a great tool for collaboration.  It would be great to set up book discussions, research reviews, PLC conversations…just about anything that requires collaboration.  All of the participants can get involved when it’s convenient for them. This would not replace face to face meetings, but imagine how much more productive meetings would be if agendas, links to resources, and some feedback were available to participants before a meeting even started. I’m thinking specifically about PLC times – designated times could be spent much more efficiently if a tool like voicethread could be used to connect all of the participants and get them focused in the same direction.  I can’t wait to try it with some friends!

It has something for everyone, a great source for “problem of the day”. I used it this morning. We did “count to 20″. It had a number of objects between 10 and 20, sets of ten were in ten frames, so it was easy to count tens and ones. My students took turns coming up and typing in the answer.

You can do one “activity” (20 problems) each day for free. It does have a subscription option that is unlimited and tracks progress.

The website that is linked to the title of this post has directions for making designs on a 100s chart. It is a great activity for number recognition, or you could give the directions for +1, -1, +10, -10, etc.

I think I will go to the craft store and buy some “jewels” with a flat side so that they can make the designs with those. It seems like a really fun way to practice a lot of math skills.

I found something really fun on Apples4theTeacher
It is so cool! Some of the kids can play on the computer! This is a link to a 100s chart coloring page! You can choose different colors, touch the crayon to the number on the hundreds chart and click on it to make it change color.

Too much fun with a 100s chart!

This is an activity I put in one of my math workstations for kindergarten. It could be adapted for older children.
First – we used wooden cubes to make dice for the numbers we need to practice. Ours have 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.
Next – I gave students a “full” ten frame – ones we filled up using bingo markers as a class. (I had them laminated). They also got an empty ten frame (also laminated).
To play – Students roll their die, complete the number using their full ten frame, making X’s with a dry erase marker in the empty ten frame to show the number.
Erase and start again!

This really has helped my students begin to understand place value. They look at the “1″ in teen numbers as “one ten” and they call the second numeral “___” ones in the empty ten frame.

This site is a great resource – if you need additional math practice sheets, you can make them here. There are a lot of choices, so you can make it exactly like you want it.
There are plenty of options available free of charge, but there is also a subscription side that has many more options. I haven’t tried it yet, I think you could make just about any kind of practice sheet you would ever want.
Give it a try!

This site is a great resource for an independent math center.

Just make up little bags of assorted coins. Challenge your students to count the coins on their own, then check their work by typing in the number of each coin they have on this webpage. It will total each type of coin and then give a grand total of all of the coins at the bottom.

I emptied out my change purse and tried it just for fun! I think kids will love it!