Create Graphs straight from your browser with ChartGo

What is it?: This is my pick of the week by a long margin.  Chartgo.com is a great resource for creating a range of graphs in seconds online.  You do not need to register which always proves a class concentration killer and offers a range of styles of graphs from simple through to complex.  There is more than enough here to satisfy the juniors through to tertiary maths students.  my only complaint about this is that you cannot embed your finished graph onto your blog or web space.  You can however add a link to your chart.

How can I use this in the classroom? There are a number of applications in maths, for chartgo particularly in the are of statistics and data.  You might start out small by simply completing a simple class survey and graphing the results through to a complex statistical record of events in physics or chemistry.

Give this a shot in your next maths lesson, look forward to hearing how you use have used Chartgo for your needs.

hundreds of free Printable maths Games and Resources

What is it: iPlaymathgames.com has just gone free after offering a subscription based service for some time now.It offers a range of K-12 Maths games and activities in PDF format for you to download.  You can search and filter for specific areas such as division, fractions, measurement, etc.  All games have been developed and tested in classrooms with real students and educational professionals. In many cases, there is no "winner" in the games and activities being played. Rather than create outright competition, most games and activities will foster only math skill building. However, with the world and students as they are today, there are myriad games on the site that do allow differentiated instruction for an interested math learner who wishes to test their budding skills against their peers.

How can I use this in the classroom: Pick out the subject area you are focussing on for the week and you will be sure to find a specific game to suti the age and needs of your students.  In either whole class or small group work shops.  Check it out here.

Maths Magic - what is the sum of all numbers adding up to 100?

I heard this on the radio tonight and thought what a great maths activity for my kids tomorrow.  Give it some thought and then click this link for the answer.  Seems ridiculously easy once you see it done and applies to all numbers obviously.  Great little algebra task

Teach Math's with a Slide Rule - The modern world was built on them

The International Slide Rule Museum is a Not-for-Profit commercial-free Museum Dedicated to the Students, Educators, Scientists and Engineers of the Past and Those Still Present, and to promote the lost art of Numeracy by providing resources and slide rules for education and other historic institutions.

This is a great resource site for teachers and students who don't understand place value or number lines and as boring as it may sound it is quite amazing what has been achieved and learn't through the simple but amazing devices.  Man was put on the moon with one of these puppies and nearly every major landmark of the last 500 years was calculated and designed on one. 

Learn some lost skills that will still amaze your students. Check it out here.

Bring Geometry to life for your students with 3D Vinci

What is it: Having just finished teaching a session on Geometry with my kids I really wish I had seen this earlier.  3DVinci integrates all those boring geometric and mathematical concepts into Google Sketchup and allows them to build houses and other objects integrating scale, ratio and a range of geometric concepts., create printable nets to produce 3D shapes to display in the classroom.

How can i use this in the classroom: 3Dvinci is full of geometry lessons aimed at all year levels and has video tutorials for each session so there is no need to be a genius at Sketchup by any means. These videos show SketchUp in action. See how to tile, tessellate, divide a cube, build a prism, put together an icosahedron, and more.

Download a fun project each month that uses SketchUp to demonstrate a geometric concept. Printable PDF format, separate versions for teachers and students.

If you are new to SketchUp? This teacher page has easy steps to get started, and links to some free student activities including mosaics and puzzles.

3DVinci's Getting Started Guide (PDF) takes you through SketchUp's basic tools and features. Click either PC version or Mac version.

This one is definitely worth integrating into your maths sessions especially if you have kids in grade 3 and above and along the way you will see what else you can do with Google Sketchup too.  Let me know how you go.

Lesson Plan: Creating a Pictograph

Welcome to the first of many video tutorials.  I have deliberately kept this weeks very simple as I am trying to learn some new technology myself.  Pictographs are a great maths lesson for junior students to explore graphing and data in the early years of schooling.  This video tutorial below explains all the steps to get you and your students to produce a pictograph in no time. The aim of these video tutorials is that you can sit back and learn alongside your students.  Enjoy and feedback is always appreciated.

Can your students uncover the mysteries of the Nile?

Want to see the Sphinx close up? Clamber inside the Great Pyramid? Visitthe magnificent tombs and temples of Luxor? Simply click on the imagesand enjoy a self-guided QuickTime tour through the Land of the Pharaohs.

There's so much here, it's easy to get lost. Use the Site Guide to seethe list of everything available. Classroom resources section helps youcustomize your own lesson plans, check out their lesson plans, or getstarted with ideas to energize your students.  Access it here.

Grade Level: Early Childhood (K-2), Elementary, Middle School, HighSchool, College, Adult/Professional

Digital DaVinci - Interactive lessons for students

What is it?Universal Leonardois a celebration of one of the greatest minds of all time aimed at deepening our understanding of Leonardo da Vinci through a series of European exhibitions, sscientific research and web-based resources.  It contains interactive activities, research content, interesting games and tools and resources that will enable you to discover and solve some of the mysteries surrounding his vast amount of artistic and scientific work as well as his deeply debated personal life.

How can I integrate this into my classroom?There is plenty of opportunities to tie in mathematical concepts such as symmetry and tessellation through the games area and then explore some scientific concepts such as flight and anatomy.  Obviously there is plenty here for history students and those studying biology and other areas of science to appreciate the insight and appreciation of Da Vinci's contribution to science over 500 hundred years ago and compare and contrast what we know today.  And I haven't even mentioned the art...

Check it out todayhere