DreamBox Learning®» Math fun

August Math Activities Calendar: National Back-to-School Month

Tracy H — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:00:23 +0000

Ready. Set. Go back to school! It's time to get the little ones ready for the classroom and DreamBox Learning is here to help. Our August Math Activity Calendar is all about going back to school, and we're celebrating with a number of activities to prepare your child for their first days of school!

Math Activity Calendar Highlights:

National Watermelon Day on August 3^rd: Be sure to count all the seeds!
National Tell A Joke Day on August 16^th: If there are ten cats in a boat, and one jumps out, how many are left?
Dream Day on August 28^th: Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I have a Dream" speech this day in 1963. What's your big dream?

Tell DreamBox How You Prep Your Kids for Back-to-School

How did you prepare for the first day of school: flashcards? Sesame Street? Online math games? DreamBox Learning wants to know. Just leave us a comment below or send us a message on the DreamBox Learning page on Facebook to continue the kindergarten readiness conversation. If you're a teacher, we want to hear from you too - let us know if you have any wonderful math games and activities for your incoming students. We hope you enjoy your August Math Activity Calendar and have a fantastic school year!

Tuesday Teacher Tips: Snowman Math

Lisa W — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 19:05:04 +0000

Welcome to the Tuesday Teacher Tips series! Each week we’ll highlight teaching and learning resources, ideas to use in the classroom, as well as things to ponder as you go about your teaching day. Embrace winter with a little snowman math. Here are some great sites to get your ideas flowing. Mathwire.com: Standards-Based Math Activities: This site gives some great math activities for a snowman theme. It includes estimation, graphing, glyphs, symmetry, and games. Kindergarten-lessons.com: Check out the cute snowman name graph! Suite101.com: This page explains step-by-step how to create a glyph, a non-standard graph, in the shape of a snowman. The Virtual Vine: Lots of snowman poems, songs, and activities. Do you have any math activities that you've used in a snowman unit? We'd love to hear about them!

Holiday Math Activities

Sue — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 22:06:57 +0000

We're all for giving the kids a break over the holidays. At the same time, parents often need a break too! We thought we'd help out by offering some winter fun activities to keep the kids engaged. And hey, there's nothing that says fun has to be mindless. Here are some ideas that we think are pretty wonderful, from some of our favorite bloggers and sites.

Even if you're not having a white Christmas, your kids can enjoy the snow with Winter activities for a wide range of ages. You can do some Penguin Math pattern problem-solving, learn about the fascinating geometry of snowflakes, or learn how to create a Gingerbread Man Glyph. These are all from Mathwire - one of our favorite blogs. You might even want to bookmark this site and come back for math activities in every season.
Make a Pattern Garland, and encourage your kids to think about patterns as they make holiday decorations. You can offer suggestions for creating patterns with colors, shapes, or kind of objects to use in your garlands. Paper rings (strips of paper that are taped into linked rings) are a perennial favorite for the holiday tree! Or give children a long piece colorful yarn or string on which to string beads of different colors or shapes. Encourage your children to talk about the patters they are creating - are they making a 1-2-1 pattern, a 1-2-3 pattern, or something else? (This idea came from Scholastic, which is always full of fun math activities.)
Kids can use geometry and measurement skills to draw a map for Santa. You can start by asking them to think of landmarks that are near your home, like a store, a church, a stop sign, or a mailbox on the corner. Then have the children draw a map to their houses from the chosen landmark. (Thanks to Suite 100 for sharing this idea.)
Another favorite site of ours is Let's Play Math, which shared a link to a cool online Math Advent Calendar. It has a mathematical game for each day leading up to Christmas. Of course, we're a little late with this idea, but you can let your child count the days while he plays, or you can always save it for next year.

From all of us at DreamBox Learning, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season with these family math activities!

Thanksgiving Dinner Math Activities

Tracy H — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 23:44:50 +0000

How many people are coming over? How much food should we buy? How many pies should we make so each person gets a piece? These are the typical questions I hear each year. Many families prepare large meals for their family and friends; so it can be the perfect time to involve your children in dinner preparation to incorporate real-life conceptual understanding of mathematics. Here are some activities!

Have your child determine what size turkey you need to feed everyone coming for dinner. (How many pounds should you purchase if you have 10 people attending and 1 ½ pounds per person ?)
Already purchased a turkey ? Have your child calculate how much each person can have. (You have a 20 pound turkey and 8 people coming for dinner. How much turkey will each person be able to have?)
Review elapsed time by helping your child write down the times that the turkey went into the oven and the time it came out. Younger children might need a little help calculating the number of hours if it crosses a 12.
Setting the table. Simply counting out forks, knives and spoons can be helpful practice for many early learners.
Math with pies can be extra fun! If everyone eats 1/8th of a pie, how many pies do you need to serve 14 people? And if you have 8 slices of pie, and two are left over, what fraction of pie is left over?

Incorporating math into everyday activities can help strengthen a child’s conceptual understanding. What Thanksgiving activities do you do at home or in the classroom that encourage math learning?

Tuesday Teacher Tips: Game and Puzzle Week Coming Up!

Lisa W — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:36:56 +0000

Welcome to the Tuesday Teacher Tips series! Each week we’ll highlight teaching and learning resources, ideas to use in the classroom, as well as things to ponder as you go about your teaching day. Next week (November 21-27) is National Game and Puzzle Week! I’m excited to break out the jigsaw puzzles in my classroom to celebrate. Growing up I loved jigsaw puzzles, and I can attribute this lifelong hobby to my grandma. When she babysat us, there were two things for certain that we’d do at her house—eat chicken noodle soup for lunch and work on a puzzle. As soon as we got to her house, grandma would clear the dining room table while my sister and I ran to pick out a puzzle from her Game & Puzzle Closet (also known as her coat closet). After the pieces were dumped on the table, there was a specific order to how we attacked the puzzle. First, we’d pull out all of the edge pieces and turned them face up. Middle pieces were pushed to the side. Then the box top was placed strategically for all of us to see and consult as we worked on constructing the border. It was only when the entire border was complete that the middle of the puzzle was worked on. Grandma never spoke of the great educational benefits of doing puzzles, like working on fine motor, manipulation and coordination skills. Puzzles improve reasoning and deductive thinking. Not to mention, puzzles develop the ability to concentrate. She just said that puzzles were fun. And we agreed! What was your favorite game or hobby growing up? Who introduced you to it? I’d love to hear from you. Check out these websites for Game and Puzzle Week:

The Crayola website has lots of generic game boards, color pages, crafts, and lesson plans to use with your students.
The American Jigsaw Puzzle Society explains the academic origins of the jigsaw puzzle. Did you know that they were first made as an education tool to teach children geography?

Save the Date for Seattle's MathFest 2010: Nov. 4

Sue — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:03:03 +0000

Imagine a school gym full of elementary kids having a blast playing math games. Then, if you live in the Seattle area, mark your calendar for Mathfest 2010 on November 4! Last year my favorite 6-year-old had a memorable time playing a whole range of math puzzles, problems, and games. But the best part for me was getting insight into what kinds of math activities he gravitates to and how he thinks. In a couple of cases I was so amazed to see him take on a really hard problem, think it through methodically, work it persistently, and then see his pleasure and pride when he solved it! MathFest is Explorations in Math’s annual math bash. This is an organization that helping to build a culture in Seattle-area elementary schools that showcases math as fun, engaging, and relevant. This year’s event is scheduled for Thursday, November 4, from 5-8 pm, at the Rainier Community Center in Seattle. MathFest is also a good opportunity to give back to the community—and help Explorations in Math. They need help setting up and taking down game booths, playing games with the elementary students who attend, and to assisting with registering attendees. Interested volunteers can e-mail full name and date of birth to info@eimath.org. For those of you not lucky enough to live in the Seattle area, there are lots of other Mathfest events. A simple Google search for MathFest 2010 turned up links to events all over the country. Click here to watch their "music video" from MathFest 2009, and help get your kids excited about participating!

Outdoor Math Games to Avoid the Summer Slide

Tracy — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:30:33 +0000

There's no better way to avoid the summer slide than to get outside! Summer is the best time of the year to go out and enjoy the great outdoors, and DreamBox Learning wants to add to the fun with exciting and easy outdoor math games kids will love. Break out the sunscreen and throw on the swimsuit because some of these games are going to get you soaked with water and knowledge (but, mostly water).

Wet 'n wild math games

1. Hole-in-the-Bucket Relay Race

Teach children how to measure liquids with a hole-in-the-bucket relay race. Materials:

Five Tupperware or coffee can containers
One large clean plastic garbage container
Five different five-gallon buckets
One nail and hammer

Set up: Use a nail to punch five to eight holes in one coffee can for each team. Have players estimate how many cans full of water it will take to fill up a five-gallon bucket. The rules: Give each evenly divided team a can. Players run to the container full of water, fill the can, and run back to the next person, who dumps the water into the bucket. The race is over when the first team fills up their five-gallon bucket. Give a special prize to the team that fills their bucket in the least amount of trips.

2. Water balloon toss

Discover distances by measuring how far you throw a water balloon in a game of catch. Materials:

25 water balloons filled with water
Measuring tape
Trash bags to collect water balloon fragments

Set up: Using the measuring tape, mark off every three feet on the ground for 30 yards. (If you have access to a football field, you can also use the yard markers on a lined football field. Be sure to clean up afterward!) Ask each player how far he or she can throw before starting. The rules: Pairing each team in a group of two, give each group a water balloon and have them start by standing three-feet apart in the middle of the 30-yard area. One person on each team will pass the water balloon to the teammate. If the water balloon doesn't break, each teammate can take one gigantic step backwards to the next yard marker. The game continues until there is only one team left with an intact water balloon.

Runnin' around math games

1. Get Even

Use a deck of playing cards to learn the difference between even and odd numbers. Materials:

One deck of playing cards (without jokers or face cards)
Eight cones
A large running area like a field

Set up: Using four cones make a box in the middle of the field called the "pen." Align the other four cones in the four outer corners of the field. The rules: Give each player a playing card with an odd number. Divide the rest of the deck into the four outer corner cones. Players must dash out to one of the four outer cones and find one card that equals an even number when added to the player's card. The player then returns to the pen to drop off their new card and races back out to the outer cones. The game is over when players collect all the playing cards from the outside cones.

2. One size fits all

Learn about different sizes in a clothing relay race. Materials:

Three XXL t-shirts
Three XXL athletic shorts
Three pairs of adult size shoes
Six cones

Set up: Place the shirt, shorts and shoes at the start line. Space a set of three cones ten-yards away from the start line. The rules: Divide each team into three even groups. When the leader says, "Go!" the first person in line races to put on the shoes, shirt and shorts and runs down field, around the cone and back the start line. The player must then hand off the shoes, shirt and shorts to the next person in line. The race continues until every person on the team dashes down field. For an extra math moment: Using a stopwatch, take the pulse of each player after he or she is done running. Be sure to check out our August Math Activity Calendar for even more summer math activities all month long. Have a great summer and comment below with your own outdoor math activity ideas!

15 Fictional Teachers We Love

Tracy — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:28:33 +0000

Here's a blog we've always wanted to write. Some teachers have been part in our lives even if they weren't real!

1. Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World

It’s a textbook formula for laughs: nerdy teacher with funny name + two pranksters (and one vegetarian) = amusing sitcom. Mr. Feeny was the stern teacher and neighbor in Boy Meets World who shaped the lives of Cory, Topanga, and Shawn forever. Unlike Mr. Turner, the kids’ idealistic, motorcycle-driving English instructor, Feeny takes an old school stance. Feeny isn’t the teacher kids want; he’s the teacher kids need. As Cory and his friends turn from fledglings into full-fledge adults, the audience gets to see Feeny’s impact on their life decisions. Lovable Lines: Mr. Feeny: Believe in yourselves. Dream. Try. Do good. Topanga: Don't you mean, do well? Mr. Feeny: No, I mean "do good."

2. Ms. Frizzle from Magic School Bus

Source: teacher.scholastic.com

Part of a teacher’s job is to show kids the world. And it helps when the teacher is out-of-this world! Enter Ms. Frizzle. She takes her classroom on an unforgettable ride – into the solar system, under the bed, into the American Flag, into the human body… Ms. Frizzle makes every day an adventure; every snafu, a learning opportunity. Is it the magic school bus that lets her kids see so much? Or simply, imagination? We love Ms. Frizzle for helping children see the magic behind math and science. Lovable Lines: Take chances, make mistakes, get messy.

3. Mr. Holland from Mr. Holland's Opus

When the story begins, he's a composer who takes a teaching job just to pay the bills and enjoy more free time with his wife. Mr. Holland soon realizes that teaching is much more than a day job and devotes endless hours and all of his energy to his students, who improve dramatically. However, as his students improve, his personal life unravels when he finds out his son is hearing impaired. Mr. Holland reminds us that teaching isn't just a 9-5 job. It takes dedication, talent, and passion. Lovable Lines: Play the Sunset

4. Mr. Cooper from Hangin' with Mr. Cooper

Sense of humor? Check. Compassion? Check. Coolness. Check Check. If Mr. Cooper was a real P.E. teacher, there would be a waitlist for his class. In the show, he’s an ex-NBA player-turned substitute. He can dunk a basketball and roll it from one arm to the other. Plus, he comes with one catchy theme song (Coo-oo-oo-ooper…) Lovable Lines: Earvin (while working at "Clown Burger"): "I'm a clown!" Cooper: "I know that, but what do you work with?"

5. Mr. Kotter from Welcome Back Kotter

Source: scrapetv.com

How many of us wonder what it would be like to return to high school as a teacher? No wonder Welcome Back Kotter was so popular. Mr. Kotter returns to his alma mater to teach a group of students, known as the “Sweathogs,” in remedial classes. He recognizes that the kids aren’t hopeless, just misunderstood. Instead of casting them off as misfits who don't have a chance, he applies lessons to situations they understand. And it works! Lovable Lines: Kotter: What would have happened if George Washington quit, huh? If Abraham Lincoln quit? What would have happened if Murray Cornfeld quit? Freddie: I ain't never heard of no Murray Cornfeld! Kotter: You know why you never heard of him? 'Cause he quit!

6. Mr. Keating from Dead Poets Society

O Captain! My Captain! Mr. Keating from the Dead Poets Society taught his group of prep school boys to carpe diem and to shake off societies' conventions. Mr. Keating's unconventional methods (which include ripping out pages of a textbook) later get him fired. As he leaves, a student cries out O Captain! My Captain! And Keating realizes his poetry pupils will be seizing every day from then on. Lovable Lines: Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone

7. Mark Thackeray in from To Sir with Love

Source: imdb.com

Mark Thackeray has a tough job: he's a black teacher, in 1967, in a predominately white London school. His classroom comprises rough and tumble inner city kids who drove their last teacher to resign. After several pranks and incidents, Thackeray comes to the conclusion that he's been treating the teenagers too much like children, tosses those textbooks, and gives the kids a bit more freedom. Lovable Lines: Student: They got their minds made up about us, Mr. Thackeray Mark Thackeray: Then change them.

8. Yoda (you surely know what Yoda's from!)

They say the more you age, the wiser you become. There’s no better example of this than Yoda, the old sage from the planet Dagobah who helps Luke Skywalker destroy the Dark Side in the original Star Wars trilogy. Yoda, who is 900 years old in the film, teaches Luke the ways of the Force so he can become a Jedi Knight and ultimately defeat the Galactic Empire. Just another reason you should listen to your grandparents when they corner you in a room. Lovable Lines: Do or do not. There is no try.

9. William Forrester from Finding Forrester

William Forrester, a famous author who became a recluse in top floor apartment takes 16-year-old Jamal under his wing as a student of sorts. And this is even after Jamal breaks into his apartment on a dare. Mr. Forrester is the type of teacher who will be honest with you, even if it hurts. But his honesty teaches you to take life into your own hands and overcome the hardships of the world outside one’s home. Lovable Lines: Writers write things to give readers something to read.

10. Mr. Bergstrom from The Simpsons

The voice of Mr. Bergstrom

When Ms. Hoover becomes sick, Mr. Bergstrom comes in to teach Lisa Simpson and the rest of their class in this classic episode of The Simpsons. Mr. Bergstrom’s enthusiasm for teaching reinvigorates Lisa’s love for learning while showing her that the only person she needs in order to succeed is herself. Oh, and he’s voiced by Dustin Hoffman, so that alone makes him pretty awesome. Lovable Lines: Principal Skinner: Are you the substitute? Mr. Bergstrom: Yessir, yes I am. Principal Skinner: Are you insane? Mr. Bergstrom: Uh, no sir, no I'm not. It's my way of getting their attention.

11. Sister Mary Clarence from Sister Act

Deloris Van Cartier, a lounge singer-turned-nun, turns a group of tone-deaf singers into a choir even the Pope can get behind. She does so by teaching them how to sing with feeling, and to believe themselves when all seems lost. Lovable Lines: How can you say that? I worked my butt of with these women! They've given up their free time to do this, and they're GOOD! I mean, sister, we could, we could ROCK this place!

12. John Kimble from Kindergarten Cop

Police Detective John Kimble is used to taking down criminals, not taming 6-year-olds. But this doesn’t keep him from using his police training to teach these kids respect towards others and discipline. Oh, and it also helps that he has a pet ferret. What kid wouldn’t want a pet ferret!? Lovable Lines: You should be reading stories about bears that go shopping!

13. Mr. Hand from Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Source: theboxset.com

Mr. Hand is another teacher who lives under the motto of "tough love," constantly badgering his nemesis Jeff Spicoli in hopes that it’ll whip him into shape. When Spicoli continues to ignore him, Mr. Hand has no chance but to show up at Spicoli’s house and have an at-home lesson on prom night. Spicoli realizes just how horrible he was to Mr. Hand and shocks him by apologizing. All is forgiven! Lovable Lines: [Mr. Hand writes “I don’t know” on the blackboard] Mr. Hand: 'Mr. Hand, will I pass this class?' Gee, Mr. Spicoli, I don't know! You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to leave your words right up here for all my classes to enjoy, giving you full credit of course, Mr. Spicoli. Jeff Spicoli: All right!

14. Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid

Teaching can come from anyone, even your residential maintenance man. Such was the case for Daniel LaRusso in the film The Karate Kid. Daniel becomes a student of Mr. Miyagi after he watches him dispatch some high school bullies. Daniel believes he will become a karate master. Mr. Miyagi instead teaches Daniel to have a sound mind and body and become a well-rounded individual capable of tackling any situation. Lovable Lines: Wax on…Wax off

15. Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell

High School principals don’t always get the best rap, but Mr. Belding was a principal we all wish we had. Goofy but stern, Mr. Belding could make a bad joke one minute, then give the students at Bayside High School a life lesson the next. That was if he didn’t fall for one of Zach Morris’s pranks first. Lovable Lines: Mr. Belding: Screech, you can't elope. Screech: Who're you calling a cantaloupe, you melon head?

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week; Print the DreamBox Mad Libs

Sue — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 23:16:55 +0000

In celebration of Teacher Appreciation week, DreamBox Learning would like to recognize all the great teachers out there. At my school each fall there was a tradition on the afternoon of Open House. At noon the secretary would tape all of the class lists to the front door of the building; it was the first time that students would know whose class they were in for the upcoming year. Like worms suddenly appearing after a rain, kids would come out of nowhere—sprinting across the yard, racing on bikes, and pouring from cars. This was what we had been waiting to find out all summer. Students stood at the door and hastily searched for their name and their teacher’s name. Kids would yell, “Who’d you get?” Cheers (a few groans) and “Yes!” were heard floating from that doorway into the windows of the teachers preparing for first day of school, no doubt hoping that “Yes!” was for them. Why was there so much teacher anticipation? I think it’s because both students and parents know the teacher makes such a huge difference in the success of a child’s school year. A good teacher can build a student’s self-confidence, turn a struggle into a teachable moment, and create a learning environment where students want to learn.

Show Your Teacher Appreciation

If you have a good teacher in your life this year, or had one in previous years, why not send a Teacher Appreciation note this week, and let your teacher know why he/she earned your respect and admiration. Having trouble figuring out what to say? Have fun with our Teacher Appreciation Mad Libs! Just download the PDF, print the one you like best, and fill it in. It’s a simple way to have fun saying, “Thank you!”