Free Papercraft, Paper Model, & Papertoy: April 2007

Friday, April 27, 2007

Students are being discouraged from studying math

Some may find this interesting...
Pupils 'are urged to drop maths' in the UK.

"Pupils are being discouraged from taking A-level maths as schools in England chase higher places in the league tables, scientists have claimed."

If the school performance is measured in students' grades or exam results, then this sounds like an obvious tactic.

Students are being discouraged from studying math

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Phoenix Wright Papercraft

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is one of the more unique and colorful games on the DS that has a lengthy adventure with wonderful characters, very interesting storylines, fantastic music, and makes great use of the DS touch screen and microphone. The main character is ~~porcupine head~~ Phoenix Wright - a defense lawyer with a keen sense for discerning fact from fiction, together with Maya Fey (assistant), Mia Fey (mentor), and Miles Edgeworth (arch rival) this makes for a wonderful courtroom drama. Here are the papercraft models for Phoenix, Maya, and Edgeworth - scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to see them.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Papercraft Models [Court-records.net]

Cerberus Papercraft

Due to so many complaint about me not releasing the template I decided to release it. I'm warning you all its not for beginners. Its 15 pages with mostly big black parts so make sure your ink cartridge can handle it before starting.

Due to how complicated it was to assemble even for me I didn't do instructions, instead I included the pdo file itself. pdo is the format used in the papercraft program "pepakura" I included in the archive pepakura viewer to help you all assemble the model. its a free program but instead of making everyone search and download it I included it in the file. use the read me file to know how to use it to assemble my model.

I will never put my models for sales but donations are always apreciated and help me make better models. the template is available in the newest papercraft section of my website

Cerberus Papercraft

note: dont email Ron about stuff I post. he don't have anything special more than others have if you need to contact me about my stuff my website is there for that. you can use the shoutcast or the guestbook

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Cerberus By Chamoo232

Here is my latest and most impressive model so far. Cerberus from Kingdom Hearts/ Disney's Hercule. It took over 40 hours of work and due to its very high difficulty there will be no templates. The teeth are small and were very hard to make but the whole model still end up almost 15 inch long and 10 inch tall.

Cerberus Papercraft Model [Chamoo232 site]
New Chamoo232 Section [Images]

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Inaluxe features on Indie Pretty Perfect

It's a pretty perfect start to the weekend to see inaluxe featured on IndiePrettyPerfect :)

I got a lovely email from Helen who has this fab website and store PepperinaPress asking if I'd be interested in being featured on indie pretty perfect. I was thrilled at being asked, and I have to say, I really like the way the interview came out. It was a
good day to be answering questions, and I was really quite relaxed about the whole process, which is slightly different to the shock of being Etsy Featured Seller for a week - that was really mindboggling... I think because I had so much other stuff going on at the time, it felt rushed and maybe I just wans't as relaxed as this time around... Anyway, maybe have a read and see what you think.

http://indieprettyperfect.blogspot.com/2007/04/inaluxe.html
There are photos too, for those amongst us who are more visually inclined. And it's a really good looking blog - I love the layout and way Helen has got it looking. Yummy!

Our Condolences

On behalf o

f Paperkraft.net I would like to convey our deepest sympathy to the families and friends affected by the tragedy that took place on April 16th, 2007 at Virginia Tech. We hope that time and memories will help lessen the burden of your sorrow, and that you may draw some measure of comfort knowing that others care and share in your loss. Please aid us in giving to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, to help remember and honor the victims of this tragic event.

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund
http://www.vt.edu/tragedy/memorial_fund.php

Friday, April 20, 2007

Shrek the Third Papercraft

You've probably seen some Shrek The Third ads on the tube, magazines, and on the net for the past few months and one campaign in particular is about DreamWorks Animations teaming up with Hewlett Packard - they've develop a new colour management system called DreamColor, that will ease the calibrating of printers, cameras, and televisions. Anyways, HP has now added some Shrek 3 papercraft models on their site, although not the one that you like best - it's more like a Hako-ish type of paper model that's geared towards first time builders. You've got Shrek, Princess Fiona, Puss in Boots, and the adorable Donkey. As you can see from the pics above, I've only assembled two models, Donkey, because he's my favorite from the movie and I simply like Puss. You can also find other papercrafts on the site such as a robot, dragonfly, and an ankylosaurus (requires some pipe cleaners to complete).

Shrek The Third [HP]

*Thanks to lhiannan for the correction

News... WinterPromise and Math Mammoth

What I am about to explain you might have already found out... but this is the first time I'm announcing it on my blog.

It has been BIG NEWS to me... and lots of work! (And that hasn't ended... I'm still working on this.)

Namely...

Starting in June 2007, WinterPromise will carry a Math Mammoth complete curriculum for grades 1-3!

These new books constitute a complete mathematics curriculum for grades 1, 2, and 3, and will be offered exclusively via WinterPromise during year 2007 (not even sold on my website for that period).

Each grade level will be offered as a printed textbook and a CD, or a CD alone. The entirety of the textbook is on the CD, and can be printed for use within a family for unlimited use.

The CD will also contain answer keys, tests, and an easy access to script-made free worksheets.

The new products

Math Mammoth Grade 1-A and 1-B complete worktexts
These two books focus on addition and subtraction concept and basic facts within 0-10, place value with 2-digit numbers, and some adding and subtracting within 0-100. Also covered are some geometry topics, measuring, clock, and counting coins.
Pricing: CD only $32; textbook and CD $52
Sample pages for 1-A (PDF)
Sample pages for 1-B (PDF)

Math Mammoth Grade 2-A and 2-B complete worktexts
These two books focus on memorizing the basic addition and subtraction facts with single-digit numbers, developing ï¬‚uency with multidigit addition and subtraction, and place value with 3-digit numbers. Also included is introduction to multiplication concept, measuring and geometry topics, clock reading and money.
Pricing: CD only $32; textbook and CD $52

Math Mammoth Grade 3-A and 3-B complete worktexts
These two books focus on multiplication concept, memorizing multiplication tables, division concept and facts, adding and subtracting 4-6 digit numbers, and using addition and subtraction to solve problems. Also covered are time, money, measuring, and geometry topics, and introduction to fractions.
Pricing: CD only $32; textbook and CD $52

Here is the link to the Math Mammoth books at WinterPromise website.

As a "side effect", I will also have two new workbooks to sell as part of the Blue Series: one about clock, and the other about measuring and early geometry concepts.

So that's all going to be in June... and I'm in a big hurry to get it all ready!

News... WinterPromise and Math Mammoth

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Math in books (not math books!)

I just recieved an email from a publishing company. They want to send me a few books to review and then list on my site.

I've written reviews before, a whole bunch. I started my "reviewer career"... well, in school of course. We wrote book reviews, as I'm sure you did too. I don't think mine were that special. But somehow the role of reviewer has fallen to my lap nowadays.

For example, recently I just finished the review of YourTeacher and MathScore.

The new books that this email was about are

Crimes and Mathdemeanors
A collection of short detective stories for young adults who are interested in applying high school level mathematics and physics to solve mysteries.

The Cryptoclub: Using Mathematics to Make and Break Secret Codes.
Join the Cryptokids as they apply basic mathematics to make and break secret codes. This book has many hands-on activities that have been tested in both classrooms and informal settings.

I haven't seen these yet. The reason I put them in this blogpost is because it sounds like these books are examples of math in a somewhat entertaining or interesting context, aimed at high school or middle-school level.

You know, to so many people math remains a "dull" school subject only. And that is so far from truth. It is some of those same people, I'm sure, who confess to the "I'm bad at math and that's okay" attitude as mentioned in the previous blogpost.

I, for sure, intend for my kids to learn the beauty of math, to learn about some of these interesting subjects such as basic cryptography, to learn even of math history.

There exist lots more books like those above, "living math" books - books where mathematical concepts are at the centerpiece of the story.

I encourage you to do something similar. Don't just use the curriculum. Go to the library, and find some of these kind of books (or buy them). It shows kids so much more about math, inspires them about math, and gets rid of these silly attitudes of math being boring or not worth learning.

Because all in all, we can then appreciate mathematics so much more (and its Creator). People are awed by the animal kingdom and appreciate the beauty of this Earth and its plants, its geography, the planets, space etc. But the same applies to math.

Math in books (not math books!)

Crimes and Mathdemeanors
A collection of short detective stories for young adults who are interested in applying high school level mathematics and physics to solve mysteries.

The Cryptoclub: Using Mathematics to Make and Break Secret Codes.
Join the Cryptokids as they apply basic mathematics to make and break secret codes. This book has many hands-on activities that have been tested in both classrooms and informal settings.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

I'm bad at math... and fine with that!

I just received a nice article from Jim Stone, a math teacher at Global Institute of Mathematics.

I enjoyed it; I thought you might too. I've seen this issue raised and talked about elsewhere as well.

Namely, that it seems to be socially acceptable to admit how bad you're at math... while no one would comfortably admit that they can't read.

So here goes:

I'm bad at math and I’m okay with it!
By Jim Stone

For the past eighteen years I’ve been reading articles and editorials lamenting the mathematical performance of America’s school children. It has become an annual ritual for politicians and educators alike to bemoan the results of the latest tests showing American kids falling behind their international counterparts.

What is the problem? More importantly, what is the solution?

The answer to the first question is almost always laid at the doorstep of our system of education. Blaming the system is safe. No one person represents the system. No one person is held accountable. Everyone can look outside themselves for accountability.

Attempts at fixing the system have largely focused on three areas: overhauling mathematical curriculum, changing the methodology of teaching that curriculum and the implementation of standardized tests to measure what kids know.

But here is the problem. The performance of American students has remained stagnant. Despite the implementation of integrated curricula, the establishment of benchmarks and a seemingly never ending battery of standardized tests, American students still lag behind students beyond our borders.

Perhaps we are missing the boat. Perhaps the problem isn’t really the system with its traditional curriculum. Perhaps the problem isn’t with a traditional lesson beginning with going over homework from the previous day, an introduction to a new topic followed by time working on a new homework assignment. Perhaps the problem is more societal. Perhaps the problem lies with us all.

Since becoming a high school mathematics teacher I have been struck by the seemingly countless times I have heard parents and other adults, well educated or not, utter statements such as, “math was my worse subject” or “I can’t do math.”

I have never once heard a person say, “I can’t read.” Why, then, is it so acceptable to publicly declare, without the slightest bit of embarrassment, one’s inability to do mathematics? In our society one would be shamed and embarrassed to admit their inability to read. The point is it is perfectly acceptable to be poor at mathematics in this country. We are an anomaly compared to most of the rest of the world when it comes to our comfortable attitude that it is acceptable to be poor at math. Is there any doubt that our children haven’t learned this lesson?

Or have they? While American adults casually admit to their mathematical ignorance, American children appear to overestimate their mathematical ability. In a 2003 study, 84% of American 8th graders agreed with the statement, “I usually do well in mathematics.” Of their counterparts in Singapore, 64% agreed with the same statement. Confidence often, especially in America, is considered as a positive personality trait. However, it is ironic that of the same group of 8th graders, the least confident students in Singapore, on average, outscored the most confident American students on an international math test.

If the results of the 2003 study are accurate, then our young students are overconfident. If my informal observations over the years are accurate, they ultimately learn of their shortcomings and then shrug them off with a cavalier attitude of acceptable incompetence. If so, then new curriculum, changes in pedagogy and an implementation of standardized tests are not addressing the real problem and, therefore, doom us to perpetual mediocrity.

Perhaps we all share the responsibility for the dismal mathematical performance of our children. If so, it begs a difficult and frightening question: What can be done about it?

Jim Stone, a math and physics teacher for more than 18 years, teaches at Global Institute of Mathematics.

I'm bad at math... and fine with that!

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

I get these questions a lot...

I've recently embarked on something new... I let people request a package of over 100 free worksheets and over 180 sample pages from the Math Mammoth books and worksheet collections.

In it, I included one question along with the name & email that people can fill in: "What is your most pressing math teaching question?"

I did that because I saw some other people had done something similar, and I thought that's a great idea - I would get to know what kind of math teaching related problems people have.

I also wanted to give people a chance to communicate a little with me... You know, we all go visit these multitudes of websites, and we show up as numbers on the website statistics program. It all can seem so impersonal, so "machinistic" sometimes.

But the reality is, behind every website are people. On school days, over 10,000 people visit HomeschoolMath.net. Over 1,000 people visit MathMammoth.com. I never hear from most.

If I had a physical store, I would see those people, talk to many. With a website, I still want some COMMUNICATION with my visitors and customers.

So that's what that little box with the question is about. Communication.

In this blogpost I want to answer TWO popular questions or themes that people keep writing into that little question box.

Interestingly - though not surprisingly - these two most popular themes correspond to the two best-sellers of my Blue Series books.

The two themes are:
1) Multiplication tables and
2) Fractions.

****************************************************

1) I've gotten questions such as (copied and pasted here verbatim):

"multiplication & division of one and two-digit numbers"

"How can i get my students to learn all of the multiplication tables?"

"What is the easiest way to teach the times tables?"

"It is very tough for me to learn tables. Please help me"

I believe in the methods I've put into my book Math Mammoth Multiplication 1:

****************************************************
* First teach the concept of multiplication well down pat.
* Then the tables in a specific order, with a systematic drill approach and 12x12 grid.
****************************************************

Let me explain a little more.

* First teach the concept of multiplication well down pat.

In the book, I have written not 1 or 2, but all these lessons about multiplication concept itself, to be studied BEFORE the drills:

Multiplication is Repeated Addition ............ 6
Multiplication as an Array ..................... 11
Multiplication on a Number Line ................ 14
Multiplication in Two Ways ..................... 17
Multiplying by Zero ............................ 22
Understanding Word Problems .................... 25
Order of Operations ............................ 27
Understanding Word Problems, Part 2 ............ 30

There are total of 28 lesson and practice pages in the book before the drills.

Studying the concept super well helps children to understand, become very familiar and at ease with multiplication.

While they study through these, they will probably memorize a few facts already - AND they will start seeing the need of having an effective and quick way to multiply (which is of course, knowing the facts by heart).

* Then the tables in a specific order, with a systematic drill approach and 12x12 grid.

The tables in my book are studied in this order:
table of 2
table of 4
table of 10
table of 5
[More Practice and Review]
table of 3
table of 6
table of 9
table of 11
[More Practice and Review]
table of 7
table of 8
table of 12

So it's the easiest first. Not only that, but in each lesson the student fills in a 12x12 grid to those facts he already knows. The "blacked out" unknown facts territory gets smaller really fast - and they can SEE it!

AND... that's not all. I feel it is VERY important kids learn their tables "both ways" - so they not only know that 5 x 6 is 30, but that they also know that 30 IS in the tables of 5 and 6.

To that end, I include specific instructions how you can "drill" or help the memorization of first the ANSWERS (skip-counting list), then associating each answer with a problem.

(This guide to oral drill is available online.)

All this multiplication info and practice is yours for only $4.50 :

=> Math Mammoth Multiplication 1

****************************************************

Well, this got to be long. I better save the fractions questions for another post.

Maria

P.S. If you go ahead and request that package of free worksheets, don't then be too surprised to get this blogpost as an email as well... I'm sorry but I just have to use what I write in multiple places, let many people read it. You know, sometimes I put my blogposts to an article to the website, I always pull my newsletter content from my blogposts - this time one of my email series emails ended up to be a blogpost.

I get these questions a lot...

Shark Papercraft

Sharks have a very bad reputation for being "man-eaters" that have the thirst for human blood or savage killers with no regard to other aquatic life, but this simply is not the case, this is a huge misinformation that has been propagating for years and even more when the movie Jaws(1975) came out - we've got the great Steven Spielberg to thank for that. But the truth is, it's the other-way around, sharks are very much endangered and on the brink of extinction due to man's excessive demand for its meat. So go help in the fight to conserve this majestic creatures by educating yourself and others through Discovery or Bite-back, and while your at it here's a papercraft model of a great white from our friend Ryo Tokisato.

Great White Shark Papercraft [Download]

Sunday, April 15, 2007

You have to see this cartoon...

The numbers i and Pi got into an argument...

(Remember i is the imaginary unit and does not belong to the set of real numbers; Pi is an irrational number.)

You have to see this cartoon...

The numbers i and Pi got into an argument...

(Remember i is the imaginary unit and does not belong to the set of real numbers; Pi is an irrational number.)

Paper Mario Airplane

Here's a nice weekend project that you can share with the kiddos, Super Paper Mario came out this week for the Nintendo Wii, so I checked out their web site hoping that they'll release some sort of official papercraft model for it - coz' after all, it is "Paper" Mario, but there wasn't much on their site, maybe they forgot to put it up or maybe there isn't any. In any case I went to the next best thing, the other Paper Mario site, the one that was release for the Gamecube two and half years ago. I scoured the site and all I found was a Paper Mario Airplane, no papercraft models, I guess this will have to do for now. In order to download this one you would have to find your way to Keelhaul Key (4) and once your there, look on the right side of the page and you'll see a treasure chest, click on it to download the instructions. If your too lazy to go there, check out the download link below.

Paper Mario Site [papermario.com]
Paper Mario Airplane [Download]

Friday, April 13, 2007

The Japanese Tradition - Origami

Funny skit that shows what origami can do, from simple to complicated works of art. In it, is the paper folding student trying to outdo his old master scene. The video is in Japanese with no subtitles and split into two versions. One is the abridged version (above), which only has the funny skit and the other is the complete version.

The Japanese Tradition - Origami [complete video]

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Three Girl Rhumba - Papercraft video

Slow day today, I haven't finished the new model I'm going to post, so here's another papercraft inspired video from another not-so well known band. Last time it was punk, with some paper action, now we've got house music - the sort of music you'll here when your partying in Ibiza. It's got lots of papercraft models, some hako, a paper airplane, and a great set of dioramas. What more could you ask for? it's paper heaven...Not. So here it is, Three Girl Rhumba, from Klonhertz.

Klonhertz: Three Girl Rhumba [Video]

Homeschool Blog Awards prizes

Due to a very unfortunate illness, the Homeschool Blog Awards website may not be able to post the prizes that the winners will get.

Since I am one of those that have promised prizes, I will just go ahead and post what I'll give here on my blog, to help out a little.

1) For the winners in categories
Best Thrifty Homeschooler,
Best SUPER-HOMESCHOOLER,
Best Unschooling or Eclectic Homeschooling Blog,
Best Crafts, Plans & Projects Blog

- Math Mammoth All Inclusive CD (value $80)

2) For the winners in all the rest of the categories

- Math Mammoth Blue Series package as a download (value $40)

To learn more, please follow these links:

Math Mammoth books
Math Mammoth packages and CD products

And... you can also request a FREE sample package that contains over 100 worksheets from the Math Mammoth Golden Series collections and over 170 other sample pages from the Blue Series books.

Go vote!

Homeschool Blog Awards prizes

Go vote!

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Chamoo232 Papercraft Models

You've seen Vivi and Pyramid Head, and I bet you thought it was cool or awesome, well you probably didn't know that there's more papercraft projects for you to do this summer courtesy of our resident papercraft specialist, Chamoo.

Add to the list are the following: Metal Gear Ray, Raving Rabbid [Rayman], Head Crab [Half-Life], Keyblade [Kingdom Hears], and many more - by many more, I mean, you'll have to go to her site and find out what surprises you'll find. I'm pretty sure your going to love her paper models there's something for everybody. So what are you waiting for, wipe that slobber of your chin and head on over there. Enjoy!

Chamoo232

Homeschool blog awards

Voting has begun at the Homeschool Blog Awards web site, for the belated 2006 Homeschool Blog Awards. You can vote till Friday.

(I am actually one of the companies offering prizes.)

Homeschool blog awards

Voting has begun at the Homeschool Blog Awards web site, for the belated 2006 Homeschool Blog Awards. You can vote till Friday.

(I am actually one of the companies offering prizes.)

Mongo Dice Village Papercraft

To start of the week, here's a very easy and simple papercraft dice model that even beginners will breeze through it. It's a three piece dice set which comes with their own box container, although I wouldn't call it dice since there's no circular patches/pips on it - I'm guessing that the maker might have meant "cube". Those who haven't tried paper crafting or paper modeling, try this one out, this is a good model to start with that can easily boost your skills on your cutting/knifing skills.

Mongo Dice [Download]
Web Site [Mongovillage.net]

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Blogger's Choice Awards

We'll it's that time of the year where awards are given to the good, the bad, and just plain old weird blogs. There is the sort of like a peoples' choice blogger awards being held at the Postiecon event in Orlando, Florida on June 2, 2007, in which the blogosphere can vote for their favorite and least favorite blog sites. If you're a competitive individual that likes to compare ranks and ratings with your friends or even othe peoples blogs, then this is just the thing for you. Just make sure that you have a ton of traffic on your site and also a very supportive base wouldn't hurt. One of our readers just emailed me and mentioned that she nominated yours truly for the "Best Educational Blog" category (made me laugh:) well, thanks, I guess, I don't know about "educational" because most of the things I talk about you probably knew it already. I've looked at the categories but I can't seem to put a finger on where I fall - well maybe Paperkraft is unique and there's no word to describe us. So go visit the site, check it out a bit, if you see a category that fits one of your favorite or your very own blog, go for it, you never know - you might just win. You can also cast votes for others that have already been nominated. This contest is sponsored by Payperpost.

Book Recommendation - Papercraft Zoo

You've probably seen most of the cute papercraft models featured here like this Corgi, or this giraffe, and even this other dog, they were all created by Kei Goto from the revered KeiCraft Papercaft Studio in Japan. We seldomly see this finely crafted and simplistic style of papercrafts here in the US, and rarely do they sell these on the popular online bookstores - unless you go look for it on some specialty store and wouldn't mind paying extra on oversees shipping. So when I found out that Kei's bestselling book, "Papercraft Zoo", has been made available again here in the US through Amazon.com, I've decided to personally recommend this and insist that beginners and collector's alike should not miss this one and buy a copy of it while it's available locally. The papercrafts on this book are easy to assemble and the price is very much affordable. Follow the link on the bottom of this post to go directly to it's Amazon page.

Papercraft Zoo [via Amazon]

Friday, April 6, 2007

Jesus Christ - Easter Papercraft

Easter is one of the most important holiday for the Christian faith, it is a celebration of the resurrection of the their savior Jesus Christ from the dead after His death by crucifixion. It's observed in the months of March, April, or May each year which approximately coincides with the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Here is a Jesus Christ papercraft model from Yozo Kutsushima of the Happy Origami Ministry in Tokyo, Japan. This paper model is also a paper automata in which its head can move around. We've also got some other cute Easter related papercrafts like this Easter Bunny and Easter Egg that you might want to check out.

Jesus Christ Easter Papercraft [Happy Origami Ministry]

Easter Bunny Papercraft [Related Posts]
Easter Egg Papercraft

Some new reviews...

I have recently completed not one, but TWO new reviews for the site. They are

1) YourTeacher.com - online math lessons that consist of video and audio clips, practice problems, solutions to those, "Deep Thought" question, and a quiz.

The list of lessons is long - and thus the amount of material is huge. It covers all topics from prealgebra through algebra 2.

I found the lessons to be very good. Read the review, or visit the website and see their sample lesson.

2) MathScore.com - online math practice environment. This is an intelligent system which catches the student's mistakes and adapts the practice accordingly.

For each topic there are several levels of difficulty, and the student is motivated to compete against him/herself to attain higher levels.

MathScore covers a ton of math topics from grade 2 to algebra 1. MathSCore is NOT only for math facts or basic computation, but includes all sorts of geometry topics, word problems, fractions, proportions, algebra ... all kinds of basic problems that you'd need to practice.

Read my review, or visit MathScore.com and check out their free instant trial.

Some new reviews...

Paper Float - Neputa Festival

Neputa originates from a mixture of ancient customs based on an old Japanese legend about two stars that meet in the sky once a year. As time has passed, the festival has become more and more beautiful and entertaining, and now includes traditional taiko drumming and huge paper lanterns on wheels, called ote. On the evenings the ote are pulled through the streets of Hanawa, followed by drums, flutes and children with small lanterns. On the last night of the festival, they are lined up on a bridge, set on fire and floated down the river. Impressive.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Paper vs. Paper

The Nightmare Before Christmas, Chicken Run, Corpse Bride, Wallace and Gromit, and Robot Chicken these are some of the popular movies and shows that used stop-motion process to animate their characters to life. Stop-motion is a film process whereby a single frame of an object is shot, the object is moved slightly, and then another frame is shot. When the frames run continuously it creates an illusion of fluidity in the motion of the object being filmed and they appear to move by themselves. Here's "Extra Strong", a stop-motion short film created by Giovanni Braggio, Lorenzo Latrofa, and Fabio Santomauro (Italians) featuring some paper on paper action.

Calculator activitity for 2nd grade

I would like to know a simple activity that i could do with a grade 2 student, which involves using the calculator.

Here are a few ideas. Hopefully they are of help.

Add or subtract the same number repeated times.

For example, start with 10, subtract 1 repeated times and see how it goes to the negative numbers.

Start with any 2-digit number and add 100 repeated times. Or start with a 3-digit number and subtract 50 or 100 repeated times.

Here's a game: Player 1 chooses a 2-digit number. Player 2 predicts how many times you can subtract 10 before the number becomes negative. Then this is checked with calculator. If player 2 was right, he gets a point. Play till a predetermined amount of points.

Or, use adding. Player 1 chooses a three-digit number, and player 2 has to predict how many times you can add 100 to it before the result is more than 1000. Then check with calculator.

Readers, feel free to submit more ideas in the comments.

Calculator activitity for 2nd grade

I would like to know a simple activity that i could do with a grade 2 student, which involves using the calculator.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

AIBO Papercraft

" AIBO (Artificial Intelligence roBOt, also means "love" or "attachment" in Japanese, can also mean "partner") is one of several types of robotic pets designed and manufactured by Sony; there have been several different models since their introduction in 1999. Able to walk, "see" its environment via camera, and recognize spoken commands, they are considered to be autonomous robots, since they are able to learn and mature based on external stimuli from their owner or environment, or from other AIBOs. Artist Hajime Sorayama created the initial designs for the AIBO. "

Source : Wikipedia

Sony has discontinued the manufacturing of Aibo as of March 07 but you can have your own paper AIBO at home with this papercraft model from Robosquare. This papercraft consists of 2 pages to cut-out and a page of instructions. The website and instructions for this papercraft is in Japanese but the graphics are very straight forward so you wont have any trouble constructing it.

AIBO is available in Black or White papercraft models in PDF format and the finished model measures around 3.5" tall and 4.5" wide. You can also find previous Robosquare posts here (PINO) and here (ifbot).

White AIBO Robot Papercraft
Black AIBO Robot Papercraft