Goodies for teachers and all

Just a few items of interest:

1) Math Goodies CD from www.MathGoodies.com has been updated earlier this year; I got to see it, and updated my review of the CD. It's full of good math lessons with interactive exercises, printable worksheets, crossword puzzles and more.

2) I've added a free online equation editor to my site. This would be most useful for teachers or others who write math content and need images for complex symbols and math expressions.

3) Those of us who use math a lot might also enjoy a free calculator/graphing program called SpeQ Mathematics. You can type complex expressions into it, define variables to be used in later calculations, and make plots.

Goodies for teachers and all

Just a few items of interest:

1) Math Goodies CD from www.MathGoodies.com has been updated earlier this year; I got to see it, and updated my review of the CD. It's full of good math lessons with interactive exercises, printable worksheets, crossword puzzles and more.

2) I've added a free online equation editor to my site. This would be most useful for teachers or others who write math content and need images for complex symbols and math expressions.

3) Those of us who use math a lot might also enjoy a free calculator/graphing program called SpeQ Mathematics. You can type complex expressions into it, define variables to be used in later calculations, and make plots.

Cloud's Wolf armor plate papercraft

even if cloud's wolf logo look like a door knock Ithink it still look very good
the model is very easy to make. only 1 page of template. this wolf head can be seen on the shoulder pad of Cloud's armor and also in miniature version on his earrings

Jack Sparrow's Papercraft Compass

Always wanted to be a pirate like Jack Sparrow? Get ready for your own swashbuckling adventure with your very own compass. In the Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow's Compass showed what his heart most desires. With this papercraft from Disneyexperience, we give you the opportunity to create your very own papercraft model of Jack Sparrow's compass.

This papercraft is contained in a zip file which has 3 pages of parts (in pdf format) and a pdf file with illustrated instructions. This papercraft is of medium difficulty and may take a few hours to assemble. It is about 3.5" wide, 3.5" long and 1.5" high.

Have fun assembling this paper craft!

Jack Sparrow's Papercraft Compass [Disney Experience]

Inaluxe in Craft Magazine

Yay! inaluxe in Craft Magazine.  There is a double page Etsy spread with inaluxe on the lower right hand corner as etsy 'featured seller'.  

I would also like to say thank you to Jules for emailing me about this first. I had no idea, and Christina for sending a copy this way all the way from the US! Both so lovely. thank you.

Chokipeta Papercraft Car

So far we've posted the Four Swords and Wind Waker Link, a Meowth Balloon, a cat, a bird, and now another easy build from Chokipeta, a papercraft car. Most of you have requested the blue and red robot from the now defunct Graffiti Lab(choki built as well), I remember having that one saved on my paper model collection, so I'll rummage through some old back up discs over the Memorial Day weekend (travellers drive safely) and hopefully post it by next week.

Chokipeta Car [Download]

Chokipeta Bird Papercraft

Went outside the balcony for some fresh air when I noticed this bright blue bird just hanging around on one of the trees. I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures, it was kind enough to stay still for a while and do some poses before scooting out. Palm cockatoo papercraft model by Chokipeta - I believe this is one of his earlier works, dated 2002. Easy enough for beginners and for the kiddos. Have Fun!

Palm Cockatoo - [Download] [Mirror Download]

Heavenly Military Officer Papercraft - Black

Here is a set of Chinese inspired/made papercrafts, featuring different heavenly deities and soldiers. They are made by Answer Ideas Studio, their paper models are intricately designed and require no glue for assembly - they've put tabs on strategic locations to hold the papercraft together. There's over 30 models on their site that you might want to check out, but I'll be sharing showing only one today, and the rest, on the following weeks to come. Wasn't sure if the designer intended for the models head to shake a bit or I did a poor assembly, either way I've got me a bobble head papercraft. Special thanks goes out to The Rube for finding this treasure trove.

Black Officer - [Download]
Answer Ideas Studio [Site]

Mnemonic helps for multiplication tables?

...regarding my third grader. We are still slogging through learning the times tables. To liven it up, I decided to order Times Tales (I ordered the deluxe version that includes division as well).

I have read different opinions about using mnemonic devices to learn math facts. Some say that mnemonic devices actually slow the student down, and one even went as far to say it was like counting on fingers. I don't want to use Times Tales if it's going to slow her down, and I do want to make sure she knows her math facts cold.

I, myself, remember I didn't know 8x8=64 in seventh grade, and I just figured it in my head, 8+8=16, 16+16=32, 32+32=64 -- 8x8=64. I did this until I realized how slow I was and decided to commit the facts I didn't know to memory. What do you think about Times Tales and other "helps" for math facts?

Mnemonic helps in themselves are not bad. We use them all the time, in everyday life situations. You have a phone number, you divide it to 2-digit numbers, maybe remember it has successive numbers, or doubles, etc.

I once memorized a certain 4-digit pin number by dividing it to two 2-digit numbers, and remembering that the latter was 9 less than the first... but after a while I remembered it without that.

On Times Tales. It's a fine program in itself. It associates a silly story and picture with each "difficult" upper times tables fact. You've probably seen samples. I don't think it is going to hinder... Basically, if it works for your kid, let's say you will show 8 x 7 to your your kid. He will see 8 x 7 and suddenly also see the silly picture of lady eight and the character 7 driving in a car, in his mind, and remember "It's 56."

It's not too much different from using a rhyme such as "5, 6, 7, 8, fifty-six is seven times 8."

Such a program can be a confidence booster as well.

Now, for some kids it doesn't work because they don't easily remember silly stories, and then it can cause frustration. Or, they're older and don't enjoy the silly stories anymore.

All these "helps" are fine in their place, but you have to be sensitive to your child so that the mnemonic "help" does not end up being an additional burden in itself... such as if the child cannot easily remember the stories or the song or whatever the "help" is.

So it's totally up to you. Try it first with the free sample they offer on their website... and see how your child reacts.

That program is an additional resource of course, and doesn't replace studying multiplication concept itself.

Mnemonic helps for multiplication tables?

...regarding my third grader. We are still slogging through learning the times tables. To liven it up, I decided to order Times Tales (I ordered the deluxe version that includes division as well).

I have read different opinions about using mnemonic devices to learn math facts. Some say that mnemonic devices actually slow the student down, and one even went as far to say it was like counting on fingers. I don't want to use Times Tales if it's going to slow her down, and I do want to make sure she knows her math facts cold.

I, myself, remember I didn't know 8x8=64 in seventh grade, and I just figured it in my head, 8+8=16, 16+16=32, 32+32=64 -- 8x8=64. I did this until I realized how slow I was and decided to commit the facts I didn't know to memory. What do you think about Times Tales and other "helps" for math facts?

Mnemonic helps in themselves are not bad. We use them all the time, in everyday life situations. You have a phone number, you divide it to 2-digit numbers, maybe remember it has successive numbers, or doubles, etc.

I once memorized a certain 4-digit pin number by dividing it to two 2-digit numbers, and remembering that the latter was 9 less than the first... but after a while I remembered it without that.

On Times Tales. It's a fine program in itself. It associates a silly story and picture with each "difficult" upper times tables fact. You've probably seen samples. I don't think it is going to hinder... Basically, if it works for your kid, let's say you will show 8 x 7 to your your kid. He will see 8 x 7 and suddenly also see the silly picture of lady eight and the character 7 driving in a car, in his mind, and remember "It's 56."

It's not too much different from using a rhyme such as "5, 6, 7, 8, fifty-six is seven times 8."

Such a program can be a confidence booster as well.

Now, for some kids it doesn't work because they don't easily remember silly stories, and then it can cause frustration. Or, they're older and don't enjoy the silly stories anymore.

All these "helps" are fine in their place, but you have to be sensitive to your child so that the mnemonic "help" does not end up being an additional burden in itself... such as if the child cannot easily remember the stories or the song or whatever the "help" is.

So it's totally up to you. Try it first with the free sample they offer on their website... and see how your child reacts.

That program is an additional resource of course, and doesn't replace studying multiplication concept itself.

Help for house cleaning with kids

This is a special offer for May only:

Trigger Memory Systems is offering a FREE Bedroom Cleaning For Kids Clean N' Flip (a $7.95 value) if you buy either their Times Tales Deluxe OR Zone Cleaning For Kids Clean N' Flip.

Times Tales Deluxe is a collection of short stories that provides a mnemonic aid to learn the upper multiplication tables. The "Deluxe" means that the book has story/picture pages for corresponding division facts as well.

Zone Cleaning For Kids Clean N' Flip is a fun & unique system designed to help children visually and systematically work through cleaning the three main rooms of a house independently, and with ease.

Bedroom Cleaning For Kids Clean N' Flip is a sturdy, spiral bound, 8.5" X 5.5" flipchart that walks children quickly and easily through the process of cleaning their room. It takes an overwhelming process and breaks it down into simple parts. Complete a step and flip the page.

-> Buy a Times Tales Deluxe OR Zone Cleaning For Kids Clean N' Flip - and receive a free Bedroom Cleaning For Kids Clean N' Flip.

Type code FREEFLIP in comments at checkout. Offer ends May 31.

Help for house cleaning with kids

This is a special offer for May only:

Trigger Memory Systems is offering a FREE Bedroom Cleaning For Kids Clean N' Flip (a $7.95 value) if you buy either their Times Tales Deluxe OR Zone Cleaning For Kids Clean N' Flip.

Times Tales Deluxe is a collection of short stories that provides a mnemonic aid to learn the upper multiplication tables. The "Deluxe" means that the book has story/picture pages for corresponding division facts as well.

Zone Cleaning For Kids Clean N' Flip is a fun & unique system designed to help children visually and systematically work through cleaning the three main rooms of a house independently, and with ease.

Bedroom Cleaning For Kids Clean N' Flip is a sturdy, spiral bound, 8.5" X 5.5" flipchart that walks children quickly and easily through the process of cleaning their room. It takes an overwhelming process and breaks it down into simple parts. Complete a step and flip the page.

-> Buy a Times Tales Deluxe OR Zone Cleaning For Kids Clean N' Flip - and receive a free Bedroom Cleaning For Kids Clean N' Flip.

Type code FREEFLIP in comments at checkout. Offer ends May 31.

Ponygon Papercraft

Cartoon Network/Toonami import Zatch Bell! is a very popular manga series from Japan where it is known as Konjiki no Gash Bell! which is publish Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday and turned into an anime TV series by Toei Animation. The plot goes like this, every millenium (that's 1,000 years for those who care) one hundred demons known as "mamodo" go to Earth to battle to be the king of the mamodo world. Each mamodo acquires a human partner in order to use their spell books for battling other mamodos, these spell books have spells th onat only the human partner can read. When their spell book is burned, they have to return to the mamodo world, and the last mamodo standing with their spell book intact and unburnt is the new king of the mamodos. Kiyomaro Takamine is the main character and his mamodo is Gash/Zatch Bell. Our papercraft model for today is Ponygon (Umagon in JP) it's a very friendly mamodo that looks like a miniature horse and uses armor based spells. It's real name is "Schneider", but since nobody can understand it's language, Kiyo named him Ponygon. That's about the only thing I could remember about him so feel free to correct me on this one.



Ponygon Papercraft [via Mediafire]

Math Mammoth news

I've made a partnership with Scott from Softbasics to offer additional bonus software for those who buy any Math Mammoth CD product or the Blue Series download.

In essence, by buying any of the CDs, or the Blue Series download, you will also get a bundle of 7 software products (math, L&A, testing):

The Soft-Pak contains:

• Math Maker - printable worksheets/activities with answer keys.


• Math Master - same activities as Math Maker, but on-screen.


• Math User - on-screen program for solving the 900 multi-level word problems (also printable in Math Maker) with a built-in calculator.


• True/False Math Challenger - on-screen program for answering math questions that are either True or False using motivational activities. Includes math "facts" that are either true or false.


• Language Arts Master - covers spelling and reading (over 4000 words included) plus usage, writing mechanics, reading speed and recall, and a non-threatening grammar section: parts of speech, subjects and predicates, phrases and clauses, and sentence structure. Printable activities with answer keys.



• Test Maker - used to CREATE personal word lists for use in LA Master spelling and reading. Also used to create True/False and Multiple Choice activities for use in Test Master.


• Test Master - on-screen program for answering the True/False and Multiple Choice questions created in Test Maker. Any subject (geography, history, science, foreign language etc may be addressed). Printable activities as well.

See more info and screenshots.

Otherwise I've been busy preparing the complete curriculum for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade that will be sold at Winterpromise. It going slower than I thought... Well, that probably happens to many people who start new projects. You never quite anticipate all the hurdles and how much time this or that takes.

It took me a long time making the measuring / geometry section for 2nd grade. I was trying hard to think what kind of lessons would get kids familiar with inches, kilograms, pounds, milliliters, etc.

You know, I don't think you get a good feel of measuring if you don't go do it and measure! Just doing paper and pencil problems won't get you there. So I tried to think up little measuring projects and things that mothers and children can do at home, and that help the children learn about various measuring units.

Right now I'm writing something way easier, which is early multiplication lessons. In comparison, it's a breeze.

Also, I am overseeing all this translating work that's happening all around me (it seems). One person is translating the books to Spanish, another to French, and a third one is checking and fixing the layout after all those looonnng Spanish and French words are in there. You know, they don't always fit into my 'boxes', pages flow over etc.

So I'm keeping busy. Anticipate several new products in June!

Math Mammoth news

I've made a partnership with Scott from Softbasics to offer additional bonus software for those who buy any Math Mammoth CD product or the Blue Series download.

In essence, by buying any of the CDs, or the Blue Series download, you will also get a bundle of 7 software products (math, L&A, testing):

The Soft-Pak contains:

• Math Maker - printable worksheets/activities with answer keys.


• Math Master - same activities as Math Maker, but on-screen.


• Math User - on-screen program for solving the 900 multi-level word problems (also printable in Math Maker) with a built-in calculator.


• True/False Math Challenger - on-screen program for answering math questions that are either True or False using motivational activities. Includes math "facts" that are either true or false.


• Language Arts Master - covers spelling and reading (over 4000 words included) plus usage, writing mechanics, reading speed and recall, and a non-threatening grammar section: parts of speech, subjects and predicates, phrases and clauses, and sentence structure. Printable activities with answer keys.



• Test Maker - used to CREATE personal word lists for use in LA Master spelling and reading. Also used to create True/False and Multiple Choice activities for use in Test Master.


• Test Master - on-screen program for answering the True/False and Multiple Choice questions created in Test Maker. Any subject (geography, history, science, foreign language etc may be addressed). Printable activities as well.

See more info and screenshots.

Otherwise I've been busy preparing the complete curriculum for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade that will be sold at Winterpromise. It going slower than I thought... Well, that probably happens to many people who start new projects. You never quite anticipate all the hurdles and how much time this or that takes.

It took me a long time making the measuring / geometry section for 2nd grade. I was trying hard to think what kind of lessons would get kids familiar with inches, kilograms, pounds, milliliters, etc.

You know, I don't think you get a good feel of measuring if you don't go do it and measure! Just doing paper and pencil problems won't get you there. So I tried to think up little measuring projects and things that mothers and children can do at home, and that help the children learn about various measuring units.

Right now I'm writing something way easier, which is early multiplication lessons. In comparison, it's a breeze.

Also, I am overseeing all this translating work that's happening all around me (it seems). One person is translating the books to Spanish, another to French, and a third one is checking and fixing the layout after all those looonnng Spanish and French words are in there. You know, they don't always fit into my 'boxes', pages flow over etc.

So I'm keeping busy. Anticipate several new products in June!

Basic abacus as a manipulative

I didn't want to leave out one of the best manipulatives there is for grades 1-2: just a simple "school" abacus that has 10 wires and 10 beads on each wire.

I'm not talking about a Chinese or Japanese abacus with a special counting system.

I'm talking about just using this simple abacus for counting, and treating each bead as 1. You don't have to learn any of these sophisticated systems that have been in use with various abacuses. Just consider each bead being 1, period. Then you have essentially 10 tens, or a hundred, in your abacus.

And that goes a long way explaining tens and ones or 2-digit place value on 1st grade.

You can also show the child things such as similarities in
10 − 5
20 − 5
60 − 5

or let the student find sums of 2-digit numbers: 23 + 45. He can move 2 tens and 4 tens, then 3 and 5 individual pieces - so the abacus can model adding the tens and ones separately.

You can let the child explore what happens with 28 + 9.

It's better if the abacus has the first five beads colored differently from the next five, in each row, like in this silly picture.

Then the child will easily recognize 6, 7, and 8 beads without counting. Also, let's say you'd choose 6 beads on one wire and 8 on the next one. You can show how the five and five on those two wires makes ten, and some are left over.

You can also model multiplication: move for example 4 beads on each of the 5 neighboring wires and you have 5 times 4.

So this is not rocket science; it is very easy. No need to learn any new systems.

Here's a picture of an old school abacus.

Wikipedia has info on all different kinds of abaci, including this kind of usage of the school abacus.

You can browse Amazon's abacus selection here.

Basic abacus as a manipulative

I didn't want to leave out one of the best manipulatives there is for grades 1-2: just a simple "school" abacus that has 10 wires and 10 beads on each wire.

I'm not talking about a Chinese or Japanese abacus with a special counting system.

I'm talking about just using this simple abacus for counting, and treating each bead as 1. You don't have to learn any of these sophisticated systems that have been in use with various abacuses. Just consider each bead being 1, period. Then you have essentially 10 tens, or a hundred, in your abacus.

And that goes a long way explaining tens and ones or 2-digit place value on 1st grade.

You can also show the child things such as similarities in
10 − 5
20 − 5
60 − 5

or let the student find sums of 2-digit numbers: 23 + 45. He can move 2 tens and 4 tens, then 3 and 5 individual pieces - so the abacus can model adding the tens and ones separately.

You can let the child explore what happens with 28 + 9.

It's better if the abacus has the first five beads colored differently from the next five, in each row, like in this silly picture.

Then the child will easily recognize 6, 7, and 8 beads without counting. Also, let's say you'd choose 6 beads on one wire and 8 on the next one. You can show how the five and five on those two wires makes ten, and some are left over.

You can also model multiplication: move for example 4 beads on each of the 5 neighboring wires and you have 5 times 4.

So this is not rocket science; it is very easy. No need to learn any new systems.

Here's a picture of an old school abacus.

Wikipedia has info on all different kinds of abaci, including this kind of usage of the school abacus.

You can browse Amazon's abacus selection here.

Shinaneko Papercraft

We've featured a lot of dog papercraft models before and now we have a papercraft cat for all the feline lovers out there to balance things out. This "Shinaneko" is from Graffiti Labs, and one of Chokipeta's earliest works. You can also try Jiji the cat, from my previous post.

Shinaneko [Download] [Mirror Download]

Performing well below grade level

I am leading a training next week on how to introduce grade level concepts/standards when the students are performing well below grade level, and I am sure that math is going to be an issue. Any suggestions?

These are my 2 cents on teaching under-performing students.

Let's imagine we have an 8th grader performing on 3rd grade perhaps.

I would dismiss for starters geometry and measuring topics, and concentrate on this train of topics, in THIS ORDER:

addition
subtraction
multiplication
division
fractions
decimals.

... the goal being to cover the basic arithmetic up to pre-algebra.

Think of mathematics as a building. You need to have the foundation building blocks before you can go forward.

Maybe the child stopped understanding the math on 2nd grade or 3rd. We need to find the exact point after which he has not understood everything.

You can gauge this by the way by asking the child simple questions such as,

• I give you an addition 8 + 2 = 10, you give me a subtraction sentence (1st grade knowledge).


• How much do you need to add to 600 to make a thousand? (2nd grade place value)


• Draw a picture of 4 x 3 (3rd grade knowledge)


• There are 293 flowers and 145 are red. How many are not red - how do you find that? (using subtraction in finding parts)


• Draw a picture of 20 : 4. (division concept, 3rd grade)

etc.

So for such imaginary 8th grader, I'd make up a separate curriculum that goes through addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions and decimals, in this order.

A teenager can go through those topics in 1 year, and understand it all, if he wants to. Obviously you'd want to show the student the train of topics too so they know what's coming next. You'd want to motivate them that hey, in one year I can learn all this basic math. You'd want to show them how the basic topics lead to the next ones.

Addition: you'd start at adding single-digit numbers, then memorizing addition facts, then 2-digit addition, then multi-digit addition.

If the student does NOT know addition facts, then spend a week practicing them! But not in random order. Like I do in my books (Addition 1 and Subtraction 1) you need to put those facts into contexts, study them in systematic, logical fashion such as sums of 5, sums of 6, etc. (using fact families). Or, adding to 9, adding to 8, etc.

Not knowing the addition facts makes the student SLOOOOOWWWW in doing simple addition problems, and makes it hard to get into subtraction or multiplication. So it is important, even if he's on 8th grade, and it is 1st grade stuff.

On to subtraction. Cover the three situations where subtraction is used, even if it is 1st grade stuff. Cover multi-digit subtraction. Shouldn't take many weeks.

Then multiplication concept. Times tables. Multi-digit. Absolutely remember to show what principles 23 x 38 is based on (multiplying in parts). Spend several weeks here.

And so on.

In a school year's time, it absolutely is possible to cover the basic arithmetic if the student is a teenager. I just would cover it all, including 1st grade topics, to make sure to catch those points where the student "dropped" off.

Any comments anyone?

Maria Miller

Performing well below grade level

I am leading a training next week on how to introduce grade level concepts/standards when the students are performing well below grade level, and I am sure that math is going to be an issue. Any suggestions?

These are my 2 cents on teaching under-performing students.

Let's imagine we have an 8th grader performing on 3rd grade perhaps.

I would dismiss for starters geometry and measuring topics, and concentrate on this train of topics, in THIS ORDER:

addition
subtraction
multiplication
division
fractions
decimals.

... the goal being to cover the basic arithmetic up to pre-algebra.

Think of mathematics as a building. You need to have the foundation building blocks before you can go forward.

Maybe the child stopped understanding the math on 2nd grade or 3rd. We need to find the exact point after which he has not understood everything.

You can gauge this by the way by asking the child simple questions such as,

• I give you an addition 8 + 2 = 10, you give me a subtraction sentence (1st grade knowledge).


• How much do you need to add to 600 to make a thousand? (2nd grade place value)


• Draw a picture of 4 x 3 (3rd grade knowledge)


• There are 293 flowers and 145 are red. How many are not red - how do you find that? (using subtraction in finding parts)


• Draw a picture of 20 : 4. (division concept, 3rd grade)

etc.

So for such imaginary 8th grader, I'd make up a separate curriculum that goes through addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions and decimals, in this order.

A teenager can go through those topics in 1 year, and understand it all, if he wants to. Obviously you'd want to show the student the train of topics too so they know what's coming next. You'd want to motivate them that hey, in one year I can learn all this basic math. You'd want to show them how the basic topics lead to the next ones.

Addition: you'd start at adding single-digit numbers, then memorizing addition facts, then 2-digit addition, then multi-digit addition.

If the student does NOT know addition facts, then spend a week practicing them! But not in random order. Like I do in my books (Addition 1 and Subtraction 1) you need to put those facts into contexts, study them in systematic, logical fashion such as sums of 5, sums of 6, etc. (using fact families). Or, adding to 9, adding to 8, etc.

Not knowing the addition facts makes the student SLOOOOOWWWW in doing simple addition problems, and makes it hard to get into subtraction or multiplication. So it is important, even if he's on 8th grade, and it is 1st grade stuff.

On to subtraction. Cover the three situations where subtraction is used, even if it is 1st grade stuff. Cover multi-digit subtraction. Shouldn't take many weeks.

Then multiplication concept. Times tables. Multi-digit. Absolutely remember to show what principles 23 x 38 is based on (multiplying in parts). Spend several weeks here.

And so on.

In a school year's time, it absolutely is possible to cover the basic arithmetic if the student is a teenager. I just would cover it all, including 1st grade topics, to make sure to catch those points where the student "dropped" off.

Any comments anyone?

Maria Miller

New games website

Again! Games sites certainly abound on the internet.
I didn't try all the games but I liked the tangram puzzle game.

SchoolTimeGames.com - Mathematics

On their home page are links to other school subjects as well.

New games website

Again! Games sites certainly abound on the internet.
I didn't try all the games but I liked the tangram puzzle game.

SchoolTimeGames.com - Mathematics

On their home page are links to other school subjects as well.

Gunbound Dragon Papercraft

Gunbound is a free turn-based strategy game by South Korean developer Softnyx which is similar to Team17's "Worms" and is mostly played in Asian countries. The game has two opposing teams that take turns firing at each other with vehicles which they call "Mobiles", there are 18 Mobiles in total, 16 of which are available from the select screen and 2 of them are only playable via chance or luck (Dragon and Knight) - you have to choose "random" on the select screen and pray that it comes out. Today we have the rare (in-game) Gunbound Dragon papercraft model for your papercraft fix, so enjoy.

Gunbound Dragon [Download] [Download via MediaFire]

The good side of manipulatives

Update: read also Mama Squirrel's excellent blogpost on the issue; basically there is probably a balance in this, as in everything.

---

If you haven't, go pay a visit to the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives.

Lots of good stuff there!

So, why would I suddenly turn around and praise manipulatives, if I just mentioned how they're not the "ultimate thing" in math education?

It's just one of those things that can be good, if used right, in its rightful place.

Manipulatives do help students to understand concepts, initially, on a concrete level. But they shouldn't stop there. Kids need to learn to make generalizations. That is where the power of mathematics is.

For example, maybe you'd use The Base Blocks Addition to illustrate the concept of "carrying" to tens and hundreds (or "trading") in addition.

Once the student understands that, they should be able to translate their knowledge into bigger and smaller place values (including decimal addition).

So it's the age-old truth; there is balance in everything.

Or, what do you think?

The good side of manipulatives

Update: read also Mama Squirrel's excellent blogpost on the issue; basically there is probably a balance in this, as in everything.

---

If you haven't, go pay a visit to the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives.

Lots of good stuff there!

So, why would I suddenly turn around and praise manipulatives, if I just mentioned how they're not the "ultimate thing" in math education?

It's just one of those things that can be good, if used right, in its rightful place.

Manipulatives do help students to understand concepts, initially, on a concrete level. But they shouldn't stop there. Kids need to learn to make generalizations. That is where the power of mathematics is.

For example, maybe you'd use The Base Blocks Addition to illustrate the concept of "carrying" to tens and hundreds (or "trading") in addition.

Once the student understands that, they should be able to translate their knowledge into bigger and smaller place values (including decimal addition).

So it's the age-old truth; there is balance in everything.

Or, what do you think?

Meowth Balloon Papercraft

Having been released recently, Pokemon Diamondand Pokemon Pearlhas sold over 1 million copies within just five days after it was made available on stores nationwide. And now many of you have requested the papercraft models on the covers of those games, Pokemon Palkia and Dialga. I haven't found either one of them (chokipeta hasn't made one yet :), but I do have a Meowth balloon papercraft from Pokemon.jp commissioned from chokipeta - you'll have to be a member to get access to it. Fortunately for you guys, I've already uploaded it to RS for your convenience. Also, I'd like to give a warm hello to the "papercraft police", you know who you are, threatening emails won't do you any good.

Meowth Balloon [Download] [Download via Megaupload]