Free Maths Websites Suitable for Homework

The interest in maths websites which allow teachers to 'assign' a game or topic to be completed as homework or in class has grown considerably in the past year or two.  

The purpose of this post is to name some maths websites where teachers can 'add their class' and monitor their students progress as they play fun, free, educational games! 

• Prodigy Games A GUARANTEED hit with the class! This is a fantastic maths website where the children can play mathematical games against their classmates and other pupils around the globe.  FREE and very simple for teachers to use and generate a class. Teachers can assign homework tasks based on different areas of the curriculum and decide on the number of questions. Give it a go! 

• Khan Academy  Another fantastic free resource. This is slightly different to other maths websites such as prodigy maths (above), mangahigh, mathletics etc.  Children are assigned a mission to complete with a variety of maths problems and questions to complete.  The beauty of this website is that there are online videos which the children can watch to help them solve a problem if they get stuck.  The children can also work at their own pace, therefore catering for differentiation needs within the classroom.  A detailed break down of the children's success rates is available to the teacher, as well as the amount of time the child spends online and the areas in which they are struggling.  
• This is fantastic as it allows the teacher  an opportunity to pinpoint an area the child is having difficulty with and the chance to work on this.  This website is a little more fiddley to navigate and set up the class. However, bare with it! It is a wonderful tool when put in place.  

Why not give a some or all of these a go! I will keep the list updated as I make more discoveries.  Feel free to comment with others you may have found, or indeed your experience of the following examples.

Yvonne

Blog Update

I have been off the radar with my blog in recent months, but alas, I have returned from my hibernation! :P 

I received a few emails asking where photos of my previous displays have disappeared to! 

Let me explain! 

Unfortunately, I had to remove previous posts and photos as I have now moved to new teaching position in a new school. 

However, if there were any posts/displays which you were interested in, feel free to give me an email or comment and I will gladly share any details with you! 

In the meantime watch out for new displays coming soon.  Also, I often post on my class twitter account http://www.twitter.com/misswardsclass. 

In terms of the blog itself, this year I'm going to be taking a slightly different approach.   While I will still post classroom displays, I hope to also broaden the nature of the blog to demonstrate my use of active, discovery learning within my daily teaching practice. 

Finally, I hope to give readers some insight into some of the work I am currently undertaking as part  the Masters in Education and Training Management  (e-learning strand) in Dublin City University.  

This year as part of my final year thesis I hope to conduct some work in the area of mathematics and inquiry based learning.  This is an active, discovery based approach to teaching mathematics which I will be blogging about in the distant future. As I go through my journey, I hope that it may give teachers (particularly senior teachers) some ideas for their maths lessons.  

Watch this space! 

Enjoy the final week of Term 1 (where has the time gone!)  and Happy Halloween! 

Yvonne 

6th Class Novels Review - Which to choose?

This is a topic of discussion I find frequently comes up amongst Senior Teachers.   There are so many novels out there that its difficult to know which ones are most appropriate and which will capture the interest of the class.

Here I'm going to give a quick run down of four novels I used as a 6th class teacher last year.  

Some teachers take a novel a term.  However,  I found that giving a novel a four to five week timeframe was more realistic (particularly if you are just using novels as your reading programme with the class). If any other 6th class teachers have further recommendations for novels I would be delighted to hear them! Just leave a comment below! 

Book 1: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

This was such a hit with the class! A fabulous book which deals with grief, friendship, family and adventure.  I would highly recommend this book.   A nice length, some lovely characters and themes to be explored.  More suited to 6th class. There are also some fantastic online resources to support the children's study of the book. 

Just a caution!  The book may not be suitable if a child in the class has suffered a recent bereavement.  

Book 2: The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

A challenging and gripping read.  Give this novel a bit more time as it is quite lengthy.  This book would be more suited to a capable and confident sixth class. 

Being very rich in detail, this classic has fantastic opportunities for vocabulary development.   Also, a chance for children and particularly the girls in the class to explore the fantasy genre.  A big hit with the boys! 

Book 3: Holes by Louis Sachar  (WHAT A HIT!!)

This book was by FAR the biggest bit in the class.  The children loved it and couldn't get enough of it!  With some charming characters, a great plot and easy to read, I can guarantee this book will go down a storm!  This would be suitable in a 5th or 6th class.   There are also so many fantastic resources out there to use with the book.  I will link some in a future post. 

Book 4: Hagwitch by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick

I was delighted to have had the opportunity to read a book by an irish author in class last year.  The children also really enjoyed this book.  The magic, mystery and unique storyline will retain the interest of the children throughout.  This would be more suited to a capable sixth class.   The only downfall of the book is the lack of resources available to support study of the novel, so you may have to do a bit of extra planning with this one! 

Its also worth baring in mind that your local county library may have class sets of books available to loan.  Last year I was very fortunate to have the support of Celbridge Library and their librarian Aisling who was always on hand to help us source interesting books for the children.

You could stand to save your school a fortune if you're lucky enough to have this service available to you.  Definitely worth looking into!   

Yvonne