Math Game and Bubble Fun

A fun summertime activity is to play games on the computer and a great website to build math and figural/spatial skills is www.mathisfun.com.  Click on the link below to play games like Connect Four and complete Jigsaw and logic puzzles.  You can also click on the headings to learn about different math concepts.

Math is Fun website

I have also included some amazing websites (see below) with activities involving BUBBLES which always make me think of summertime and playing in the yard.  I would love to hear how your experiments go when we return to school in August!

Bubbles!
More Bubbles!
Even More Bubbles!
Last One:)

Flat Classroom Project Judging

Several years ago I was lucky enough to attend an amazing technology conference called ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education).  I learned so much about using technology when teaching (that is when I started my blog!) and I heard about a book called, The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman.  Two teachers used this book and Daniel Pinks, A Whole New Mind, as inspiration to start several projects called Flat Classroom Projects.  The basic idea for the projects is that the world is becoming "flatter" through technology and how can we connect classrooms across the globe.  I have been lucky to serve as a judge of some of these projects over the past few years and just completed judging videos made for the "NetGenEd Project" with a focus on "Tablet Computing".  Is is exciting to see how the classrooms collaborate and I hope that St. Mary's will be able to participate sometime in the future.
Check out the Flat Classroom Projects

Creative Thinking and Sand Dollars

As a follow-up to an activity that I did with Mrs. Person's class I wanted to share with you some links to information about sand dollars.  Click on them to learn some sand dollar trivia!
Animal Planet
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Sand Dollar fraction game

Seashells.org

Final Fourth Grade Book Club:(

Mrs. Moore and I will always treasure our years with our "first" St. Mary's book club!  Here are a couple of collages with photos from our recent get together on the front lawn of Moss Hall.

Happy Mother's Day and inaugural Book Club Smilebox...

I hope that all of our St. Mary's moms had as nice a Mother's Day as I did:) 
I am excited to share a Smilebox slideshow of the first meeting of the 2nd grade Book Club.  We met in the Moss Hall library to share book suggestions for great summer reads.  It was fun hearing the variety of book titles and story lines from Bad Kitty to Harry Potter to the Boxcar Children series.  We will meet again when we return to school in the fall as the Third Grade Book Club!!

Digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Reading Comprehension Apps

Math Fun, etc...

Parents you will find several tabs at the top of my blog with resources for both you and your girls.  Under the "Math" tab is a website Math Playground (www.mathplayground.com) that has several fun games in it that build math and logical thinking skills.  These games are: Penguin Jump (multiplication), Jet Ski Addition, Dolphin Dash (money), Logic building - Snail Bob, Cat Around The World, and Snoring Wild West.  I will soon be adding an "apps" tab with games that you can use to build skills during the upcoming summer months.

Also, here are a couple of fun websites that use secret codes and ciphers:
Codes
CIA codes
Ciphers
Cipher Wheel