Q: What is the area of pi?
A: pi R^2?
R: Pie are not square. Pie are round. Cornbread are square.

So I decided to resurrect some turkey jokes, sans math. I’ll admit that you may have heard some of these before. But I know some young kids who will think these are completely original – and pretty funny!

Q: What did the turkey say to the turkey hunter?
A: “Quack, quack, quack!”

Q: What did the turkey say before it was eaten?
A: Boy! I’m stuffed!

Q: Why did the Pilgrims want to sail to America in the spring?
A: Because April showers bring Mayflowers.

Q: Why did they let the turkey join the band?
A: Because he had the drumsticks

Q: Why did the turkey cross the road?
A: Because it was the chicken’s day off.

When everyone is going around the table saying what they are thankful for, say, “I’m thankful I didn’t get caught.” Then refuse to say anything more.

Q: What kind of music did the Pilgrims like?
A: Plymouth Rock

Q: Which side of the turkey has the most feathers?
A: The outside

Q: How do you keep a turkey in suspense?
A: I’ll let you know next week!

These are just a few of my favorites – but I’d love to hear your best turkey jokes!

When students play DreamBox, they can choose from a number of different adventures with a Dinosaurs theme. They can join silly Professor Pickles, Dr. Kim, Hasan, and Misha as they explore a museum and travel to the time of the dinosaurs. While they’re there, students play math lessons and earn rewards as they hunt for hiding dinosaurs, track tyrannosaurus footprints, or free a triceratops from the tar pit!

Now you can download the PDF for the next in our series of coloring pages. When you print it out, your child can “Help Professor Pickles and the gang get home in the time machine!”

The developers, designers. and teachers  at DreamBox have enjoyed creating a fun world of dino time travel for kids to explore. We hope your kids have just as much fun discovering these fanciful worlds as they learn math!

If you haven’t already, be sure to download the Adventure Park coloring page, so your kids can color Stella and her friends the colors of the rainbow.

Good luck future paleontologist!

Time is running out, so enter our Dream Big Kids Contest before it’s too late. Remember, if you’re a teacher you can enter your classroom and try to win the $1,000 cash grand prize or a 1-year free DreamBox Math Classrooms for 24 students.

Contest video spotlight

Research suggests that using virtual manipulatives can help students develop a richer understanding of concepts, even more than using physical tools, and can be particularly useful for students with language difficulties. (Read the DreamBox blog on using virtual manipulatives to teach early numeracy.)

The DreamBox open number line tool

Open Number Line: Developing Number Sense™
The interactive open number line is the most recent DreamBox Teacher Tool we’re offering to teachers for free! Teachers can use the open number line virtual manipulative within a variety of instructional contexts.

With it, you can support the development of number sense and computational fluency. For example:

• Envision numbers as the magnitude of distances on a line, as equivalent quantities, and by their proximity to landmark numbers.
• Explore operations (addition, subtraction, etc.) to support the development of various efficient strategies for computational fluency.

Since it is not attached to a specific type of problem, teachers can use it to solve a range of problems and represent students’ strategies. The virtual open number line can be used to explore mathematical ideas including counting, skip counting, addition and subtraction, and modeling situations.

For ideas on using DreamBox Learning’s open number line tool with stand-alone activities or as a supplement to an existing math curriculum, visit www.dreambox.com/teachertools/open_number_line. DreamBox also provides resources to support the professional development of teachers as they learn to incorporate the virtual manipulatives in the classroom: tutorials and suggestions for using the tools in lessons.

The Teachers of Mathematics conference was well attended by K-12 teachers and, for the primary grades in particular, by math intervention teachers who work with kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and third grade students in Kentucky. One of DreamBox Learning’s Board Certified teachers presented two sessions at the conference. The first presentation was on Best Practices for Incorporating DreamBox Learning K-2 Math Into the Classroom and the second presentation was on Using Virtual Manipulatives to Teach Early Numeracy. We loved hearing directly from teachers how they were incorporating DreamBox into their classes.

Here are a few of the great tips we heard from teachers on how they are using DreamBox in their classrooms:

• Before starting students on DreamBox, teachers are using the DreamBox sample lessons and tutorials as a group to introduce the DreamBox virtual manipulatives and math concepts, as well as to get the class excited about the program. (By the way, any teacher can use our sample lessons for free! Just go to www.dreambox.com/play_samples).
• Math intervention teachers love the ability to ‘share’ the view of their students’ progress with those students’ homeroom teachers. Students are able to play DreamBox while they’re working with the intervention teacher, as well as in their regular classroom during transition times or small group rotations—and the intervention teacher and homeroom teachers can both view student progress reports.
• Teachers love the notifications that DreamBox sends to let them know when a student is struggling with a math concept or lesson.  When teachers see a red flag for a student needs assistance they are sitting down with the student to review the concept.
• Teachers are using our full classroom view of overall progress to see at a glance the range of progress for multiple students through the kindergarten, first grade, and second grade curricula.  They are then pulling groups of students who are at a similar level of progress for small group activities and lessons.
• The Kentucky teachers we met were excited about the new free DreamBox Teacher Tools, which we introduced at the conference.  They were very interested in ideas for how they could use the manipulatives as quick games to get students back in their seats during transition times, as well as how to use the tools and lessons for in depth discussions in class about what strategies different students are using to solve equations.  Any teacher can use the free DreamBox Teacher Tools! Just go to www.dreambox.com/teachertools.

Words don’t do justice to this video. See it for yourself! And check out our “Nurse-ry” rhyme contest reminder below. Then, go take a look at the of the Dream Big contest entries and be sure to vote for your favorite to win big!

Video from kids contest

Nursery rhyme reminder

The time is running out! But don’t pout. The contest isn’t over; the judging isn’t done. Ask your kids to dream big for fun! There’s a $1,000 grand prize. But only for the dream that’s the biggest in size.

]]> http://www.dreambox.com/blog/pumpkin-math-art/feed 0 http://www.dreambox.com/blog/gobble-gobble-new-november-calendar http://www.dreambox.com/blog/gobble-gobble-new-november-calendar#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:21:25 +0000 Tracy http://www.dreambox.com/blog/?p=4101 Can you believe it’s almost November? If you can’t wait for Turkey Day, get ready with zany holidays and activities on our new November math activity calendar. We’re kicking off this month with turkey jokes and fun math activities!

Turkey jokes

Asked to write a composition entitled, “What I’m thankful for on Thanksgiving,” little Timothy wrote, “I am thankful that I’m not a turkey.”

Q: Why did the turkey cross the road?
A: It was the chicken’s day off.

Q: Why was the turkey sent to the Principal’s office?
A: He used fowl language!

Turkey math activities

There’s never a holiday from learning! If you’re a math teacher or parent, cook up some educational Thanksgiving activities and math games. Let your kids help you with recipes. Teach them how to measure and have them count out silverware for the guests. If they’re older, ask them to calculate how many pounds of turkey you will need for Thanksgiving dinner. Or have them list their favorite foods: turkey, pumpkin pie, stuffing, and come up with a budget for groceries. Then, give them pretend money and see if they could shop and stay within budget.

Download our free November calendar and fill the month with a cornucopia of cool kids activities.

When kids play DreamBox Learning K-2 Math, they explore the DreamBox Adventure Park, an amazing place where kids go on many different adventures as they solve problems and learn math! Students choose their adventures from four themes: Pirates, Pixies, Dinosaurs, and Pet Friends. The DreamBox themes, stories, and adventures were inspired by suggestions from kids who were the early DreamBox testers.

Children are shown the way to the Adventure Park by Stella – their friend and “tour guide.” When kids first begin DreamBox, Stella helps them find the key that opens the park, and introduces them to the adventure friends.

Now you can print out the first in a series of new DreamBox coloring pages, and meet “Stella and her friends in the Adventure Park!” Download the Coloring Book PDF so your kids can enjoy some coloring fun!

Would you also like to print out color posters of the DreamBox friends? You can download:

• The Pixies poster
• The Dinosaurs poster
• The Pet Friends poster
• The Pirates poster

Have fun, and watch for the other coloring pages to come from DreamBox!

Dream Big musician

Enter your big dreamer in our contest. You could win a $1,000 cash prize or a DreamBox subscription for your family or classroom. Every family that enters gets a free 1-month trial to our math game for kids in kindergarten through second grade.

At the very least, you’ll have a video time capsule for when your children grow up. By the time they get to college, they may not remember wanting to be a butterfly or Jedi  but you will. And you’ll have it all captured on video for you to remind them and laugh about! See other entries to our kids contest here. Don’t forget to vote for your favorites!

Now we’ve turned our easy-to-use virtual manipulatives into DreamBox Teacher Tools, and made them available for teachers to use free in their classrooms. If you’re a teacher with a broadband connection you can use these virtual tenframes, mathracks, and other innovative tools in large- or small-group instructional settings. With an interactive white board or projector you can help make math lessons come to life for your whole class, or just use them on a computer for smaller groups. And the DreamBox Teacher Tools are all free!

The DreamBox Numbergram™ tool

Quick Images: Identifying Amounts™
The first in the series of Teacher Tools we’ve released are the Quick Images tools, which help students conceptualize numbers as groups and investigate number relationships. For example, students can:
•    Organize and analyze visual images in mathematical ways
•    Understand spatial relationships
•    Describe patterns and shapes using number relationships and mathematical vocabulary
•    Connect visual images to their numeric representation

Using the Quick Images manipulatives are a great way to engage students in communicating their mathematical thinking while offering opportunities for students to subitize and conceptualize numbers. The ideas here can be used as stand-alone activities, as a supplement to an existing math curriculum, or incorporated into a professional development program for teachers.

The Quick Images tools include 3 different math manipulatives:

• The Numbergram™ uses dot arrangements similar to those on standard dice, familiar to many children, to encourage thinking about patterns in number relationships and support the development of spatial relationships.
• The mathrack uses 1, 2, or 10 wires with 5 red beads and 5 white beads on each wire, to help students see the quantities of 5 and 10 as a whole, supporting the use of 5s, 10s, and doubles as anchors for mathematical thinking.
  

  The 10-wire mathrack tool

• The tenframe, a 2 x 5 array on which counters are placed from left to right across the top, and then left to right across the bottom, offers additional visual support for seeing the quantities of 5 and 10 as a whole.

All three of these manipulatives support students in conceptualizing numbers as groups rather than individual objects to be counted, combining numbers to make other numbers, and investigating relationships between numbers. These relationships form the basis for efficient computation and flexible, quick recall of math facts. Click here to learn more about Quick Images: Identifying Amounts™.

DreamBox resources support professional development
When teachers access DreamBox Teacher Tools at www.dreambox.com/teachertools, they’ll also find tutorials on the manipulatives and ideas for using the tools in classroom lessons. And we provide resources that support the professional development of teachers as they learn to incorporate the virtual manipulatives, in order to support students’ mathematical learning.

After you try the DreamBox Teacher Tools, please tell us what you think and how you’re using them!

Many educators agree that “manipulatives” are among the best math teacher resources to help students visualize a concept in more concrete terms, and to link new ideas to prior knowledge. Now, with wide internet adoption, virtual manipulatives can support math learning both in and outside the classroom. Virtual manipulatives are interactive web-based representations of their physical counterparts that not only give teachers the ability to demonstrate a concept, but give students a way to manipulate the objects to construct mathematical knowledge.

A DreamBox mathrack lesson

DreamBox developed a unique set of virtual manipulatives

At DreamBox, our teachers worked closely with our software developers to create virtual manipulatives based on classroom experiences. The DreamBox virtual manipulatives, innovative tools around which all DreamBox lessons are built, were developed based on tools that have been shown by research to be most effective in teaching a concept. They help students better understand core math concepts and give them plenty of opportunities to build knowledge through direct hands-on experience. In this way, students are directly engaged in the problem-solving process, allowing them to explore new strategies, replay lessons, and reset and self-correct where necessary.

The DreamBox curriculum is aligned with the Focal Points for each grade set by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. For DreamBox Learning K-2 Math, we developed a number of different virtual manipulatives, each uniquely suited to teach the key Number and Operations Focal Points and Algebra Focal Points for each grade level. For example:

A Snap Blocks™ lesson

• The tenframe, mathrack, and Numbergram™ tools support students in conceptualizing numbers as groups rather than individual objects to be counted, combining numbers to make other numbers, and investigating relationships between numbers. These relationships form the basis for efficient computation and flexible, quick recall of math facts.
• The Snap Blocks™ tool provides a visual representation of numbers, which students can use to compare the relationship between quantities. The tool supports students to develop efficient strategies and provide an important foundation for early algebra.
• The open number line tool can be used to support a number of mathematical ideas including counting, addition and subtraction, modeling situations, and representing student strategies.

A DreamBox open number line lesson

Research supports virtual manipulatives as beneficial elementary teacher resources

Research on the use of manipulatives provides insight into the benefits of using them to support math learning. Using virtual manipulatives can help students develop a richer understanding of concepts – even more so than using physical manipulatives (Moyer, Niezgoda, & Stanley, 2005).

Virtual manipulatives can be especially advantageous for students with language difficulties, who sometimes find it difficult to explain what they’re learning in math. Virtual manipulatives can help them clarify and demonstrate their thinking to others.

Virtual manipulatives have also been shown to support math learning for students with disabilities. Like using physical manipulatives, virtual tools need to be integrated into the curriculum. When they are, they can provide guided exploration, helping students really grasp math concepts and demonstrate learning.

Pumpkin-O-Meter

After your ghastly ghoul or pretty princess reaches their quota for candy, show your children the importance of pumpkin math, and calorie counting with the Pumpkin-O-Meter presented by kidsHealth.org.

In this counting exercise, the Pumpkin-O-Meter teaches kids how each candy possesses a different caloric value. As children drag and drop the candy into the pumpkin’s mouth, they learn how much candy is too much (like eight large candy bars) all while practicing counting and addition. When they add too much candy to the pumpkin, he gets sad and candy falls out of his sides (which is the same way we feel when we eat too much candy).

Since children shouldn’t consume half their daily calories in candy, the Pumpkin-O-Meter calorie counter is also a wonderful lesson on the importance of controlling their sugar intake. As children experiment with different candy combinations they learn small candy has fewer calories than large candy, and that we should all eat candy in moderation.

Post-Halloween Neighborhood Cleanup

A fun way to promote Green Halloween is to organize a morning-after neighborhood cleanup. Gather all your friends and family the morning after Halloween and take a stroll through the neighborhood to pick up loose candy wrappers or garbage on the street.

This is a great family activity for young ones as it teaches the importance of responsibility, while providing an outlet for fresh air and exercise after all that candy. You can also turn the neighborhood cleanup into a fun counting game by awarding a prize to the child who picks up the most pieces of litter.

For more educational and fun Green Halloween ideas and activities, visit GreenHalloween.org.

Pumpkin Math Jokes

Q: If I had seven pumpkins on the one hand and eight pumpkins on the other, what would I have?
A: Big hands!

Q:  If I had five pumpkins and I gave you three, how many would I have left?
A:  I don’t know.
Q:  Why not?
A:  In our school we do all our arithmetic in apples and oranges.

Q:  What do you get if you divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern by its diameter?
A:  Pumpkin Pi!
(OK, that one’s a repeat, but it’s worth repeating)

I also have a few that have nothing to do with math, but my 6-year-old joke tester thought they were funny — and hey, it’s a Halloween, so let’s have a little fun!

Q:  How do you make a witch scratch?
A:  Just take away the W.

Q:  Why did the vampire’s lunch give her heartburn?
A:  It was a stake sandwich.

Q:  What do you call a man who gets a pumpkin pie in the face?
A:  Desserted.

Q:  What do skeletons say before eating?
A:  Bone appétit…

Q:  When is a pumpkin not a pumpkin?
A:  When you drop it; then it’s squash!

Q:  What is a Mummies’ favorite type of music?
A:  Wrap!!

Speaking of wrap,  that’s all I’ve got– until next Halloween!

Pumpkin Birthday Cake

Studies by the National Center for Health and Statistics, and Anybirthday.com both conclude the most common birthday in North America is on October 5th. The reason? Hint: New Year’s Eve.

In honor of the estimated 968,000 Americans blowing out their candles in early October, the Birthday Paradox is an interesting learning exercise to help math students grasp the probabilities of a pair.

Beware. Some of these statistics are well beyond the elementary “pumpkin math” exercises in this month’s DreamBox Learning math activities calendar, but the little ones should still be able to walk away with the general idea of how the birthday paradox works.

The birthday paradox asks the question, “what’s the probability that, in a set of randomly chosen people, will any given pair share the same birthday?” We call it a “paradox” because people have a hard time assuming someone else in the general vicinity shares the same birthday. We’re just too self centered.

In addition, our minds have a hard time computing the power of exponents (especially if our little test subjects don’t know what exponents are).

The Birthday Paradox Equation

Let’s walk through this together. First of all, we need to consider what what we’re solving for in this mess of number and letters. Our original question is “What’s the probability a pair of people will share a birthday in a group?”

To start, we need to know the size of the group. Any classroom size should work, but for this example we’re using a group size of 23. Now, we can ask “what’s the probability a pair of people will share a birthday in a group of 23 people?”

Here comes that word “paradox” again. It’s logical to assume 23 people is too small of a group to think two individuals will share the same birthday out of 365 possible days to be born. The math shows otherwise.

If you’re presenting this problem to a group that is a little green when it come to statistics, introduce the coin flipping experiment. When we flip a coin, we know it’s a 50/50 chance that a coin flip will land on tails, but how likely will a coin land on tails 10 times in a row?

You might think to divide the 50% likelihood with the 10 coin flips (.5/10), but you’d be wrong. Instead, you need to multiply the 50% likelihood to the 10^th exponent (.5^10) to equal .001 or 1/1000.

It’s a one in a thousand chance that a coin flip will land on tails ten times in a row.

Asking the question of how likely it is for two people to share a birthday in a group of 23 is just like asking, “How likely will a coin land on tails at least once in 23 coin flips?”

You’ll make your head hurt with all the possibilities. Tails can land on the 2^nd throw. Maybe on the last throw. Maybe tails hits on every odd number. You can guess it will happen, but you don’t know when.

How do we solve the coin flip problem?

You can’t think about how likely the coin will land on tails without considering how unlikely the coin will land on tails. If it’s less than a .1% chance that a coin will land on heads ten times in a row, much less 23 times in a row, then there’s a 99.9% chance a coin will land on tails at least once in 23 tries.

The trick is to subtract the chance of getting all heads from 1, and we can find the prospect of our desired outcome.

Solving the Birthday Paradox

Good, you’re still with me. Back to the problem of birthdays. Just like the coin flip, let’s ask how unlikely is it for a pair to share a birthday in a group of 23 people?

For the birthday paradox experiment, we also assume the following:

1. There are 365 days in a year (forget about those pesky leap years)
2. There are no twins in the group of 23

Start off by calculating how many pairs 23 people make. Since any one person out of 23 can make 22 different pairs, multiply 22 with the total number of people (23) and divide by the amount of people it takes to make a pair (2). This equals 253.

Now, you have to ask the question “how likely is it for a pair of people to not share a birthday in a year?” If a person’s birthday is Oct. 5th, that means their birthday occupies 1/365 of the year. We can assume someone else can be born on any of the 364 days of a 365 day year, and not share the same birthday.

Going back to the idea of coin flips, trying to find 253 different birthdays is like 253 tails flips in a row (assuming all birthdays are independent). Use the 253 as the exponent to the total non-matching birthdays (364) over the total days of the year (365):

The chance of a birthday match out of 23 people is:

1 – 49.95% = 50.05%.

It’s over 50%! Which means a group of 23 is more likely than not for two people to share a birthday.

Probability of a Pair Graph

This graph indicates the exponential growth of a probability of a pair based on the size of a group. At 57 people, the probability of a birthday match is 99%, and to reach 100%, you’ll need a group of 366 people.

Now Let’s Play!

Make this into a fun classroom activity by asking a class how likely it is that they share a birthday with someone else in the class.  You can also change the experiment.  Have the children secretly write down a number between 1 and 365, and ask them how likely is it that someone else picked the same number.

If you’d like a further explanation of the birthday paradox, BetterExplained has step-by-step instructions, as well as a birthday paradox calculator.  And if you have an October 5th birthday, comment below!

If you had fun with this October activity, check out our Pumpkin Math Activities Calendar.