Dice Rollers

Pinterest find of the week

LOVE this idea I found on PINTEREST for rolling dice.  It will be great for my probability unit (much quieter and no more dice flying across the floor).  Gotta love pinterest  :)

Joke of the Week!

Joke of the week....

Virtual Stock Market Contest

Last semester I started a virtual stock market contest for my two sections of MBF3C.  I had heard that student's in other schools have really enjoyed this contest so I decided to give it a try.  To say that they were excited was an understatement.  The words engaged, enthusiastic, and almost obsessed come to mind!!!

From the moment class began each day, students were anxious to see the standings in the contest and would work diligently so that they could have a few minutes at the end of class to jump on the netbooks and start trading.  I had students on the website at home and actually having discussions with family members about the contest.  YES, they were talking about math class... AT HOME!!!  Amazing!

The website www.howthemarketworks.com is very user friendly and allows students to sign up with fake email addresses.  Teachers have access to all student logins (in case they forget) and are able to reset passwords.  The best part is - it's FREE!!!
I spent one class in the lab introducing students to the site and looking up:

• terms in the glossary,
• symbols for various companies,
• current prices of specific stocks,
• and finally, buying their own virtual stocks given $10,000.

I ran the contest for a month and the top three finishers were given prizes at the end of the contest.  I will definitely be running this each semester, and maybe even competing against other schools in the county.  Check it out!

Starfall.com now includes MATH

I have always been a proud supporter of Starfall.  Both of my sons learned their letter sounds and began to read with the help of this wonderful website. 

Last week, I noticed that they have expanded their website and in addition to reading, starfall now teaches math and colours.  While the phonetics and reading pages were free for everyone, most of the math pages are blocked for non-members.  The prices for membership range from $35 (home membership) to $270 (school membership).  Judging by the few pages that I can visit, I think the home membership would be worth the investment.  Starfall has always been a  brightly coloured website with cute (but simple) graphics and appealing children's voice recordings. 

In my mind, Starfall will continue to be a leading website for primary children at home and in the classroom.