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$Text Box: If you’ve never done one thing well, you are likely to avoid it. But maybe we can help you succeed in math so that you’ll stop hating it so much. You may just may begin to look forward to it. Tips for helping students enjoy math: In ESL: make up simple word problems and make them as funny as you can; read equations out loud and talk through the solutions; solve simple riddles; solve puzzles with solutions to stated problems; complete projects (models, maps, building, medicines, origami). In Family Literacy and ABE : bring kids’ homework and design ways to help them; create problems for kids to solve; all of the above. In GED: Write solutions to work problems using a step by step approach; role play professionals in occupations of interest, and have “employees” solve the challenges; time how long it takes two teams to find answers using the scientific calculator; all of the above. You can think of many more. Following are a few sample pages to provide activities so your students may have more fun instead of suffering as they learn to succeed in math. Start with the link and explore the rest of these sites. For hands-on people: http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/carvell/3dbox/- Three Dimensional Box Applet: Working With Volume— “The graph simulates a piece of paper that is 8 units by 10 units long. Drag your cursor in the top left quadrant. Dotted lines will show how much of the paper's corners will be cut. Click the "Cut and Fold" button and the paper will fold into a box.” For those who can’t get percentages: http://illuminations.nctm.org/index_d.aspx?id=249 - Conceptual Model for Solving Problems—""This article presents an alternative method that focuses on the basic concept of percent, that of "parts per hundred." A 10 x 10 grid, which is a common model for visualizing percents, is extended in the following examples to solve various types of percent." For explorers: http://www.learn-orienteering.org/ - Wonderful lesson plans for using a compass and finding your way around! For cashiers: http://www.funbrain.com/cashreg/index.html “If you get the answer correct, the amount of change is added to your piggy bank. If you get the answer wrong, the correct amount of change is subtracted from your piggy bank. The more money you get in your piggy bank, the harder the questions will get. “ For scientists: http://www.luminet.net/~wenonah/index.html "A puzzle with more than one solution. Great fun lies in discovering the various puzzle pieces and assembling them on the puzzle board in our minds. In doing so, we achieve a deep understanding of the workings of nature and the wondrous ways we have, of harmoniously interacting with Her...Your challenge then, is to assemble the puzzle pieces and build a wonderful world in which to live" For quilters, cab drivers and more: htttp://www.learner.org/teacherslab/math/geometry/shape/index.html—”We first meet geometry through shapes and their properties. The activities in this category touch upon many aspects of shape… Geometry and spatial sense are vast; developing deep understanding takes years and encompasses many subfields.” For musicians! I love this page. It plays notes to match the fraction. http://teacherlink.org/content/math/interactive/flash/rhythmtool/harmonicrhythm.html . Click on the “play” button and select how you want to hear the notes. You can have the half notes playing against the 1/3, and other options. Want oodles more? Do you or your students have a little time to search and pick? Go to Google and enter simple words to find what you want, like math games, fun math, science math, easy math, algebra in occupations, occupational math, geometry games, math riddles. Remember that if you don’t use quotes around the search words, Google will bring up any or all words. If you use quotes around the terms, Google will only find the exact term you used. I do both until I find what I want. Please remember also that I’ve created a number of integrated tasks for our adult students. To review the chart with the list of skills covered in each project, go to http://www.integratelearning.org/RT/Webtasks/webtasks.htm and scroll down the page for details. I’m taking the show on the road to Montrose, Weld County, Durango, Edwards, Alpine, and Colorado Springs. Hopefully, we’ll have some great projects to share from some of these new techies by Rendezvous time. SEE YOU AT RENDEZVOUS 2005!$

Four Corners Virtual Resource Center

ACDE.CARE/Adult Education and Family Literacy (AEFL) Service

through the Unlimited Learning Adult Education Program

Leecy Wise

http://www.swadulted.com

4cvrc@swadulted.com

970-562-4418

Volume 4 Issue 3, March 2005

“I hate math. It doesn’t make sense. I don’t know why I need that stuff. Who cares if a+b=c? I can’t memorize all those rules. Forget it. I’ll do something else.” On and on. How many groans have you heard around that much maligned term, “math?” How much have we all endured the wrath of math? Is there any hope?