Link Post: Math Sites

Teaching Sites

• khanacademy.org  online exercises from basic to advanced, math instructional videos
• mathforgrownups.com
• coolmath.com

Worksheets 

• Times tables
• Various
  

Math Games

• apples4theteacher.com
• Timez Attack - an excellent software download, available in a full feature free version and a prettied up paid version.  Covers multiplication, division, addition and subtraction 
• fantasticcontraption.com/
• mathgym.com
• Math Jeopardy for team play
• Money Counting
• mathgoodies.com

Teaching methods

• teaching montessori math
• division-using-montessori golden beeds
• making Montessori materials

Online Quizzes 

• That Quiz

Tools

• Calculator and conversions
• Graph creator  cool way to graph and print out your data
• wolframalpha.com  "a computational knowledge engine"  - hard to explain, you'll have to try it out

Systems and Lesson Plans

• mathgoodies.com
• Sample math curriculum
• Lego Mindstorms
• Mindstorms store - middle school
• Area and Perimeter Lesson plan

Curricula

• Math You See
• Singapore Math
• Touch Math

Theme for the Day: Fractals

Remember my earlier post on fractals?   Well, I'm truly hopeless at this point, so I need to share my obsession.

So what are fractals anyway?

Wiki says:  a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole, a property called self-similarity.

Well (for the non math people like me) that basically that means layers of repeated shapes that can be calculated by a formula.  But you don't need a formula to enjoy them.  Check these out:

• Fractals in nature and even in the garden 
• Fractal art gallery on Cool Math
• Also check out the wiki link for some lovely examples

Ready to make your own?  Try these cool (free!) online generators:

• "Snowflake" style - design your fractal with five straight lines
• Cool Math has five
• Easy Fractal Generator lets you draw a Julia or Mandelbrot set (or a custom one if you are mathematically inclined) and lets you export your finished work to a file for printing.  Nice.
• This generator is similar to the snowflake one above but lets you overlap fractals and export the finished work
• Sierpinski Triangle

Hands on and fun links for the younger kids:

• this pbskids.org    project 
• The fractal foundation project
• Sierpinski Triangle color page
• Sierpinski carpet (cubes) color page
• Sierpinski gear (circles) color page
• A youtube.com search for "fractals" will give hundreds of results
• Fractal your dinner with the unusual  Romanesco cauliflower (see the details here - scroll down)
• Fractal cookies!  (Okay - a brave parent will have to help with this)
• Fractals in clay  (again better to stick with fewer iterations- repeats- with the little ones)

For the older kids and the lesson planners:

• pbs.org has a wonderful fractal lesson from Nova episodes including:
• A generator
• An article on Benoit Mandlebrot
• A fractal lesson that includes an interactive and a   discussion of fractals 
• A working video link to an interesting story about fractal analysis of tapestries
• You might notice the link to the Nova episode Hunting the Hidden Dimensions which is no longer available on PBS.org.  It is available for free on Hulu however. 

• Hoagies has some recc'd some interesting sites also.

Downloads

• A caltech worksheet for the Sierpenski Triangle. Notice! This is a word doc that will want to immediately download.
• A PDF worksheet on fractal math from fractalmath.com, advanced HighSchool+
• A PDF worksheet from Randoff College for grades 5-8
• Open Source software to download. Note: I have not trialed, so use at your own risk.
• A trial copy of (not-free) fractal software. Note:  I have not trialed, so use at your own risk.

Link post: Educational Videos

My son always does better with multi-sensory learning.  We've found that videos that go with our lessons are always helpful for his understanding of concepts.   I've found several sites that host usual educational videos.  Of all of these resources are free.

• How Stuff Works All subjects for kids to adults
• Khan Academy math videos and math exercises
• Hulu Science & Tech channel  various
• Hulu Documentary channel various
• PBS Video all subjects
• PBSkids.org Videos for younger kids, videos based on PBS shows 
• PBS Parents channel
• National Geographic Kids nature videos for kids
• National Geographic video nature and science for general audiences
• Watch-Know-Learn a directory of educational videos from around the web 
• Periodic Videos periodic table elements videos
• Teachertube.com  videos produced by teachers and students uploaded for class use
• Neok12.com all subjects all grade levels
• Snagfilms.com/  all subjects, can search by subject or grade level

Link Post: Art

Here are my favorite sites to get a quick idea (or not so quick) for a project:

• Familyfun.go.com
• Instructables.com  a lot random things here (not all kid friendly!) so be sure to use the sidebar categories
• marthastewart.com/
• nickjr.com for the younger set naturally
• dltk-kids.com  mostly for younger kids.  (I mainly use this site for my Sunday school class)
• familycrafts.about.com
• bhg.com (Better Homes and Gardens)
• Amazingmoms.com
• kidscraftweekly.com 
• tlc.howstuffworks.com
• craftingagreenworld.com  not specifically aimed at kids, but has a lot of interesting recycled craft ideas
• planetpals.com recycled crafting
• michaels.com

Other sites:

• This family of bloggers showcases the amazing projects they do with their kids: .filthwizardry and fangletronics.  If you are handy you might be able to use some of their ideas.

Link Post 1: Printables

I *love* printables.  Probably too much.  But I'm so unhappy with the textbooks, I've been searching them out with a vengeance.  I'm not fond of blogs that spread things everywhere, so I'll probably make this my central printables zone, updating as I find new things.  If I do make a separate post, I'll do my best to link it back to this one.



Flash cards:

• Quizlet

Worksheets

• printables4kids.com Math and puzzles for younger kids
• Dadsworksheets.com huge number of Math sheets for grade school to middle school  - linked to tricks for learning to multiplication tables page
• superteacherworksheets.com all subjects grades k-5 plus teacher tools
• freeology.com large variety, I mostly use it for the graphic organizers
• abcteach.com a variety including foreign lang and ASL, free and membership (fee) levels
• vrml.k12.la.us Huge list of graphic organizers all levels
• softschools.com/ variety

Puzzles, Quizzes, Word searches etc, generator

• puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com  Word search
• http://www.softschools.com/math custom division sheet 
• http://worksheets.theteacherscorner.net/ all subjects lots of generators

Motor Skills

• Handwriting without Tears
• handwritingworksheets.com  make your own practice pages

Art:

• Canon Printable projects
• www.coloringcastle.com/ color pages

Other:

• incompetech.com  print specialized graph and writing paper -covered in ads so watch where you click
• Instant Display Wall headers and posters typically seen classrooms many free but not all.
• thehomeschoolmom.com Teacher resources, ad heavy
• cherylsigmon.com teacher resources
• chartjungle.com Charts
• learninga-z.com Animal trading cards