Who doesn't know about that famous Abbott and Costello skit "Who's On First?" We've heard it, or tried to repeat it, many times in our lives. Did you know that it was first a part of their stage act and then was featured in the 1945 movie, "The Naughty Nineties"? It is a classic! We get caught up in the tongue-twister-like dialogue, but it does illustrate a very elemental math concept: ordinal numbers. Wouldn't it be fun for students to watch the short clip when learning about ordinal numbers?
Mathematics in Movies
Today's site was shared with me by @maggiev, a fellow Twitterer. The site has several short movie clips that deal with mathematics. Mathematics in Movies was created by Oliver Knill, from Harvard University. His site says that he will continue to add movie clips as he finds them. What a fun way to introduce a new math concept, or to spur a math journal entry. Thanks Oliver and @maggiev for this awesome site!
February 26, 2009
February 25, 2009
Sickly Sweet Romantic Crap
I love the old television series Seinfeld. I love the themes of love, acts of kindness, humanity and humility that are portrayed each week by the characters Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer. Take, for example, this episode where Jerry shows his affection for his girlfriend by calling her a pet name.
How sweet is that? I looked up the word shmoop, sometimes spelled schmoop, on the Urban Dictionary site. It defines it as
If you don't have schmoop in your life, watch some Seinfeld and feel the love.
OR!
Shmoop
OK, this is one of the coolest sites I have seen all week, if not all month! I feel much shmoop about (towards?) it. Shmoop is a beta site put together by PhD and Masters students at Berkley, Stanford, Yale and Harvard that offers wonderful help for middle/high school students to make a lot of sense of what their literature and history teachers are trying to teach them. At Shmoop, students can get help figuring out what to write on a paper, read summaries of those great literature titles they are asked to read, get an overview of a historical period is a concise, understandable way. Some really good poems are covered too, if you are a lover of poetry, or need to analyze a poem for an assignment. There is already a lot to choose from, but being so new, they have many topics/books/poems in the works. Check out all the shmoopiness and fall in love with literature and history!
How sweet is that? I looked up the word shmoop, sometimes spelled schmoop, on the Urban Dictionary site. It defines it as
Lurve. Sickly sweet romantic crap.
To be schmoopy is to make others vomit with your cavity inducing displays of affection. To want schmoop is normal, don't be alarmed. Submit.
If you don't have schmoop in your life, watch some Seinfeld and feel the love.
OR!
Shmoop
OK, this is one of the coolest sites I have seen all week, if not all month! I feel much shmoop about (towards?) it. Shmoop is a beta site put together by PhD and Masters students at Berkley, Stanford, Yale and Harvard that offers wonderful help for middle/high school students to make a lot of sense of what their literature and history teachers are trying to teach them. At Shmoop, students can get help figuring out what to write on a paper, read summaries of those great literature titles they are asked to read, get an overview of a historical period is a concise, understandable way. Some really good poems are covered too, if you are a lover of poetry, or need to analyze a poem for an assignment. There is already a lot to choose from, but being so new, they have many topics/books/poems in the works. Check out all the shmoopiness and fall in love with literature and history!
February 16, 2009
Telephone: The Game
Remember that game you used to play called "Telephone" in which you would whisper something in someone's ear, then have them whisper what they heard in the next person's ear and so on until the last person had to state out loud the message they heard? The fun of the game was in laughing at how garbled the original message became. When my grandma was alive, it was like playing that game every time you had a conversation with her. Her hearing had gotten so bad that she often repeated what she thought you said, and most times, it wasn't even close to what you said. Luckily she had a great sense of humor and we could laugh about all of her "mishears".
Dial2Do
Dial2Do is a service that will help you with a plethora of tasks. Register for a free account, call the telephone number given and simply tell the automated voice what you would like to do. When I was trying it out, I decided I wanted the service to add an event to my google calendar. I dialed the number, said "calendar" and named the event, time and date. The service added the event to my calendar! Ok, it wasn't that simple. My son was sitting with me when I was trying it out, so for the event, I said, "kick Derek's butt". What showed up on my calendar was "pick derick butt". For most events and purposes, I think I would know what "pick derick butt" meant. However, if I am creating an event far into the future, I might just want to go to my calendar and add it.
Other features include sending texts, sending or listening to emails, listening to the weather in a chosen area, creating a twitter or other blog post, sending yourself reminders, and much more!
Dial2Do
Dial2Do is a service that will help you with a plethora of tasks. Register for a free account, call the telephone number given and simply tell the automated voice what you would like to do. When I was trying it out, I decided I wanted the service to add an event to my google calendar. I dialed the number, said "calendar" and named the event, time and date. The service added the event to my calendar! Ok, it wasn't that simple. My son was sitting with me when I was trying it out, so for the event, I said, "kick Derek's butt". What showed up on my calendar was "pick derick butt". For most events and purposes, I think I would know what "pick derick butt" meant. However, if I am creating an event far into the future, I might just want to go to my calendar and add it.
Other features include sending texts, sending or listening to emails, listening to the weather in a chosen area, creating a twitter or other blog post, sending yourself reminders, and much more!
Four Contests - Pt. II
So how many of you are coming back because of yesterday's teaser? Hopefully you just want to know what the other two contests are, but if you are truly interested in what (significant) contests (ok, maybe they should be qualified as sweepstakes)I have entered and won then DON'T skip to the bottom.
The first big contest I entered and won was back in 1992. A local travel agency was promoting the 20th anniversary of Disney's Epcot center. My daughter, who was 5 then, and I were planning a trip to Denver for a wedding. We stopped in the travel agency to discuss the Denver trip. While there, I quickly signed up for the "grand prize" which was a trip to Disney World. Now for the witty part of the story: After we left, I told my daughter that I was sure we were going to win, because I wrote "Pick me" on the entry form. She asked me if I also put "please" because that was the polite thing to do. Of course I hadn't, but knew we weren't going to win anyway. We continued with our errands for the day and then went home.
Once home, my husband told me that the travel agency called and said they had my "travel certificates" and that I was supposed to call back. He didn't know anything else. I told him that I think I had won a contest and he told me I was crazy.
Well, I did win that contest, but for some reason, he still calls me crazy once in awhile!
The second contest I won was a lot bigger than the one I entered at the travel agency. This contest was a part of a cruise I took to Alaska last summer. The cruise line had teamed up with Alaskan Brewing Co. in Juneau to offer a fishing trip to Alaska. We went on the cruise in June, and I submitted my entry not long after we got back. Four days after Christmas, I was notified that I was the grand prize winner!
I had really forgotten all about the contest, and had only entered because they were sending t-shirts to all entrants. I do remember writing "pick me" on the entry form, as I now do on all entry forms since 1992. My hubby and I are looking forward to our Alaskan fishing trip this summer and also to enjoying an Alaskan beer or two!
World Math Day Video Challenge
The World Math Day Video Challenge is a contest for students in grades 3-8 to create a video for World Math Day. Entrants upload their video to TeacherTube to be voted on by friends, family and the world. Contest rules here, and videos must be uploaded by February 20th, so hurry up folks!
Winning Ideas Contest 2008-2009
Here is an ongoing contest for teachers that is easy to enter. Each month Scholastic gives teachers the opportunity to share their best teaching ideas with others through their Winning Ideas Contest. Simply share an idea from the month's topic. If your idea is considered the best one, you win $50 in Scholastic products. Easy-peasy!
The first big contest I entered and won was back in 1992. A local travel agency was promoting the 20th anniversary of Disney's Epcot center. My daughter, who was 5 then, and I were planning a trip to Denver for a wedding. We stopped in the travel agency to discuss the Denver trip. While there, I quickly signed up for the "grand prize" which was a trip to Disney World. Now for the witty part of the story: After we left, I told my daughter that I was sure we were going to win, because I wrote "Pick me" on the entry form. She asked me if I also put "please" because that was the polite thing to do. Of course I hadn't, but knew we weren't going to win anyway. We continued with our errands for the day and then went home.
Once home, my husband told me that the travel agency called and said they had my "travel certificates" and that I was supposed to call back. He didn't know anything else. I told him that I think I had won a contest and he told me I was crazy.
Well, I did win that contest, but for some reason, he still calls me crazy once in awhile!
The second contest I won was a lot bigger than the one I entered at the travel agency. This contest was a part of a cruise I took to Alaska last summer. The cruise line had teamed up with Alaskan Brewing Co. in Juneau to offer a fishing trip to Alaska. We went on the cruise in June, and I submitted my entry not long after we got back. Four days after Christmas, I was notified that I was the grand prize winner!
I had really forgotten all about the contest, and had only entered because they were sending t-shirts to all entrants. I do remember writing "pick me" on the entry form, as I now do on all entry forms since 1992. My hubby and I are looking forward to our Alaskan fishing trip this summer and also to enjoying an Alaskan beer or two!
World Math Day Video Challenge
The World Math Day Video Challenge is a contest for students in grades 3-8 to create a video for World Math Day. Entrants upload their video to TeacherTube to be voted on by friends, family and the world. Contest rules here, and videos must be uploaded by February 20th, so hurry up folks!
Winning Ideas Contest 2008-2009
Here is an ongoing contest for teachers that is easy to enter. Each month Scholastic gives teachers the opportunity to share their best teaching ideas with others through their Winning Ideas Contest. Simply share an idea from the month's topic. If your idea is considered the best one, you win $50 in Scholastic products. Easy-peasy!
Four Contests
It has been way too long since my last post. I have no excuse other than that I find it hard to do this part of my post, the writing a witty, insightful narrative, before sharing a cool resource or two. Therefore, I have made the executive decision to not feel guilt about not feeling witty or insightful. I am committing to sharing resources even if my brain is set to dull mode.
Kudos to my favorite bloggers who seem to always have something relevant, if not entertaining to say. Double points to those of you who make me think or laugh. I can only aspire to become a part of your class some day!
Today I am sharing two of four contests that I have learned about recently. Tomorrow, I will share the other two. (Aha! I have already found a way to post twice this week without having to turn my brain on overdrive!) One of the contests is for students, two are for teachers, and one is for anybody. The deadline is quickly approaching for a couple, so speed is of the essence, if you are interested.
Doodle 4 Google
This contest, which is promoted by Google, is for students in grades K-12. Students simply design a Google logo that matches the contest's theme "What I Wish for the World". A teacher must register their school in order for students to compete. Check out all the rules on the site. A few students from my school participated last year. None of them won, but it was fun for them and an easy assignment for the art teacher! Schools must be registered by March 17, so don't delay!
SAT Vocab Contest
The folks over at BrainyFlix have created a contest to teach vocabulary from the SAT test. This fun contest has entrants creating videos that teach SAT vocabulary words. This contest is open to anyone, but would be a great assignment for middle or high school students. The best part - the prize money goes to a middle or high school of the winner's choice! The contest is open for submissions until March 16, 2009....hurry!!!!!
Teaser for tomorrow: two more fabulous contests to enter, and the two contests that this blog author has won!
Kudos to my favorite bloggers who seem to always have something relevant, if not entertaining to say. Double points to those of you who make me think or laugh. I can only aspire to become a part of your class some day!
Today I am sharing two of four contests that I have learned about recently. Tomorrow, I will share the other two. (Aha! I have already found a way to post twice this week without having to turn my brain on overdrive!) One of the contests is for students, two are for teachers, and one is for anybody. The deadline is quickly approaching for a couple, so speed is of the essence, if you are interested.
Doodle 4 Google
This contest, which is promoted by Google, is for students in grades K-12. Students simply design a Google logo that matches the contest's theme "What I Wish for the World". A teacher must register their school in order for students to compete. Check out all the rules on the site. A few students from my school participated last year. None of them won, but it was fun for them and an easy assignment for the art teacher! Schools must be registered by March 17, so don't delay!
SAT Vocab Contest
The folks over at BrainyFlix have created a contest to teach vocabulary from the SAT test. This fun contest has entrants creating videos that teach SAT vocabulary words. This contest is open to anyone, but would be a great assignment for middle or high school students. The best part - the prize money goes to a middle or high school of the winner's choice! The contest is open for submissions until March 16, 2009....hurry!!!!!
Teaser for tomorrow: two more fabulous contests to enter, and the two contests that this blog author has won!
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