2 More Web Sites that are great for students

www.studyisland.com

The studyisland.com website is a great resource for any Math teacher, teaching from 2nd through 12th grade.  Overall, the site is very interactive in nature and incredibly user friendly.  In addition, not only is the site a great source for Math practice but also includes programs for English, Biology, Chemistry, Civics & Economics, US History & Geography, and World History.  As part of this, the activities are lined up with the Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum and Core Learning Goals.  Further, as expected, the activities strengthen skills that are necessary to improve MSA and HSA test scores.

A further review of the site reflects its usefulness in the classroom.  Each section of the site includes a pre-test and a post-test.  As part of this the sections include questions, answers, explanations and lessons that address specific skills that are necessary to master the subject matter, which matches the Maryland VSC and Core Learning Goals.  Further, the website provides immediate feedback to the user and the teacher.  This allows for greater differentiation in the classroom and ultimately improves student understanding.  

Overall, the site is incredibly user friendly and easy to navigate.  As part of this, the page is neatly laid out, which makes navigating from section to section very simple.  The spacing of the lettering and graphics on the page is good and visually appealing. Finally, the page is very interactive in nature adding to the ease of use.  As a teacher, I would confident providing students with exercises from this site.  It is a great resource, easy to use, and connected to the Common Core Standards.

I could use the website in the classroom in several ways.  First, since the website is accessible anywhere, students could be assigned homework on the website.  Since the site is interactive in nature students will be provided with a different mode of instruction instead of the standard text.  Additionally, I could use the program in the classroom to give the students a break from standard instruction.  From time to time, the students could be assigned time in the computer lab to complete problems.  In my opinion, this type of instruction could be very beneficial to students as long as I have a clear objective of what is required from the beginning.  Overall, the site could be an asset in the classroom.  

http://figurethis.org

The website figurethis.org was created by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, in cooperation with the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Widmeyer Communications, and the Learning First Alliance.   The mission of the website is to help families enjoy mathematics outside school through a series of fun and engaging, high-quality challenges.  As part of this, the goal of the website is to help students master higher level math concepts, and assist in problem solving, that are the key to success in work and everyday life.  Further, the website provides information, and skills training, that allows parents to assist their children with the problems presented.  

As part of this, the website presents middle school level students with challenging problems that are fun but skill building, in nature.  As part of this each problem/challenge includes a description of the important math involved, how it is used in the real world, a hint on how to begin the problem, and a solution.  Further, each problem includes a description of some fun facts related to the math concept that is being presented.  

A further review of the website reflects how easy to use and fun the problems/challenges can be.  The site is built around cartoon characters named Polygon, Tessellation, Exponent, Tangent, and Axis.   The characters present the problems/challenges and reflect the nature of the page.  Further, the site includes support materials under the Family Corner tab that assists families including sample questions to ask teachers and administrators about the school setting, information on how to prepare students for their next level of education, and suggestions on how to help with math homework.

Overall, this website could be very useful for students.  For my purposes, I could easily assign problems for the students to work at home.  Further, the students could be required to present their answers to the class.  Given the nature of the site, I believe that this would be fun and interactive for all students.  Additionally, the site provides students with problems/challenges that present real world situations.  As well, the site is very inclusive in nature for the whole family and provides parents with instructions on how they can become involved in their child’s math education.  In reality, every teacher is interested in more parent involvement.