Saturday 28 January 2012

Lucid Chart

This site allows you to create great free visuals.

Here's one which I made for my Year 5 class to learn about explorers.
I like the site because it allows a visual internet supported approach to research.

How to get over the problem of copy and paste though...any suggestions?  Just had a comment from Lucid Chart offering me help with cutting and pasting!  I meant the problem of children cutting and pasting into their presentations!  Thanks Lucid Chart for the quick response!

I also uploaded to TES - an increasingly useful site for finding a multitude of resources quickly.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Richer Tasks

It's been a long while since I last posted, oh notional reader.  But here's what I'm thinking about tonight.
As part of my Maths study I'm thinking about "Richer tasks":

  • must be accessible to everyone at the start;
  • needs to allow further challenges and be extendible;
  • should invite children to make decisions;
  • should involve children in speculating, hypothesis making and testing, proving or explaining, reflecting, interpreting;
  • should not restrict pupils from searching in other directions;
  • should promote discussion and communication;
  • should encourage originality/invention;
  • should encourage ‘what if’ and ‘what if not’ questions;
  • should have an element of surprise;
  • should be enjoyable.
Ahmed, 1987, p. 20.Better Mathematics, London, HMSO
Wouldn't it be great to have a bank of there?  NRICH is a good start.
The task centre kit site here seems another creative option for fun and inspiring maths challenges.