Wednesday, 5 March 2008

Happy World Maths Day!

All classes at my school for the past 2 weeks have been participating in trialing Live Mathletics to celebrate World Maths Day (today - 5th March).

It has been a huge success with my class and definitely a favourite. The children have loved having their own log on names and passwords (although with 5 & 6 year olds logging in has proved testing at times)... but mostly they have loved playing against children from other countries.... Spain, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom to name just a few.

It has brought out the competitive side in most students and really challenged them to race against the clock to improve their maths basic facts.

In the past few weeks we have had students playing both at home and at school. Marnie in Auckland is my personal Mathletics expert as she has been using the entire programme in her mainly year 2 classroom during 2007. Our decision now is do we want to continue with the programme as a school, or just offer it to families...

Here are some thoughts on Live Mathletics from the 5 & 6 year old in my class.
You can view them on the embedded slideshare below or click here.



Happy World Maths Day to you all :)

12 comments:

  1. Hi Rachel!
    Mathletics is definately fun! My kids loved it last year (we did a 3 wk trial). If you are interested in my feed back have a look at www.lietze.edublogs.org
    I see lots of positives but also some issues to think about. I have discussed these with Yvonne. However do read my comments carefully as I understand they have updated the Mathletics program a bit.
    Spot you around girl.
    J

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rachel, World Maths Day was fun but we really ran the gauntlet by using wireless laptops with my class. I'm also not sure if we were on at the busiest time of day but there were a few problems getting the avatars up and running. Some kids figured that being in a direct line of sight with the wireless point would be to their advantage. Strangely enough, they experienced the most success - and one of my students bested their New Zealand opponent in a close tussle!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy world maths day to you too. Can you believe it - of all days it was our cluster lead teacher day so I had to miss world maths day. Hopefully my reliever put the kids on Mathletics but I was disappointed not to be there...
    Great to see you back online - looking forward to you sending me links for your new class blogs!!!
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rachel,
    I am a kindergarten teacher in Florida where I have come to learn about World Maths Day through my 12 year old middle school child. She has been hooked on World Maths Day. She loved competing against children all over the world. What a great opportunity for kids to have fun doing math! Thanks for sharing your personal experience with us.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think it is an awesome idea to be able to celebrate Worlds Math Day. I am in the process of becoming a math teacher and it sounds like the students enjoy being able to compete with other students around the world. It is also a wonderful way of making sure the students have fun while working on what they are learning. It would be good to implement in my classroom because it would help the students not only interact with students from different cultures, but also be able to take a break from the same daily schedule. It is great to know that there are others that share my enjoyment of math!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is exactly what I was looking for! I scan educational blogs and read about things such as wiki spaces, twitter, and blogmeister. It’s great that internet technology is playing a more active role in students’ education but I’m always stuck wondering, “What about math?” How can math be represented the same way group discussions and collaborative thinking are on the internet? This website is the answer! After viewing your slideshow with the student responses as well as watching videos on www.mathletics.com with more student responses it is clear that they enjoy this game and it sparks their interest in learning and that, as current and prospective educators, is all we can ask for.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is exactly what I was looking for! I scan educational blogs and read about things such as wiki spaces, twitter, and blogmeister. It’s great that internet technology is playing a more active role in students’ education but I’m always stuck wondering, “What about math?” How can math be represented the same way group discussions and collaborative thinking are on the internet? This website is the answer! After viewing your slideshow with the student responses as well as watching videos on www.mathletics.com with more student responses it is clear that they enjoy this game and it sparks their interest in learning and that, as current and prospective educators, is all we can ask for.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Rachel

    My Year 6/7 students loved World Maths Day. They were so enthusiastic and loved the challenge of playing against others from other countries. Bonus! - we've just found out that we've won a Mathletics licence for our class for the rest of the year!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Mathletics is great. I had the opportunity to trial it last year, and this year all our Year 4 - 6 classes have it. The kids love it, and I can set tasks for them to do before they are allowed to do the live games. The results can be printed out, and they are rewarded with credits to add to their avatars. I also use it as a teaching tool with my Smartboard, as the methods are animated in a support function.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello Rachel and class,
    We played against you on world math day. We are from Michigan in the US. The web site didn't work here on the actual day-but it was fun to practice in the weeks ahead!

    ReplyDelete
  11. It is amazing how technology can connect students and helping them learn from each other. Being born and raise in Iran, we did not have this type of luxury. We learned in a very structure and tough atmosphere. It was a one way communication classroom teaching. Even challenging our teacher was a big no.

    Being able to build this communication source to exchange knowledge is superior, interesting, and interactive. If I had the luxury then, I am sure math would have been my favorite subject.

    Maryam M

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi- at the risk of sounding out of touch I must, in my defense introduce myself as a New Zealand Kindergarten teacher ( 3 and 4 year old children). I recall my own children being offered mathletics at secondary level... but confess to being ignorant.Is it only an on line resource and school bound? Ann- Wellington

    ReplyDelete

THANKS for taking the time to leave me a comment. I genuinely appreciate each and every one of them :)