Math Technology in the Classroom Week 11

Hi Everyone,

Katic (2015)©. Burlington Festival of Lights.

It's that time of year when I am really getting into the holiday spirit! I seriously can't seem to get enough hot chocolate by the fire, baking holiday treats or attending as many hockey games as possible (being a student and all). More than anything though, I absolutely love snow, and what makes for a better study break then getting outside to enjoy the lights and snow? If you're looking to get into the holiday spirit too, I would highly recommend the Burlington Festival of Lights, it's a great way to spread the holiday joy of this season and spend time with family and friends! The photo to the right is one I had to include from the Festival of Lights, and while the snowflakes didn't really show up in the photo, it really puts me in the holiday spirit!

Bugs and Bunnies, App.

Anyways, before I go on a tangent about the holidays - because believe me I definitely can - I will discuss the topic for this final math blog post. The topic that was discussed this week in class is technology in the classroom. For this week, there is not a specific chapter in the Small textbook that discusses the importance of incorporating math technology in the classroom, however, technology is something that can be included into every single math unit, it just depends how it is used. For example, the app called Bugs and Bunnies is a unique collection of activities and games that are educational and fun. The user can explore a variety of games that focus on a multitude of mathematical learning strategies, including fine motors skills, memory, classification, counting, tracking and geometry.

Jacqui (2015). ProdigyGame.com

Going off of this concept, one of my classmates Katie Morgan did a great presentation on the Prodigy Math Game. This game is amazing, because unlike other math games, there are over 900 Ontario-aligned skills for the Primary, Junior and Intermediate grades. This game ensures that each student is successful at their own pace, it is free for teachers to use and they get online reporting of what their students are performing correctly and which areas they need to have further instruction on. The format of the game is really eye-catching, and the students are so focused on the competition and winning, they forget they're learning new math material. As students are playing Prodigy, depending on their answers, the difficulty of the questions is increased or decreased, and there are manipulatives offered for many lessons if the student is progressing with difficulty. Setting up an account is really straight-forward, and potentially the best feature of this game is that the teacher doesn't have to be an expert on the game, there are very straight forward instructions and helpful tips throughout. The only downfall of the game is that it prompts the players to upgrade to the Premium version, so this is something that will need to be addressed to the students to not go through with, as there is no educational impact on the Premium versus free versions of the game. For me, as an emerging educator, there are so many benefits for using Prodigy in the classroom, and I hope that after exploring this great resource, other emerging educators will feel the same way!

So there is is, eleven weeks of informative, self-reflexive blog posts that have hopefully helped other emerging educators with the ideas, games and concepts I have written about. This Part 1 Mathematics J/I course has been an interesting experience, and after learning so many strategies, I can only hope that everyone else is as excited as I am to start their Block this January. See everyone in the New Year, and have a safe and happy holiday season.

Kreative Eye Blog (2014). Happy Holidays.

References 
Burlington (2015). Burlington Festival of Lights. Retrieved http://burlingtonfestivaloflights.com/ 
Kreative Eye Blog (2014). Happy Holidays. Retrieved http://www.kreativeeyedesign.com/happy-holidays/
Ontario. (2005). The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8. (6th Ed). Toronto: Ontario, Ministry of Education. 
Prodigy (2015). Prodigy Math Game. Retrieved https://www.prodigygame.com/ 
Jacqui (2015). Website Review: ProdigyGame.com. Retrieved http://askatechteacher.com/2015/02/16/website-review-prodigy-game/
Small, M. (2013). Making Math Meaningful to Canadian Students, K-8. (2nd Ed.) Nelson Education. Toronto: Canada.