Using Visual.ly in your maths lessons

If haven't already seen it visual.ly is the webs best collection of info graphics and basically a statisticians dream.  Visually takes any concept and breaks it down into the simplest key statistics and facts relating to thousands of topics.

As a maths teacher this offers a wealth of data to inform students and a great starting point to lead to larger mathematical questions.

For Instance the info graphic below is related to the explosion of Halloween Stores across the United States.  Take a look at this with your own students and do some of your own research in these areas to see how your students compare to the national average.  This will lead you to seek out further statistical information regarding your findings.

There are a multitude of options for using maths and writing in Visual.ly and it will really engage your students because it is current, topical and looks amazing.  Access it here.

by Column Five Media via

The Amazing Fact Generator is a great writing prompt for students

I came across the amazing fact Generator a little while back which has a great collection of both useful and useful facts.  The great thing about the amazing fact generator is that regardless of the facts being shared they generally produce a great deal of discussion with my students.  Most of the time this leads to getting students to produce some quality writing based on the fact we have just looked at.  Hope you like it - Access it here.

The 8 Elements of Effective Writing

I have created a poster based on the 8 elements of effective writing model we use at my school.  Students find them very easy to understand and really help them remain focussed on creating quality pieces of writing.  The poster can be downloaded in A3 format here.  Pop it up in your classroom and introduce it to your students.

Lesson Plan: Writing A Report

Below is a great lessson plan that informs students on how to write a report.  Enjoy

Writing a report

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Teaching the Authors Purpose

What is Author’s Purpose?

Most writing is intended to inform or explain, persuade, entertain, or describe. Critical readers can identify the author’s reasons for writing text and adjust their reading method to match the author’s purpose. When students can identify an author’s purpose for writing a text, they are better equipped to evaluate its content as they make inferences and draw conclusions.  A PDF of teaching strategies can be downloaded here that has been created by the Austin Independent Schools district with a range of teaching strategies to inform students about the authors purpose.

Merriam-Webster: Word Central

Merriam Webster's Word Central is a great place for teachers and struggleing spellers to refine their understanding of the queens language.  You can build your own custom dictionary, learn about the daily buzz-word, play some word games and find some teacher resoruces.

take a look at Word Central Here.

Funbrain Learning Arcade Games

Every student has surely come across funbrain before and played many of their great literacy and maths games.  What most people don't know is there is a speciifc math's arcade and a reading arcade full of great games.  Some of the classics from Funbrain are math baseball, the plural girls, proton don and grammar gorillas.  Enjoy

BBC Magic Key Adventures - Great Junior Literacy Resource

The magic Key Adventures are a set of interactive stories aimed at junior readers.  There are a number of of spelling, reading and writing activities associated with the magic key series that your students will really enjoy.  Furthermore there are a number of resources for teachers to get you started in the right direction.

Access the magic Key here