Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Great Interactive Math Tools: Just a Click Away

Looking for a great math site with tons of engaging activities? You owe it to your students to visit Johnnie's Math Page. Many websites offer math activities for children, but most lack math content. The links Johnnie has chosen are interesting and engaging. The layout makes it easy to find fun and interactive math games, and even a little homework help. Johnnie has conveniently organized math activities from across the web by topic. For parents and teachers, there are worksheets, as well as links to other math teaching resources.

I first became aware of the site while teaching intersession about six months ago, and sharing my SMART interactive whiteboard with a first grade teacher. Being a sixth grade teacher myself, I wondered whether or not the games would seem too juvenile for my more "sophisticated" students. I was pleasantly surprised to find many math activities perfectly suitable and extremely fun for even my most discerning brainiac. Now, my SMART board serves up great math activities to enrich my high-performing students, and remediate my struggling learners.

It's one thing to play a math game on a computer - it's just you and a mouse. But toss in the big screen of an interactive whiteboard, the audience watching, and the fact that you're standing there in front of it - it takes math gaming to a whole new level, both for the player, and the rest of the class watching. Choose from games ranging from numbers, geometry, fractions, multiplications, measurement, statistics, and probability.

Originally created in 2005, Johnnie Wilson created the site to support his math coaching work for teachers in Pajaro Valley Unified School District in California. He is presently working as a Math Curriculum Coordinator at an international school in Europe. Contact Johnnie (johnnie@jmathpage.com) if you have any suggestions for new sites, as he is always trying to make it more user friendly and comprehensive.

Thanks, Johnnie, for bringing the best of the online math games together in one, well organized website. Great fun! Keep it up!

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