Angry Birds -vs- Math

Hi, my name is Sarah, and I'm an addict.

Yes, my doctor sent me home from an appointment last Wednesday with a diagnoses of the flu (no, I did not get my flu shot) and told me I couldn't go back to work until Monday.  Well, luckily we had Monday off so over my 5 day weekend in between watching bad tv and clearing out my dvr I got even more hooked to Angry Birds.  And then I had an ephinany..  and ephifany...  and epifany...  ugh, a genius idea!

Angry Birds -vs- Math!

Our state mandated test required to graduate college is quickly approaching (30 school days and counting until the next retest for the seniors) and I need a clever way to suck the kids into doing some not so fun math.

Over break I justified hooking my 6 and a half year old nephew and four year old niece on Angry Birds by saying 1 - they aren't fighting any more and we can keep them in separate rooms this way, and 2 - they're getting exposed to physics and math already!  (And yes I started throwing things up in the air to illustrate a parabola to both of them and they got it!)

Well, if they can get the math from it then my students can get it too!!!

So I'm on a mission.  Millard's TAKS Camp: Angry Birds -vs- Math version is now in developement.

Oh yea, and TM and circle that.  I'm trade marking it  :) 

I'll let you know how it goes and I'll post it once I'm done!






PS  Maybe later I'll explain how awesome of a stress reliever it is after some of my days at work.  Not to mention how much my cats love listening to the sounds from it.

Finding Fun Math stuff

So I just went to the doctor today and found out that I have the flu (1st time I recall ever having it and I didn't know my body could ache this much without working out).

After getting lesson plans together for my substitute for my Geometry classes I realized I needed to have something that appeared fun to my Keys kids who can't solve equations, but also re-enforced their algebra skills.

I haven't found much luck with worksheets yet BUT I did find some fun math games!

If you go here there are equation solving games, problem solving games, and more. Some of my favs:

• Millionaire Game for solving equations (multi-step)
• Postman Mail This is more about substituting values into an expression but it's got a cute dog and a random old guy in a towel.
•  Mystery Picture Game 

If you know of any fun games or activities please let me know!

Oh and about that tire

Turns out that there were 4 nails in it!!! Our school has an auto tech program and the kids repaired my tire today. Whew!

I'm driving on a doughnut and there's cat pee on my bed...

Well so far this semester has been interesting, to say the least. It's only been one week, no make that 4 days and it's been a roller coaster of emotions for everyone at the school.

I know that most of this is not school or classroom related but I figured out last night that if I don't get this down in writing somehow then I will probably forget the week and this has to be one of the toughest weeks I have ever had.

I'll start at the beginning.

We get back Monday for a teacher workday and our principal is talking us through the "let's get pumped up for the story and share some positive things" regular schpeal (I have no clue how to spell that). At the end of the meeting he tells us that he has a few last things to let us know. Our new librarian, a young-well my age young-enthusiastic and awesome person had her baby Christmas Day. The down side of this is that she found out that her melanoma had spread and she had four new growths.

Also, four of our better senior boys were in an accident New Year's Day trying to help out some girls who had run out of gas in downtown Austin. They had some gas to put in their car in an open container (I know, not the smartest thing). And then someone in the cab of the truck decided to light a cigarette (again, not the smartest thing). Turns out one of the boys in the accident that was severely burned is the older brother of one of my step team girls. Two of the boys were able to get out of the car with minimal injuries, the other two have burns on 40 - 60% of their body.

On top of the not so great news when I got back in town after being home with the family for break one of my cats decided to start peeing on my bed. I have no clue why but she has even done now once on me! The comforter and pillow top mattresses are now at the dry cleaners getting washed in hopes of getting the cat pee smell out of them.

Oh and then on Wednesday after staying much later than I anticipated and getting a lot of work done I walk out to my car and notice that my hubcap looks really close to the ground. As I get closer I realize that it looks like it is on the ground! Yep, tire totally flat! Thank goodness for Roadside Assistance!

So that's pretty much everything in a nut shell so far. I hope everyone else is having a better year so far!

Trying to post from phone

My fingers are crossed that this will work since my other free app wasn't working from my phone.

What I expect of my students this semester

I started reading Work Hard Be Nice over the break and it is energizing me for the new semester. One of the teachers in the book from my hometown (H-town!) put a sign above his door when moving to a new campus that said "ALL ENTERING WILL LEARN." I couldn't help but do it too for my room with all term students that try to fight learning that I get. Here's to a new year!