NCTM Illuminations Review

I was thinking with all of the website reviews I've been doing this week I was falling into a pattern of literacy focused posts. How do you fix this situation? Well, by taking a look at the list of websites bookmarked on your computer and searching for something other than literacy.

A few weeks ago I was helping out in a First Grade classroom and learned about a kid's section of the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) site. My mother has been teaching math for about 30 years and while NCTM is a well known organization in our family, it's something that I never paid much interest to as an Early Childhood educator. Who knew it was full of easy to play, developmentally appropriate games? (Clearly, the First Grade teacher I was helping out).

A definite challenge with this site is getting to the games. The teacher I was with told her First Graders to, 'think yellow.' Following the links from the homepage with these steps:

1. Select the "Activities" button (yellow- and on top)

2. Select the "pre-k - 2" yellow stars (also on top)

3. Click the "search" button

4. You are now on the games page- pick a game. (The class I was with was directed to play a specific game).

It would be beneficial to add a link directly to the games page for that grade range to the bookmarks menu of the computers students will use. Of course, this is one of those ideas that takes the extra time we are often strapped for.

One of the games I liked was "Patch Tool." Patch Tool is a virtual play mat for pattern blocks. I would begin by using the blank canvas option for exploration and eventually moving to the "puzzle" outlines. One of the challenges to the puzzle outlines is that to complete some of the puzzles some pattern blocks require rotation.

A second game I could see myself using is "How Many Under the Shell." How Many Under the Shell is a subtraction game featuring a fun animated octopus. In this game the player is given a number of bubbles per round. After viewing the bubbles with corresponding numerals some of the bubbles become hidden by the shell, leaving the player with the remaining bubbles to count up from.

Link for Illuminations home page: http://illuminations.nctm.org/

Link for the First Grade games page: http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activities.aspx?grade=1

Check out the games and feel free to leave your thoughts on them here.

Thanks for reading!