Silly Bandz Activities

I have had a surprising number of searches to this blog for Silly Bandz educational activities. Searching the net did not yield a remarkable number of choices so I decided to write a blog that would provide people with a few ideas of how to substitute Silly Bandz for other manipulatives traditionally used in classroom environments.

Sorting:

Silly Bandz can be used as a substitute for other manipulatives, especially those used for sorting activities. Activities designed to teach children about sorting by attributes that have traditionally used pattern blocks or other manipulatives could use Silly Bandz. Students can sort by color, shape, size, theme, etc. While teachers and parents may initially suggest methods to sort the items, students should be encouraged to create their own sorting methods and explain them. Teachers and parents can mix sets and require them to find ways to sort the sets that combine multiple sets. This would not allow children to separate the animal set from the car set for instance. They would need to find a rule that would sort both sets under a new rule, size, color, or some other choice that would include animals and cars in the sort.

Counting:

While there are better manipulatives for counting, never discount engaging children's interest. Children enjoy Silly Bandz so using them as manipulative counters can be a means of engaging kids in math problems. This is less practical for more advanced problems, but it is a good way to get children engaged in early math in the same way some people use stickers and other picture clues.


Graphing:

Graphing can be a simple lesson with younger children or a more complicated marketing related activity with older children. Many teachers teach graphing to kids by posing a question, having children answer the question and then having the kids graph the results using a variety of methods. Posing questions about the Silly Bandz provides a variety of options. This can also work with older students by including questions that are more complicated. The students can not only create the questions, but also generate a broader group to answer the questions and present their results in proper graphing formats.

Economics:

Silly Bandz is another marketing fad. However, students in the elementary and upper grades can learn about economics from studying fads. Students can learn how they were introduced to the product, what makes some of the items more attractive than others. There are all kinds of lessons to be learned from their own buying, trading, and marketing choices. It is a great introduction to consumer and capitalistic principles. Teachers and parents who are concerned about students trading their own items can develop a classroom supply that like other manipulatives is used for lesson purposes and does not become personal property after each lesson.

Picture Credit: MG Shelton Flickr.com

Back to School Shopping 2010

I ran across this Wal-Mart vs. Target Shopping Blog entry and wanted to share it with others who may find it interesting.

The author breaks down her school supply shopping list and summarizes that Wal-Mart is only a slight winner in the contest. As someone who no longer has to buy classroom supplies, I still feel for my former colleagues and those parents who are buying. I also know there are cost conscious homeschoolers in the market. I always buy art supplies for Christmas presents at this time of year. You cannot beat the prices on markers, crayons, and colored pencils that you find now. The prices in December are far more expensive.

For those of you interested in reading her review you can find it at Have Fun Teaching.

As I find more helpful back to school information I will post it.

Picture Credit: http://morguefile.com/archive/display/189442

Massachusetts Abandons State Control of Education Standards

Wednesday, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education unanimously approved adopting the Common Core standards abandoning state control of education standards and testing.

While the press has generally ignored the consequences of this action focusing on the dollars that Massachusetts will get for submitting to the bribe, others are concerned with the effect of lowering the standards in Massachusetts. While celebrating gaining the bribes, little has been said about the costs involved with leaving the Massachusetts state standards behind. Every time Massachusetts changes its own standards, schools complain about the costs involved with updating curriculum. Often books and other materials cannot be changed across levels when topics move across grade levels. A book used to teach sixth graders is not going to be age or reading level appropriate for fourth graders and a first grade book, lacks depth for third graders. This requires districts to buy new curriculum. However, states knowing about budget issues can control when curriculum changes. When planning curriculum changes, the DOE can choose to delay implementing changes when the economy does not make changes realistic.

Now in the middle of a very bad economy, the state trades control of its standards for bribes that will not cover these curriculum changes. The bribes are a short-term cover for budget shortfalls. The next time the federal government decides to play with the core curriculum, there is no guarantee that the state will receive any money for curriculum updates.

Massachusetts has a harder curriculum than the core curriculum standards the federal government wants us to adopt. Our testing standards are also higher than those the federal government would like us to adopt. The current attitude developed from Race to the Top is why work harder if we can get more federal money doing less? Well if it were just about money, that might be a sad, but understandable attitude. However, we should be working to improve our curriculum, not making it worse. We want our children getting a better education, not decreasing their opportunities so that we are equal with what children across the country are getting. Why not reach to bring individual state standards up, not force states who have improved their education standards to decrease them to make all educational programs equally bad.

The way to improve education is not to decrease standards and to surrender state control of education to the federal government. When the federal government’s solution to improving education is to lower education standards, it is obvious something is wrong. We need to retain control of our state’s educational system.

Current MA Math Standards

Current MA English Language Arts Standards

MA History and Social Studies Standards Current

MA Science and Technology Standards Current

Federal Common Core Standards







Picture Credits: http://morguefile.com/archive/display/553967

Moonbase Alpha

NASA has released a free video game for download. The premise of the game has astronauts landing on the moon and encountering problems that need repairs. Players than have the challenge of balancing available resources, using problem solving skills to make the repairs, and limited time to make the repairs to ensure survival of the astronauts.

There are single and multiple player options and the site lists computer requirements to play. This is the closest to the moon many students may get with the severe limitations of our space program.


NASA Moonbase Alpha Game


Picture Credit: http://morguefile.com/archive/display/21379