I happen to believe that the future is clear…at some point students read books and carry their text books on computers and hand held devices. Oh wait…that’s already happening! Granted, I don’t think the electronic reading trend has caught on as quickly as some people predicted. In the mean time, Kobo is a great way to test out eReading without having to buy an expensive device. Wired has reported that, “Kobo is so far the best and most comprehensive service we have used to buy and read books, especially for non-US residents…The Kobo app puts Amazon’s rushed-out Kindle for iPhone to shame.” The New York Times has reported that “the Kobo service plans to offer 1.8 million free books from the Internet Archive and 200,000 other books starting at $9.99 and serve the European Union, Asia and the United States.”

Currently, Kobo offers 219 free ebooks. Many of the free books I first came across were romance books, but there were a number of classic books available online as well. When I tested White Fang online I was impressed with the easy-to-read online format and was particularly pleased to see that the Kobo online book worked very well with TidyRead. Kobo combined with strong>TidyRead would make it very plausible to project books on interactive white boards for group analysis in the classroom and of course students could also read books online at home if they forgot to bring home their traditional copies (as long as they have Internet access, of course). When I compared the price of books on Kobo with the price of books available on Amazon.com the Kobo pricing was comparable to Amazon.com Kindle prices.

Perhaps portable books will not become a viable trend for a while, but hey…why not take a few minutes to explore Kobo and consider whether the free books might be worth sharing with your students? What have you got to lose?

I recently received a request to find algebra resources that could be used at the 6-8 grade level. This is a challenging request for me since I have not taught algebra and will not admit to how long it has been since I took Algebra (just think….a long time ago). Still, I would like to honor this request so I have researched and posted a number of general algebra resource portals that I researched and discovered below (in no particular order). I believe these resources could be used to teach Algebra at different grade levels (in addition to grades 6-8) and could be used to spiral, differentiate, and revisit algebraic skills. As a visual learner, I especially found the video sites helpful. Please use the comment link at the bottom of this post to share your algebra-related resources…together we are so much better (especially when it comes to math)!

1. Algebra Help – a collection of lessons, calculators, and worksheets created to assist students and teachers of algebra. The site includes dozens of lessons on key algebra topics, an equation calculator, and numerous worksheets.
2. Purplemath – this portal includes beginning, intermediate, and advanced algebra topics.



3. HippoCampus Algebra – these algebra-related multimedia tutorials are simply outstanding. This is an absolutely wonderful site. I’m teaching myself algebra all over again!
4. Khan Academy – 1000+ videos on YouTube covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, chemistry, biology and finance which have been recorded by Salman Khan. This is a fantastic resource for visual learners…a definite site to share with students (or parents) who are struggling with algebra homework. The video is not professional in appearance, but the content and explanations are excellent. It’s hard to believe that one person has created and posted all these videos! I have embedded a sample below:
5. MathTV.com – this site also features 1,000 + of math and Algebra-related video tutorials. Register for a free account so you can save a playlist of videos that support lessons you are teaching. You can even select from a variety of presenters. The site also features three free online math books that will be available through June 2010. I have embedded a sample below:

   Presented by MathTV.com

6. Math.com – use the menu options on the left and the tabs across the top to select homework help and practice skills for pre-algebra and algebra topics
7. Cut the Knot – this site features several interactive mathematics activities. 75 of which are algebraic
8. Mr. Erskine’s Algebra Site – this site features a number of SMARTboard Notebook 10 files that can be used for teaching or reviewing Algebra. Please note: you must have the Notebook installed on your computer to view the files
9. Algebasics – learn and watch various algebraic problems being solved as you watch these online tutorials
10. algebrahelp.com – this site features a collection of lessons, calculators, and worksheets created to assist students and teachers of algebra
11. GeoGebra – a dynamic mathematics (free) software for all levels of education that joins arithmetic, geometry, algebra and calculus. It offers multiple representations of objects in its graphics, algebra, and spreadsheet views that are all dynamically linked
12. Coolmath Algebra -this site has a ton of really easy to follow lessons and examples that will help students, as well as material and information for those who teach Algebra

Sometime this month it is very likely that you will be celebrating your 100th school day of the year. The dates vary because of snow days, holidays, etc, but whenever you do reach the 100 day mark why not take time to celebrate? I developed a site with 100 suggested ways that you can celebrate called what else but…100 Ways to Celebrate 100 Days. Link to the site by clicking on the screenshot below.

You might also enjoy reading my past post: Celebrating My 100th Post with 100 Sites Featuring 100…