News

July News In this edition of the News you will find:   Helen's Success   New Release: Task Library   Term 3 Task Sale!   Tasks of the Month Task 177, Making Fractions 2 Task 199, Making Fractions 3 Task 222, Making Fractions 1 Please feel free to distribute this information.

Email News Services If you would like to subscribe please send an email request to: doug@blackdouglas.com.au: In the subject line write Subscribe Maths. In the body of message state which divisions you want to subscribe to, or simply write Subscribe All. Add your name and preferred email address. Update messages are sent from: Mathematics Centre monthly Calculating Changes bi-monthly Maths300 occasionally Working with Mathematics Centre will help you find your way around our site Browsing Hint Use the View/Zoom options of your browser to 'move' the page closer or further away. Ctrl +, Ctrl - and Ctrl 0.

• Helen's Success

  Helen Drummond teaches at West Chiltington School, UK. She recently asked to be added to all our eNews lists and commented:

  A colleague working for the West Sussex, UK advisory team mentioned how she used to use your task cameos when she was in the classroom and after a peek I was completely hooked! I teach UK Year 5 (9-10 year olds) and have used your ideas very many times and in particular the notion of 'being a mathematician' - so simple but so effective!

  As emails continued to flow between us Helen discovered that 'just down the road' in Crawley, St. Margaret's C. of E. Primary School had just received their task order. Last heard from, Helen was rushing off to give them a call. Could be a small network developing there in West Sussex.

• New Release: Task Library

  A school without tasks is like a school without books.

  • Students investigate books to explore literature and develop language concepts and skills in context.
  • Students investigate tasks to explore mathematics and develop mathematical concepts and skills in context.
  • Teachers select one book as a whole class literature adventure to challenge and extend students.
  • Teachers select one task as a whole class mathematical adventure to model working like a mathematician.

Now you can see each of our 241 tasks displayed in our new Task Library and every photo is linked to its Task Cameo.

The Task Library also has a link to Task Cameo Content Finder to help you find tasks by content. See Link List below.

• Term 3 Task Sale!

  To celebrate the release of Task Library we are having a ...

  20% DISCOUNT on all Tasks & Maths With Attitude throughout Term 3 Offer applies to orders received before Friday 20th September - freight added -

• Tasks of the Month
  Three new cameos this month.
  • Making Fractions 1, 2 & 3 are a family with varying levels of difficulty. All are constructed around value relations - that is, using a set of shapes that are fractionally related to each other, setting one of them, any one, not just the largest, as the whole with a value of 1 and seeking the related values of the other shapes.
    • MF2 involves a whole from which halves, quarters, eighths and sixteenths have been made.
    • MF3 involves a whole from which halves, thirds, quarters, sixths and twelfths have been made.
    • MF1 involves a whole from which quarters, fifths, eighths and ninths have been made.
    An additional challenge is offered in each task by assigning the value of $1 to the whole and introducing discussion of money and decimals.
  The Task Cameo Content Finder has been updated to include these tasks.

           
  Click a photo to access its cameo, or access all current cameos through the Link List below.

Link List Task Library Task Cameo Content Finder Resources & Ordering Mathematics Centre Home - Bookmark this page. Task Cameo Library (181 tasks listed) Did you miss the Previous News? If so you missed information about: From Kayak to Sphinx Many Faces of Professional Development Curriculum Shift: St. Francis of Assisi, Calwell Iceberg Information about two Tasks of the Month (Tasks 162, 163) ...and more...

Did You Know? You can Search Mathematics Centre. Our Site Map acts as a Table of Contents to help you find what you need in Mathematics Centre. You can find photos of every task using the Task Library. You can find tasks by content using the Task Cameo Content Finder. Calculating Changes offers Content Finder & Year Level Finder tools. You can find tasks coded by Year Level and Curriculum Strand in the Task Centre Catalogue. (PDF file) You can search for lessons by Year Level, Curriculum Strand, Lesson Features & Keyword at Maths300. You can connect Tasks to their Maths300 companion lesson using Tasks & Maths300 (a PDF file). Excel version provided by Pymble Ladies' College All these links, and more, appear in Working with Mathematics Centre (a PDF file).