Roland Smith

Orion and I are still reading out loud each night for about 20 or 30 minutes. Sometimes the books we read are books I've been waiting to share with him (like last year's consumption of Gary Paulsen's work) other times they're books that he's discovered (during fourth grade we discovered Andrew Clements!). We've even been known to reread books that his teacher is reading or that he is reading for the Accelerated Reading Program.

This time, we discovered Roland Smith at the same time. I purchased a book called Peak and a friend won a signed copy of Elephant Run. I later found Sasquatch, thinking it might be the one to start with. But Orion came home with Zach's Lie. We were riveted. Zach is really Jack, a boy placed in the Witness Protection Program due to his father's unsavory business associates. The book follows Jack as he becomes Zach and moves from a McMansion to a simple shotgun house in Elko, Nevada (Can we say middle of nowhere?). There the bad guys catch up with him and his family. He and an unusual hero (the school custodian) save the day.

We just started Jack's Run. Jack is now Mack and living in North Carolina. We've not yet finished the book, but we will soon. It is very faced paced. Mack's sister let's the cat of the back so to speak and the bad guys are on their tail. What happens? We have no idea! But his parents aren't there to help; they're at the trial. Very suspenseful.

Orion and I will be reading Sasquatch, Peak, and probably the Criptid Hunters next. I don't feel up to reading Elephant Run as it's a war novel and I am not sure I can face that right now. Perhaps in the spring.

Have you read any Roland Smith? What did you think? What do you recommend? I'd love to hear from you!

National Science Teachers Association

Join NSTA before September 26th and get a FREE book! Student and first year teacher memberships are only $32 a year! Regular membership is $74 a year. Membership includes a subscription to your choice of science education journal, professional development opportunities, access to NSTA online content, and so much more. To find out more about NSTA benefits, click here. This year they're offering a FREE book and $10 off the regular membership price. There are three different books to choose from! Head over to NSTA and see what they have to offer new and seasoned teachers!

Gobblet

Shhh! I found a new game! On my quick trip to Fayetteville, AR over the weekend I stopped by one of my favorite thrift stores (Arkansas Council for the Blind) and found a nifty little game for Orion and me!

Gobblet is appropriate for ages seven and up. The object of the game is simple enough (to get four in a row), the game only takes seconds to learn, but it is obvious that it is one of those games (like Othello) that will take many attempts to master. Each player receives nesting pieces. They are played on the four by four grid, one at a time. The trick is that players may "gobble" up pieces (their own or their opponent's) by placing larger pieces on the smaller pieces, thus making the game quite tricky.

I paid $3.00 for our wooden version. All the pieces were present and accounted for. I found the rules here. Gobblet is made by Blue Orange Games and retails for approximately $27 to $35. It's available at Amazon and Brain Builders; eBay has several of the Gobblet Junior games for sale ($8).

While I am not sure I'd fork over $30 or more for this game, I would definitely keep my eyes peeled at garage sales and thrift stores. This great game would be at home in any classroom! Until then, you can practice with the online version at Gobblet.org.

Othello

What's the first thing that pops into your head when you hear the name "Othello?" If you asked my sister, she would most likely peg Othello as one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies. She would also be able to tell you several of his greatest histories and comedies. Not me. If you asked me what pops into my head when I hear the name "Othello," I'll tell you a math game!

Othello is also known by the name Reversi. It's an interesting strategy game where players try to outflank their opponents and then capture those pieces by flipping them to the opposite color. Visit the Pressman Toy site for directions and strategies. I was not interested in this game as a youth so I did not play it in school or at home. However, my research on math games, constructivism, and classrooms has made me rethink several games.

I found a my copy of Othello (the game board looks just the the one in the picture to your top right and was made by the company Gabriel) at an antique store for $2.00 on Friday. What a steal. And none of the pieces were missing. Amazon has the game (now by Mattel) for about $12.00, with newer, sleeker styling (Not!). Okay, I admit, the little square groves might help out when the cat decides to try and help. There are currently about 22 Othello games (board, travel, and electronic) available at eBay starting at $2.50. Don't forget to throw in shipping!

This weekend Orion and I gave Othello a trial run. He actually asked to play it again! I think we like it! I have found several online or electronic versions of Othello. Check them out below.

Online Othello: The Othello playing engine used here was originally written by Roemer B. Lievaart for the 1987 International Obfuscated C Code Contest. It's a pretty good engine for only 1024 bytes of C code! (I had to add that blurb because typing "Obfuscated C Code Contest" made me sigh!)

Fly or Die: At Fly or Die you can play Internet Reversi with other folks.

Freeware Home: Lists several Othello-like games to download.

Not sure you want to invest $12.00 for a new game and cannot seem to find a used game at the local Salvation Army? Visit the Galactic Apple and find a version of Kamii's Sandwich Game using a grid and pennies (heads or tails).

I recently figured out how to play Minesweeper (perhaps it was a patience issue, or lack there of). With Othello under my belt, so to speak, I am wondering if I can learn Go. How is it like Othello? How is it different? Can you teach an old Kat new games?

24 Game

My friend Sal introduced 24 Game Double Digits to me the other night and I just finished sharing it with Orion. It is an incredibly simple yet completely sophisticated game. The best part is that it can played on many different levels. In fact, there are two different games that can be played from the small box of cards. To play Double Digits you must be the first player to make 24 with all four numbers on the card. You can add, subtract, multiply, or divide. The cards are leveled into medium, hard, and harder as indicated by dots in the corner. 24 Game Double Digits is appropriate for ages ten and up. There are other versions of this game that use single digits for younger folks. To find out more about Suntex and the many games they offer visit their website. 24 Game retails for about $22. You may also purchase a membership to play on line (schools and individuals!). Check it out. Let me know what you think.

Homeworkopoly

While visiting a fourth grade classroom in Knob Noster earlier this semester I discovered the most amazing bulletin board! I did not want to interrupt the teacher to ask where she found this amazing idea, but I really wanted to know how she made it! So I asked the intern placed with her, one of my seniors at the University, to get the story.

Homeworkopoly is brought to us by the fine folks at Teachnet.com There you can download a game board, a blank game board so that you can place the street names of your hometown on the board, as well as chance cards! It's as easy as that! A delightful way to take the drudgery out of homework. Thanks to Ms. S. for having this in her classroom and thanks to my mysterious intern for ferreting out the information for us!

As for my thoughts on the horrors of homework, I'll make that another post!

Teacher Personality Quiz...

Readers,

One of my PDS students this semester sent me a link to a Teacher Personality Quiz! You know my curiosity got the best of me and I had to take it.

According to the Teacher Personality Quiz I have the Fair and Balanced personality. To read about my teaching personality and to take the quiz for your self, visit the site by clicking on any of the hypertext links in this post.

I would love to hear from you, what is YOUR Teacher Personality! Leave a comment and let me know!

del.icio.us

Updated: June 12, 2019:  Del.icio.us is no more.  See this article for more information or this one for alternatives to Del.icio.us!  Happy Bookmarking!

Educational technology has been more of an avocation for me over the past few years, than a vocation. But I have recently been asked to teach a technology class at the university. We are several weeks into the semester and I have been both enjoying my students and enjoying playing with the technology that is available to us.

This brings me to the Social Bookmarking site, del.icio.us. Here you can bookmark and tag websites, blogs, and more. You can mark them to share them with friends or keep them private. It's great for its social benefits, but even more wonderful for its research benefits. While bookmarking and tagging a website about misconceptions in earth science, I noted that six other people had bookmarked the same page. I hopped on over to their bookmarks, sorted by misconceptions and viola! I found several more useful sites on misconceptions that I might not have found on my own using Google (just due to the sheer number of hits Google generates).

Of course, I think about how this tool would have been useful to me as a third grade teacher. Had I shared my bookmarks with my team members and vice versa, we'd have had an amazing amount of resources at our fingertips. Of course, when I was teaching third grade the Internet was still in diapers and we didn't even have Internet access in our classrooms, let alone computers!

If you're curious about del.icio.us, visit their site. You can access my bookmarks here or by simply typing http://del.icio.us/katleslie into your browser. If you begin using or have used social bookmarking sites in the past, feel free to comment here about your experiences.

Yahtzee!

A card game with dice? What’s up with that? I loved this game as a kid. Orion has not quite got the hang of playing independently, so we fill out our score cards together. While this game is less than $10 at your local Wal-Mart, (Did I just make a plug for Wal-Mart?) you can easily create an entire classroom set with orphan dice(or buy them for cheap the Dollar Tree), a couple of Dixie cups, and score cards available for print here.