Every second week, “Aunt Math” sends a math word problem in the form of a letter to students recounting math experiences she has had with her neices and nephews. These stories are usually seasonal or center around another theme. The stories are easy to read, in large print and entertaining. At the end of each story, Aunt Math poses a math problem for students to figure out. Within the site are also tips for solving math problems, information on how these problems are related to math curriculum for parents and teachers and Aunt Math also provides solutions to each problem. The site also provides easier math problems for younger students or students who are having difficulty with the math concepts creating a nice scaffold for the various levels of students in your class. As the easier problems share the same storyline, students don’t have to feel that they are doing something different because they are “dumb”.

Unfortunately, the thing that really made the site neat and interactive has been discontinued. When students were done with their solutions, they could write in to Aunt Math and explain to her their solution and how they figured it out. The responses from all the students would be listed on a seperate page like comments on a blog. Aunt Math would write back giving them tips or encouragement. My students really enjoyed that aspect and would take the email home to show their parents. As I checked back prior to writing this, I discovered that that is no longer being done. Citing a “commitment to promoting responsible use of the Internet for children,” the site has stopped responding to individual e-mails. Now, I am not sure how this is promoting a responsible use of the internet as it seems to me that they are just advocating that students should not be using the internet as a communication tool at all instead of teaching how to use it safely. Also, if you were advocating a safe and responsible use of the internet wouldn’t you just set guidelines as to how comments were placed on the site along with a way to filter comments instead of going completely to one end of the spectrum and banning any communication at all? I think the site is just taking the easy way out.

Having said that though, the site is still useful and I enjoy the stories and challenges. It makes word problems that are more interesting and relevant for students.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

By Robert Lee Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village, though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it’s queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there’s some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

I Can’t Write a Poem

Forget it.
You must be kidding.
I’m still half asleep.
My eyes keep closing.
My brain isn’t working.
I don’t have a pencil.
I don’t have any paper.
My desk is wobbly.
I don’t know what to write about.
And besides, I don’t even know how to write a poem.
I’ve got a headache. I need to see the nurse.
Time’s up? Uh oh!
All I have is this dumb list of excuses.
You like it? Really? No kidding.
Thanks a lot. Would you like to see another one?

-Bruce Lansky

This site has downloads for a “March Madness Poetry” contest. It is set to coincide with the NBA tournament but really could be used anytime. You can download the information in separate portions or download the whole thing in one download. Teh downloads include the directions, an information thing on how to effectively read poems, a set of 64 poems (which I use all the time and includes the great spiderman poem), a tournament bracket layout page and other things. I highly recommend these resources and I have used them for my own Grade 3 poetry unit every year.

While the poetry information takes most of the page, there are also other resources that may be useful including a mystery unit literature study, To Kill A Mockingbird resources, a package on Costa’s questioning and some literature circle information. All in all a handy site though I wish they would continue to add to it.

To get to the site, click here.