Author/Illustrator Mark Fearing
Last week the elementary school that my children attend had a Family Reading Night event where they invite an author to come make a presentation.  The purpose of this event is to expose children to literature and illustration and to encourage the to excel in reading and writing and art.  Mark Fearing was this year's vising author/illustrator.  He was AWESOME!  He gave a short but great presentation and then gave the kids blank booklets, pencils, and crayons to begin writing and drawing their own books.  Then he spent the remaining time signing books for anyone in attendance.  In addition to that he wrote a thank you to the school for letting him come.  Check out his blog and see what he's written, drawn and the books that he review.

Additional Sites to Visit
I found a couple more sites I think are worth the time to look at.  The first is carrotsticks.com.  This has math games for 1st to 5th graders.  You can create your own avatar and invite friends to compete.  Even if you have older kids who need to practice during the summer or if you want them to study without knowing it you could challenge them to beat your score at a game. 
Another is chesskid.com.  Chess is a great game for strategical thinking and problem solving.  And young kids can be quite good at it.
Check them out and let me know what you think.

Math can be fun?

I love games that use math.  Kids play and learn at the same time.  I recently came across a site that has some very fun games to play.  Check it out.  Manga High Math Games.

WTF?  (Why the face?) 

As Phil from an episode of ABC's Modern Family says "WTF?  Why the face?"  Every time I mention that I want to teach math to middle schoolers someone makes a face or tells me how brave I am.  I suppose it's not as glamorous as teaching kids to read or going on field trips to the pumpkin patch.  I mean, someone has to do it.  And it should be someone who has a passion for math.  But it's not just that.  I know a lot of kids struggle with math before they even get to algebra.  They can't get help at home because most of the parents never liked math and forgot anything they learned the moment they took the cap and gown off.  I want to make sure that they don't fall behind and then get left behind.  Does that make me brave?  I don't think so.  But I do hope that my ideals aren't lofty, but realistic.