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Comic Creator in the classroom: The Boy's Life Comic Creator is a great little tool to help your boys connect with writing and story telling in a way that they enjoy and understand. The tool is simple enough to use as a writing station/center on classroom computers. The comic does need to be created in one sitting, there is no way to save and come back to a comic later. Completed comics can be printed off and shared. The Comic Creator is a great entry point into writing but could also be useful in math for creating and solving story problems. Students can create a short math comic strip that can be traded with other students to solve. Students taking a foreign language class could practice new words by creating a comic strip story in Comic Creator. Use Comic Creator the first week of school as a way for boys to tell all about themselves. Each student can create a comic strip that stars them as the main character. Invite other students to try to match the comic strip with the student as a fun interactive bulletin board activity (Think comics on one side, student pictures on the other and string to draw the "line" between matches).

While there are some UK-specific terms thrown in here and there, a simple preview of the activity yourself will determine if it's significant enough to be a concern. (I'm willing to bet it won't be.) I can see these activities used in a whole-class setting for formative assessment, to introduce topics or reinforce skills, especially where Interactive White Boards (IWBs) are available. Bring students up to the board and let them explain how they are solving the problem! The site could also be used effectively in centers, especially given the ease of navigation. Finally, since each activity has its own unique URL, it's easy to add Favorites or Bookmarks to local browsers, making immediate access a snap.

 Government-sponsored "contests" for adults and kids that are designed to elicit ideas on how to solve various problems.

Targeted to 8- to 16-year olds, Scratch allows students to create and share projects, presentations, stories and best of all - videos games! The emphasis is on multi-media and includes graphics, sound, music, and photos. Supported by National Science Foundation research, Scratch encourages creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration.

Math Pickle is the most excellent mathematics inspiration I have come across. It approaches mathematics from the standpoint of a problem solver instead of from the standpoint of a rules follower. Already that shift in thinking makes my brain happy. Brilliant. Math Pickle has problems and videos for every grade kindergarten through twelfth. Use these videos to pump some inspiration into the way you approach and teach math or show them to your students and encourage them to continue solving the problems. Don't forget to film your students working through their own math pickles! The Inspired page of Math Pickle is a must see. Students can take a look at what mathematicians do in real life. They can also learn about the source of Math Pickle problems. Tips: Be sure to check out Muse, news and reviews for additional ideas, puzzles and reviews of math products, puzzles and games for the classroom.