This and That

We have started a new unit in social studies, Native American Cultural Regions. On the left, I've posted one photograph which is also found in our social studies book. Students are quite interested in the historical photographs from our social studies book and others we have seen from the Edward S. Curtis collection. They asked if I would post a link to the Library of Congress American Memory Collection. Quoting from the Library of Congress website:

"The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis is one of the most significant and controversial representations of traditional American Indian culture ever produced. Issued in a limited edition from 1907-1930, the publication continues to exert a major influence on the image of Indians in popular culture. Curtis said he wanted to document "the old time Indian, his dress, his ceremonies, his life and manners." In over 2000 photogravure plates and narrative, Curtis portrayed the traditional customs and lifeways of eighty Indian tribes. The twenty volumes, each with an accompanying portfolio, are organized by tribes and culture areas encompassing the Great Plains, Great Basin, Plateau Region, Southwest, California, Pacific Northwest, and Alaska. Featured here are all of the published photogravure images including over 1500 illustrations bound in the text volumes, along with over 700 portfolio plates."

In math, we have been studying factors, multiples, and number puzzles which can be solved by using the various properties of number. We have learned about prime factorization and have been working on making a display of factor trees for various four digit numbers. An interesting activity for practicing prime factorization is Factorization Forest and students have asked me to post a link to this site as well.

Finally, a free application that you can download and use to study multiplication facts is Timez. For many years I have recommended this site to students who needed extra practice learning their multiplication facts.