Financial Literacy for Children

The future of children's financial literacy was examined as part of the PBS newshour 'Making Sen$e' segment with Paul Solman yesterday.

Stanford University reports in recent findings:
- Self control by age three has accurately predicted children's 'future prosperity';
- Self control is certainly more important than socio-economic status in terms of long term success.

Some provocative points are made and it's a fun short program to watch!
Who wouldn't want to help their child save and develop the necessary character traits for a successful future?

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Compass Activities

This week in Maths we have been focusing on Pie Charts.

Many students have enjoyed learning to use a compass, and every single student in my class would benefit from some more practice!

For many students, the first thing to do is to buy a quality geometry set! *wink*

Here are some fun printable activities from Art4Maths suitable for a rainy day or may fill time on a spare weekend.

Compass Activity 1

Compass Activity 2

Compass Activity 3

Here is a fun and basic 'designs with circles' website.

Perhaps your child would like to construct an old fashioned looking compass? A compass rose is the elaborate round design on a map that indicates directions. The directions are a little more complicated, they are located here.

If your child shows a more comprehensive interest, this fantastic printable pdf booklet from the Met Museum in New York is both beautiful to read, and the activities at the end are more challenging.

Maths: Improving Volume

In our recent 7.01 diagnostic test some of my Year 6 students were identified as having an opportunity to improve in the area of volume.

Here is a link to the BBC Skillswise 'Volume' website.

I really like BBC Skillswise because the website offers a factsheet that introduces each concept, then provides printable worksheets and an online quiz.

BBC Skillswise offers assistance across all strands of mathematics and is definitely worth a closer look.