The Education Times

The Grapes of Math
by Greg Tang

The ability to consistantly count correctly is not a skill of mine (hence a family nickname of Miss +/- 1.) How someone can easily and quickly add, subtract, multiply, divide, etc. is a source of great interest to me. I am pleased to say that The Grapes of Math has opened my eyes to many of the ways that the numerically non-challenged calculate when faced with numbers.

The focus of The Grapes of Math is to find the sum of a set of objects without counting the objects one by one. So, the reader is faced with ants, seeds on a strawberry, and eggs in bird nests (among other things) and charming rhymes give suggestions on how best to add up the number of objects on the page. Answers and explanations are provided at the end.

Find it in the University Library at:
Call Number: E Tan
Location: Juvenlie Easy Books

See more of the book at Amazon.

Even Firefighters Hug Their Moms
by Christine Kole Maclean

In this delightful story, a young boy is playing at different careers, often involving his sister and his mother in his play. As the little boy changes from career to career, his mother asks him for a hug which he always defers for some reason relating to his current occupation.

Find it at:
Call Number: E Mac
Location: Oversize Juvenlie Easy Books

Baloney (Henry P.)
Received and decoded by Jon Scieszka

I love books by Jon Scieszka (that’s pronounced Shess Ka, rhymes with Fresca). I especially adore the highly creative approach to learning presented in Science Verse and Math Curse. (I spent a lot of time sitting in my office and giggling over Science Verse one day.)

In Baloney, Henry P. Baloney must explain to Miss Bugscuffle why he was late to class (it involves small aliens, large aliens and his pencil). Henry’s wild tale uses a variety of Earth languages. Fortunately, a “decoder” is provided at the end of the book.

Find it at:
Call number: E Sci
Location: Juvenile Easy Books

Welcome back! Since all the students appear to be taking about what happened over the summer, I thought a little recap of the special projects in the library was in order.

-First, the library’s website has a new look. The site was redesign with the intention of making navigation easier. Email comments to library@uww.edu
-Second, a new search tool has gone live. SuperSearch can search up to 8 databases at one time. Give me (x5525) or the reference desk (x1032) a call for details on using this new tool.

Other notable items for fall:
-Fines are increasing starting on Tuesday, September 7, 2005.
-Many new computers in the library so the main floor is really, really quiet (which increases the likelihood of hearing cell phone conversations).
-New printers! Two new black and white printers on the main floor and a color printer at Circulation. Color printouts are 50 cents per page.

Ah, September - a month of new school clothes, sharp pencils and longing to be outside on a beautiful sunny day instead of inside getting to know a new teacher.

In honor of the first day of classes next Tuesday, today’s story is It’s back to school we go! : First day stories from around the world By Ellen Jackson. Cover and book reviews from Amazon.

Find it at:
Call number: E Jac
Location: Juvenile Easy books, Oversize <– Look it’s in oversize!!

Fines on overdue items are going up! Starting on Wednesday, September 7th, fines go up to 25 cents per day per item. More details on the Library’s fines page.

Get ready for the class of 2009 - Beloit College Mindset List

The following ERIC news blurb describes putting the URL for an ERIC document into a bibliography in order to download the document.

To include a URL for an ERIC Document in a bibliography, use
http://www.eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=EDxxxxxx
where EDxxxxxx represents the accession number of the PDF document, e.g., ED456789.

Give it a try with a newer ED number: ED476389

And an older: ED023558

The newer ED number launches the Open/Save/Cancel dialog window and the older ED number pulls up a webpage that states “The full text of the document you requested is not available as a PDF in the ERIC Online system.”

(Reminder: the University Library has microfiche of nearly all the old ED numbers. You can trek over to the library and make copies yourself or use Document Delivery to acquire a copy.)

The library recently acquired a color printer for general public use. After selecting the appropriate printer icon (the black and white printer and the color printer on are on different print queues), go to the Circulation desk for your print job. Color print outs are $0.50 per page.

Yippee! Yahoo! The ERIC content has been updated! Updated content is available in the Dept. of Ed ERIC website. Read the press release. No word yet on when the updated content will hit EBSCOhost and other third party vendors.