Math Game for Fractions Idea

The other day I was reading in the book Inteligro Math by Tiffany Rhoades Earl and she had a fun way to do fractions. Play war with them! I really like this idea. In the past I've read about how your can do multiplication and add/sub, but I'd never thought about doing fractions. (You'll need a double deck). Great idea to implement this year.

Math Resources

I went through my things today and made a list of all my math resources so I know what I have for the year.

Mathematicians are People Too
Inteligro Math
Miracle Math
Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter
Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi
Sir Cumference and the First Round Table
Math Fables
Pattern Block Puzzles Book
Sudoku
Backgammon
Fractions Supreme
War: Fractions/multiply/divide
Money, Money
Timing it Right Game
Totally Tut Math Game
Rack-O
Chess
Rummy-O
Leap Frog Math Magic Game
Wrap Ups
Math Shark
Got It!
Leap Frog Twist and Shout add/sub
Math Flash Cards from Saxon

Saxon 65 and 54

American History for 5th Graders

So it's about that time that I start looking to what were are doing for school for 2008-09. Olivia will be in 5th Grade this year so that means American History. Yeah! I love history but I have to remember to keep it simple. Since I believe in using living books versus text books here are some thoughts. I want to read lots of biographies. And I also want to include some good literature in the mix that is American History related. Here's what I have so far:

History Biography Ideas:

Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire books (Lief Erickson, Columbus, Pocahontas, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Buffalo Bill)
Abigail Adams
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Franklin
Lewis and Clark
Harriet Tubman
Daniel Webster
"Stonewall" Jackson
Susan B Anthony
Katie Stanton
Theodore Roosevelt
Truman (I can't think of his first name right now-aghhh)
FDR & Eleanor Roosevelt
Martin Luther King, JR
Rosa Parks
Niel Armstrong
Ronald Reagan

Literature Ideas:
Paul Revere's Ride
The Sacketts
Johnny Tremain
Guns for General Washington
Blood on the River: James Town 1607
Declaration of Independence
Bill of Rights
Constitution


How far forward will I go? I guess that's something to think about. I personally want to spend more time on The Founding Fathers than anything. I'd like Olivia to be able to at least recognize all the Presidents of the USA. (I'll have to think about the memorization of all of them. That would be idealistic. Mmm)