Cancer charities are close to my heart and I have put Trekstock on my page as it is a charity that has been brought to my attention by a musician in my favourite band (Archive).  His name is Dave Pen and he is trekking up Mont Blanc to raise money for this particular organisation.  In order to prepare for this monumental task he has been running marathons and half marathons.  Below is their Mission Statement.

The Trekstock vision:

To help beat cancer through funding research of the highest standard and ensuring all young people have the right and relevant information to make better informed lifestyle choices.

Below is the link to Dave’s page giving more detail about his expedition.

http://trekstock.com/the-quest-for-mont-blanc-archive/ 

Whilst the fraction calculations in this app are probably more complicated than you would ever need in an exam situation, the arithmetic you need to use in order to solve the puzzles is all good practice. There are help sections on each of  type of calculation with detailed step by step instructions on how to perform them.

There is also a glossary of important terms used in fractions. Whilst you would expect there to be addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of fractions (and there are) there are also some useful unexpected functions such as a number line where the student can order fractions with different denominators therefore really making the student think about the size of the fraction rather than just ordering numbers.

You can also use this app to explore equivalencies  and compare fractions.

I  like the blackboard function which enables the student to write calculations on the screen in different coloured chalk.  This  can be  positioned  at the bottom of the question screen thus enabling you to see the sum and write on the screen at the same time.

If you prefer you can use the whole screen to write on, either way it is a useful function.

You can choose to display the fractions either as a pie or as a fraction wall. If you are using this app as a teacher you can add multiple students and it records their scores and saves them if required. Each game consists of 10 questions, so not too long (in my opinion). It has a time function which is not necessarily a good thing as feeling you are competing against the clock may lead to mistakes.

This app is available for iPhone and iPads and personally I feel it works well on both.

Available on: iOS
Paid-for version: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mathboard-fractions/id680171301?mt=8

There’s nothing like planning a complicated journey on public transport with multiple stops to get your maths juices flowing.  Or in my case, frying my brain.

Spreadsheets all set up to plan a fairly complicate journey in Scandinavia, all looks fine so why does one spreadsheet say 12 nights and the other 13?  Well, there I was peering intently at the numbers trying to make sense of them.  Nope simply can’t see where we have gone wrong at all. So I try squinting even harder but then the numbers just start doing a little dance. I close one eye and concentrate very hard. Nope nothing. Then they numbers start doing the hokey cokey and I think to myself that they are just ganging up on me.  They cease to make any sense whatsoever.

Only one thing for it, resort to using fingers for counting and check each line separately. Eureka!  We had lost a night as one of the journeys starts after midnight, there was a our lost night, nestling in the witching hour. Oh the deep joy of time not being in the decimal system.

Tiggywinkles

I thought it might be a good idea to explain why I have put certain organisations on my things I like page.  The reason I chose to include Tiggywinkles is because over a period of 4 years I spent a fair amount of time there teaching  some of the staff there who were doing Animal Care qualifications.  It was a fun place to teach and I always made time to see the various patients at the hospital.

They had a turkey called Tommy who you would very often encounter in the hallways, there was a spineless hedgehog called Spud and a hairless squirrel called Smoothie.  As an animal lover I greatly  admire the work the charity do.  The staff are so dedicated to looking after the animals and ensuring they get better and receive the care they need to return to the wild.

See Spud the hedgehog

See Smoothie the squirrel