Welcome to the Year of the Wood Horse

The year of the snake is quickly becoming a thing of the past. The Chinese New Year begins January 31, 2014 and welcomes in the year of the Wood Horse. The horse ranks seventh in the 12-year cycle of animals that appear in the Chinese zodiac.

Lucky Money Envelopes

Lucky money is placed in special red envelopes and given as gifts for the new year. If you order certain chocolates, you can even receive some special lucky money envelopes for the Year of the Horse with your order. You do have to fill the envelopes yourself.

Some of our friends visited Malaysia earlier in January where the Chinese New Year celebration had already begun. Here's a photo from their visit showing the incredible decor:

Celebrating the Chinese New Year in Malaysia

During the Chinese New Year celebration, parades complete with dancers and dragons are commonplace. So is the color red. Let your students help decorate your classroom with streams of red paper decorations. Hang them from your doorway and from the ceiling.

If you have students who speak languages other than English in your classroom, let them make flashcards for numbers in their own language as well as in English. Post them around your room or hang them mobile-style (one - dos - un - eins - 1) from your windows or ceiling. Here's an example of some Chinese writing.

You may want to bring a sampler of Chinese food or almond cookies for your students to try. (Make sure none of your students have nut allergies.)

Read a few Confucius sayings. Confucius was a Chinese philosopher born in 551 B.C. You can read his 499 sayings in 21 languages including Chinese and English at http://www.confucius.org/main01.htm Here are a few of his wise sayings:
"Do not be concerned about others not appreciating you.
Be concerned about your not appreciating others."

"Exploring the old and deducing the new makes a teacher."

"Action takes precedence over words." (What saying does this sound like? "Actions speak louder than words.")

Then let your students write some of their own sayings, Confucius style.

New to Excel Math? Learn more by visiting our website: www.excelmath.com or give us a call at 1-866-866-7026. When you call between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday - Friday (West Coast time), a helpful person will answer the phone (never a machine).

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Excel Math is fully aligned to the Common Core and to state standards. Download correlations.

Excel Math can help students stay on top of their math skills and get ready for spring testing.

Some parents purchase the Excel Math Intersession Edition (at just $6.95 per student) to give their students extra review and practice in the new year. This six-week product is a great way to help students build confidence and refresh their math skills before assessments.

Excel Math—Bringing Success to Title I Schools

The first weekend in February, administrators and educators from around the country will gather here in sunny San Diego, California for the National Title I Conference. Excel Math will be here, too. Be sure to stop by Booth #417 (at the San Diego Convention Center) and say hello to Bob and Brad.

Warm up in San Diego at the National Title I Conference!

Title I is the nation’s largest federally funded pre-college education program. It provides more than $19 billion to the nation’s school districts to supplement the education of disadvantaged children. 

Title I funds pay for curriculum materials, professional development services, resources to increase family involvement and many other educational purchases.

Excel Math offers low-cost professional development for math educators. Read more about Excel Math Professional Development here: cost effective, targeted, professional and informative.

Excel Math has been effectively used in Title I programs (both as a supplement and in a core position) for years. Excel Math lessons give teachers the resources they need to help every child succeed and achieve (at high levels) in elementary mathematics. Here's what one teacher wrote to share with us:

"My sixth graders showed an average of 41% one year growth in test scores using the Excel Math program. Our results were so phenomenal that groups of educators would come to observe and film us. For me the key difference your program offers is the consumable worksheets with CheckAnswers. Students are immediately forced to confront their thinking and errors. My students typically grow in their ability to persevere as a result of this rigor. For most students this process results in them eventually turning in all of their problems correct with a few questions which can quickly be addressed afterward in what is an ideal teachable moment." — Teacher on the West Coast

Visit Excel Math at the Convention Center in San Diego, California for the National Title I Conference beginning February 2. Stop by Booth #417 and talk to Bob or Brad. And while you're taking a look at the new math lessons . . . try some chocolate! Be sure to ask for your free gift.

Read more . . .

New to Excel Math? Learn more by visiting our website: www.excelmath.com or give us a call at 1-866-866-7026. When you call between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday - Friday (West Coast time), a helpful person will answer the phone (never a machine).

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Happy Birthday, Louis Braille!

Happy New Year from Excel Math

Math Bulletin Boards: Let It Snow!

Fibonacci Day Math 

Excel Math is fully aligned to the Common Core and to state standards. Download correlations.

Excel Math can help students stay on top of their math skills and get ready for spring testing.

Some parents purchase the Excel Math Intersession Edition (at just $6.95 per student) to give their students extra review and practice in the new year. This six-week product is a great way to help students build confidence and refresh their math skills before assessments.

Happy Birthday, Louis Braille!

Saturday, January 4 marks the 205th anniversary of Braille's birthday. Louis Braille was the inventor of braille, a system of reading and writing used by people who are blind or visually impaired.

Excel Math is available in braille and in large print editions through the Library of Congress.

On January 4, 1809 Louis Braille was born in Coupvray, a village 25 miles east of Paris in north central France. As a small child he was blinded. He developed his raised dot method of reading and writing while still in his teens and referred to it as "my alphabet."

In 2009 the United States Mint released the Braille Bicentennial silver dollar to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Braille's death. The obverse of this coin features a portrait of Louis Braille (show below). The reverse shows a child reading a book in Braille with the word “Braille” (abbreviated BRL in Braille code) above him. The word INDEPENDENCE is featured on a bookshelf behind the child.

In 1952 on the 100th anniversary of his death, Braille's body was exhumed. Watch the historic footage as the people of Paris celebrated the 100th Anniversary of Louis Braille's passing: http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675029292_100th-Anniversary-of-Louis-Braille_Brailles-remains_Pantheon_Vincent-Auriol

Braille's remains were being transferred from Coupvray to the Panthéon in Paris. Thousands of blind people joined the rally. The President of France, Vincent Auriol, and other dignitaries paid their final tribute to Louis Braille.

Read more . . .

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Excel Math is fully aligned to the Common Core and to state standards. Download correlations.

Excel Math can help students stay on top of their math skills and get ready for spring testing.

Some parents purchase the Excel Math Intersession Edition (at just $6.95 per student) to give their students extra review and practice in the new year. This six-week product is a great way to help students build confidence and refresh their math skills before assessments.

Happy New Year from Excel Math!

 
Welcome to the year 2014!

Help your students ring in the new year with these math teaching ideas from Excel Math.

If you need to refresh your bulletin boards over the break, try our Let It Snow bulletin board activities and download some snowflake patterns with math problems for your students to solve. See the pattern below. This can be used for bell work, an extra credit activity or just a fun way to review math facts.

Excel Math can help students stay on top of their math skills, even during the winter break.

Some parents purchase the Excel Math Summer School Edition (at just $6.95 per student) for review and practice over the break from school and to help students prepare for spring testing.

Read more . . .

You might also like these articles: 

Math Bulletin Boards: Let It Snow!

Math Bulletin Board: Gifts of the Season

Coordinate Grids for the Holidays

Fibonacci Day Math 

Excel Math is fully aligned to the Common Core and to state standards. Download correlations here.