Can you KENKEN?

Will Shortz has moved to another numerical brainteaser, KenKen, which is somewhat like Sodoku, but this is Math...don't get put off by this, it is a lot of fun. The game was invented by a teacher in Tokyo to help kids learn math; kenken means "cleverness squared" in Japanese. Time Magazine, the New York Times have write ups of this new wonderful teaching/learning tool, can you KenKen?

We Tell Stories - Penguin Press

Billed as an Internet-Age Storytelling, We Tell Stories, has won the best in show at the 2009 Southwest Interactive Conference. This site can be used for a wide age range, fill in the blanks, travel with the story, let me know which of the six is your favorite. Why, any comments? Please!!

The Opera and Puppetry

Last Saturday at a local theatre in Great Barrington, MA, Madama Butterfly was broadcasted from the MET in New York City. I thought the puppet was wonderful and it stimulated thoughts to use with children. Reading stories with the children and creating puppets with them, planning them out, and then have the students perform using their puppets. On Blind Summit's web site look at some of their other wonderful puppets. I note here that when I say children we can use this with students of all ages.
The puppet was manipulated by three puppeteers, one controlled the hands, another the feet and another the head, they also looked like they truly enjoyed their roles.

See what is noted about this creative use of puppetry:

The new Madama Butterfly made by the English National Opera, Lithuanian National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, Madam Butterfly's child, known sometimes as "Sorrow" and sometimes as "Trouble" is played by a puppet. Blind Summit created the puppets and made the puppetry happen.

"The production really felt like a pivotal moment for UK Puppetry"
D. Max Pryor, British Council On Tour Magazine

Love him or hate him, this little guy certainly caused a fuss:

“In the aisles and lobbies during the second intermission of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly,” which opened the season on Monday night before a star-studded audience, patrons could be overheard heatedly debating the puppet used to portray Butterfly’s little boy.

This nonspeaking minor character is typically played by a cute child in a sailor suit. In this production the director Anthony Minghella has introduced a small puppet boy manipulated by three puppeteers cloaked in black who stand behind him. The child moves with eerily human gestures, and his baldish head has a wizened, hopeful yet anxious look.

Some people thought it was “more real than any real child they could have had,” as one patron put it. Others thought it was intriguing but very strange. Somewhere in the house, Peter Gelb, the new general manager of the Met, must have been beaming.
New York Times, 29.9.06

Say it Plain - A Century of Great African American Speeches

During this Black History month listen to the great African American Orators.

TED - Technology, Education, Design

I am listening and watching a performance at TED by the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra. Wondering how long it took to get these young musicians to get to this point. What were their lives before? How has this experience and skill impacted them and their families? Yes, ART and CULTURE is the CORE of education - and is too often the first to face budget cuts. Let's wake up and develop the inner talents and interests of our youth.

The Tenement Museum

The Tenement Museum located on New York's Lower Eastside has made a substantial improvement to reach out to viewers and get them to interact. This part of the site is so appropriate to middle aged school children.

I recently asked some 8 graders if they knew what countries their families came from before living in the United States. Many did not know, they did not realize their names indicated where their families emigrated from. Take a tour of what life was like coming from various corners of the world and settling on New York's Lower Eastside.

Jazz at Lincoln Center - Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame

This part of the web site for Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York possesses an excellent database of famous jazz musicians from the 1890's. The site gives a history timeline and a jukebox. Try it, enjoy the music, try the Trivia Quiz!