I’m mentioning it here, because of the “First CityWide Change Bank” one from years ago with Phil Hartman. This could actually help students learn about making change, or at least affirm their recent knowledge of it. Maybe a fun video to show near the end of the school year, who knows?

Here’s the video:

Here’s the home page for SNL.

Here’s a game for students just learning about how to make change from a very basic level. It’s a game from FunBrain called “ChangeMaker.”

Enjoy!

Backing up your work
Once upon a time, it was decided to have a contest of the greatest religious leaders in the History of the World. The contest was in who could come up with the most powerful computer program.

Selection of the contestants was very difficult. The finalists ended up being Jesus Christ and Muhammed.

When the time came for the contest, they both jumped at the task with vigor. Each at their own computer, they began writing the most powerful computer program that they could imagine. They worked hour after hour, trying to use every minute as efficiently as possible. The contest would be over in exactly 12 hours.

They didn’t rest for food, drink, or anything. As the day wore on, the spectators watched with baited breath to see who would claim victory. As the time wore on, the programs became more and more complex and more and more powerful.

With minutes to go, lightning struck, and the electricity went out! When the power came on, it was time to present their work. Muhammed started up his computer and found that all of his work was gone. He asked for the full twelve hours to work on the project, since his work was lost. The officials of the contest responded that no, the rules could not be changed, and he must present whatever he had immediately. Upset, he stormed out of the building.

It was then Jesus’ turn. He calmly presented his project – a powerful, clean, user-friendly, and efficient program. Clearly, Jesus had won the contest. The crowd went wild.

The moral to this story, of course, is …

Jesus saves.

On Wednesday, Pi day, we had an Albert Einstein look-alike contest. I was crazy and brave enough to really go all out for this one.

We also sang a song together about Pi. I got the idea from this website. We were also amused, but a little freaked out by, this song:

At exactly 3/14, 1:59 and 26 seconds, my students made as much racket as possible! I had brought in my congas, mini-djembes, tambourine, etc., etc. Some of my students had brought in their band instruments like trumpets, etc. I gave my neighbor-teacher fair warning about the inevitable disruption this noise would cause! She decided to have her students join in the joviality.

When I wasn’t Albert Einstein, I wore this shirt a couple of days.

To my surprise, my colleagues didn’t just think it was cool or nerdy… They were all jealous! They wished I would have told them how to buy one for themselves long enough ago so we could all wear them together! How cool is THAT?!

One of my colleagues did have one. Here’s a couple of pictures of us wearing them.

Math Final Exam

1. Divide 50 by 1/2 and add 10. What is the result?
2. How many times can you subtract 10 from 100?
3. How many animals of each kind did Moses take aboard the ark with him?
4. Take two apples from three apples. What do you have?
5. If it takes twelve one cent stamps to make a dozen, how many two cent stamps will it take?
6. Which is correct: 9 and 6 ARE 14 or 9 and 6 IS 14?
7. A butcher is 33 years old, 6 feet tall, wears size fifteen shirts, and size 10 shoes. What does he weigh?
8. If your doctor gave you three pills and said to take one every half hour, how long would they last?
9. How far can a dog run into the forest?
10. Some months have 30 days, and some have 31. How many months have 28 days?
11. Do they have a fourth of July in England?
12. It has been said that two is company and three is a crowd. What are four and five?
13. How many cubic feet of dirt are there in a hole that is 3 feet deep, 2 feet wide, and 10 feet long?
14. If a plane crashes exactly on the border of Canada and the United States, where would you bury the survivors?
15. Why can’t a man living in Baltimore, Maryland be buried west of the Mississippi River?
16. If you had one match and had to light an oil lamp, a candle, a stove, and a fire place: which one would you light first?
17. What do you sit on, sleep on, and brush your teeth with?
18. In which month do women talk the least?
19. You are the pilot of an airplane that flies from New York to Chicago, a distance of 1,000 miles. The plane goes 200 miles per hour, makes one stop for 30 minutes, and the stewardess’ name is Mary Jones. What is the pilot’s name?
20. Is it legal in California for a man to marry his widow’s sister?
21. How many eggs can you eat on an empty stomach?
22. How many birthdays does the average man have?
23. A farmer has 17 sheep. All but nine of them die. How many sheep are left?
24. What was the President’s name in 1960?
25. How many outs are there in an inning?

A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling
by Mark Twain
For example, in Year 1 that useless letter “c” would be dropped to be replased either by “k” or “s”, and likewise “x” would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which “c” would be retained would be the “ch” formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform “w” spelling, so that “which” and “one” would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish “y” replasing it with “i” and Iear 4 might fiks the “g/j” anomali wonse and for all.
Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius of thi ridandant letez “c”, “y” and “x” — bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez — tu riplais “ch”, “sh”, and “th” rispektivli.
Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

This isn’t the only such list that I have seen. Hopefully, you can help me accumulate more of these. Please comment on this article and give me more of these! I have always gotten a kick out of these kind of things…

Enjoy:

Each of the following Christmas song have been re-stated, obfuscated, and put “in other words.” Can you translate them into plain English (the actual titles of the songs)?
1. Chinkle chimers
2. Array, adorn, decorate, & embellish the corridor
3. Felicity, ecstasy, & bliss to the planet
4. Rudy, the scarlet-proboscised rangifer
5. Tucked securely in a cow trough
6. Proceed forth proclaiming upon a specific geological alpine formation
7. Draw near, each & every one of you who are loyal, allegiant, true-hearted, unwavering, & devoted
8. The earliest yuletide
9. The teeny-weeny percussion playing lad
10. Ivory Yule
11. Tiny municipality where Jesus was born
12. First person nominative plural of a triumvirate of personage of majestic monarchical existence.
13. Inconversable, speechless & taciturn time from dusk to dawn
14. Exalted heavenly beings we have perceived by our auditory mechanisms on a lofty, elevated place
15. In awe of the nocturnal time span characterized by religiosity
16. Tintinnabulate tocsin boulder
17. Interrogative inquiry about the youngster
18. Crispy-cold season of a fairylike imaginary realm
19. Icy, the precipitation of white ice crystals person
20. That one arrived on a middle of the night translucent
21. Fruit from the beech tree family baking on an unscreened blaze
22. The 10 & 8/4 periods of the earth’s rotation on a its axis at yuletide
23. Hollow devices that vibrate of a white metallic element that is sonorous, ductile, very malleable, capable of a high degree of polish and has the highest thermal and electric conductivity of any substance
24. At one’s own abode for the vacation

Judging by this review by David Pogue, there won’t be much for us Mac users to adjust to!

My reaction was, “This would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad and frustrating!” I suppose we as educators would have a unique perspective on things like this…

Before I change the subject: A follow-up to this story (before you all get ticked off at Verizon and call them to set their little math-ignorant brains straight) is that they did, finally, respond appropriately – they adjusted the caller’s bill, and they educated their call reps. This is a powerful lesson about how one individual, through using Web 2.0 tools, can really make a change! All those listening to the YouTube recording of his call were educated (if not merely entertained). A company changed it policy, etc. Kinda interesting…

I’ve been sort of on a crusade for many years to make sure that any student that goes through my classroom knows darn well the difference between 99¢, $0.99, and .99¢ I’ve been shocked with how many times I’ve seen prices marked .99¢ in stores, and on big signs. I’ve put pictures of errors in stores on my school website.
I even took the price (.99¢) off of something at the local Rite-Aid, and had my students all write letters to the manager, correcting the error. The guy felt really bad – kept asking me, “How old are these kids?”, like he was embarrassed… I didn’t do it again.
Buuuuuuut…… I might have the kids find an error and blog about it. I wonder how many students will take me up on that invitation.
One time, my dad (a high school math teacher) paid at Baskin-Robbins by putting a penny on the counter and saying “keep the change.” – a single-scoop was advertised as .99¢ (you know – almost a penny!) I don’t recall if he went through with it, and didn’t go back to pay what they MEANT to charge, or if he left it…

As a teacher, it was a bit funny to see spelling conventions used as a crucial part of a joke (the soldiers’ joke in response to Kerry, I mean).

Here’s some more info about the whole story, from the Minneapolis-St. Paul StarTribune.