Uncover the Internet » learning

Why Do Numbers Look the Way They Do

Jason Bean — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:48:00 +0000

I got an email a few weeks ago from my mom. Attached to the email was a PowerPoint slideshow that explained why the numbers we use everyday look the way they do.

I normally don’t open emails with attachments that are sent from my family members like that, so I started looking for a website that shared the same information and found it on the Orble website.

The article on the Orble website, Why do our written numbers look like they do, explains why the numbers we use are shaped the way they do.

We say our numbers are based on Arabic symbols, but before that Phoenician merchants used the numbering system themselves. The shape of the numbers has to do with the number of angle displayed in each number.

Over the years the shapes have simplified a bit and lost some of their original angles and turns, but overall things have remained the same. I thought the article was very interesting and figured I’d share it with everyone.

While you’re there and done reading the number article, browse around the Orble website some more on your own. There’s quite a bit of other interesting things to enjoy.

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Using SpellingCity to Help Your Kids in School

Jason Bean — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:07:56 +0000

I was over at a friend’s house this evening and their kids wanted to play on Spelling City with my little girl. I’ve never heard of the site and I liked it immediately after finding out more about what the site provides to students.

The Spelling City website lets your sign-up and register as a parent and then have you kids sign-on and practice their own spelling words. The website allows you to add your kid’s spelling words into the site. This lets your kids practice their own words, not just general spelling words.

The other great feature is that teachers can register themselves and add the spelling words for their students each week. Then their students can login and practice their words each week.

It doesn’t just seem like the kids are "learning" either. Once the spelling word lists are updated, the site gives the kids games to play using their spelling words. With games like HangMouse, WordSearch, UnScramble, and Word Matching the kids are playing and having fun, and then as the Spelling City website says, show up on Friday and make an "A" on their spelling tests.

Help your kids and your friend’s kids by letting all of your teacher’s know about the Spelling City website. What a great resource!

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Finding Some Classic Jazz Online – Dizzy Gillespie

Jason Bean — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 03:00:00 +0000

I was sharing with my son this evening about a trumpet player who would play by blowing out his cheeks and neck to play his horn. It’s actually really bad form, at least according to my band director as he was teaching me to play many years ago.

I think sometimes we may forget about the simple little things we can find online and uncover on the Internet. The ability to find a quick video segment of Dizzy Gillespie to show my son is a tremendous resource. It’s like having a multi-media, never aging set of encyclopedia’s at your finger tips.

Just think of something you’re interested in and go look for it on YouTube to see what you can find. I’m sure you’ll be pleased and find something interesting in your online search.

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