Author Archive for Kelly

Teaching Civics with Children’s Literature: James Towne: Struggle for Survival

Published by Kelly on November 16, 2009 in history, civics, nonfiction, resource links, reading, book review and teaching. 0 Comments

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James Towne: Struggle for Survival, written and illustrated by Marcia Sewall, is a valuable resource that discusses the trials and tribulations experienced by the first settlers of Jamestown.  The book is told through the journal entries of an early settler, and is enhanced with the quotations of historically known explorers.  Used as an anticipatory activity, this book serves as a great introduction to how the United States came into development and how the Constitution was established.  Also, the book provides a list of important historical figures and glossary for both teachers and students.

Curriculum Connections

James Towne: Struggle for Survival serves as an excellent and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize the civics learning objectives in accordance with the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s).  Students will begin to develop knowledge of the foundations of the American constitutional government by explanining the fundamental principles of consent to be governed (CE.2a) and explanining the significance of the charters of the Virginia Company of London (CE2.b).

Additional Resources

  • Historic Jamestowne has a page dedicated to lesson plans and activities for all grade levels, from kindergarten - high school, that looks at the ways in which our current government mirrors its roots with the establishment of Jamestown as well as activities that can be used to integrate civics with other curriculum fields.

  • Jamestown 400th Commemoration Commission devotes an amazing page towards educators, offering resources and lesson plans for all grades - they provide useful ideas and activities on focusing how the Constitution and principles of democracy evolved from the founding of Jamestown.

  • Super Smart Games offers an online game for students to access either at home or school in which they are the Captain of Jamestown Colony and need to make decisions on food, health, wealth, and morale after getting advice from other leaders and settlers -its fun for students to play, and helps them think how best resources can be used to keep people safe and healthy!

Book: James Towne: Struggle for Survival
Author & Illustrator: Marcia Sewall
Publisher: Antheneum
Publication Date: April 2001
Pages: 40pp
Grade Range: 3rd - 5th Grade
ISBN-13: 978-0689818141

Teaching Geography with Children’s Literature: Maps

Published by Kelly on November 2, 2009 in resource links, nonfiction, geography, book review, teaching, reading and social studies. 0 Comments

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Maps, by David L. Stienecker and illustrated by Richard MacCabe, is a book designed to help introduce children to geography with a focus on maps and globes.

This book highlists the many purposes and differences between maps and globes, how to read them, and the many ways in which they can be drawn.  The author and illustrator provide child-friendly text and illustrations to show how maps can be used to visualize and locate specific regions, water features, forests, and landmarks of the world, as well as dicussing that maps can also be created for make believe.  The book offers children a view of North America on both a map and globe, and then slowly zooms out to show the Earth as a whole from the perspective of the sky.  This book also provides children with question prompts they can respond to during or after reading, while providing teachers with hands-on activitiy ideas for further study, a glossary of essential terms, and an index.  Lines of latitude/longitude, projections, compass, hemisphere, equator, and thematic maps are the main topics discussed throughout the book which allows the teacher discretion for how much content to share depending on varying student levels. 

Curriculum Connections

Maps serves as an excellent and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize several kindergarten - first grade geography learning objectives in accordance with the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s).  Students can enhance their understanding in that a map is a drawing of a place to show where things are located while a globe is a round model of the Earth (SOL K.4a), facilitate identification of land and water features (SOL K.4c), encourage understanding that maps and globes show a view from above the Earth and that features are smaller in size (SOL K.5a/b), develop map skills by identifying map symbols (SOL 1.4a), and facilitate accurate identification of North America and Virginia on maps and globes (SOL 1.4d). 

Additional Resources

  • Discovery Education provides a wide range of geography lesson plans from grades kindergarten - 5th grade - lesson plans are organized by topic, and when clicked on,  provides you with a wealth of resource links, extention activity ideas, suggested readings, and evaluation assessments specific to the lesson

  • Kids Geography offers a wide range of fun, interactive games for students to play either at school or home - games are organized into continents, American capitals, latitude/longitude, and the collective Earth so teachers, students, and parents have the ability to select games that are specific to what the student is learning

  • Enchanted Learning is the place for teachers to go for an endless supply of various geography maps, printables, quizzes, and activities - if teachers want to focus on their state geography, there are links to supply you with tons of state maps for students to label, quizzes, and symbol and emblem worksheets specific to your state 

Book: Maps
Author: David L. Stienecker
Illustrator: Richard MacCabe
Publisher: Benchmark Books (New York)
Publication Date: January 1998
Pages: 32pp
Grade Range: Kindergarten - 1st Grade
ISBN-13: 978-0761405382

Teaching Economics with Children’s Literature: Goods and Services

Published by Kelly on October 26, 2009 in economics, resource links, nonfiction, book review, reading, social studies, teaching and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

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Goods and Services, written by Janeen R. Adil, is a book designed to help introduce children to the basic world of money and economics, how money and economics affects them on a daily basis, and why money and economics are important to their world.

This book is explains and illustrates main monetary and economic principles that make up our world, including: goods and services, consumers and producers, how taxes are related to government services and goods, and how income is made, saved, and used to buy goods and services.  All of these premises are explained through a variety of examples connected to real-world situations most children can easily relate to through their past or current experiences.  Because economics is such an important and real part of everyone’s life, the book contains real-life photos versus illustrations in order to help children connect economic meanings to the world around them.  In trying to connet these concepts to the current world, the author has inserted ”fun facts” into the book which offers both vital and current statistics on the specific principle being discussed.

As a bonus, the book provides a glossary, links to internet sites, an activity idea, and other literature resources as tools to help reiterate understanding of the econimic principles explored within the book, and can be used by teachers, students, and parents.  Also near the end of the book, the author dedicates a page connecting past history with today in order to illustrate how taxes have been around for almost 5,000 years by the Anciet Egyptians.

While this book is filled with all of the essential information students need to learn about economics, it does an excellent job in providing examples and pictures to illustrate the relevancy of economic concepts in an easy to understand, meaningful way.

Curriculum Connections

Goods and Services serves as an excellent and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize the first grade learning objectives of economics in accordance with the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s).   Explaining the difference between goods and services, and how people are consumers and producers of goods and services, (SOL 1.7) is the focus throughout the entire book, as well as illustrating the importance of having to save money for the future purchase of goods and services (SOL 1.9) through a litany of real-world examples.

Additional Resources

  • ProTeacher is an amazing website solely dedicated to teachers of all elementary grades that provides a wide collection of lesson plans, printable worksheets, project themes, and ideas for setting up a classroom economy on an array of economic premises, including how financial markets and the stock market work.  This site also provides a blog and chat room for teachers to share their experiences on teaching economics within the classroom. 

  • EconEd Link is a comprehensive website that provides teachers with incredibly detailed lesson plans that include all the resources needed to effectively teach students about goods/services and consumers/producers.  The lesson that is linked has been contributed by Nancy Sedivy and is adaptable for students in kindergarten - second grade   The lesson provides links to several interactive games students can utilize, resource links to worksheets and activities, assessment tools to measure student understanding, and several ideas for extension activities.

  • MoneyInstructor.com is a website designed for teachers, students, and parents alike and is devoted to help students ranging from kindergarten - sixth grade learn about all aspects of economics.  This site includes a variety of resources that teachers can use within the classroom, students can access at home, and parents can use as a resource to help their children’s growing knowledge of economics.  There is a wide range of economic principles provided on this site, including the basic premise of money and what it is, how to differenciate between needs and wants, the importance of saving, spending, and sharing, and why taxes are put on goods and certain services.  All of these economic principles provide a variety of worksheets, games, and acitivity ideas to enforce children’s understanding.  Also, because this site is designed for grades kindergarten - sixth grade, teachers, students, and parents have the ability to move at their own pace in relation to their individual learning abilities.

Book: Goods and Services
Author: Janeen R. Adil
Publisher: Capstone Press
Publication Date: January 1, 2006
Pages: 24pp
Grade Range: First Grade
ISBN-13: 978-0736853958

Teaching Earth Science with Children’s Literature: What Makes Day and Night

Published by Kelly on September 21, 2009 in nonfiction, earth science, resource links, book review, teaching, reading and science. 0 Comments

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What Makes Day and Night, written by Franklyn M. Branley and illustrated by Arthur Dorros, is a book answering children’s questions as to what causes ‘day to be day,’ ‘night to be night,’ and how the sun appears and disappears during these times.

This book follows a group of inquisitive children on their journey into finding out exactly what causes these events to happen, starting off with the basics of how our planet, Earth, is constantly spinning and rotating on its axis and the daily evoluations it makes around the sun.  The illustrations provide children with a clear sense of the Earth’s full rotation around the sun and shows the different stages of sunrise, day, sunset, and night, as well as providing insight into the moon’s lunar phases.  In addition to providing solid, factual information on these concepts, the children in the book conduct their own experiements at home with a flashlight in order to have a hands on understanding of how days and nights are created and the effects of light and darkness on Earth.

This book can surely serve as an anticipatory resource prior to a unit on Earth’s movement and motions within the solar system, and can be read aloud to the class or read independently by students because of the simplicity and student-friendliness of the text.  The author and illustrator do an excellent job of allowing students to grasp and process these abstract concepts through facts, home experiments, and detailed illustrations, leaving them with a sense of pride and curiousity to learn more about our plant and solar system.

Curriculum Connections

What Makes Day and Night serves as an excellent and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize the third grade learning objectives in accordance with the Virgiia Standards of Learning (SOL’s).  Investigating and understanding the basic patterns and cycles of the Earth in relation to the sun and moon (SOL 3.8) is supported throughout the entire book through its discussion and illustrations of the stages and time of Earth’s rotation, its effects of the sun on the planet, and the phases of the moon (SOL 3.8a).

Additional Resources

  • Eye On The Sky offers an excellent lesson plan, demonstration, and printables for teaching students the Earth’s rotation and how it causes day and night - plus, this lesson can be adapted for grades 1 - 3.

  • Jefferson County Schools‘, located in Tennessee, website dedicates a page full of classroom lesson plans, activities, and numerous resources aimed at teaching students all about the Earth’s rotation and its effects on people, plus interactive websites for students to work with at school or at home!  Additionally, this site provides a range of lesson plans and activities on other units covering Earth Science.

  • SkyTellers provides a multitude of resources for activity ideas, books, and websites links for students and teachers solely devoted to how Earth rotates and it’s implications on day and night, seasons, lunar phases, and the sun.  Also, this website offers insights on other Earth Science concepts, such as the origin of starts, constellations, meteors, and the solar system.  This is definately a website to have on hand for many Earth Science lessons, no matter the grade level!

Book: What Makes Day and Night
Author: Franklyn M. Branley
Illustrator: Arthur Dorros
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: March 1986
Pages: 32pp
Grade Range: 3rd Grade
ISBN-13: 9780064450508

Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: Leaving Home

Published by Kelly on September 12, 2009 in nonfiction, life science, resource links, book review, reading and teaching. 0 Comments

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Leaving Home, written by Sneed B. Collard III and illustrated by Joan Dunning, is an endearing book that takes students on a journey around the world to visit a variety of habitats and learn about some of the animals found in them. 

From the sea to the jungle, from the forest to the desert, students will begin to build insight on why the physical and behavioral adaptations animals have are necessary for survival in their given environment.  A page is dedicated for each animal discussed and provides information on the animals general life cycle from birth through adulthood.  Each page begins with how the animal simply moves about, providing a simplisitic yet effective way to show the many means in which animals travel; for example, on the shark page, it says, “some of us swim,” while on the jaguar page it says, “some of us walk.”    

The author also presents the behavioral and physical adaptations specific to each animal, such as if babies resemble their parents upon birth, how they gather or store found, where they make their shelter, how they rear their young (laying eggs versus giving birth, providing milk or not), and if hibernation, migration, camouflage, instinct, and learned behaviors are aspects to their species.  The illustrations are superb and enticing to view by offering great detail that clearly allow students to see how the animal’s physical adaptations coincide with their surroundings. 

The writing flows easily and offers students a concise yet vast amount of information needed in order to further explore these adaptations in more detail.  This book can surely serve as an effective anticipatory resource prior to a unit on animal life cycles and adaptations or as a tool for review prior to testing.  The author will leave students knowing so much more about these animals and instill a desire to want to learn even more about them.

Curriculum Connections

Leaving Home serves as an appropriate and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize specific second and third grade science life processes objectives in accordance with the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s).  Investigating and understanding that animals undergo a series of orderly changes in their life cycle (SOL 2.4) is supported throughout the entire book due to the wide spectrum of animals discussed, including invertebrates, vertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, birds, and insects.  Also, the author discusses the distinct stages during each animal’s life and how they can vary from one animal to another (SOL 2.4a).   The behavioral and physical adaptations necessary for an animal’s survival (SOL 3.4), such as methods of gathering and storing food, finding shelter, rearing young (SOL 3.4a), migration, instinct, and learned behavior (SOL 3.4b) are explained in explicit detail for each animal discussed. 

Additional Resources

  • Mrs. Becky Wick , a current second grade teacher from Missouri, has designed an absolutely amazing website that offers almost everything you and your students will need in order to thoroughly investigate and explore animal life cycles, including activity and project ideas,  interactive online games, and lesson plans!  This site is a must to visit!

  • The Teacher’s Guide website has dedicated an outstanding page full of lesson plans, printables, and project suggestions dedicated to the frog.  If your looking for any resources to supplement your teaching on this amphibian’s life cycle, including metamorphosis as part of their of physical development, and/or behavioral adaptations, you will not need to look any further than here!

  • TeacherVision offers a wide proposal of lesson plans, activities, and projects on animal adaptations, covering the aspects of migratation, hibernation, mimicry, and learned behaviors specific to each animal.  This site also offers all of these resources for different grade levels, so you are certain to find something that fit’s each of your student’s needs!

Book: Leaving Home
Author: Sneed B. Collard III
Illustrator: Joan Dunning
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: March 2002
Pages: 32pp
Grade Range: 2nd and 3rd Grade
ISBN-13: 9780618114542

Teaching Physical Science with Children’s Literature: I Fall Down

Published by Kelly on September 7, 2009 in nonfiction, physical science, resource links, book review, teaching, reading and science. 0 Comments

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I Fall Down, written by Vicki Cobb and illustrated by Julia Gorton, introduces students to discover how and why objects always fall down when they are thrown up in the air, and why some of these objects fall faster than others.  Students follow a young boy through a series of experiments that lead to the explanation and understanding of how gravity works.  Concepts, such as the weight of objects, are introduced as well.   Teachers can also integrate manipulatives into the reading of the book to show first hand out different objects all at different rates of speed and in different types of motion.  The reading of this book serves as an excellent lesson introduction to force, motion, and energy.

Curriculum Connections

I Fall Down serves as an appropriate and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize the following First Grade Force, Motion, and Energy Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s):

1.2 The student will investigate and understand that moving objects exhibit different kinds of motion.  Key concepts include:

b. objects may vibrate and produce sound

c. pushes or pulls can change the movement of an object

d. the motion of objects may be observed in toys and in
playground activities

Additional Resources

  • PPST offers a variety of motion resources for both kids and teachers, including a range of powerpoint presentations, games, and activity ideas.
  • This educational website offers worksheets and games specific to first graders learning and understanding of gravity, force, and motion.
  • Rockingham County’s website provides specific lesson plans catering to SOL 1.2, including a 10 day unit lesson plan!

Book: I Fall Down
Author: Vicki Cobb
Illustrator: Julia Gorton
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: October 2004
Pages: 30pp
Grade Range: 1st - 2nd Grade
ISBN-13: 978-0688178420

Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: I See Myself

Published by Kelly on August 30, 2009 in process skills, nonfiction and book review. 0 Comments

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I See Myself, written by Vicki Cobb and illustrated by Julia Gorton, follows a young girl exploring why she can see herself in some objects, like in a mirror or car window, but not in others.  Throughout the book, children start to learn the early beginnings of the scientific process for carrying out scientific investigations,  including the importance of formulating questions, making observations, performing experimentations, and predicting the outcomes of those experiments.  Children are encouraged to utilize both visual and tactile senses to help determine where they will be able to see their reflections, which can help develop classification and sorting skills based on physical properties.  In particular, children are exposed to a variety of light sources and how light is essential for objects to produce reflections.  As a bonus, this book allows teachers to integrate the use of several manipulatives, such as a hand held mirror, small ball, and flashlight, either during or after reading the book, to help children see firsthand how reflective items may be determined through observation, classification of physical properties, and how light can hinder or enhance reflections.

I See Myself  is as an excellent precursor to learning about the more complex science children will learn in the upper grade levels behind how reflective images are produced through light, all while getting children excited and confident about science!

Curriculum Connections
I See Myself serves as an appropriate and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize the following Kindergarten Scientific Investigation, Reasoning, and Logic Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s):

K.1 The student will conduct investigations in which:

a. basic properties of objects are identified by direct observations

c. objects are described both pictorially and verbally

e. a set of objects is seperated into two groups based on a single physical attribute

g. a question is developed from one or more observations

K.2 Students will investigate and understand that humans have sense that allow one to seek, find, take in, and react or respond to information in order to learn about one’s surroundings.  Key concepts include:

a. five senses and corresponding sensing organs (taste - tounge, touch - skin, smell - nose, hearing - ears, and sight - eyes)

Additional Resources

  • kindergarten-lessons.com provides an assortment of lessons, activities, and experiments designed for kindergarten that include aspects of the scientific process regarding light sources; this website also provides activities that incorporate the relationship betweeen light and color.
  • How Stuff Works provides a variety of experiment ideas for young children on reflections and the relationships relfective materials and lights that can be altered for specific grade levels.
  • TLS Book’s website has a collection of kindergarten worksheets that focus on reviewing and enhancing concepts such as light, how the five sense can help classify objects based on a variety of shared properties, and thinking skills.

Book: I See Myself
Author: Vicki Cobb
Illustrator: Julia Gorton
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: August 2002
Pages: 40 pages
Grade Range: Kindergarten
ISBN: 978-0688178369

First Grade Computation: Whole Number Addition and Subtraction

Published by Kelly on July 15, 2009 in summermath, math and teaching. 0 Comments

Addition and subtraction are two of many essential building blocks needed for long term mathematical success.  This blog concentrates on effective instructional teaching resources of addition and subtraction for teachers and their first grade students, focusing on recalling basic addition facts with sums up to 18 and their corresponding subtraction facts, as well as helping students create and solve basic picture and world addition and subtraction problems.

Here are some of my personal favorite books dealing with addition and subtraction.  These books serve as great anticipatory sets prior to presenting the lesson.

Text Annotations - Books on Adding and Subtracting

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Oliver’s Party: Learning Addition and Subtraction with Oliver and His Friends

Written By: Jenny Fry

Illustrated By: Angelina Jolliffe

Summary: Friends join Oliver for his birthday party, and when the party is over, the boys and girls leave one by one, learning to subtract one number at a time. This addition and subtraction book deals with number from 1 - 10, adding from 1 - 10 and then working back from 10 - 1 through subtraction.  The illustrations are vivid and bright, helping to capture the attention of students and teachers alike, and numbers are spelled and written on each page.

Book Cover

Mission: Addition

Written and Illustrated By: Loreen Leedy

Summary: This humor-based book is based on a teacher, Miss Prime, and her students learning the basics of addition.  This interactive book encourages student involvement, by taking surveys and investigating mysterious scenarios.  Addition problems are comprised of word problems, adding numbers up to 60, and how to check work.  The illustrations are will capture and keep students interest, and can be used in sections, from learning to add numbers up to 18 to 60.  Above all, this book helps students see the relevance of math and just how much fun math can be.

Candy Counting: Delicious Ways to Add and Subtract

Written By: Lisa McCourt

Illustrated By: Brad Tuckman

Summary: This book takes the cake on snagging student’s attention; no pun intended.  Nothing can hook a child’s interest quite like candy; this book focuses on the use of classic candies in order to show addition and subtraction principles.  Students learn basic addition and subtraction skills through candy visuals, along with word story problems.  Not only are the illustrations bright and life size, this is a great book to use as an introduction prior to an activity working with candy manipulatives.

Domino Addition

Written and Illustrated By: Dr. Lynette Long

Summary: This books utilizes dominos as a way to help students begin to understand addition properties.  Dominos work great for students who are learning how to add, as they are large, visual, and may have been seen within ‘real world’ situations, like at home.  This book works with adding numbers from 1 - 12, and helps reluctatant students see that math can be learned and used like a game.  Simple, chic illlustrations that provide a perfect balance of visual stimulation without feeling overwhelmed.

Ten Little Ladybugs

Written By: Melanie Gerth

Illustrated By: Laura Huliska-Beith

Summary: Because subtraction can prove to be more difficult than addition for some students, it is important to find books that solely focus on subtraction methods.  This book tells a story about ladybugs disappearing one by one, counting down from 10.  Children will visually be able to see how subtraction works through hands on interaction and rhyming text.

Below are some great websites for kids to help build their addition and subtraction knowledge, as well as associate math with being fun!

Web Annotations - Sites for Kids to Practice Addition and Subtraction

Student Activities and Games: Parents Can Play, Too!

Summary: This website not only allows students to select which operation they want to work on, addition or subtraction, but also allows students to opt for games or hands on activities.  This is a great website that students and parents can utilize together at home and enhance addition and subtraction knowledge and skills.  The website is user friendly and well organized, allowing students to solely focus on what they want to do: have fun with math!

Adding Bricks

Summary: This is a very basic, beginning game for students who are just beginning to learn about addition.  This site contains many games, such as “Adding Bricks,” that give them both a visual number of objects, plus its written numeral, helping to show students connections between the number of objects and adding objects together.  Students and parents can return to the homepage of this site and continue to play a variety of addition and subtraction games of all levels.

Subtraction Fishing

Summary: This interactive game helps students with subtraction knowledge and understanding.  The website as a whole can be used to find a variety of addition and subtraction games, but I opted to link to the site directly to this game to avoid students and parents having to navigate to the addition and subtraction games.  This particular subtraction game is excellent because it tests for both accuracy and time efficiency.

Math Mayhem

Summary: Math Mayhem is an easy to use resource filld with a variety of activities and games for students to utilize while building addition and subtraction knowledge.  The website is extremely user friendly; all students have to do is click on the “+” or “-” to begin a series of games focused on that particular operation.

Digital Flashcards

Summary: This website is a great resource for students who possess conceptual knowledge of addition and subtraction and simply need repetitive activities to ensure understanding, accuracy of sums and differences, and time efficiency.

Check out these additional resources for teachers, parents, and students.  They are filled with creative lesson plans, games, activities, and other addition and subtraction essentials!:

Additional Resources

Cool Math 4 Kids

Summary: This website is completely dedicated to fun for both students and teachers alike throughout grades and mathematical content areas.  Students can access an array of games and  puzzles by clicking on any of the options on the homepage, while teachers can find lesson plans and assessment resources on several grades and areas of math; there’s even a place just for parents!

Resources for Teachers

Summary: This website is designed for teachers to incorporate the most effective ways to teach both addition and subtraction to their students.  Teachers will be able to access lesson plans, activities, tips, resources, content areas, and even online activities to share with their students.

Student Practice,Teacher Resource

Summary: This website is designed for both students and teachers, includuing comprehensive addition and subtraction lessons and games, providing immediate feedback to the students.  The site allows for students to work at their current levels of addition and subtraction in the privacy of their own home, and can help build mathematical confidence.  Also, there are some great addition and subtraction tables teachers can manipulate to visually help students learn these tables.