Andrew
Jeffrey's December 2007 Newsletter
1.
Welcome and Feedback
2.
Maths Website of the Month
3.
12 Days of Christmas on You Tube
4.
Millions Of Dollars: the best
exchange rate ever!
5.
2 Christmas presents for you!
6.
Education Guardian
7.
Have a fabulous 2008
8.
Could you pass it on?
1. Welcome to the December edition
of my Maths Newsletter. This is coming
out slightly earlier in the month than usual, as I know that some of you
subscribe via a school email address that will not be checked until January,
hence the decision to publish in time for breaking up!
I
have been looking back over the past year – a massive year of change for the
Jeffrey clan, but one which we have really enjoyed. I have some more bits and
pieces this month for you to enjoy.
So, a very happy Christmas to you all.
I hope that your end-of-term will be a joyous one, and that you are not too
full of chocolate. I have tried to give you a slightly shorter letter in this
busy month. And failed! I enjoyed
sending out the Million Dollar bills last month; I hope you enjoy them! I had
some very complimentary comments, including this one from a subscriber who
wrote these comments:
“I tried out your fabulous idea from the November Newsletter
with my class today – they couldn’t believe that I had made a million dollars
as I didn’t even have any pockets that day!”
2. Maths Website of the Month. My personal recommendation this month has to go to
the very professionally produced and accessible site found at http://learningclip.co.uk.
This
site is put together by Andrew Foster, a Primary Teacher (teacher-designed
sites are often the best ones). So far he has activities for Year 3 only
but is adding new resources all the time. Each activity has introductory and
plenary videos, a game and some worksheets to accompany it. So many sites fall
short at the worksheet stage, so well done Andrew. And, quite rightly, he
encourages the children to record AFTER they have tried the activity. If you
are quick, Andrew is offering completely free access to the site for two years;
a great offer in return for your opinion as to how the site could be improved.
I believe only the first 200 people to register are eligible for this offer
though…
3.
Lots of you said that you enjoyed trying the 12
days of Christmas investigation from the November issue. Here is some light
relief from all that algebra. I defy you not to laugh out loud!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jU1EpC1YLYM&feature=related
And
in case you are interested, here are the lyrics:
http://www.msgr.ca/msgr-2/christmas_countdown.htm
4. I did not anticipate the response to my Fake Million Dollar Bill
offer in November’s issue of the Newsletter! To save disappointing anyone, I have imported some more from the
The easiest way to pay is through Paypal to ajeffrey@freeuk.com,
or send a cheque. I guarantee it’s the best
exchange rate you will ever get! A lovely way to say what someone is worth to
you, as well! “You look a million dollars, dear!”
And get this: I was also sent a small handful of even higher
denominations free, so for the next 20 people to obtain at least £5 worth, I
will also throw in a very special BILLION DOLLAR BILL!
See November’s issue for the fab maths
lesson that uses the bills. Remember that you can always check back-issues on
the newsletter page archive:
http://andrewjeffrey.co.uk/newsletter.asp
5.
2 Christmas Gifts for all customers: I have recently
bought a Vauxhall Astra, as sadly my lovely sporty
Mazda 323 failed its MOT and would have cost a small fortune to repair.
The
Astra has a smaller engine, so it didn’t seem fair to
charge the same mileage as before. Thus, from this month, I am only charging
35ppm instead of 40ppm; I think I am probably the only place in the country
where fuel costs have dropped by12.5% !
A second Christmas gift to you – the next 20 list subscribers to order any resources from me
will receive an advance copy of my very latest e-book, entitled “Twenty Top Display Ideas” absolutely
free.
No
catch. It will be going on sale on my website hopefully by the New Year, so 20
of you will have the chance to see it first.
Reviews
have been very favourable so far, from some of the
kind TES people who have been proof-checking it for me, as well as some good
suggestions which will mean a short delay while I incorporate some of their
feedback.
6. I was very pleased to be
interviewed for the Education Supplement of the Guardian which was
published on 27th November. I was just one of several people
interviewed, so it was only a very short mention, but I’ll settle for that! I
was excited to see my quote about maths being an art, a science and a language
splashed across the front page, but then I saw it had been attributed to
someone else! Ah well, at least they published a link to my website. And a
great friend even managed to get his photo in the same issue, too, with some
impressive looking mathematical origami; well played sir!
7. I wonder what 2008 will hold for you?
I know that you will spend 1/3 of it in bed (122 days), 2/7 of it enjoying
weekends (104 days), 1/12 of it eating (30 days), 1/12 of it planning (30
days), so this all adds up to about 79 days left for teaching. Better make those days count!
I
personally have lots of exciting plans for visits to schools to talk to
children, staff and parents; a slowly growing number of conference engagements;
new resources, including a series of audio CDs, teacher’s books, and more
e-books; another free e-book (which is currently exactly 38% complete) to go on
the downloads page, and even a planned DVD; more information will follow next
year.
8. Could you ‘pass it on’? I wonder whether you
could all do me a very small favour that will take maybe
two minutes of your time? I would love more people to
hear about this newsletter and receive it free; it occurred to me that you are
precisely the people who would know the best people to benefit from it! Could
you consider forwarding this issue to any teachers whom you think might
benefit? Even if each subscriber just sends it to 3 or 4 people you would help
me to reach a wider range of people. Remember I will never sell your or their
details to anyone else; I am as sick as you probably are of all the junk mail
that arrives, so I 100% promise not to overload your inbox with rubbish!
Until Next Time, and may you all have a very happy and meaningful
Christmas,
Andrew
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