Wordle

Lucinda just introduced me to this neat website, Wordle at wordle.net.

You copy or input large blocks of text to create a "word cloud" that ranks how often the word is used in the story.

We created a Wordle using the text from Romeo and Juliet, and this is what it looks like.

Fun with math

Math was something of a chore for Lucinda in 1st grade and she really resented my efforts (last summer) to make her practice basic addition and subtraction on worksheets every few days.

But we're having a better time with math this fall because her school purchased access to an Australian website/company called Mathletics (link here: www.mathletics.com.au). It lets children practice equations at their grade level and compete against the computer or children in countries all over the world to answer questions in 60 seconds.

Lucinda usually avoids overtly competitive situations (i.e. swim team, Student Council elections, aggressive soccer team), yet she loves, loves Mathletics. When Mathletics scans the globe to match her with other kids who are looking for a contest, she gleefully announces the players' names and countries ("Audrey from Australia! Mohammed from Qatar! John from the United States!) and doesn't mind whether she wins or loses.

Mathletics also lets teachers arrange homework for children to complete on their own time, and it's available to anyone with an Internet connex who buys the annual $100 subscription.

Painting for kids

Lucinda heard about a really fun website for kids: JacksonPollock.org

Give it a whirl or a swirl. Press the space bar to erase. Press the mouse-click to change colors.

Pastry chef

I am editing for Kateigaho magazine this week, and right now I'm working on a story about Tokyo's amazing French pastries. (Which is giving me lots of ideas for sightseeing daytrips.)

Along the way, I checked a website of a top pastry shop in France; its design is very cute, especially when you roam the home page with your cursor.

Check it out: http://fresson-chocolatier-patissier.com/