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To: Friends of Math Cats From: Wendy Petti [wpetti@mathcats.com] Subject: Math Cats News (issue #6, July 13, 2001) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dear Friends of Math Cats, Although I had been an Information Technology teacher for many years, I had never created a web page. I had left my teaching position in June of 2000 with the intention of creating a math web site for children. I had registered four other domain names before my husband came up with the name "Math Cats." Mind you, my husband hates cats in general and hates our own cat, Fatso, in particular. But as soon as I heard his suggestion, I began to envision silly cats having fun with math, and Math Cats began to take shape in my mind. And how did I learn to put together my first web page, featuring the magic chalkboard? Well, I swallowed my pride and got a lesson from my teenage son, Chris. It was quite nice to be the eager learner while my son taught me the rudiments of formatting tables in HTML, as we inserted the Java applet I had found for unscrambling answers. My son then helped me to upload my first web page. It was thrilling to be able to type "mathcats.com" into my browser and see my humble chalkboard appear. It held just the question and scrambled answer; the chalk cat did not appear until several days later, and the cat did not become animated until December. My main goal was to post some of the many interactive MicroWorlds projects which my students and I had developed over several years. I have a passion for MicroWorlds and think it is absolutely wonderful software for creating one's own games, animations, simulations, and geometric designs through simple Logo programming commands. But I knew, regretfully, that most people would not want to bother to download and install the free MicroWorlds Web Player for viewing and using the online projects, and so I thought I should place a few other activities on the site as well. I gradually assembled the first three activities in the Explore section: Lissajous Lab, Magic Squares, and How Much Is It??? I tracked down the entrants in the informal 1997 Logo 15-word contest and got permission to render and repost their entries in the Math Cats art gallery. I posted a handful of my MicroWorlds projects, and finally on September 22nd I felt ready to announce the arrival of Math Cats to my Logo-loving invisible friends on the LogoForum. After several months in utero, Math Cats was really, truly "born." Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine what an enthusiastic response would greet my newborn site. Word passed from the LogoForum to a home-schooling parent who posted the URL on several home-schooling mailing lists, and word continued to spread from there. I awoke on the morning of September 26th to discover that Math Cats had been visited all through the night by people from around the world. I marvelled: "I've been teaching while I've been sleeping!" It was an incredible feeling. From that moment on, I was completely hooked. Today, in honor of the first birthday of the first page of Math Cats, I've added a birthday cake above the magic chalkboard and placed a party hat on the head of the little dancing cat on the Contents page. Come visit! Check out the brand-new page of Math Cats' awards, honors and reviews. If you haven't already done so, please consider downloading the free MicroWorlds plug-in so that you can enjoy the best part of Math Cats. The MicroWorlds projects are my real pride and joy. Take a peek at the Math Cats' mailroom, read some messages, and drop me a note! My biggest thrill of all is to hear from visitors who enjoy my silly little cats or who find Math Cats helpful in some way. You will have noticed when you signed up for Math Cats News that I asked for your name and your city/state/country. I just like to feel that I am writing to real people from real places. Our 335 subscribers come from 18 countries; since the last issue went out, new subscribers have signed on from New Zealand, Oman, Turkey, Iceland... and the U.S., of course. Welcome, all! __________________________
MATH CATS IS HONORED * DIGITAL DOZEN at ENC ... again!! During July 2001, Math Cats is once again one of the "Digital Dozen" at the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse. (Math Cats was also honored to be a Digital Dozen site just three months ago, in April.) http://www.enc.org/weblinks/dd * THE INTERNET KIDS AND FAMILY YELLOW PAGES I've been notified that Math Cats will be recommended in the next edition of the best-selling guide, The Internet Kids and Family Yellow Pages, to be published in October 2001. (The author, "Net-Mom" Jean Polly, is credited with coining the expression, "surfing the Internet," in 1992.) _____________________________
WHAT’S NEW AT MATH CATS In the EXPLORE section: * STRING ART Print out templates for making your own string art pictures using color pencils or colored threads. * WEATHER AROUND THE WORLD If it's a hot day where you are, check out weather conditions from around the world, updated hourly. Of the sites featured on Math Cats, which spot is the hottest? the coldest? Which continent appears to have the hottest or coldest average temperature at the moment, based on the weather reports at Math Cats? Compare mid-day temperatures with early-morning or late-night temperatures: which site has the greatest temperature extremes? There's a world of math in the world of weather! In a link from the CONTENTS page: * AWARDS, HONORS, AND REVIEWS Take a peek at some of the kudos received by Math Cats during this first year in cyberspace. _________________________
SPOTLIGHT ON A SITE
* MATHEMATICALLY SANE: Promoting Rational Reform of School Mathematics The site name sums it up. This site features thoughtful and provocative research analyses.
* INVESTIGATIONS-CGI mailing list This math mailing list is great for "teachers and parents who want to learn more and share with others that use... constructivist, hands-on, problem-solving, inquiry-based methods to teach math." The members are welcoming and wise. I have learned a lot from them. _________________________ Thanks for your interest in Math Cats! As always, I welcome your input.
Wendy Petti of Math Cats
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