Yo, Millard Fillmore!

In honor of President's Day (U.S.), here's a little book that we're having fun with...

Yo, Millard Fillmore! uses a series of cartoons to teach the names of the Presidents (through Clinton, btw) in order. Although we're not taking the memorization part too seriously, it's fun to see just how many we can remember using the comic book mnemonic tricks. Even more, I enjoy the trivia about each President, highlighting interesting facts about each person. [Note: although at first glance the book appears out-of-print and $$$, it looks like there are a lot of used, inexpensive copies.]

First official antismoking campaign was launched in 1604 by James I of England

From the BMJ:

Monarchs and their heirs are not always noted for their rational medical advice. But James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England in 1603, was different.

Published anonymously in 1604 but immediately credited to the king, A Counterblaste to Tobacco flew in the face of prevailing medical opinion by outlining some of the chief health risks of smoking more than three centuries before scientists made the connection.

Possibly the first official antismoking campaign, the royal pamphlet highlighted cost and passive smoking as two of the most powerful arguments against tobacco, while it lamented that addiction, peer pressure, and fashion were among the most difficult obstacles to overcome.

A Counterblaste to Tobacco is written in Early Modern English and refers to medical theories of the time (e.g. the four humours). In it, King James I blames Native Americans for bringing tobacco in Europe, complains about passive smoking, warns of dangers to the lungs, and decries tobacco's odour as "hatefull to the nose."

James's dislike of tobacco led him to authorize an excise tax and tariff of six shillings and eight pence per pound of tobacco imported, or £1 per three pounds, a large sum of money for the time.

References:
Royal insights on smoking - Moore 340: c1408 - BMJ.

Image source: James I, VI by John de Critz, c.1606, Wikipedia, public domain.

A Counterblaste to Tobacco. Wikipedia.

Twitter comments:

@CardioNP: 400+ yrs later I still wade thru smoke to enter the hospital.

Math Workbox: Twenty-One Elephants

 

In 1883, workers completed the Brooklyn Bridge, an incredible feat of 19th century engineering. Problem was, folks were scared to cross it. How did they know if the bridge would hold?

In 1884, circus legend P.T. Barnum crossed the bridge with 21 elephants to prove the span could withstand anything...even the likes of Jumbo. The story is told (and fictionalized to varying degrees) in two books, Twenty-One Elephants and Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing.

I wrote up three Math Box Card activities for children to do after reading the books. Lessons include comparing/contrasting literature, problem solving/measurement, and history. You can download them, free! Enjoy and please leave me a note if you do the activity.

Pre/Post Columbus: Play Dough Maps

We're doing a little review on some of the explorers before we begin talking about European settlement in North America. Today, LilDude made maps with play dough to show what Europeans knew about the world, pre & post Columbus' voyages.

Here's pre-Columbus:

Post-Columbus:
*note the Nina, Pinta & Santa Maria

After he labeled continents and oceans, the big kids came to admire his work. Anakin (14) rearranged all the labels while LilDude hid his eyes. All labels were rapidly returned to the correct places.

I don't know where we originally got it, but my kids have all learned the continents with this song. (Tune sounds like "I'm a Little Teapot" at the beginning. Maybe I made the rest up?):

There are 7 continents in the world.
North America, South America,
Europe, Asia, Africa.
Don't forget Australia.
Don't forget Antarctica.
Seven continents in the world,
that is what they are.
North America, South America,
Europe, Asia, Africa.
Don't forget Australia.
Don't forget Antarctica.

They don't forget the continents! ;)

While LilDude was working on continents, GG (4) was working on his letters. He is very proud of this play dough "A."

Incan Quipu Math (place value, history)

During the Inca empire, a system of knots was used for adding numbers. We've been reading about it in a fascinating math/activity/history book,  The Secret Life of Math; discover how (and why) numbers have survived from the cave dwellers to us!

We did a little quipu activity and quickly figured out why this math method--though effective--didn't last to the present day. At least not if everyone was as bad at knot tying as we are! ;) It is, however, a fun activity to explore history and reinforce knowledge of place value.



Inca Quipu Math activity

Materials needed:

a thin dowel or chopstick
thin cord
colored markers
scissors
paper/pencil (optional)

Procedure:

1. Tie four long cords onto the dowel. If the cord is too short, you won't be able to tie many knots, so leave yourself plenty of room. The three cords to your right are the addends, the cord on the left is the summation.

2. Though the Incas didn't do this, we added colored marks on the cord so we could easily see the divisions between each place value grouping. As you tie knots the cords won't continue to line up evenly, but it will help you be able to see that the hundreds are between the orange and purple marks, etc.

3. Decide on three numbers you'd like to add. Tie knots on your cord to represent the numbers. For example, on the cord on the far right (below) we chose the number 2,133. This is represented by two knots in the very top section, one knot in the next section, three knots in the third section, and three knots in the bottom section. We made number cards just to help us remember what we were doing. (Later it was fun to mix and match the cards with the cords!)

4. Add the knots in all the ones sections on all three cords. Record the total number of ones on the summation cord. For us, the ones totaled 11; therefore, we put 1 knot in the ones section and 1 knot on the tens section on the summation cord. Continue through each subsequent place value section.

We did this activity during a study of Inca history. My student, age 7, found it difficult to tie the knots, so I did most of the tying. He did the adding and writing. When we finished he said, "That was FUN!"

Another place value game that my children enjoy from time to time...Learning Resources Dino Math Tracks Place Value Game. Here's the Amazon product description:

"Prehistoric pals make this award-winning math game a blast. Roll the dice and move the dinosaurs around a delightfully illustrated game board. Learn all about numbers - from counting, addition and subtraction to place value skills. Includes game board, 16 dinosaurs, cards, number die and instructions for various levels of play. For 2 to 4 players."

I also found a little online activity to practice identifying place value in a number.

Video: Year 2009 As Told In A Google Wave

Video: Waving Goodbye to 2009.

References:
2009 As Told In Google Wave. TechCrunch.

Related books:

Hysteria: Historical Perspective

"Women under hysteria" from Wikipedia. D.M. Bourneville and P. Régnard, public domain.

From The Lancet:

The changing meanings of hysteria have mirrored the preoccupations of the societies that used the term:

Ancient Egyptians, and subsequently Greeks, blamed a displaced hystera, or womb, for many women's afflictions, including choking, mutism, and paralysis, although the term hysteria was not applied until later.

Hippocratic writings speak of a dry womb rising towards the throat in search of moisture, thereby impeding breathing.

As anatomical knowledge increased, such notions became untenable and Galen instead blamed blocked menstrual flow and sexual abstinence.

Galen suggested that retained sperm could contribute to male hysteria, igniting a debate which was to run for centuries over whether men could indeed suffer hysteria.

Psychiatrists have gradually replaced the term "hysteria" with "somatization disorder". In 1980 the American Psychiatric Association officially changed the diagnosis of "hysterical neurosis, conversion type" to "conversion disorder".

References:
Hysteria, Perspectives. The Lancet, Volume 374, Issue 9702, Page 1669, 14 November 2009.
Hysteria. Wikipedia.
Somatoform Disorder: Conversion. eMedicine Specialties > Pediatrics: Developmental and Behavioral > Medical Topics.