Math Support

It seems like there can never be too much practice when it comes to learning math facts and concepts. With that in mind I wanted to share two website resources that have a triple F rating: fun, functional, and free!



Ten Marks is a wonderful online program that can provide valuable math support for your students grades 2 through 1o.
You set up your class and are provided student usernames and passwords (an email address is not required). Students have their own account and work at their own pace with specific concepts that you design for them. The lessons include hints, examples, and video explanations along with instant feedback. You receive progress reports via email on how your students are doing, and these can also be sent to parents!
There are help videos for teachers that can help you get started. Click here to get an overview of the program or go directly to http://www.tenmarks.com/teacher/signup/step-one to sign up.





For PreK-Kdg students check out ABCMouse.com which has a complete math and reading online curriculum students can use to learn and/or reinforce math concepts. There is a free non-member portion that is beneficial, while the subscription option might be suggested to parents as way to reinforce learning at home.

Spell with Flickr Letter Images

Need a spelling activity that can be customized to your class list?

Try this fun interactive link that uses Flickr images to display the letters in words. Just type your spelling word into the dialogue box and click the spell button. Your word will then be displayed using actual photos of the letter. Click on individual letters to get a new image for a letter. Students will enjoy seeing their letters change and the extra visual support can aid in memorization. Click here for the link written by developer Erik Chastner.

For more spelling games and activities check out these links

http://www.kidsspell.com/

http://www.spinandspell.com/

Make a crossword puzzle with spelling words at http://edhelper.com/crossword_free.htm

A Google a Day

Google is now offering a great resource for educators and students.  It is called A Google a Day and it is a very simple idea but can be great for students and teachers.  Google a Day offers one question per day and students use their search skills to help them answer the question.  The students search using Google and the question stays with them at the bottom of the page as they search.  Once the students find the answer they can have Google show them what the correct answer is including directions on how the question should be answered and the proper way to search for it.  This is a great tool for students, not only will they learn something from the questions that are asked but they will also learn how to use Google to find the answers that they need more efficiently.

Anne Frank and the Secret Annex

Are you always looking for new materials and interactive resources to use with your students?  If so you will have to check out this website. http://www.annefrank.org/en/Subsites/Home/  This website it packed with really great information about Anne Frank and the struggles that she had to go through.  There is a 3D house which you and your students can tour and actually see where Anne hid out when she needed to.  There are some great videos of real footage from World War 2 as well as tons of information about the occupants that lived in the house as well as many other great resources.  If you like this website and you would be interested in more great websites (K-12) sign up here to receive emails when anything new is posted. After signing up look for the follow up email which will verify your subscription.

A Discussion on Osama bin Laden

Discovery Education had a webinar last week that explained the events that led up to the capture and demise of Osama bin Laden.  The discussion took place with Ben Rhodes the Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor.  Mr.  Rhodes tells about the events leading up to the big event and then he took questions from students from across the United States.  The archived event is located here if you would like to share this with your students.  The webinar is about 30 minutes in length with the first ten being a recap of events and the last 20 minutes being questions from students. Discovery recommends that due to the sensitive nature of the webinar that only middle and high school students watch the archive.

Online Children's Museum

FRABOOM!!!!!

I know it sounds like something went wrong but this website is totally right! Fraboom is a fun interactive website for children of all ages.  Fraboom is free for the most part but they do offer some other features for a monthly fee. With the free version of Fraboom students and teachers will have access to live classes that are taught by teachers, the classes change on a daily basis. Fraboom also has games that are educational and videos that help explain topics like the solar system.  You will also have the ability to check out some pretty cool interactive books that read the book to you if you choose.  Within the book you also have the ability to click on different parts for more information on that topic.  All of this is part of the free version and really with the paid version all you really gain is the ability to watch a few more videos, participate in the live classes and keep track of your points that you can earn by playing the games.  The choice is yours but it is definitely worth checking out.

Interactive Periodic Table of Elements

High school Chemistry would have been so much easier if I would have had this tool in front of me!  ptable.com offers a great interactive Periodic Table of Elements.  Click on any of the elements and it will give you a complete description of what the element is and how it is used.  Not sure what the Alkali Metals are just hover over the Alkali Metals tab and ptable.com will highlight all of the metals for you to quickly view. This is a great resource that not only teachers can use within their classroom but also a great study tool for students as well.

5 Things You Should Embed in DyKnow Vision

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5 Things You Should Embed in DyKnow Vision

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Quick Presentations

Qwiki is a fairly new website that could change the way that we search for information.  It is unlike all other search engines that I have come across.  Qwiki is very different website that lets you type in your search terms and then it will actually take wikipedia entries and photos and turn them into a fairly decent presentation.  It is still in its beta version but I think that with a little more work this can be a very valuable website.  The best part of Qwiki is the ability to type in what you would like to search for and have a pretty good explanation within just a couple of seconds.  It is very easy to use and it will definitely save you some time.  Qwiki now also offers an iPad app that will do the same things as the website but bundled into a nice easy to use application.

Let Google Docs and Flubaroo do the Grading!

Why do all of the grading when Google Docs and Flubaroo can do it for you. If you use Google Docs there is a great new tool that can be added to your Google Docs account, the name may sound funny but what it can do will amaze you.  Flubaroo.com provides a very nice set of instructions on how to use their tool located here.  Once you have the script installed and you have created your form you will just click on the grade assignment and then tell flubaroo what answers you are looking for and it does the rest for you.  Imagine grading 160 assignments in less then two minutes.  Sounds good to me!

Check out the video!

Random Name Generator

I have recently discovered a very cool little tool that will help you randomly choose a students name.  This little tool is very easy to use, all you have to do is copy your students names and then click on the box that says change names and paste your students into the text box.  Now all you have to do is click on the Go! button and it will randomly select a student from the list.  It then gives you three different options to choose from, a two minute or seven minute stopwatch and then my favorite "remove victim from list."  Check it out, it only takes a minute to set up and then you can save your students names to use again and again.

Literacy, Science, and Math Interactives from WickED

http://www.wicked.org.nz/r/wick_ed/interactives/index.php

Here are some great interactives to help with teaching  literacy, science, and math concepts for elementary and middle school students. 

This is a site developed by the New Zealand Ministry of Education so you will see lessons in English and New Zealand's native language, Maori, which threw me at first, but students can learn a little about the culture in New Zealand as they brush up on the literacy and math skills.

For some great math skills practice and problem solving puzzles click on the Matho 1 link.

For earth science activities that explore volcanoes and earthquakes choose the Science link.

For reading activities chose the Literacy link which has spelling games, a newspaper activity, comprehension activities, and online quizzes.








 TIP:
When you first visit the site be on the lookout for a message at the top of your page in the INFO Bar where you will be asked to install a  Shockwave plugin.

Posted by Clare 4/07/11

April is Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month so I thought I'd share some poetry resources. There are so many wonderful sites available to assist with teaching poetry.   Robert Frost says, Poetry starts with a lump in your throat, so if you have ever had a feeling . . . then that qualifies you as a poet!

Begin with a great go-to resource: Scholastic.com. You will find links for poetry lesson ideas from many popular authors like Jack Prelutsky, the nation's first Children's Poet Laureate, Karla Kuskin, and Maya Angelou plus many more.

Some more poetry resources can be found on  the Edutopia  site posted by guest blogger Gail Desler. Here are just a few she mentions:

Visit Edsitement for a collection of classic authors and their poetry along with lessons and supporting websites. 



Visit PBS Poetry is Everywhere for  videos, biographies, and lesson ideas  relating to classic and contemporary poetry.

To write poetry using images visit PicLits

Happy writing!  

posted by Clare 4/04/2011

5 Games to Play in DyKnow Vision

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5 Games to Play in DyKnow Vision

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Whiteboard Activities

Welcome Back! I hope your spring break was as enjoyable as it was short!
I just wanted to share a website that offers links to hundreds of educational whiteboard activities from a British learning resource called Birmingham Grid for Learning.

These are fun flash activities with impressive animation that cover core content areas plus other subjects as well. They are leveled, but since this is a British site keep in mind that their levels are a little different than our grade levels. Roughly speaking:
Foundation = PreK-Kdg
Primary = Kdg-4th grade
Secondary = 4th - 10th grade


Use the Search option to find an activity to fit your lesson.

Visit
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/15.cfm?s=15&p=247,index   for some terrific flash activities to help bring concepts to life!

3/29/2011

History + Music Videos = Fun!

Check out History For Music Lovers on YouTube

Anyone who teaches history will enjoy these great music videos on YouTube. These  videos, made by two very creative history teachers from Hawaii, are hilarious, educational, and engaging.
See how 80's pop tunes can be changed  into great history lessons that teach students important historical figures, dates,  and events.
Learn about important historical figures like Copernicus, Henry III, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon plus many more. Several  historical events are covered too, such as The Inquisition, The Crusades and The French Revolution, along with many others.  The catchy songs and clever images educate and entertain!
Go to
 http://www.youtube.com/user/historyteachers#p/u/39/bQ8A5gRe_Dw

14 Minute Webinar

How to Engage Your Students with 21st Century Projects

Simplek12.com is offering another webinar that you may be interested in .  This webinar is based on 21st Century Projects and ways that you can help engage your students using these great tools.  According to Simplek12's blog post this webinar will only take 14 minutes.  You can choose from three different days.  The webinars are Tuesday, March 22 at 5:00 PM, Wednesday, March 23 at 9:00 AM and Saturday, March 26 at 11:00 AM.  To register for the webinar just go to this link.  

Discussions in Google Docs

Thinking about using Google Docs!  Here is another great reason to start using it.  As you may know Google has a feature within Google Docs that allows a collaborator to comment on the document itself.  The comments are placed in the margins of the document.  Well now Google has set up discussions that can take place within the margins of the document.  For example I can comment on a student's work and then they can reply to my comment as to what they were thinking when they were writing the paper.  This is a great way to help your students fine tune their writing skills and also a way that students can help each other with writing projects.  Check out this video if you would like to see more.

Transforming Education through Technology

For the past year I have been receiving a wonderful publication from The Journal that I would like to recommend to everyone.  The Journal whose goal is to Transform Education through Technology is a great way to learn about new tools that are available in this ever-changing world of Education and Technology.  Each month you can choose to receive the digital or the print version of the magazine.  Within every issue there are many ideas that may help you implement technology into your classroom.  This is a great way to learn about new ideas that will help push you towards having a 21st Century classroom.  If you have a minute visit The Journal website and sign up for this free publication.

Online Learning Opportunity

Getting the Most Out of Your Interactive Whiteboard

Simplek12.com is offering a live online webinar on Tuesday, March 22, 2011.  The webinar will begin at 1:00PM and last about an hour.  If you are interested in this free webinar just click on this link and sign up.  The webinar states that it will help you discover some new ways to use your interactive whiteboard.