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.

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.

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.

The First Thanksgiving

Are you looking for something to teach your students about Thanksgiving?  Scholastic provides a really nice website that talks about The First Thanksgiving.  On their website they have many explanations that are very kid friendly.  You can show your students the Mayflower and show them the journey that the Pilgrims had taken to get to the new land.  You can also view the daily life of the Pilgrims after the arrived in the New World.  The First Thanksgiving is a great way to share the information with your students.  They also included a Teachers Guides for K-2, 3-5 and 6-8 that may help you gain a few more ideas.  There are also links to other sites that may help as well.  Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy the resource!

Activotes and BrainPop

The Activote Quiz is now integrated into BrainPop!

BrainPop has just released a great new feature for use with the Activotes.  Do you remember opening BrainPop and then opening ActivInspire to use the Activotes with BrainPop?  With the new add-in you can choose Activote Quiz from the list of options and be off and running.  Now the teacher can focus more on giving the quiz and less on going back and forth between ActivInspire and BrainPop.  Click here for the instructions on how to use it and click here for the download itself.  Once it is set up you don't have to worry about it again.  Trust me, it will be well worth your time to use this add-in.

Internet Safety Lessons

Welcome Back! We hope you had a restful summer and are excited to start a new year. I'm writing this blog following our beginning of the year Inservice. I just wanted to say that I am so impressed at how well D70 teachers have embraced technology and made it part of their effective teacher toolbox. I'm sure our students are appreciating the way our technology initiative is changing the way they learn.
Since Internet Safety is a topic that is relevant to all users--no matter what age and an important part of the 21 Century Skills students need to succeed, I thought this site called Internet Safety and You might be useful to you.




It offers guidance for students, teachers, and parents using Garfield the cat and his cast of comic strip characters to get across some important information. Topics include Online Safety, Cyberbullying, Fact or Opinion, and Forms of Media. There are videos along with opportunities for students to use the drag and drop features to draw conclusions and discover the correct way to use the Internet. I especially like that these lessons can apply to students in kindergarten all the way through 8th grade and beyond. You might think of using it during the first couple weeks of school as routines are established. It can also be used as a good discussion starter.

• Go to Helpful Hints to find the Activotes and Brainpop Guide covered in the Inservice
  

Back To School Reminders Re: your Promethean Boards

Be sure to try out boards before class to work out any glitches
email Clare corndoff@district.org or Shad sglenn@district70.org with any problems

Plug in board calibrate

Check for ActivInspire Updates. Go to Configure and then select Check for Updates option

Clean projector filter using compressed air