literacy – Page 8 – iLearn Technology

eduperience

October 11, 2009October 12, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment1980 views

What it is: eduperience is an easy blogging tool for students and teachers based on the WordPress platform. “Start a blog in seconds with unlimited storage, bandwidth, premium themes and plugins. It is too easy to publish Your academic calendar, newsletter, video, podcast, and photo.” You can choose to use an eduperience sub domain or your own domain hosting. Automated weekly and monthly backup of your blogs ensures safety. You can choose to earn up to 90% revenue on advertisements shown on your blog. eduperience is a great blogging platform for both students and teachers.

How to integrate eduperience into the classroom: eduperience is an easy way for you to get a classroom blog up and running. Use a classroom blog to post current assignments, class discussions, calendars, links to other websites relevant to classroom learning, and notes to your students. Students can use blogs as writing journals, an online portfolio of written work, or to collaborate with other students. Students tend to write more and with higher quality in an online environment. This is due in part to a greater sense of audience. Students know that teachers, students, and parents may be reading their writing. Blogs are also a great addition to the science classroom where students can reflect on experiments and labs.

Tips: eduperience offers outstanding 24/7 support. This makes it simple to get started with blogging, even if you haven never done it before!

Related Resources: think.com, Live Binders, edWeb 2.0, Weebly, Word Press, Blogger,

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using eduperience in your classroom.

Reading Logs

October 11, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2323 views

What it is: Reading Logs is a free website that makes reading, spelling, and vocabulary simplified. Reading Logs is a great way to organize student reading, spelling, and vocabulary practice. Learning material can be uploaded by teachers to be accessed by students online. Once the material is online, students can use the electronic reading log, vocabulary card creator, and and use the listen and spell practice system. Teachers can upload reading lists and reading goals for their class. These can be weekly or monthly goals and can be set up to track the number of minutes or the number of books read. Online competitions can be setup by the teacher (example: first student to read a certain number of minutes). Teachers can quickly post a vocabulary list where students can look up words with the online dictionary and add definitions to the cards. The cards can be studied online or downloaded as a pdf to print out. With the listen and spell system, teachers can upload spelling lists for students to practice. Students click on a button to listen to the spelling word and practice spelling it. They receive immediate feedback from the program. Reading Logs tracks students reading logs and updates teachers with progress.

How to integrate Reading Logs into the classroom: The Reading Logs website is a great place to organize your classroom. It eliminates the need for paper spelling lists, vocabulary cards, and reading logs. Parents and students will appreciate the one stop shop for these common weekly tasks. I am not normally a fan of reading logs, I think they can stress students out about reading unnecessarily (readicide!), but this online reading log works more as a motivator and goal setter for reading. I like that the focus is not on the number of pages read but on what books that a student is reading. This could encourage great conversation about reading between students who are reading similar books, or between the teacher and student. The focus is on encouraging the love of reading and not on the task of reading. The spelling practice center is great for vocabulary development, pronunciation, and self guided learning of spelling words. The vocabulary card creator allows students to easily create vocabulary cards, look up words in the online dictionary, and practice the words. I like this site for student and home connections and for the self guided learning and pacing. The spelling portion of this site could be great for English language learners because they will hear the pronunciation of words and can look up the definitions within the program.

Tips: When you register for this free website, you will get some great printouts explaining the site to parents and students.

Related Resources: Spelling City, Shelfari, Book Adventure

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Reading Logs in your classroom.

Story Cove

October 11, 2009October 11, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2437 views

What it is: Story Cove- A World of Stories is an excellent collection of stories from around the world. The folktales come from a variety of cultures and places sharing timeless lessons and universal values. The stories are shared in two ways, as an audio story only, or as a movie. The stories have been collected from countries around the world including: Africa, Asia, Americas, Australia, and Europe. Students can explore the world through the stories told there. Each story is accompanied by a variety of activities including coloring pages, mazes, printable masks, etc. There is a teacher page where you can find lesson plans for each story that extend the story elements to explore the original story with projects and activities that encourage interaction with other students, parents, and teachers. Each story has a lesson for students in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and third grade.

How to integrate Story Cove- A World of Stories into the classroom: Story Cove- A World of Stories is a fun way for students to learn about other cultures and countries through the stories told there. It provides a great tie in between geography, language arts, and social studies. As you are teaching about other countries, use Story Cove as a way for students to understand more about the people who live there. Because the stories have universal values, students will be able to relate them to their own lives. Story Cove can be used with a projector or interactive whiteboard for whole class participation or set up as a story center on classroom computers. These stories are great for building reading strategies like making connections, summarizing, synthesizing, questioning, and evaluating. They are also helpful for language and vocabulary building.

Tips: If you can’t find a place to directly tie in Story Cove in your curriculum, consider introducing a new folktale to students each week of the school year. Use the Story Cove story as a writing prompt for journal writing.

Related Resources: Speakaboos

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Story Cove in your classroom.

Rhyme Race

October 11, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2029 views

What it is: Rhyme Race is a four player (or four team) interactive rhyming game that helps promote a better understanding of rhyming. Players roll a die to move around the game board. Along the way, students are asked to come up with rhyming words. If the player lands on a spot of the same color as their game piece, they are given an audio rhyming word. A sound recording of a word is played and the player has to come up with a rhyming word. If the player lands on a purple space they are given a picture rhyme clue. A picture of a word is shown and the player must come up with a rhyming word. The first player (or team) to land on an end space wins.

How to integrate Rhyme Race into the classroom: Rhyme Race is an excellent interactive game for an interactive whiteboard. Split students into 4 teams, students in each team will rotate rolling the die and answering with a rhyme. This is also a great way for students to practice rhyming in small groups at a classroom computer as a center activity. If you have students who are struggling with rhyming, they can play this game as a single player.

Tips: Rhyme Race is a Flash game. Make sure that your Flash player is up-to-date before playing with students.

Related Resources: Little Animals Activity Centre, Rhymer

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Rhyme Race in your classroom.

Word Safari

October 11, 2009October 11, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2151 views

What it is: Word Safari is an entertaining little game where students can enter and practice their spelling words. Kids can practice seven spelling words at a time by entering any seven of their spelling words. Students can choose from three difficulty levels for their game (this just speeds up the letters). The game puts students in a jungle. Their character is holding onto balloons and floating through the air. The target spelling word is in the upper left hand corner of the screen. As the character floats through the air, letters pass by. The goal is to “run” into the letters needed to spell the spelling word by moving the character into the letters.

How to integrate Word Safari into the classroom: While I don’t think this game could be used as the sole method for learning spelling words, it does provide students with extra exposure to their spelling words and that is always a good thing! This little game would make a great spelling center in the classroom. Students could take turns at the center playing Word Safari once through. Send the Word Safari URL home with students so that they can play at home. Parents are always looking for fun ways to get in a little extra spelling practice.

Tips: Another great site from my PLN on Twitter, I don’t remember who originated the tweet because their were several re-tweets. So, thank you to all for this fun spelling practice site!

Related Resources: Spelling City, Spelling Wizard, Spellitis

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Word Safari Typing in your classroom.

My English Images

August 26, 2009August 30, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3077 views

What it is: My English images is a great site that I learned about from @larryferlazzo. This site was designed for English teachers and English teachers working with ESL and EFL students but it is a great site for any literacy classroom. The site has images and worksheets that are available for download that can be used to catch student’s attention, spice up lessons, and illustrate difficult language concepts. My English Images provides pictures that illustrate conversation, grammar, basic English, pronunciation, and vocabulary concepts. New content is added to the collection monthly.

How to integrate My English Images into the classroom: This site is ideal for the ESL/EFL classroom. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and that is definitely the case with this site. Students will be able to look at the pictures and understand the language concepts with the help of visuals. The pictures can be downloaded and used in PowerPoint presentations, interactive whiteboard lessons, and any lesson that you are teaching that would benefit from visuals. Visuals are the first thing that people associate with a concept. They help students recall more quickly, and the concepts get stored in permanent memory because students have an easier time making connections with things they already know. My English Images has some fantastic offline games that can be played with English language learners. You can download and print rules and a certificate of excellence as students complete the games. Grammar concepts are often difficult for any student learning them for the first time. My English Images makes it easier for students to understand how the English language works. This site should be used in any English speaking/learning literacy classroom!

Tips: Take a little time to explore My English images, it is a treasure trove of resources! My English Images was created by English language teacher F. Michael Kloran based on what he uses with his students.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using My English Images in your classroom.

Visuwords

June 18, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2513 views

What it is: Another fantastic visual dictionary, Visuwords shows a graphical representation of words and word relationships. Students can view word meanings and associations. Search for any word and immediately get word connections, find out which words are similar, an instance of, a substance of, a part of, a member of, a verb group, an opposite, a causes, entails, and offers suggestions for other words to see. Parts of speech are color coordinated so students can tell at a glance which part of speech the word is. When students hover the mouse over a word the definition pops up on the word.

How to integrate Visuwords into the classroom: Visuwords is a great way for students to learn vocabulary. Leave Visuwords projected on an interactive whiteboard or on a projector during any whole class reading session. As students come upon unfamiliar words, they can use Visiwords to look up the word. Discuss the word relationships and meanings as a class. Visuwords is a lot like Lexipedia, it may be more visually friendly for primary grades. Set up Visuwords on classroom computers as a writing center. During writing, students can visit the center and search for synonyms and antonyms that will enhance writing. Visuwords can be used as an introduction to any new learning, type in key vocabulary from new learning. Encourage students to guess what the new learning may be about based on the word connections.

Tips: Visuwords uses Prinston University’s WordNet, an opensource database.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Visuwords in your classroom.

Lexipedia

June 18, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3321 views

What it is: Lexipedia is an amazing site for learning about words and word relationships. Just type in a word to look it up on Lexipedia and in seconds you will have a web of words complete with definitions. Lexipedia gives all nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, fuzzynyms, synonyms, and antonyms for the word. Students can choose to see all of these words at once or choose to show only one type of result. When students hover their mouse over a word, the definition pops up over the word. Students get an immediate visual of word relationships.

How to integrate Lexipedia into the classroom: Lexipedia is the perfect site to use during any literacy lesson. This site is an excellent resource to stretch and build student vocabulary. Use Lexipedia with an interactive whiteboard or projector during reading. When the class comes upon an unfamiliar word, invite a student to type the word into the search. Read the definition as a class and look at the synonyms and word connections. Bookmark Lexipedia on classroom computers for easy access. During writing, students can use Lexipedia as a editing center where they enhance their writing with vivid verbs and adjectives. Lexipedia is also an excellent place to start when learning a new science concept. Type key vocabulary into Lexipedia and encourage students to guess what science concepts they will be learning based on the vocabulary and word connections. This visual dictionary and thesaurus goes above and beyond and will increase your student’s vocabulary and word understanding exponentially!

Tips: I learned about this outstanding site from rmbyrne on his fantastic blog. Such a great, useful find!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Lexipedia in your classroom.

James Patterson’s Read Kiddo Read

June 12, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1674 views

What it is: James Patterson’s Read Kiddo Read is a website dedicated to making kids readers for life. This site has a wealth of good information and resources that will help you foster a love of reading in your classroom. Read Kiddo Read has outstanding book lists for every age group. These are tried and true favorites kids books. In addition, Read Kiddo Read has some outstanding features such as a can’t miss reading list just for boys, and an “if your kid likes…” that matches up popular kids toys and movies with books that they may enjoy. There is a great book-based lesson plan exchange that uses popular kids books as the basis for lessons. Read Kiddo Read has some audio interviews with favorite children’s authors complete with a written transcript.

How to integrate Read Kiddo Read into the classroom: I’m sure that you have encountered at least one student who was dead set against reading. You make suggestions, walk the library together, ask about interests but just can’t seem to find the book that hooks them. Read Kiddo Read is a site that will help you to crack the code for those students who just aren’t interested in reading. Search books by age, books just for boys, and books matched to other interests, movies, and toys that a student enjoys. You are bound to find something that they love. Use the author interviews as an introduction to reading or writing. Students will be inspired to write when they listen to stories of how the ‘pros’ do it. Be sure to check out the outstanding library of lesson plans based on popular children’s books. Read Kiddo Read is a great place to get inspired and put some excitement in your reading classroom.

Tips: Be sure to register for free on the Read Kiddo Read website, you will become part of a great community of teachers and parents passionate about creating life long readers.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Read Kiddo Read in your classroom.

Book Wink

May 5, 2009Kelly Tenkely7 Comments3067 views

What it is: Book Wink is an absolutely incredible site to motivate students in 3rd through 8th grade to read. Through podcasts and web video Book Wink introduces students to books that will help get students excited about reading. Video book talks are about 3 minutes in length and introduce students to a topic, and the additional read-alikes that can be found on the Book Wink website. Books can be searched by grade, subject, author, or title. Subscribe to the video podcats to automatically receive the newest book talks. This months book talk introduces students to the heist. Check it out, it is fantastic!

How to integrate Book Wink into the classroom: Book Wink is an outstanding way to excite and motivate students to read. Use Book Wink with a projector and introduce your whole class to a book talk. The book talks are engaging and will have your students wanting to check out books on the subject for silent reading time. Each book talk gives a related list of books along with their age appropriateness. This makes it simple for your students to find a book that will capture their attention and help them gain a love of reading. Check out the Book Wink archives to find a genre or topic that fits with your current curriculum. Topics include: heists, World War II, Sharks, 19th Centrury, Love, Mythology, Volcanos, Mermaids, Museum Mysteries, Sea Adventures, Parallel Universes, Popularity, South America, and Endangered Animals. A new book talk is added each month, this should have your students excited about reading year round! Book Wink would be a great site to have bookmarked or set as a homepage in the school library. After your students have become familiar with the book talk format on Book Wink, encourage them to host and record their own book talks.

Tips: Book Wink is free to use. You can support Book Wink through purchases from their online store or through a donation.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Book Wink in your classroom.