Language Arts – Page 9 – iLearn Technology

Learn English Kids

January 19, 2010Kelly Tenkely6 Comments3888 views

What it is: Learn English Kids is a website especially for students who are learning English or need some remedial help in language development. Created by the British Council, Learn English Kids has fun games, songs, stories, and offline activities to help students learn English. All of the activities are created so that they can be done independently or with family members or friends. In the listen and watch section of the site are animated stories and songs, many have accompanying activities to use in the classroom. There are also videos and online activities designed to build listening skills and comprehension. In the read write section are downloadable materials designed to help develop reading and writing skills. The make section features online activities in which students can create something. There are also arts and crafts directions to download and videos of children creating things. In the explore section are additional resources and websites for English language learners. The game section features several games broken down into language games, fun with English, little Kids games, and games to play with friends. Students learn basic English vocabulary, alphabetical order, phoneme matching (matching phoneme to its sound), hieroglyphics, months in a year, famous landmarks, seasons, recycling, ancient Egypt, animal habitats, around the world, bugs, Chinese New Year, Christmas, cities, colors, computers, countries, currency, daily routines, days of the week, dinosaurs, directions, environment, fairy tales, food, Great Barrier Reef, health, holidays, human body, maps, money, nature, numbers, Olympic games, pets, planets, plants, school, solar system, space, sports, technology, weather, just to name a few.

How to integrate Learn English Kids into the classroom: Learn English Kids is a comprehensive resource that can be used in your classroom in a variety of ways. The site was designed specifically for English Language Learners (or ESL students) but is appropriate for primary students or students who need some remedial language building. The site has been created to be navigated and used independently and many of the activities would be perfect as a center that students can visit. The games are outstanding for vocabulary and language building. Listen and Watch has an impressive collection of songs that are traditional children tunes like Hickory, dickory dock, teaching songs that help students remember things like months in a year, and themed songs. Each song is accompanied by a pdf of the lyrics and a print activity. There are several well made short stories for your students to read along with. The animated stories can be read with or without audio. Each story comes with the ability to print and includes accompanying activity suggestions. Kids Talk features videos of kids answering a variety of questions. The Listen and Watch section also has a place for students to practice their listening skills. Students watch an animated video and listen to what the characters say. Then they are asked to interact with the activity according to what they heard. These activities are great for ELL, but would also be excellent for students with sensory integration problems. In the Read and Write section, students read a passage and are given follow up questions that they can write about themselves. These would make an excellent writing center for students who need some prompting to write. In the Create section students can create online stories, characters, etc. There are also some offline printable activities and suggestions of things to create. This site features so many great resources, it will keep you ready with activities for your students. Every one of the activities/songs/read alongs are high quality and engaging. Students will love this site! I cannot stress enough that this site has something for every student, not just English Language Learners. My kindergarten and first grade students really enjoy using this site.

Tips: This site could take you hours to explore to find all of it’s hidden treasures. If you are looking for a specific game, story, or topic, you may want to click on “Site Map” at the very bottom of the webpage. Here you can sort through all of the resources by topic, finding exactly what you need quickly. What a great website!! Be sure to check out the Teacher page where you will find lesson plans, resources, and guidance for teaching your ELL students.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Learn English Kids in your classroom.

iboard: A Day at the Park

December 29, 2009Kelly Tenkely5 Comments6981 views

What it is: A Day at the Park asks students to position characters at a park and then construct sentences about their placement or movement. Students can construct the statements by using a word bank, or the word bank can be hidden. This is a great activity for students to practice describing words.

How to integrate iboard: A Day at the Park into the classroom: A Day at the Park was created to be used with an interactive whiteboard. To use it with an interactive whiteboard or projector, invite students up to manipulate the characters in the park scene. Then ask other students to describe their positions and movements by constructing sentences below the scene. This would also make an excellent literacy center activity. Send students to the classroom computers in pairs where they can take turns placing characters and describing their positions.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. A Day at the Park is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: A Day at the Park in your classroom.

Skratch Track

December 2, 2009Kelly Tenkely3 Comments2879 views

What it is: Skratch Track is an amazing virtual bookshelf for primary students. It uses the same idea behind Shelfari, giving students a virtual bookshelf where they can track which books they are reading, rate the book, write a little synopsis of the book, and even turn in a virtual book report to earn Skratch Track awards. The interface of this site is very easy for primary kiddos to use independently. Students can keep up to 15 books on their bookshelf at a time (for free account). Parents or teachers sign up for an account and add children accounts to their head account. Parents and teachers can then receive reports about what books kids are reading, and a copy of the book report they complete. The book report asks students questions such as: was this book real or make believe?, How did you complete the book? (someone read it to me, I read it by myself), genre of the book, favorite characters in the book, new words learned, favorite part of the story, moral of the story, how hard was the book to read?, how did the book make you feel?, did the book remind you of something that happened to you in real life?, and did the book remind you of another book you have read?.

How to integrate Skratch Track into the classroom: Skratch Track is a great alternative to the paper reading log. Students will be proud to show off their virtual bookshelves and awards on their Skratch Track account. No more keeping track of the reading log between home and school, no more extra copies, or ‘the dog ate my homework’ excuses. Skratch Track is a great way for students to show what they are reading, how it was read (independently or with help) and makes it simple to keep track of what your students are reading at home. The mini book reports help students to check comprehension. They can rate the book, think about genre, record new words learned, write about their favorite part of the story, rate how difficult the book was to read, and make connections to their life and connections to other literature. Each time a student completes a book report or earns an award, teachers or parents are notified by email and on the parent account page. Skratch Track keeps teachers and parents connected to what children are reading so that they can begin to gauge comprehension and writing levels.

Tips: The free Skratch Track account allows a parent or teacher to sign up 2 children, record up to 15 books, and earn the first 3 awards. To record additional books, earn all of the available awards, or sign up more children is $19.99 annually. Skratch Track will work with educators, schools, and libraries to make bulk accounts available and affordable. If you plan on using this with students as a reading log, it may be worth purchasing an account.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Skratch Track in your classroom.

Big Huge Thesaurus

November 23, 2009Kelly Tenkely3 Comments2073 views

What it is: Big Huge Thesaurus is a must add to your classroom publishing center. The tag line of Big Huge Thesaurus says it all: “synonyms, antonyms, and rhymes (oh my!)”. Big Huge Thesaurus goes beyond other online thesauruses by giving students a wealth of synonyms (for each part of speech), words that sound like the original word, and rhyming words. When students find a word that they are curious about, they can click the link and it will send that word through the Big Huge Thesaurus.

How to integrate Big Huge Thesaurus into the classroom: If you have classroom computers, set up a writing/publishing center where students have all the resources they need to write. Big Huge Thesaurus should be one of those resources. Students can visit the writing center to add richness and interest to their stories, poems, and other writing. This Thesaurus does an excellent job of breaking down words. Use Big Huge Thesaurus on an interactive whiteboard or projector when learning new vocabulary. Type in the vocabulary word and have students construct its meaning using the synonyms that are generated.

Tips: I learned about Big Huge Thesaurus on Twitter this morning from several of my PLN. If you aren’t on Twitter with other educators, I highly recommend joining and following the fine folks I follow!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Big Huge Thesaurus in your classroom.

Picture Book Maker

October 29, 2009October 29, 2009Kelly Tenkely4 Comments4104 views

What it is: Picture Book Maker is a fun little online picture book creator (bet you couldn’t have guessed that from the name!). What makes this picture book creator unique is the great illustration elements that students can use in their story. The illustrations look hand drawn with crayon and can be adjusted to fit the story. Each picture has actions, these are multiple poses of the same character. Even the text looks like it is hand written. All of the characters for the story are animals (this site comes from London zoos). There are also several backdrops and props for students to include in their story. When the book has been completed, it can be saved to the gallery, sent to a friend via email, or printed out.

How to integrate Picture Book Maker into the classroom: Picture Book Maker is a fun way for students to publish stories online. I love how the stories look like they were created by children. Students can pick animals to write a story about, the penguin could be used as a spin off of Mr. Popper’s Penguins. After they are finished writing their story, it can be printed out or sent in an email to parents. Picture Book Maker would be a good platform to create a story as a class using a projector or interactive whiteboard.

Tips: Be sure to visit the gallery of stories to see other student’s creations.

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

Word Magnets

October 29, 2009October 29, 2009Kelly Tenkely6 Comments14790 views

What it is: Word Magnets is a fantastic little website that lets you type or copy and paste words into a field and create virtual word magnets out of them (think of the popular word magnets sold for refrigerators). After you have typed in the words to transform into magnets, you can choose a “magnetic” background for your words. There are several backgrounds to choose from including grids, venn diagrams, time lines, arrows, stair steps, targets, boxes, numbers, alphabet, circles, webs, flow sequences, tables, present/absent, and many more. After you choose your background, students can create sentences, sort, and interact with the virtual magnetic words. Words can be added to the board at any time and the color of the background and size of the magnets can be adjusted.

How to integrate Word Magnets into the classroom: The background options for your word magnets are really the highlight of this website. You can do everything from word sorts, to venn diagrams, to practicing alphabetic order. Create tables; sort words by their root, prefix, or suffix; link ideas; practice building sentences; create a time line of events, take attendance…the possibilities with this site are endless! If you are going to use this site for taking attendance, I would suggest creating a master list in a saved word document that you can copy and paste from (this will save you from re-typing names every morning). This is an excellent site for an interactive whiteboard or to use as a center activity. This is an easy way to create customized interactive lessons for your classroom. Because you enter the content, this site is appropriate for any grade level.

Tips: One thing I wish this site had: the ability to save. If you want to save words to interact with over and over, create a document that you can copy and paste from. If you want to save a copy of the word magnets after students have interacted with them, take a screen shot of it.

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

Kids Spell

October 22, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments2185 views

What it is: Kids Spell is another fun website for students to practice their spelling words on. Students can choose to practice their own spelling words or practice spelling in general with the “select a spelling list” feature. Kids Spell gives students a place to create their own spelling list and provides a unique url where they can access the list again and again. After students have entered their spelling words, they can choose to practice them with eight games.

How to integrate Kids Spell into the classroom: Because Kids Spell creates a unique URL to access saved spelling lists, it is an easy way for students to practice spelling from school or home. Just link to the spelling list from your classroom website, blog, wiki, or in your weekly newsletter. Bookmark the URL on classroom computers and create a spelling center that your students can visit throughout the week during literacy. Students can use the Kids Spell generic spelling lists to help them practice for a spelling bee type competition.

Tips: Be sure to let parents know about Kids Spell, they are always looking for new ways to help their children study. Games make spelling practice throughout the week much less painful!

Related Resources: Spelling City, Spelling Wizard, Spellitis, Word Safari

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

Inkless Tales

October 20, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment9339 views

What it is: Inkless Tales is a neat literacy website with a mission statement that I love: “You can do anything. Try, try again. Don’t give up. Experiment. Write, draw, explore, and more!” Inkless tales has features that will infuse your literacy classroom with life including: an animated alphabet, coloring pages (for print or online), online games, offline fun (finger puppets, downloads, crafts), Mother Goose rhymes and riddles, online stories to read, poetry to read, poetry to listen to, poetry to write, Inkless tunes, tongue twisters, and a place to learn science. Inkless Tales is an absolute treasure trove for the primary classroom.

How to integrate Inkless Tales into the classroom: Inkless Tales was created by author Elizabeth Williams Bushey with the goal of bring quality literacy content to children around the world in an online environment. She has hit the nail on the head with this site. Inkless Tales makes an excellent literacy center on classroom computers. Students can visit the Inkless Tales site to read, practice their alphabet, play learning games, etc. Inkless Tales also makes an outstanding poetry center where students can read, listen to, and write poetry. The animated alphabet would be fun to use when learning letters on a projector connected computer or an interactive whiteboard.

Tips: I learned about Inkless Tales from @2sparkley on Twitter, an educator you must follow!

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

Wizz-e Free e-Books

October 19, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment9093 views

What it is: Wizz-e is a kids interactive e-book website. Not all of the e-books are free, but they are SO high quality and definitely worth any investment. Wizz-e does have some free e-books for you to preview. Both Puss-in-Boots and the Elves and the Shoemaker are free to play online or download to your computer. The stories can be read to students who may struggle with reading on their own. Students can also choose to read the story independently without sound. At the end of each e-book is a quiz that checks for comprehension. Wizz-e also has a few games that students can play online including puzzles and hidden picture hide and seek.

How to integrate Wizz-e Free e-books into the classroom: The Wizz-e ebooks are a wonderful way to read a story as a class on a projector or interactive whiteboard. With the large print and pictures, every student in the class can read along and see the illustrations clearly. These ebooks also make for an excellent reading center on classroom computers. They are especially good for students who may struggle reading indpendently. Students can listen to the story and follow along or read a page independently and then click to hear the story for understanding. The e-books bring reading to life and will draw in your struggling readers. Wizz-e only features two free ebooks but would be a worthwhile investment for your classroom library. The site features a variety of topics and genres and has some amazing math and science stories that teach key concepts through story. If you teach 3-8year olds the two free stories are must downloads! The quiz at the end will ask students question at the book and help them to monitor their own comprehension. The quiz models the questions that good readers ask as they read.

Tips: Because the Wizz-e books can be purchased, there is an option to purchase a gift certificate for the e-books. This would be excellent to put on your wishlist for parents to donate to your classroom. The e-books add to your classroom library but have the added bonus of creating a listening center where struggling readers can read along.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Wizz-e Free e-books in your classroom.

Big Universe

October 14, 2009October 14, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3347 views

What it is: Big Universe lets you read, create, and share children’s books online. Read hundreds of children’s picture books right from your web browser. It’s like having a huge library of big books for your whole class to read and enjoy. Publishers that contribute picture books to Big Universe include: Charlesbridge, SeaSquirt, Lobster Press, Saddleback, Matthew Price, ISSA Step by Step, Andersen, Dawn Publications, Tanglewood Press, ee, Teacher Created Materials, Illuminations Arts, Weekly Reader, and Elora Media. Big Universe has both fiction and nonfiction picture books to read with your students. Books are easy to search by category, grade, reading level, interest age, and language. Students can create their own ebooks on Big Universe or share books on a virtual bookshelf. The catch: the free version of Big Universe offers a limited look at the premium publisher books (you can read through half the book before being prompted to upgrade or close the book). You can read any of the user created books for free. With the free version you can only create one ebook per user account. Students can create bookshelves and share an unlimited number of books, recommend books to others, and add friends. The accounts on Big Universe are reasonably priced (especially considering how much it would increase your classroom library).

How to integrate Big Universe into the classroom: Big Universe is an awesome way to expand your classroom library and share quality picture books and stories with your students. The big books on Big Universe are ideal for use with an interactive whiteboard or projector. Students can read along and see the rich detail in the illustrations. Big Universe also makes for an excellent reading center on the classroom computers. Allow students to create their own book on Big Universe to add to the library. They will be published authors! Students can share the books they are reading on Big Universe on their own virtual bookshelf. They can swap book recommendations with friends and share stories they create.

Tips: If it is possible for your school to purchase a school license of Big Universe, students would have access to an extensive library of books at school or home. This is a fantastic way to get hundreds of books into the hands of your students. Because they can be accessed from any Internet connected computer, students can enjoy the books and stories from nearly anywhere.

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