Category: Middle/High School

Generation Cures

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Generation Cures3487 views

What it is: Fable Vision launched a new website today called Generation Cures.  It is directed toward 8-12 year olds and their parents.  The website helps teach kids about compassion and giving through engaging online games, animated webisodes, and kid directed videos.  The site is completely free to use.  The goal of Generation Cures webisodes and games are to get kids to look outside their own lives and understand that they can make a difference in the lives of others.  They also learn a lot about science and medical research while building critical thinking, logic, reason, and creativity skills.  Because this site is partnered with the Children’t Hospital in Boston, there are places for families to come together and donate for a common cause.  Kids helping kids- it is a very neat idea and I hope that it catches on quickly!

How to integrate Generation Cures into the classroom: In a society where everyone is so self-involved, it is great to see a site like Generation Cures that helps students think about others.  The site requires that students sign up with permission from their parents.  This would be a great class-wide (including families) project for the school year.  During science and computer time throughout the year, students can play the Generation Cures games and watch the webisodes.  Parents can get onto the Generation Cures website to learn more about it and decide if they want to get involved as a family.  Don’t have the time or energy to put toward Generation Cures?  Why not just watch the webisodes as a class and let kids know about the game they can play online at home.  Challenge them to try to be the first one to finish the puzzle/logic game, Caduceus.  Even if you can’t devote the time to it in the classroom, this is a very worthwhile site for students to spend time on.  The stories and games are very engaging…they had me hooked!

Tips: Check out Generation Cures for yourself.  The first 50 sign ups win a Generation Cures pack 🙂

Leave a comment and share how you are using Generation Cures in your classroom.

Google Sky

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Google Sky9346 views


What it is: Google comes out with some really incredible tools and Google Sky is definitely one of them. Think Google Earth for the Sky and you will get a pretty accurate picture of what Google Sky entails. Students can get up close and personal with the Solar System, Constellations, the Hubble Telescope Showcase, Backyard Astronomy, Chandra X-Ray Showcase, GALEX Ultraviolet Showcase, and the Spitzer Infared Showcase. Google Sky also provides students with podcasts about the Earth and Sky. How cool is that? Like Google Earth, students can “zoom in” to a location and pan around. They can also view the sky in different views which include infared, microwave, and historical. Unlike Google Earth, Google Sky can be viewed right from your web browser without a download which makes it very handy for the classroom.

How to integrate Google Sky into the classroom: I think you would be hard pressed to find a school who didn’t have space units woven through curriculum at nearly every grade level. Google Sky is the perfect way to bring that curriculum to life for your students. You can take a virtual field trip to space right from your web browser! The different views and options in Google Sky make it appropriate for kindergarten through college age groups. Your students will enjoy exploring the solar system and learning about galixies with this up close and personal look. This site is perfect for use with an interactive whiteboard or projector for whole class instruction, but would be equally enjoyable on individual student computers where they can explore the universe at their own pace. When students zoom in on an object, they can “hover” over the object with their mouse for some stats. So neat!

Tips: As a side note this would be a great site to couple with the Discovery Series “When We Left Earth.” If you haven’t had a chance to catch the series, they are wonderful!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Google Sky in your classroom.

Wix

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Wix10402 views

What it is: Okay, if you have shied away from creating your own classroom website in the past, today is the day to take a deep breath and plunge in.  Wix is the most amazing online website builder I have ever seen.  Why is it so amazing?  1)  It is simple to use and learn, you truly don’t have to know anything about website development. 2) It produces amazing results with a small amount of effort, I am really blown away by the possibilities here. 3) The sign up process is completely painless.  4) You have an unbelievable amount of control when you are feeling creative (still extremely easy!). 5) It is free, and what could be better than free for a teacher?! 6) It is web-based which means that you can update your website from anywhere.   I could go on and on about Wix.  I put it in my list of sites to visit this week when I ran across it and I am so glad I came back to it today while I was waiting for computers to clone…it made my day (maybe even my week!) 🙂

How to integrate Wix into the classroom: Well, if you haven’t already guessed by the description above, Wix is the perfect tool to use to create a classroom website for your students.  Post classroom rules, homework assignments, links for your students, units you are working on, school information, parent newsletters, etc.  Wix is also a great place for your students to create a website.  They will go nuts with this (trust me!), Wix is one of those assignments they will continue to work on at home without being asked!  Instead of having students display knowledge of a subject in traditional ways, invite them to create a website about it where they can be the classroom “expert” on the subject.  Be sure to ask your students what non-school websites they are creating too (I know from experience they will take off with this!) you will get to know your students more personally by viewing websites that they create both in and out of class.  You could also create Wix websites as a class if you have limited computer use.  Have your students prepare a website to teach other classes about a subject that they have been studying.

Tips: I created a website using Wix today from sign up to publish it took me a total of 5 min.  Seriously!  I have never used this program before, that is how easy it is to use.  Take a look at my site and see what you think: www.wix.com/ktenkely/ilearntechnology.

Leave a comment and share how amazed you are with Wix.

Knowtes

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Knowtes5769 views


What it is: Knowtes is a flashcard based learning community (still in beta) that allows kids to build flashcard decks and study online. When students add a card to a Knowtes deck, it becomes due at optimized interval. The Knowtes Adaptive Learning Engine adjusts how frequently cards should be studied based on how well students know them. They can even watch their cards move from short to long term memory as they study. Knowtes decks can be shared between teachers, students, etc. Each student gets their own study room where they can organize their decks and study their cards. The study rooms have great tips on studying and tutorials on using Knowtes. Cards can be made plain, rich, or with images right now but will have audio and video capabilities coming. This is such a cool idea! Studying has never been this much fun 🙂

How to integrate Knowtes into the classroom: Knowtes is a great tool to introduce your students to. Even if you don’t have time to use it on a regular basis in the classroom, spending some time teaching your students to use the program would be worth while. Students can create Knowtes flashcards to study any subject. For younger students, you can create decks for your students to study from. Students can also create decks to share with you or other classmates. If you have an interactive whiteboard (or even just a projector) students can study cards as a whole class. You could easily use Knowtes for a whole class study session/game. Be sure to let parents know about Knowtes too, many times studying is a struggle for families and this can make life easier for everyone.

Tips: Since Knowtes is still in its beta version, click on the signup button and send a request to be a beta tester. The Knowtes team is willing to take suggestions on improving Knowtes so you should send a suggestion for any feature you would like to see available. Happy studying!

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

Only 2 Clicks

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Only 2 Clicks2924 views

What it is: Only 2 Clicks is a bookmarking website that lets you store and categorize websites so that you can get back to websites in only 2 clicks. What is great about this bookmarking site is the picture preview of the page. I don’t know about you but I collect so many great sites that even my clever little descriptions don’t always jog the old memory. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words and generally I remember the site as soon as I see it. With Only 2 Clicks you can access your bookmarks anywhere anytime…even from your iPhone woo hoo! If you set Only 2 Clicks as your browser homepage, you always have your frequently visited sites in one simple place. Only 2 Clicks is very user friendly, rearrange your sites by dragging and dropping (how very Apple of you!) If you add search engines to Only 2 Clicks you can search directly from that page! You can also add a handy dandy bookmarklet to your browser so that when you find that great new reading site, you don’t have to leave it to add it to Only 2 Clicks. Equally awesome is the little tool that lets you import bookmark collections that are currently stored in your browser…so handy and making life easier. And, the cherry on the top? You can customize the look of Only 2 Clicks to match any great new pair of shoes you happen to be wearing! You have to love that!

How to integrate Only 2 Clicks into the classroom:  Only 2 Clicks is the perfect solution for keeping yourself organized. You find a lot of great educational (and other sites) all the time. Why not keep them all organized in an easy to use place so that you can get back to that stellar math website you found last summer when you start your money unit? Not only is Only 2 Clicks the perfect place to keep yourself organized, you can make Only 2 Clicks the homepage for your classroom computers. Store all of the links of games and learning sites that your students use throughout the school year. Students won’t have to remember hundreds of web addresses or try to remember the name of their favorite reading website…they will know it when they see it. Students can use Only 2 Clicks as a place to collect research for projects they complete throughout the school year. Does it get any better than this? Did I mention that it has an iPhone (and iPod touch) interface?!

Tips: Only 2 Clicks also offers the ability to share your links with students or colleagues without logging in. Just choose a public web address and start sharing your categories. Is this cool or what?

Leave a comment and share how you are getting organized with Only 2 Clicks in your classroom.

Free Pinhole Camera

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Free Pinhole Camera3727 views

What it is: CreativeTechs Tips did a post yesterday about some free pinhole camera templates. Corbis is offering free PDF templates for real working 35mm pinhole cameras. These cameras are perfect for the sunny days ahead! There are six great artistic templates to choose from for an almost one of a kind camera.

How to integrate Free Pinhole Camera into the classroom: Teach your students about science, photography, and art in one shot by having them print out and create their own pinhole camera. Pinhole cameras work wonderfully on a bright sunny day…perfect as you head into summer. This is a great science project that your students will love…how many kids can say that they made their own camera?!

Tips: After the students have created their camera use them to teach the basics of photography and hold a mini photo contest in your classroom.

Leave a comment and share how your Free Pinhole Camera worked out!

Search Me

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Search Me2691 views

What it is: I have been testing the Beta version of a new search engine called Search Me for the past few months and today the public beta was released for everyone. Search Me is really unique…it lets you search webpages the way that iTunes cover flow works. Their motto is “You’ll know it when you see it.” The engine is very easy to use and brings up great results with the ability to narrow down a search by category. For example, when I do a search on “dogs” It brings up the websites to browse through as well as icons to narrow down my search and gives me options of searching “dogs”, “pet stores”, “hunting”, “pet health”, “savings and bargains”. This is a great engine for teaching your kids how to search effectively for what they are looking for. The best part is the cover flow like feature that lets you flip through actual websites. Yellow squares appear on each site where your search word pops up and when you hover over a site, the site description pops up. There are safe settings so that adult content is automatically filtered out and you can flag a website as inappropriate right from the search results without actually traveling to that website.

How to integrate Search Me into the classroom: Search Me is a really great way for students to perform searches on any subject. They get instant feedback based on the sites that come up if their key words were too broad, narrow, etc. They can also preview sites right away and can often tell if it is what they are looking for without actually traveling to the website. The ability to narrow down a search by category is also a great option! Try Search Me out with your students, I know they will love it!

Tips: Search Me has a free tool bar that can be integrated into your web browser with the click of a button making it simple for kids to perform a search in one step.

Leave a comment and share how Search Me is working for your students.

Disk Inventory X

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Disk Inventory X3290 views


What it is: Summer is approaching and things are winding down on the school front. I don’t know about you but things are also slowing down on the computer front toward the end of the school year too. I always know when summer is approaching because my machine starts to run slower. I have downloaded hundreds of open source applications to try, pictures, fonts, and videos to my machine and I have created HUGE files of tutorials, videos, and lessons for my students. Normally I spend days sorting through all of the folders trying to find the culprits of my slow down and save them to disk or trash them all together. This week I learned about an awesome tool to help me speed things up from iJustine over at Tasty Blog Snack. Disk Inventory X is a disk usage utility for Mac OS X (sorry PC users, I am sure something similar exists) It shows the sizes of files and folders in “treemaps” (a graphical representation). Disk Inventory X helps solve the mystery of where all of your disk space has gone. Disk Inventory X gives detailed search results and you can delete files directly using the program…it updates live so you can see your disk space free up right before your eyes. The cost of this awesome little goody? Absolutely free!

How to integrate Disk Inventory X into the classroom:
Take a little time to free up your computer before the end of the school year. Clean your computers up for a fresh start in August. If you don’t have tech support that re-images your classroom computers, go ahead and run Disk Inventory X on them too. You are going to feel so speedy!

Tips: As a side note, if you are working to get your girls interested in technology introduce them to iJustine…she will have them amped on technology in no time! 🙂

Leave a comment and share how many Gigs you were able to free up with Disk Inventory X.

Send your name to the moon!

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Send your name to the moon!3073 views


What it is: Join NASA’s Return to the Moon by sending your name to the moon. Names are being collected online by NASA and will be placed onboard the LRO spacecraft for its next mission to the moon. Students who sign up will receive a certificate showcasing their support of this historic mission back to the moon. The purpose of LRO is to map out safe landing sites, locate potential resources, collect data on the radiation environment, and to demonstrate new technologies.

How to integrate NASA’s Return to the Moon into the classroom: This project is a short and sweet one, it literally takes 10 seconds for students to sign up and receive their certificates. The project is sure to generate student interest in the LRO mission as well as space travel in general. Use NASA’s Return to the Moon as a jumping off point for further exploration of NASA and the space mission. The NASA kids site is a great place to continue exploration after your students have sent their names to the moon. The certificate of participation looks very important and official…students will love it!
Tips: The deadline for sending your name to the moon is June 27, 2008 so hop to it!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using NASA Kids in your classroom.

Shelfari

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Shelfari3807 views


What it is: Shelfari is a virtual bookshelf that you create to show off books that you have read and recommend. It is a Web 2.0 site that allows you to connect with students, other teachers, and parents around books. Shelfari is a great way to discover new titles, discuss books, start an online book club, and show others what you are reading. You can show off your Shelfari bookshelf on your blog, classroom website, or other social networking site of choice. Really cool!

How to integrate Shelfari into the classroom: As summer break approaches, we teachers start thinking about how far we have come during the school year with our students. We also dread that they will be on their own for the summer and may or may not be reading. Shelfari would be an excellent resource to create today and introduce your students and parents to before summer break. Build a bookshelf of age-appropriate reading for your students. Post the bookshelf on your classroom website and encourage students to continue reading with you over the summer. Because Shelfari allows for you to create online book clubs and discussions, students can keep their reading and comprehension skills in tip top shape with you! Shelfari is also an excellent resource for parents who may feel overwhelmed when they enter a library with their child. They often aren’t sure of their child’s reading level and age-appropriate books. With Shelfari, they can visit your shelf before the trip to the library for some great suggestions. Shelfari is also ideal throughout the school year as a place for you and your students to connect over reading…reading is so much more fun when you have someone to share and discuss what you are reading with! Students can create their own bookshelves to show off what they are reading. Teacher to teacher book clubs on Shelfari are also a lot of fun! Connect with other staff members over books that you are reading (they can be school related or not.) Maybe in place of the traditional book report, students start a discussion on Shelfari about their reading. Where have you been all my life Shelfari? 🙂

Tips: Use Shelfari in conjunction with Book Adventure for some real reading fun!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Shelfari in your classroom.