Category: Primary Elementary

K12 Online Conference 2008

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The K12 Online Conference 2008 officially kicks off today!  This is a great FREE online conference to attend.   Not only is it convenient for your schedule (you can attend sessions at your convenience online), but you will learn and be inspired by the speakers and presenters.  I highly recommend attending as much of this conference as you can!  You can get involved in the conference in several different ways, as a viewer of each strand, with the blog, wiki, interactive fireside chats, Twitter, Google maps, and an Elluminate event called When Night Falls.  Topics include the ReadWriteWeb Revolution, Free tools for Universal Design for Learning in Literacy, Assessment, Google, Delicious, Primary Access, History, Tech Integration, Reading Revolution, Video Conferencing,  Blogging, Photostory, Games in Education, Emerging Technologies, Wikis, Video Podcasters, and much more.  The conference runs from today, October 20, to Next Saturday, November 1.   Even if you can’t fit it all in during the next two weeks, you can come back later and visit the sessions that are of most interest to you.  There is professional development and credit options available for attending this conference so be sure to look into that as well.

What sessions are of most interest to you?  What have you learned as a result of the K12 Online Conference?

“See” you there! 🙂

Grammar Games

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Grammar Games2679 views

 

What it is:  The British Council has created an A-Z website of 69 Grammar
Games to help students learn and practice English grammar rules.  I wouldn’t characterize many of the activities “games” but instead interactive practice.  The Grammar Game website provides students with a quality explanation of each grammar rule and then gives them an activity where they can practice applying those rules.  I think you will be hard pressed to find a grammar rule that was left off this site.  As I was browsing through the Grammar Games site, I found many rules that I don’t recall being taught but knowing them would have been (is) helpful!

 

How to integrate Grammar Games into the classroom:   Use the Grammar Game website as a place for your students to practice grammar rules they are learning in the classroom.  You could also assign each student in your class a different grammar rule.  Students can use Grammar Games to learn about the rule, practice the rule, and then teach the rule to other students.  This is a great place for students to explore and interact with.  Use a projector to introduce a new grammar rule to your students each day or at the beginning of each week.  Students can practice the grammar rule with the activity that accompanies that rule on the classroom computers throughout the week.  

 

Tips: Bookmark this page on your classroom and library computers so students can use it as reference during writing.

 

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

Math manipulatives

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What it is:   I’m actually doing a two for one post today because both sites have a great math manipulative tool.  The first is an online analog clock.  Students can explore the clock by moving the hour and minute hands in five minute intervals, minute intervals, 15 minute intervals, and hour intervals.  There is no associated game with the clock, it is simply a tool to help your students get familiar with the analog clock.  The second site is all about rulers and measurement, The Ruler Game.  The Ruler Game teaches students how to read a ruler.  Students can also practice their ruler reading skills with this game.  Students can practice reading the ruler in sixteenths of an inch, eighths, quarters, halves, and whole inches.  

 

How to integrate Analog Clock and The Ruler Game into the classroom:  The Analog clock site is a great one for students to visit when they are learning about the analog clock.  In the computer lab or projector classroom, have the students interact with the clock and make observations about what happens as they click the different increments.  Talk about the way the clock works as a class.    Call out a time and have the students match the time called with the clock on their computer.  If you have access to a projector, play as a whole class and have students come up one at a time to demonstrate different times as a class.  Bookmark the Analog Clock on your classroom computers as a math help center.  The Ruler Game is a great way to help students understand how to read a ruler.  Use it individually in a computer lab setting or use it as a math center in the one or two computer classroom.  In either setting, this game will have your students reading measurement in no time.  They will love trying to beat the clock!

 

Tips: The ruler game is not compatible with some web browsers, test it on a student computer before using in class… no one likes introducing a cool new tool to students only to find out that it doesn’t work at school!

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Analog Clock and The Ruler Game  in your classroom.

Get Smarter

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Get Smarter2593 views

 

What it is:   Get Smarter is an animated, interactive testing and learning site for science and math.  Students can practice their science and math skills by working on the animated activities and compare their score with other students their age from around the world.  Nothing like a little healthy competition to get your students studying voluntarily!  Get Smarter is broken into levels, elementary, middle school, and high school to ensure that their scores are measured against other students at their level.  

 

How to integrate Get Smarter into the classroom:  Competition in the classroom is a great motivator.  Since your students will be collectively ‘competing’ against students from around the world, they are working together as a class to help raise their countries average scores.  Use Get Smarter in the computer lab setting as a place for students to practice and review the skills and concepts they are learning in math and science class.  In the one or two computer classroom, students can work in teams or as a math or science center.  Keep the competition going year round to see if your students can help raise the averages.  

 

Tips: Be sure to visit the student page at each level to find some more great classroom sites.

 

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

Math Glossary

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Math Glossary3567 views

 

What it is:   I am on a little bit of a math resource kick.  It happens from time to time when someone asks about a resource for a particular project they are working on.  I get searching and find outstanding resources for whatever the subject is.  This week I was on a math quest.  Math Glossary is one of my great finds of the week.  This glossary, created by Harcourt, will help students in grades kindergarten through sixth understand math vocabulary.  The glossary is easily searched by grade and alphabetic order.  The glossary doesn’t just define math vocabulary for students, it shows them what it looks like!  Each word and definition can be read to students by clicking on the speaker icon next to the word.  

 

How to integrate Math Glossary into the classroom:  Math Glossary is the perfect place for students to learn and discover math vocabulary.  The visual representation is especially perfect for your visual learners.  Use the Math Glossary as a beginning place to introduce math concepts.  Students can look up key vocabulary for the new math concept in the Math Glossary.  Have them describe what they are seeing.  Having a good base to build on makes all the difference!  Keep the Math Glossary up on one of the classroom computers during math class as a math resource center.  Students can use the Math Glossary as they need during math class.  

 

Tips: Bookmark the Math Glossary on your class computers for easy access for students.

 

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

Math Playground

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What it is:   As promised yesterday, today’s post is all about Math Playground.  This is a great site packed full of games, videos, and puzzles all centered around math for elementary and middle school students.  Math Playground features some great games touching on topics from money to graphing.  The games are interactive and a fun place for students to practice those math concepts they are learning.  The word problem sections are divided up by grade level, ensuring that your students are challenged at an appropriate level.  The logic puzzle section contains some awesome online traditional logic puzzles (I love these!).  The Math video section contains videos introducing students to math concepts (all I have used are very good).  The Math Videos are generated after students submit a math question to be answered.  Students can ask their own math question…who knows, their question may generate the next Math Video!

 

How to integrate Math Playground into the classroom:  The more I use Math Playground with my students, the more I am convinced that no math class should be without it!  Use the Math videos to help introduce or review concepts with your math class.  Use the games and word problems as a center or whole class practice.  The logic puzzles are fun to bookmark for year round problem solving and playing.  We use the logic puzzles often on snow days or when students are finished with work early.  Your students will enjoy the activities on Math Playground, my students often come to tell me the latest game or puzzle that they played at home.  Voluntary math practice, what a concept!

 

Tips:  Math Playground usually has one banner advertisement.  As I have mentioned before, I use advertisements on websites to teach students about how to spot an ad and why sites feature ads.  

 

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

Piki Kids Comic Creator

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Piki Kids Comic Creator7001 views

 

What it is:  Piki Kids Comic Creator is an online comic creator for students.  Students can upload pictures from their computers, or search Flickr for images to use in their comic strip.  The comics are very flexible so students can make them uniquely their own.  Students can choose the number of panels, the look of the panels, color choices, and much more.  When students are finished creating their online Piki Kids comic, they can save them to a gallery, or print out.

 

How to integrate Piki Kids Comic Creator into the classroom:  Students love reading comics, there is something about the interaction with a comic that makes even struggling readers willing to try.  I find that the same is true with writing.  Many kids who struggle to write would dread writing out a story or series of events after reading a book.  But, introduce a comic and suddenly those kids who don’t like writing are writing full stories.  Piki Kids Comic Creator is the perfect way to get your students writing about anything.  Studying dinosaurs?  Have the kids find some clip art of dinosaurs that they can upload to Piki Kids and have them write about what they are learning comic book style.  Learning about the Civil War?  Have the students retell the story as a comic strip.  You will see creativity that you didn’t know your students possessed!  Comic strips are also an excellent place for students to “write” a book report after finishing a book.  Comics can be used in science to show processes (like plant cycle…give those plants a voice!)  Comics can be used in math for students to create word problems for fellow classmates to solve.  Use comics in character education, after teaching a lesson, students can illustrate, comic-style, what that might look like.  From the technology side of things, Piki Kids Comic Creator is a great place to teach kids skills like uploading to a website, searching flickr for pictures, changing font, size, and color.  

 

Tips:  Piki Kids Comic Creator is an excellent tool.  Be aware that there are adwords on the website.  I use these as an opportunity to help my student spot advertisements and talk about why sites include ads on websites.  Everything can be a learning experience!

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Piki Kids Comic Creator in your classroom.

Crick Web Literacy Resources

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What it is:   Crick Web Literacy Resource is an excellent collection of interactive games for language development and practice in students.  The resources are excellent for individual student play, literacy group student play, or whole classroom play with an interactive white board.   Games include hangman, alphabetical order, collective nouns, compound words, sticky letters, matching pairs, street scene labels, seaside postcard, spelling checker, story sequencer, instruction sequencer, verb links, word dice, spelling word tester and word selector.  Yes, it is a treasure trove of literacy activities!

 

How to integrate Crick Web Literacy Resources into the classroom:  The Crick Web Resources can be easily integrated into your current literacy curriculum as an enrichment.  The activities fit right along side lessons you are already teaching but make them interactive for students.  I really like the Word Dice activity because students (or teacher) can add their own words to the dice to roll them.  The dice would be great for teaching nouns and adjectives (or any part of speech) on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector.  The dice are also outstanding for playing games unique to your classroom (maybe one that you created!)  The Sticky letters lets students create their own word wall or can be used with a projector for a class word wall.  I was also very impressed with the Spelling Rule Tester which helps students learn the rule for making singular nouns plural.  Students can input their own singular nouns and type what they think the plural is and then click on the tester to see if they are correct.  Take a look at the activities and see how they fit into your curriculum… my guess is that you will find at least one keeper in the group!

 

Tips:  If the Crick Web Literacy Resources look too difficult for your students, click on the Key Stage 1 tab at the top of the site for additional resources for younger students.

 

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using Crick Web Literacy Resources in your classroom.

Fold a US Candidate

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Fold a US Candidate2585 views

 

What it is:  Fold a US Candidate is a fun site that has paper foldable puppets of the US candidates for the 2008 election.  (I am very entertained by this right now!) Both presidential nominees are featured as well as their wives.  There is also an election day count down on the site to let your students know how many days, hours, minutes, and seconds they have to wait before the big day.  This is a fun site to get your students interested in the upcoming election.  

 

How to integrate Fold a US Candidate into the classroom:  Students of all ages are sure to get more involved and interested in the election after visiting this site and making their own president puppet.  These would be fun to use as you are discussing the upcoming election in your classroom.  While the site is chock full of facts about the candidates, the paper puppets would add to learning about the election and the different candidates.  Split your students into groups and assign each a candidate to study.  They can find out what the candidates believe about some key issues in the upcoming election.  Then they can have a mock debate using the puppets and the research they have gained.  

 

Tips:  Print out and fold your US Candidate today!  🙂

 

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using Fold a US Candidate in your classroom.

 

 

Free Federal Resources for Educational Excellence

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What it is:  Free Federal Resource for Educational Excellence (that is a mouthful, hence forth shall be known as FREE) is a excellent resource for finding teaching and learning resources from federal agencies.  Resources are broken down in to subjects arts and music, health and physical education, history and social studies, language arts, math, and science.  Subjects are further broken down in to sub categories making it simple to find exactly what you are looking for quickly.  There is also a great section called U.S. Time periods where you can search US history resources by time period.  New sites are added to FREE regularly, you can get the new resources delivered to you by subscribing to the FREE RSS feed.  The teaching and learning resources linked to from the FREE site are valuable to your classroom and will save you loads of time in searching for quality resources.  

 

How to integrate Free Federal Resources for Educational Excellence into the classroom:  Use FREE to find quality online resource for any subject that you are teaching.  Some of the linked websites are specifically for teachers and some are activities and sites for students.  Use this as a first stop when you are creating new lessons or enhancing the good old standby lessons.  The FREEresources will enhance your lessons with rich content for your students.  

 

Tips:  Sign up for the FREE RSS feed for new resources delivered to you several times a week.  

 

 

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