tenkely – Page 20 – iLearn Technology

Shidonni

September 23, 2008September 23, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment7944 views

What it is: Shidonni is a really intriguing new web application for kids. Shidonni is an imaginary world that kids create. It provides a virtual universe where kids can create their own imaginary world, play, and share games and interact with each other in a safe environment online. Kids can create their own animals or characters online and make them interactive. Their characters actually move and interact with the kids (no programming required!). They can create a world for their character, feed their character, and play games using their character. Watch the video on the Shidonni website for a good idea of how the program works.

How to integrate Shidonni into the classroom: Shidonni is an amazing way for kids to express themselves creatively. They will LOVE the interaction that this site provides. I am really in awe of this site and its capabilities. The site is simple enough for kindergarten students to use but will keep even 5th grade students intrigued. For classroom use the site is a great way to let younger students practice interaction with the computer and mouse manipulation. It is also a great introduction to drawing programs. Students can use Shidonni as a place to start digital storytelling. They can use the site to illustrate stories that they are creating in writing class. Shidonni can also be used to create “living” dioramas for the classroom. This is a great place for students to learn by trial and error. I like to introduce programs like this and then let students teach themselves how to use new technology through exploration.

Tips: Shidonni requires that you download a plugin for your Internet browser. Be sure to do this on all computers before you roll it out for the first time in class. 🙂

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

Smile Box

September 22, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment4278 views

What it is: Smile Box is a free application that I love. The scrapbooker in me loves Smile Box for all of the digital scrapbooking qualities. The teacher in me loves all of the classroom applications that Smile Box could be used for. Smile Box is a free software that lets students combine photos, videos, and music into one amazing multimedia presentation. Smile Box used to only be available for PC’s but now have a Mac version that is outstanding. The Mac version integrates seamlessly with iPhoto and iTunes without any additional plugins! Students can choose from over 700 design templates to use as a base to combine media. The final Smile Box project can be embedded in a blog, sent via email, or printed.

How to integrate Smile Box into the classroom: Smile Box has many classroom applications. The software is a great place for students to do some digital storytelling combining pictures, podcasts, and video. Students could create a weekly paper about the happenings in your classroom, a memory book for each student for the end of the year, etc. Smile Box is also a great place for students to make Mothers/Fathers day cards, Christmas cards, Happy Thanksgiving greeting, etc. Students can also use Smile Box to create rich content reports. For example, instead of writing a paragraph about what they learned while studying about Russia, students could create a media rich postcard about Russia.

Tips: Smile Box is simple to use and very intuitive. Students will love creating with

Smile Box!

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

Google Election Tools for Teachers

September 19, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2755 views

What it is: Google has an excellent tool resource center for teachers and the newest addition is the Elections tools for Teachers section. Google is partnering with the National Student/Parent Mock Election to get students of all ages excited about the coming election in November. The tools and activities help teach students about the candidates, issues, and about the election process in general. Tools include an electoral college map, journey maps, YouTube You choose videos, Election video search, Power Readers, letter to the next president, and more.

How to integrate Google Election Tools for Teachers into the classroom: Google offers amazing tools to educators and the Election Tools for Teachers don’t disappoint! Each tool on Googles site offers ideas for integration in the classroom and lesson plans. This years election seems to be different in so many ways than elections of the past…our future presidents are using technology like YouTube, Facebook, and blogging to influence voters. The Google Election Tools are a great way to examine this phenomenon more closely while teaching about the election process and about the candidates and issues. Enroll your class in a Mock Election that will take place on October 30, 2008 and before your students cast their vote, use the Google tools to engage students in learning more about the candidates and issues.

Tips: If you don’t have access to the election videos because YouTube is blocked at school, use a file conversion program like www.zamzar.com to download the video from home.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Google Election Tools for Teachers in your classroom.

The Common Craft Show

September 17, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3862 views

What it is: I love the Common Craft Show. If you aren’t familiar with it, it takes complex ideas and breaks them down into something that is simple and manageable in video format. The videos are short and sweet but you always finish with a more clear understanding of whatever it is that is being presented. Videos on the Common Craft Show range from “Electing a President in Plain English” to “Wikis in Plain English”. Most of the videos are related to technology that could be used in the classroom such as twitter, social networking, blogging, wikis, and RSS feeds. The videos all have a common, fun to watch format. As I said, I LOVE the Common Craft Show!

How to integrate The Common Craft Show into the classroom: The Common Craft Show is a great way to introduce a complex technology tool like a wiki or blog to students. The videos quickly break everything down into easily managed parts so that students (teachers too) can understand what the tool is and how it works. The new “Electing a President in Plain English” video is extremely timely and will help your students understand how a president gets elected. Use the Common Craft Show as an example for students to create their own explanation videos. Students can work in groups to explain a concept like “Multiplication in Plain English” that the rest of the class can watch.

Tips: These videos aren’t just for students. Just heard about a technology tool you don’t quite understand? Head over to The Common Craft Show and see if they have simplified it for you! 🙂

Leave a comment and share how you are using The Common Craft Show in your classroom.

The Great Plant Escape

September 16, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment5025 views

What it is: The Great Plant Escape is a wonderful interactive website created by the University of Illinois Extension for fourth and fifth grade students. Every school that I know of teaches a plants unit at some point in the curriculum. This is a great way for your students to interact with their learning in science class. Each lesson in The Great Plant Escape introduces students to plant science. Activities engage students in math, science, language arts, social studies, music and even art. The Great Plant Escapeincludes six mystery cases that students must help solve. They do this in a variety of ways depending on the activity. This site can be played in English or Spanish making it great for your ESL or ELL students as well as those kiddos learning Spanish as a second language!

How to integrate The Great Plant Escape into the classroom: The Great Plant Escape offers a lot of flexibility depending on your classroom setup and student abilities. Students can work individually in a lab setting or in groups as a center in the one or two computer classroom. This site would also be appropriate for whole class instruction with a projector or interactive whiteboard. Each activity has an accompanying teacher section that will familiarize you with the material covered in that “case”. Be sure to check out the Links page for some excellent resources for additional lessons and websites dedicated to teaching kids about Plants and life cycles. This site is sure to add a lot of interest to your plant unit in science. My students have really enjoyed it!

Tips: Visit the Teacher’s Guide for a free poster for The Great Plant Escape for your classroom.

Leave a comment and share how you are using The Great Plant Escape in your classroom.

Studio4Learning

September 12, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment11229 views

What it is: Studio4Learning is a great site for students in fifth through twelfth grades. It provides students and teachers with free, high-quality videos that can be watched online. There are ten categories of videos to choose from Math, Sciences, English, Languages, Social Sciences, Business, Arts, Test Prep, Find a Job, and Tutor Corps. Each category is broken down into several sub categories. Videos are engaging and teach key skills and concepts in a fun way. Students can also use the sites search feature to search for a specific topic.

How to integrate Studio4Learning into the classroom: Students can use Studio4Learning as a place to stop for homework help and to learn or review concepts learned in class. Teachers can use Studio4Learning as a center, with a projector, or on individual student computers to illustrate new teaching or as a place where students can review information. Studio4Learning is free to use, if students register (also free) they can bookmark videos. Teachers can upload class topic videos to Studio4Learning, again free. (Are you seeing a theme here? It is all free!) As an added bonus, if you have a class website or blog, you can embed videos directly into your site for students to watch on any subject you are studying in class.

Tips: Browse through a couple of videos on the site, I know you will be hooked!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Studio4Learning in your classroom.

Inspiration

September 11, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2872 views

Some school years start out much bumpier than others. This year has definitely been a bumpy one for me. Nothing seems to be working the way it should, the kids are disappointed that in the first 4 weeks of school they have not had computers available in computer class. I am feeling frustrated at the lost teaching time (so many things to fit into a 35 min. once a week class!) This weekend one of my professors from my college (Colorado Christian University) days spoke at church. Sid Buzzel was/is one of the most influential educators in my life and one the I deeply respect. He came to teach about education. It was exactly what I needed, I loved hearing his passion for education and his explanation to parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, children why he is an educator. He reminded me of why I am an educator. I miss being taught on a regular basis by Sid. The church recorded Sid’s inspirationalwords. I highly recommend this podcast. I’m sure it won’t take long to figure out why this man made such an impact on me and my teaching career. I’m ready to press on through the problems and teach my students…with or without computers! 🙂 Take a break, put your feet up and get renewed. Let me know what you think and tell us about the influential educators in your world.

Scholastic Listen & Read

September 8, 2008Kelly Tenkely2 Comments4187 views

What it is: The Scholastic website is full of truly amazing resources. Today I ran across one that I hadn’t used before called Scholastic Listen & Read, I heard about it on Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day. Scholastics Listen and Read is for students in first and second grade. The site does exactly what it’s name implies, it lets students listen to non-fiction stories and read along. There are 11 non-fiction stories for first grade social studies including The Path of the President, What Does the President Do, and a Celebration of Earth Day. There are 15 non-fiction stories focused on animals and food for first grade students. Second grade students have access to 10 non-fiction stories focused on social studies including Constitution Day and Welcome to a Pilgrim Village. There are also 11 short non-fiction stories for second grade students focused on animals and food. Social Studies is a hard subject to teach first and second grade students from a text book because the vocabulary and reading can be especially challenging. Scholastic Listen and Read solves this problem wonderfully with short, easy to read non-fiction stories that are read aloud to your students. As an added bonus, each story includes the Scholastic Word Wizard. This tool floats right on top of the web page. At any point, students can click on a word in the story and the Scholastic Word Wizard will give them an easy to read definition of the word. Students can also type a word into the Word Wizard to look it up.

How to integrate Scholastic Listen & Read into the classroom: Scholastic Listen & Read is ideal for any classroom or computer setting. The non-fiction stories could be read together as a class with a projector and speaker setup, individually in a computer lab setting, or in small groups as a center in the one or two computer classroom. The stories are easy to understand and the ability to look up words right from the story makes it a great place for students to learn key social studies and animals and food concepts.

Tips: Scholastic Listen & Read is a great place for ESL and ELL kids to go for English practice and vocabulary!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Scholastic Listen & Read in your classroom.

Book Punch

September 5, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2874 views

What it is: Book Punch is a new site dedicated to helping students in grades 3-9 become stronger readers. The site takes the most popular books read by schools in grades 3 through 9 and provides guided reading prompts about the reading improving overall reading comprehension. Book Punch encourages critical thinking skills and teaches students how to be in control of their own learning (this to me is the purpose of education). Students are led through the writing and thinking process as they read books with Book Punch. Interactive prompts help students to focus their thinking about a particular book. There are hundreds of built in tips and support that help students to gather ideas, organize thoughts, revise, edit, etc. in response to the literature they are reading. The site walks them in a very concise manner through the reading/thinking process. Students each get a login to the Book Punch site and can work at their own pace, making it easy for you to differentiate instruction in your classroom. As a teacher, you can assign a book to your whole class or to individual students making it easy to meet every student at their current reading level. The site offers teachers lesson plans, activities, classroom management ideas, tips and strategies, and classroom aids. Book Punch is not a free service, but they offer a free demo writing activity for every book as well as a free pilot program to use with students for 30 days (any two books of your choice.) Even if you can’t fit it into the budget for this year, Book Punch is definitely worth the visit if you teaching reading and writing for 3rd-9th grade. The free demos are wonderful and will give you a great jumping off point for your reading curriculum.

How to integrate Book Punch into the classroom: I LOVE sites that teach students how to think critically. For me, that is what education is all about. If I know how to gather information, how to follow directions, how to write, and how to think critically about what I find…I am going to do just fine in the real world! Book Punch leads students through the reading/thinking process. It meets students where they are at and the helps meet individual needs. The site gives you the opportunity to find out where gaps are occurring in student reading and comprehension so that you can work with students more effectively. Book Punch is intended to be an individual student program that would be best in a computer lab or mobile lab setting. However, depending on how your time is set up, I think that Book Punch could be used effectively in the one or two computer classroom as a center that students visit during reading time. The demo questions would be perfect for use with a projector and whole class discussion or writing. Book Punch works right into your current curriculum and literature, making it simple to implement. The ability for students to login to Book Punch at school or from home makes it an even sweeter deal!

Tips: Try out Book Punch for free and be sure to get it on the budget for next year if you can’t fit it in this year, it is very reasonably priced and well worth it!

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

Creative Park

September 4, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3169 views

What it is: Creative Park is a great free creative resource library for teachers and students. Creativity is such an important part of child development but also an important aspect of 21st century learning and thinking. Creative Park offers teachers and students awesome resources for putting that creativity to use. The website offers ideas and templates that can be coupled with your lesson plans. Projects range from 3-D paper crafts (like airplanes, the Great Pyramids, a globe, dinosaurs, and the Leaning Tower of Piza, etc.) There are great special collections including an Architecture museum, circus land, and science museum. Creative Park also features calendars, art crafts, a digital photo gallery, and scrapbook area.

How to integrate Creative Park into the classroom: Lets face it, teachers don’t have the largest budgets in the world to buy manipulatives and learning displays. Creative Park can help ease some of this burden by giving you free high quality paper crafts that your students can assemble. I love that this taps into following directions and creativity for students. Students can use these materials to make class dioramas or displays. This is also a great stop for those indoor recess days. Keep your kids busy creating when they have to be cooped up inside. Use the scrapbook pages to create custom class memory books. Each student can create their own as a keepsake for the end of the year (my students LOVE their memory books each year). The greeting section is wonderful for elementary teachers who are in charge of covering every holiday and making sure that mom and dad get a card from their child. Many of the materials available on this site would be perfect for bulletin boards. The creative activities would also liven up classroom parties. This is a fun site to sit and explore!

Tips: Stock your printer up with paper and ink for these projects.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Creative Park for your classroom.