Category: Fun & Games

The Tweet to Beat: Paying $3 per Twitter Follower

Kelly Tenkely3 Comments on The Tweet to Beat: Paying $3 per Twitter Follower1391 views

 

What it is: Twitter is an amazing networking tool.  If you aren’t currently using Twitter, today is the day my friend!  If you aren’t familiar with Twitter take a look at my prior posts here or watch the Common Craft video above.  The Tweet to Beat: Paying $3 per Twitter follower is an “ethical bribe” to get people to follow Tim Ferris on Twitter.  Here’s how it works: for every new Twitter follower Tim gets before March 23, 2009, he will donate $1 to Donorschoose.org.  An anonymous supporter will then donate $2 for every dollar that Tim donates.  This means that for every follower of Tim, $3 are donated.  What is the donation going toward?  US Public School classrooms!  The goal is to directly help 25,000 US public school students in low income and high need areas in two weeks time.  I LOVE this idea!  After seeing what is happening with our stimulus money (going to AIG for bonuses and cutting back on education), I think creative ideas like The Tweet to Beat are going to be the catalyst for change in this world!

How to integrate The Tweet to Beat: Paying $3 per Twitter Follower into the classroom: This is such a simple idea and yet the impact could be significant.  You can integrate Tweet to Beat into your classroom in a few ways.  First, if you are on Twitter, follow Tim today (go ahead you can do it right now, I’ll wait).  Second, if your students are on Twitter, encourage them to follow Tim.  Third, use Tweet to Beat as a real world math problem.  Ask questions such as how many followers does Tim need to raise $50,000?  $150,000.  Last, give older students (who have Facebook accounts) a homework assignment to post this story on their Facebook page to get others involved.  

 

Tips:  Twitter is a great way to communicate with families, build a personal learning network (PLN), communicate with other students around the world, and network.  You can follow me on Twitter by clicking here. 

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Tweet to Beat  in your classroom.

Physics Games

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Physics Games2463 views

 

What it is:   Physics Games is a collection of fun online physics based games.  There are 57 physics inspired games in the collection that can be played on the website or embedded on a classroom website, blog, or wiki.  These games are great for any age, younger students will learn through exploration, trial, and error while older students will be able to understand the physics concepts behind the games.

How to integrate Physics Games into the classroom:  Physics Games is a great interactive site to use in the science classroom.  It encourages students to start exploring concepts such as energy, force, velocity, gravity, etc.  Younger students can interact with the games successfully even without the background knowledge.  Each of the games encourages trial and error learning.  Older students can play games and write about the physics concepts that the game introduces and explore the ‘accuracy’ of the game to display the physics concept. If you have a class website, blog, or wiki, these games would be fun to embed in your site for easy access.

 

Tips:  I learned about Physics Games from a Tweet and blog post by Mr. Byrne who writes Free Technology for Teachers.

 

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

AR Sights

Kelly Tenkely6 Comments on AR Sights3556 views

What it is:  Augmented Reality, how cool is that technology?  Dialing up the awesome factor a couple of notches is AR Sights.  AR Sights is a company who makes it possible to view Google Earth right in a web browser and then zoom into places of interest (Pyramids, Eiffel Tower, etc) and take a look at them augmented reality style.  The site brings landmarks to life in four easy steps.  Download the browser add-on, download some points of interest, print out the AR Sights marker, and zoom into Google Earth and take a look.  I am amazed at what this technology provides for students!  Students can zoom right in and manipulate the landmark by moving the paper around.  Now for the downfalls, AR Sights only works on PC’s right now, us Mac folks will have to hunt down a PC or wait until it is available for the Mac.  The other downfall is the downloads, they require administrative rights (some of you may have to convince your IT to let you download this goody).  After you print off the AR Sights marker, you hold it up to your camera and up pops the landmark you have chosen in Google Earth, as you twist, tilt, and move the paper the landmark moves accordingly.  This is SO outstanding!

How to integrate AR Sights into the classroom:  AR Sights makes virtual field trips so impressive!  As your students are studying geography, allow them to travel around Google Earth and take a look at the landmarks.  Use AR Sights with a projector or Interactive whiteboard to show your whole class landmarks at the same time.  Create a travel center on your computers where students can travel around and learn about the world.  AR Sights is a great way to bring geography alive!  AR Sights also has a download to use with Google Sketch-up 3-D drawing program (free from Google).  Older students can create their own 3-D augmented reality landmarks.  Students could draw places of interest, your school, etc. and view them with AR Sights as augmented reality.  Talented high-school and college age students (or ambitious teachers) could create Sketch-up models that can be used in education such as the skeletal system, a beating heart, the solar system, historical landmarks, etc. for students to interact with in 3-D augmented reality.  The possibilities with this could be endless!!

 

Tips:  I learned about AR Sights from a wonderful blog that my friend Raul writes from Spain called technoTIC, check it out!  Thanks Raul!

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using AR Sights in your classroom.  If you or one of your students creates a Sketch Up model for AR Sights let us know about it!

Virtual Apple 2: Oregon Trail

Kelly Tenkely4 Comments on Virtual Apple 2: Oregon Trail7179 views

What it is:  Those of you who were in school or teaching just as schools were starting to get computer labs will appreciate this post.  Remember Oregon Trail?  The original Oregon Trail?  It still exists!!  Virtual Apple 2 has an online space where you can play games from the Apple 2 days.  I loved Oregon Trail as a student and now it is back in all of its glory.  No need for a mouse you type in a number to make selections, or “Y” for yes and “N” for no.  I can’t tell you how excited I was to find this great game just the way I remember it!  For those of you not familiar with Oregon Trail, this is a game designed to teach kids about pioneer life.  The player assumes the role of wagon leader and builds a team and purchases supplies that will help to make it from Independence Missouri to Oregon by way of covered wagon in 1848.  It was a great role playing game that had a lot of learning packed in!

How to integrate Virtual Apple 2: Oregon Trail into the classroom:  Students today aren’t nearly as impressed with this game as I was/am.  At first, they will not appreciate playing the game for the sake of playing the game.  In my classroom, I like to introduce this site to students to give them an idea of the history of technology and what computer graphics and games looked like when I was a student.  They enjoy comparing and contrasting Apple 2 Oregon Trail with the games that they like to play today.  This site is a great way to start discussions with students about where technology has come from and where they predict it will go.  (What will games look like when they have kids?)  After knowing the history of this game, my students appreciate it SO much more.  They really get into it and ask the same questions I asked as a kid, “what is yellow fever?”.    The difference being that today they can go to Wikipedia or World Book Online and discover their own answers.  

 

Tips:  Virtual Apple 2 has all of those games that you remember playing when having a colored screen instead of orange or green was really something.  Take a look through and re-discover those games again!

 

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

Tikatok

Kelly Tenkely4 Comments on Tikatok4703 views

 

 

What it is:  Tikatok is a great website to excite your students about writing.  With Tikatok each of your students can become a published author, create, share, and gain an authentic audience for their writing and illustrations, and receive writing support through the StorySparks system.  StorySparks are a framework that gives students prompts at the bottom of their screen as they are writing their story.  They are tips such as “the beginning of the story is where we define a setting, where does your story take place?”  StorySparks come in different levels depending on your student ability.  Using Tikatok, students can build literacy skills such as: writing, story structure, reading, comprehension, imagination, creativity, character development, story development, critical thinking, organization, drafting, and technology skills (typing, uploading pictures, saving, collaboration, and communication).  Students have options when creating a story, they can choose a topic and idea to start a story or they can start from scratch with a blank story.  The first option allows students to get help with the hardest part of story creation, thinking of an idea and beginning a story.  Students fill in blanks about their story and get a basic story that they can embellish and add to.  In the second option, students create a story from scratch.  Teachers can register classes and keep track of the stories their students are creating.  Teachers can also send students messages and comment on stories.  There is also an option for students to work collaboratively on a story.  Students can adjust their stories template, colors, text, and images.  When students are finished, their story can be viewed online, printed out from a PDF file, or published and purchased for $15-20.

How to integrate Tikatok into the classroom:  Tikatok is an excellent tool to bring into your writing classroom.  It can be used as a publishing center for finished pieces of writing, as a collaborative writing project, or as a place to keep all written work.  The ability for students to use story starters is outstanding for those kiddos who are forever saying “I don’t know what to write about”.  They absolutely won’t be able to use that excuse here!  Even if you don’t have the ability for all of your students to write stories on Tikatok because of limited computer access, use the story idea starters using a projector as students write in journals.  I love the ability for teachers to keep track of all student writing in one place.  Since Tikatok is online, students can work on their stories from any Internet connected computer making it especially useful for those students who are slow or those students who like to write novels.  🙂   When students are finished writing stories, have a reading day where students can read other student stories and leave comments and feedback.  Only have access to one or two classroom computers?  Have the whole class take part in a collaborative story.    I love Tikatok for several reasons but the ability to view ‘published’ work online in book form is handy for the environment (it is green), for families who want to see their childs work, and the sense of authentic audience that it brings students.  Student work is always higher quality when they know their audience base is larger than the teacher!  I also love that the stories can be saved as PDF files and printed for classroom libraries or the school library.  The ability to purchase bound books is motivating for many students and parents love to have their kids work officially published.   In my classroom I will leave the stories online and send home a flier to parents about how to purchase a bound book if they would like to.  So neat!

 

Tips:  Tikatok has the ability to upload student illustrations, if you don’t have a scanner at your school, students artwork can be sent to Tikatok and will be uploaded within 24 hours.  I like the idea of using a computer based drawing tool like Skitch for illustrations.  Sign up for a teacher account today, it is so simple to get started!

 

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

GE Smart Grid Augmented Reality!

Kelly Tenkely8 Comments on GE Smart Grid Augmented Reality!2917 views

 

What it is:   Okay, sometimes I just have to share things because they are off the charts amazing.  Augmented reality is something I was introduced to by my graphic artist husband.  Until I found this GE Smart Grid site, I wasn’t able to share it with others and let students play with it.  What is augmented reality?  Basically you print off a sheet from the website that has a bold graphic on it.  When you hold up this graphic to a web cam, a 3-D model is produced on screen, by moving the paper you can look at different views of the 3-D model, zoom in and out, and in some cases cause the model to react to other inputs (like blowing into the microphone).  The GE Smart Grid Augmented Reality shows a digital hologram of smart grid technology in the form of wind turbines and solar energy.

How to integrate GE Smart Grid Augmented Reality into the classroom:  I am introducing this site to my students as a discussion starter for where technology is going and brainstorming what augmented reality could be used for.  The Smart Grid site can also be used when teaching students about alternative energy sources like wind turbines and solar energy.  They can actually see 3-D models of each and interact with them.  This would be a great introduction and attention grabber for an energy unit in science classes.

 

Tips:  Augmented reality is still relatively new technology, it is starting to pop up in the advertising world and in baseball trading cards.  Hopefully the education sector will jump on this technology, how amazing would it be to hold up a science worksheet to the computer and be able to see a 3-D model of a skeleton, or a beating heart?!  (I’ll see if I can talk my husband into working on a few augmented reality education goodies). 🙂   Mac users, if you can’t get it to pick up your camera, ctrl + click on the popup window and choose the USB camera option.  Enjoy!

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using GE Smart Grid Augmented Reality  in your classroom.

ActivInspire

Kelly Tenkely3 Comments on ActivInspire19850 views

 

What it is:  ActivInspire is a new software from Promethean that is free!  The free edition is a ‘personal’ license that can be used by anyone.  The ActivInspire software works with ANY interactive whiteboard (SMART, Mimio, Wiimote Whiteboard, eBeam, etc.)  and even for those of you who do not have an interactive whiteboard, use the software with just a computer and projector!  The Promethean Planet website has thousands of lessons and resources that are free to access and can be used with ActivInspire to engage your students.  ActivInspire has two launch options, the first is to launch in Primary function.  In Primary, ActivInspire is very user friendly for primary elementary students.  The second option is to launch in Studio with tools that are perfect for older students.  ActivInspire works on Windows, Mac, and Linux based machines.  Some of the goodies in ActivInspire include interactive protractors, rulers, clocks, grids, and more.  New power tools include intelligent shapes and handwriting recognition.  There are themed templates for fast and easy lesson building.  ActivInspire supports flash files that can be embeded in Flipchart lessons.  ActivInspire can open SMART and PowerPoint files, making it quick and easy to pick up any lesson and improve it.

How to integrate ActivInspire into the classroom:  ActivInspire is software that can keep students engaged in any lesson in your curriculum.  The software is incredibly intuitive and makes it easy to create amazing interactive lessons.  The lessons (flipcharts) can be saved and shared among colleagues.  Begin building a library of interactive lessons for your students.  Be sure to visit Promethean Planet for thousands of ready made (FREE) flipcharts and activities to use with the ActivInspire software.  

 

Tips:  To see the possiblities of the ActivInspire software, take a look at Flipcharts created by the developers of ActivInspire.  Promethean also has a great set of support tutorials that will have you up and running in no time! 

 

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

Number Gym

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Number Gym3688 views

Number Gym is math software that can be purchased for the math classroom.  However, they have a number of free online activities (examples of their software) that are perfect in the math classroom.  I want to review each of these freebie mini-math games:

Exploring Fractions

What it is:   Exploring Fractions is an interactive way for students to learn about fractions.  Students see the fractions represented graphically and numerically.  As students change the numerator and denominator of the fraction, they see the graphic change accordingly.

How to integrate Exploring Fractions into the classroom:  Exploring Fractions is a great interactive site to teach your students about fractions.  This is a wonderful website to use with an interactive whiteboard for whole class fraction instruction.  Invite students up to the whiteboard to take turns adjusting the numerator and denominator of the fractions.  Have students observe the graphic changes taking place and describe the changes as a class.  Exploring Fractions is also very useful as a math center on the classroom computers.  As students are learning about fractions, they can visit the computer as a visual manipulation center.

 

Tips:  All parts of the Exploring Fractions website can be hidden (hide the numerator, denominator, or graphic).  This is a nice feature for having students “fill in” the missing information.

 

Mr G’s Place Value Chart

What it is:   Mr G’s Place Value Chart is a great mini-site to teach students about place values.  The chart has a thousands, hundreds, tenths, and ones column.  Students can drag counters up and down the chart to create numbers.  Every portion of the Place Value Chart can be hidden from view depending on what you are using the chart for.

How to integrate Mr G’s Place Value Chart into the classroom:  The Place Value Chart is an excellent visual manipulative to teach students about place value.  Each time a student moves a counter, the number at the top of the screen adjusts accordingly.  Use the Place Value Chart to teach your whole class with an interactive whiteboard.  Call students one at a time to adjust the number with counters.  Encourage students who are at their seats to observe how the numbers change.  Hide the number at the top and have students move counters and say what the number is aloud as a class.  This is also a great mini-site to set up as a math center in the one or two computer classroom.  As students are working on place value, they can visit the math center for a visual manipulative.  

 

Tips:  Hide the columns that are not being used to teach with so students aren’t confused by all the ‘extras’.  

Bond Builder

What it is:   Bond Builder is a mini-game that gives students a ‘dot spotter’ that looks like a dice, students add the numbers on the dot spotter and drag it to the correct sum on a dial.  They are timed as they drag the dot spotter cards to the correct location.

How to integrate Bond Builder into the classroom:  Bond Builder is a fun basic addition or counting reinforcement game. This game could be played as a center activity in the one or two computer classroom or whole class with an interactive whiteboard.  See who can get the fastest time and practice those addition facts at the same time!  

 

Tips:  There are two levels of dot spotters (really just different sets of dot spotter cards).

 

 

Table Extender

What it is:   Table Extender is a multiplication game that gives students a challenging multiplication problem and asks them to drag the problem on top of the correct answer.  Students are timed as they go through the various challenges.

How to integrate Table Extender into the classroom:   Table Extender is a  good way to get students practicing their multiplication.  It makes them think quickly and attempt to beat their own fastest times.  Split students into teams and take turns sending students to the interactive whiteboard to solve the problems.  This mini-game would also make for good practice as a computer center in the classroom.  

 

Tips:  There are three different levels of Table Extender for students to work on.

Getting to Grips with Graphs: Trigonometry

What it is:   Getting to Grips with Graphs: Trigonometry lets students explore the equation y=aSin(bx*+c*) through adjustments to a, b, and c in graphical form.

How to integrate Getting to Grips with Graphs: Trigonometry into the classroom:   This mini-site is a wonderful visual representation of Sin.  Students can adjust a, b, and c and watch the affect of changing numbers on a graph.  Use an interactive whiteboard and call students up to change the values of a, b, and c.  Encourage other students to observe and describe the changes of each value that is adjusted.

 

Tips:  The scale of the graph can be changed to fit your classroom needs.

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

Switcheroo Zoo

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Switcheroo Zoo2391 views

 

What it is:  Switcheroo Zoo is a site I learned about from Kevin Bibo on his outstanding blog Cal Teacher Blog.  Switcheroo Zoo has fun interactive games and activities such as “Make New Animals” where students can create their own animal combinations, “Build an Online Habitat” where students choose animals and match them to the correct environment, “Switch Zoo Puzzles”, “Where do I Live” where students help return rescued animals to their homes, “Sound Match” where students match the animal song to the correct animal, “Meerkat Grab-a-Snack” where students help feed a Meerkat by catching food, and “Catch the Moment” where students take ‘pictures’ of wildlife.  Switcheroo Zoo also has short films, sound clips, and photographs about animals for students to watch and listen to.  Your students also have the opportunity to become a “Switch Zoo Guide” by completing the Switch Zoo Quest.  Students play nine fun animal related games and activities to become a guide.  When they finish, they will receive a Switch Zoo  certificate of merit, a guide badge, and are added to the list of offical guides.

How to integrate Switcheroo Zoo into the classroom:  Switcheroo Zoo is an awesome website for students to explore to learn more about animals and wildlife.  This would be a great site to visit when studying animals and their habitats.  There are three educational animal-themed games on the site that teach about animal characteristics and habitats.  Switcheroo Zoo has an educational section that includes lesson plans for art, science, creative writing, and persuasive writing.  In second grade at the school where I teach, students complete animal reports as an introduction to research.  Switcheroo Zoo has on-site research with 142 animal profiles, a US endangered species map, and stories about unusual animal feats on a Zookeeper’s blog.  This site is packed full of fun, useful activities, lessons, and resources!  In a computer lab setting, students can research and play games individual.  In the one or two classroom computer setting, students can visit Switcheroo Zoo as a science resource center.  With the projector or an interactive whiteboard, complete the activities as a whole class or show the animal videos to your whole class.  

 

Tips:  This site does have some Google ads.  I use these as an opportunity to teach my students how to spot ads on a website and discuss what the purpose of advertisements is.

 

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

ARKive

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on ARKive3013 views

 

What it is:  ARKive is an incredible website that I learned about from a tweet on Twitter (forgive me I was in the middle of class and didn’t keep track of who- thank you whoever you are!)  ARKive tag line is “images of life on Earth”, but ARKive is so much more than just a collection of images, it has thousands of videos, images and facts about the world’s species.  This is the digital version of Noah’s Ark!  This is the most impressive animal and life website I have seen!  I truly can’t say enough about this site, students of all ages will enjoy this one (I’m talking k-12 here!)  ARKive has an education section of the site that is a free multi-media educational resources complete with downloadable, ready to use audio/visual modules on a wide range of science, geography, citizenship, and environmental based topics.  ARKive also has some great games for students to play that are directly related to the lessons they learn while on the ARKive site.  Games range from building a habitat to word searches and digital fridge poetry.

How to integrate ARKive into the classroom:    ARKive’s ready made educational resources make it simple to integrate into your science, geography, or general classes.  The resources are ready made PowerPoint presentations (which incidentally also open nicely in Keynote which we use).  The resources bring learning to life with images, videos, facts, and some interactive pieces.  This is what textbooks should be!  ARKive’s ready made resources can be downloaded on classroom computers for use by small learning groups as a center, downloaded to a lab of computers for individual student exploration, or used with a projector and an interactive whiteboard for whole class learning and exploration.  The ARKive site itself is a wonderful place for students to explore and learn more about animal species and life on Earth.  This would be a great place for students to collect information, images, and video to create their own presentations.  The games provided on the ARKive site are fun for students and teach them as they play.  For example, students who are studying habitat can play the Design a Habitat game and gain an additional opportunity to interact with the concepts they are learning.  Older students can dig into the facts provided on ARKive and learn about animal classification and species of the world.  ARKive images could be used in the language arts classroom as a story starter or creative writing prompt.  

 

Tips:  This is truly an incredible site, I encourage you to take a look at it and use it with your class!  (Click on the education link at the bottom of the site for the Resources and Games.) 

 

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