iLearn Technology

What it is: Kidopo is an online coloring application where kids can color online coloring books.  The application simulates a real coloring experience (in other words you can color outside the lines and the more you color over a spot, the darker it gets.). There are a lot of coloring pages to choose from with categories like animals, cars and transportation, cartoons, food, toys, holidays, learning, circus, sports, music, nature, occupation, seasons, and more.  Kidopo has fun printables for the classroom including coloring sheets, bookmarks, birthday printables, awards and certificates, mazes, writing paper, connect the dots, room decorations, and stickers.  You will find a collection of flash games for kids including brain games, card/board games, math games, memory games, puzzle games, science games, and word games.  In the craft section of the website are videos that walk students step by step through a craft.

How to integrate Kidopo into your curriculum: The online coloring book on Kidopo is a great way to help primary students practice mouse manipulation.  I like that you can color inside or outside of the lines just like in a real coloring book.  If you are in a computer lab setting, the Kidopo coloring book is a fun way for students to practice, and a good way for you to gauge where their fine motor skills are.

The printables on Kidopo are perfect for the classroom.  Bookmarks are always fun classroom give aways and the awards and certificates are a good way to recognize your students.

The learning games on Kidopo make a good practice center activity on classroom computers.  My favorite are the math games that help students with fact recall through fun arcade-type games.   In the word games, you will find a fun game called Word Frenzy that will give your students a place to practice typing.  Check out the games, some are better than others but they are definitely worth a look!

Tips: One of the downfalls of Kidopo are the advertisements in the sidebar and introducing the games.  I use websites with this type of advertising to teach my students about how to spot ads and discuss with them why ads are placed on websites.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Kidopo in your classroom!

What it is: Do you remember Google’s advertisement at the 2010 Superbowl?  It was called Google Search Stories and showed a story of Parsian Love  through a series of Google searches. Brilliant.  Now you and your students can create your very own Google Search story with Google Search Stories Video Creator.  There are three steps to creating your own Google Story: 1. Write the story, 2. Add Music, 3. Preview and Upload.  As you write your story,  you can choose to search by web, blog, images, maps, news, product search, and books.  

How to integrate Google Search Stories Video Creator into the classroom: Google Search story is an innovative way for students to display understanding or tell a story.  This tool teaches students to get to the heart of the story and tell it in a new, creative way.  Students can demonstrate their understanding of history, current events, a book that they have read, or a math sequence.

First, students come up with 7 events to search, paying close attention to story structure.  They should consider mixing web, images, maps, and blogs.  This will make the story more interesting.  Next, students choose music to fit the theme of their story.  It can be comedic, dramatic, romantic, country, horror, family, or sci-fi.  Finally, students can preview their story and share it with the world.

Think about sharing the life of a historical figure, or the story of Romeo and Juliet, or the scientific method in an experiment, or the story of their digital footprint,  or a fictional story that the student created.  Instead of writing out a traditional outline for a story, why not turn it into a Google Story?  The possibilities of this tool are nearly endless!  If you are introducing new information or learning to your class, consider doing it through a Google Story.  Watch the story as a class and find out what your students already know, what they need to learn, and what they want to know.  You could also create a Google Story as a class after new learning.  As you teach, ask students to jot down thoughts about what they could add to their search story to sum up the learning.  This will keep students engaged and thinking critically about the new material.  After the video has been completed, students can access it from home as an outline of what they learned in class.

Tips: Check out the Tips offered for starting a story, these tips will give you, and your students, a great jumping off point.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Google Search Stories in your classroom.

What it is: In honor of World Math Day (which takes place tomorrow 3/3/10) I decided to pass on a fantastic math website that I learned about from The Techie Classroom Blog (one of the amazing blogs taking part in the edublogger alliance).  Math Live has a collection of animated cartoons that teach students math concepts.  3rd through 6th grade students can learn about numbers, patterns and relations, shape and space, and statistics and probability.  These cartoons are extremely high quality and teach key math concepts through story.  Students can watch videos on place value, multiples, factors, primes, proper fractions, equivalent fractions, comparing and ordering fractions, comparing and ordering decimals, addition and subtraction of decimals, multiplication of whole numbers, division of whole numbers, multiplication and division of decimals, patterns, area and perimeter, volume, time, triangles, polygons, sides, tessellations, ordered pairs, displaying data, probability and estimating.  The videos show students real-world applications of math concepts.  The videos are chunked really well and stop periodically so that students can think about and discuss their thoughts on the math concept.  The videos have outstanding visuals that explain the concepts succinctly.  Each video is accompanied by an Activity Sheet (read worksheet), an assessment, and Teacher/Parent Notes.  The Teacher Notes include a great section with “Common mistakes students make” to help teachers avoid common pitfalls when teaching.  They also include great ideas for additional practice of the concepts.  Math Live gives students an excellent animated, interactive math glossary.  As students are viewing a video lesson, they can access either the master glossary (with all of the sites vocabulary) or visit the lesson glossary (with only the vocabulary from the lesson).  I am really impressed with the glossary.

How to integrate Math Live into the classroom: Math is a hard subject for many students.  It can be difficult for students to understand how math relates to real life.  Math Live videos are a great way to help students break down math into manageable pieces.  It illustrates each concept very well.  Students who struggle with math are going to LOVE this site.  It allows them to pause, rewind, and revisit concepts as many times as they need to so that they can master a concept.  These videos would be an excellent way to introduce new math concepts to the whole class using a projector or interactive whiteboard.  They can also be used as a math center on classroom computers or individually in the computer lab.  Keep Math Live handy for students struggling with these concepts or to quickly access math vocabulary in the glossary.

The list of concepts covered is limited, as an extension activity, have students create their own math movie using a tool like Xtranormal or Kerpoof Movie.

Tips: Send Math Live home to parents, these videos could be a tremendous help for homework time.  Often parents struggle with explaining math to their children, this could be a big help!

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

What it is: Neo K12 is an outstanding online collection of educational videos, lessons and games for students in grades k-12.  Neo K12 believes that “kids learn best by ‘seeing’ the real world.”  They have created this site with that belief in mind.  Neo K12 has cataloged the best free online educational videos from the Internet in one place.  Each video is watched and reviewed by k-12 educators to ensure their accuracy and appropriateness for students.  Subjects include physical science, life science, human body, earth and space, social studies, math, English (including phonics, stories, and grammar), and fun videos such as time lapse, slow motion, arts and crafts, learn magic, music lessons, and sports lessons.   In addition to videos, Neo K12 has Web 2.0 tools.  The  School Presentation tool is a mashup of Flickr and Wikipedia, and allows users to create and share presentations online. To create a presentation, students choose pictures for their presentation from Flickr, read and article about the subject from Wikipedia, and then add text to their presentation.   When the presentation is finished, it can be printed or viewed online as a slideshow.  Quizzes, games, and puzzles on Neo K12 are an interactive way to improve learning.  Teachers can create and share videos playlists complete with notes and instructions for their students. 

How to integrate Neo K12 into the classroom: Videos provide excellent opportunities for learning, they make it possible for kids to visualize and build a model in their minds.  This helps them to better understand key concepts and can stimulate curiosity in a subject.  When students or teachers search a subject, they are given a list of related videos, quizzes, games, and puzzles.  When a teacher creates an account, they can create a complete assignment within Neo K12 that includes instructions and notes for the students.  Students can complete the assignment by watching videos, playing related games and creating a School Presentation that shows understanding.  The presentations are easy enough for even young students to create.  Primary students can skip reading the Wikipedia article and just choose pictures and add some captions about facts they learned from a video they viewed.  These videos are a great way to introduce new learning, expand on previous learning, or to spark curiosity in a topic.

Many of the educational games and puzzles would be great for an interactive whiteboard as whole class activities.  They could, of course, also be used as classroom center activities, or completed individually in the computer lab. The jigsaw puzzles can be used as teasers to introduce a new topic.  The jigsaw puzzles use incredible images from Flickr.  Have students take turns coming up to the interactive whiteboard to put puzzle pieces together.  Students waiting at their seats can take guesses about what new learning you will be doing in class.

Tips: Create a free Neo K12 account, you will receive a dashboard where you can store videos, games, presentations, quizzes, and add notes and instructions.  You get a unique URL for your dashboard to share.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Neo K12 in your classroom.

What it is: The winter Olympics start tomorrow and students around the world will be watching and rooting on their favorite Olympian, sport, or country.  The Olympics offers some fun new learning opportunities to the classroom.  Olympic Science is one such opportunity.  NBC has several Olympic science videos in which students can learn about physics, motion, energy, biology, chemistry and math.  Videos include Slapshot Physics, Aerial Physics, Figure Skating, Snowboarding, Alpine Skiing, Skates, Mathletes, Bobsled, Motion Inside the Body, Short Track, Modern Skis, Suit Up, Curling, Ski Jumping, Safety Gear, and The Internal Athlete.  These videos walk students through the actual science that is taking place in the winter games.

How to integrate NBC Olympics- Olympic Science into the classroom: My students are always shocked to learn that there is a lot of math and science in athletics.  These videos show students exactly how closely science and math are entwined in everyday life.  Olympic Science videos are for students who are forever asking the question “how am I going to use this?” (and shouldn’t they all be asking this!).  In the bottom right hand corner of the Olympic Science site you will find more science data.  These are quick facts about the science in the sport.   I really enjoy using video in the classroom, students can watch, rewind, pause, and re-think the concepts they are seeing.  Combine the Olympic Science site with a Wallwisher where students describe the science in the sport, or create a Wordle with new science vocabulary that students learned.

Tips: The Science of the Olympic Games was produced by NBCLearn, part of NBC News that brings news, events, and issues into the classroom.  There is a great video collection that includes Word Roots (an animated series that explores the roots of English words), Common Errors in English Usage (animated videos that uncover common errors in English grammar and usage), and Mini Documentaries (hundreds of 2-6 minute documentaries on American history, economics, culture, and political cartoons).

Please leave a comment and share how you are using NBC Olympics-Olympic Science in your classroom.

What it is: Kids Numbers is a website from the Kids Knowit Network (they also have spelling, biology, history, etc. sites).  Kids Numbers is a free collection of resources for the math classroom.  Math skills include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, telling time, mixed skills, geometry, and Algebra.  When you select a skill to focus on, you will get a week by week break down of skills to practice and accompanying online games and activities.  There are games to play and mini tutorials to go through that will teach the foundational skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  Everything on Kids Numbers is research based and designed by teachers to increase your students math abilities.

How to integrate Kids Numbers into the classroom: I love the way the mini tutorials on Kids Numbers teach students foundational math skills.  They are easy to follow along and perfect for your visual learners. Throughout the tutorial students are asked to participate by counting, sorting, etc.  There are games aligned to each skill that act as a practice area for the skill.  This is a great site to keep on your classroom computers as a math center year-round.  Students can use Kids Numbers to learn new skills, review skills that have been taught, or practice skills that they are learning in the math classroom.  Kids Numbers could be an excellent homework helper for students who are getting hung up on the basics and need a little extra help.

Tips: Kids Numbers does have advertisements on their pages.  Help your students identify the advertisements and use this as a learning opportunity about what an ad is and what they are used for.  Identify the differences between advertisement links and game and activity links on the site.

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

What it is: HippoCampus is a website with incredible vision.  The goal is to provide high-quality multimedia content on general subjects to high school and college students free of charge.  Subjects on HippoCampus include algebra, American government, biology, calculus, environmental science, physics, psychology, religions, statistics, and US history.  Each of the subject has a large library of multimedia content from students to learn from.  HippoCampus was designed as part of the Open Education Resources, a worldwide effort to make education available equitably to everyone.  Each lesson includes multimedia lessons, the text of the lesson, and related resources.  I believe the HippoCampus model will be the textbook of the future.  Students are able to learn at their own pace, pausing, reviewing, and receiving instruction on demand.

How to integrate Hippo Campus into the classroom: HippoCampus has an incredible library of content for teaching and learning.  Use the multimedia lessons in place of traditional textbooks or as a supplement to your current curriculum. Teachers can build their own HippoCampus homepage where students can access specific lessons targeted for them.  You can even create custom announcements to be displayed to students.   Although HippoCampus was designed with high school and college students in mind, many of the multimedia presentations could be used to teach middle school students as well.

Tips: HippoCampus uses Adobe Flash and QuickTime.  Make sure that you have each on your computers before using HippoCampus.

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

What it is: I love iKeep Safe and have blogged about it in the past as an excellent introduction and support for Internet Safety.  I learned today about a new Faux Paw book and video called “Faux Paw and the Dangerous Download”.  In Faux Paw the Techno Cat’s new adventure, she learns that downloading is a great way to get information, but only when it is done the right way.  Faux Paw uses a risky new file sharing program to download a song and learns a lesson the hard way.  The video is extremely relevant to the online world that our kids live in and teaches a valuable lesson about illegal file sharing.  You can download the pdf version of the book or watch the video (created specifically for iPods but can be viewed with a Quick Time player as well).  

How to integrate Faux Paw and the Dangerous Download into the classroom: This is a well made video, book, and story to share with elementary students.  The cartoon is easy to understand and will help younger students grasp the difficult concept of illegal downloading and the problems it can cause.  Often students can’t discern between safe and non-safe websites and why getting something for “free” isn’t always a good idea.  Use this video as part of your Internet safety unit, as an introduction to copyright, or as part of your character education program.

Tips: The Faux Paw series is worth owning.  You can purchase books and DVDs for your library.  Students will love being able to check out these books to read again and again.

Related Resources: iKeep Safe Faux Paw the Techno Cat Adventures in the Internet

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Faux Paw and the Dangerous Download in your classroom.

What it is: Science Bob is a great resource library for the elementary science classroom.  It is an excellent place for students to explore science concepts.  Students can get some fun science fair ideas, experiments (that can be done offline), research helpers, science questions/answers, and science videos.

How to integrate Science Bob into the classroom: Science Bob is a great anticipatory site to use with students.  Videos can be watched as a class to introduce a new science topic or just to build a little excitement in the science class.  Let students explore the experiment section and choose an experiment to perform.  Each student can choose a different experiment to test at home.  Hold a class science day where students can share the experiment with the class.  Let them be the science ‘expert’.  As students conduct experiments, they can practice going through the scientific method.  Science Bob is a great stop for parents and students looking for science fair projects.  Start each science class with a fun science fact in the science question and answer section.  This is a great site to get your students excited about science and ready to learn more.

Tips: The “research” section of Science Bob is packed full of other amazing science websites.  They are organized by topic for simple searching.

I am often asked where I learn about all of these educational websites.  I have a variety of sources (RSS feeds, searches, books) but my favorite source is my OUTSTANDING PLN on Twitter.  If you aren’t on Twitter, I highly recommend it.  I have created a page where you can see all of the wonderful people in my PLN on Twitter.  This is a great place to start your own Twitter powerhouse.

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

What it is: Kideos is a collection of kid friendly videos.  Each video featured on Kideos has been carefully screened by the Kideos Video Advisory Council (made up of a select group of parents and educators).  The videos are categorized by age range (from 2 to 10) and by category.  Categories include Baby Einstein, Barney, Book Characters, Cartoon Characters, Cute Animals, Disney Channel Programs, Disney Movies, Dr. Seuss, Educational Videos, Fairy Tales, Kids, Mickey Mouse and Friends, Muppets, Nursery Rhymes, Sesame Street, Songs, Teletubbies, Trains and Machines, and Wiggles.  If you register with Kideos, you can set it up to only view your own selection of ages and characters.  The videos are streamed from You Tube and placed inside a Kideo player .

How to integrate Kideo into the classroom: Kideo is a great elementary alternative to YouTube.  While Kideo streams YouTube videos, you can be rest assured that your students will not be exposed to inappropriate content.  Because Kideos can be set up for a specific age group and category, it would be simple to create a Kideos channel specifically for your class.  You may choose your students age range and limit videos to educational and book characters only.  Many of the videos would be appropriate in the classroom as an introduction to learning or part of a center activity.

Tips: I am continually amazed when my first grade students come in telling me about a YouTube video they watched (on YouTube).  Suggest Kideos to parents as an alternative to YouTube for their little ones.  Kids will be able to find all of the content they are looking for without any of the inappropriate comments and suggested videos.

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