Video Tutorials – Page 4 – iLearn Technology

Math Live

March 2, 2010Kelly Tenkely11 Comments3711 views

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.

Neo K12

March 1, 2010March 1, 2010Kelly Tenkely13 Comments4293 views

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.

NBC Olympics: Science of the Olympics

February 11, 2010Kelly Tenkely14 Comments2896 views

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.

Kids Numbers

October 22, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment1673 views

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.

HippoCampus

October 22, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1835 views

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.

Faux Paw and the Dangerous Download

October 12, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment5165 views

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.

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

Science Bob

September 9, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments2401 views

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.

Kideos

August 23, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1346 views

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.

Word Ahead Vocabulary Videos

July 28, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2319 views

What it is: Word Ahead Vocabulary Videos has an amazing collection of animated videos that help increase student vocabulary. The extensive collection of videos can be used for study, SAT preparation, and increased word understanding. The Word Ahead study room provides students with a distraction free environment with vocabulary videos and flash cards. New vocabulary videos are uploaded regularly. Students can join Word Ahead for free and have a new vocabulary video sent to them each day (think word of the day 2.0). Want to inspire some creativity in your classroom? Students can create and upload their own vocabulary videos. Each video is reviewed before posting to ensure appropriateness.

How to integrate Word Ahead Vocabulary Videos into the classroom: Word Ahead Vocabulary Videos are an excellent way to expand and enrich student vocabulary. The video format will help solidify new words for students. Register to get a new video emailed to you each day. Share these videos with your students as a precursor to class. Make the vocabulary video word the word of the day. Challenge students to use the word throughout the day. Word Ahead is also a great site to use with English language learners. The videos are a fantastic way for students to visually increase vocabulary development. As an extension activity, take vocabulary from class curriculum and have students create their own vocabulary video to upload to Word Ahead.

Tips: Tell parents about Word Ahead Vocabulary Videos, they are always looking for great sites to help their kids study.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Word Ahead Vocabulary Videos in your classroom.

UPM Forest Life

July 14, 2009July 15, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2940 views

virtual forest

What it is: UPM Forest Life is an excellent interactive site that lets students explore a forest virtually. This is the next best thing to actually being in a forest, I can almost smell the pine trees! UPM Forest Life aims to teach about forest sustainability through an outstanding ‘hike’ through the forest. Along the way, students can click on points that will reveal videos, pictures with information, and sounds. Students will learn about forest planning, harvesting, regeneration, respacing, thinning, transport, recreation, training, berry picking, bird watching, hunting, fishing, natural forests, valuable habitats, deadwood, forest structure, water, and native tree species. Students will also learn about the various animals that call a forest home. This is an outstanding way for students to learn about tree species, habitat, and animals because it is learning through exploration. UPM Forest Life will teach them in a way that no textbook can.

How to integrate UPM Forest Life into the classroom: Although I am sure we would love to take our students on a field trip to a forest to explore and learn first hand, it isn’t always practical or possible. UPM Forest Life is a fantastic virtual substitute. It is so realistic and well done that your students will feel as if they have taken a trip into a forest. This would be an excellent site to use with an interactive whiteboard. Allow students to take turns being ‘tour guides’ for the journey. They can click on the various videos, pictures, and information embedded in the forest. Create an observation journal where students can jot down observations of trees, animals, and sounds that they expereince while in the forest. This site would also be a great one for students to visit individually in a computer lab setting. Be sure that students are equipped with headphones so they can enjoy the full experience of the site. After students explore the forest, discuss what it means to have a sustainable forest and why it is important. This site is perfect for the science classroom or Earth Day but it would also work well in the language arts classroom. Students could use the UPM Forest Life as a writing prompt, after exploring the forest they could write a story with the forest as the setting, or use one of the animals in the forest as a character in the story. The scenery and sounds in the Forest are so peaceful and restorative, this may be a good site to have going in the background while students silent read…almost like reading above the trees in a tree house!

Tips: I have really enjoyed exploring this site and haven’t closed it since I opened it. I learned about the UPM Forest Life site from @atkauffman on Twitter, I highly recommend a follow! Andrew often has great resources for teachers and shares them on Twitter.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using UPM Forest Life in your classroom.