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Kid Thing

  What it is:   I could have sworn that I had written a post about Kid Thing in the past, but after running several searches on my posts, I came up empty.  Kid Thing is a secure digital media player for kids in grades k-4.  Kid Thing accesses the Internet but is not a web browser.  It is more like an iTunes type environment designed specifically for kids.  There are no advertisements on Kid Thing and because it is not a web browser, there is no place to type a web address where students could inadvertently stumble on inappropriate content.  The Kid Thing player is free to download and they often have free downloads of learning and interactive activities for students.  There is also a Kid Thing store where additional books, videos, games, and creative arts can be downloaded to the Kid Thing player.  Everything in the store is very reasonably priced.  Right now Kid Thing is offering a free download in addition to the player, a 25 day Countdown to Christmas.  Each day students will get to open a new kid thing Surprise with a game to play.  After the game has been opened, it will stay on the Kid Thing player to be played over and over again.     How to integrate Kid Thing into the classroom:   The Kid Thing player would make an excellent reading center, or learning center for phonics, language arts, and math.  The player is very user friendly for students.  Start each morning with the free Countdown for Christmas, let each student have a turn to be the one to open the Countdown for Christmas surprise.  Throughout the day, let students visit the Kid Thing center to complete the new activity for the day.  Kid Thing is great for the one or two classroom computers, a computer lab, a projector or interactive whiteboard, and for home use.  Encourage parents to download Kid Thing at home and add books and games that are appropriate for their child.   Tips:   At the moment Kid Thing only runs on PC’s running Window’s XP and Vista.  There is a Mac version in the works (hooray!!) and if you visit the download page you can sign up to be the first to know when the Mac version is available.     Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Kid Thing in your classroom.

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Big Universe

Posted by admin | Posted in Interactive Whiteboard, Interactive book, Language Arts, Phonics, Primary Elementary, Science, Secondary Elementary, Social Studies, Teacher Resources, Websites | Posted on 14-10-2009

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What it is: Big Universe lets you read, create, and share children’s books online.  Read hundreds of children’s picture books right from your web browser.  It’s like having a huge library of big books for your whole class to read and enjoy.  Publishers that contribute picture books to Big Universe include: Charlesbridge, SeaSquirt, Lobster Press, Saddleback, Matthew Price, ISSA Step by Step, Andersen, Dawn Publications, Tanglewood Press, ee, Teacher Created Materials, Illuminations Arts, Weekly Reader, and Elora Media.  Big Universe has both fiction and nonfiction picture books to read with your students.  Books are easy to search by category, grade, reading level, interest age, and language.  Students can create their own ebooks on Big Universe or share books on a virtual bookshelf.  The catch: the free version of Big Universe offers a limited look at the premium publisher books (you can read through half the book before being prompted to upgrade or close the book).  You can read any of the user created books for free.  With the free version you can only create one ebook per user account.  Students can create bookshelves and share an unlimited number of books, recommend books to others, and add friends.  The accounts on Big Universe are reasonably priced (especially considering how much it would increase your classroom library).

How to integrate Big Universe into the classroom: Big Universe is an awesome way to expand your classroom library and share quality picture books and stories with your students. The big books on Big Universe are ideal for use with an interactive whiteboard or projector.  Students can read along and see the rich detail in the illustrations.  Big Universe also makes for an excellent reading center on the classroom computers.  Allow students to create their own book on Big Universe to add to the library.  They will be published authors!  Students can share the books they are reading on Big Universe on their own virtual bookshelf.  They can swap book recommendations with friends and share stories they create.

Tips: If it is possible for your school to purchase a school license of Big Universe, students would have access to an extensive library of books at school or home.  This is a fantastic way to get hundreds of books into the hands of your students.  Because they can be accessed from any Internet connected computer, students can enjoy the books and stories from nearly anywhere.

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



Comments (1)

Present Tensed / rasml.org said on 23-10-2009

[...] iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » Big Universe [...]

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