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Eco Kids: Build a Food Chain

What it is: Eco Kids is a website with a great collection of ecologically focused games and activities.  Students can complete interactives on wildlife, climate change, energy, the North, water, waste, land use, and more.  I was hunting down a good interactive for students to learn and practice the food chain.  Build a Food Chain has students order the elements of a food chain.  Along the way, students learn why each animal within a food chain is so important.  In addition to learning the basics of a food chain, students will learn about bioaccumulation.   How to integrate Eco Kids: Build a Food Chain into the classroom: Build a Food Chain is a fun way for students to learn about and practice building a food chain in an interactive environment.  First students are led through the process of a food chain.  The interactive helps students to understand the job of each animal or element in the chain.  Students can then put their understanding to the test by putting together a food chain of their own and testing it.  Students receive immediate feedback on the chain.  If the food chain is broken or won’t work, students are given an additional clue and opportunity to try again.   Build a Food Chain could be used as a whole class with a projector connected computer or interactive whiteboard.  Choose students to be guides at the board as they navigate through the parts of a food chain.  Then, call up a student to put the first element or animal of the food chain in place and pass on play to another student until a working food chain has been constructed.  Build a Food Chain can also be used as an independent learning activity on classroom computers as a center or in a lab setting.  Because the site provides students with feedback as they construct the food chain, students can navigate the activity easily on their own. Tips: Before you begin the game, you will notice a box labeled “More About This Topic”, here you will find additional resources, printables, and games that are related to food chains. Please leave a comment and share how you are using Eco Kids: Build a Food Chain in your classroom.

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Codecademy: Learn how to code

Posted by admin | Posted in Apply, Create, Interactive book, Middle/High School, Secondary Elementary, Teacher Resources, Technology, Understand (describe, explain), web tools, Websites | Posted on 05-01-2012

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What it is:  Codecademy makes learning to code a snap.  It is an interactive, fun way to learn coding one step at a time.  The site will prepare students to program websites, games and apps.  Learn independently or with friends, keeping track of their progress and comparing it with yours.  Students can track and share their progress to see how much they have learned and to stay motivated.  The platform could not be simpler to use and after just a few lessons…I’m starting to really understand and get the hang of programming.  I think that is pretty impressive considering that I have never had a lesson before now (not entirely true, a few years ago I went through the learn C in 24 hours course…I could follow along but didn’t really understand what I was doing.)!
How to integrate Codecademy into the classroom: With the popularity of apps, I have students who are just itching to learn how to program.  It is great to see boys and girls of all ages excited about learning how to code.  Codecademy is something that you can use to learn right along with your students.  You don’t have to be the expert because Codecademy guides everyone step-by-step through lessons and lets everyone move at a pace that is comfortable to them.  If your students can read, they can learn to code with Codecademy.  Today, a fourth grader at Anastasis started going through Codecademy lessons and quickly surpassed me.  His excitement was evident as he figured out variables in lines of code, how to set off an alert or command.  What I love about using Codecademy as a class or school is that students can work together, encourage and challenge each other.  When students hit certain lessons, they unlock new badges to display.
Codeacademy’s obvious use is to learn how to code.  For students who are passionate about gaming, websites, and programming this is a great sandbox to learn in.  Students get immediate feedback about the code they are writing.  Start a class club where students learn how to code together.  Use some time each week to learn to code with students, you could set the goal of learning to code together over the course of the year.
Codecademy is great for students who are reluctant to read but love technology.  This reading is for a purpose and students love it!  With Codecademy, getting an online education has never been so much fun!
Tips: Codecademy has created a new site called Code Year.  Make your New Year’s resolution to learn to code and sign up for Code Year.  Each week, you will get a new interactive lesson delivered to you via email.  By the end of the year you (or your students) will be lean, mean coding machines!  So cool!  I’m taking the challenge with several interested students and am looking forward to learning something new this year!

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

Comments (3)

Lori Ferguson said on 05-01-2012

LOVE THIS! I know HTML but have always wanted to learn other code. My son just learned Java in HS and he wants to learn C now. Great resource! Thanks for sharing!
Rafael said on 09-01-2012

Love it! Needed this site back in 1996–when I was learning HTML! Great tool to teach kids behind the scene web activity and start creating cool sites.

Thanks
Dallas Bluth said on 20-01-2012

Love your tips on integrating it into the classroom. There’s really a lot of room for improvement in teaching computer skills, especially programming, in the classroom and I hope teachers put this to good use.

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