iLearn Technology

Did you know that today is National Literacy Day?  It is!  I think that literacy is something to celebrate, being literate is a gift I enjoy every day but don’t stop to appreciate nearly enough.  In honor of National Literacy Day, I thought I would share my favorite technology enhanced literacy tools.  In no particular order, here are my favorite ways to celebrate literacy.  What are your favorites?

1.  Save the Words- an excellent site that values language, vocabulary, and words.

2. Grammaropolis- an enchanting site that teaches students parts of speech through character and story.

3. Signed Stories- an online story collection accompanied by British Sign Language, pictures, and sound.

4. Learn Direct- where students can be the star in their own online storybook.

5. Inkless Tales- a literacy website with a beautiful mission statement “You can do anything. Try, try again. Don’t give up. Experiment. Write, draw, explore and more.”

6. Storybird- a beautiful collaborative storytelling website.

7. My English Images- images that illustrate difficult vocabulary and language concepts.

8.  Lexipedia- a visual dictionary and thesaurus.

9.  Tikatok- Students become published authors with Tikatok

10. Free Reading- an open source instructional program to help you teach early literacy.

11. Word World- a great site for kindergarten and first grade letter and word recognition.

12. Reading Rockets- free reading guides for teachers to improve reading achievement of kids.

13. Super Why! - a site that helps kids gain important foundational reading skills such as alphabet, word families, spelling, comprehension, and vocabulary.

14.  Get Ready to Read!- a great site that helps teachers equip children with the basic skills necessary for learning to read.

15. Roy the Zebra- Excellent site for emerging readers.

16. Fable Vision- the beautiful virtual town filled with stories and games.

17. Kidoons- brings time honored tales from the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, Thorton Burgess, and more to life.

18.  GameGoo- fun educational games that help students develop reading and language skills.

19. Read Write Think- a collection of online student resources that support literacy learning k-12.

20. Seussville- the wonderful world of Dr. Seuss brought to life.

21. Digital Booktalk- book trailers that will whet your students appetite for a good book.

22. Storybook Web- a website based on popular children’s stories where students can listen to author’s reading excerpts.

23.  Mee Genius- where students can read books, personalize them, and share them with a friend.

24. Stage’d- a tool that helps students tell stories digitally.

25. Kerpoof- where students can create their own storybooks, comics, and movies.

26.  Lightning Bug- “your writing partner, helping you write a story from beginning to THE END.”

27. ePubBud- for publishing your very own ebooks.

28. Magic Treehouse- a wonderful website where students can engage in the popular book series.

29. The Stacks- a wonderful creation by Scholastic that excites students about reading.

30. The World of Peter Rabbit- an absolutely captivating site based on the work of Beatrix Potter.

31.  My Hippo Has the Hiccups- a free poetry ebook by Kenn Nesbitt.

32. Weboword- a visual vocabulary site.

33. National Geographic Young Explorer- non-fiction for the primary classroom from National Geographic.

34.  Online Audio Stories- an impressive collection of free audio stories.

35. Story Nory- another collection of free audio books for kids.

36.  Skratch Track- a virtual bookshelf for primary students.

37.  Picture Book Maker- a place for students to create picture books.

38. Story Cove- a collection of stories from around the world.

39.  Skype an Author Network- connects teachers, students, and authors over Skype.

40.  Word Ahead Vocabulary Videos- animated vocabulary videos.

41.  My Story Maker- a website where students are in charge of the interactive story.

42. Book Wink- an incredible site that motivates students to read through podcasts and web video.

43. Scholastic Story Starters- a tool that generates writing ideas.

44. Telescopic Text- a site that expands a sentence to demonstrate descriptive writing.

45.  The Tale of Despereaux Adventure- a beautiful interactive story book.

46. Literactive- leveled guided readers, comprehensive phonics activities, and supplemental reading material.

47. Pic Lits- a creative writing site based on pictures.

48.  Speakaboos- a collection of online stories and ebooks.

49. Animailia- a site based on the popular book by Graeme Base.

50. Mrs. P’s Magic Library- an absolutely enchanting site that celebrates books and reading.

51.  Free Rice- practice vocabulary while helping others fight hunger.

52. Shelfari- a virtual bookshelf.

53. Read to Feed- Heifer International reading project for kids.

54. Into the Book- an outstanding site that teaches reading strategies for comprehension.

55. Google Lit Trips- exploring literature using Google Earth.

56. Starfall- a must see website for phonics.

57. Book Adventure- a free reading motivation program.

But the very best way to celebrate National Literacy Day…read a book!

What it is: The Mystery of the Poison Dart Frog comes from the North Carolina Museum of Art.  Students are introduced to three characters in an online picture book.  Zoey and Zeke are visiting their cousin Camilla who works as a curator at an art museum in Costa Rica.  Soon students are swept away in a mystery and adventure as they must use clues and match up the Costa Rica art pieces with the notecards that were written by the donors of the art.  Along the way students learn to read for information, and learn about art, science, history, and culture of Costa Rica.  

How to integrate the Mystery of the Poison Dart Frog into the classroom: The Mystery of the Poison Dart Frog is a fun way for students to practice reading for information and practicing the inferring reading strategy.  As students work through the mystery, they will also be learning about art, science, history, and the culture of Costa Rica. This is a great activity for students to complete independently in a computer lab or 1-to-1 setting, it is a little long to be completed as a center activity.  If you teach younger students, or students who may not be able to read the story independently, read the story as a class or small group using a projector connected computer or interactive whiteboard.  Students can work together to solve the mystery using the available clues in the story.  Before students begin reading the story, they can build background knowledge by using the built in research guide.  Students can learn more about Costa Rica with an interactive map, learn about the works of art they will see in the story, and the different animals represented in the works of art.

The story can be read in either English or Spanish.  For older students learning Spanish as a foreign language, the activity could be completed in Spanish.  This would be a fun activity to test their skills of reading for understanding in the Spanish language.

Tips: For more great related links, click on the “more” drop down from the home page.  Happy solving!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Mystery of the Poison Dart Frog 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: Learn English Kids is a website especially for students who are learning English or need some remedial help in language development.  Created by the British Council, Learn English Kids has fun games, songs, stories, and offline activities to help students learn English.  All of the activities are created so that they can be done independently or with family members or friends.  In the listen and watch section of the site are animated stories and songs, many have accompanying activities to use in the classroom.  There are also videos and online activities designed to build listening skills and comprehension.  In the read write section are downloadable materials designed to help develop reading and writing skills.  The make section features online activities in which students can create something.  There are also arts and crafts directions to download and videos of children creating things.  In the explore section are additional resources and websites for English language learners. The game section features several games broken down into language games, fun with English, little Kids games, and games to play with friends.  Students learn basic English vocabulary, alphabetical order, phoneme matching (matching phoneme to its sound), hieroglyphics, months in a year, famous landmarks, seasons, recycling, ancient Egypt, animal habitats, around the world, bugs, Chinese New Year, Christmas, cities, colors, computers, countries, currency, daily routines, days of the week, dinosaurs, directions, environment, fairy tales, food, Great Barrier Reef, health, holidays, human body, maps, money, nature, numbers, Olympic games, pets, planets, plants, school, solar system, space, sports, technology, weather, just to name a few.

How to integrate Learn English Kids into the classroom: Learn English Kids is a comprehensive resource that can be used in your classroom in a variety of ways.  The site was designed specifically for English Language Learners (or ESL students) but is appropriate for primary students or students who need some remedial language building.  The site has been created to be navigated and used independently and many of the activities would be perfect as a center that students can visit.  The games are outstanding for vocabulary and language building.  Listen and Watch has an impressive collection of songs that are traditional children tunes like Hickory, dickory dock, teaching songs that help students remember things like months in a year, and themed songs.  Each song is accompanied by a pdf of the lyrics and a print activity.   There are several well made short stories for your students to read along with.  The animated stories can be read with or without audio.  Each story comes with the ability to print and includes accompanying activity suggestions.  Kids Talk features videos of kids answering a variety of questions.  The Listen and Watch section also has a place for students to practice their listening skills.  Students watch an animated video and listen to what the characters say.  Then they are asked to interact with the activity according to what they heard.  These activities are great for ELL, but would also be excellent for students with sensory integration problems.  In the Read and Write section, students read a passage and are given follow up questions that they can write about themselves.  These would make an excellent writing center for students who need some prompting to write.  In the Create section students can create online stories, characters, etc.  There are also some offline printable activities and suggestions of things to create.  This site features so many great resources, it will keep you ready with activities for your students.  Every one of the activities/songs/read alongs are high quality and engaging.  Students will love this site!  I cannot stress enough that this site has something for every student, not just English Language Learners.  My kindergarten and first grade students really enjoy using this site.

Tips: This site could take you hours to explore to find all of it’s hidden treasures.  If you are looking for a specific game, story, or topic, you may want to click on “Site Map” at the very bottom of the webpage.  Here you can sort through all of the resources by topic, finding exactly what you need quickly.  What a great website!! Be sure to check out the Teacher page where you will find lesson plans, resources, and guidance for teaching your ELL students.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Learn English Kids in your classroom.

English Images

What it is: My English images is a great site that I learned about from @larryferlazzo.  This site was designed for English teachers and English teachers working with ESL and EFL students but it is a great site for any literacy classroom.  The site has images and worksheets that are available for download that can be used to catch student’s attention, spice up lessons, and illustrate difficult language concepts.  My English Images provides pictures that illustrate conversation, grammar, basic English, pronunciation, and vocabulary concepts.  New content is added to the collection monthly.

How to integrate My English Images into the classroom: This site is ideal for the ESL/EFL classroom.  They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and that is definitely the case with this site.  Students will be able to look at the pictures and understand the language concepts with the help of visuals.  The pictures can be downloaded and used in PowerPoint presentations, interactive whiteboard lessons, and any lesson that you are teaching that would benefit from visuals.  Visuals are the first thing that people associate with a concept.  They help students recall more quickly, and the concepts get stored in permanent memory because students have an easier time making connections with things they already know.  My English Images has some fantastic offline games that can be played with English language learners.  You can download and print rules and a certificate of excellence as students complete the games.  Grammar concepts are often difficult for any student learning them for the first time.  My English Images makes it easier for students to understand how the English language works.  This site should be used in any English speaking/learning literacy classroom!

Tips: Take a little time to explore My English images, it is a treasure trove of resources!  My English Images was created by English language teacher F. Michael Kloran based on what he uses with his students.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using My English Images in your classroom.

What it is: Free Rice is an amazing website that I have posted about two or three times in the past.  It has been a site where students can play a vocabulary game and earn 20 grains of rice for each correct answer.  The grains of rice are distributed to hungry people all over the world through the UN World Food Program.  Two of my students came in this morning with a printout of how many grains of rice they had earned over the weekend on the Free Rice website (we have a contest going each year to see which class and grade can earn the most grains of rice).   They were unusually excited about this bunch of earned rice because they discovered some new features on Free Rice.  Free Rice is now much more than a vocabulary game!  Students can choose the subject they would like to play.  As they increase in all types of knowledge, there is the added bonus of helping people in need.  Free Rice subjects now include art (famous paintings), chemistry (chemical symbols), English grammar, geography (world capitals), language learning (French, German, Italian, Spanish), math (multiplication), and of course…vocabulary!  Free rice is an incredible place for students to practice facts for a wide range of subject areas.  Some additional new features: now students can click on a speaker next to a word to hear it read to them and can change the level of difficulty manually!  I am so impressed with the site and impressed with my students for finding and sharing these new treasures!

How to integrate Free Rice into the classroom:  With all of the new subjects on Free Rice, it is the perfect place to send your students for fact practice.  Whether they are learning a new language, or need some practice with their multiplication facts Free Rice is a great place to practice.  What I love about Free Rice is the added bonus of character education.  Free Rice teaches students compassion and empathy.  My students truly play the game not for the learning taking place, but because it makes them feel good to do something for others.  Kids often feel like there is nothing they can personally do to help a cause…Free Rice gives them a voice and the ability to make a change.  It empowers them.  

Tips:  Set up Free Rice on your classroom computers as a place for students to go when they are finished early and need a little something extra.  Free Rice is also excellent in a computer lab setting and for home play.  

Leave a comment and share how you are using Free Rice in your classroom.

What it is: Studio4Learning is a great site for students in fifth through twelfth grades.  It provides students and teachers with free, high-quality videos that can be watched online.  There are ten categories of videos to choose from Math, Sciences, English, Languages, Social Sciences, Business, Arts, Test Prep, Find a Job, and Tutor Corps.  Each category is broken down into several sub categories.  Videos are engaging and teach key skills and concepts in a fun way.  Students can also use the sites search feature to search for a specific topic.

How to integrate Studio4Learning into the classroom:  Students can use Studio4Learning as a place to stop for homework help and to learn or review concepts learned in class.  Teachers can use Studio4Learning as a center, with a projector, or on individual student computers to illustrate new teaching or as a place where students can review information.  Studio4Learning is free to use, if students register (also free) they can bookmark videos.  Teachers can upload class topic videos to Studio4Learning, again free. (Are you seeing a theme here? It is all free!)  As an added bonus, if you have a class website or blog, you can embed videos directly into your site for students to watch on any subject you are studying in class.  

Tips:  Browse through a couple of videos on the site, I know you will be hooked!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Studio4Learning in your classroom.