What’s the Time Mr. Wolf

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What it is: What’s the Time Mr. Wolf is a fun sequencing and time activities for students in kindergarten or first grade.  (I was just looking for one of these for a Treasures unit in first grade, great timing!).  In this game, students are asked to sequence pictures based on the time of day that they happened.  After sorting the photos, students must choose the correct time-of-day description to match the photo.  Finally, students are given analogue clocks with various times on them.  Students have to choose the correct clock to match the narration of the story.  

How to integrate What’s the Time Mr. Wolf into the classroom: What’s the Time Mr. Wolf is a great short activity that helps students practice sequencing, recognizing time-of-day high frequency words, and reading an analogue clock.  The activity is narrated and builds listening and direction-following auditory skills.   What’s the Time Mr. Wolf is a short and sweet activity that students can complete independently.  The game includes progress monitoring and provides students immediate feedback as they interact with it.

Tips: What’s the Time Mr. Wolf is another free game from Sherston.  They also sell this game as part of a complete software package.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using What’s the Time Mr. Wolf in your classroom.

Captain Coordinate

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What it is: Captain Coordinate is a fun, fully narrated, interactive game that teaches students about geography and scale.  The game is one of the “Freebes” from Sherston.  Students can choose from three difficulty levels to help Captain Coordinate put up wanted posters in several locations.  They are given the scale of the map and can see the coordinates of the map.  Students determine how far East, West, North, or South they must go based on the scale to put up the posters.

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How to integrate Captain Coordinate into the classroom: Captain Coordinate is a fun way for your students to practice geography, map, and math skills all in one activity.  The entire game is narrated making it nice for a center activity or independent computer activity.  This is a great little practice site that responds to student input and has built in progress monitoring and immediate feedback for students.

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Tips: Sherston has a variety of software for the classroom for purchase, but there are also a lot of free activities to take advantage of online.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Captain Coordinate in your classroom.

Chess Kid

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What it is: Chess Kid is a fantastic way for kids to learn to play the game of chess and then practice their game against kids from around the world.   The Chess Kid environment is safe and secure for kids, students have no contact with strangers.  A parent or a teacher manages all access and friendships online and can easily monitor all activity.   On Chess Kid students learn the rules and strategies of chess and work to improve their game, memorization skills, patience, and sportsmanship.  Students can train with tactic puzzles and exercises, view video lessons, practice tactic against the computer, or read chess articles.  Chess games can be played online against other kids from around the world, in online tournaments, blitz chess, or against the computer.  

How to integrate Chess Kid into the classroom: Chess is a great game that is packed full of skills that help students in other disciplines such as math.  Students must use problem solving, decision making, critical thinking, deductive and inductive reasoning, and the ability to make accurate judgments and estimates as they play.  Chess makes for a great mental workout and develops skills necessary for solving other problems.  Chess Kid is a place where students can learn how to play the game of chess, and then practice through play with kids from around the world or the computer.  Chess Kid can be used with the whole class for lessons and learning the how-to aspect of chess on a projector or interactive whiteboard.  Students can then play on classroom computers, as a math center, or individually in a computer lab setting.

Tips: The American Chess Foundation published that chess can improve a child’s visual memory, attention span, spatial reasoning skills, capacity to predict and anticipate consequences, and the ability to use criteria to drive decision making and evaluate alternatives.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Chess Kid in your classroom.

Goldburger To Go: Rube Goldberg Machines

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What it is: I am always finding fun activities on PBS kids site, today I ran across Goldburger to Go!  Rube Goldberg designed machines that made simple, every day, tasks into complicated activities with the help of his contraptions (think Wallace and Gromit).  The students task is to design a machine that will help serve lunch.  The machine isn’t working properly and students must discover which pieces of the machine need a little tweaking.  As students complete the machine, they can test it out and get hints and clues about could be keeping the machine from working.  

How to integrate Goldberger To Go: Rube Goldberg Machines into the classroom: Students are fascinated with machines that work together to perform tasks.  Goldburger to Go is a fun way to challenge your students to think about cause and effect and to consider how all the working parts operate together.  The puzzle game is a good way to get your students thinking about and discussing different types of energy.  Use this website with the whole class using an interactive whiteboard and discuss the types of energy as they occur.  Walk your students through the scientific process as they hypothesize what is going to happen and experiment with adjusting the machine accordingly.  The website also lends itself nicely to studying different kinds of simple machines.  The built in hints help guide stumped students in their thinking.  Goldburger to Go would make a fun center activity or even to play individually in a computer lab setting.  This is one of those thinking games that my students could spend hours playing.

Tips: Students can create and build their own real-life Goldberg machines with fun activities and suggestions found here.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Goldburger to Go: Rube Goldberg Machines in your classroom.

Pass it On…

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Last week I was presented with a blog award from Emily Starr who writes the Interactive Content Corner blog.  The award is meant to honor blogs that we personally hold in high regard by spreading the word about them and sharing them with others.  I didn’t act fast enough in passing my award on and got awarded again by Maggie Hos-McGrane who writes Tech Transformation, Michael Zimmer who writes The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness Nicholas Provenzano who Writes The Nerdy Teacher and Vanessa Cassie who writes Sharp.  Thank you all, I am humbled to be included in your lists.  Now I am faced with a problem, in my procrastination you all have nominated some of my very favorite blogs and I must work on passing on to someone who hasn’t already been nominated!

I relish the idea of paying it forward and spreading the word about excellent education blogs.  There are so many talented and brilliant educators who have joined the blogosphere and added their voices to help shine a light on education, it is time that they got recognized for what they do and encouraged to keep doing it!

The rules of the award are as follows:

1- Copy and display the picture of the award given to you;

2- Link back to the blog that nominated you;

3- Nominate 10 different blogs yourself;

4- Inform the people you nominated, so they can in turn, continue the chain and spread the word about other great blogs out there.

So, without further ado, here are my nominations- in no particular order (and yes, I did dress up for this occasion) 🙂

1. Suzanne’s Blog–  Suzanne Whitlow writes an excellent blog for her teaching staff at Shady Grove, Twin Hickory, Ridge, and Ratcliffe….little does she know how much what she writes ends up in classrooms around the world! Suzanne shares lessons, templates, and reflections on education.  All of the ideas she shares are innovative and special.

2. The Learning BlogTodd Wandio shares his often humorous take on learning, literacy, and the classroom of the 21st century as he wades through a sea of middle school students.  His posts are always insightful and thought provoking.

3. Teacher ToysJohn Fladd is the teacher I wish I had in school.  The original goal of the blog was to share classroom technology finds but the blog has become so much more.  John shares his wealth of knowledge on every subject and gives us glimpses of his classroom through lessons that he teaches, and learning interactions with students. Any teacher who has a project titled “Destiny & Diarrhea” and uses the old Sears Catalog to teach students is aces in my book.

4. Bright Ideas BlogJudith Way writes a blog by the School Library Association of Victoria.  She writes extensively about Web 2.0 tools in the library and offers inspiration for any librarian or classroom teacher.  I have learned so much from Judith, she shares a wealth of knowledge and resources.

5. It’s ElementaryTamra Lanning is a teacher who obviously loves what she does.  She shares ideas for using technology successfully in the elementary classroom.  I learn a little bit of everything from Tamra but especially appreciate her posts about what is happening with technology in her school…they do such neat projects!

6. Son of a Teacher Man– Geoff writes about his journey into education, he gives an honest look at education through the eyes of a first year teacher.  I appreciate his vulnerability and willing to tell it like it is.

7.  TechnoTIC Raul writes from Spain where he shares about everything technology.  I appreciate his unique perspective and his always helpful tips about “presentation zen.”  The showcase of tools Raul offers for secondary classrooms is impressive.

8. Thinking Outside the Box– Sarah Major creates solutions for learning.  I am truly amazed at her ability to understand children and the learning process.  She offers daily inspiration and solutions for students who learn differently (don’t all children learn differently?).  I especially appreciate the visual aids that Sarah shares that help students understand difficult concepts.

9. This Week in Ed Tech- Buzz Garwood has a great tag line “On the Paper-Cutting Edge of Educational Technology”.  Buzz shares technology integration stories and resources, they are usually resources and ideas I haven’t seen elsewhere.  Each post is well thought out and through, he does all the heavy lifting for you!

10. John Spencer writes three blogs that I can’t get enough of.  All are excellent and thought provoking:

Adventures in Pencil Integration–  This is a fictional blog that takes place in the 19th century.  The blog posts may be fictional but the content couldn’t ring more true.   The premise of the blog is a 19th century teacher who is leading an initiative for one pencil per child.  The blog makes me think and rethink my stance on technology integration, makes me laugh out loud, and entertains me.

Musings From a Not-So-Master Teacher– This is the blog where John takes us on a journey of authentic learning and thinking.  He readily admits that he doesn’t have all the answers, but I enjoy journeying with him as he explores education, teaching, and learning.   John also has a collection of visual musings (cartoons and sketches) that are a must see.

Ditch That Word– John doesn’t offer a vocabulary boosting word-a-day, instead he aims at helping us ditch the words that have watered down our language and twisted it into something unrecognizable or cliche.  Ditch that word makes me laugh out loud and groan in realization of how often I use those words in my own daily language.  John is usually right on about words to ditch. Now I must figure out how to weed them out of my vocabulary 🙂

Only naming 10 is an exercise in restraint for me.  I read so many incredible blogs every day, I am surrounded by greatness!  If you are interested in jumping into blogging or encouraging other educational bloggers, consider joining the edublogger alliance.

Web 2.0 & Connectivist Learning Open Course

One of my edublogger alliance friends, Carl Anderson, is starting a new venture that we can all benefit from, an open course through Hamline University that is set to begin May 28th title, Web 2.0 & Connectivist Learning.  The idea behind the open course is to take all the great learning that happens online through personal learning networks (informally) and fitting them into the framework of schools, college and universities?  This open course is the answer.

Last fall, Carl wrote a post that posed the following question:

“So, at the very least, here is the rub: Why is it that I can get 1 continuing ed credit for sitting in an hour-long presentation by an obviously biased corporately-employed presenter and not engage myself meaningfully in the topic at hand but for an hour of reading and meaningful career related reflection in my PLN I get nothing institutionally recognized?”

If you are interested in this amazing offer, please fill out this form so that Carl can estimate how many online seats are needed.

Virsona

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What it is: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit down and talk to Albert Einstein, George Washington, or Susan B. Anthony?  Wonder no more, with Virsona, your students have the opportunity to do just that!   Virsona is an interesting tool that lets students create a virtual character of themselves (or a virtual literary character).  Students answer a variety of questions about themselves (or another character).  They can create automatically generated responses, greetings, and choose a personality for their virtual selves.  After they have created their virtual persona, they can share the link to their virtual self.  Anyone can ask their virtual self questions (via chat) and responses are automatically generated based on the answers that were given.  Virsona has some excellent built in historical, political, and literary characters that students can interact with..  Students can chat with a virtual George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Pocahontas, Babe Ruth, Susan B. Anthony, and more.  Students choose the persona to chat with, asking them questions about their stance on politics, entertainment, beliefs, and more.  It is very cool!  Try chatting with Abraham Lincoln here.

How to integrate Virsona into the classroom: Virsona can be used to connect students to historical characters.  Students can “chat” with the historical character asking questions about their life, beliefs, politics, and more.   Put your students on assignment as news reporters.  Ask them to “sit down” with the historical character and interview them, taking notes about the answers they are given.  Students can then fact check the interview, using primary sources, text books, and encyclopedia articles.  Students can then write a newspaper article, a character sketch, or create a fake video interview using a tool like Xtranormal. Virsona is a tool that will connect your students to historical figures and learning in a way that wasn’t before possible.  I have yet to meet  a student who doesn’t love to chat.  Put those chatting skills to good use by having them chat with historical figures.

If you teach in the elementary classroom, use Virsona as a whole class.  Have students brainstorm questions they would like to ask the historical figure.  As a class, chat with the VIP using an interactive whiteboard or projector.

For students over 13, Virsona can be used as a way to create an in-depth character sketch on a historical or literary figure.  Students will have to really research the character in order to create a Virsona virtual persona.  Students can answer questions as the literary or historical figure would have.  As a culminating activity, students can visit each other’s Virsona’s to learn about other historical or literary figures.

Can’t find a character that you want your students to chat with?  Why not create the character yourself?  In one of our fifth grade classrooms, we have an invisible ninja who can see everything the kids do.  The invisible ninja is an enigma that the students often want to know more about.  It would be fun to take these fictional characters and let students chat with them virtually.  Sometimes younger classrooms have “desk fairies” that leave treats randomly for clean desks.  Enter into a spirit of play with your students and create a virtual version of these classroom characters.

Tips: To sign up to create a virtual character, student have to supply an email address, first and last name.  To create a virtual character, students must be 13 or older.  Students under 13 can still use Virsona to chat with pre-created characters without signing into the website.

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

We Are the People We’ve Been Waiting For

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What it is: We Are the People We’ve Been Waiting For is an inspiring documentary film that explores education in the UK and challenges us to dream of something more.  Big names (Sir Richard Branson, Germaine Greer, Henry Winkler, Bill Bryson, and Sir Ken Robinson) share their experiences with education and offer new ideas for how education can be done.  If you are in the UK, take advantage of the free DVD offer and get the full documentary to share with your students.  Those of us not in the UK can enjoy clips of the film on the We Are the People We’ve Been Waiting For website.  There are several clips from the documentary and each of them will leave you inspired and thinking about how education can be transformed.  The site also features some excellent games for students to play.  The first game is called “The Test You Can’t Fail”.  This little quiz asks students a variety of questions and gives them creative career paths to consider based on their interests.  Many of these your students may not have considered and will give them insight into the places they shine.  The second game is called “Future Me”, it is a Bebo App that lets students predict their friends future.  

How to integrate We Are the People We’ve Been Waiting For into the classroom: If you can get the documentary for your classroom, do so.  Be inspired by the documentary as a teacher, but also share it with your students.  They need some inspiration for their education and future.  This film is sure to offer plenty.  If you aren’t in the UK, share the webisite clips with your students.  Challenge them to think differently about education.  At first, they may struggle with this task (the way my students did), they expect that there is one right answer.  This is a sad statement about what education has been up to this point, we have primed them to believe that there is only one right answer with a myraid of tests and worksheets that have told them it is so.  Have your students take “The Test You Can’t Fail” quiz, it leads them through a variety of questions and activities.  Students tell what their favorite subject is, swat or save a fly, order grocery items in order of price, connect a video game to the Internet and TV, choose what to do when they get lost, design a t-shirt, memorize a phone number, and arrange a computer desktop.  When students are finished they are given a list of things they are good at, some surprises (things students may not know about themselves), and thoughts about possible career paths.  It seems to work well, my results were education, computers and IT.  🙂 So I guess I am on the right track!  Talk with students about their results. Do they agree/disagree? Were their items on their list that they hadn’t considered?  It is good to dream with students, it gives them aspirations and goals for the future and lets them know that they aren’t the only ones dreaming.

Tips: In the “About the Film” Section, students can watch videos and read bios of the students that star in the documentary.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using the We Are The People We’ve Been Waiting For in your classroom.

LEGO Smart Creativity Contest

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What it is: LEGO Education is looking for 10,000 contestants for its 2010 LEGO Smart Creativity Contest.  You can sign your classroom up to participate from now to July 2010, challenging your students to be LEGO Smart.  When you sign up, you will receive a free LEGO Smart kit to use for the contest.  Beginning in August 2010, your students will be challenged with a variety of activities that will encourage them to think creatively.

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How to integrate LEGO Smart Creativity Contest into the classroom: Take a look at the activities from last year, there are math, geography, science, collaboration, and social studies projects.  The activities are all a lot of fun.  The contest is a fantastic way to get your students thinking outside the box, in new and creative ways, while working together to accomplish tasks.  Your students will be working collaboratively, solving problems, and creating solutions.  Students will be demonstrating their understanding of technology, math, engineering, science and math.  I have yet to meet a child who doesn’t enjoy LEGOs.

Tips: For most of us, the contest won’t start until the next school year, sign up today and have some awesome activities ready for next year.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using LEGO Smart Creativity Contest in your classroom.