Phonics – Page 4 – iLearn Technology

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.

Treasures Reading Supplement

February 16, 2010Kelly Tenkely26 Comments5560 views

What it is: We use the Treasures Reading curriculum (Macmillan McGraw Hill) at the school where I teach. Although there are things I like about this curriculum, one thing that is in need of improvement are the activities provided for students to practice the skills that they are learning. The activities don’t change from 1st-5th grade, are very repetitive, and do not encourage any sort of deeper thinking skills. In an attempt to remedy this for our students, I went through each unit for 1st through 5th grade and pulled out the essential learning components. I found activities that were engaging and required some deeper thinking to supplement what was currently in the curriculum. As I worked to supplement the activities, I looked for a few things: 1. The activity could be completed with the whole class, using an interactive whiteboard or projector, or could be completed as a computer center (for the classroom with 2 or 3 computers). 2. The activities had to meet and reinforce the essential learning. 3. The activities had to be more engaging than what was already suggested.

How to integrate Treasures Reading Supplement into the classroom: These guides are meant to be a supplement for the Treasures Reading Curriculum. They are designed to offer some extra ideas for helping students to practice and solidify learning. You will find a few activities that are meant for offline use such as a whole class bingo game or partner matching games. You will also notice some suggestions for Promethean activities. I created some supplemental flipcharts for our teachers to use that I am happy to share if you can use them. (I hope to have these up on Promethean Planet soon). Many of these activities can be completed as a center activity in the classroom. We don’t always have access to a computer lab of computers. In the classroom with a few computers, set up a weekly rotation so that your students can complete some of the online activities. Some of the games and activities are also appropriate for whole class participation.

In my classroom, I like to play games with my students. I will often split students into teams where the teams will take turns working through a game. Students love the extra layer of competition being timed.

In my reading classroom, I had literacy groups that I met with every day. Each day I met with a new group (those students who were in need of remedial reading met each day of the week). During literacy group time, the group that I was working with read the story for the week, learned and practiced key essential learning together (phonics, grammar, vocabulary) , and worked on building comprehension strategies. While I worked with my smaller literacy groups, the rest of the class worked through independent literacy centers. At the beginning of the week I explained all of the centers for the week. Because my classroom had limited space, I put my centers into colored tubs that rotated around the classroom. Each day a small group of students received a center tub. The tub has all of the necessary supplies and directions for that center. One of my centers always involved the classroom computers. Sometimes the centers were inquiry based, sometimes games, and sometimes additional reading practice. Every week, each student completed each center activity. In the meantime, I was able to work one on one with my literacy groups. This worked really well in my classroom and technology made it easy for students to work at their own level independently.

The guides are below in ebook format using Issuu, they have been separated by grade. Even if you don’t teach the Treasures Curriculum, everything has been arranged by the learning focus, these overlap in most curricula. You may find some great activities that meet your classroom need here:

First Grade:

Second Grade:

Third Grade:

Fourth Grade:

Fifth Grade:

*Note: The fourth and fifth grade spelling lists on Spelling City do not come from the Treasures curriculum. The fourth grade uses Houghton Mifflin and the fifth grade has generated their own lists.

For a list of all of my publications check out my library on Issuu.

Leave a comment and share how you are using the Treasures Reading Supplement in your classroom.

Learn English Kids

January 19, 2010Kelly Tenkely6 Comments3877 views

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.

PBS Kids Video Player

December 3, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2280 views

What it is: PBS Kids has a new video player. This is the most kid friendly video player I have seen. Students click on the PBS character that they want to watch video clips for. Then, they can select the episode clip they would like to watch. Students can watch clips of Curious George, Super Why, Dinosaur Train, Sid the Science Kid, Sesame Street, Martha Speaks, Clifford, Arthur, Mr. Rogers, Steve Songs, Word World, Between the Lions, Lomax, Dragon Tales, and more. Each video grouping has an accompanying website that has fun learning activities and games for kids to complete. Videos can also be browsed by their topic. This makes it easy to find a video that relates with what students are learning in class.

How to integrate PBS Kids Video Player into the classroom: This collection of videos is appropriate for the primary classroom (prekindergarten to first grade). Use these videos as an introduction to new units as an anticipatory set. All of the PBS materials are high-quality and educational. Super Why and Word World are especially great for literacy and language building.

Colorado is currently in deep freeze mode (it is cold!). As a result, we have a lot of indoor recess days ahead of us. These videos would be great to show during those recess times with the classroom computers set up with the matching games and activities.

Tips: Be sure to take a look at the website that accompanies each video group. The websites are full of fun games and activities where students can practice reading, math, and science concepts.

Leave a comment and share how you are using PBS Kids Video Player in your classroom.

ZuiTube

November 11, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment10486 views

What it is: KidZui is a site I have written about in the past. The KidZui network has added some sites to the network that I just learned about. ZuiTube is a kid friendly You Tube portal. It is the largest collection of kid friendly videos online. New videos are added to ZuiTube daily. All videos are approved by parents and teachers before being posted on ZuiTube. Students can watch educational videos, funny videos, movies and movie clips, silly songs, and music. There is also a special section on ZuiTube just for videos related to Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving collection includes everything from the Turkey Dance to videos about Native Americans and Pilgrims.

How to integrate ZuiTube into the classroom: ZuiTube videos can be used as an introduction to new teaching (on nearly any subject), to add some humor to the classroom, or to reinforce teaching. Videos are a wonderful way for students to make connections to new learning. I have found a video that correlates with nearly every part of our curriculum. I even found a great Berenstein Bears video for character education…gotta love that! With all the snow we get in Colorado, there are bound to be some indoor recess days for the kids. ZuiTube is a safe place to find kid friendly videos that students will enjoy while they are staying dry and warm inside.

Tips: I often have parents asking me what they can do at home to keep their kids safe online. KidZui is an excellent recommendation, the parent reports are a great way to keep parents involved in their children’s online activities.

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

Free Clip Art by Phillip Martin

November 3, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2002 views

What it is: You really can’t beat free clip art and this collection of clip art beats all I have seen for the classroom. Phillip Martin has created a great educational collection of free clip art for classroom use. Great features: it is easy to use (when you click on a subject or topic you are taken straight to the clip art selection, this is not true of most free clip art sites), there are no advertisements flashing and taking you to other clip art sites, all of the clip art is perfect for educational use, and the clip art is really great quality. This is seriously one to bookmark right now!

How to integrate Free Clip Art by Phillip Martin into the classroom: This clip art is ideal for educational use, there are so many great images that would liven up any worksheet, blog, class website, newsletter, slide show, flipchart, notebook, or classroom wall. The clip art would make creating a bulletin board a snap.

Tips: If you Phillip Martin (who created the clip art) has the following on his website: I would like to relocate to New York City. So, I’m asking for some networking here. You’ve seen the art. Do you know a private school that needs an art teacher ? Or, I could turn to publishing with Children’s books, magazines, literature or for museums, UNECSO or the UN. Or I could paint murals in hospitals or private nurseries. I’m open to suggestions. Are you connected?

If you can help him out please do!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Free Clip Art by Phillip Martin in your classroom.

Link Up

November 2, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments1238 views

What it is: Link Up is a web app that helps kids link words to categories. Each game requires two categories with six linked words each. Once you have created a game you can save it to access at a later time or to share with others. Students use Link Up by dragging links between categories and words. The game is easy to customize and create on the fly. It would be a great site to use with an interactive whiteboard.

How to integrate Link Up into the classroom: Link Up is a great way to help students organize information and discover similarities and differences. Use Link Up for word sorts in science, language arts, geography, social studies or math. Students could sort living vs. non-living things, events in WWI vs. WWII, long vowel words vs. short vowel words, odd vs. even numbers, and a host of other topics. The click and drag interface makes this site perfect for use with an interactive whiteboard as a whole class activity or as a center on classroom computers.

Tips: Link Up allows you to save and share your activities (hooray!) this makes creating activities for lessons significantly easier.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Link Up in your classroom.

Word Magnets

October 29, 2009October 29, 2009Kelly Tenkely6 Comments14778 views

What it is: Word Magnets is a fantastic little website that lets you type or copy and paste words into a field and create virtual word magnets out of them (think of the popular word magnets sold for refrigerators). After you have typed in the words to transform into magnets, you can choose a “magnetic” background for your words. There are several backgrounds to choose from including grids, venn diagrams, time lines, arrows, stair steps, targets, boxes, numbers, alphabet, circles, webs, flow sequences, tables, present/absent, and many more. After you choose your background, students can create sentences, sort, and interact with the virtual magnetic words. Words can be added to the board at any time and the color of the background and size of the magnets can be adjusted.

How to integrate Word Magnets into the classroom: The background options for your word magnets are really the highlight of this website. You can do everything from word sorts, to venn diagrams, to practicing alphabetic order. Create tables; sort words by their root, prefix, or suffix; link ideas; practice building sentences; create a time line of events, take attendance…the possibilities with this site are endless! If you are going to use this site for taking attendance, I would suggest creating a master list in a saved word document that you can copy and paste from (this will save you from re-typing names every morning). This is an excellent site for an interactive whiteboard or to use as a center activity. This is an easy way to create customized interactive lessons for your classroom. Because you enter the content, this site is appropriate for any grade level.

Tips: One thing I wish this site had: the ability to save. If you want to save words to interact with over and over, create a document that you can copy and paste from. If you want to save a copy of the word magnets after students have interacted with them, take a screen shot of it.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Word Magnets in your classroom.

Inkless Tales

October 20, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment9321 views

What it is: Inkless Tales is a neat literacy website with a mission statement that I love: “You can do anything. Try, try again. Don’t give up. Experiment. Write, draw, explore, and more!” Inkless tales has features that will infuse your literacy classroom with life including: an animated alphabet, coloring pages (for print or online), online games, offline fun (finger puppets, downloads, crafts), Mother Goose rhymes and riddles, online stories to read, poetry to read, poetry to listen to, poetry to write, Inkless tunes, tongue twisters, and a place to learn science. Inkless Tales is an absolute treasure trove for the primary classroom.

How to integrate Inkless Tales into the classroom: Inkless Tales was created by author Elizabeth Williams Bushey with the goal of bring quality literacy content to children around the world in an online environment. She has hit the nail on the head with this site. Inkless Tales makes an excellent literacy center on classroom computers. Students can visit the Inkless Tales site to read, practice their alphabet, play learning games, etc. Inkless Tales also makes an outstanding poetry center where students can read, listen to, and write poetry. The animated alphabet would be fun to use when learning letters on a projector connected computer or an interactive whiteboard.

Tips: I learned about Inkless Tales from @2sparkley on Twitter, an educator you must follow!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Inkless Tales in your classroom.

Wizz-e Free e-Books

October 19, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment9074 views

What it is: Wizz-e is a kids interactive e-book website. Not all of the e-books are free, but they are SO high quality and definitely worth any investment. Wizz-e does have some free e-books for you to preview. Both Puss-in-Boots and the Elves and the Shoemaker are free to play online or download to your computer. The stories can be read to students who may struggle with reading on their own. Students can also choose to read the story independently without sound. At the end of each e-book is a quiz that checks for comprehension. Wizz-e also has a few games that students can play online including puzzles and hidden picture hide and seek.

How to integrate Wizz-e Free e-books into the classroom: The Wizz-e ebooks are a wonderful way to read a story as a class on a projector or interactive whiteboard. With the large print and pictures, every student in the class can read along and see the illustrations clearly. These ebooks also make for an excellent reading center on classroom computers. They are especially good for students who may struggle reading indpendently. Students can listen to the story and follow along or read a page independently and then click to hear the story for understanding. The e-books bring reading to life and will draw in your struggling readers. Wizz-e only features two free ebooks but would be a worthwhile investment for your classroom library. The site features a variety of topics and genres and has some amazing math and science stories that teach key concepts through story. If you teach 3-8year olds the two free stories are must downloads! The quiz at the end will ask students question at the book and help them to monitor their own comprehension. The quiz models the questions that good readers ask as they read.

Tips: Because the Wizz-e books can be purchased, there is an option to purchase a gift certificate for the e-books. This would be excellent to put on your wishlist for parents to donate to your classroom. The e-books add to your classroom library but have the added bonus of creating a listening center where struggling readers can read along.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Wizz-e Free e-books in your classroom.