Tag: videos

Math Playground

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Math Playground2408 views

What it is:   As promised yesterday, today’s post is all about Math Playground.  This is a great site packed full of games, videos, and puzzles all centered around math for elementary and middle school students.  Math Playground features some great games touching on topics from money to graphing.  The games are interactive and a fun place for students to practice those math concepts they are learning.  The word problem sections are divided up by grade level, ensuring that your students are challenged at an appropriate level.  The logic puzzle section contains some awesome online traditional logic puzzles (I love these!).  The Math video section contains videos introducing students to math concepts (all I have used are very good).  The Math Videos are generated after students submit a math question to be answered.  Students can ask their own math question…who knows, their question may generate the next Math Video!

 

How to integrate Math Playground into the classroom:  The more I use Math Playground with my students, the more I am convinced that no math class should be without it!  Use the Math videos to help introduce or review concepts with your math class.  Use the games and word problems as a center or whole class practice.  The logic puzzles are fun to bookmark for year round problem solving and playing.  We use the logic puzzles often on snow days or when students are finished with work early.  Your students will enjoy the activities on Math Playground, my students often come to tell me the latest game or puzzle that they played at home.  Voluntary math practice, what a concept!

 

Tips:  Math Playground usually has one banner advertisement.  As I have mentioned before, I use advertisements on websites to teach students about how to spot an ad and why sites feature ads.  

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Math Playground in your classroom.

Math TV

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Math TV2563 views

 

What it is:  Math TV is a series of video word problems for math.  Each math problem comes with a step by step video solution, follow up problems, an online calculator, and sketch pad.  Word problems include topics such as fractions, percentages, ratios, probability, geometry, averages, and algebra.  I would have been a completely different kind of math student if I had tools like this one in school.  I could solve a math problem without any trouble but a word problem was a different story all together.  I think for the majority of students, word problems are a source of anxiety and frustration.  Math TV is an incredible solution, it is perfect for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.  You can’t go wrong!

 

How to integrate Math TV into the classroom:  Math TV is the perfect way to teach your students the method for solving both simple and complex word problems.  Use the videos for whole class instruction with a projector (an interactive whiteboard would also be great for the problem solving portion but is not necessary).  The videos are also perfect for individual student practice.  Set up Math TV on a classroom computer to reinforce the math skills being practiced in class.  Each student (or group of students) can take turns at the Math TV center to solve the problem.  Come back together as  a class after each student has had a chance to solve, and go through the problem together.  I love the interactivity of this tool and the ability to reach multiple learning styles which can be difficult in a math class.  As an alternative to the traditional math homework, assign a Math TV episode for your students to watch and solve.  

 

Tips:  The Math TV videos are a part of a larger math site called Math Playground.  Because the site is so comprehensive, I’ll be breaking it down into a few separate posts.  Stay tuned for other math videos, math games, word problems, and more!

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Math TV in your classroom.

Studio4Learning

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Studio4Learning9808 views

 

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.

School House Rock

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on School House Rock2859 views


What it is: Remember how outstanding School House Rock was? I know as soon as you read the title of this post Conjunction Junction popped into your head and all those great grammar rules came flooding back. Well now your kids can benefit from the School House Rock videos and lyrics. Sqool Tools has gathered links to all of the School House Rock videos on America, grammar, science, money, and multiplication in one place and posted the lyrics to accompany each video. How sweet is that?!

How to integrate School House Rock into the classroom: School House Rock is such a classic. My fifth grade students had a blast going through and watching these videos…I can still hear them singing them in the halls! These videos are a great way to introduce or reinforce a concept. You can also encourage students to create their own School House Rock type songs and videos. They will come up with some really great jingles to teach math and science concepts.

Tips: Now for the downside…these School House Rock videos are hosted on You Tube which is blocked by most schools. But, not to worry, I have a solution for you (it may require slightly more planning on your part): Check out Tech Crunch. Here you can type in a You Tube video URL and Tech Crunch will download it to your computer. Save to a flash drive or CD at home and use the video in class the next day.

Leave a comment and share how School House Rock is rocking your classroom.

Bookcasting

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Bookcasting4731 views


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What it is: Bookcasting is actually a term I made up. It is essentially a podcast about a book. My third grade students just finished their first round of Bookcast recordings that we uploaded to a Wetpaint Wiki. A Bookcast is a movie trailer-like review of a book that students create and share with one another. My students used GarageBand to record their podcasts (you could also use a free tool like Audacity) and add sound effects, then they published the Bookcast on our class G-cast account, and finally embedded the media player onto our WetPaint wiki.

How to integrate Bookcasting into your curriculum: Bookcasting is a fun alternative to the standard book report. It allows kids to be creative and gives them a great sense of audience. Bookcasting also has the added benefit of acting as a book review for other students to listen to. Bookcasting makes story retell a lot of fun! My plan is to have a link to our WetPaint wiki in the library so that students can listen to a peer review of a book before they check it out.

Tips: I had all of my students create a Bookcast on the same book before reviewing on their own. This gave them an easy starting place but still provided room for creativity. Click on the Easy Reader link on our wiki to hear the Bookcasts the students created.

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

Book Flix

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Book Flix1737 views

 

What it is: Book Flix is a new offering by Scholastic that instills students with a love of reading and learning with paired fiction and nonfiction online. Book Flix is a subscription based service that is delivered over the Internet for teachers, librarians and parents. Right now you can try Book Flix in your classroom for free with a trial. The basic trial offers one pair of books about rain but a full free 30 day trial of all 80 Book Flix offerings is also available for schools. Book Flix offers a neat experience pairing fiction and nonfiction books. Students can watch and listen to the books read to them, read them independently, meet the author, play accompanying games, and view related kid friendly web links. There are quality lesson plans for teachers for each Book Flix. Check out the freebies and see how Book Flix might benefit your class, if you never order Book Flix the freebie is worth using!

How to integrate Book Flix into your curriculum: Use Book Flix that match up with your current curriculum, the fiction and nonfiction books and websites will greatly enhance what you already have in place. The quality of interactive books really is impressive and will give students a greater appreciation of both fiction and nonfiction literature.

Tips: Try out the basic Book Flix freebie first with the topic of rain, if you like the concept you can sign up for the free 30 day full trial with access to all 80 Book Flix. The freebie should carry you through the end of the school year (or pretty close). Test it out on your students and see how they like it 🙂

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

Tumble Books

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Tumble Books2286 views

What it is: Tumble Books is an incredible site that reads popular stories with kids in an interactive book. The Tumble Books site also has fun quizzes, puzzles, and games that correlate with the different books. Students can have the story read to them, read it on their own, and have individual words sounded out for them. When students are finished with the story they can take a quiz on the book to check for comprehension or write a book review.

How to integrate Tumble Books into the classroom: Tumble Books is wonderful for emergent readers, remedial reading students, and independent readers. Because the level of support is adjustable, the same Tumble Book can be used in your classroom with every student regardless of reading level. Set up a reading center in the one computer classroom or each student can work at their level in a computer lab setting. These interactive books are popular with students and increase student phonics, reading comprehension, and reading strategies. Encourage students to read with Tumble Books at home as well…a great way to extend the learning day! Students can take a quiz on the book when they are finished or write a book review for other students to read. Everything about this site is amazing! Instead of popping in a video on those indoor recess days, use a projector and have the kids read along with a Tumble Book. Split the class into teams to play the games, they can take turns coming to the computer during their turn.

Tips: I have linked to Tumble Books through the Toronto Library. Schools and libraries can subscribe to Tumble Books for a very reasonable yearly subscription. Tumble Books also has a free 30 day trial that you can sign up for before committing to a subscription.

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

Into the Book

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Into the Book2770 views

What it is: This is one of the most incredible reading websites I have come across. Into the Book “is a reading comprehension resource for K-4 students and teachers.” It focuses on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing and Synthesizing. The site has a series of 15 min. videos for students teaching and amazing interactive web resources that can be saved! Teachers have access to great lesson plans, downloads, and videos. Check out this site, you will be wowed!

How to integrate Into the Book into the classroom: In the student section, students drag a picture representing one of the eight strategies onto the book. First they watch a short video describing the strategy and how it works, then they can try it themselves. The site is an excellent introduction to key reading strategies. Students can learn about and practice reading strategy here. The interactive environment is a fun and exciting, even your most reluctant readers will enjoy this site. If you have a projector you can use the videos on this site with the whole class. In the one to two computer classroom, use the site during center time. The site is ideal in the one to one or computer lab setting. This site is a must for remedial reading classrooms!

Tips: Make sure to check out the teacher section for great downloads, teacher videos, and lesson plans.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Into the Book in your classroom.