Category: Middle/High School

K12 Online Conference 2008

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The K12 Online Conference 2008 officially kicks off today!  This is a great FREE online conference to attend.   Not only is it convenient for your schedule (you can attend sessions at your convenience online), but you will learn and be inspired by the speakers and presenters.  I highly recommend attending as much of this conference as you can!  You can get involved in the conference in several different ways, as a viewer of each strand, with the blog, wiki, interactive fireside chats, Twitter, Google maps, and an Elluminate event called When Night Falls.  Topics include the ReadWriteWeb Revolution, Free tools for Universal Design for Learning in Literacy, Assessment, Google, Delicious, Primary Access, History, Tech Integration, Reading Revolution, Video Conferencing,  Blogging, Photostory, Games in Education, Emerging Technologies, Wikis, Video Podcasters, and much more.  The conference runs from today, October 20, to Next Saturday, November 1.   Even if you can’t fit it all in during the next two weeks, you can come back later and visit the sessions that are of most interest to you.  There is professional development and credit options available for attending this conference so be sure to look into that as well.

What sessions are of most interest to you?  What have you learned as a result of the K12 Online Conference?

“See” you there! 🙂

Grammar Games

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What it is:  The British Council has created an A-Z website of 69 Grammar
Games to help students learn and practice English grammar rules.  I wouldn’t characterize many of the activities “games” but instead interactive practice.  The Grammar Game website provides students with a quality explanation of each grammar rule and then gives them an activity where they can practice applying those rules.  I think you will be hard pressed to find a grammar rule that was left off this site.  As I was browsing through the Grammar Games site, I found many rules that I don’t recall being taught but knowing them would have been (is) helpful!

 

How to integrate Grammar Games into the classroom:   Use the Grammar Game website as a place for your students to practice grammar rules they are learning in the classroom.  You could also assign each student in your class a different grammar rule.  Students can use Grammar Games to learn about the rule, practice the rule, and then teach the rule to other students.  This is a great place for students to explore and interact with.  Use a projector to introduce a new grammar rule to your students each day or at the beginning of each week.  Students can practice the grammar rule with the activity that accompanies that rule on the classroom computers throughout the week.  

 

Tips: Bookmark this page on your classroom and library computers so students can use it as reference during writing.

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Grammar Games  in your classroom.

Glogster

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Glogster3568 views

What it is:   Glogster is a great creativity site who’s tag line is “poster yourself”.  A ‘glog’ is basically an online poster web page.  Students can combine text, pictures, graphics, video, and audio to create an interactive online poster.  Glogster has a very simple to use interface.  The final glog can be hosted by Glogster or you can embed it into a wiki, blog, or class web site.  

 

How to integrate Glogster into the classroom:  Glogster is an awesome way for your students to display knowledge.  Instead of creating a poster for a presentation, students can create an interactive glog to display information.  Glogster can be used for history, math, language arts, book reports, science, social studies, and for public service announcements.  In fact, I am having a hard time coming up with a subject that couldn’t use Glogster in some capacity.  Students can create these online posters to display any knowledge or learning.  You really have to see this site, the creativity that it allows for will get your wheels spinning.  Once you start using Glogster with your students, you are going to think of all kinds of new applications.  Because Glogster has the ability to handle audio, students can create podcasts (using Audacity, Garageband, G-Cast or Gabcast) and upload the content into their glog.  So cool!  I really love that students can share their school work and accomplishments online with classmates, family, and friends.  Give your students an authentic audience and their work will dazzle you!

 

Tips: You can check out a quick sample glog that I created here about Internet Safety.

 

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

Zotero

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Zotero2506 views

 

What it is:   Gosh, some days I really wish for a time machine where I could go back to school armed with the tools that students have access to now.  I totally would have ruled the school!  Zotero is one of the tools I would bring back with me.  Zotero is a Firefox (Internet web browser) extension that helps students collect, cite, and manage their Internet research right from the web browser itself.  No hopping back and forth between websites.  Zotero automatically captures all citing information from the website, stores pdfs, images, and whole webpages, has flexible note taking options, has an easy to search library, saves and records in multiple languages, has integration with Microsoft Word and Open Office, and best of all…free!  Man our students are lucky!

 

How to integrate Zotero into the classroom:  Download the Zotero extension for every computer in your school (at the very least make sure this is on the library and classroom computers.)  Teach your students how to use Zotero as they are researching and teach them how to download Zotero to their home computers.  Don’t bend on your citation requirements…they have no more excuses! 🙂

 

Tips: If you don’t currently use Firefox as a web browser, I highly recommend its download.  I have been more than happy with Firefox, it meets all of my needs and requirements for a good browser and once again…free!

 

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

Fantastic Contraption

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What it is:   I love Twitter, not just for the ability to keep up with what everyone is doing at any given time during the day, but also because I learn about cool technology like Fantastic Contraption from my PLN (personal learning network).  Fantastic Contraption is a fun online game/puzzle, that teaches kids some physics basics.  Essentially students are trying to get a ball from one box to another using different tools to do so.  The puzzles get increasingly difficult with obstacles between the boxes.  This is an addicting puzzle and logic game!

 

How to integrate Fantastic Contraption into the classroom:  Even if you are not teaching your students physics, Fantastic Contraption should definitely make an appearance in your classroom.  Even students who have never had a physics class can play this game (3rd-12th grade) because knowledge of physics is not necessary to work out the puzzles.  Students can figure out the puzzle through trial and error.  What I love about the game is the way that it teaches students how it works through step by step directions on the first two logic puzzles.  This is a great exercise to get your students thinking outside the box and using critical thinking and logic skills.  Use Fantastic Contraption as a year long go to game for free time, snow days, and brain warm up before math or science.  Your students will love this one!

 

Tips: If you aren’t currently using Twitter, join today and find some other educators to follow…you will get all kinds of great ideas for your classroom!  Follow me at twitter.com/ktenkely. 

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Fantastic Contraption  in your classroom.

Get Smarter

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What it is:   Get Smarter is an animated, interactive testing and learning site for science and math.  Students can practice their science and math skills by working on the animated activities and compare their score with other students their age from around the world.  Nothing like a little healthy competition to get your students studying voluntarily!  Get Smarter is broken into levels, elementary, middle school, and high school to ensure that their scores are measured against other students at their level.  

 

How to integrate Get Smarter into the classroom:  Competition in the classroom is a great motivator.  Since your students will be collectively ‘competing’ against students from around the world, they are working together as a class to help raise their countries average scores.  Use Get Smarter in the computer lab setting as a place for students to practice and review the skills and concepts they are learning in math and science class.  In the one or two computer classroom, students can work in teams or as a math or science center.  Keep the competition going year round to see if your students can help raise the averages.  

 

Tips: Be sure to visit the student page at each level to find some more great classroom sites.

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Get Smarter in your classroom.

Math Playground

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Math Playground2658 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 TV2786 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.

Piki Kids Comic Creator

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Piki Kids Comic Creator5768 views

 

What it is:  Piki Kids Comic Creator is an online comic creator for students.  Students can upload pictures from their computers, or search Flickr for images to use in their comic strip.  The comics are very flexible so students can make them uniquely their own.  Students can choose the number of panels, the look of the panels, color choices, and much more.  When students are finished creating their online Piki Kids comic, they can save them to a gallery, or print out.

 

How to integrate Piki Kids Comic Creator into the classroom:  Students love reading comics, there is something about the interaction with a comic that makes even struggling readers willing to try.  I find that the same is true with writing.  Many kids who struggle to write would dread writing out a story or series of events after reading a book.  But, introduce a comic and suddenly those kids who don’t like writing are writing full stories.  Piki Kids Comic Creator is the perfect way to get your students writing about anything.  Studying dinosaurs?  Have the kids find some clip art of dinosaurs that they can upload to Piki Kids and have them write about what they are learning comic book style.  Learning about the Civil War?  Have the students retell the story as a comic strip.  You will see creativity that you didn’t know your students possessed!  Comic strips are also an excellent place for students to “write” a book report after finishing a book.  Comics can be used in science to show processes (like plant cycle…give those plants a voice!)  Comics can be used in math for students to create word problems for fellow classmates to solve.  Use comics in character education, after teaching a lesson, students can illustrate, comic-style, what that might look like.  From the technology side of things, Piki Kids Comic Creator is a great place to teach kids skills like uploading to a website, searching flickr for pictures, changing font, size, and color.  

 

Tips:  Piki Kids Comic Creator is an excellent tool.  Be aware that there are adwords on the website.  I use these as an opportunity to help my student spot advertisements and talk about why sites include ads on websites.  Everything can be a learning experience!

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Piki Kids Comic Creator in your classroom.

Fold a US Candidate

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What it is:  Fold a US Candidate is a fun site that has paper foldable puppets of the US candidates for the 2008 election.  (I am very entertained by this right now!) Both presidential nominees are featured as well as their wives.  There is also an election day count down on the site to let your students know how many days, hours, minutes, and seconds they have to wait before the big day.  This is a fun site to get your students interested in the upcoming election.  

 

How to integrate Fold a US Candidate into the classroom:  Students of all ages are sure to get more involved and interested in the election after visiting this site and making their own president puppet.  These would be fun to use as you are discussing the upcoming election in your classroom.  While the site is chock full of facts about the candidates, the paper puppets would add to learning about the election and the different candidates.  Split your students into groups and assign each a candidate to study.  They can find out what the candidates believe about some key issues in the upcoming election.  Then they can have a mock debate using the puppets and the research they have gained.  

 

Tips:  Print out and fold your US Candidate today!  🙂

 

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using Fold a US Candidate in your classroom.