Category: Subject

Top 100 Language Technology blogs

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Top 100 Language Technology blogs2725 views

I received an email today notifying me that iLearn Technology has been nominated as one of the top 100 language blogs for 2009! iLearn Technology has been nominated in the “Language Technology” category. When I visited the list of nominees I was flattered to be considered along with the other amazing “Language Technology” blogs. I am in great company! 50% of the final score will be based on user voting. If you would like to vote for iLearn Technology you can click on the link below.

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UPM Forest Life

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on UPM Forest Life3281 views

virtual forest

What it is: UPM Forest Life is an excellent interactive site that lets students explore a forest virtually.  This is the next best thing to actually being in a forest, I can almost smell the pine trees!  UPM Forest Life aims to teach about forest sustainability through an outstanding ‘hike’ through the forest.  Along the way, students can click on points that will reveal videos, pictures with information, and sounds.  Students will learn about forest planning, harvesting, regeneration, respacing, thinning, transport, recreation, training, berry picking, bird watching, hunting, fishing, natural forests, valuable habitats, deadwood, forest structure, water, and native tree species.  Students will also learn about the various animals that call a forest home.  This is an outstanding way for students to learn about tree species, habitat, and animals because it is learning through exploration. UPM Forest Life will teach them in a way that no textbook can.

How to integrate UPM Forest Life into the classroom: Although I am sure we would love to take our students on a field trip to a forest to explore and learn first hand, it isn’t always practical or possible.  UPM Forest Life is a fantastic virtual substitute.  It is so realistic and well done that your students will feel as if they have taken a trip into a forest.  This would be an excellent site to use with an interactive whiteboard.  Allow students to take turns being ‘tour guides’ for the journey.  They can click on the various videos, pictures, and information embedded in the forest.  Create an observation journal where students can jot down observations of trees, animals, and sounds that they expereince while in the forest.  This site would also be a great one for students to visit individually in a computer lab setting.  Be sure that students are equipped with headphones so they can enjoy the full experience of the site.  After students explore the forest, discuss what it means to have a sustainable forest and why it is important.  This site is perfect for the science classroom or Earth Day but it would also work well in the language arts classroom.  Students could use the UPM Forest Life as a writing prompt, after exploring the forest they could write a story with the forest as the setting, or use one of the animals in the forest as a character in the story.  The scenery and sounds in the Forest are so peaceful and restorative, this may be a good site to have going in the background while students silent read…almost like reading above the trees in a tree house!

Tips: I have really enjoyed exploring this site and haven’t closed it since I opened it.  I learned about the UPM Forest Life site from @atkauffman on Twitter, I highly recommend a follow!  Andrew often has great resources for teachers and shares them on Twitter.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using UPM Forest Life in your classroom.

Comics in the Classroom 100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Teachers

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Comics in the Classroom 100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Teachers2060 views

A reader tipped me off to this great list of ways to use comics in the classroom.  The list is extremelly comprehensive and includes sections on the benefits of using comics in the classroom, great resources for using comics in the classroom, suggested comics for reading in the classroom, tools for creating comics in the techie classroom, creative ways to use comics in the classroom, lessons plans using comics for elementary/middle/high school classrooms, manga and anime, and free comics for educators.  With 100 tips, tools, ideas, and resources, this list should convince you of the why and how of using comics as teaching tools.  Enjoy!  Comics in the Classroom 100 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Teachers

Smithsonian Virtual Museum

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Smithsonian Virtual Museum2486 views

Smithsonian virtual museum

What it is: I learn about great websites for the classroom from a variety of sources, I heard about the Smithsonian Virtual Museum from my dad.  This is the most amazing virtual look at a museum I have seen.  Students can take a self guided tour through the whole museum.  They can navigate room by room using their mouse to “walk” through the museum, or  navigate by clicking on the room or exhibit they would like to visit on the museum map.  Camera icons throughout the museum show students hotspots where students can get close to an object or exhibit panel.  This is a truly amazing way for students to learn about natural history.  Students can explore the ocean hall, ancient seas, dinosaurs, early life, fossils and plants, mammals, African cultures, ice age, western cultures, reptiles, insects, butterflies, plants, bones, geology, gems, minerals, and the hope diamond.  As students explore the museum, the map will show which exhibits have been visited and which have yet to be visited.  I am completely amazed by this site and could spend hours going through the exhibits myself, students will love it!  THIS is what virtual field trips should be!

How to integrate Smithsonian Virtual Museum into the classroom: Not all schools have the luxury or the funds to take a field trip to the museum.  Not all cities have great natural history museums like the Smithsonian.  This virtual tour is the next best thing to taking an actual field trip.  The museum can be viewed full screen which would be outstanding for an interactive whiteboard or projector.  The museum and exhibits will be life size for students to explore.  Allow students to guide the tour using the map and navigation tools.  As you “walk” from exhibit to exhibit take the time to stop and discuss what students are seeing and how it relates to what they are learning in class.  Students can also explore the Smithsonian individually on student computers.

It would be a neat assignment for a group of students to study the different exhibits in the museum.  The groups could explore and research the exhibit and then give classmates a ‘tour’ of their exhibit acting as exhibit guide with an interactive whiteboard or projector.

This is an incredible FREE resource that every classroom should use.  Even if you have access to a natural history museum for field trips, this site is still incredibly useful.  Prepare for the field trip before hand by visiting the Smithsonian Virtual Museum or follow a field trip with the site.  Compare and contrast your local natural history museum with the Smithsonian.

Tips: Make sure that you have all the appropriate plugins required for this site before using with students.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Smithsonian Virtual Museum in your classroom.

Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar 1

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar 110653 views

grammarWhat it is: Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar is an outstanding way for students to learn the difference between nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives.  Help Me 2 Learn is actually a pay for learning website, but Grammar 1 is a full demo of the grammar game for FREE!  This is an incredible interactive that will help your students learn four parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives.  The interactive has a baseball theme and begins with some coach time where your students learn about the different parts of speech.  Each part of speech is introduced by the coach and  accompanied by several interactive examples.  Students get a single when they learn about nouns, a double when they learn about pronouns, a triple when they learn adjectives, and a home run when they learn about verbs.  There is a speed round game where students will play a game identifying parts of speech they have learned.  Finally, students can do a word sort in the Home Run Derby game.  This game is truly impressive, especially considering that it is FREE to use with your students!

How to integrate Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar into the classroom: Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar 1 is a great site to use in a computer lab setting.  The coaching and game is paced according to student input.  Students can learn at their own pace and get immediate learning feedback throughout the game.   The Coach Time section of the site could be completed as a whole class with an interactive whiteboard.  Students can take turns interacting with the coach time at the board.  After completing Coach Time as a whole class, set up a grammar center where students can play the Speed Round, and Home Run Derby.

Tips: This site is a comprehensive way for students to learn about nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives.  This is a site that is worth letting students take time with individually in the computer lab setting.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar 1 in your classroom.

Virtual Spirograph

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Virtual Spirograph3303 views

What it is: Remember Spirographs?  I had a set that could keep me busy for hours.  As I was searching back through websites to align with curriculum, I found the virtual Spirograph on Math Playground.   Virtual Spirograph lets your students determine colors, pen positions, and the radius of the circles.  Students can then draw the Spirograph adding layers.  One of the best features of this fun site is the “where’s the math” button that shows a break down of the math involved in the spirograph activity.

How to integrate Virtual Spirograph into the classroom: Virtual Spirograph is a great way to teach practical (and fun) math.  Students will learn about epicycloids and what happens when they adjust radius and reflector placements.  Virtual Spirograph will help students visualize difficult math concepts and create fun artwork in the process.  This is a great site to introduce with an interactive whiteboard or projector.  Students can take turns adjusting the pen position and radii.  Encourage other students in the class to predict what the epicycloids will look like based on the radii chosen and the pen position.  Then click draw and discuss what actually happened.  Virtual Spirograph can be set up as a math center for students to visit in the one or two computer classroom.  Students can visit the center in small groups and take turns predicting the outcome as a partner adjusts the pen position and radii.

Tips: The Virtual Spirograph relies on a flash player, make sure you have one before using this site with students.

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



Planet in Action

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Planet in Action2239 views

 

What it is:    I just learned about this site from @jdornberg on Twitter; even though I have a long list of sites waiting for a post, I had to write one on Planet in Action right now.  This is an incredible site that uses Google Earth as a basis for interactive journeys around the earth.  Students can take a virtual helicopter ride above the Grand Canyon, explore Mount St. Helen, sail a virtual ship in Port of Rotterdam, take a helicopter tour of Manhattan, or Disneyland Paris.  As students explore, they can grab a snapshot and create their own virtual post card.

 

How to integrate Planet in Action into the classroom:   Virtual field trips just got a lot more realistic thanks to Planet in Action!  Planet in Action will take students on a tour of the different virtual places or students can take control and explore on their own.  This is an amazing site to use when studying famous landmarks or places.  Use this site with an interactive whiteboard or a projector-connected-computer.  Take your whole class on a virtual field trip to places that they are studying in class.  This is an outstanding way to bring some life to lessons.  Watch the recorded tour and discuss different landmarks as you see them.  Then ‘hire’ a helicopter ‘pilot’ who can navigate the trip for the class.  Allow students to play tour guide and explore.  Create postcards and virtual tours that can be saved and re-played.  In the computer lab setting, each student can create a virtual tour that can be shared with classmates (complete with a postcard greeting!).  In addition to the virtual tour, students can navigate by using a Google Map to see exactly where they are in the virtual tour.  In the Port of Rotterdam instead of flying using a virtual helicopter, students will actually sail a ship.  Students can choose their ship, blow the whistle, and navigate from port to port seeing actual images from Google Earth.  Your students will want to spend hours learning and exploring here!  Integrate Planet in Action into other learning opportunities, after exploring the world virtually, students could create a brochure for the place they visisted, write a postcard, or even create a short travel video.

Tips:  This site takes a few minutest to load, be patient, it is well worth it!

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

Welcome to the Web

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Welcome to the Web5237 views

What it is: Welcome to the Web is an interactive website that teaches students all about the Internet through challenges and activities.  There are seven sections of activities and learning on Welcome to the Web. The first section teaches students how to use the site.  Section 2 teaches students about the basic concepts involved in the Internet, it also gives some valuable practice navigating and visiting websites.  Section 3 is all about staying safe online by following SMART rules, student understanding is tested using interactive activities and fun quizzes.  Section 4 helps students learn more about their web browser and its features.  In section 5 students will learn how to search effectively and safely in search engines.  Section 6 helps students understand copyright.  The last section invites students to compete in a challenge that requires them to use all of the skills they learned to catch the creator of a computer virus.  When the challenge has been completed, students can print out a certificate of completion.  Each section of this site comes with accompanying worksheets to be used with the site.  These don’t have to be used in order to use the site effectively.  Throughout the site, students can ‘hover’ the mouse over an underlined word and a definition will pop up.

How to integrate Welcome to the Web into the classroom: Welcome to the Web is an excellent road map to the Internet.  Every computer lab should use Welcome to the Web to help students understand the Internet and use it effectively.  The way the site is broken down into sections is extremelly helpful for a computer lab setting where students may not be able to get through the entire site in one day.  Start each class for 7 periods with Welcome to the Web. If you don’t have a computer lab, students can learn about the web as a class using an interactive whiteboard or projector.  Encourage all students to participate on the journey.  Make a big deal of completing all of the sections on this site.  I like to make my students an Internet Driver’s licenses when they have shown their understanding of Internet safety rules.  This would be a great site to tie into other computer lessons!

Tips: Welcome to the Web is part of Mark Warner’s excellent site Teaching Ideas.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Welcome to the Web in your classroom.

Arcademic Skill Builders

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Arcademic Skill Builders3651 views

What it is:  Arcademic Skill Builders are educational games that help students learn basic academic math and literacy skills. The games are all research-based and standards-aligned.  This site blends the fun of arcade games and key educational skills into fun online games that engage, motivate, and teach students.  All games are free to play and have the option of multi-player or single player games.

 

How to integrate Arcademic Skill Builders into the classroom:   Arcademic Skill Builders has games that will help students practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, ratios, and language arts word skills.  These games can be used as a center in the classroom during math or literacy.  They can also be used with the whole class in a computer lab setting.  I look forward to the addition of the student tracking so that teachers can see trends in student learning and differentiate instruction and practice accordingly.  These games will help excite your students about learning while building important basic learning skills.

 

Tips:  Arcademic Skill Builders has plans to add features that will allow students to save records, teachers to differentiate instruction through the games, and pinpoint students problem areas.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Arcademic Skill Builders in your classroom.

Dweeber

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Dweeber2337 views

 

What it is: Dweeber is a social networking site for students that encourages kids to get their homework done faster and with more understanding by working with their school friends online.  Dweeber was created to help students understand their strengths and talents, and help them work together more effectively with parents, mentors, and each other.  The goal is to get students working together to help them learn, study and do research.  Working together collaboratively this way is an important 21st century skill that we should be fostering in our classrooms.  Students can invite each other to study sessions where they can work in a collaborative whiteboard type space, chat with fellow students, post successes, and send friends thank you cards for helping out.  Students can learn about their unique learning style and will receive tips for working more effectively (SMART profile) these profiles can be shared among friends.  Students can also earn ‘guru’ points by sharing and voting on favorite websites, helping others get homework done, and pointing out successes of other students.

 

How to integrate Dweeber into the classroom:   I really like the idea behind Dweeber.  This site helps students to understand their own learning, and support fellow students in their learning.  I love the way in encourages students to work collaboratively outside the classroom and celebrate each other’s successes.  This site is easy to use and will make homework less painful.  It has the added bonus of preparing students for the real world where they won’t always be able to work with others face to face.  Encourage the use of this site in your classroom.  Using a site like Dweeber will build a community of learners in your classroom.  Students will support each other in learning and each will be able to shine in their areas of expertise.  Statistically, homework doesn’t generally increase learning.  Often it is a mindless practice that is easy for those who get it and painful for those who don’t.  Those who understood the concept probably didn’t need hours of extra practice and those who didn’t get it just practiced the wrong way for hours.  Why not allow students to collaborate and truly learn the material?  This is a great way to keep learning and discussions going outside of the classroom. 

 

Tips:  Dweeber is designed for students ages 13 to 18.  Students must be at least 13 according to the Dweeber terms of use to sign up for the service.

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