Interactive book – Page 11 – iLearn Technology

Kideos

August 23, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1555 views

What it is: Kideos is a collection of kid friendly videos. Each video featured on Kideos has been carefully screened by the Kideos Video Advisory Council (made up of a select group of parents and educators). The videos are categorized by age range (from 2 to 10) and by category. Categories include Baby Einstein, Barney, Book Characters, Cartoon Characters, Cute Animals, Disney Channel Programs, Disney Movies, Dr. Seuss, Educational Videos, Fairy Tales, Kids, Mickey Mouse and Friends, Muppets, Nursery Rhymes, Sesame Street, Songs, Teletubbies, Trains and Machines, and Wiggles. If you register with Kideos, you can set it up to only view your own selection of ages and characters. The videos are streamed from You Tube and placed inside a Kideo player .

How to integrate Kideo into the classroom: Kideo is a great elementary alternative to YouTube. While Kideo streams YouTube videos, you can be rest assured that your students will not be exposed to inappropriate content. Because Kideos can be set up for a specific age group and category, it would be simple to create a Kideos channel specifically for your class. You may choose your students age range and limit videos to educational and book characters only. Many of the videos would be appropriate in the classroom as an introduction to learning or part of a center activity.

Tips: I am continually amazed when my first grade students come in telling me about a YouTube video they watched (on YouTube). Suggest Kideos to parents as an alternative to YouTube for their little ones. Kids will be able to find all of the content they are looking for without any of the inappropriate comments and suggested videos.

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

Dr. Arbor Talks Trees

August 9, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1708 views

What it is: Dr. Arbor Talks Trees focuses on tree anatomy and physiology. Students will learn some of the basic inner workings of trees, how trees grow and develop, the many uses of trees and their bi-products, and some basic chemical principles. The website is designed for 6th through 8th grade students (although I think it is appropriate for 4th grade).

How to integrate Dr. Arbor Talks Trees into the classroom: Dr. Arbor is the guide through this interactive website. Students learn all about trees and their inner workings through a series of activities. This is a great site to use for Arbor day, but the topic is appropriate year-round as part of the science curriculum. The website could be used with the whole class on an interactive whiteboard or projector, or navigated by students individually in the computer lab setting.

Tips: There are great free resources on this site, be sure to check them out!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Dr. Arbor Talks Trees in your classroom.

StoryPlace Elementary Library

August 9, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3466 views

What it is: StoryPlace Elementary Library has great printout activities, topsy turvy tales (interactive stories), and a suggested reading list. These interactive stories help making reading fun. The reading list provides students with great off-line reads.

How to integrate StoryPlace Elementary Library into the classroom: Use the StoryPlace Elementary Library topsy turvy tales as a reading center in the classroom. Students can read along with the interactive books. This site is great for struggling and new readers. The offline reading suggestions will help students find books that they will love during a trip to the library.

Tips: There is also a StoryPlace for preschoolers.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Prince’s Rainforest Project for Schools in your classroom.

The Potato Story

August 9, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments10020 views

What it is: The Potato Story is a great interactive from the UK that teaches students about food (specifically the potato) and how it gets from field to fork. The story focuses on how the potato is grown and harvested and it’s journey from the farm to the table where kids eat it. It also teaches the nutritional values of the potato and the part they play in a balanced diet. The interactive for kids is spectacular, but the accompanying resources for teachers is truly incredible. The first lesson of the Potato Story is the life cycle of the plant. Each lesson comes with instructions for the teacher, the interactive portion for the student, additional educational weblinks, and pdf worksheets, quizzes, and printable lesson. The second lesson is a simulation where students can grow their own potatoes and learn about healthy root systems and plant needs. The third lesson teaches about plant growth and the plant life cycle. The final lesson is all about making healthy eating choices and nutrition.

How to integrate The Potato Story into the classroom: The Potato Story is a fantastic interactive that takes students on a journey of the food they eat. Students learn about plant life cycles, necessary elements for growing a plant, and nutrition. The Potato Story interactives are perfect as a center in a science class, completing individually in a lab setting, or completing as a class with an interactive whiteboard.

Tips: Be sure not to skip the teacher section on this site, there are SO many great ideas and extension activities included.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Potato Story in your classroom.

Live Binders

August 9, 2009Kelly Tenkely6 Comments7094 views

What it is: Live Binders is a website that allows you to view links like pages in a book instead of URLs on a page. PDF’s and Word Documents can be combined with links within a binder. Links and documents can be organized into tabs and subtabs. Live Binders are easy to share from the Live Binder website, on desktops, or embedded on blogs or other websites.

How to integrate Live Binders into the classroom: Live Binders can be used as online digital portfolios for students. Any Word or PDF documents that they create can be added to a binder along with any web content that they create. The binders are easy to keep track of and share. Each tab can represent a year in school and each subtab can represent a subject within the school year. The Live Binder can easily be used from year to year creating a digital portfolio. Live Binders can be placed on desktops so that students don’t have to type in long URL’s to access a website. Everything can be organized and easily updated in a Live Binder for students to access the web through. This is a great time saver for the computer lab or classroom computers. Create your own ‘textbooks’ for students to access as a Live Binder. You can easily add content to it and students can access the materials from any Internet connected computer. Create an assignment Live Binder with all worksheets and classroom materials. Students can access any classroom materials from home, no more lost papers! Students can create Live Binders to keep themselves organized as they complete research projects. Students could turn in a final project as a Live Binder that includes all of their web research, notes, and final written work. Live Binders would be a great way to go paperless at your school. Create a binder with important school information, meeting notes, calendars, etc. for school staff to access.

Tips: I learned about Live Binders from @McTeach on Twitter, she uses Live Binders to keep recipes organized, thanks Karen! Karen is one of my favorite educators to follow, she is always tweeting great edu tips and ideas!

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

Nota

August 9, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3502 views

What it is: Nota is an incredible online collaboration tool that allows students and teachers to collaborate almost instantaneously on a shared whiteboard space. Instantly create and share any kind of document, presentations, notebooks, report, artwork, etc.. Nota makes any type of document and media work together seamlessly. The Nota interface is extremelly intuitive, it is quick to learn and use. Materials can be shared and edited simultaneously making it a truly incredible collaborative experience. Materials can be uploaded or added from sites like Flickr, YouTube, Google Maps, Wikipedia, and more. The Nota drawing tools work with any media or document in Nota. Public or private notebooks can be created. Collaborate with one or a hundred people on Nota and create as many pages as you want. Finished work can be stored, printed, or embeded. Best of all Nota is totally free!

How to integrate Nota into the classroom: Nota is the ultimate in online collaboration. It reminds me a little bit of a glog but Nota goes way beyond Glogster in so many ways. Nota can be used to complete group projects between students. The instant collaborative abilities mean that students can see each group members contribution instantaneously. Imagine using Nota to work on difficult math problems, create science diagrams, compare and contrast historical figures, create a character sketch of a character from a classroom novel, etc.. The possibilities are endless for collaborative learning. Work on a common notebook for whole class projects where each student is responsible for a contribution to the Nota. Make interactive whiteboards a truly interactive experience by combining with Nota. Throughout teaching, have students add their new learning to a common Nota notebook. At the end of teaching, use the interactive whiteboard to view the Nota and add any additional information and resources to it. Print out or send the Nota to students as a study guide that they helped create. Nota creates an impressive mashup of media and documents and allows users to collaborate and combine knowledge. When students work together to construct knowledge, they end up with a greater, more complete understanding of material.

Tips: Nota works with any web browser making it ideal for the classroom setting where students may not have the same computing platforms or Internet browsers at home.

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

UDL Book Builder

July 29, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment4125 views

What it is: UDL Book Builder is a site where you can create your own interactive digital stories. The books have built in coaches that can support diverse learning needs. The coaches direct student learning even when students are working independently. The digital books can include text, images, audio, glossary terms (that are linked within the story), and coaches that can provide hints, prompts, and modeling. The published books can be viewed online, downloaded to a computer, saved to a CD, or shared with others in the UDL library. Both teachers and students can use the UDL Book Builder to create interactive digital stories.

How to integrate UDL Book Builder into the classroom: Use the UDL Book Builder to create interactive stories for your students that meet their specific learning needs. Include students and familiar locations in your stories to boost reading motivation. Students love starring in their own stories. As you are creating a book in the Book Builder, be sure to devleop the coaches within the book. The coaches can offer reading hints, strategies, and model good reading. Start a school library of teacher created digital books. As the digital library is devleoped, be sure to note which reading skills are being emphasized so that other teachers can quickly sort through books that will match their students learning needs and interests. Students can also create digital books from their writing. The writing should be ready to publish (correct spelling, grammar, etc.). These stories can easily be shared online with other students in class, in the school, and with pen pals. UDL Book Builder would be a great tool for creating stories as a class using the interactive whiteboard.

Tips: The UDL Book Builder site has a great section with tips for authors and illustrators using the Builder. These tips are helpful for any adults creating a book, but are also worth sharing with students using the tool.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using UDL Book Builder in your classroom.

The Secret in the Cellar

July 16, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2373 views

What it is: A few days ago I wrote about the awesome interactive Smithsonian Museum, today I found another great activity on the Smithsonian website called The Secret in the Cellar. The Secret in the Cellar is an interactive web comic that is based on an actual forensic case of a 17th century body that was recently discovered. Through graphics, photos, and activities, students begin to unravel a mystery of historical and scientific importance. Students can analyze artifacts, and examine the skeleton for clues to determine a cause of death. Because of the subject matter of this web comic, this activity is best suited for middle school or high school students.

How to integrate The Secret in the Cellar into the classroom: The Secret in the Cellar activities and web comic are a fantastic way to excite students about the history of Colonial life in America and the science behind archeology. This site takes students on a journey of discovery and critical thinking. Throughout the web comic, students will find links to additional articles about the actual forensic case and the display at the Smithsonian Museum. This activity would be best in a computer lab setting where each student can explore at their own pace. Along the way, encourage students to keep a record of their inferences about how the boy died. Before students complete the web-comic, discuss what conclusions students have come to based on the evidence.

Tips: Students can dig deeper into this site learning about bones, the lives of colonists, forensic anthropology, and learn more about the related exhibit at the Smithsonian.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Secret in the Cellar in your classroom.

Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar 1

July 1, 2009July 1, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment10639 views

What 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.

My Story Maker

June 15, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment4173 views

What it is: My Story Maker is an amazing interactive website created for the Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh. My Story Maker is an interactive story book where students are in charge of creating a story. Students choose characters, and a genre and then begin telling a story. The students create the story by dragging and dropping characters, objects, and backgrounds into their story. The characters can have emotions and perform actions with the different objects and interact with each other. As students drag different elements to the story book, a story is written for them based on what is happening in the pictures. When they are finished, they have created an interactive book that they can read and share with friends.

How to integrate My Story Maker into the classroom: My Story Maker is a fantastic interactive tool to get students creating a story. What I love about this website is the way that it encourages students to create by first thinking about the elements of a story (who will it be about?, what kind of story will it be?, what happens first?, what happens next?). This is a great tool to use to help students understand the importance of beginning, middle, and end, setting, supporting details, and dialogue. My Story Maker would be fun to use to create a whole class story using an interactive whiteboard. Students could take turns adding elements to the story and reading the story aloud. As students create the class story, be sure to keep them thinking about the setting, plot, and characters. My Story Maker can also be used individually on classroom computers or in a computer lab setting. The written story will be very basic “Fox threw a ball to lion.” Encourage students to embellish their stories with vivid verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. When students are finished with their story they can download it, share it with others, preview it, or print it.

Tips: I learned about this site from Kevin Jarrett‘s excellent blog. Check it out for great tips and inspiration for your classroom!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using My Story Maker in your classroom.