Category: Language Arts

Interactive Advent Calendars

Kelly Tenkely8 Comments on Interactive Advent Calendars10137 views

What it is: It is December!  This means the beginning of Advent along with the anticipation and excitement that it brings.  The Internet is full of interactive advent calendars that you can use in your classroom to teach about how the Christmas season is celebrated all around the world.  These advent calendars reveal fun facts, interactive activities, and stories.


Santa’s House Advent Calendar– This advent calendar tells a fun story.  Each day reveals another secret about what goes on inside Santa’s home on the 24 days leading up to Christmas.  In each picture, there is a little mouse hiding.  When students click on his ears, he jumps out.

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Christmas Around the World Advent Calendar– Each day students click on the date to reveal a fun fact about how countries around the world celebrate Christmas.  The facts are accompanied by great illustrations and pictures.  This site shows up very small inside my Internet browser (Firefox).  To remedy this problem, click on “view” in your menu bar and choose “zoom”.  You may need to zoom in several times.

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Christmas Mice Advent Calendar– This calendar tells the story about a mouse family who celebrates Christmas.  Each day a little more of the story is revealed.  Each picture includes some animation.

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Santa’s Advent Calendar– On this advent calendar, each day reveals a new song or activity for students to complete. There are some fun Christmas themed mysteries to solve, stories to read, and activities to work through.

Picture 4French Carols Advent Calendar–  This is a French advent calendar.  Each day contains a new French Christmas carol sung by children.  This advent calendar would be a fun one to include in a study of Christmas around the world.

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Christmas Around the World Advent Calendar Quiz–  This advent calendar tests students knowledge about how other cultures celebrate Christmas.  Each day students are asked a question and given hints to help them answer.  When the answer is revealed, students can click on links to learn more about the Christmas celebrations in that country.  This site also includes great activities and teaching resources for Christmas.

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Christmas Advent Calendar– Follow the adventures of Zac the elf as he tries to find a Christmas present for Santa.  Each day a little more of the story is revealed.

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Christmas Activity Advent Calendar–  This advent calendar has fun little games and activities to play each day.  The games and activities are quick and easy to complete, building mouse and keyboard skills.  This advent calendar would be a good one for the classroom computers as a center activity.

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How to integrate Interactive Advent Calendars into the classroom: The season of Advent is always filled with eagerness and expectancy. Build some of that anticipation into your school day by allowing students to unlock a new secret on the advent calendar each day.  Use these advent calendars with the whole class on an interactive whiteboard or projector, or set them up as a quick center activity that students can visit.  Use the advent calendars that reveal a story to practice looking for foreshadowing clues, using context clues to guess what will happen next, or as story starters for students own stories.  The Christmas around the world advent calendars are wonderful for teaching students some of the history of Christmas and the way that other cultures celebrate the familiar holiday.


Tips: Each of these advent calendars has some fun goodies and hidden surprises, find the one that best fits your classroom needs.


Leave a comment and share how you are using Interactive Advent Calendars  in your classroom.

Big Huge Thesaurus

Kelly Tenkely3 Comments on Big Huge Thesaurus2341 views

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What it is: Big Huge Thesaurus is a must add to your classroom publishing center.  The tag line of Big Huge Thesaurus says it all: “synonyms, antonyms, and rhymes (oh my!)”.  Big Huge Thesaurus goes beyond other online thesauruses by giving students a wealth of synonyms (for each part of speech), words that sound like the original word, and rhyming words.  When students find a word that they are curious about, they can click the link and it will send that word through the Big Huge Thesaurus.


How to integrate Big Huge Thesaurus into the classroom: If you have classroom computers, set up a writing/publishing center where students have all the resources they need to write.  Big Huge Thesaurus should be one of those resources.  Students can visit the writing center to add richness and interest to their stories, poems, and other writing.  This Thesaurus does an excellent job of breaking down words.  Use Big Huge Thesaurus on an interactive whiteboard or projector when learning new vocabulary.  Type in the vocabulary word and have students construct its meaning using the synonyms that are generated. 


Tips: I learned about Big Huge Thesaurus on Twitter this morning from several of my PLN. If you aren’t on Twitter with other educators, I highly recommend joining and following the fine folks I follow!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Big Huge Thesaurus  in your classroom.

A Thanksgiving Story

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on A Thanksgiving Story1871 views

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What it is: A Thanksgiving Story is a site that lets your students star in a story all about Thanksgiving.  Students fill in some blanks (Mad Libs style) and a Thanksgiving story is generated with students as the stars of the story.  This is a quick but fun Thanksgiving activity for your students.


How to integrate A Thanksgiving Story into the classroom: Set up your classroom computers as a Thanksgiving publishing center where your students can quickly fill in the blanks and create a unique Thanksgiving story that stars them.  Make sure that you have a way for students to print or email the story home when they are finished.  The story would be a fun one for students to share at Thanksgiving dinner.  If you have access to a computer lab, students could work on these independently in about 10 minutes.


Tips: I learned about A Thanksgiving Story from @cindybrock on Twitter.  My PLN is the best!

Leave a comment and share how you are using A Thanksgiving Story  in your classroom.

BrainPop Jr.: Thanksgiving

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on BrainPop Jr.: Thanksgiving2893 views

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What it is: BrainPop is usually a paid service.  This week, BrainPop Jr. is offering their Thanksgiving with Annie and Mobi for free.  The video teaches students about the first Thanksgiving and includes plenty of facts about the Pilgrims, the Wampanoag, and the famous harvest feast.  The video includes several discussion and dig-deeper questions throughout.  The questions appear on a notebook next to the video.  You can pause the video when the questions appear for a class discussion or for independent reflection in a journal.  You can print out an accompanying notebook page that lists all of the questions from the video.  At the end of the video, you can choose to “learn more” about the first Thanksgiving with additional activities, crafts, games, suggested reading, drawing, writing, interactive word wall, and quizzes.


How to integrate BrainPop Jr.: Thanksgiving into the classroom: The BrainPop Jr. Thanksgiving video is a fun way to teach about the history of Thanksgiving to younger students.  The video is about 4 minutes long and includes multiple opportunities for discussion and check points for understanding.  There are also additional follow up activities.  Some of the activities are for print (a Thanksgiving “what I’m thankful for” turkey), and some are to be completed on the computer.  Watch the video as a class with an interactive whiteboard or projector.  Set up your classroom computer with the “learn more” activities for students to complete as a center activity.  Alternatively, students could watch and complete the activities independently in the computer lab setting.  The interactive word wall is a great way for students to learn some of the vocabulary associated with Thanksgiving.


Tips: Print out the Thanksgiving Notebook for your students to fill out as they watch the video.  Thank you to @mrscoggin for sharing this freebie on Twitter!

Leave a comment and share how you are using BrainPop Jr.: Thanksgiving  in your classroom.

Scholastic’s The First Thanksgiving

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Scholastic’s The First Thanksgiving3568 views

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What it is: Scholastic has amazing resources all year long but the interactive on The First Thanksgiving is topnotch!  Students learn about how the Pilgrims reached America, and what daily life was before the First Thanksgiving.  Students can take a tour of the Mayflower, take the virtual journey to America, compare and contrast modern life with when the Pilgrims lived (housing, clothes, food, chores, school, games), and the Thanksgiving feast.  There is a great slideshow and play a webquest feature where kids can learn more about the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag and the famous harvest feast.  The site includes audio for every page and activity.  This is great for younger students.


How to integrate Scholastic’s The First Thanksgiving into the classroom: The First Thanksgiving is a collection of great activities for students to learn about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims.  Students can use this site independently as young as first grade because of the audio features on The First Thanksgiving.  The site can be used as a center activity that a few students can explore together, independently in the computer lab setting, or as a whole class with a projector or interactive whiteboard.  The webquest at the end of the activity checks for student understanding with a quiz.  Increase students participation further with some The First Thanksgiving bonus features and extras.  Print out a Thanksgiving Readers theater, door signs, a fact hunt, a vocabulary quiz, and some letters from historical figures.  There are also research and historical fiction journals that students can continue learning with.  These range from a Plymoth Colony research starter to Our America: Colonial period.


Tips: Check out Scholastic’s Teaching resources for The First Thanksgiving as well as the literature connections that are available.

Leave a comment and share how you are using The First Thanksgiving  in your classroom.

ZuiTube

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on ZuiTube10658 views

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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.

Create Your Own Storybook with Learn Direct

Kelly Tenkely3 Comments on Create Your Own Storybook with Learn Direct15909 views

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What it is: Kids can be the star in these online storybooks with Learn Direct. Students can type in their name and be a character in the book.  On each page their are options for customizing the story.  Students can adjust pictures and certain sentences in throughout the story.   After students have customized the book it can be read online, saved as a pdf or printed out.  These fun interactive stories will make reading time fun for your beginning readers (kindergarten through 2nd grade).  Learn Direct also features a fun little virtual world where students can play word and reading games.  Students have to solve word puzzles to navigate through the world.

How to integrate Create Your Own Storybook with Learn Direct into the classroom: These online stories are a lot of fun.  The ability to customize them will make them a winner in the classroom.  Use the Storybook with an interactive whiteboard and have students take turns customizing the story.  Set up the Storybook on classroom computers as a center activity during literacy or reading time.  Students can save or print out the books to share with others or take home.  The word games in the virtual world would be fun to play and solve as a whole class with the interactive whiteboard or play in pairs on classroom computers as a center.

Tips: There are some great tips and resources for parents about reading with their kids on the Learn Direct site.  Check out the Scared of Words? page and then pass it on to your parents.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Create Your Own Storybook with Learn Direct  in your classroom.

Free Clip Art by Phillip Martin

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Free Clip Art by Phillip Martin2211 views

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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

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Link Up1411 views

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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.