Language Arts – Page 27 – iLearn Technology

Exploring the Secret Life of Trees

August 9, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2056 views

What it is: Exploring the Secret Life of Trees is a neat interactive site for 3rd through 5th grade students designed to help them gain an appreciation of trees, observe trees in every day life, and develop an interest in learning more about trees. Students will learn about the basic parts of a tree and their functions. They will also learn about conservation and renewable and non-renewable sources.

How to integrate Exploring the Secret Life of Trees into the classroom: There are several suggestions for using the Secret Life of Trees site in the classroom. These activities meet objectives in science, math, fine arts, language arts, and social sciences. Use the Secret Life of Trees as an introduction to a larger unit about trees. The site can be used with an interactive whiteboard or projector with the whole class or as a center activity in the classroom.

Tips: If you fill out the Secret Life of Trees request form on the teacher page, they will send you a free Secret Life of Trees poster.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Exploring the Secret Life of Trees in your classroom.

The Story Home

August 9, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment13834 views

What it is: The Story Home is a collection of classic and original children’s audio stories. Every other week a new story is added by storyteller Alan. All audio stories are FREE!! The stories can be listened to right from The Story Home website or by subscribing to The Story Home on iTunes.

How to integrate The Story Home into the classroom: Students will love listening to audio stories on The Story Home. Set up a listening center in your classroom where students can listen to stories. As they listen to stories, students can practice comprehension strategies like visualization. If you have an iPod program at your school, load up the iPods with stories that students can listen to from home. Find stories that correspond with your classroom curriculum and introduce new concepts with an audio story. Use The Story Home to teach students Story Telling strategies.

Tips: Introduce parents to The Story Home so they can use it at home with their children. I learned about The Story Home from multiple tweets on Twitter. If you aren’t a part of the Twitter education community yet, sign up today!

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

Nota

August 9, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3505 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 Comment4128 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.

Word Ahead Vocabulary Videos

July 28, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2617 views

What it is: Word Ahead Vocabulary Videos has an amazing collection of animated videos that help increase student vocabulary. The extensive collection of videos can be used for study, SAT preparation, and increased word understanding. The Word Ahead study room provides students with a distraction free environment with vocabulary videos and flash cards. New vocabulary videos are uploaded regularly. Students can join Word Ahead for free and have a new vocabulary video sent to them each day (think word of the day 2.0). Want to inspire some creativity in your classroom? Students can create and upload their own vocabulary videos. Each video is reviewed before posting to ensure appropriateness.

How to integrate Word Ahead Vocabulary Videos into the classroom: Word Ahead Vocabulary Videos are an excellent way to expand and enrich student vocabulary. The video format will help solidify new words for students. Register to get a new video emailed to you each day. Share these videos with your students as a precursor to class. Make the vocabulary video word the word of the day. Challenge students to use the word throughout the day. Word Ahead is also a great site to use with English language learners. The videos are a fantastic way for students to visually increase vocabulary development. As an extension activity, take vocabulary from class curriculum and have students create their own vocabulary video to upload to Word Ahead.

Tips: Tell parents about Word Ahead Vocabulary Videos, they are always looking for great sites to help their kids study.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Word Ahead Vocabulary Videos in your classroom.

Image Chef

July 21, 2009July 23, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3853 views

What it is: Image Chef is a great little web tool that takes words and transforms them into a graphical image. Image Chef is similar in look to Wordle but works a little differently. In Wordle, the size of the word changes based on how frequently the word was used in the text. In Image Chef, the word size doesn’t change based on how frequently it is used in the text. Image Chef takes the words typed in a text box, and displays them in a word mosaic. Image Chef has a variety of shapes and symbols to choose from. Any text entered will be displayed in the shape selected. Registered users can also create their own shapes to display text graphically. Image Chef has the added bonus of graphically displaying text inside letters. The look of the image can be changed by adjusting font, text color, background color, and symbol or initial. Individual words can be highlighted by changing the color and clicking on a word in the mosaic. Word mosaics can be shared on blogs, emailed, printed, or saved on Image Chef.

How to integrate Image Chef into the classroom: Image Chef is a fun web tool for displaying words in new and interesting ways. My favorite feature of Image Chef is the ability to create word mosaics inside letters. This feature would be a good way for students to practice phonics. For example, students could create a letter “a” word mosaic filled with short a words (see my example above). Students could type blends inside of the blend letters, long and short vowel words, r-conrolled words, etc. These word mosaics could be printed out and bound into a phonics booklet for students, or displayed on a word wall. Image Chef mosaics would also be a great way for students to explore synonyms. Students can type synonyms into the text box and find or create an appropriate symbol to represent the words. Image Chef would make for a fun first week of school activity. Students could type in their initials as the shape for the word mosaic. In the text field, they can type in words that represent them. Print these out and display on a bulletin board next to student pictures. For older students, Image Chef could be used to create a large periodic table of elements. Choose the initials that represent the element on the periodic table and type the name of the element in the text box to fill the initials. Create a large periodic table for the classroom with the printed elements.

Tips: I learned about this awesome web tool from a tweet by @njtechteacher, definitely a teacher to follow this #teachertuesday! When you click on the Image Chef Link you will be taken to the Image Chef homepage (the site contains much more than just the word mosaic) To create a word mosaic click on “Word Mosaic” under “Create” in the left column of the website.

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

UPM Forest Life

July 14, 2009July 15, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3281 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

July 10, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2060 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

Help Me 2 Learn: Grammar 1

July 1, 2009July 1, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment10652 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.

Planet in Action

June 25, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2239 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.