Category: Websites

The Why Files

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What it is:  Colorado has had some extreme weather conditions in the past week.  With tornadoes, rain, rainbows, and hail, The Why Files seemed like a fitting site to highlight today.  The Why Files bring science to life virtually.  Students can make rainbows, control a tornado, play with lightning, and build a snowflake.  If only the real weather was this easy to control!  The Why Files begin each interactive with a brief “why” of how the weather occurrence works, students can read all about the occurrence and even get a link where they can learn more.  The fun starts when the students enter the interactive where they can control the weather.

How to integrate The Why Files into the classroom:  The Why Files are amazing interactives that will help your students to better understand the science behind weather.  This is a great site to use with an interactive whiteboard, invite students to take turns interacting with the weather.  Read the paragraph before the interactive as a class.  After the students have ‘controlled’ the weather, go back to the information page and follow the link to additional information.  Your students will want to know more after playing with the interactive!  The Why Files makes a great science center on classroom comupters while students are learning the science behind weather.  Students can visit the center in teams and take notes in an observation journal recording their experiences about controlling the weather. 

 

Tips:  Check out some of the other goodies on the site: “The Why Files produces a new story each week, alternating longer features with shorter shorties. We also post a series of interactive science animations, the ever-popular “Cool Science Images,” and a series of Teacher Activity Pages linked to the national science teaching standards. Eager to explain the science behind the news, our home page reprises older stories that become relevant to the headlines.”

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Why Files in your classroom.

Collection of Math Flash Games

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What it is:  This collection of Math Flash Games is free to download or use the source code to embed the games on your website.  The collection of Math Flash Games includes Maths Hangman where students guess the math words before kicking the bucket, Mathionaire where students play the popular TV game with math questions, Higher or Lower where students use knowledge of probability, Countdown-a popular number and letter game, Numbers and Letters- another version of countdown with extra classroom controls, Maths Word Search where students hunt for hidden math words, Decanting puzzle -the classic jugs problem, Broken Calculator which challenges students to solve a problem with a broken calculator, Matching Game- memory matching up geometric shape and their names, and Hexagons where students put seven hexagons together like dominoes.

How to integrate Collection of Math Flash Games into the classroom:  This collection of Math Flash Games is perfect for use with an interactive whiteboard, set up as a classroom math center, or played individually by students in a computer lab setting.  The games will emphasize math vocabulary, problem solving skills, and several math concepts.  Split students into teams and play games as a whole class using the interactive whiteboard.  Embed games in your classroom website for students to play at school and at home.  Hold a math challenge once a week where students can compete and play these Math Flash Games.

 

Tips:  All of the games in the Math Flash Games collection are free to download and play.  Every game requires a flash player.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Collection of Math Flash Games in your classroom.

10 Technology Enhanced Alternatives to Book Reports

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Traditional book reports can kill the love of reading, keep your students motivated and still assess their understanding with these 10 technology enhanced alternatives that I wrote for http://theapple.com.  

Kelly Tenkely | TheApple.com

The most dreaded word in school reading for students: book reports. Teachers assign them, viewing them as a necessary component of assessing reading comprehension. Book reports can be a contributing factor to ‘readicide’. “Read-i-cide n: The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools.” http://stenhouse.com/html/readicide.htm. So, how can we as teachers continue to monitor our students understanding of reading material without killing the love of reading? Enter technology. Technology can help bring some excitement and creativity to the traditional book report while still displaying students understanding of reading.

1. Let students create a cartoon version of the book they have just finished.

Use a tool like Creaza http://creaza.com, Piki Kids http://pikikids.com, or Kerpoof http://kerpoof.com to inject a little fun into the book report. Students can create a short cartoon or comic strip summarizing the book they just read. Encourage students to include key characters from the book as well as the problem and solution. If there are no appropriate background templates to fit the book they have just finished, students can tell the story in the form of an interview between two characters or choose a cartoon character to review the book. This alternative to book reports is particularly appealing to boys who are already excited about graphic novels.

2. Let students create a short video clip about the book.

Creaza http://creaza.com, Kerpoof http://kerpoof.com, and Xtra normal text to movie http://xtranormal.com are all great online tools that allow students to create short movie clips. Students can create an interview type show where they interview characters in the book, create a short movie trailer for the book, or actually have characters act out portions of the book.

3. Create a virtual poster advertising the book.

Think about movie posters, they give just enough information to give you a taste of what the movie will be about. They also contain information such as the title of the movie, the major actors, and a rating. Students can use Glogster http://glogster.edu to create an online book poster that acts as an advertisement for the book they just read. Students should include the title and author of the book, key characters, use pictures that support the story line, and create a tag line that will make others want to read the book.

4. Encourage students to create their own virtual bookshelves with Shelfari http://shelfari.com.

Shelfari is not only a great alternative to book reports, it is also a nice alternative to reading logs. Shelfari allows students to display books that they have read on a virtual bookshelf. This site enables students to connect with other students and teachers, sharing book recommendations and reading reviews. Shelfari provides the ability to create online book clubs and discussions. Inspire students with similar interests to start a book club where they read and discuss together. When students finish reading a book they can add it to their bookshelf, rate the book, and write a short review of the book for others to read. The collaborative component makes it easy to keep up with what students are reading and to measure understanding. It also allows teachers to recommend books to students based on what they are currently reading. This is a great way to keep your students engaged in their reading and ensures they will always have great suggestions for new books to keep them reading.

5. Book Adventure http://bookadventure.org is an online reading motivation program.

Teachers create student accounts on Book Adventure. In the student account students can research books based on their reading level, age, and interests. They get a convenient printable list of books that match their level and interests. The list includes the ISBN, Title, and author. This makes it easy for students to head to the library and hunt down new reading material. After students have read a book, they can log onto their Book Adventure account and take a 10 question multiple choice quiz based on the book they read. Students can take each quiz multiple times and must get 8 or more questions correct to earn points to purchase prizes from the Book Adventure store. Each students score is automatically sent to the Book Adventure teacher gradebook along with the number of times the quiz was taken. Students earn and save up quiz points to purchase fun goodies from the Book Adventure store. Students can get everything from a 6 month subscription to Highlights magazine to a chocolate bar from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. This is a completely FREE program for students and schools to participate in. Book Adventure has a great teacher area with ideas for encouraging reading as well as certificates to print out to recognize good readers and notes for parents with the students latest reading progress.

6. Bookcasting is a recorded audio podcast about a book.

A bookcast is a movie trailer-like audio review of a book that students can create and share with one another. Free online tools such as Audacity http://audacity.com, G Cast http://gcast.com, or Pod Bean http://podbean.com make recording audio and sharing simple. Bookcasts let students be creative and provide them with a great sense of audience. It has the added benefit of acting as a book review to excite other students about reading. Before students create their own bookcast, find some radio movie trailers of current kids movies online for students to listen to as an example.

7. Allow students to create a timeline of events in the story they just read in an online timeline.

Capzles http://capzles.com is an interactive timeline creator. Students can add photos, video, audio and text to their timeline to support telling the story sequentially. Themes, colors, backgrounds, and background music can be added to further personalize the timeline. Timelines have the ability to be shared with other students and teachers.

8. Wikis are an excellent place for students to share book reviews.

Wetpaint http://wetpaint.com, PBWorks http://pbworks.com, and Zoho Wiki http://zoho.com/wiki are outstanding online wikis where students can write reviews about books they have read and share them with other students. Create a classroom book review wiki where all students can logon and add books that they are reading with reviews. The wiki could act like a classroom review column for books. Students can both contribute and read book reviews. By the end of the school year you will have a wiki full of great book reviews! Before students contribute to the book review wiki, read some movie reviews from the local newspaper. Encourage students to point out key elements of a good review.

9. Excite and motivate students to read with Book Wink http://bookwink.com.

This incredible website motivates students in 3rd to 8th grade to read using fun podcasts and web videos. The video book talks range from 3-4 min. in length and introduce students to a topic or genre and the books that exhibit the topic well. Students can watch a video and then search books by grade, subject, author, or title. After students read a book, they can create their own book talk using a web cam or video camera. The student book talks could be shared on websites like Viddler http://viddler.com or Fliggo http://fliggo.com so that other students can watch and comment on the book or topic.

10. Voice Thread http://voicethread.com is an amazing site that allows students to create web 2.0 slide shows that become interactive and collaborative.

This is a great place for students to discuss common genres and books online. Students can create a slideshow summary of their book with pictures, audio, and text. Other students can leave text, audio, or drawn comments on the book reviews. Voice Thread would be a great place to begin online classroom book clubs.

Technology brings interest back into reading and helps students continue to find reading that they enjoy while providing the teacher with feedback about student reading comprehension. These are great alternatives to book reports that will keep your students from ‘readicide’. Most of the above tools have the added benefit of being able to be embedded into a classroom blog, website, or wiki. All student projects can be collected, organized, and viewed in one place. It doesn’t get better than this!

Creaza

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Creaza4427 views

 

What it is: Creaza is a suite of web-based creativity tools.  There are four tools in the Creaza toolbox that will help your students organize knowledge and tell stories in new creative ways.  Mindomo is the mind mapping tool.  Students can use this tool to organize thoughts, ideas, links, and other information visually.  Mindomo is the perfect tool for exploring new material, looking at connections, and organizing thoughts for further development.  The mind map topics can contain media files, links, and text.  Cartoonist is a cartooning tool that students can use to create multimedia stories.  Cartoonist can be used to create comic strips or more personal digital narratives.  The finished product can be viewed online or printed out.  (Check out the video demo to learn how to use this tool.)  Movie Editor helps students produce their own movies based on Creaza’s thematic universes, video, images, and sound clips.  Students can use the Movie Editor to edit a short film, create a news cast, a commercial, a film trailer, etc.  Movie Editor can import film clips, sound clips and images to tell a story.  Audio Editor is the final tool in Creaza’s creative suite.  Audio Editor is a tool that allows your students to produce audio clips.  Students can use Audio Editor to splice together their own newscasts, radio commercials, radio interlude, etc.

How to integrate Creaza into the classroom:  Creaza is a great suite of online tools that allow students to display learning creatively.  The Media and Audio editors follow established conventions for sound and media editing complete with timelines.  Using this online software will be a nice introduction to more robust media and audio editors.  Mindomo is a great way for students connect new and existing knowledge.  It is also a nice place for students to plan out a story.  Cartoonist and Movie Editor are great tools that provide students with a creative outlet for telling a story.  Allow students to show their understanding of a period in history by creating a cartoon about it.  Display a new science concept in Movie Editor complete with voice over.  Students could create a short video or radio type commercial for a book that they read in place of a traditional book report.  The uses for are limitless, you will think of many ways for your students to use this creative suite to display knowledge.

 

Tips:  Cartoonist is the only tool that has a video demo, this is a great way to teach your students how to teach themselves.  Encourage students to learn how to use this tool by watching the video demo first and working with the tool.  Movie Editor does take a little bit of playing with to figure out how to use it, give your students a day to play with the tools so that they get a handle on how it all works.  

 

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

It’s Not All About the Technology

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Another article written for The Apple.  If you aren’t part of this teaching community, you should be!  Sign up today and be sure to add me as a friend ktenkely.Kelly Tenkely | TheApple.comThis may seem like a strange title coming from a technology evangelist and integration specialist. But it is true, it isn’t all about technology in classrooms. Don’t get me wrong, technology can and will do amazing things to increase student learning, differentiate instruction, and meet students where they are. Understand, technology alone can’t do this, it isn’t the golden ticket that when plugged in solves all educational problems. I see many schools who purchase the latest-and-greatest technology, software, and infrastructure only to have the technology collecting dust a few years later when it didn’t solve the education problems of the school. This isn’t the technologies fault, it doesn’t mean that the technology has failed to deliver. What schools often miss is that it isn’t really about the technology at all. There is a foundational level that needs to be addressed in schools first.Many classrooms still look the way they did in the 19th century. The teacher is at the front of the classroom giving students facts to memorize, rules about grammar, math, and science. The role of the student is to take it all in, memorize, and regurgitate the information back in the form of an essay, worksheet, or test. The teacher marks up the student work, puts a grade at the top, and returns it to the student. The process repeats itself as the teacher works to squeeze in all of the curriculum before the end of the year. Technology can’t improve this learning environment. In fact, technology will feel forced and unnatural in this classroom model. Technology invites students to problem solve, create, think critically, and collaborate. The focus is not on memorization and testing but on discovery and creativity. In this classroom model, technology may be used to replace the chalk board with a PowerPoint presentation. This may be more visually appealing, but it doesn’t change how students are learning. The teacher is still the center of the classroom and students are still taking it all in and regurgitating back on worksheets and tests. Learning hasn’t really changed so the results continue to stay the same.Students learn by doing. Students learn through making connections to things they already know. Students learn through discovery. Students learn when they are the center of their education. Technology lends itself naturally to this type of classroom. Technology enhances learning exponentially when introduced into a classroom where students are at the center of learning. Think about the most popular technologies with students today outside of the classroom. For elementary students those that top the list are Club Penguin and Webkins. For secondary students they are Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, and Twitter. What do these have in common? They are all social. Each of these tools invites communication and collaboration. Students aren’t interested in technology for the sake of technology, they are hooked by the increased ability to communicate ideas and work together. In the traditional classroom students complete work for one person: the teacher. There is very little communication after the paper has been handed back. What can technology do to make learning more of a collaborative effort? Web 2.0 tools (those online tools that invite communication and/or collaboration) make learning collaborative.Blogs, wikis, videos, slideshows, and websites can be used in the classroom as a place for students to create and share their work with a wider audience. This audience could be as small as a classroom and parents, or as large as the whole world. These online spaces make students the ‘experts’ and put them in charge of their own learning. They have a sense of ownership in their education. It isn’t about the teacher, it’s about them. Technology invites students to discover learning. Students today find very little value in memorization. It is no wonder that this is the case, many of them walk around with smart phones in their pockets. At any given time they can Google anything and be given thousands of resources that will answer their question. This introduces a new requirement of education. We must teach students to think critically about the information they find. Yes, they can Google anything, but will they know what information is factual and what information is bad? Technology allows students to experience things that they may not other wise have the opportunity to experience. For example, taking a virtual field trip to Egypt to see the pyramids, hear an archeologist speak, and ask the archeologist follow up questions. These experiences help students to make connections to their own lives that would not have been possible with note taking followed by a quiz.Technology alone will not change education and student learning. First, the classroom environment needs to change. We need classrooms that value student centered learning, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. We need classrooms that value learning. Our goal as teachers should not be to get our students to pass a test, but to teach them how to learn, unlearn, and relearn. Regardless of the technology being used in the classroom, students need these foundational skills to succeed in life. When partnered with this type of classroom, technology will increase student learning and performance. Before any school looks at hardware or software for the classroom, they need to set up a solid educational foundation. The expectation needs to be set that students will no longer be memorizers, they will be thinkers and creators.

Lessons Learned From Master Teachers

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Article written by Kelly Tenkely for The Apple

Check out The Apple for great articles, lesson plans, resources, educational news stories, and join in the conversation.

See the original article here.

Last week was teacher appreciation week.  Each year when this week rolls around, I am reminded of the amazing teachers I had in my life who helped shape me into the learner I am today.   In my life, my favorite teachers always seemed to land on the odd grade levels.  My first, third, and fifth grade teachers were particularly memorable.  These women were master teachers.  They  taught me some important lessons and modeled what it means to be a teacher.

1st Grade Mrs. Hebert

Mrs. Hebert was a young teacher.  I am fairly sure that she was just out of college.  She had classroom management down to an art (a difficult feat with six year olds).  Mrs. Hebert made everything we learned an adventure.  One Monday morning, we walked into a darkened classroom to find an UFO at the center of the classroom.  It was flashing and making sounds, it was amazing.   There were glow in the dark stars scattered around the classroom.  She immediately had our attention and had us intrigued with the learning that was to take place that day.  We sat around the strange UFO in a circle and Mrs. Hebert led a conversation about where we thought the UFO could have come from.  We noticed strange purple rocks scattered all over the classroom and talked about what they could be.  One of the boys in the class spotted a book that had a rock that looked the same on the cover.  A few of us suggested that we read the book for clues about the strange space rocks and UFO.

Mrs. Hebert handed out a class set of books (Space Rock by Susan Schade and Jon Buller) so that we could all read.  We read through the book together and discovered where the space rocks had come from.  Each one of us got our very own purple play-dough pet space rock.  We were thrilled.  I still have my space rock. As an adult looking back I realize that Space Rock is a leveled reader, there is nothing really special about this book at all.  It is a cute story but if we had just read the book in a reading group and answered some questions about it on a worksheet, I would not remember anything about this book.  With a little extra effort and preparation, Mrs. Hebert made the lesson memorable.

What we learned that day was more than whatever phonemic awareness skill that was being touched on with the book.  We learned to love reading.  We learned that books can be enjoyable and answer questions that we have and make us use our imagination in new ways.  20 years later I remember a lot about this lesson and many lessons that Mrs. Hebert taught.  She was doing more than teaching us content skills, she was developing a love of learning.

3rd Grade Mrs. Graybill

Mrs. Graybill started every year by sending her new students postcards telling us how excited she was to be teaching us that year.  She often bragged that she had the very best class in the school (I am positive that she told every class this same thing every year).  An amazing thing happens when you are told that you are the best class in the school, you start acting like the best class in the school.  We strived to please Mrs. Graybill.  Throughout the year Mrs. Graybill had us write her notes in our journals.  Sometimes she offered a suggestion on something we could tell her in our notes but we could write anything we wanted.  She responded to each and every note every week.  I remember reading Judy Blume’s the Pain and the Great One in class one day and writing Mrs. Graybill a note about how I feel like the Great One and my little brother was certainly a Pain.  She wrote back a thoughtful response about her brothers and how she didn’t always appreciate them when she was a kid but as adults they are great friends.  Mrs. Graybill made connections with her students.  She knew about our likes and dislikes and what made us nervous or scared.  She was able to tailor lessons to fit our needs because she truly knew our needs.  She made everyone feel like the most special member of the class.  At the beginning of fourth grade Mrs. Graybill sent each of her students a postcard telling us how much she enjoyed teaching us and how much she missed us.  Mrs. Graybill instilled a sense of self worth in us.  She made us believe that we could do anything.

I don’t remember doing a lot of worksheets in Mrs. Graybills class.  Third grade can be a turning point in many schools where desk work increases.  Mrs. Graybill always found interesting ways to teach.  When we learned cursive handwriting she could have just given us practice worksheets, instead she wrote riddles on the board.  We would copy down the riddles in our notebooks, in our best cursive, and try to guess the answer to the riddles.  There was a riddle for each letter of the alphabet.  We absolutely loved this exercise and looked forward to handwriting practice every day.  At the end of the year we had a book of riddles to stump our families with.  I still have this riddle book that I made in third grade (thanks to mom for realizing its value and saving it) and I use it to this day to stump my students with riddles.   The kids love it; it’s become part of our daily routine.  Mrs. Graybill taught me that with a little creativity, mundane tasks, like practicing handwriting, can be fun and worth while.

5th Grade Mrs. Nelson

Mrs. Nelson was amazing in so many ways.  Like Mrs. Graybill she constantly told us that we were the best class she had ever had.  We worked to make her proud.  Mrs. Nelson taught us important life lessons in unexpected ways.  One day we came in from recess to find loaves and loaves of bread piled high on her desk up front.  Behind the loaves were jars of peanut butter and jelly and several plastic knives, plates, and napkins.  Fifth graders are always thrilled when food is going to be involved.  Mrs. Nelson asked us to each write in our journals directions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  When we were finished, we would read our directions to her and she would make us a sandwich that we could eat.  The first student got up and eagerly read his directions for Mrs. Nelson, “Put peanut butter on the bread, then put on some jelly.  Put the pieces together.”

Mrs. Nelson followed our directions exactly (think Amelia Bedelia here).  First she wiped her nose with her hand, then she stuck her fingers in the peanut butter and slathered it on both sides of the bread.  This was followed by a licking of the fingers and then a dunk into jelly to wipe on another piece of bread.  We were shocked to say the least.  As the class watched what she was doing we scribbled frantically in our notebooks to give more specific directions.  Wash your hands first.  Use a knife to spread the peanut butter on one face of the bread.   Put the peanut butter and jelly sides of the bread together.  Don’t lick your fingers.  It was great fun to see how everyone’s sandwiches turned out.  Some were more edible than others.  Mrs. Nelson taught us to be specific and intentional in our writing.  She made us think about processes and instructions.

Mrs. Nelson always read us a chapter book after recess.  She had us enthralled with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Wish Giver, Wayside School is Falling Down, and many more.  We begged Mrs. Nelson to keep reading (she usually only read us a chapter a day).  She helped every one of her students develop a love of reading and stories.  She modeled reading for fun and enjoyment.  The librarian always knew what book Mrs. Nelson was reading to us because requests for that book skyrocketed.

I have many great memories of my first, third, and fifth grade years of school.  These teachers went above and beyond the call of duty.  They put a lot of planning and love into their classrooms.  The payoff was incredible, a class of students who all felt like they were the best and brightest, who loved to learn, explore, and read.   I constantly use these incredible examples in my life to teach my students.  I don’t remember a lot about my second, fourth, and sixth grade years.  This is not because I wasn’t learning, but because the learning wasn’t as memorable and engaging.  It is my hope that every child gets to experience life with a master teacher (hopefully many of them).  To all of the master teachers out there, thank you!  Your impact reaches farther than you will ever know.

Ekoloko

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Ekoloko2521 views

What it is: Ekoloko is a virtual world for kids.  In Ekoloko students discover the world, both real and virtual, through fun games and quests.  As they play in Ekoloko, students learn and build values, character qualities, knowledge and skills that help them become more responsible and involved individuals.  Students learn to respect each other and the environment in the safe online community.  While students are in Ekoloko, they are faced with dealing with other characters that are interested in exploring the resources of the world for their own personal benefit.

How to integrate Ekoloko into the classroom:  This safe virtual world is a great place for students to practice their netiquette in a controlled environment.  In Ekoloko, character qualities are valued, leadership and responsiblity are encouraged.  This is a great way for students to learn how to be good online (and offline) citizens.  Along the way, students can also practice being good stewards of the environment.  Ekoloko reminds me of  and would be another great site to introduce to students in preparation for Earth Day.  I really appreciate the character values encouraged by this site.

 

Tips:  To view the site in English, select English as the language in the bottom right corner of the site.

 

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

Illuminations Resources for Teaching Math

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What it is: Illuminations Resources for Teaching Math is a gold mine of interactive activities for the math classroom. The site has over 100 interactive math activities for teaching and practicing math in kindergarten through twelfth grades.  These are high quality games, interactives, and simulations for the math classroom.  You are sure to find something to use in your math class that will increase understanding!

How to integrate Illuminations Resources for Teaching Math into the classroom:  This site is ideal for use with an interactive whiteboard in the math classroom.  The activities help students understand concepts that can be difficult by inviting them to interact with the concept.  If you don’t have access to an interactive whiteboard, you can demonstrate math concepts from a teacher computer connected to a projector.  Students can practice and interact with concepts on classroom computers set up as a math center or individually in the computer lab setting.  

 

Tips:  To narrow the list of activities, choose a grade level to narrow activity results.

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Illuminations Resources for Teaching Math in your classroom.

Geo Greeting

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What it is: Geo Greeting is a fun little site that lets you type in a message and send it to a friend or preview the message in a separate window.  When the message is opened it is spelled out one letter at a time through pictures embedded on a map of the world.  The pictures are of buildings around the world that are the shape of letters in the alphabet.  The effect is really neat!  Each picture is accompanied by the name of the location and the name of the building.

How to integrate Geo Greeting into the classroom:  Geo Greeting would be a fun way to display a morning message to your students using an interactive whiteboard or projector.  Just type in your message and copy the URL into a browser to play the message for students.    This site is also a fun place for students to practice their spelling words.  They can type in their words and then click on the preview button to watch the word being spelled for them.  Geo Greeting is a great way to interest students in geography, type in a message and discuss the places that pop up as a result. 

 

Tips:  These greetings can be embedded as an e-card, sent as an email, or just copy and paste the link in a browser.

 

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