Category: Websites

Scholastic Listen & Read

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Scholastic Listen & Read3290 views

 

What it is: The Scholastic website is full of truly amazing resources.  Today I ran across one that I hadn’t used before called Scholastic Listen & Read, I heard about it on Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day.  Scholastics Listen and Read is for students in first and second grade.   The site does exactly what it’s name implies, it lets students listen to non-fiction stories and read along.  There are 11 non-fiction stories for first grade social studies including The Path of the President, What Does the President Do, and a Celebration of Earth Day.  There are 15 non-fiction stories focused on animals and food for first grade students.  Second grade students have access to 10 non-fiction stories focused on social studies including Constitution Day and Welcome to a Pilgrim Village.  There are also 11 short non-fiction stories for second grade students focused on animals and food.  Social Studies is a hard subject to teach first and second grade students from a text book because the vocabulary and reading can be especially challenging.  Scholastic Listen and Read solves this problem wonderfully with short, easy to read non-fiction stories that are read aloud to your students.  As an added bonus, each story includes the Scholastic Word Wizard.  This tool floats right on top of the web page.  At any point, students can click on a word in the story and the Scholastic Word Wizard will give them an easy to read definition of the word.  Students can also type a word into the Word Wizard to look it up.  

 

How to integrate Scholastic Listen & Read into the classroom:  Scholastic Listen & Read is ideal for any classroom or computer setting.  The non-fiction stories could be read together as a class with a projector and speaker setup, individually in a computer lab setting, or in small groups as a center in the one or two computer classroom.  The stories are easy to understand and the ability to look up words right from the story makes it a great place for students to learn key social studies and animals and food concepts.  

 

Tips:  Scholastic Listen & Read is a great place for ESL and ELL kids to go for English practice and vocabulary!

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using Scholastic Listen & Read in your classroom.

 

Book Punch

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Book Punch2214 views

 

What it is: Book Punch is a new site dedicated to helping students in grades 3-9 become stronger readers.  The site takes the most popular books read by schools in grades 3 through 9 and provides guided reading prompts about the reading improving overall reading comprehension.  Book Punch encourages critical thinking skills and teaches students how to be in control of their own learning (this to me is the purpose of education).  Students are led through the writing and thinking process as they read books with Book Punch.  Interactive prompts help students to focus their thinking about a particular book.  There are hundreds of built in tips and support that help students to gather ideas, organize thoughts, revise, edit, etc. in response to the literature they are reading.  The site walks them in a very concise manner through the reading/thinking process.  Students each get a login to the Book Punch site and can work at their own pace, making it easy for you to differentiate instruction in your classroom.  As a teacher, you can assign a book to your whole class or to individual students making it easy to meet every student at their current reading level.   The site offers teachers lesson plans, activities, classroom management ideas, tips and strategies, and classroom aids.  Book Punch is not a free service, but they offer a free demo writing activity for every book as well as a free pilot program to use with students for 30 days (any two books of your choice.)  Even if you can’t fit it into the budget for this year, Book Punch is definitely worth the visit if you teaching reading and writing for 3rd-9th grade.  The free demos are wonderful and will give you a great jumping off point for your reading curriculum.  

How to integrate Book Punch into the classroom:  I LOVE sites that teach students how to think critically.  For me, that is what education is all about.  If I know how to gather information, how to follow directions, how to write, and how to think critically about what I find…I am going to do just fine in the real world!  Book Punch leads students through the reading/thinking process.  It meets students where they are at and the helps meet individual needs.  The site gives you the opportunity to find out where gaps are occurring in student reading and comprehension so that you can work with students more effectively.  Book Punch is intended to be an individual student program that would be best in a computer lab or mobile lab setting.  However, depending on how your time is set up, I think that Book Punch could be used effectively in the one or two computer classroom as a center that students visit during reading time.  The demo questions would be perfect for use with a projector and whole class discussion or writing.  Book Punch works right into your current curriculum and literature, making it simple to implement.  The ability for students to login to Book Punch at school or from home makes it an even sweeter deal!


Tips:  Try out Book Punch for free and be sure to get it on the budget for next year if you can’t fit it in this year, it is very reasonably priced and well worth it! 

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using Book Punch in your classroom.   

 


 

Creative Park

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Creative Park2566 views

 

What it is: Creative Park is a great free creative resource library for teachers and students.  Creativity is such an important part of child development but also an important aspect of 21st century learning and thinking.  Creative Park offers teachers and students awesome resources for putting that creativity to use.  The website offers ideas and templates that can be coupled with your lesson plans.  Projects range from 3-D paper crafts (like airplanes, the Great Pyramids, a globe, dinosaurs, and the Leaning Tower of Piza, etc.)  There are great special collections including an Architecture museum, circus land, and science museum.  Creative Park also features calendars, art crafts, a digital photo gallery, and scrapbook area.

How to integrate Creative Park into the classroom:  Lets face it, teachers don’t have the largest budgets in the world to buy manipulatives and learning displays.  Creative Park can help ease some of this burden by giving you free high quality paper crafts that your students can assemble.  I love that this taps into following directions and creativity for students.  Students can use these materials to make class dioramas or displays.  This is also a great stop for those indoor recess days.  Keep your kids busy creating when they have to be cooped up inside.  Use the scrapbook pages to create custom class memory books.  Each student can create their own as a keepsake for the end of the year (my students LOVE their memory books each year).  The greeting section is wonderful for elementary teachers who are in charge of covering every holiday and making sure that mom and dad get a card from their child.  Many of the materials available on this site would be perfect for bulletin boards.  The creative activities would also liven up classroom parties.  This is a fun site to sit and explore!


Tips:  Stock your printer up with paper and ink for these projects.  

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using Creative Park for your classroom.   

 

Lite-Brite

Kelly Tenkely4 Comments on Lite-Brite3982 views

 

What it is: Some websites just make you smile. Lite-Brite is one of those sites for me, I am a child of the 80’s so the Lite-Brite holds a special place in my heart! The site is exactly what you would expect, an online version of Lite-Brite. No fancy moving flash animations, sound effects, etc. Just 9 different color pegs to choose from and a Lite-Brite board.

 

How to integrate Lite-Brite into the classroom: Lite Brite may not appear to have much educational value upon first inspection, but being that I love Lite-Brite, I knew there had to be a way to use it in the classroom. In the primary and secondary classroom, the Lite-Brite would be a great place for students to practice “writing” their spelling words using the colored pegs. Any time you can give students a new medium for practicing spelling words or math facts, it is a good thing. Write out math problems using the Lite-Brite and students can take turns solving the facts. Create a class picture using an interactive whiteboard. Keep points on the Lite-Brite when playing a class game. I think even older kids could appreciate the Lite-Brite from an art perspective. It just gives one more medium for students to express themselves. I have yet to find a kid who uses the Lite-Brite site and doesn’t leave with a smile 🙂 Kindergarten students can practice “writing” the alphabet by forming letters with the colored pegs.


Tips: The Lite-Brite site doesn’t have a save option so make sure that for the true creations, you have a printer hooked up to memorialize them.


Please leave a comment and share how you are using Lite Brite in your classroom.

Statetris

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Statetris2750 views

 

What it is:  Statetris brings one of my all time favorite Nintendo games into the education realm.  Statetris mixes aspects of the game Tetris and geography.  Instead of positioning typical Tetris blocks, students position states or countries to their proper location.  There are 3 levels to play Statetris.  The easiest level gives students the shape and name of the state or country.  The medium level gives the students the state or country that rotates with the name of the state or country.  The hardest level gives students the sate or country rotating without a label.  The medium and hard levels can be very difficult because you get a state or country that isn’t straight up and down but may be rotated. Students can play Statetris with a map of the United States, Africa, Brazil, China, Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, and UK.  

How to integrate Statetris into the classroom:  Statetris is a great place for students to learn and practice geography.  The familiar game platform is popular with students and will be a fun way to memorize geography locations.  This is the perfect place for students to study before a geography test.  

Tips:  Save this site in your bookmark bar for easy access.  This is a great site for kids to visit when they complete work early and are looking for extension activities. 

 

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Statetris in your classroom.

 

EdWeek Maps Website

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on EdWeek Maps Website1558 views

 

 

What it is: I heard about EdWeek Maps Website just after writing my post “Up On My Soap Box”.  The Editorial Projects in Education Research Center (that is a mouth full!) launched a feature of its EdWeeek Maps Website that allows you to access and download a detailed report and map on high school graduation rates for every school district in the United States.  You can look at individual districts, their graduation rates and trends, and compare it with state and national figures.  It is VERY interesting to browse.

 

How to integrate EdWeeks Maps Website into the classroom: This may be a good site to share with students starting in middle school.  Open up for discussion why students think the graduation rates are what they are.  Take the opportunity to show your students how important education is and more importantly how critical it is that they learn to learn.  If our students can be life long learners we have reached our goal!  

 

Tips: Share this site with fellow teachers, administrators, community members.  Lets come up with a way, together that we can change education so that we live in a community where education is valued.  

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using EdWeek Maps in your classroom.

WizIQ

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on WizIQ2123 views

 

What it is: WizIQ is a virtual classroom platform where you can teach and learn.  You can teach for free or earn money teaching.  The WizIQ is free to use, has no downloads (it runs in your web browser), and works on Macs, Windows, and Linux.  WizIQ provides a place to find, share, or upload PowerPoints on educational subjects and topics.  The sessions are intuitive to use and can be scheduled for individal students or a group.  The virtual classroom provides a place to teach and learn live online.  Everything launches in a few clicks with…NO downloads!  With WizIQ you can network with students or teachers, send a personalized invite to your contacts right from WizIQ.  Share educational content in the form of slideshows, pdf, and online.  When you start a session with students, you have access to a shared whiteboard space, live audio, video, or both, flash file sharing, and text messaging.  Sessions can be recorded and saved for students to view again and again.  

 

How to integrate WizIQ into the classroom: WizIQ is a great place to start experimenting with virtual classrooms.  It has a simple to use interface, requires no downloads, and is free.  Record lessons that you are doing with your class so that they can go back and review the lesson online at their lesiure.  This puts students in control of their own learing.  Interact with students during live virtual sessions.  WizIQ is also perfect for students who were absent, have a long term illness that prevents them from being at school, or students who know they will be attending your school for half of the year.  

 

Tips: You can make money by setting up and teaching in a virtual classroom (and lets face it, we could all use a little more of that!)  Your classroom will be visable by search engines and open to students from accross the world.  Don’t let the technology scare you, this is simple to use (even my fellow elementary teachers can get in on this one!)

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using WizIQ in your classroom.

ict Numeracy Games

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on ict Numeracy Games1902 views

 

What it is: ict Numeracy Games are created by educator James Barrett.  These flash games are excellent for primary and beginning secondary elementary students to practice math.  You will find game themes for number facts, counting, bridging through ten, time, shape and measures, greater than and less than, multiplication and rounding, money (this is UK money), addition, subtraction, odd and even, place values, doubles, and equivalence.  Each math or numeracy theme has several games to play for practice.  Each is interactive and has instructions for integrating the game into the classroom.  All great ideas!

 

How to integrate ict Numeracy Games into the classroom: The ict Numeracy Games are perfect for use with an interactive whiteboard or projector and whole class instruction.  Several of the games are also great practice for students working on individual computers.  The games are all very engaging.  They teach and provide practice for basic math skills.  This is a great stop when you are looking for an interactive activity to practice a math concept.  The descriptions next to the game are very helpful and you are bound to find new ideas for integrating technology into your classroom.  

 

Tips: There are advertisements on this site but they are unobtrusive, your students probably won’t even notice.  The games are high quality enough that this shouldn’t be a deterrent.  

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using ict Numeracy Games in your classroom.

 

EdWeb 2.0

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on EdWeb 2.04459 views

 

 

What it is: EdWeb 2.0 is web hosting designed with teachers in mind.  Teachers can create a free teacher website in an hour or less!  With EdWeb 2.0 teachers can create a classroom site with multiple blogs, podcasts, quick polls, videos, files, forms, announcements, calendars, add photo albums, separate information by subject area, and so much more.  The sites can be customized with your own theme, or choose from one of EdWeb’s ready made themes.  A classroom website is a great place to communicate with families, give students a place to go when they have questions outside of your classroom, and keep yourself organized.

 

How to integrate EdWeb 2.0 into the classroom: Post all of your class announcements, important dates, homework assignments, links, podcasts, videos, copies of papers sent home, etc. on your class website for a convenient way to stay in contact with students and families.  The site is simple to create and takes no time at all.  This is a great hour long weekend project that you and your students will appreiciate all year long.  

 

Tips: EdWeb 2.0 sets you up with a fully functional demo account first.  This allows you to play around and see if you like EdWeb 2.0, if you decide you want to use the website for your classroom, you make the site live (this is free).  This saves room on EdWeb’s servers for those who just want to take a look but don’t end up using EdWeb.  

You will see an option for pricing on the EdWeb site, this is an upgraded account with some additional features.

 

Leave a comment and share how you are using EdWeb in your classroom.

KidZui

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on KidZui2271 views

 

What it is: KidZui is a web browser made just for kids.  It has access to over 800,000 websites, pictures, and videos that are reviewed by teachers and parents who don’t just approve content, but also categorize it for age appropriateness and by topic.  Kids will be able to get to all of their favorite sites (and more) in a safe, engaging environment that rewards learning and teaches independent learning skills.  Parents and teachers can get weekly emails that keep you up-to-date with what kids are searching on KidZui.  KidZui is free for the basic account, they also offer a membership account that gives some nice additional features.  KidZui is available for both Windows and Mac operating systems.

 

How to integrate KidZui into the classroom: KidZui would be a great web browser to have on classroom computers in the elementary school setting.  Students would be able to easily access all the information they need online without being exposed to inappropriate content.  The interface is very user friendly and teaches students great search skills as well as teaching great learning skills.  

 

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 KidZui in your classroom.