Tag: fun

Virtual Apple 2: Oregon Trail

Kelly Tenkely4 Comments on Virtual Apple 2: Oregon Trail7366 views

What it is:  Those of you who were in school or teaching just as schools were starting to get computer labs will appreciate this post.  Remember Oregon Trail?  The original Oregon Trail?  It still exists!!  Virtual Apple 2 has an online space where you can play games from the Apple 2 days.  I loved Oregon Trail as a student and now it is back in all of its glory.  No need for a mouse you type in a number to make selections, or “Y” for yes and “N” for no.  I can’t tell you how excited I was to find this great game just the way I remember it!  For those of you not familiar with Oregon Trail, this is a game designed to teach kids about pioneer life.  The player assumes the role of wagon leader and builds a team and purchases supplies that will help to make it from Independence Missouri to Oregon by way of covered wagon in 1848.  It was a great role playing game that had a lot of learning packed in!

How to integrate Virtual Apple 2: Oregon Trail into the classroom:  Students today aren’t nearly as impressed with this game as I was/am.  At first, they will not appreciate playing the game for the sake of playing the game.  In my classroom, I like to introduce this site to students to give them an idea of the history of technology and what computer graphics and games looked like when I was a student.  They enjoy comparing and contrasting Apple 2 Oregon Trail with the games that they like to play today.  This site is a great way to start discussions with students about where technology has come from and where they predict it will go.  (What will games look like when they have kids?)  After knowing the history of this game, my students appreciate it SO much more.  They really get into it and ask the same questions I asked as a kid, “what is yellow fever?”.    The difference being that today they can go to Wikipedia or World Book Online and discover their own answers.  

 

Tips:  Virtual Apple 2 has all of those games that you remember playing when having a colored screen instead of orange or green was really something.  Take a look through and re-discover those games again!

 

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

Math Doodles

Kelly Tenkely5 Comments on Math Doodles2652 views

 

What it is:  Math Doodles is a set of math games created by Daren Carstens that help students learn the most important aspect of math…it can be fun!  Daren created Math Doodles as a place where students can “discover the joy, wonder, and fun of mathematics.”  I have to admit that I would not have classified math as a “fun” subject.  However, I think that math can and should be a fun time of exploration and learning for students.  Math Doodles provides this place.  Kids can interact with math by playing games like Connect the Sums, Number Jump, Polyomino Shift, Double Traits, Sums Stacker, Hydro Maze, Time Shuffle, and Angel Fish (coming soon).  These games encourage students to interact with math and learning….and they are a lot of fun too!

How to integrate Math Doodles into the classroom:   Math Doodles is a collection of amazing games for elementary school students.  Students will learn through play (the best way!)  Math Doodles would be an excellent math center in the one or two computer classroom.  Students could play the games in teams or individually.  In the lab setting students could work on skills specific to their individual learning needs in the math classroom.  Math Doodles could also be used with an interactive whiteboard for whole class participation.  Split your class into teams and take turns solving the games.  Math Doodles games would be a fun way to start math class as a pre-thinking activity.  

 

Tips:  Right now Math Doodles games are only available in Demo version (since this version is free to use that suits me well!), but it looks like eventually the full version of each game will be available for purchase. 

 

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

Pinky Dinky Doo

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Pinky Dinky Doo2448 views

What it is:   Pinky Dinky Doo is a site I was destined to review, I saw the show advertising the website while channel surfing one day, and on the very same day, Kevin Jarrett Tweeted about it.  Needless to say, I checked it out and was immediately hooked.  This is a great website for pre-k through first grade students.  The site is based on a PBS show of the same name.  The website has fun activities for kids to take part in including word games, story podcasts, videos, and a place for students to create their own story podcast.  Pinky Dinky Doo loves making up stories and teaches students that every story has a beginning, middle, and end.  The stories are often full of metaphores and similes and often have a great message for kids too.  Every story also has one giant fancy word like “collaborate” or “gracious” teaching students rich vocabulary as well.  I love the way that this site expands student vocabulary!

How to integrate Pinky Dinky Doo into the classroom:  Put your students listening skills to work, listen as a class to a podcast story and discuss parts of a story together afterward.  Every story has a distinct beginning, middle, and end.  Students can draw and visualize the story while they listen to it.  The podcast stories would also make an excellent listening center in the classroom.  Pinky Dinky Doo is a great way to teach students new vocabulary, each story has a ‘fancy word’ that will expand your student vocabulary.  It would be fun to use the ‘fancy word’ from the story as  the classroom word of the day.  See how many times your students can use the ‘fancy word’ correctly during the day.  I love the section where students can create their own story podcasts.  Set up a story station in the one or two computer classroom where partners can create a story and listen to a classmates story.  Students in a computer lab setting could create story podcasts of their own and play the word games independently.  The site is easy enough for students to work independently.  

 

Tips:  Check out the grownups section on Pinky Dinky Doo for some great offline activities.  They even have directions for creating a Fancy Word box of your own and directions for playing the circle story game. 

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Pinky Dinky Doo in your classroom.

How Toons

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on How Toons2820 views

What it is:  How Toons is like an Instructables site for kids.  Kids learn through cartoons and videos how things work and how to make things.  This is kind of a How It’s Made website for kids.  Topics include science, space, nature, events, and a how to section.  The cartoons illustrate a concept and accompanying videos expand on the concept. 

How to integrate How Toons into the classroom:   How Toons is an excellent site to excite your students about science.  Share a How Toons with your students and then explore the science behind it together.  Use a How Toons as inspiration, after viewing How Toons, students can create their own cartoon on any topic being studied in class.  How Toons are great for teaching kids how to follow step by step instructions and would also be useful for teaching them how to create their own instructions.

 

Tips:  How Toons would be a fun RSS feed to subscribe to as a class!

 

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

Audible Kids

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Audible Kids4717 views

What it is:  Audible Kids was a really exciting find for me today because I am writing an article for the upcoming issue of iLearn magazine about iPods in education.  Audible Kids is a website that engages kids in storytelling through audiobooks.  Kids can download books, read and post reviews for each book, and share their favorites with others.  Kids can discover books searching by keyword, age group, category, award winners, and more.  Students can listen to samples of the stories before they download them with a handy in-browser play feature.  While Audible Kids is not a totally free site, they do have some excellent audiobooks that are free to download.  Roscoe Orman (of Sesame Street) is one of the cheif storytellers on Audible Kids.  Enhanced Audible Kids audiobooks have pictures with the story, perfect for the iPod Touch or a computer center.  For free downloads click here.  Other books range in price from about $0.99 to $20.00. 

 

How to integrate Audible Kids into the classroom:  Because free products for the classroom excited me the most, I will focus on how you can use the free downloads in your classroom.  Use Audible Kids downloads for an iPod listening center, or classroom computer listening center.  Students can register for free Audible Kids accounts and discuss the stories in an online environment with their own classmates as well as children around the world.  Use the stories as a place for students to discover rich storytelling.  Encourage them to listen for voice, emphasis, tone, rhythm as the story is read to them.  Students who learn to listen for these and are exposed to excellent storytellers, will become more expressive readers themselves.  Students could listen to the audiobooks and use a computer drawing program (or just paper and crayon) to draw their own pictures to go along with the story.  This is a great way for kids to learn visualization reading strategies.  If you want to take it a step further, pictures could be gathered into iPhoto or a slideshow accompanied by the audio.  Students will be the illustrator for the audiobooks!  

 

Tips:  If you are in a Mac environment, download Skitch.  Your sudents can draw their pictures on the computer as they listen and they can easily be uploaded to the Skitch website or into iPhoto, Keynote, or Garage Band to create their own illustrated audiobook.  So neat!  Audible Kids has the option of giving the gift of audiobooks.  If this is something you are serious about making a part of your classroom, consider asking parents to donate audiobooks to your classroom library. 

 

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

The Tale of Despereaux Adventure

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on The Tale of Despereaux Adventure2853 views

What it is:  I learned about this awesome interactive site from Larry Ferlazzo’s blog.  It is just too good to pass up blogging about it!  This interactive story book lets students create their own tale in the Kingdom of Dor.  The students become a part of the story as they create a character version of themselves that takes part in the story adventure.  Students can choose to have interactive games and puzzles included in their story.  The story is a virtual pop-up book, it is read to students and they can read along with subtitles.  Along the way, students have to help solve problems in the story by playing an interactive game. 

 

How to integrate The Tale of Despereaux Adventure into the classroom:  The Tale of Despereaux Adventure is a really impressive site.  This would be a great introduction to the book by Kate DiCamillo.  The site would act as a teaser for the book that would have students eager to read.  Even if you aren’t reading The Tale of Despereaux, this is a fun way to get students interested in reading (most of them won’t even realize that they are reading!)  Set up a Tale of Despereaux center on your classroom computer during reading time for a month.  Each day two new students can visit the center and take part in their own adventure.  This site could also be used with an interactive whiteboard or projector for the students to create a whole class story.  If students choose to read the story with the interactive games, they  will be stopped along the way to complete puzzle and logic games throughout the story.  These type of games are great to get kids thinking creatively and outside of the box.  The story can be viewed in different languages, this would be a fun site for foreign language classes to visit in the language they are studying!

 

Tips:  One thing I don’t love about this site is that it asks students to enter their first and last name to be part of the story.  I teach my students never to put their last name online.  I ask my students to make up a last name when creating their story. 

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Tale of Despereaux Adventure in your classroom.

World Math Day 2009

Kelly Tenkely4 Comments on World Math Day 20093670 views

What it is:  World Math Day is March 4, 2009!  If you participated in World Math Day last year with the World Math Day website, you know how motivating and fun it was.  If not, this is your year to join in the fun!  Students play against other students in countries around the world in real time mental arithmetic games.  Each game lasts for 60 seconds.  Students can play as many games as they want to.  When you sign up your class, you will choose the level of difficulty based on age and ability.   World Math Day is best for students who are 5 to 18 years old (k-12!).   There are even prizes awarded including student prizes, and school prizes for highest achievers.  Registration for World Math Day is open (and free), your students can start practicing right now!

 

How to integrate World Math Day into the classroom:  World Math Day was one of the highlights of math class last year.  The students who participated had a great time competing against other students from around the world.  I have never seen students so excited to practice math facts and many asked, “can we do this at home too?”  How often do you get students asking for more math practice at home?!  Get your students excited about competing on March 4 and start practicing now.  If you have one or two computers in the classroom you can set up a training center.  Reserve a computer lab during math class to practice as a class.  You can also split your class into teams of 3 to complete the 60 second games using a projector or interactive whiteboard.  You will not believe how motivating this site is for students!

 

Tips:  This is an amazing development, World Math Day 2009 is available on the iPhone and iPod Touch!!!  Woot, woot! Students can join in the fun of the practice period and work on their skills against other students before the big day. 

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using World Math Day in your classroom.

Animal Games

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Animal Games4907 views

What it is:  Animal Games is part of the Sheppard Software’s Kids corner.  The site has games about animals that help them learn animal classification, the difference between herbivores and carnivores, the food chain, endangered animals, producers and consumers, animal diet, and animal characteristics.  The games are fun and easy to play and teach some important animal science concepts.

 

How to integrate Animal Games into the classroom: These games are perfect for the kindergarten through second grade classroom.  They teach the basics of the food chain, animal kingdom, and animal classification through an interactive game environment.  These games would be appropriate for the one or two computer classroom as a science center, with a projector and whole class instruction, or in the computer lab setting.  

 

Tips:  This site does have some advertisements, use this opportunity to discuss ads with your students and help them spot the ads on each page (some advertisements look like a game). 

 

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

Speakaboos

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Speakaboos4189 views

 

What it is:  Some websites are so impressive that I immediately spam all teachers in my address book with them.  Speakaboos is one of these sites for me.  I learned about the site from the Free Technology for Teachers blog (I highly recommend it for middle and high school teachers).  Speakaboos is a collection of online children stories read by celebrities (although this is not what impresses me).  Each story is read aloud with flash illustrations and the words on each page for read-along.  The stories are captivating and include popular titles like Arthur and Curious George.  This highly engaging website has some other features that make this one of my favorite website finds of the year.  When you sign up for a free membership, Speakaboos offers a free story download.  The download is a swf (flash) file but can be converted with a site like Zamzar to make it iPod ready (aka mobile learning!).  They plan to add more free downloads throughout the year.  Parents can also purchase individual stories iTunes style for $0.99.  Speakaboos  has a feature coming for parents, students, grandparents, teachers, etc. to record their own stories!  Speakaboos offers several activities for students including a diary to write in, a place to create their own story, games, ecards, and printable coloring pages from their favorite stories.  Speakaboos is in beta version right now so some of the above features are not yet  active.  

 

How to integrate Speakaboos into the classroom:   Speakaboos stories and activities are a fun and engaging way to develop students reading, writing, and speaking abilities while learning basic computer skills.  The Record your own Story feature is a wonderful way for students to practice fluency, it is also a great feature for struggling readers who can listen for mistakes that they make during reading.  Older students could make recordings for their younger reading buddies to enjoy.  The ability to download select stories for free is amazing for an iPod reading lab.  Speakaboos is a great reading or writing center for students to visit in the one or two computer classroom.  It would also make a nice whole class read along using a projector.  Speakaboos offers free story guides for teachers to help lead discussions on each story.  The guides come complete with themes to help reinforce the story message and offer questions to check general comprehension, discussion, and personal extension.  There are also printables that you can use with your class in conjunction with the Speakaboos site.

 

Tips:   Membership on Speakaboos is free and provides access to the free downloads.

 

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

NORAD Tracks Santa

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on NORAD Tracks Santa2257 views

 

What it is:   Who knew that NORAD Tracks Santa?  They do!  In partnership with Google Earth, now your students can track Santa live starting December 24th.  In the mean time, students can enjoy other fun holiday activities on the NORAD Tracks Santa site.  There is a count down to Christmas clock, Santa videos, information about Santa (including some history of the original St. Nick), Santa FAQ’s, Santa snack ideas, and Santa’s village where students will find fun Christmas themed games like light the Christmas tree (a logic puzzle), and Christmas memory.  Students can also learn about why and how NORAD tracks Santa.  This is a fun site for students to explore!

 

How to integrate NORAD Tracks Santa into the classroom:  Because this site uses Google Earth to track Santa, this may be a good time to teach your students how to use Google Earth and some map skills in preparation for tracking Santa.  The information pages about Santa and NORAD are great reading and discussion material for the holiday season.  Set up your classroom computers with Santa’s village countdown and let students take turns completing the light the Christmas tree challenge over the next few weeks.  

 

Tips:  The NORAD Tracks Santa site is available in seven languages!

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using NORAD Tracks Santa in your classroom.