Phonics – Page 3 – iLearn Technology

Geo Greeting

May 14, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2716 views

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.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!

May 4, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2443 views

What it is: This week (May 4-8) is teacher appreciation week. To show their appreciation, Learning A-Z is holding an open house to their fantastic collection of learning resources. This means that for one week you can access all online resources for free from Raz-Kids, Reading a-z, Science a-z, Writing a-z, Vocabulary a-z, and Reading Tutors. Raz Kids is a student centered website where students can listen to and read books online independently. Reading a-z is filled with thousands of printable and projectable resources including books, activity sheets, and assessments. Science a-z includes multilevel books, activity sheets, process activities and more. All are categorized by grade and topic. Writing a-z is a collection of resources to help teach basic writing skills. Vocabulary a-z is a website with a word bank of more than 8,000 words. The words are categorized by content area, functional, and resource. With this site teachers can build vocabulary lessons with activities for multiple exposures to words that leads to word mastery. Reading Tutors provides online resource packets for those tutoring kids in reading. It covers key reading areas from phonics to comprehension.

How to integrate Learning a-z into the classroom: The collection of resources accessible in Learning a-z is incredible. Take advantage of this teacher appreciation week freebie and start using Learning a-z materials in your classroom.

Tips: Sign up for a free pass during this open house week. Enjoy!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Learning a-z in your classroom.

2009 Presidential Inauguration Lap book

January 20, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1998 views

What it is: Curriclick is a site that I have mentioned before that provides free and low cost curriculum for download and use in your classroom. Today they released a 2009 Presidential Inauguration Lap book for download. After the speech today it would be great to download and use some of the reading and activities in your classroom.

How to integrate 2009 Presidential Inauguration Lap book into the classroom: I don’t know about you but I found that many of my students still didn’t “get” president Obama’s Inauguration speech even after viewing it. Use this free lap book download to help your students understand the history behind the Inauguration speech. Watch the speech again as a class or read the transcript of the speech. Help your students understand this historic occasion with the help of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration Lap book. I wish that they had released this one sooner!

Tips: This is a 40+ page guide. Download the pdf version and only print out the pages you are going to use in your classroom. NOTE! I tried to access this site just a few min. ago and could not get to it, probably because of the flood of traffic. Try back later today if the links in this post don’t seem to be working.

Leave a comment and tell us how your students responded to the speech.

Literactive

January 16, 2009Kelly Tenkely4 Comments4805 views

What it is: Literactive is an outstanding website for reading material for pre-school, kindergarten, and first grade. The program is made up of leveled guided readers, comprehensive phonics activities, and supplemental reading material that is aimed at developing reading skills in a sequential, motivating manner. To use and view the site is free. To download material you are required to register but registration is also free. The guided readers are fully animated and each comes with a breakdown of every word in the stories. The Road to Reading is an interactive journey for students that moves them sequentially though pre-reading activities, alphabet awareness, letter sounds, short vowels, CVC word blending, initial blends, long vowels, and various phonic activities. There are over one hundred learning activities that can be used for individual or whole class use that can be downloaded for free. Worksheets are available in pdf format that correlate with each reading skill. An ESL version is offered for each guided reader, stories can be translated with the click of a mouse. E-picture books tell traditional tales for early readers and e poetry is a collection of interactive poetry including poems by Rober Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allen Poe, Edward Lear, and more. The Literactive website is packed full with reading activities for primary students that will have them on the road to reading!

How to integrate Literactive into the classroom: Literactive is a complete reading program that should be included in any primary classroom. I am amazed at the comprehensive list of activities, stories, and scope and sequence of this program. Because activities are downloaded, after having downloaded them your computer does not need an Internet connection to use them. Use Literactive as a daily reading center, individually in the computer lab setting, or for whole class instruction and reading. The activities on Literactive are highly motivating and provide an excellent foundation for reading.

Tips: Register for free today and transform your classroom into a reading-rich environment for your beginning readers! Thank you to @annemarie80 who sent a Tweet about this site!

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

Speakaboos

December 12, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment4183 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.

Watch Know

November 24, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1759 views

What it is: Watch Know is a new educational video collection site. The site has not been officially launched and is still in beta version but already has a number of outstanding educational videos all offered for free! Watch Know brings together the best educational videos online into one convenient-to-search, safe site. Teachers, parents, and kids come together to find the videos, the videos are then approved for appropriateness by a media review panel made up mostly by school teachers and librarians. The site is very easy to search by category, topic, or keywords. Every video that I viewed was outstanding!

How to integrate Watch Know into the classroom: Watch Know is a great place to find educational videos to introduce any topic to students. The videos are wonderful to use as the anticipatory portion of a lesson to capture students interest in new topics, themes, or subjects. The videos are also well used as discussion starters for classroom debates/discussions. Because the videos are collected from all around the Internet but hosted on the Watch Know website, you can bring educational You Tube videos into the classroom even if your school blocks You Tube. Encourage students to interact and think critically about the video by rating the videos and leaving comments.

Tips: Videos are collected from all over the Internet from sites like SlideBoom to sites like You Tube. Some videos are interactive. I particularly liked the Logic puzzle interactive video where a logic puzzle is presented, kids can work out the puzzle and then click the video for the correct answer.

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

Kid Thing

November 20, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2439 views

What it is: I could have sworn that I had written a post about Kid Thing in the past, but after running several searches on my posts, I came up empty. Kid Thing is a secure digital media player for kids in grades k-4. Kid Thing accesses the Internet but is not a web browser. It is more like an iTunes type environment designed specifically for kids. There are no advertisements on Kid Thing and because it is not a web browser, there is no place to type a web address where students could inadvertently stumble on inappropriate content. The Kid Thing player is free to download and they often have free downloads of learning and interactive activities for students. There is also a Kid Thing store where additional books, videos, games, and creative arts can be downloaded to the Kid Thing player. Everything in the store is very reasonably priced. Right now Kid Thing is offering a free download in addition to the player, a 25 day Countdown to Christmas. Each day students will get to open a new kid thing Surprise with a game to play. After the game has been opened, it will stay on the Kid Thing player to be played over and over again.

How to integrate Kid Thing into the classroom: The Kid Thing player would make an excellent reading center, or learning center for phonics, language arts, and math. The player is very user friendly for students. Start each morning with the free Countdown for Christmas, let each student have a turn to be the one to open the Countdown for Christmas surprise. Throughout the day, let students visit the Kid Thing center to complete the new activity for the day. Kid Thing is great for the one or two classroom computers, a computer lab, a projector or interactive whiteboard, and for home use. Encourage parents to download Kid Thing at home and add books and games that are appropriate for their child.

Tips: At the moment Kid Thing only runs on PC’s running Window’s XP and Vista. There is a Mac version in the works (hooray!!) and if you visit the download page you can sign up to be the first to know when the Mac version is available.

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

Free Reading

November 6, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2746 views

What it is: Not all technology resources require students on a computer, some technology resources are specifically for you, the teacher, to enhance curriculum or for professional development. Free Reading is one such site. This incredible open source instructional program helps you teach early literacy. Free Reading provides a 40 week scope and sequence of phonemic awareness and phonics activities. The goals of Free Reading are to help you teach kids to read, to make quality research-based instruction for reading free, and to provide a community of educators with a common goal of reading intervention. Free Reading is really, truly free… downloads, prints, teaching materials are all completely free!

How to integrate Free Reading into the classroom: Free Reading is ideal for the reading intervention classroom, or for small guided reading groups. The program is an excellent reading program for kindergarten through third grade and for pullout programs for struggling readers. Even if you have a reading program in place, check out Free Reading. You will find excellent tools and materials that can be integrated into the current curriculum.

Tips: Free Reading has some great live sessions, be sure to check one out! (It is, of course, free!)

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

Word World

June 18, 2008June 18, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3861 views

What it is: Word World is an awesome site for kindergarten-first grade and especially for students who struggle with reading and letter recognition. Every time I visit the PBS kids site I find a new fun game or activity for kids. Word World is a world of fun characters that are made up of the letters that spell their name. As I said, this would be an excellent site to visit for struggling literacy students. The Word World is very kid friendly and interactive. Students will enjoy spending time on this site!

How to integrate Word World into the classroom: This is a great site to used with kindergarten and first grade students at the beginning of the school year. Word World would be a fun one to use as a whole class on a projector or interactive whiteboard. It is also simple enough for students to play individually as a center or in a computer lab setting. For struggling readers, this is a really wonderful place for some one on one therapy. Encourage struggling readers to point out the letters they see making up the characters in Word World as they are interacting and playing games on the site.

Tips: As an extension activity, have students draw their own characters using the letters that spell their name. Or, take a word field trip around school and find items that are shaped like letters. Take digital photos of the letters found in the environment and create a digital storybook in a slideshow program.

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

Spin and Spell

June 12, 2008June 12, 2008Kelly Tenkely2 Comments2591 views

What it is: Remember the See N’ Say of your childhood? Spin and Spell is reminiscent of the See N’ Say game. This site is great for kindergarten through beginning second grade students. Students click on the picture that they want to spell and spin the wheel to spell the words. There are five categories of words that students can choose including what we eat, what we wear, in and around the home, how we get there, and the animal kingdom. This is a great site to encourage spelling and for spelling practice.

How to integrate Spin and Spell into the classroom: Spin and Spell makes a great spelling center in your classroom. Students can visit the center individually or play a game in pairs. If students choose to play in pairs, one student selects the word for the other player to spell. If the word is spelled correctly, that player gets one point. The five categories of words fit well into most kindergarten through second grade curriculum making Spin and Spell a great way to practice vocabulary and spelling during matching units. Spin and Spell is also a valuable site to send home with parents who are looking for ways to help their child with spelling at home.

Tips: Set Spin and Spell up as a bookmark on your classroom computer for easy access. When students are looking for something to do when they have finished work early, they can easily navigate to spelling practice.

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