iLearn Technology – Page 91 – Integrating technology in the classroom

Book Wink

May 5, 2009Kelly Tenkely7 Comments3320 views

What it is: Book Wink is an absolutely incredible site to motivate students in 3rd through 8th grade to read. Through podcasts and web video Book Wink introduces students to books that will help get students excited about reading. Video book talks are about 3 minutes in length and introduce students to a topic, and the additional read-alikes that can be found on the Book Wink website. Books can be searched by grade, subject, author, or title. Subscribe to the video podcats to automatically receive the newest book talks. This months book talk introduces students to the heist. Check it out, it is fantastic!

How to integrate Book Wink into the classroom: Book Wink is an outstanding way to excite and motivate students to read. Use Book Wink with a projector and introduce your whole class to a book talk. The book talks are engaging and will have your students wanting to check out books on the subject for silent reading time. Each book talk gives a related list of books along with their age appropriateness. This makes it simple for your students to find a book that will capture their attention and help them gain a love of reading. Check out the Book Wink archives to find a genre or topic that fits with your current curriculum. Topics include: heists, World War II, Sharks, 19th Centrury, Love, Mythology, Volcanos, Mermaids, Museum Mysteries, Sea Adventures, Parallel Universes, Popularity, South America, and Endangered Animals. A new book talk is added each month, this should have your students excited about reading year round! Book Wink would be a great site to have bookmarked or set as a homepage in the school library. After your students have become familiar with the book talk format on Book Wink, encourage them to host and record their own book talks.

Tips: Book Wink is free to use. You can support Book Wink through purchases from their online store or through a donation.

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

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!

May 4, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2452 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.

The Children’s University of Manchester

April 30, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1979 views

What it is: The Children’s University of Manchester is a site created by the University of Manchester that has some excellent mini-lessons and interactive lessons for students on a variety of science, history, literacy, and art topics. Topics include the body and medicines, energy and the environment, ancient Egypt, the earth and beyond, teeth and eating, micro organisms, the brain and senses, talking textiles, and words. Each lesson is like an interactive text book where students are engaged in and discover learning. Each lesson includes an interactive lesson, downloadable resources, educational games, and videos. The level of interaction is outstanding for helping students to learn about each topic.

How to integrate The Children’s University of Manchester into the classroom: The interactive lessons on this site are perfect for instructing whole class using an interactive whiteboard. During the interactive lesson, students can be called on to interact with the material. Most lessons will have enough opportunities to involve the whole class. The site is also ideal for individual instruction in the computer lab setting. Introduce students to a new topic with these mini lessons, videos, and educational games that can be expanded on as part of a larger unit. These mini-lessons begin with a bio of a scientist, historian, etc. in the field of the topic. Read these bio’s together as a class and discuss these real-world applications to the topic being studied.

Tips: Computers will need Flash installed to display The Children’s University of Manchester lessons, games, and interactive activities.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Children’s University of Manchester in your classroom.

Popling

April 28, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3190 views

What it is: Popling is a free website and desktop application. Their motto is “Learning without Studying”. The idea is to make your own Poplings (flash card sets) and every few minutes (you determine the amount of time) while you work at the computer, a window pops up on the screen with your question. Click on it to see the full question. That is all there is to it, studying without really studying.

How to integrate Popling into the classroom: Popling is a little goodie that could help students in their learning. Set up classroom computers with Poplings about any subject. As students are working they can also be practicing math facts, vocabulary, geography, etc. Better yet, have students create the Popling sets! In the computer lab setting, create Popling flash cards that will quiz students about Internet safety, terminology, or short cuts while they work. It is like sneaking in extra learning, gotta love that! Encourage students to use Popling as a study tool at home…they can study for tests for weeks without it feeling like studying. Install Popling on your interactive whiteboard or projector connected computer. As you are teaching, have related questions popup. This will keep your students engaged watching for the next Popling.

Tips: Tell parents about Popling, they are always looking for great ideas for helping their kids with studying.

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

World Digital Library

April 28, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2513 views

What it is: The World Digital Library is a collection of free primary materials from around the world. Students can search the World Digital Library for materials that will help them understand other cultures. Students can search for materials by place, topic, time period, or institution.

How to integrate World Digital Library into the classroom: This is an amazing collection of primary materials from around the world. This is truly like bringing museums from around the world into your classroom. Use the World Digital Library to illustrate lessons using an interactive whiteboard or projector. Students can use World Digital Library for research and to support projects they are working on. I love the look of World Digital Library, primary sources embeded in a map of the world. It helps students visualize where in the world the materials they are looking at came from.

Tips: Bookmark World Digital Library on the classroom computers for quick access. World Digital Library is multilingual, just choose your language before you begin searching!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using World Digital Library in your classroom.

Virtual Forest Challenge

April 28, 2009April 28, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments2488 views

What it is: Scholastic and Nature’s Source have teamed up to create the Virtual Forest Challenge game to help students understand how their actions have real implications in local and global ecosystems. The game leads students through a variety of virtual environments and along the way asks them to make decisions about how they would act in the ecosystem they are in. If students answer correctly (make the correct decision) they continue in the game. If they answer incorrectly, they are offered the correct answer accompanied by an explanation.

How to integrate Virtual Forest Challenge into the classroom: Virtual Forest Challenge would be a good site to use in conjunction with Earth Day. However, since the principals of Earth Day are valid year round, it can be used any time throughout the year. This would be a great challenge to take on as a class with an interactive whiteboard or projector. As students make decisions in the virtual world, discuss why one option is better for the ecosystem than another. Virtual Forest Challenge would also be a good challenge for students to take on solo in the computer lab setting.

Tips: Visit the Teacher Resource section for some great accompanying lesson plans and resources. Here you will find a Community Planting guide, a Community Planting poster, a lesson plan about the delicate balance between people and the ecosystems we are a part of, and a lesson about Our Community Past Present and Future.

Linux Comics

April 28, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment15216 views

What it is: The Linux open source operating system is gaining popularity in schools because of the enormous savings that open source can offer. Ubuntu is the most popular Linux operating system in schools, learn more about it here. Hackett and Bankwell Worldwide have created two comic books that are designed to teach readers about Linux. There are two free e-book downloads that take the reader on a journey with the iconic Linux penguin. The first e-book focuses specifically on Ubuntu.

How to integrate Linux Comics into the classroom: These comics are an outstanding resource to learn about Linux and the Linux operating system Ubuntu. I learned a lot myself reading through these! Use these comics to teach students, or read though them yourself to get a better understanding of Linux. Whether you use Linux at your school or not, it is important to expose students to the different operating systems available.

Tips: If you want a print copy of the Linux Comics, they can be purchased from the Hackett and Bankwell website as well.

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

It’s that time again…

April 28, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1020 views

My Notebooks and tabs are full again. In an effort to clean them up I am going to post several ideas for technology integration today. I don’t normally give more than one tip a day because I know that most of you subscribe to many blogs and too many ideas in one day can = overwhelmed teachers. I hope that you will find great ideas to use in your classroom today!

My Award Maker

April 27, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2627 views

What it is: It is that time of year again, time for end of the year award ceremonies where we remind our students of how far they have come this year and celebrate their achievements. My Award Maker is a site I learned about from Kevin Jarrett’s blog NCS Tech. He found this site just in time for it to be useful for me so I thought I would pass it on so you could benefit as well! My Award Maker is a free, very easy to use award/certificate creator. Choose from one of hundreds of great awards, fill in the information that best fits your needs, and print. It couldn’t be easier and the results are fantastic! This is going to save me from going to Lakeshore or US Toy to hunt for awards for this year, they are as good if not better quality than those you can purchase.

How to integrate My Award Maker into the classroom: At my school, we have a formal end of the year award assembly where students are recogized and celebrated for their hard work throughout the year. This is the perfect place to find an award or certificate for any occasion. Don’t wait for a formal award ceremony, tell your students how proud you are of their achievements and effort year long with class awards and certificates.

Tips: My Award Maker has a special section of Tips and Tricks for making special occasions memorable. Check it out!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using My Award Maker in your classroom.

Educational Videos

April 24, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3510 views

What it is: Educational videos can be expensive, out of date, or hard to find. Happily there are a few sites working to make it easier to access educational videos for free. PBS has always been known for their great educational material. They have hosted videos on their site for some time but they were not located in one place where they could be easily sorted through. Now PBS has PBS video, all the great PBS material in one easy-to-search place. You can browse these videos by program, topic, or keyword search. All videos are on demand, I have been impressed with the quality! Another great website for on demand free videos is American History in Video by History Education. American History in Video has more than 5,000 titles in its collection! The videos allow students to analyze historical events, and look at the events over time through commercial and governmental newsreels, archival footage, public affairs footage, and important documentaries. Students and teachers can search videos by year, historical event, people, places, subjects, and by keyword. This is an outstanding collection of free on demand history video!

How to integrate Educational Videos into the classroom: Video is an amazing medium for teaching. It brings textbooks to life and helps students to relate to history and science in new ways. Kids often find history boring and I believe one of the reasons is that they haven’t had enough life experiences to relate what they are learning to prior knowledge. Video helps them make connections that reading a textbook can’t do. Use these videos as an introduction to learning, as a reinforcement during learning, or embedded in lessons.

Tips: Always make sure you watch a video in its entirety before showing it to a class. Sometimes content may not be age appropriate or as on topic as you would have guessed.

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