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Progressive Phonics

September 28, 2010Kelly Tenkely6 Comments5352 views

What it is: Progressive Phonics is a fantastic, free all-in-one reading program that I learned about from @rmbyrne on his blog Free Tech for Teachers (honestly, some days I wonder why I bother with a resource sharing blog…he is amazing!) This site is totally FREE, as in every single download is available for $0, all that is required is registration. Progressive Phonics provides books that can be read on-screen or printed out. Books include alphabet books, beginner phonics, intermediate phonics, advanced phonics, and handwriting. In addition to phonics rules, Progressive Phonics teaches essential sight-words (phonics rule-breakers). Each book includes a PDF version of the book, and accompanying activity sheets such as handwriting worksheets, a word search puzzle, flash cards, and a five-minute memory game. If you have access to iPads or iPod’s for your classroom, these FREE phonics books can be downloaded and put into the iBook bookshelf for reading.

How to integrate Progressive Phonics into your curriculum: Phonics is one of those things that a reading program either excels at, or falls flat with. Using the Treasures reading curriculum, I was always disappointed by the lack of real phonics work and often supplemented with sites like Starfall. Progressive Phonics is another resource that would make a fantastic supplement. If you use a standard reading curriculum, take a look at the Progressive Phonics books and align them with your current curriculum. For example if your current curriculum has students practicing short vowel “a”, find the corresponding phonics rule in Progressive Phonics. Because these books are free to download, they are excellent for printing out and sending home with students for extra reading practice. The accompanying printable games, flashcards, and puzzles will keep your students practicing that skill in and out of the classroom. Books can be printed out and assembled as a traditional book, read on the classroom or lab computers, or transferred onto a mobile device such as the iPad or iPod Touch. This collection of phonics resources is a must see!

Tips: One thing I really appreciate about this site is that each book comes with a page count and an approximate time to print. I remember spending hours printing Starfall books on an old school printer, wondering if I would ever finish. The approximate printing time lets you know what you are in for before you hit print. Each book is offered in two formats, one is a print friendly version that has been designed to use as little ink as possible. So smart!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Progressive Phonics in your classroom!

Kidopo

August 11, 2010Kelly Tenkely5 Comments4577 views

What it is: Kidopo is an online coloring application where kids can color online coloring books. The application simulates a real coloring experience (in other words you can color outside the lines and the more you color over a spot, the darker it gets.). There are a lot of coloring pages to choose from with categories like animals, cars and transportation, cartoons, food, toys, holidays, learning, circus, sports, music, nature, occupation, seasons, and more. Kidopo has fun printables for the classroom including coloring sheets, bookmarks, birthday printables, awards and certificates, mazes, writing paper, connect the dots, room decorations, and stickers. You will find a collection of flash games for kids including brain games, card/board games, math games, memory games, puzzle games, science games, and word games. In the craft section of the website are videos that walk students step by step through a craft.

How to integrate Kidopo into your curriculum: The online coloring book on Kidopo is a great way to help primary students practice mouse manipulation. I like that you can color inside or outside of the lines just like in a real coloring book. If you are in a computer lab setting, the Kidopo coloring book is a fun way for students to practice, and a good way for you to gauge where their fine motor skills are.

The printables on Kidopo are perfect for the classroom. Bookmarks are always fun classroom give aways and the awards and certificates are a good way to recognize your students.

The learning games on Kidopo make a good practice center activity on classroom computers. My favorite are the math games that help students with fact recall through fun arcade-type games. In the word games, you will find a fun game called Word Frenzy that will give your students a place to practice typing. Check out the games, some are better than others but they are definitely worth a look!

Tips: One of the downfalls of Kidopo are the advertisements in the sidebar and introducing the games. I use websites with this type of advertising to teach my students about how to spot ads and discuss with them why ads are placed on websites.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Kidopo in your classroom!

Mind 360

March 23, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3164 views

What it is: Mind 360 is a website version of the Nintendo DS game Brain Age. The games on Mind 360 are aimed toward sharpening memory, increasing focus, build logical reasoning skills, increase alertness and awareness, boost productivity, and exercise the mind. Each player gets a virtual personal brain trainer that helps build up brain function. Students (or teachers) can play games and increase mental fitness by strengthening key cognitive functions including memory, attention, executive functions, thinking and reasoning, and visual perception. Mind 360 has teamed up cognitive psychologists with game designers to boost mental health while having fun. The brain training programs are tailored to the individual user. Students also have the option to play against other students while building their mental strength. The games are split up into the skill that it is building. There are memory, attention, logic and reasoning, virtual perception, and exectutive function games. In the training section, students can choose a student fitness program to help boost grades by “enhancing those cognitive skills required for overall better learning including attention, memory, thinking & reasoning, and more.” The virtual personal coach will guide students through the program with constant personal feedback. What I like about the Mind 360 website is the break down that each game and skill comes with. Each game shows which cognitive skill it is improving, how to improve brain health, scientific studies, FAQ’s, and a glossary. For teachers, this makes it simple to quickly find a game that meets your individual learners needs.

How to integrate Mind 360 into the classroom: Mind 360 would be an excellent way to start each day. Many of the games take 3-5 minutes to complete (not including all the levels) making it ideal for a brain boosting start to the school day. In the computer lab setting Mind 360 is a great site to bookmark for students to work on as they finish work. Many times my students will ask to play on Addicting Games, Mini Clip, YouTube, etc. This is a great game site that students will enjoy but is serving the greater purpose of increased learning. Mind 360 is also a great site to bookmark on classroom computers. Students can take turns visiting Mind 360 throughout the week so that each student gets to exercise their brain at least once a week. These games are a lot of fun and when students start keeping track of their progress, they will want to continue play using their account at home. I am of the opinion that if students are going to play games, they should be games that increase learning in some way!

Tips: Mind 360 is currently in Beta, right now you can register and play the games for free but it looks like they may eventually charge for some of their games or features. Mind 360 says that it is appropriate for high school and college students, however I think most of the games are appropriate for even primary grades. For primary students, I would create a few classroom accounts for students to play on so they don’t each have to sign up for accounts. Be sure to sign up for your own account, this is a great way to keep your brain in shape too!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Mind 360 in your classroom.

Animalia

December 2, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment3745 views

What it is: The Animalia website is based on the popular book and television series written and illustrated by Graeme Base. The website is just as impressive as the book with amazing illustrations and activities for students. On the Animalia website, students are introduced to the characters of Animalia, the goal of the Animalia site, Animalia news, and games and activities. The Animalia site brings students on a wonderful adventure where their goal is to collect all of the “core spores” to restore the Core of Animalia. Students collect the core spores by going on several adventures where they will play learning games, discover, and follow directions. Games and activities include logic puzzles, memory skills, code cracking, map reading, and listening skills. The listening game is called Toucan Talk (which I learned about on Larry Ferrazlo’s blog) and asks students to listen to a message in the wrong order, and change the order of words or sounds so that the message makes sense. The site is extremely interactive. Students will love becoming part of the adventure.

How to integrate Animalia into the classroom: Animalia is like a giant online scavenger hunt where students solve problems to advance in the game. This site would be a great one to use to teach following written and oral directions, logical thinking, and problem solving skills. These aren’t skills that we generally focus on in isolation but the Animalia site does a wonderful job of weaving a story around a problem and inviting students along on an adventure to solve the problem. Because students are problem solving, this would be an excellent site for students to work on collaboratively as a team. Students can be split into teams to see who can collect all of the “core spores” first through problem solving. What I love about watching my students interact with each other on this site, is the way that one team would solve a problem and then teach another team how they did it. Nothing better than kids teaching kids! For younger students, the game could be completed as a whole class with a projector or interactive whiteboard. The clues and games will have to be more teacher directed but your students will quickly catch on and be ready to play!

Tips: This site is highly interactive including video clips, highly interactive games, and sounds. You will need a high speed connection for this site. Bring on the bandwidth!

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

Childtopia Games

January 29, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2490 views

What it is: Childtopia is like 10 websites in one…they have so many cool things going on that I am going to break it down into sections so stay tuned… Childtopia Games is the biggest section with games that are psychologist recommended. Games include: memory games, language, math, skill, creativity, and observation. Each game is broken down by age group making it appropriate for three to nine year olds to play. Games are fun and interactive and reinforce skills that children are learning at school and at home. There are 1400+ games on this site and can be played in 5 languages! The site is completely free but they also offer a CD version available for purchase.

How to integrate Childtopia Games into the classroom: Childtopia Games are fun and interactive. With 1400 games to choose from you are bound to find one that fits the skill you are working on in any subject area. The games are truly great played individually, as a center, or at home for reinforcement. Childtopia Games are perfect for students who need remedial work. This site is easy for students to navigate and very user friendly.

Tips: This is one that you will want to bookmark for easy access!

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