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DOGO News: current events and non-fiction for your classroom

January 2, 2018Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment66945 views

DOGO news: current events for the classroom

What it is: DOGO News is a great place for kids to learn about current events, read non-fiction articles, and access customized content that you curate. DOGO features thousands of news articles and new original content added daily, this is the leading online source of current events for students, teachers, and schools! DOGO Teachers allows you to create a special page for your students. Each article lists the Common Core Standards it meets, and the grade levels it is appropriate for.

How to integrate DOGO News in your classroom: DOGO News is a fantastic resource for you (and students) to find, read, and interact with non-fiction news articles in your classroom. The site is very easy for kids to navigate. The homepage includes the most up-to-date content, but students also have the option to read articles based on a passion they have (science, social studies, world events, environment, fun, video, or sports) or to search for a specific topic. DOGO is obviously an easy go-to for current events and non-fiction reading and for research in the inquiry classroom.

Our students love to read an article as a class and then search for biases. If there aren’t any obvious biases, they talk about ways the topic might be written about with bias. This generally leads to really great class discussions and bunny trials of questions and research. DOGO is a great place for this activity to start.

DOGO also has a Books and Movies where kids can read reviews written by other kids for books and movies. Students can join DOGO to add their own book and movie reviews.

Tips: Teachers- you can sign up for two different kinds of accounts on DOGO. The free account lets you create your own DOGO class page and add your own assignments. There is also a paid account option that includes some additional features that would be ideal if you use Google Classroom and would like to access ready-made assignments on DOGO.

Algebra in the Real World movies

February 3, 2012February 3, 2012Kelly Tenkely1 Comment9307 views

What it is: The higher up I got in math, the less connection I could make back to it’s usefulness in real life. I had math mastered in school, I could memorize the formulas and spit back out the steps to get straight A’s in algebra, geometry, calculus and even trig. It wasn’t until I was watching the Social Network movie (as an adult) that I started connecting that higher math to purposes in real life. That is a problem. Remember the scene in the Social Network when Zuckerberg is writing algorithms on his window? I saw that, looked at my husband in astonishment and whispered “I learned that!”. I had NO idea that trig was actually used for anything. Seriously. That is why when I saw Algebra in the Real World movies on Karl Fisch’s Fischbowl blog, I knew it was a site that needed to be shared again. Algebra in the Real World has mini documentary type films that show the ways that Algebra is used in a variety of jobs and real world scenarios. Movies include:

Aquarium makers
Backpack designers
Designing stronger skateboards
Engineering faster bikes
First one in the ball park
The forester
Landscape architects
The Lundberg farms
Maglev trains
Reliable Robots
Roller Coasters
Saving the bald eagle
Solar power
The starshade
Structural engineering
The surface of Mars
Testing the robotic hand
The wind business
Windsails

Plenty of variety to help students with a variety of interests!

How to integrate Algebra in the Real World movies into the classroom: After seeing the Social Network, I wanted to go back to my high school trigonometry class so that I could connect the dots. I always really appreciated my physics class because it gave meaning to the algebra classes that I took. I like that these videos help to make connections between the equations students learn and their uses. It is nice to have such a good mix of topics so that students with different interests and passions can find one that helps them make the connection.

These videos would be great to share with a whole class as the algebra topic connected with the video is introduced, at the beginning of the school year, or based on student interest level. Use as an end of the year cap to connect what has been learned throughout the year with the use post classroom.

Tips: The Algebra in the Real World movies are available online or for purchase on DVD.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Algebra in the Real World movies in your classroom!

Neo K12

March 1, 2010March 1, 2010Kelly Tenkely13 Comments4758 views

What it is: Neo K12 is an outstanding online collection of educational videos, lessons and games for students in grades k-12. Neo K12 believes that “kids learn best by ‘seeing’ the real world.” They have created this site with that belief in mind. Neo K12 has cataloged the best free online educational videos from the Internet in one place. Each video is watched and reviewed by k-12 educators to ensure their accuracy and appropriateness for students. Subjects include physical science, life science, human body, earth and space, social studies, math, English (including phonics, stories, and grammar), and fun videos such as time lapse, slow motion, arts and crafts, learn magic, music lessons, and sports lessons. In addition to videos, Neo K12 has Web 2.0 tools. The School Presentation tool is a mashup of Flickr and Wikipedia, and allows users to create and share presentations online. To create a presentation, students choose pictures for their presentation from Flickr, read and article about the subject from Wikipedia, and then add text to their presentation. When the presentation is finished, it can be printed or viewed online as a slideshow. Quizzes, games, and puzzles on Neo K12 are an interactive way to improve learning. Teachers can create and share videos playlists complete with notes and instructions for their students.

How to integrate Neo K12 into the classroom: Videos provide excellent opportunities for learning, they make it possible for kids to visualize and build a model in their minds. This helps them to better understand key concepts and can stimulate curiosity in a subject. When students or teachers search a subject, they are given a list of related videos, quizzes, games, and puzzles. When a teacher creates an account, they can create a complete assignment within Neo K12 that includes instructions and notes for the students. Students can complete the assignment by watching videos, playing related games and creating a School Presentation that shows understanding. The presentations are easy enough for even young students to create. Primary students can skip reading the Wikipedia article and just choose pictures and add some captions about facts they learned from a video they viewed. These videos are a great way to introduce new learning, expand on previous learning, or to spark curiosity in a topic.

Many of the educational games and puzzles would be great for an interactive whiteboard as whole class activities. They could, of course, also be used as classroom center activities, or completed individually in the computer lab. The jigsaw puzzles can be used as teasers to introduce a new topic. The jigsaw puzzles use incredible images from Flickr. Have students take turns coming up to the interactive whiteboard to put puzzle pieces together. Students waiting at their seats can take guesses about what new learning you will be doing in class.

Tips: Create a free Neo K12 account, you will receive a dashboard where you can store videos, games, presentations, quizzes, and add notes and instructions. You get a unique URL for your dashboard to share.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Neo K12 in your classroom.

Kerpoof: Update

January 29, 2010February 8, 2010Kelly Tenkely9 Comments3893 views

What it is: Kerpoof is one of my favorite creation tools for elementary students, it allows them to draw, create pictures, cards, books, and even movies. My original post about Kerpoof can be found here. Kerpoof has added some new features that make it worthy of another post. Students can now save their pictures, cards, stories and drawings locally (on their computers). On each canvas is a JPEG icon that will allow any picture to be saved to the computer locally. They are working on making it possible to download the movies locally soon. Kerpoof also introduced info bubbles. In the Make a Picture object library, students can drag out a picture onto the canvas. Now there is a new question mark button that shows up on an object. When students click on the question mark, a little bubble of information pops up. Students will gain all kinds of information from these little fact bubbles. They can learn everything from: who wrote Treasure Island, to learning the national animal of Australia.

How to integrate Kerpoof into the classroom: Kerpoof is an outstanding creativity program for the classroom. With there education accounts and these new features, it is even more useful in the classroom setting. Now that students can save their pictures created on Kerpoof locally, they can use their Kerpoof creations in new ways. Upload the saved JPEG to the class website, blog, or wiki, or add illustrations to a word processing program.

Use the new information bubbles to start a Kerpoof scavenger hunt. Ask students specific questions ahead of time or instruct students to research broader topics like “dinosaurs” or “Mexico”. After students have found answers to their assigned questions, they can do more in-depth research using library or Internet resources. After research is completed, students can come back to Kerpoof to create a picture, story, essay, or movie including information that they learned.

Tips: Be sure to check out Kerpoof’s lesson plans, they have just added a new lesson called “Programming Wizards” designed to teach students about how computers work and how to build, design, and test a program. Very cool.

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

PBS Kids Video Player

December 3, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2519 views

What it is: PBS Kids has a new video player. This is the most kid friendly video player I have seen. Students click on the PBS character that they want to watch video clips for. Then, they can select the episode clip they would like to watch. Students can watch clips of Curious George, Super Why, Dinosaur Train, Sid the Science Kid, Sesame Street, Martha Speaks, Clifford, Arthur, Mr. Rogers, Steve Songs, Word World, Between the Lions, Lomax, Dragon Tales, and more. Each video grouping has an accompanying website that has fun learning activities and games for kids to complete. Videos can also be browsed by their topic. This makes it easy to find a video that relates with what students are learning in class.

How to integrate PBS Kids Video Player into the classroom: This collection of videos is appropriate for the primary classroom (prekindergarten to first grade). Use these videos as an introduction to new units as an anticipatory set. All of the PBS materials are high-quality and educational. Super Why and Word World are especially great for literacy and language building.

Colorado is currently in deep freeze mode (it is cold!). As a result, we have a lot of indoor recess days ahead of us. These videos would be great to show during those recess times with the classroom computers set up with the matching games and activities.

Tips: Be sure to take a look at the website that accompanies each video group. The websites are full of fun games and activities where students can practice reading, math, and science concepts.

Leave a comment and share how you are using PBS Kids Video Player in your classroom.

ZuiTube

November 11, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment10651 views

What it is: KidZui is a site I have written about in the past. The KidZui network has added some sites to the network that I just learned about. ZuiTube is a kid friendly You Tube portal. It is the largest collection of kid friendly videos online. New videos are added to ZuiTube daily. All videos are approved by parents and teachers before being posted on ZuiTube. Students can watch educational videos, funny videos, movies and movie clips, silly songs, and music. There is also a special section on ZuiTube just for videos related to Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving collection includes everything from the Turkey Dance to videos about Native Americans and Pilgrims.

How to integrate ZuiTube into the classroom: ZuiTube videos can be used as an introduction to new teaching (on nearly any subject), to add some humor to the classroom, or to reinforce teaching. Videos are a wonderful way for students to make connections to new learning. I have found a video that correlates with nearly every part of our curriculum. I even found a great Berenstein Bears video for character education…gotta love that! With all the snow we get in Colorado, there are bound to be some indoor recess days for the kids. ZuiTube is a safe place to find kid friendly videos that students will enjoy while they are staying dry and warm inside.

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 ZuiTube in your classroom.

Kideos

August 23, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1549 views

What it is: Kideos is a collection of kid friendly videos. Each video featured on Kideos has been carefully screened by the Kideos Video Advisory Council (made up of a select group of parents and educators). The videos are categorized by age range (from 2 to 10) and by category. Categories include Baby Einstein, Barney, Book Characters, Cartoon Characters, Cute Animals, Disney Channel Programs, Disney Movies, Dr. Seuss, Educational Videos, Fairy Tales, Kids, Mickey Mouse and Friends, Muppets, Nursery Rhymes, Sesame Street, Songs, Teletubbies, Trains and Machines, and Wiggles. If you register with Kideos, you can set it up to only view your own selection of ages and characters. The videos are streamed from You Tube and placed inside a Kideo player .

How to integrate Kideo into the classroom: Kideo is a great elementary alternative to YouTube. While Kideo streams YouTube videos, you can be rest assured that your students will not be exposed to inappropriate content. Because Kideos can be set up for a specific age group and category, it would be simple to create a Kideos channel specifically for your class. You may choose your students age range and limit videos to educational and book characters only. Many of the videos would be appropriate in the classroom as an introduction to learning or part of a center activity.

Tips: I am continually amazed when my first grade students come in telling me about a YouTube video they watched (on YouTube). Suggest Kideos to parents as an alternative to YouTube for their little ones. Kids will be able to find all of the content they are looking for without any of the inappropriate comments and suggested videos.

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