Educational Snippets

Bloom's Taxonomy's Blooming Tree

2010-09-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

I am in love with these image resources created by Kelly Tenkely of ilearntechnology.com.

Tenkely has created three different versions of Bloom's Taxonomy. Benjamin Bloom (1956) established the six levels of cognitive mastery, which is generally referred to as Bloom's Taxonomy. Bloom's Taxonomy divides cognitive objectives into subdivisions ranging from the simplest, remembering, to the most complex, creating.

She has the tree featured above, a pinwheel, and a peacock. Each image is a unique and colorful representation created in Pages, and is complete with accompanying digital resource links that correspond with digital resources!

This is a great way to expose students to higher order thinking and allow them to evaluate tasks.

Tenkely has a store where you can purchase these images for only $.99!

Wallwisher

2010-08-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

Wallwisher is an online notice board maker. It can be used to create sticky-note like bulletins, post announcements, or solicit feedback and comments in a central location.

As educators we know that timely feedback is essential for students. Wallwisher can be used as a tool to help students post their questions, or an ah ha, which we could then quickly respond to.

To use Wallwisher you will need to sign up for a FREE account. Once your account is established, you can create a personalized notice board to share with others. Your students will not need to sign in, they simply go to the url you created and post a notice.
Here is a sample wall created using Wallwisher.com.

BrainPop iPhone App

2010-06-29T12:09:00.001-07:00

BrainPop has a FREE iPhone app!

This is a great app for schools to download for their students onto iPod touches. It allows students access to a free weekly movie without a login.

Each movie is coupled with a quiz to help test the viewers' comprehension of the movie.

The app also saves the student's scorces for each quiz.

There is also a link to click to access more free movies from BrainPop.

The app is great for schools because it doesn't require schools to purchase a subscription to the site, but still allows students to utlize some of the great features of BrainPop!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

iSentence

2010-06-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

iSentence is an iPhone app that will help your students practice grammar.
The app focuses on correct sentence structure by allowing the user to chose between different words to make the sentence grammatically correct.
This app has three levels of sentences. This allows users to work their way up through the sentences. There is also a statistics screen that will summarize the users usage.

iSentence is available for purchase for $2.99 in the iTunes store.

End of the Year Game Shows and Activities

2010-05-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the anticipation of summer is too much for the students to handle and they get a little antsy. A fun way to end the school year, is to play popular game shows in your classroom. You can have the students write the questions to include in the game show.

During our last two weeks of school my class and I will play game shows to review concepts that we have learned this year. To prepare for this, I had my fifth grade students browse through all of their notes from the entire school year. Each student had to come up with three questions and answers to use in our game shows. I gave each student three 3 by 5 inch cards to write their questions on.

Once you have the questions for your game shows, you can begin plugging the questions into a template. There are many websites that have templates already created for you.Jeopardylabs.com is one of my favorite FREE sites to use when I create Jeopardy games. I like that it is not a PowerPoint presentation. It is stored on-line. All you need to access it is the url. This url is created when you make your game. Also, if you do not wish to create your own games, you can search on their site through thousands of games created by other users.

PointsforTeachers.com is a site that has a few PowerPoint templates available for you to customize. They also include theme music to go along with their games.
One of their templates is an Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? game. I especially love this template because I am teaching fifth grade this year. However, I do think that any grade level of students would love to play this game.
The Murray School District in Georgia has several pages of their website dedicated to technology. Among their pages is a page by Ms Leonard. On her page, she has links to game show templates, complete with music. Some of the games on her site include; Wheel of Fortune, which you could play with spelling words; Who Wants to be a Millionaire; and Family Feud.

Algebra Puzzles

2010-05-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

Math Playground has a fun activity that will help increase algebraic thinking. In this online activity, each picture represents a number. The goal is to discover, through numeric reasoning, which numbers represent each picture. The students will have a great time solving these puzzles and learning in the process. After they have been successful solving the puzzles on their own, you can have them create their own puzzles for others to solve.

Test Desinger

2010-02-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

Test Designer is a FREE web site that allows you to create tests to use in your classroom.

The site has pre-created over 1,000 questions in various subject areas. Simply search for the topic that you are looking for. Next, you can select the pre-made questions that you want to add to your quiz, and print!
You will need to sign up for Test Designer by providing an email as a user name and create a password.

Inferencing

2010-02-16T20:45:00.001-08:00

Teaching students how to inference can be a challenging task. Mandy Gregory has a site filled with resources to assist teachers in teaching students how to inference.

The page titled Inferencing Mini Lessons is filled with lesson plans and down-loadable activities.

One of my favorites is the Printable Inference Card Game.

This site is filled with numerous activties that you will enjoy exploring.

Probability

2010-02-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

MathPlayground.com has a few interactive lessons to help your students explore probability.

An interactive spinner allows results to be tracked on a bar graph.
There is also a virtual coin toss, where you determine the number of tosses.

Growth of a Nation

2010-01-25T21:52:00.000-08:00

Animatedatlas.com has an interactive atlas that allows you to explore how the nation grew from 1790 to the year 2000. This history spans from the development of the 13 colonies to 50 states. The site hosts a 10 minute video that can be played all the way through, or paused when needed. Also during the video any state can be clicked on to show details of the state's history.

This site can be used to teach about the 13 colonies, the civil war, the revolutionary war, or just to give an overall summary of how the United States developed through history.

Order Of Operations - Math

2010-01-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

Solving equations can be confusing if students do not understand order of operations.

Amby.com has a web-based interactive tutorial that can help students remember and practice order of operations.Funbrain.com also has an interactive game to help students learn the importance of order of operations. There are 3 levels of games for Order of Operations. There is an Easy level that only uses addition and subtraction. The Medium level uses addition, subtraction, and multiplications, and the Hard level uses all operations.

Decimals, Fractions, and Percentages

2009-11-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

This site describes a card game that is similar to war but instead of using a regular deck of cards, the players use cards that have a mixture of decimals, fractions, and percentages. (The teacher will have to construct the cards.)

This game will help students understand the concepts of equality and inequality among decimals, fractions, and percents. This game will be a fun way for students to become more familiar with various representations of the same number.

Hi-Lo Using Fractions

2009-11-18T20:50:00.000-08:00

This interactive Web page allows students to play Hi-Lo using fractions instead of whole numbers. The rationale behind this game is that students will be challenged to order fractions while using the clues to discover the fraction that the computer is thinking of.

One advantage of having students play the computer instead of each other is that partnering students may have difficulty monitoring each other if they do not know fractions well enough.

Kerpoof Studio

2009-11-03T20:59:00.000-08:00

Kerpoof is a free online tool that allows you to create movies, stories, and pictures. The site houses several pre-created backgrounds and actors that are ready for your students to create with. Students can be the director of their own movie by adding custom animations to a time line. Their work can be saved by creating a login to their account that allows them to access their products from any location with Internet access.

You Be The Producer

2009-07-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

You Be The Producer is a site dedicated to film making for teachers and students. This site is filled with great resources that can help your students become filmmakers.

You Be The Producer has lesson plans with corresponding videos for each step of the film making process.

There is even a sample script and film maker tips on this site.

You Be the Producer is a great resource for a beginning or seasoned film maker.

Remix America

2009-07-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

RemixAmerica is an free online movie editing application. This application allows you to remix the words and speeches of American History with current topics of today. Students can use RemixAmerica to create videos on American History and to generate discussions and analyze topics relevant to American History.

There are four ways to create using RemixAmerica.

You can create a talk back by responding to a video that is already created.

You can create a Remix. To create a Remix click the Remix button and then use their editor to edit, add transitions, and add video and audio to a remix.

You can also create a new remix using audio and video from your own computer, or from websites. Their editor allows you to grab and edit video, and add a soundtrack and commentary.

You can even upload your own movies and allow others to remix what you have created.

After you create your remix you can email your movie to friends or embed it into your site or blog.

I learned about Remix America from Mitch, a participant in Lights! Camera! Education!, a movie making class that I co-taught this week for the AZ K-12 Center. Thanks for the tip Mitch!

What's On the Menu? - Food in Schools

2009-06-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

This post was inspired by a post on Garr Reynold's Blog Presentation Zen .

I am amazed by the food that we give to students in school cafeterias. Most of the food is processed and preserved and is then thawed and heated before being served to our students.This is alarming because cognitive functioning is increased with proper nutrition. Also, proper nutrition can give our students the energy they need to complete the complex tasks that we demand of them throughout the school day.

This leads me to a comparison between the fast food industry and school cafeterias. Much of the processes and preparation techniques that take place in the fast food industry, also happens in schools. The reason for this is the convenience and speed of these methods that allow for mass production of food. This may not seem like a big deal. However, if we continue to feed our children processed foods that are loaded with hormones, pesticides, and preservatives, the results will be devastating to their health.

The percentage of overweight children in the United States is already growing at an alarming rate. One out of three children in the US are considered overweight or obese. If we continue to feed them high caloric and food that is not nutritionally dense, our students will continue to become overweight and have illnesses, such as diabetes, that are related to increased weight.

On Presentation Zen Reynolds posted a talk by Mark Bittmen. In this talk Bittmen discusses what is wrong with the way many of us eat. This is a great talk. I really enjoyed when he discusses the history of how we eat.

I also ran across talk by Ann Cooper, the head of nutrition for Berkeley, California, schools and author of Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children. She serves organic, regionally sourced and sustainable meals to students in California. This is an EXCELLENT talk that displays Cooper's passion toward sustainable food to kids. She also has a website, LunchLessons.org, that has recipes, links, and resources for food activism. If you click on only one link from this blog entry, this talk is the one to see. It is packed with 19 minutes of great information.

If you are excited by Cooper's enthusiasm for healthier school lunches you may also choose to follow her on Twitter.

This link will take you to the trailer for an upcoming movie called FOOD, Inc. This movie discusses the methods used in current food production and how we as consumers can help. This movie is only showing in a select number of theaters, so please check to see if it is showing near you. I think you will find the information in this trailer interesting and related to the topic at hand.

The FOOD Inc, website is filled with resources that you will find useful. A section of the website has information on 10 simple things that you can do to change our food system. Garr Reynolds created a visualizing appealing slide show of these 10 simple things that can be used as a springboard for discussion on the topic.

Under the Take Action section of FOOD, Inc's site, YOU can take action by signing a petition to help ensure that the re-authorization of the Child Nutrition Act. This act will help assure that healthy food choices are in place in our schools.

There is also an interactive portion of the site that will help you learn about health choices for school lunches.
Hopefully the release of the movie FOOD Inc, although it is a limited release, will spark conversations about what are feeding our students. Our students' health is at risk and as adults it is up to us to ensure that they are receiving proper nutrition.

If you interested in this topic you may also want to see the movies Fast Food Nation and Super Size Me.

Educational Videos & Lessons

2009-06-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

Neo K-12 has a collection of online educational videos and lessons for children ranging in age from kindergarten to high school.
The videos on this site are separated into categories by subjects. A large portion of their videos are related to science. However, they have videos related to Social Studies, Math, Health, and English as well. There is even a small section devoted to fun videos.

I found this site to be user friendly and easy to navigate. Also, all of the videos on this site have been pre-screened by teachers to ensure that they are appropriate for student viewing.

Applying Bloom's Taxonomy

2009-06-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

Bloom's taxonomy, originally created by Benjamin Bloom, classifies levels of intellectual learning that are commonly found in a classroom setting. Bloom's taxonomy contains three domains. These domains are the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective.

Along with these domains Benjamin Bloom identified six levels that are known as Bloom's taxonomy. These levels from highest to lowest are: evaluation, synthesis, analysis, application, comprehension, and knowledge.

Many educators use these levels to aid in the creation of lesson plans and lesson objectives. Educators are aware that the higher you go on Bloom's taxonomy the more cognitive demand increases. Students who are challenged cognitively are more likely to retain information and develop a deeper understanding of the material presented.

As useful tool for creation of objectives is located on Teachers On The Web's site. This site contains a table for each level of Bloom's taxonomy. Each table displays useful verbs, sample question stems, and potential activities and products. This is a useful tool that educators can use to help in the creation of lesson that are higher cognitively demanding.

For more web based resources related to Bloom's Taxonomy visit the Teacher Tap site.

Add Music To A PowerPoint

2009-06-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

I am often asked how to add music to PowerPoint. Most people know how to add music to one slide. However, they are not able to continue the songs for consecutive slides. Here is a great blog post on how to add music to your PowerPoint slides that will walk you through the steps using the custom animation option.

Another option you have is using SlideShare. You can use SlideShare to sync slide shows and music to create a SlideCast. SlideShare is a free web resource that allows you to upload PowerPoint, OpenOffice, and PDF presentations with the potential to reach an audience of millions, or you can keep your presentation private to share with colleagues of your choice. You can find interesting presentations on this site also.

Below is a quick tour of SlideShare that will give you an overview of what SlideShare is all about.

SlideShare Quick Tour - Summary of features & capabilities

View more OpenOffice presentations from Amit Ranjan.

SlideShare: Ways to Use Wordle in Education

2009-06-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

This Slideshare is a great example of how to use Wordle in Education. Thanks TonyVincent.info for the link.

Wordle Ideas

View more OpenOffice presentations from JenniferW.

How -To Tuesday - Video Grammar Handbook

2009-06-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

Great Source iWrite has a Grammar Handbook portion to their site. However, this handbook is not your ordinary handbook. It is animated!
According to Great Source iWrite, to edit your writing well, you need to understand the rules. This library of quick, animated grammar lessons will help attract your students attention as well as teach them solid grammar skills.

Teacher Tube - My Site

2009-05-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

Teacher Tube has launched MySite. This site is not a free service. However, if found useful to you it may be worth the $99 a year for 20 members. They also have an alternate option that is $5 per user, if you have more than 20 users.
MySite allows you to have your own version of teacher tube that contains content from your school. You can post your class videos, documents, and even audio recordings. Through MySite you have the ability to approve, add and upload.

MySite can be used to create a site for your school or your classroom, in a safe setting. There are many features for you to choose from that will allow customization of your site. Best of all, these sites are AD FREE and contain only your educational media content.

To get started click on the "get started" button. The site will request payment, and then you can begin your customized MySite.

Myebook - Movie Making for Kids

2009-05-23T23:48:00.000-07:00

This is a cute Myebook that I discovered about movie making for kids.

This book guides children through tips on how to hold the camera, how to stand when holding a camera, and even encourages children to try different things to make their movies dynamic.

Myebook is a site that allows you to create and share ebooks online for free. Visit their, take a tour page, to learn more.

Print Friendly

2009-05-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

Print Friendly is another great resource that I learned about from the Free Technology for Teacher's Site.

Print Friendly allows you to make any page print friendly, by simply copying and pasting the url into print friendly. According to their web site, PrintFriendly makes printing on the web better and you'll save paper and ink, plus get great looking documents.

Print Friendly has a useful about page that includes a short video on how to use the site. In the video, they show how a 16 page document was reduced to only 4 print friendly pages.

BrainPOP Jr.- Kindergarten Registration Time

2009-05-19T22:57:00.001-07:00

BrainPOP Jr. is featuring a movie about Kindergarten. This movie helps students learn about how to get ready for Elementary School and what to expect in Kindergarten. This can be a useful movie to show during the first week of school or during Kindergarten registration.

How -To Tuesday - Wordle

2009-05-19T17:15:00.000-07:00

Wordle is a fun, and visually appealing, web-based tool that you can use to help your students examine word choice. Wordle generates word clouds from text you provide, a url, or even a del.icio.us username's tags. The word cloud allows writers to see the words that are used most frequently throughout the text.

This tool can help students examine their own writing. Through an evaluation of their writing students can be encouraged to use words that will help in expressing their ideas clearly and help them choose words that will suit their intended audience.

Here are a few examples of how Wordle can be used.

This is the Wordle that I created of Educational Snippets Blog. By evaluating this Wordle, I can clearly see that I use the words "Bingo" and "words" frequently when writing blog posts. Now, I can make a goal for myself to choose alternative words instead of "words". I can also see that perhaps I have written a few too many posts about Bingo. :)

This Wordle below is a word cloud of my del.icio.us tags. You can get a quick glimpse of my interests by examining this Wordle. If my interests match yours you can decide of I am someone that you may want to have in your del.icio.us network.
This is a Wordle of a First Grade student's writing.

Here is the original piece: Let me tell you about persuasion. It is fun. It hard to do. You need to change someone's mind. Now you know more about persuasion.

Here is the Wordle:The student can examine this word cloud to see if there are any words that are used too frequently in this piece of writing.

What other ways could Wordle be used? How are you using Wordle in your classroom? Please leave a commnet!

How -To Tuesday - Find Safe Sites for Children

2009-05-12T23:15:00.000-07:00

Little Clickers is a central location that contains sites that are safe for your students to visit. The sites located here are appropriate for students ages 3 to 12 years old.

The topics on the site range from Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Bubblegum to Learn About Satellites.

Fun facts are dispersed throughout the site. I learned that the invention of bubble gum was an accident. Also bubble gum was made pink because it was the only color of food coloring in the factory the day Walter Diemer invented bubblegum.

Visit Little Clickers and learn new entertaining facts and valuable information yourself!

Special thanks to Larry Ferlazzo's Website of the Day For teaching ELL, ESL. & EFL, for posting the link to this site.

Sound Effects

2009-05-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

This post is another student requested post. Rafael wants to know where to get sound effects from the internet. Below you will find links to sites that have free sound effects.

Podcasting-Tools.com has a selection of royalty free sound effects. If you scroll down the page, you will be able to select from a number of sound effect categories. You are sure to find what you are looking for here.

I Love Wavs has a large collection of sound effects. There is a special section with kid songs. I also enjoyed the section with animal noises.

There are many resources online with sound effects. However, these two sites should be a good starting point for all of the Rafaels out there. :)

How -To Tuesday - Vocabulary Bingo

2009-05-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

You can us the traditional Bingo template to help students review vocabulary words.

Follow these steps:

1. Create customized Bingo cards using the teAchnology site. Scroll down towards the bottom of the page to enter your own words. You can enter 25 words different words or repeat a few words several times.

2. After you have entered words in all 25 spaces, click on the Free Bingo Space button. Your card will then be generated. Now you can print your customized Bingo Cards. If you want to move the words around on the Bingo card to make more cards, you can click on shuffle words.

3. To play the game, read off definitions of the vocabulary words to the students. They can cover a spot on their bingo card with the word that corresponds with the correct definition. You can play 5 in-a-row Bingo or blackout bingo if you want the students to hear the definitions a number of times.

Measurment Resources

2009-05-01T15:56:00.000-07:00

We have begun to learn about measurement in our classroom. This week we focused on using a ruler and measuring with inches. Next week we will also learn about measuring weight and volume.

Here are a few measurement resources.

Measurement Slide Show
This is a slide show that shows how to measure. There are several slide shows to choose from including, non-standard measurement and measuring weights.

We are using lesson 4, customary measurement. This slide show shows how to use a ruler correctly.

Fun Brain has a few measurement games to choose from. The games are categorized by centimeters and inches. The games are also leveled by easy, medium, hard, and there is even a superbrain game. This will help with differentiation of lessons or allow you to choose a more difficult game as you progress with the lesson.

The Ruler Game
This is a Ruler Game. In this game, the students will click on the given increments.

How -To Tuesday - How to Have Enough Exposure to Material

2009-04-28T22:43:00.000-07:00

In order to master a skill students must practice it. But just how much practice do they need?

Multiple exposures to content gives students the opportunity to become proficient with skills and aids in the developing of deeper understanding of the subject matter. In order for students to achieve 80 percent competency with a skill, students should be exposed to material 24 times (Marzano,Pickering, Pollock, 2001). It is also important to provide timely feedback to students during their practice. This will allow for early interventions before students internalize incorrect processes and knowledge (Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, & Pitler, 2007)

I have seen the impact of multiple exposure to material first hand. We have begun curriculum mapping, creating pacing guides, and creating common summative and formative assessments at our school. I always have good intentions on covering material thoroughly with our students. However, I have realized that I do not always expose students to material for the amount of time that is necessary (24 times) before I test them. The above graph shows data from our first grade classroom. The bar graph show the percentage of students in our class who passed each assessment. In order for students to pass an assessment they must receive a grade of 70% or more on the assessment.

You may notice that a single bar on the graph may contain several colors. The base color represents the first time the students took a test. Each color on top of the base color indicates a retest. Students who did not pass the assessment the first time were provided more exposure to the content, and were then retested. It was amazing how much better the students did on a test with repeated exposure to material.

The bars towards the right of the graph that only contain one color, are from tests that have not been retaught yet. This content was taught at the end of the quarter, and honesty was a bit rushed through. We are currently working on providing our students with extra practice on those concepts.

We know that it is important to allow students time to practice skills. By providing them repeated meaningful exposure to material we help them increase their conceptual understandings of subject matter. I challenge you to take note of how many times you expose students to material before you test them on it. You may be surprised with your tally.

Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., Malenoski, K., & Pitler, H. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Marzano, R., Pickering, D., & Pollock, J. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Skip Counting

2009-04-28T22:20:00.000-07:00

These two resources have been requested by our first graders. I love that they have figured out that they can request items for our blog. :)

We have been practicing skip counting to help get us ready for multiplication.

LearningPlanet.com has a fun counting game that is timed. The player is able to choose any number from 1 to 9 to count by. As you select the correct numbers to fill in the pattern, you advance to the next level.

As a class we created a game on Jeopardy Labs to help us review skip counting. See how many points you can score!

How -To Tuesday - Engagement

2009-04-21T23:23:00.000-07:00

This week's Hot -To Tuesday is a link to the AZ K-12 Center's Blog. This blog is frequently updated with great information that you can immediately implement in your classroom.

A recent blog post, authored by one of our most loved educators and presenters, Tony Vincent is titled, Novelty and Variety Affect Engagement. This post has a few simple and stellar ideas on how to increase active engagement in your own classroom.

One of the ideas is to conduct a mock game show to review content prior to taking a test. Free templates can be downloaded to assist you in the creation of the game. You can even trick your students into reviewing the content by allowing your students develop the questions for the game show. Be sure to click on this link to read the entire post for yourself.

23 "Techy" Tips for Not so "Techy" Teachers

2009-04-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

View this embedded slide show for some great tips on utilizing technology in the classroom.

Telescopic Text

2009-04-18T19:33:00.000-07:00

Telescopic Text can be used to teach the power of word choice.

The site begins with a simple sentence.
Then, as you click on the gray words, the sentence expands...

...and expands.
Each time the sentence expands the sentence grows into a more descriptive and elaborate story. This activity can allow your students to experience the impact that word choice can have on a story or message that they want to convey.

* This is another great resource that I learned about from iLearntechnology.com

Scholastic Story Starters

2009-04-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

Scholastic.com has a tool to randomly generate a story starter. The story starters are a great way to liven up writing in your classroom.
My story starter was, "Write about a camping trip with a polka-dotted bear who can fly in the sky". If I happened to be unhappy with a section of my story starter sentence, I could click the spin level to change it. Imagine the creative stories that can be created with this tool!

How -To Tuesday: Free Technology For Teachers

2009-04-07T21:55:00.000-07:00

Most educators are excited about the role technology can play in enhancing learning. However, many feel unprepared to take advantage of digital tools in the classroom. One way to overcome anxiety is to seek out free and easy to use digital resources.

It is easy to become overwhelmed with the amount resources on the web. That is why I suggest beginning with one reliable resource and building from there.

The Free Technology For Teachers blog is a frequently updated collection of free online tools. Mr Byrne, a high school teacher from a rural school district, monitors this site. He will help you reduce your anxiety towards using technology in instruction.

Pinky Dinky Doo

2009-04-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

PinkyDinkyDoo.com has become a favorite in our classroom.

This web site is based on the popular PBS show Pinky Dinky Doo. According to Sesameworkshop.org, Seven-year-old Pinky Dinky Doo is a pink-haired girl with a stupendous imagination. She’s very good at making up stories about everything from rude alligators to shoes made out of salami.

The website has fun activities for kids to take part in including word games, printables, story podcasts, videos, a place for students to create their own story podcast, and there is even a section for grownups.

Pinky, her little brother Tyler and their friends have helped us create story podcasts in our classroom. Each story has a definite sequence of events that are highlighted by discussing the beginning, middle, and end. Pinky also loves to use Great Big Fancy Words like “flabbergasted” and “exasperated,”. We love this part of each story because it reminds our class of the weekly vocabulary words that we are learning, and we love to hear the trumpet sound that is played before every Great Big Fancy Word.

Mad Libs - Grammar

2009-04-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

Mad Libs is a fun grammar activity to play. You can play online through FunBrain.com.
There are a variety of story genres to choose from.

Here is a Mad Libs that we made in class. We hope you have as much fun reading it as we had making it.

How -To Tuesday - Movie Idea

2009-03-31T12:15:00.000-07:00

Making a movie with your class does not have to be a huge production. Here is an idea for movie making that we recently used in our class that you might find simple and fun.

First we had our students create a report about Arizona. In order to align with the first grade Social Study standard they had to include the state tree, state bird, state flower, and the colors of the state flag in their report.

After their report was complete they created a picture on a 3x5 note card for each key fact in their report. They also had to make a note card to represent the introduction and conclusion sentence.

Then, we used our Flip Video Camcorder and a tripod to record the students reading their reports. Each time the student read a new sentence they would change the card that in view of the camera.

Next, we used iMovie to add a title and a song to the beginning of the movie and viola we had a finished movie.

Here is a finished project for your viewing pleasure.

We will post more of these movies soon on our classroom website.

Note: You can do this simple project using any camcorder or movie making software.

How-To Tuesday - Kitzu

2009-03-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

Have you grown tired of worrying about the images your students may find while searching on the internet? Instead of having them search the entire World Wide Web, why not provide them with collections of resources that are kid and copyright friendly?Kitzu is a collection of, copyright friendly digital kits that students can use to create presentations and digital projects. The kits contain images, videos, documents, and audio clips that are organized thematically by subject and grade level.

Some of the Kitzu kits also contain resources that teachers will find useful when creating lesson plans and activities for students.

Kitzu is brought to you by the Orange County Department of Education.

To Use Kitzu Follow these steps.

1. Click on browse or Search to choose a subject or grade level.
2. Select a desired kit. I have chosen Butterflies in the United States. (Notice that the applicable California State standards are listed in this area.)
3. Click on the download kit icon.
4. Enjoy your high quality images and use them to create fascinating digital projects. Check out some from the Butterflies in the United States kit.

How-To Tuesday - Tutorials on 21st Technology Tools

2009-03-03T15:43:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to How-To Tuesday! This week I will feature a link to a tutorial that will teach about the web 2.0 tools that are all the buzz right now.

Liz Davis has complied a book that is available for as a FREE download from lulu.com. (Lulu offers free online book publishing services with no set-up fees.) You can also purchase a bound book for $9.95.

Davis' book is titled, 21st Century Technology Tools Revised. This book is a collection of tutorials on Web 2.0 technology tools such as Google Docs, Google Reader, Wikispaces, Ning, VoiceThread, Twitter, Flickr, Diigo and Delicious.
This book is a great FREE way to learn about these tools.

Show Me The Money!

2009-03-01T20:44:00.000-08:00

Here are two great resources to use when teaching money, courtesy of Mrs. Fleener.

Dositey.com has a fun shopping game. In this game you must use the exact amount of coins shown to purchase toys. The Shopping Math game can help students learn how to add and subtract money, which just happens to be a first grade math standard ;). Be careful, sometimes you must buy two or three items to equal the amount shown. If you get the answer correct, the nice cashier gives you a piece of candy.
Georgia Public Broadcasting hosts a First Grade Money Game on their site. In this game you must purchase a food item for the amount indicated. Students will need to recognize coins within a pile of money to play this game. The game requires you to select more coins as you play.

How-To Tuesday!

2009-02-24T17:50:00.001-08:00

Welcome to How-To Tuesday! On Tuesdays I will post a quick how-to, or a link to a how-to, that you can implement in your classroom with little to no pain. :)

Today's topic is, how to create a vocabulary learning game using an online tool.

Classtools.net is a great resource that can be used to enhance vocabulary development.

Follow these steps:

1. First, go to Classtools.net

2. Click on the pull-down menu that is named Select A Template. Select the template Random Name Picker.

3. Next, type the vocabulary words in the yellow book. For example, you may want to focus on the writing vocabulary words: plan, draft, revise, and edit.

4. Then, you can select Typewriter or Fruit Machine to activate the random selection of a word.
5. Now we are ready to play the game!

A. Put your students in groups of two. Use a projector to allow your entire class to see the random name picker you created.

B. Each time a word is randomly generated the students will take turns asking and telling each other the definition of a vocabulary word.

C. For example, let's pretend the word plan was randomly generated. Here is a sample conversation that might take place:

Student 1: "What is the definition of plan?"
Student 2: "The definition of plan is a picture or sketch that tells what you are going to write about."
Student 1: "You said, a plan is a picture or sketch that tells what you are going to write about. That is correct."

D. Then, the students will switch roles and a new word will be randomly selected.

Thanks to classtool.net you now have a new tool to use in your classroom!

There are a variety of ways classtools.net can be used. Please post your ideas in the comments section. We would love to hear your great ideas!

Penguin Party - Math Fact Games

2009-02-16T19:40:00.000-08:00

Penguin Party is an addition fact game also found on Sheppard Software. This game was so much fun to play. The player is given an equation. Then four penguins display answers on their bellies. The player must choose the penguin with the correct answer. If you are correct, the penguin gets to eat a fish. :)
There are also subtraction, division, and multiplication versions of the game. Each game has cute and clever interactive aspect to it. The division game is especially enticing. The player must choose from four crocodiles with answers. When the correct one is selected the player brushes the crocodile's teeth, ekk!
These games can be used to build fluency with math facts. It can be used as a center activity or as a whole group warm up activity. Who knew math could be so fun, and dangerous?

Sheppard Software - Money Games

2009-02-16T18:40:00.000-08:00

Sheppardsoftware.com has a variety of interactive educational games for all academic areas. Among the plethora of games on this site are two related to counting money. Sheppard Software claims that they make learning fun, and I would have to agree.

Coinmadness is a fun money matching game where you must find the coins that equal a predetermined amount.

Matching Money is a concentration game where the students must match the coins with the written amount.

The Grammar Gorillas

2009-02-15T16:04:00.000-08:00

Funbrain.com has a game named The Grammar Gorillas that you will want to explore. This game had two levels. In the beginner level your students will identify nouns and verbs. The advanced level challenges you to identify all parts of speech. If you click on the right word in the sentence, the gorilla gets a banana. No one wants an angry gorilla, so let's feed him some bananas.

JeopardyLabs.com

2009-02-10T20:33:00.001-08:00

JeopardyLabs is an extremely user friendly, online Jeopardy type game template. You can build your own template in under 15 minutes, or browse other jeopardy templates created by other users.

I had a great time creating this template. We will use our template to review concepts that we have learned in grammar this school year. The pictures below show you what a completed template looks like.

Would like to play our game? Click here to see if you are smarter than a First Grader.

Tumblebooks

2009-02-08T17:08:00.000-08:00

I accidentally tumbled across Tumblebooks as I was walking through one of our super second grade classrooms. Mrs. Merten was so kind to share the site with me.

This site offers animated picture books that are read aloud to your students page by page, puzzles, and resources for families.

This site operates from Fort Vancouver Regional Library Districts' site in Washington. In order for it to work you must stay within the library's website. This is why the hyperlinks navigate you to the library's main page and not directly to Tumblebooks. To find the link to Tumblebooks scroll down a bit one the main page. If you can't get to a book that you want, go back to the original website and click on tumblebooks and re-navigate to the one you want.

Kid Friendly Searches

2009-02-07T21:20:00.001-08:00

Use KidRex.org for kid friendly searching on the internet.

Chicken Stacker

2009-01-31T12:10:00.000-08:00

Who would not love a classroom stacked with chickens?

The Chicken Stacker game from PBS is a fun game that reviews short vowel sounds. First, you select the vowel sound that you want to focus on. Then, as the chickens walk by, you click on the chickens that contain a word with the selected vowel sound. Each chicken that contains the correct vowel sound will be stacked on a ladder. When you have five chickens stacked you have won! I had a blast playing this game and your students surely will too.

State Facts

2009-01-27T18:09:00.000-08:00

February 14th is a special day in Arizona. It is the day this great state was granted statehood. To commemorate this day you may want to teach students some facts about Arizona. Below are a few resources that will help you share facts Arizona State facts, or facts about any state, with your students.

State Facts For Students
The US Census Bureau dedicates a portion of their site to state facts for students. There is a wealth of fun facts just waiting to be discovered on this site. For example, did you know the state gem of Arizona is turquoise? I knew there must be a reason I love turquoise so much.

Enchanted Learning
Enchanted learning has links to facts about all 50 states. This is a click on site that is kid friendly. This has all of the traditional facts plus a few that you may not find elsewhere, like where dinosaur fossils have been found. Arizona State facts can be found here.

Fun Geography Games

Statetris-USA is a fun game and interesting game that is a mix of Tetris and geography. However, instead of positioning Tetris blocks, you must position states in their correct location on the US map.

States Experiment
Sheppards Software also has a state positioning game. This game does not have a timer or Tetris feel to it, however it great fun as well.

ClassTools.net

2009-01-27T15:56:00.000-08:00

Classtools.net houses a variety of interactive games for your classroom. This resource is FREE. The flash templates are customizable and can be embedded into blogs, wikis and websites. There is no signup, no passwords, no charges... and it is a lot of fun.My students enjoy the random name picker (thanks TonyVincent.info). After you customize the random name picker, it becomes an instant student-engagement generator as well. The random name picker is called a fruit machine, but resembles a slot machine. It can also be viewed as a typewriter, if you wish.

There are a variety of other tools on this site also. You can explore your options by clicking on the Select a Template pull down menu towards the upper right side of the page.

Splat Square

2009-01-27T15:40:00.000-08:00

Splat Square is a 100 grid that begins as a blank template. You are able to choose a color on the right side of the screen to accompany each number. This interactive grid will be useful for a variety of activities in your classroom.
Thanks to ilearntechnology.com, for posting this!

Promethean Resources & Activslates

2009-01-24T23:08:00.000-08:00

Davidson teachers our Activslates will be delivered soon!

Activslates allow remote control of lessons that will enable teachers and students to communicate with the Activstudio software. The Activslate interacts using the Activpe n , with the same precision as on the Activboard and is small enough to be passed around the classroom to facilitate collaboration.

Promethean offers a a few website that will assist you, as you begin to utilize the equipment in your classroom.

Promethean Planet is a free online community designed to provide teachers the ability to share lessons, access a wide variety of professional development materials, and connect with fellow Activclassroom teachers from around the Planet. This site, with over 260,000 members, contains more than 10,400 resources that are simple to access. Visit Promethean Planet today to register for your free account and start searching!

Promethean Learning is dedicated to providing teachers with high quality online courses and certification. An introduction to the main features of Activstudio software is available through an interactive, self-paced, FREE course on Promethean Learning. To enroll in this course you will need to create a new account. This account will be separate from your account on Promethean Planet.Please be sure that you are signed up for the course designated Mac Level 1 for Activstudio.

These two sites will help you become familiar with the possibilities that an Activclassroom holds. You can begin exploring today! :)

Base Ten Game

2009-01-23T09:45:00.000-08:00

Learning box has a interactive game, Base Ten , that your students will love to play. The hands play the drums and move along the number line as you play the game.

Even and Odd Number Resources

2009-01-21T21:33:00.000-08:00

A few resources for teaching odd and even numbers for primary elementary students.

Math Cats - Idea bank for odd and even number lessons

TeachRKidsMath.com - practice identifying odd and even numbers.

Read a book on Primarygames.com about two bugs named Even and Odd.

Beaconlearning.com has a story about twin sisters to help teach odd and even numbers.

Two different web based games where you
exterminate ghosts depending on whether they are
odd or even.

Watching the Inauguration with Students

2009-01-17T10:02:00.000-08:00

Would you like to watch 2009 Presidential Inauguration with your students? This post on The Innovation Educator will explain the different options you have. There is also a nifty link to engaging lesson ideas that will help generate excitement about the inauguration.

January Resources From BrainPOP

2009-01-13T18:16:00.000-08:00

Here are the new content and curricular tie-ins directly from the BrainPOP January newsletter. You can sign up to receive the monthly BrainPOP newsletter by joining the FREE BrainPOP Educators Network.

Brain POP

January 15: On what would have been his 79th birthday, watch the movie about Martin Luther King, Jr. and discuss the activist who became a civil rights icon.

January 19: The Benjamin Franklin movie teaches students about this U.S. founding father and his vast contributions to society; celebrate his 303rd birthday today!

January 27: On Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed since 1951, show the Holocaust movie and explain this difficult topic to your class.

January 29: Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, and Oprah Winfrey, Queen of Media, share a birthday today. Watch their movies on Cleopatra and Oprah and discuss the lives of these powerful women.

January 29: Hit a homerun! Watch our Jackie Robinson movie on the birthday of this baseball great, the first African-American to play in the Major Leagues.

BrainPOP Jr.

Celebrate BrainPOP Jr.'s 100th movie - and honor the 100th day of school - with their topic on the number One Hundred. Students can watch Annie and Moby use a hundred chart and learn different ways to skip-count.

Help the class determine whether 493 is greater or less than 943 with the movie on Comparing Numbers.

Duck and ducks, goose and geese! Join Annie and Moby as they learn about Plural Nouns.

Verb Tenses

2009-01-11T13:24:00.000-08:00

In Arizona, according to House Bill 2064, we are required to provide grammar instruction to our English Language Learners for 60 minutes a day. This was a bit difficult for me at first because I was not sure how to fill an entire hour with grammar instruction. However, now I really enjoy teaching grammar, and I have found that in-depth and focused instruction in grammar has helped my students immensely.
Recently, we have focused on verb tenses. Last week we learned about present tense verbs and this week we will discuss past tense verbs.

These are a few resources that I found useful that pertain to verb tenses.

Esnips has an online board game where students must use the past tense verb to advance in the game. The game also assists in developing vocabulary by providing sentence starters that correspond with the number a person rolls on the dice. For example, if the player rolls a one they must begin their sentence with "yesterday" or if the player rolls a four they must begin their sentence with "last month". You may download the game, print it, or play from a web browser.

On Brainpop Jr. you will find many resources. They have a movie titled: Tenses that reviews several types of verb tenses. They also have activity pages, a game, word wall words, (which are vocabulary cards with definitions), and leveled pre-made quizzes about tenses. Full use of this site requires a paid subscription. However, you can sign up for a free trial.

School House Rock

On YouTube, I found the beloveded School House Rock song about verbs. The students love this song. We watch this movie periodically in class. It is a fun way to review what a verb is. Now when we watch it they point out the present tense verbs. :)
If YouTube is blocked at your school, you can download the movie using Zamzar. Zamzar will email the movie to you so you can view it at school. This link will explain how to use Zamzar to convert videos.

Literactive

2009-01-10T19:34:00.000-08:00

Literactive is a free online collection of literature and interactive activities for pre-school, kindergarten, and 1st grade.

Symmetry

2009-01-07T16:05:00.000-08:00

When two halves of an object are mirror images of each other, the object is symmetrical.

Students can benefit from learning about symmetry through a variety of methods. It is beneficial to have students explore objects and pictures that they can manipulate with their own hands. However, it can also be beneficial to show students samples of symmetry that occur in the world around us. One way to do this is by using web-based resources.

Here are a few web-based resources that can help define and explain symmetry.

LinksLearning.org has a short video that helps explain symmetry. It also has an interactive portion to the video where students will have to identify the line of symmetry.

This is a webquest that will guide you through a variety of examples of symmetry.

StoryPlace: The Children's Digital Library

2009-01-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

Story Place is an award-winning bilingual (Spanish and English) site. It is sponsored by the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County in North Carolina. The site includes a collection of interactive online materials for elementary students including texts and activities.

Super Teacher Worksheets

2008-12-14T19:36:00.001-08:00

I am not a fan of worksheets by any means. However, I found the Super Teacher Worksheets site to be pretty useful. This week we are working on verbs. So I am going to take a worksheet I found online and adapt it. Sometimes I miss using the colorful sentence strips so... We will put the sentences from the worksheet on sentences strips and the students will have the determine which word is the verb in the sentence.

Cute note: We have been learning about nouns. We just finished discussing common and proper nouns. At a concert on Friday my name was printed on a piece of paper to reserve a spot for our class in the cafeteria. One of my students looked at it and then looked up and me and said, "your name is a proper noun too?" I just smiled and said "you are correct".

Northpole.com

2008-12-13T11:02:00.000-08:00

Talk about perfect timing! Our students are learning about writing letters, why not have them write a letter to Santa on Northpole.com?

Speakaboos

2008-12-12T20:53:00.000-08:00

Listen to fables, nursery rhymes, fairy tales, folk tales, lullabies, and more online with Speakaboos.
These stories can be downloaded and used on an iPod. You can also have your students record their own!

Send Free Brainpop E-Cards

2008-12-07T17:14:00.000-08:00

Skip the stamps! Instead, personalize and send free BrainPOP e-cards. Choose from a variety winter- and holiday-themed designs, and send an unlimited amount of cards.

Letter Writing

2008-12-07T13:36:00.000-08:00

Here are a few online resources help with letter writing.

Letter Generator
The Letter Generator tool from ReadWriteThink.org is designed to help students learn to identify all the essential parts of a business or friendly letter, and then generate letters by typing information into letter templates. This can be used whole class or as center.

Starfall.com
Zac Writes a letter to his grandparents for Grandparents Day. This interactive letter wrting takes you through each step as Zac writes. When Zac is done, he reads the letter to you and you can print out a copy of the letter. I have my students make print the letter and then they Whiteout Zac's name and replace it with their own name.

A Letter to a Friendly Monster
Write a friendly letter with the date, salutation, body, closing, and signature to a monster. This site has a pdf file that has a graphic organizer of a kids body to help students remember the parts of a friendly letter.

Don't forget to use Rubistar to create a grading rubric.

Online Stories and More

2008-12-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

Many links to great Language Arts sites:

http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Tower/1217/reading.html

The Hungry Thing Goes Digital

2008-12-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

The Hungry Thing is an monster/animal that will only eat food if it is referred to with a rhyming word. For example, if he wants noodles, he will ask for foodles. If he wants cake, he will ask for rake.

Each year I read the book, The Hungry Thing to my class. Then we use a poster of the Hungry Thing, with his mouth cut out, to slide pictures of food into his mouth. The Hungry Thing will only eat the food if the students provide a words that rhymes with the food item pictured.

Those days are over! Now the Hungry Thing activity is available online!

Add Dimension to Your Lessons

2008-12-06T14:19:00.000-08:00

For only $9.95 you can turn ordinary pictures into three dimensional images. Through the use of 3-D Maker, by Sandy Knoll Software, story books can literally leap off of the pages, or you can add dynamic to your presentations.
Images are transformed in a click of a button, and are saved as a jpeg file. This allows for simple integration into your preferred method of presentation software.

3D Maker can be downloaded from, http://tinyurl.com/5mfpum. However, to access all of the features you must purchase the software by clicking on the payment options icons. Your purchase confirmation email will include a serial number that will allow you to fully utilize the software.
3D glasses can be purchase for relatively cheap. I was able to order 10 pairs of 3D glasses for $1.99 through ebay. There are also ways to make your own 3D glasses using a CD jewel case, a red Sharpie marker, and a blue Sharpie marker. (This really does work! I found out today because my ebay order did not arrive in time.)

So, spend the $9.95 and your students and/or audience will thank you for it.

Math and Science Newsbreaks

2008-12-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to some quick video clips on various math and science topics for grades K through 2nd. The clips are "breaking news" style videos.
http://ksnn.larc.nasa.gov/k2newsbreaks.cfm

There are also numerous newsbreaks for grades 3rd through 5th in math and science. http://ksnn.larc.nasa.gov/35newsbreaks.cfm

Thanksgiving Resource

2008-11-24T19:49:00.000-08:00

This Talk Like a Pilgrim site gives audio examples of some key Pilgrim phrases.

xtranormal

2008-11-16T13:03:00.000-08:00

If you can type you can make animated movies on xtranormal.com. This is probably the easiest movie that I have ever made. You type in the dialogue for each character, pick a music track, add actions, and viola, you have a movie!

Here are a few examples for you to check out:
Mr. Ludwig's movie
Mrs. Crawford's

Spelling City!

2008-11-12T19:37:00.000-08:00

The site is great! SpellingCity.com is an FREE online spelling program that make practicing spelling words fun!

As a student you can enter your own spelling words and test your spelling skills.

As a teacher, you can create an account so that you can save your classroom word lists. Once you create lists, students can access your specific list from home. No more "I don't know what my spelling words are" excuses.

Classroom 2.0.com

2008-11-11T13:40:00.000-08:00

Classroom20.com is a social network for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative or transformative technologies in education.

Win a BrianPOP T-Shirt!

2008-11-09T21:35:00.000-08:00

BrainPop gets so many requests from educators for BrainPOP t-shirts, they decided to hold a contest!

Two Easy Steps
1.Submit an original lesson plan that highlights the integration of BrainPOP or BrainPOP Jr.
2. If your lesson is selected to be published between now and January 31, 2009 you will win a BrainPOP t-shirt!

Browse plans here & submit your own!

Kids and Cookies

2008-11-09T21:26:00.000-08:00

Kids and Cookies is an online game that helps teach fractions. The objective of the game is to divide a selected number of cookies among the number of friends that you choose. The friends can't eat the cookies unless you divide the cookies equally between them. Fair, delicious, fun and perfect for learning.

Crickweb

2008-10-03T23:12:00.000-07:00

Crickweb has literacy interactive resources for primary schools.
There are many interactive games. Alien Hangman was a fun game. I also liked the alphabetical order, and sequencing activity.

Brain Pop Educators

2008-09-30T23:21:00.000-07:00

Here you can access tips, tools, and resources for free from BrainPop on their educators blog!

http://www.brainpop.com/educators/blog/

Do You Believe In Me?

2008-09-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

This 12 year-old student from Dallas, Texas gives the keynote address at a opening event for a school district. He asks the audience "Do you believe in me?" It is a powerful message coming from a student who knows that teacher beliefs impact student achievement.

http://www.dallasisd.org/keynote.htm

Problem Solving Strategies?

2008-09-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

While we do encourage a variety of problem solving strategies in our classrooms, we hope it does not go exactly like this.

Teach Strong

2008-09-10T23:06:00.001-07:00

An Online Professional Learning Community for Educators

bookr

2008-09-04T19:31:00.000-07:00

Use bookr to create books with turning pages. There is a direct link to flickr for adding your images.

Mrs. Tenkey's Home Page

2008-09-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

This is Mrs. Tenkely's home page, the writer of iLearn Technology blog. She has some great resources that are organized by grade level. I especially liked Lookybook, where you can preview picture books from cover to cover.

Statetris

2008-09-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

This a site has great way to reinforce geography. Statetris a game that is similar to the popular game 'Tetris'. However, instead of positioning the typical Tetris blocks, you position states/countries at their proper location.

I found out about this site from iLearn technology blog. This blog is updated frequently by a k-5 technology specialist and teacher. There are many great resources posted here.

ict Games

2008-08-29T19:26:00.000-07:00

ict Numeracy Games are created by educator James Barrett. These flash games are excellent for elementary students. On this site there are games related to a multitude of math themes. Some of the themes are; number facts, counting, time, shape and measures, greater than and less than, multiplication and many, many more. Each math or numeracy theme has several games to play for practice. Each is interactive and has instructions for integrating the game into the classroom.

The ict Numeracy Games are perfect for use with an interactive whiteboard or projector and whole class instruction. In addition, several of the games are also great for students working on individual computers.

SchoolTube

2008-08-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

If you like TeacherTube, you might also become fond SchoolTube.

Learning to Change, Changing to Learn

2008-08-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

This video discusses the notion that schools should no longer be "industrial-type" settings where we produce students who are able to complete those routine tasks required of a factory worker. The 21st century is in need of students who are able to infuse complex tasks with creative solutions.

Kids' Vid

2008-08-19T21:26:00.000-07:00

Kid's Vid is an online resource that gives teachers and students the tools necessary to implement video production in the classroom. Their mission is to offer teachers and students assistance in enhancing learning through the power of digital media. This website has some useful tools that you will want to check out.

Technology In The Classroom - Listen To Your Students!

2008-08-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

Have you ever asked your students how they like to learn?

Many times we are so overwhelmed with mandates and quotas that we forget to listen to our clients, our students.

This video titled, Wisdom of the Young, has real students discussing their preferred method of learning. This video is housed on You Tube, so you may not be able to view it if you are on certain school campuses. Please take some time to view the 55 second clip. Although it is short, it sends a powerful message.

If you are interested in using videos to enhance learning, here is a list of the 100 best YouTube videos for teachers. There are some videos that are appropriate for student viewing, and some that are catered for teachers. The section on technology can help you learn to use technology both in the classroom and on your own time more effectively.

Building Academic Vocabulary

2008-08-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

Teaching specific academic related vocabulary can increase comprehension by 35%, according to Robert Marzano. This school year, Arizona House Bill 2064 indicates that all SEI (Sheltered English Immersion) classrooms must dedicate an hour of instruction to vocabulary development each day. Robert Marzano and Debra Pikering's book, Building Academic Vocabulary: Teacher's Manual, is a good resource for how to implement vocabulary instruction. There are also some great online resources that can aid in your planning of this instructional segment. One in particular that I like is Building Academic Vocabulary.

Introduction

2008-08-09T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hello to the world of educators! This is my first post on Educational Snippets! This blog will be dedicated to everything and anything related education. I am an educator and am excited to contribute to the mobile world of information via this blog.