Category: 5th Grade
38 Art Websites for K-8
If your children are eager to be creative this summer, but addicted to computers, try these wonderful art-oriented websites. For your youngers, start any visit to the internet with a conversation about safety, privacy, and good digital citizenship. Soon, they’ll know the rules and you won’t have to keep chatting about it:
You can find updates for this page here.
Lots of art websites for K-8
- Art Online
- ASCII art picture generator–instant
- ASCII Art Text Generator
- BigHuge Labs
- Image edit exposure tool
- Image Edited? Check here
- PhotoCube
Avatars
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Use Google Safe Search
Drop by every Friday to discover what wonderful website my classes, teachers and parents loved this week. I think you’ll find they’ll be a favorite of yours as they are of mine.
Age:
Elementary school, Middle school
Topic:
Research
Address:
Review:
I get this question a lot so wanted to repost this review. Well, that was my plan. Then I started editing, so now it’s pretty different.
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19 Topics to Teach in Digital Citizenship–and How
Recently, Common Sense Media named Ask a Tech Teacher as one of the 2014 blogs to watch on the topic of Digital Citizenship. It reminded me what a massive topic this is! To my count, it includes at least 19 topics (check here for updated links):
- Cyberbullying–Harassment that happens on the Internet
- Digital citizenship–Live in the digital world safely, responsibly, and ethically
- Digital commerce–Electronic buying and selling of goods
- Digital communications–Electronic transmission of information including email, IM, SMS, chatrooms, forums, and multi-player games
- Digital footprint–Trail left in cyberspace by the use of digital communication
- Digital law–Legal rights and restrictions governing technology use
- Digital privacy–Protection of citizen information, reputation, and rights while using digital mediums
- Digital rights/ responsibilities–Privileges and freedoms extended to all digital users and behavioral expectations that come with them. (Ribble & Bailey, 2007)
- Digital search and research–Search and research that relies on online sources
- Effective Passwords–Make these easy to remember but hard to guess
- Fair use–Legal use of copyrighted materials without permission of the owner provided the use is fair and reasonable, does not impair the value of materials, and does not curtail profits expected by owner
- Image copyright–Exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of an image
- Internet safety–Security of people and their information when using the Internet
- Netiquette–Electronic ‘etiquette’ on the net
- Online Plagiarism–Wrongful appropriation of another author’s “language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions”
- Online presence–An individual’s collective existence online including any activity that takes place on the internet
- Public domain–The realm embracing rights to online material that belong to the community at large, are unprotected by copyright or patent, and can be appropriated by anyone
- Social media–Online platforms like Facebook and Twitter by which individuals and communities create and share content
- Stranger Danger–Perceived danger by strangers
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Common Core Writing–Digital Quick Writes
Here’s a free lesson plan from the newest Ask a Tech Teacher book, How to Achieve Common Core with Tech–the Writing Strand. This covers K-8, 208 Standards, and has 28 projects.
BTW, the lines at the front of each step are to track progress in case you don’t complete it in one class period. Feel free to print out for classroom use:
Essential Question
How does writing often and briefly improve skills?
Summary
Students use digital Quick Writes to integrate writing and critical thinking practice into any discipline. They use a variety of age-appropriate digital tools to prepare their work. Through these short, fun writings, students develop fluency, build the habit of reflection, and informally assess thinking.
Big Ideas
Writing routinely for short periods of time, for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences, makes students better writers.
Materials
Internet, drawing program, quick write links
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Dear Otto: How do I grade technology in my school?
Dear Otto is an occasional column where I answer questions I get from readers about teaching tech. If you have a question, please complete the form below and I’ll answer it here. For your privacy, I use only first names.
Here’s a great question I got from Barbara, a principal at a local school:
..
There isn’t a lot of research on the topic of grading tech classes. Anecdotally, it seems to be all over the board–whether teachers grade or not, and if they do–how. The short answer to this question is: It depends upon your expectations of the tech class. If it’s fully integrated into the classroom, treated more as a tool than a ‘special’ class (some call them ‘exploratories’, akin to PE, Spanish, music), then you probably want to hold it rigorously to the grading scale used in the classroom. The projects created will be evidence of learning, more like summative (or formative) assessments of academic work than tech skills.
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Common Core Reading–What if Students Don’t Like Reading
Here’s a free lesson plan from the newest Ask a Tech Teacher book, How to Achieve Common Core with Tech–the Reading Strand. This covers K-8, 315 Standards, and has 14 projects.
BTW, the lines at the front of each step are to track progress in case you don’t complete it in one class period. Feel free to print out for classroom use:
Essential Question
How can games help me learn reading skills?
Summary
Students play an online game (i.e., Samorost) to hone reading and math skills. By end of unit, 5th through Middle School will review up to 7 math anchor standards, 8 reading anchor standards, 6 RST standards, 4 reading informational standards, and 1 reading foundational standard.
Big Idea
Games encourage students to read closely, determine and analyze central ideas, interpret meaning, assess point of view/purpose, differentiate between arguments, and understand sometimes complex material.
Materials
Internet, class Twitter account, student blogs, digital citizenship links
Teacher Preparation
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10 Ways Any Teacher Can (and Should) Use Technology
New technologies have broadened and expanded the role that speaking and listening play in acquiring and sharing knowledge and have tightened their link to other forms of communication. Digital texts confront students with the potential for continually updated content and dynamically changing combinations of words, graphics, images, hyperlinks, and embedded video and audio.
The underlying theme can’t be ignored by teachers any longer: A 21st Century learner requires technologic proficiency. Proof enough is that Common Core summative assessments will be completed online—only possible if students use technology as comfortably as paper and pencil to demonstrate knowledge.
But how do you do that if you aren’t a ‘techie’, a ‘geek’, if you barely use a Smartphone much less the myriad of online tools. I have ten strategies that will make your teaching life easier, bump up your effectiveness with students, and save time complying with Common Core standards. Try these ten tech uses. Watch what a difference they make:
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Common Core Language: Teach Your Students to Speak Like a Geek
Here’s a free lesson plan from the newest Ask a Tech Teacher book, How to Achieve Common Core with Tech–the Language Strand. This covers K-8, 87 Standards, and has 8 projects.
BTW, the lines at the front of each step are to check off the skill–track progress in case you don’t complete it in one class period. Feel free to print to out for your classroom use:
Essential Question
Why is appropriate vocabulary essential to academic success?
Lesson Summary
Students teach each other domain-specific words through presentations. This reinforces vocabulary, as well as presentation skills.
By the end of this unit, 3rd-middle school students will review up to 7 L, 4 SL, and 1 WHST, as well as authentically use and review Tier 3 vocabulary (or optionally, Tier 2).
Big Ideas
- Words are beautiful.
- Knowing Tier 3 vocabulary helps students understand the subject.
Materials
Internet, Speak Like a Geek assessments, Speak Like a Geek sign-ups
Teacher Preparation
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Common Core Language: Teach Your Students to Speak Like a Geek
Here’s a free lesson plan from the newest Ask a Tech Teacher book, How to Achieve Common Core with Tech–the Language Strand. This covers K-8, 87 Standards, and has 8 projects.
BTW, the lines at the front of each step are to check off the skill–track progress in case you don’t complete it in one class period. Feel free to print to out for your classroom use:
Essential Question
Why is appropriate vocabulary essential to academic success?
Lesson Summary
Students teach each other domain-specific words through presentations. This reinforces vocabulary, as well as presentation skills.
By the end of this unit, 3rd-middle school students will review up to 7 L, 4 SL, and 1 WHST, as well as authentically use and review Tier 3 vocabulary (or optionally, Tier 2).
Big Ideas
- Words are beautiful.
- Knowing Tier 3 vocabulary helps students understand the subject.
Materials
Internet, Speak Like a Geek assessments, Speak Like a Geek sign-ups
Teacher Preparation
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#50: American Revolution Magazine in Publisher
This project includes everything the student user will require throughout high school. It has so many skills, every student will find one that grabs their imagination.
Reminder: Make this the second magazine they attempt (unless they’re in middle school) so they’ve had some practice with the more basic skills. You might try the California Mission magazine one year and this the next. (more…)