Websites
Top 10 Reviews of 2019
Throughout the year, I post websites and apps the Ask a Tech Teacher crew’s classes found useful, instructive, helpful in integrating technology into classroom lesson plans. Some, you agreed with us about; others not so much.
Here are the reviews you-all thought were the most helpful in efforts to weave tech into the classroom experience:
- Quick Review of 7 Popular Math Programs
- How to Use Google Drawings
- 61 K-8 Hour of Code Suggestions–by Grade Level
- 10 Tech Tools for Your Math Class
- 4 Great Alternatives to Google Classroom
- 11 Webtools That Make Images Talk
- 6 Ways to Make Classroom Typing Fun
- How to Use Google Sheets in the K-12 Classroom
- Metaverse–Education Game-changer
- 25 Websites for Poetry Month
Oh–would you mind adding me to your social media links? Here’s where you can find me:
Twitter: Â @AskaTechTeacher
Facebook:Â https://www.facebook.com/kali.delamagente
Instagram: @AskaTechTeacher
Thanks! Have a wonderful 2020!
13 Holiday Websites and 9 Projects
Need a few websites to fill in free minutes? Here are Holiday websites that will keep students busy while teaching them:
- 12 Days of Christmas
- Christmas puzzles and games
- Christmas—history—fun video
- Holiday Crossword
- Holiday Elf Games
- Holiday Hangman II
- Holiday music II–sing along with the music–the site provides the words
- Holiday—find the word
- Holiday—Math Facts
- Holiday—North Pole Academy
- Holidays around the world
- Phone call from Santa
- Santa Tracker
16 Sites, 3 Apps, 7 Projects for Thanksgiving
Need a few websites and apps to fill in sponge time? Here are Thanksgiving websites that will keep students busy and still teach them:
- Berenstein Bears Give Thanks (app)
- Canadian Thanksgiving
- Online/Offline Thanksgiving activities
- Plimoth Plantation
- Thanksgiving edu-websites–CybraryMan
- Thanksgiving Games
- Thanksgiving games and puzzles
- Thanksgiving games–Quia
- Thanksgiving information–history, more
- Thanksgiving Jigsaw
- Thanksgiving Jigsaw II
- Thanksgiving Lesson Plans
- Thanksgiving Tic-tac-toe
- Thanksgiving video–Brainpop
- Thanksgiving Wordsearch
- The First Thanksgiving
18 Easter Sites For Students
Many Christians celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. To non-Christians (or non-traditional Christians), that event signifies a rebirth of spring that is filled with joy and gifts — and chocolate! Overall, it is America’s most-popular holiday with Christmas a close second. The date depends on the ecclesiastical approximation of the March equinox. This year, it’s April 1, 2018.
Here’s a good mixture of games, lesson plans, stories, and songs that can be blended into many academic subjects:
18+ Interactive Easter websites
Preschool-2
This website includes a colorful collection of Easter (and Spring) games and information that is visual and enticing to youngers. Games are Easter Math, Easter Egg Hunt, Easter Egg Dress-up, Easter Word hunt, complete-the-sentence, and more. Also, viewers will find websites about the history of Easter around the world.
33 Resources for Read Across America Day
Many people in the United States, particularly students, parents and teachers, join forces on Read Across America Day, annually held on March 2. This nationwide observance coincides with the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Here are some great reading websites for students K-5:
Engineers Week — A Must for High School
Next week, February 17-23, 2019, is DiscoverE’s Engineers Week. Their tagline:
“A week-long event, a year-long commitment”
Do you wonder why anyone would be passionate about engineering? Forbes published three good reasons:
- The U.S. has approximately 1.6 million engineering jobs that pay $42 per hour in median.
- Job growth from 2010 to 2014 was in the double digits in several engineering occupations.
- Since 2007, the number of engineering grads nationwide has shot up 33%.
What is Engineers Week?
For those not familiar with DiscoverE, sponsors of Engineers Week, they are a volunteer-driven online coalition of over one-hundred organizations committed to promoting engineering to the K-16 community. This includes the provision of resources, programs, in-person presentations, classroom assistance, training, activities, videos, books, technology programs, and more. The purpose of Engineers Week is as much to celebrate engineers as to increase public dialogue, in that way bringing them to life for kids, educators, and parents. With the national call for STEM resources and the popularity of programs such as Hour of Code, the talented professionals of DiscoverE are more in-demand than ever.
“93% of DiscoverE educators think an engineer’s presence helps STEM students.”
Top 10 Product Reviews of 2018
Throughout the year, I post websites and apps the Ask a Tech Teacher crew’s classes found useful, instructive, helpful in integrating technology into classroom lesson plans. Some, you agreed with us about; others not so much.
Here are the reviews you-all thought were the most helpful in efforts to weave tech into the classroom experience:
- How to Use Google Sheets in the K-12 Classroom
- Quick Review of 7 Popular Math Programs
- 9 Best-in-Class Digital Storytelling Tools
- What is Microsoft Sway?
- What is Kiddom? Why is it right for you? And free resources to inform your teaching
- What is Google Keep and Why Use it in Your Classroom?
- 3 Comic Creators That Will Wow Your Students
- Gamechanger: Type to Learn is Now in the Cloud!
- 14 Ways to use Scribble Maps
- How to Use Google Forms in the Classroom
Oh–I don’t get enough followers on Twitter! Would you mind adding me to your list? Here’s the link:
Thanks! Have a wonderful 2019!
13 Holiday Websites and 13 Projects
Need a few websites to fill in free minutes? Here are Holiday websites that will keep students busy while teaching them:
- 12 Days of Christmas
- Christmas puzzles and games
- Christmas—history—fun video
- Holiday Crossword
- Holiday Elf Games
- Holiday Hangman II
- Holiday music II–sing along with the music–the site provides the words
- Holiday—find the word
- Holiday—Math Facts
- Holiday—North Pole Academy
- Holidays around the world
- Phone call from Santa
- Santa Tracker
16 Thanksgiving Sites, 2 Apps, and 2 Projects
Need a few websites and apps to fill in sponge time? Here are Thanksgiving websites that will keep students busy and still teach them:
- Canadian Thanksgiving
- Online/Offline Thanksgiving activities
- Plimoth Plantation
- Starfall–Silly Turkey
- Thanksgiving edu-websites–CybraryMan
- Thanksgiving Games
- Thanksgiving games and puzzles
- Thanksgiving games–Quia
- Thanksgiving information–history, more
- Thanksgiving Jigsaw
- Thanksgiving Jigsaw II
- Thanksgiving Lesson Plans
- Thanksgiving Tic-tac-toe
- Thanksgiving video–Brainpop
- Thanksgiving Wordsearch
- The First Thanksgiving
How to Teach Critical Thinking
There’s a reason why the brain uses 25% of the calories you eat: Thinking is hard work. Subjects like math and science — the ones only “smart” kids do well in — demand that you find patterns, unravel clues, connect one dot to another, and scaffold knowledge learned in prior lessons. Worse, you’re either right or wrong with no gray areas.
Wait. Where have we heard those characteristics before? In games! Do these descriptions sound familiar (or ask your game-playing students)?
Take the helm of your own country and work together with others to solve international problems!
Manage your city so it’s energy efficient and sustainable.Â
Solve a mysterious outbreak in a distant tropical jungle and save the scientists.Â
All torn straight from the taglines of popular games. Kids love playing games, leveling up, and finding the keys required to win. They choose the deep concentration and trial-and-error of gameplay over many other activities because figuring out how to win is exciting. So why the disconnect among teachers and parents when applying gameplay to learning?
