Category: Websites

The first day of class can be daunting. Students are curious about the new faces around them, intimidated–even frightened by the prospect of so many people they know nothing about. As a teacher, you might feel the same way. You knew everything about last year’s students, got excited when their baseball team won the playoffs, cried with them when a favorite pet passed away, cheered when they got an A in math. Those details–that intimate knowledge–helped you understand what motivated them so you could differentiate instruction to reach each of them where they were.

Now, you’re starting over. It would be easy to go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves, but you want the first-day ice-breaker to be more–enriching but fun, to set the tone for the rest of the year. You want students to quickly get comfortable with each other, bond as a group, without turning the classroom into a party room. And, you want an activity them haven’t done so many times in the past it’s boring.

One truth never changes: Students love talking about themselves. There’s no better ice breaker than one where students share information about themselves. There’s no better way to discover new friends than have a classmate understand perfectly what you’re saying about a tough soccer game because s/he too plays soccer.

Another truth: Kids love technology. This year, try a get-to-know-you that uses one of the many free online tech tools. How about these ideas:

(more…)

Second graders (sometimes first graders) learn about money. The only way to really ‘get it’ is repetition. Here’s a list of websites to provide redundancy for each type of learner:

1. Coin Counting
2. Counting Money
3. Money—counting
4. Piggy Bank
5. H.I.P. Pocket Change
6. Cash Out

For a longer list that includes concepts like ‘economics’, try these:

Coins and Counting Money

1. Brain Pop Learn about Money
2. Cashtivity
3. Coin games—from US Mint
4. Count Money
5. Face on money
6. Face on money–from Lunapic; lots of options
7. Make change
8. Money—counting
9. Moneyville
10. Money Flashcards–APlus Math
11. Mr. Bouncy’s Money collection–lots of websites
12. US Mint virtual tour (a slideshow)

Economics–for youngers

1. Brain Pop Learn about Money
2. Coffee Shop Game
3. Rich Kid Smart Kid
4. Spent–living at minimum wage: the game
5. Three Jars–kids learn to use money wisely
6. Tykoon Kid–earning with a purpose

Do you have any to add to this list? These are mostly for youngers–I’d love some for older age groups. (more…)

Natural disasters is a related discussion to any number of topics–geography, ecology, Earth Day, even problem solving. Here are 16 websites that bring the power of these natural forces to students:

1. Avalanches
2. Earthquakes
3. Earthquakes–an animation
4. Earthquakes for Kids
5. Earthquakes–USGS
6. Every Natural Disaster Explained in 12 Minutes (video)
7. Flood—hugefloods.com
8. Hurricanes
9. Natural Disasters–for kids–video
10. Natural disaster videos
11. Natural Hazards–from Crash Course–video
12. Savage Earth
13. Storm Chasing
14. Top 10 Natural Disasters for Kids–video
15. Tsunamis
16. Volcano videos
17. Volcanoes

(more…)

Memorial Day is the time we remember all of those soldiers (and anyone in the Armed Forces) who gave their lives in the defense of American freedom. In war and peace, they made the ultimate sacrifice, and because of them we are privileged to live the American Dream.

Once a year, we honor them, their sacrifice, and those they left behind. Here are some activities to help students understand the import of this day:

1. In Flanders Field--poem
2. Memorial Day Messages, Speeches, Oaths, Poems, Anthems, and images
3. Memorial Day Poems
4. Memorial Day Poetry–poems
5. Memorial Day Prayer
6. Memorial Day puzzle I
7. Memorial Day Puzzle II
8. Memorial Day DigitPuzzle
9. Memorial Day Quiz
10. Memorial Day Word Search
11. Primary source recollections of War
12. Quotes about Memorial Day/Wars
13. Remember our Warriors
14. Who you are remembering–Americans killed in action

(more…)

As a passionate Economics major in college (which grew into an MBA), I find Econ at the root of much of the world around us. It starts with counting coins in first grade and grows up to a peek into NASDAQ and other adult subjects in middle school.

These websites cover kindergarten (counting money) through elementary (economics for youngers) through Middle School:

Coins and Counting Money

1. Brain Pop Learn about Money
2. Cash Out
3. Coin Counting
4. Coin games—from US Mint
5. Count Money
6. Counting Money
7. Face on money
8. Face on money–from Lunapic; lots of options
9. Make change
10. Money—counting
11. Moneyville
12. Money Flashcards–APlus Math
13. Mr. Bouncy’s Money collection–lots of websites
14. Piggy Bank
15. US Mint virtual tour (a slideshow)

(more…)

This is for both younger and older students so check these out–pick the ones that work for you:

1. America’s Story
2. America–Colonies
3. American Indians
4. Civil War I video
5. Civil War II video
6. Civil War—reconstruction—video
7. Colonial America–life
8. Growth of the USA
9. Historic speeches
10. Jamestown Adventure Game
11. Mt. Vernon
12. Native American Conflicts
13. Oregon Trail—all about 
14. Oregon Trail—virtual tour
15. Patriot Spy–Deliver a covert message to Paul Revere
16. Picturing America
17. RR—inventing
18. Timelines
19. Transcontinental Railroad video
20. Underground Railroad
21. US History Map Game
22. USA Games

(more…)

Space units are always exciting. Part of it’s the history, but a lot is that space is our final frontier, a wild  untamed land that man knows so little about. I have a list of over 20 websites I use to support this theme for K-8. Here are 10 of my favorites:

100,000 Stars

100,000 Stars is an interactive visualization of the stellar neighborhood showing the real location of over 100,000 nearby stars. You can zoom in on 87 major named stars including our Sun. There’s a brief introduction and a longer tour students can take to get acquainted with the program. From there, it’s intuitive to use with many of the same browsing tools students are used to from other programs.

100,000 Stars is programmed by space enthusiasts at Google. The introductory music is mesmerizing. Put your headphones on and fly.

(more…)

April 22nd is Earth Day. Celebrate it with your students by letting them visit these websites:

1. Breathing Earth
2. Breathing Earth YouTube Video–of CO2 use, population changes, and more
3. Conservation Game
4. Earth day collection
5. Earth Day—NASA Ocean Currents
6. Eco-friendly house
7. Eeko World
8. Ecotourism Simulation–for grades 4 and above
9. Electrocity
10. Footprint calculator
11. Home of the Future
12. My Garbology
13. NASA City

(more…)

Many Christians celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. The Easter date depends on the ecclesiastical approximation of the March equinox. This year, it’s March 31st. Here are some websites your students will love:

1. Easter color-me (for Kindergarten/first grade)
2. Easter Color Me to print or import to drawing program
3. Easter games II
4. Easter games III
5. Easter games IV
6. Easter poems and songs (to play online)
7. Easter Puppies–video
8. Easter puzzles and games
9. Easter songs for kids
10. Easter story--the Easter Egg–video
11. Easter Word hunt (Starfall)

(more…)

After you’ve looked at these 28 sites, there’s no reason to print student work and stick it on a wall. You have too many options:

1. Book Cover creator
2. Create a magazine cover
3. Flipboard—organize ideas into mag
4. Go animate
5. Issuu (http://issuu.com/)
6. Newspaper—create a newspaper
7. Newspaper—create a newspaper clipping
8. Newspapers around the world
9. PhotoPeach–online slideshows
10. Poster maker—like an eye chart
11. Posters—8×10 at a time–simple
12. PowerPoint games for kids
13. PowerPoint stuff
14. PowerPoint Templates
15. Prezi
16. Print Posters One Page at a Time
17. Publish the magazines 
18. Scoop-it—organize webpages
19. Screen Capture—full webpage
20. Screencast-o-matic
21. ScreenLeap—screen share for free
22. Turn short stories into books
23. Wideo–create videos online
24. Youblisher to make your pdf documents flappable

(more…)