Tag: lists

5 Favorite Websites for K-5

One of the biggest problems I face as a technology teacher is the wealth of information out there for teachers, parents, students. I try to stay on top of it (as you who subscribe to my hook-76785_640Weekend Websites know), but there is so much more than I can cover with one-a-week.

So, this week, I’m giving you 5. You will love these. I find myself sharing them with colleagues in answer to their tech ed needs so decided it was time to share them with you also:

BrainPop Game Up

BrainPop offers a great group of games for science, math, social studies, and health–all easy to maneuver, age-appropriate and fun learning. The gamification of education is alive and well at BrainPop

Fly Across America

This is a gorgeous eight-minute tour across America via biplane. It took my classes by storm.

Knowmia

Filled with Free video tutorials and interactive materials for your students. This is a website and an app with tutorials, over 10,000 lessons, ‘knowledge maps’ for chemistry and biology, even a how-to for creating video lessons.

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Valentine Sites For Your Students

 2 Comments on Valentine Sites For Your Students

red-47950_640Here are some fun Valentine sites to fill those few minutes betwixt and between lessons, projects, bathroom breaks, lunch, and everything else:

  1. Apps
  2. Drag-and-drop
  3. Dress up the heart
  4. Google Drawings Magnetic Poetry from Ctrl Alt Achieve
  5. Games and puzzles
  6. Games and stories
  7. ‘I love you’ in languages Afrikaans to Zulu
  8. Line up the hearts
  9. Match
  10. Mouse skills
  11. Poem generator
  12. Puppy jigsaw
  13. Rebus game
  14. Sudoku
  15. Tic-tac-toe
  16. Typing
  17. Unscramble
  18. Write in a heart

Do you have any I missed?

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17 Topics to Teach K-8 About Digital Citizenship

Education has changed. No longer is it contained within four classroom walls or the physical site of a school building. Students aren’t confined by the eight hours between the school bell’s chimes or the struggling budget of an underfunded program.

Now, education can be found anywhere, by teaming up with students in Kenya or Skyping with an author in Sweden or chatting with an astrophysicist on the International Space Station. Students can use Google Earth to take a virtual tour of a zoo or a blog to collaborate on class research. Learning has no temporal or geographic borders, available wherever students and teachers find an internet connection.

This vast landscape of resources is offered digitally (more and more), freely (often), and equitably (hopefully), but to take that cerebral trek through the online world, children must know how to do it safely, securely, and responsibly. This used to mean limiting access to the internet, blocking websites, and layering rules upon rules hoping (vainly) that students would be discouraged from using an infinite and fascinating resource.

It didn’t work.

Best practices now suggest that instead of cocooning students, we teach them to be good digital citizens, confident and competent in 17 areas:

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18 Thanksgiving Sites For Your Students

Need a few websites to fill in sponge time? Here are Thanksgiving sites that will keep students busy and still teach them (check here for updates):

  1. Various Thanksgiving websites–BillBear 4 Kids
  2. Online/Offline Thanksgiving activities–some require a computer, others not so much
  3. Thanksgiving information–history, poems, and more
  4. Starfall–Silly Turkey
  5. Thanksgiving Tic-tac-toe
  6. Thanksgiving Jigsaw
  7. Thanksgiving Jigsaw II
  8. Thanksgiving Games
  9. Thanksgiving games–Quia
  10. Thanksgiving educational websites from CybraryMan
  11. Thanksgiving Wordsearch
  12. Thanksgiving activities
  13. The First Thanksgiving
  14. Thanksgiving Lesson Plans
  15. Thanksgiving Online Coloring Book
  16. Thanksgiving Webquest
  17. You are the historian–Thanksgiving
  18. Thanksgiving video–Brainpop

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Weekend Website #114: 55 Digital Citizenship Links

Understanding how to use the internet has become a cornerstone issue for students. No longer do they complete their research on projects solely in the library. Now, there is a vast landscape of resources available on the internet.

But with wealth comes responsibility. As soon as children begin to visit the online world, they need the knowledge to do that safely, securely, responsibly. I’ve collected resources here so you can make your choices.

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tech problems

Do You Make These 9 Mistakes

…with your child’s computer education?tech ed

  • Show your child how to do something rather than allowing him to discover
  • Do for them rather than let them do it
  • Say ‘no’ too often (or the other enthusiasm-killer, Don’t touch!)
  • Don’t take them seriously
  • Take technology too seriously. It’s a tool, meant to make life easier. Nothing more.
  • Underestimate their abilities
  • Over-estimate their abilities
  • Give up too quickly
  • Think there’s only one way to do stuff on the computer

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hour of code

16 Great Virtual Field Trips

walk through a forestI have searched long and hard for the type of virtual tour that immerses you in the environment. They’re harder to find than you’d think. Lots of sites promise ‘virtual tours’ and deliver pictures. Somehow, that doesn’t cut it.

Finally, I have a list I can recommend. Some covers acres of land, some a single bone, but all are amazing. See what you think (check here for updates):

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Tech Tip #28: 5 Ways to Fix a No-Sound Problem–For Free

[caption id="attachment_9295" align="alignright" width="117"]tech tricks for K-8[/caption]

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: I can’t get any sound out of my computer. Do I need a new sound card?

A: Before you invest that kind of money, try these easy fixes:

  • Are headphones plugged in?
  • Is the volume turned up?
  • Are speakers plugged in? This is my personal favorite. About once a year, this happens to me. The solution is exacerbated because I can’t reach the back of my CPU (the tower) to check the plugs. Can’t being a relative word, because I do finally do so and my problem is fixed!
  • Is the sound muted? Check the icon on the systray, or the collection of icons in the lower right corner of your monitor.
  • Are the speakers broken? Plug in a set of speakers that you know work. Does that fix it?

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book review

Weekend Website #110: 89 Resources for Teachers

I know summer just started. You’re relaxing, reading the stack of books that collected on your nightstand, planting the flowers you were supposed to take care of in April, but, well, teaching came first.

Bookmark this page and when you’re ready to look at some teacherly resources, come back. I’ve collected 89 great resources to make your job easier–everything from grading rubrics, online quizzes, audio books, utilities, to puzzle creators and more.

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Weekend Website #94: 9 Websites to Teach Writing

Here’s a quick list of websites I use to teach 3rd graders how to write (check here for updates):

  1. Adventure Island
  2. Character Trading Cards
  3. Context Clues Game
  4. Context Clues Millionaire
  5. Friendly Letter Maker
  6. Identify the Main Idea
  7. Main Idea Battleship
  8. Using a table of contents
  9. Words in Context

This isn’t robust enough. Please add a comment with websites you’ve found valuable in teaching the techniques of writing to third graders.

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