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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Digital Literacy Day

Digital Literacy Day is February 1 so I thought this week we would focus on what I call mega links. These are links that will take you many different places or have many choices of things to do. Like a portal into cyberspace. These links will literally take you hours if you click on everything. You could get lost in cyberspace! Have fun! Lose yourself!

1. A Different Place-This is a different kind of site. It is for students, teachers and parents. It is a place to find differentiated instruction ideas. Have fun searching!

2. Ideas to Inspire-Think of this as a portal to what you need. This will help you drill down to what you want. This site has lots of ideas that you can use and adapt to your classroom.

3. 15+Pintrest boards Teachers should be following-If you aren’t a fan of pintrest yet, you may want to check this out to see what all the hoopla is about. Here are several Pintrest boards that many teachers follow. It’s a great way to get inspired or to share or steal ideas.

4. High Tech Book Reports-This is a wiki from a workshop I attended. There are many, many ways to have students prove they read a book then just a summary. Have them choose one of these. Choose Alternatives link and you will find the reports are separated into topics like plot, setting, and character analysis.

5. Interactive Math Sites– This link will transport you in to Mathland. Do you have a student who you can’t keep challenged? Give them this link and set them exploring.
Have them show you what they found and how you can use it in your class.

6. Bonus– Here is a link from a blog with Groundhog Day activities. I am told the blog owner has just updated the list from last year. Lots of stuff.

I hope you can find something you can use in this newsletter. If you do, please make a comment.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Math

All these links have something to do with Math. I hope you can find something that will enhance your teaching.

1. Yummy Math– Here is a great blog that give you math activities that are real word type problems. Roman Numerals is the most recent since the Super Bowl is soon.

2. Virtual Dice– Here’s a tool for use to use on your Mimeo or Smartboard. You can customize your dice. Type in math problems, sight words, or vocabulary words! It has a limitation of 5 places.

3. Math Charts– Printable math charts for all occasions and skills. There is also a math dictionary from this site as well.

4. Illuminations: Lessons– Need another way to reach students in specific skills? Here is a place where you can search for and find an activity for a specific grade level, topic or, skill. It comes to us from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

5. Tangrams– Here is a site called Mathwire.com. This link will link you to all types of activities for teaching about tangrams.

I hope you can find something you can use in this newsletter. If you do, please make a
comment.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Language Arts

All these links have something to do with language arts. I hope you can find something that will enhance your teaching.

1. Lit Trips-This link will take you to a blog of links where there are Lit Trips divided by grade level. These Lit Trips will allow the students to follow a character, via Google maps, as they go through a book.


2. Scholastic videos-There is a lot of great stuff here. There are professional development videos, author interviews, writing tips, news, and book talk videos.


3. Izzit.orghttp://www.izzit.org/index.php-This site was suggested to me by a co-teacher. Sign up for a 30 day free trial from this educational video site. They have games, contests, and current events with questions. You can search the site using the state standards too! Sign up for a free account and they send you a DVD in the mail. Give them feed back and I’m told they will send you another. I can’t wait for my DVD.


4. Scoop.it– This looks like pintrest to me. I have a great Scoop.it sample from an online friend. Check it out. It looks like a magazine. Lots of great Language arts sites.


5. WackyWebTales– Remember Mad Libs? This site is like that. Students choose a tale, fill in the blanks with a focus on parts of speech and then read the story. You might want to use this for a sponge activity or a special treat. Could also be used at a center.


6. Bonus: Vocabulary games and resources-Students could always use some more vocabulary words. Here are some fun games for students to play and learn at the same time. Some have foreign languages too.


I hope you can find something you can use in this newsletter. If you do, please make a comment.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Teacher Tools Part II

I found so much in my search for teacher tools that this week’s links
are also about tools. These links are to make your life as an educator
a little easier and not spend so much time on school activities and
spend more time with your family. I hope you can find something that will enhance your teaching.



1. Classdojo.com-Site says it is a way to keep track of student behavior, print or email reports. I haven’t checked it out but it was highly recommended to me. Free and log in is required.



2. Google Reader-If you don’t use this resources yet to keep up with reading educational blogs, here is a great resource to explain Google reader to you in simple language.



3. Google Tools in Education-This guide will get you started in using and getting familiar with all the Google tools available to use in your classroom.



4. Google Apps for Education-This is a live binder for Google Apps. If you haven’t used live binders they are a neat way to organize online material.



5. 8 Free tools for teachers from Microsoft– Some of these I have used or told you
about before. Good place to start if you haven’t yet.



6. Bonus:SomeSchoolGames.com-This looks like a great site for online Smarboard
games. Try them out with the Mimeo to enhance your teaching or for students to use
when they are finished with their work. They can also be played online.



I hope you can find something you can use in this newsletter. If you do, please make a comment.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Teacher Tools Part I

Welcome back after our wonderful break. This week’s links are about
tools and links to make your life as an educator a little easier and not
spend so much time on school activities and spend more time with
your family. I hope you can find something that will enhance your teaching.

1. Collaborative teaching tools. This is a blog post that has many links that will link you
to the online tool. Some of these you will be able to use on the Mimeo.



2. Top 10 sites for educational apps. While we don’t have pads on our campus, many teachers have their own devices at home so I included this link for those who do have their own pads.



3. Symbaloo If you don’t keep track of your links yet or put them all on your website,
here is yet another way to keep track of the links you like. There is a post here of a
kindergarten teacher who explains how he manages 2 accounts. One for the master
account and one for the students.



4. Print Friendly &PDF-Have you ever wanted a copy of a website and the website
wouldn’t let you print it or save it? Well, this site will let you do that. Just put in the
URL and then it magically is able to print, put in PDF format or email it to yourself.



5. Apps for Professional Development– Here is a link that will take you to a blog that
has many links to explore. Some of the links I have put in previous clicks. I have a
friend who says if you see it two or three times it’s a sign you need to use it.



6. Bonus: Online stickers-Just another way to keep track of information.


I hope you can find something you can use in this newsletter. If you do, please make a comment.