With Christmas fast approaching I thought it would be nice to have some Christmas links not only to do with your class but with your children during the holidays. Have fun exploring.
1. How stuff works from TLC has some Christmas Carols games.
2. TeachHub has the top 10 Holiday Activities.
3. Kirigami for kids-Origami is folding paper but Kirigami is cutting paper. Hoe fun making snowflakes and many other things.
4. Digital snowflakes This site has music you can play while creating. It may be good for smart board or mimeo. It would go well with the biography Snowflake Bentley and we have a copy in the library.
5. 12 Days of Christmas– There are only 5 links for the 12 days of Christmas. The 5th is the Ultimate Winter Resources for teachers. I believe they have redeemed themselves with this one.
6.Bonus: Northpole.com– Many, many activities here to include writing personalized stories. May be fun for your class party on Friday.
I hope you can find something you can use in this newsletter. If you do, please make a comment.
We will continue this week with our electronic book reports with a focus on setting this time.
1. Museum Box – Students can build a collection of things that represent a character, a setting, and/or plot. Very fun and interactive. You can use the things that are on the site already or upload your photos. It does require a user name and password.
2. Magazine Cover: Big huge labs has several great digital projects for students. This link will take you to the page to create a magazine cover. Students should have a template before going to this site as you cannot save to the site. Upload a picture and then add in the text. Font size and color can be change. These can be printed out but not saved.
3. Photo Time Lines – There are three photo timelines that you could use for history projects or projects for a book report. Photos can be uploaded and put into a time line. It reminds me of Animoto but it is linear. Those three sites are: VuVox, Tiki-Toki, and Capzules. Use the one that is most useful to you. All three sites do require you to create a user name and password since you will be uploading pictures to their site.
4. The Newspaper Generator: The link will take you to a site that will help you create a newspaper article. There is a caution to not use real newspaper titles. The image can be downloaded and then put on a website or printed out.
I hope you can find something you can use in this newsletter. If you do, please make a comment.
Late in October I went to a workshop at Region 12 with a focus on electronic book reports. These next few Clicks will be from that workshop. These are clicks that I found more useful and more fun for kids.
1. Scholastic ’ s Character Scrapbook – This great part of Scholastic ’ s site will allow students to create an avatar of the character and tell you a lot about the character. It can be printed out but can not be saved so a template should be created for the student to use as a prewriting tool.
2. Bio-Cube – This is from Read-Write-Think and comes with a planning sheet. It is designed for a biography type project and can be printed out. It can be hard to change sides of the cube. Check it out before assigning to your students.
3. My Fake Wall – Here is a site that you can create a fake Facebook page. There is a page already made and you must make the changes. Here is a link for a template for this activity.
4. Fake Tweet Builder- This site is where students can create a conversation between characters or interview a character from a book or from history.
5. Talking Characters: There are several sites where students can create an avatar or use a picture and record a voice to make the picture or avatar talk. Those sites are:
Voki – create an avatar and then record your voice.
Blabberize- Use photos to create a talking photo.
Fotobabble – Use photos to create a talking photo.
6. Bonus: Voicethread- Students can create a voice thread and others can comment on it. Good for biography reports or report on a book. Can be put on line or viewed digitally. Can also be used for digital storytelling.
I hope you can find something you can use in this newsletter. If you do, please make a comment.
This week ’ s click are focused around language arts. The clicks I have looked at this week an be used as writing tools. They go from teaching the skills to actually using and creating things. I hope you and your students have fun with these things. If you or your students create something make sure you share it on your website or through email.
1. LittleBirdTales- Students can create a story using this online activity. You need to create a free account and there is an option to create a school account. Students can upload pictures for their pages and then type and/or narrate the story. This could be used as a writing activity or for a narrated report. You can save contacts so you can email the finished project to a grandparent or parent.
2. Fake iPhone Text – Students can type in conversations between two characters in a novel, two people in history, or could do an interview of a character in a book or history. You type in a conversation between two people and then you click create it takes out who the people are. You could create a conversation between two characters in a novel you are reading and based on the conversation the students could infer who are the speakers. You can use it from the link or download on to your computer.
3. Skillswise-English- This site, from the BBC, is designed for adults to work on basic language skills, but could be useful in an elementary classroom or if you know of an adult who needs to and wants to work on their language skills. There are simple games and short videos that will bring home the point in minimal of time. Topics include Reading, Writing, Spelling ( caution here the English spell things differently at times ) Word and sentence grammar, and speaking and listening. The videos could be useful as an anticipatory set or in providing purpose as to why we teach these skills. The videos are of adults using the skills in real life.
4. Toondoo- This is a cartoon developer. Students can write and illustrate their own cartoons. Could be used in may different subject areas. This could be used as a Rockin Reader project. You do need a user name and password to create, but access is instant. Have fun!5. ZooBurst – First you need to create a login. Once logged in you can create a profile. While the basic account is free, if you want more features there is a monthly fee. You must write something on the page before the pictures will move to the page. Colors can be changed and pictures can be uploaded.
I hope you can find something you can use. If you do, please make a comment.
