Kahn!

Kahn Academy is a web site that started out with math tutorial videos. Now it also has self-paced exercises where students can navigate a "knowledge map" and earn points and badges. Parents and teachers can even sign up and be a coach. It would a great enrichment tool for fourth grade students and up.

Sheppard Software

This week first and second grade students are doing activities on a web site called Sheppard Software. First grade students are creating animal habitats on the Create! page. Second grade students are practicing parts of speech, punctuation, and capitalization on the Grammar page. These pages and much of the Sheppard web site are great for using with the SMARTboard and classroom laptops, not to mention at home.

Google Shared Spaces

In an earlier post I showed how you can set up a document where students can add and edit text together from different computers using Etherpad. What if you want them to do something more than text? Then Google Shared Spaces is your site! You can create a drawing pad, Sudoku game, diagram editor, and many other things. Here is a computer class version of Magnetic Poetry that I made. Once a shared space is created, you can create a link to it on your webpage or in the student shared folder.

Writing Comics

Third grade students are using the Professor Garfield Comics Lab to make their own comic strips. First they search for recent strips by creator Jim Davis and browse through them for ideas. After that the students use the Garfield characters in each panel and write what they say in speech bubbles. Lastly, the class walks around and reads each other's strips.

EtherPad: Working Together

EtherPad is an amazing web site! You create a "pad" and put a link to it in the student shared space. Your students can then access it and work on it together. All of them can edit, add, and delete text, and it keeps track of who does what. Students can even use the chat portion to discuss what they are doing. The final document can be copied or exported to other file types.

Calculator Chaos

Fourth grade students are trying the web site Calculator Chaos. The students have a "broken" calculator with only a few buttons that work. The have to find a way to make all of the numbers appear on the screen before time runs out. If they make it, they can put their time up on the SMARTboard.

Patterns and Symmetry

This week third grade students experimented with patterns using the web pages SnowFlaker and KaleidoDraw. They made patterns using LinoTiler and Tessalate! Teachers, all four sites are lots of fun to use on a SMARTboard.

Copyright on the Web

This week fourth grade students are using the resource Copyright on the Web to learn about and discuss copyright laws and how they pertain to school projects.

StoryMaker

This week second grade students are listening to the book Horton Hears a Who. Then they are using the Seussville Storymaker to create their own story. The web site has characters and backgrounds from the story that students can use. They choose music to go with each scene and write the words for the characters.

Mad About the Parts of Speech

This week third grade students are practicing the parts of speech, including singular and plural nouns, adjectives, present and past tense verbs, and adverbs. They are using a "Mad Libs" type web page called Wacky Web Tales. Students fill in the blanks and the web shows them their story.

SMART Notebook Express

SMART Notebook Express is an online tool for viewing SMART Notebook files. It is a great way for students to use Notebook on our new mini-laptops. Below are directions for opening files from the Student Shared folder.

Enchanted Learning

Enchanted Learning is a great web site. It has grade level information and pictures for kids and activities and resources for teachers. When printing, please print in black and white as much as possible, and please only print one copy and make the others on a copier. Most of the resources are free. Charlevoix Elementary School has a member subscription for its staff. I sent the information out earlier this year, but drop me an email if you need it again.

20Q and Whomp

Third grade students are using two interactive web sites this week: 20Q and Whomp! With 20Q the computer uses its database to ask yes or no questions and narrow down the possibilities until it comes up with an answer. Whomp is a Boggle type game where you try to make more and longer words than the monster you are playing against. Both activities help reading and cognitive thinking skills.

Keep Safe, Keep Away, Keep Telling

In third and fourth grade students are allowed to browse school appropriate web sites on the Internet after turning in a signed Acceptable Use Policy. This doesn't mean that students don't go on the Internet until then. Instead of browsing, they get to go on sites chosen by teachers.

This week first and second grade went on the Internet. First grade used the educational sites found on K2 Links. Second grade students browsed the Charlevoix Public Schools web site. Both grades discussed safety on the Internet and to remember Keep Safe, Keep Away, and Keep Telling. Students should keep safe by not typing their name or any other information on the Internet. They should keep away from strangers on the Internet and never meet them anywhere. Finally, they should keep telling parents and teachers about anything strange on the Internet.

LibraryThing

Back in June of 2007 I read about LibraryThing in a magazine. It was a place on the Internet to catalog your books. It would give you recommendations based on your library, and there were groups to join to discuss books with others. The first 200 books you enter are free. Besides just keeping track of my library, I also keep a list of books I have read and books I want to read. I keep track of the books I use at school, and I use a LibraryThing widget to show those book on the side of this blog. Whether you are a teacher or a parent, I highly recommend checking out this web site. Click here to see my profile page and get an idea of what is possible.

Computers Are...Wordle

Wordle is a web site where you enter text and it makes it into a "cloud." Words that are entered more often are shown larger than words that don't occur as much. Here is a Wordle cloud made from a project I did with fourth grade. Students had to think of things to finish the statement "Computers are..." I copied and pasted their results into Wordle, removed their names, and out came the cloud! If you are going to print your cloud, please keep clicking Randomize until you get a white background.

What's in a Name?

Fourth grade recently reviewed the three ways to get around on the Internet while researching names. First they used a link to go find an acronym for their initials. Then they searched Google for an anagram web site. Finally they used the adress bar to go to a designated baby name web site to find out what their names mean.

Type to Learn (and Have Fun)

Looking back, my typing class was one of the most valuable classes I took in high school. Being able to touch type is an important skill when it comes to effectively using a computer. Students at Charlevoix Elementary start to get to know the keyboard in kindergarten. They become familiar with the Enter key and spacebar, as well as the numbers and letters. First grade students use the Shift key and start to use both hands in the fall. By February they have learned the letters on the Home Row and are starting to type some other letters with their hands in the proper positions. Second grade students spend 10 to 15 minutes each week on the web site Dance Mat Typing. The classes spend at least two weeks on each of the 12 stages. Third and fourth grade students spend 15 minutes each week in the self paced application Type to Learn.

Although these things all help the students on their way to being good typists, the best in class are usually those students who practice at home. There are many software choices such as Typing Instructor for Kids for newer computers or Jump Start Typing for older ones. Households with Internet access can practice on the Dance Mat Typing web site mentioned above. Other sorces include TypingWeb, GoodTyping, and Learn2Type. Good keyboarding skills don't just come from typing. Students who play the piano are practicing the same eye-hand coordination "keyboard" skills.