Reading and Technology: 2011

Thursday, May 5, 2011

IPads in the Classroom

Kathy Schrock's educational links are always helpful to teachers of all levels. She has great
organizational ideas, forms you can use, links to wonderful sites. She also stays in the know
with new technology. Check out this link for education related Ipad Links.

https://sites.google.com/site/schrockipad/

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Techie Tips - Techie Tips and Terrific Websites

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

SMART BOARD Sites

I recently attended the Illinois Reading Conference in Springfield, IL. There were several sessions on the
use of SMART or Interactive White Boards in the classroom. This session was upsetting for all involved because the SMART board the presenter was provided with was not compatible with her laptop/projector or something like that.. The presenter gave us her website to go check out, so I will now give credit for the following SMART Board Lesson/Activiites/Sites to April Flood. Her website is : www.ux1.eiu.edu/~adflood

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Math, Social Studies and Science Apps for your iPad

Okay, so this is named Reading and Technology, but everyone knows that reading is not limited to knowing your letters and blending them, or to identifying the main idea of a story. Reading spans all content areas. I attended a conference recently in Chicago and received a great list of iPad Apps for all subjects. I already listed Reading Apps in an earlier blog with promises of Math Apps yet to come. I decided to include Social Studies and Science Apps as well. Enjoy, and please comment with Apps that you have tried that you especially liked, or with new Apps that I have not included that you use. It's show and tell time!

Math Apps:

Math on the Tree - A really nice app specially designed for kids above 18 months old. The little squirrel will teach your kids to learn addition and subtraction. (Hey..you have to start somewhere!)
Math Order HD - train mathematical order of operations on your iPad. Choose whether to allow division, negative answers and even use a timer to see how many exercises you can solve in a certain amount of time. 5 levels of difficulty
Numeracy Skills - Students learn basic math facts. Students have pictures to count and match to numbers.
Math Bingo - Students play bingo with math facts and their answers. Users choose from all operations of math and three different levels.
Cloud Math - Students practice basic math facts.
Math Tappers - This is a game that helps students make sense of addition and subtraction.
Math Tappers Clockmaster - This is a game that works on learning to read analog clocks.
Counting Bills and Coins - Students count and match bills and coins. They also work on making change.
Jungle Time - Students set the analog or digital clocks to show a given time. Can also set the time intervals.
Magic Abacus - Allows students to interact with the Asian calculating tool.
ArithFit - The app allows students to practice math facts but also presents a puzzle concept to the practice that is engaging for individuals of all ages.
Tangram XL - Allows students to manipulate pieces of tangram puzzles and track the amount of time required to complete each.
Fractions apps: Students get to make interactive fractions using things like a pizza or candy bar. There are options to practice equalities or math arithmetic.
Number Line - Students learn about fractions, decimals, and percents by ordering them on a number line.
Geometry Stash - Provides a reference for geometric theories.
MyCalculator Pro - Acts as a graphing calculator and allows students to save their work.
FlashMath - Students can practice math skills ranging from simple math facts to more complicated multiplication and division.
Mathemagics - Users learn tricks/strategies for mental math.

Social Studies Apps:

United States Puzzle Map - Students drag and drop states into the correct location on the map.
World Countries (FREE) - This has trivia and facts about all the countries. Students can take quizzes on the countries, capitals, flags, and maps.
MyCongress (FREE) - Locate congress members, track their news, videos, and twitter feeds, and contact congressman.
Constitution (FREE) - Allows user to search for specific information within the document. Contains biographical information of those who signed the original document.
WORLD BOOK - This Day in History (FREE) - Users are able to access historical information for a given day of the year. Also contains photos, speeches, and national anthems from around the world.
International Diplomacy and World Facts
Manual for the United States of America - Provides copies of America's Founding Documents.
History: Maps of World
History: Maps of US

Science Apps:

GoSkyWatch Planitarium (FREE) - Real life display of sky just by holding divice up at night. Also has over 200 pictures of planets and deep sky objects.
Star Walk - Helps you find stars, constellations and planets.
Periodic Table of the Elements (FREE) - Allows students to select a chemical attribute and chart color codes to show different elements in regards to that trait. App has multiple interactive functions.
Video Science (FREE) Application shows videos of science experiments.
Molecules - (FREE) - Users view and manipulate three-dimensional molecules.

OTHER: Still loving Whiteboard Lite: Collaborative Drawing (FREE) It's pretty awesome. Check it out!

Have a Great Day Everyone. Hope you enjoyed this list and can add to it. I was just asked if these are available for iTouch and some are. Others were just available for the iPad. Thanks!

Pam

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Make a Wordle using http://wordle.net

"Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends."
I have found that Wordles can be used in many ways. Students can introduce themselves to you or to someone else using descriptive words about themselves. Students can describe a character in a story using a wordle. They can make a wordle of all action verbs, or adverbs, or adjectives. They can copy a part of an important speech into a Worldle and the more prominent words will be larger. They can create a Wordle for a poster describing a city, or an activity, such as Basketball. Here is a simple Worldle I created about Reading. Have fun...create your own Worldle.

Click this link to view my Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3194311/Reading

Create your own Worldle at http://wordle.net/

Teaching Reading with the iPad

My most exciting purchase of the year has been my iPad! I am learning more and more about ways to use it with my students in the classroom. It has been very motivating with all age levels. My kindergarten students use the Phonics and ABC Apps to learn letter names, letter sounds, and blending. My first and second graders enjoy many of the educational and memory games as well as the builder apps. My third through fifth graders enjoy the books, board games, and word games. I have recently enjoyed the Flipboard App. I will post some educational Apps here and hope that some of you will add to the list. It seems that new Apps come out every day. I will post Math Apps in my next blog.
Word Game Apps:

Text Twist
Word Seek (very addictive)
Word Solitaire (even more addictive)
Boggle
Solitaire

Just for Fun:

Glow Doodle
Whiteboard Lite: Collaborative Drawing: FREE- This is literally a white board.
Quick Voice FREE- Records any voice recording. Great for capturing students reading or lectures for older students.
Dragon Dictation: FREE - A voice recognition application puts voice to text for email messages.
Plain Text - Saves the dictation so it can be added to a word document.
Drop Box: FREE - Will take the plain documents from one device and transfer to another. Is compatible with a PC. (I REALLY LOVE THIS ONE!)
Tap to Talk - FREE - Turns device into an augmentative communication device using over 2000 pictures. Can incorporate personal pictures or voice.
Guess ' em FREE - This app is similar to the game Guess Who. Great for Language skills practice in questioning.
Dictionary.com - Dictionary and Thesaurus - FREE - Allows students to access dictionary.com through an App without the need for internet access.
FREE French Tutor - Offers a native speaker for all audio instruction. Incorporates puzzles and quizzes into the language learning.
FREE Spanish Tutor: same as above but for Spanish
GigBaby - FREE- Offers four track recorder, metronome, set list manager and drum machine
gWhiz Mobile - Allows users to participate in mobile assessments and audience polling.
HearPlanet - Serves as an audio guide to landmarks and historic sites...ect...
Quotations - 23,000 quotes over 7,000 authors.

Try These:

Kid Apps: 13 in 1
Read Me Stories - Children's Books - Presents a new talking story every day.
ABC Phonics Animas Free Lite -Talking and Spelling
Phonics Made Easy Flash Action - Students are able to practice phonics skills, such as beginning and ending letter sounds, vowel sounds, and rhyming.
Letters A-Z- Students learn letter names and sounds through pictures, audio and short animations for each letter.
Analogy - Students practice problem solving skills, creativity, and analytical thinking through analogies.
iSpell Word - Students listen to pronunciation of letter sounds and whole words, allowing them to learn over 100 simple English words.
Miss Spell's Class - Students check their spelling skills at dictionary.com by determining whether or not commonly misspelled words are presented as correct or incorrect.
Alphabet Flashcard Kids games
Letter Lab: Students trace letters of the alphabet and sare then shown pictures of real objects that correlate with the letter. Has audio to give picture name and sound of the letter.
Smart Kids Fun Educational Learning Games for Kids
Word Magic: Students are given a picture and spoken word. Students choose what letter sound is missing.
Sight Words: Students are given a sight word. They can record their voices saying the word. Students can also touch the screen to have the word read to them.
Super Why - Students play interactive games while working on alphabet, writing, rhyming, reading, and spelling.

Mobile Education Store: Builders

Language Builder - Helps students improve their ability to form sentences when given a picture prompt. Students recored their own voice.
Sentence Builder - Students will scroll through choice of words to build a sentence to describe a picture prompt.
Question Builder - Students are shown a picture and are asked to choose the correct answer to a question about it.
Story Builder - Students are given a picture and asked a question and need to complete the answer.

Board/ Card Games:

Simon Says (memory...hard for me!)
Uno

App of the Year:

Flipboard

NCLB Conference Educational Websites

I recently attended the NCLB Conference in Chicago, IL and learned about some great websites I can use with my students. I decided to include them in my first blog so others can enjoy them as much as I have been upon my return.

www.brainpop.com

www.brainpopjr.com (these are fabulous websites with short video clips on many topics. There are quizzes that go along with every video, as well as vocabulary

instruction and interactive games. A subscription is required for most of these two sites, but there are several videos and games that are available free of charge.

www.starfall.com Everyone seems to know about Starfall, but the website is now expanding with a subscription site. It does offer some free material at this time.

Some teachers use this site for calendar time on the whiteboards and to share online books, songs, games, and short learning videos.

www.spellingcity.com I LOVE THIS SITE! I have recently added the spelling lists for my students here. Once you load your lists (they save), vocabulary definitions and sentences are instantly created for you. You can edit these definitions and add your own definitions as well. Students can play games with the words, take spelling tests and vocabulary quizzes. They get a detailed report of how they did, including what they spelled wrong and the correct spelling. Certificates can also be printed.

I DID HAVE TO REGISTER AT THIS SITE, BUT IT IS FREE TO USE. YOU COULD SIGN UP FOR THE PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP WHICH WOULD COST 49.00. EVERYTHING I HAVE USED IT FOR IS TOTALLY FREE.

http://www.teachers.cr.k12.de.us/~galgano/elemkids.htm A new find! This site is a compilation of materials found all over the web that has been organized by grade levels and topics.

www.scholastic.com More than just book orders! Scholastic offers a variety of resources for teachers, including lesson plans, printables, and a book wizard that provides reading levels and other helpful information. Students have access to blogs, games, and videos.

www.storylineonline.net Children’s literature read by famous actors. This is an online streaming video site maintained by the Screen Actors Guild Association.

www.literacycenter.net/lessonview_en.php Although not a flashy website, this is great for early elementary students, who may need to work on beginning skills, such as matching shapes, learning letter names, and recognizing letters. This site would also be beneficial for students learning how to use a mouse and locating letters on the keyboard.

www.funbrain.com A variety of games for learners of all ages. Games can be sorted by grade level.

http://bensguide.apo.gov/ Benjamin Franklin teaches students about the concept of government, using grade-appropriate examples. A great site to use during whole-group instruction.

www.earobics.com/gamegoo/gooeyhome.html Game Goo offers educational games that focus on early reading skills. These important language arts building blocks

also correlate to state curriculum standards.

http://www.esl-kids.com/ Not just for English language learners. These are flashcards, songs, nursery rhymes, worksheets, and more. Great for grades K-1.