Sam's Cool Tools for the Classroom: learn

Showing posts with label learn. Show all posts

Monday, September 3, 2012

5 fun back to school interactives

Looking for some fun back to school activities for your students to play online? Well look no further below are five fun back to school interactives to use in your classroom!

Emily Elizabeth goes to school - Interact with Emily Elizabeth and Clifford about her day at school.

Back to school printables - Several back to school printables including mini soduko

Back to school interactive pages - Interactive back to school coloring pages

Back to school wordsearch - Interactive back to school word search, words go across and down only; uses basic vocabulary.

Back to school crossword - back to school crossword puzzle.

To find more back to school activities click here!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Diggin' Dinosaurs

This blog post is about dinosaur interactive activities, tools, and sites to use when teaching about dinosaurs.

'triceratops' photo (c) 2011, Michael - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Dig those dinosaurs - Match the pictures on the cards Found on Smartboard Goodies

Dino Data - Learn about many different dinosaurs with this dino-base.

Match and hatch - match the the dinosaur eggs to the right dinosaur.

Make a dinosaur This dinosaur games lets you change the way your dinosaur looks.

Dino match - Match dinosaurs with their shadows. Learn the names of a few of the most popular dinosaurs.

Digging for Dinosaurs! - Play this dino cyberhunt.

Is it real or is it make-believe? Show us that you know the difference!

To dig into more dino games and sites check this out.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

New to the special education process?

This one is for you parents, caregivers, or students who are new to the special education referral process. Here are some great links and resources for those of you who are brand new to the whole world of special education:

CEC's tool of the week - Here are some free downloads available from the Council of Exceptional Children (CEC). These are all great downloads for any stage of special education. Some downloads include: driver's ed, understanding special education, and more.
Special education news - Here is a great resource that has history of special education, and trending topics regarding special education.
FAPE - Here is a great resource all about FAPE - Free and Appropriate Public Education
IDEA - Click here to learn about the IDEA - Individual's with Disabilities Education Act.
IEP - Here is a great site about the IEP process.
NCLB - No child left behind - learn all about it here.

Have Twitter? Here are some special education related hash-tags:

#sped
#spedchat
#specialneeds
#spedtech
#autism
#adhd
#asd

Thursday, November 17, 2011

TRETC conference part 3

The second session I attended was about learning portals. Learning portals are a great way to extend learning outside the walls of the classroom.

Walls come tumbling down

http://learningportals.wikispaces.com

What are learning portals?
real time learning
diverse learning
24/7
provides more resources
discussion boards
polls
reminders/calendars
contact
enrichment and review
links and resources
videos / podcasts
class notes

paradigm shift in instructional design
we need to change the way we think to present information differently
We don’t need to know how to code or know how to create websites to create a learning portal
A learning portal is never finished it is fluid and grows
this is a blended approach used for supplementation
digital divide is shifting from have and have not to know how and not know how to

Tools to create a learning portal:

wikispaces.com
wix.com
wordpress.com
edublogs.com
weebly.com
googlesites.com
wetpaint.com
pbwiki
moodle
jimdo
webs
webstarts
ning
moogo

Things to put on your webpage

animoto
crocdoc
slideshare
coveritlive
screecast
edistorm
quizlet
glogster
khanacademy

Resources

edistorm - similar to wallwisher free post it not bulletin board, able to vote on ideas!
coursesites.com - free online management of instruction, tools, assessment

TRETC conference part 1

Good morning. I thought I would take some time to discuss the TRETC conference that I attended yesterday with a colleague of mine. Here are some notes from the keynote speaker panel.

Gregg Behr - keynote speaker along with panelist

great time to be a kid to learn about informal learning - anytime, anywhere learning
kids today are learning anytime and anyplace
Neil

students can create sites, videos, blogs, podcast, etc as independent study or differentiated instruction assignments

Traci Blazosky

give students choices regarding assignments (tic tac toe board)
go on virtual field trips with your class by using google earth
combination with Web 2.0 tools such as Glogster, blabberize
technology evens the playing field for projects and assignments.

Dr. Wilder

find your element
ask students
let students find their dreams

Karen Cater

education is a matter of national security and economic development
challenge students get them fully engaged
shift to digital learning environment from paper based
learn from people, books, and interfaces
accessibility is vital
text to speech, video calls online
assistive tech and accessible options are made for individuals with disabilities, but are used everyday by others
opportunity to learn and engage at this time are strong

Badges or achievements in formal education

informal learning spaces
badges for mastery of topics learned
move to competency based system

Resources from the keynote:

https://sites.google.com/a/propelschools.org/theplaneteers/ - recylcing site made by a student from Propel School in Pittsburgh, PA
www.b-7bobcats.wikispaces.com - Traci Blosky’s site
Cha-ching - earn, save, spend, donate, financial literacy
http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/ - great way to review and learn about bugs in your own backyard!