Read across America -- March 2, 2014

Read across America is fast approaching. Click here for more information about read across America.  I wanted to provide all of you with some fun and interactive resources. These sites can be used on your interactive whiteboard or computer station in your classroom. Here are some of my  favorites:

• Seussville - For all things Dr. Seuss

• Seuss Lorax : Save the Trees game - You are in charge of the Truffula seeds. And Tuffula seeds are what everyone needs! Catch 10 little seeds in the bucket and then you can replant the Truffula forest again! 

• Catch a Thing Game that requires keen hand-eye coordination. Move the arrow keys to catch the "THINGS" that keep messing up the house!

• ABC Hide and Seek Each letter flap has a picture behind it. Click on the letter that the picture begins with. 

• Cat's Concentration Game  Multi-level concentration game. Level 1 - Match the Dr. Seuss character pictures. Level 2 - Match characters from Dr. Seuss books to his story titles. 

• Sing Along A Sing-a-long with lyrics scrolling in the background. 

• Dr. Seuss Patterns (Sticker Game) Drag an image to complete the pattern. Patterns are pictures. Color clues are given. Characters are from Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish - Two Fish - Red Fish - Blue Fish and Dr. Seuss's ABC's. 

Looking for more Dr. Suess fun? Click here for more interactives. What will you read with your class on read across America? 

Has it been 100 days already?

Good morning! I don't know about you, but the 100th day of school is fast approaching if it hasn't not occurred already. Below are some interactive activities to do in your classroom all around the number 100. 

• Count – interactive book from starfall count to 100 

• Hundreds chart- Count along to 100 with this hundred chart

• Splat - splat the squares to 100. Paint the squares with a splat of paint as you count to 100

• Bones - Can you find the 10 missing bones as you count to 100? 

Looking for more? Here are some more activities for the 100th day of school. 

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! 

Guest Post: Elaine Hirsch: How iPad Textbooks can be Used in Schools

Guest Post by Elaine Hirsch

Thank you Elaine for developing another blog post about a critical piece in our educational system.

How iPad Textbooks can be Used in Schools

As technological innovation continues in our modern society, changes in the delivery of content are now foremost. Desktop and laptop computers quickly became more commonplace after their initial appearance, and it will be the same in the case of e-readers and tablet computers. While many think the novelty of the iPad will be short-lived, a strong camp of thinkers is promoting iPads as the next classroom revolution.

iPads are at this point still the most technologically innovative and user-friendly tablets available. The iPad offers mobile multimedia options, thus kicking learning up a notch as an entertaining way to engage students in a slim, portable package. Many teachers from elementary schools to master's degree programs realize the future of textbooks will be digital, both to save paper and energy, and for easier distribution.

Therefore, the logical step is to use the latest innovation in personal computing tools to be able to access these textbooks. Schools in 600 districts across the nation are already supplying their students with new iPads.

George Fox University in Oregon has attracted students by giving out laptops to incoming freshmen since 1991. This has always been an expensive program, and officials have considered dropping it. However, offering iPads might prove just as attractive to prospective students for half the cost of the laptops they've been offering.

The principal at Burlington High School in suburban Boston sees the iPad as a more cost-efficient alternative to textbooks. The iPad's $500 price tag seems like an intensive budget drain, but in the long term the savings are significant. Multiple textbooks (and buying new editions) per student easily exceed this amount every year. On the other hand, digital textbooks can be updated by the publishers with ease and at somewhat reduced cost.

Even schools with smaller budgets are purchasing the tablets. Woodford County High School in Kentucky is the first public school in the state to give every single one of its 1,250 students a new iPad. The school is using the iPads for digital textbooks, and for the many subject-specific learning apps, such as Star Walk for astronomy, Molecules for biology, iTranslate for language courses, and many more.

The iPad is front and center in the future of education. By engaging students through multimedia, this isn't just an entertaining tech gadget; it's a novel educational device.

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 2

The first session I attended was about how to create an online school for a district. This session really inspired me. These are the notes and tips I received from the session:

Online learning panel  session

• There is no such thing as  a one size fits all online learning needs of kids, teachers, and administrators
• online learning is an agent of change
• Create individual plans and schedules for students which accommodates their own learning path
• can give acceleration to students, along with remediation if needed
• online learning is a quality option
• under promise and over deliver
• education is changing there is now choice
• paradigm shift - education in a new light
• asynchronous or synchronous learning or blended learning
• Need passion, drive, dedication
• be flexible

• How to get an online school started?
• look at this as a new school
• review policies
• focus on students and learning
• purpose of the school
• bring students and teachers into communication
• information for parents regarding policies, procedures, rules
• communication is key
• parent and student buy in
• support for teachers who are going into a virtual world (training, workshops, updates).
• engagement - find engaging activities online, not just reading and writing
• visionary planning
• goal setting
• research and outreach
• reflect
• align curriculum with goals
• don’t rush it!
• all about customer service perspective
• monetary investment
• learn from mistakes

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!

You Tube Alternatives

Looking for a way to incorporate You Tube videos in the classroom? Does your school block You Tube? Well here are some alternatives to You Tube:

Youtube for education - Sign up for an account for YouTube in the classroom. Receive informative emails about how to utilize YouTube in the classroom.


Next Vista is a video sharing site that is run by Google Ceriftified Teacher. Found on Free Tech 4 Teachers

Kideos is a collection of kid friendly videos. The videos are categorized by age range (from 2 to 10) and by category.

Neo K12 has cataloged the best free online educational videos from the Internet in one place.


CNN Student News is a web show highlighting stories. Found on Free Tech 4 Teachers


Academic Earth lectures and courses from the top Universities. Found on Free Tech 4 Teachers


School tube- Hosts school related videos

Watch Know is a resource for you and your students, collecting the best free educational videos for children and made them findable and watchable on one website

To see more You Tube alternatives or to find some ways to make You Tube more kid friendly please visit The Tubes

As the new school year begins...

As the new school year begins, I am sure you are all thinking how do we get some cash for all the materials that we need?

I would like to point you towards...Goodsearch. Getting money for your school is as simple as searching the net! I have used Goodsearch in my former position as a technology integration teacher, and we raised approximately $70 just by searching!


How did we do it?

• Sent home flyers with the students
• Posted flyers in the teacher's lounge
  
• Emailed colleagues, administration, and all staff about the benefits of Goodsearch
  
• Put Goodsearch as the homepage on the laptop computers
• Downloaded the Goodsearch toolbar
  
• Put the badge on my blog
• For more info about how to spread the word about Goodsearch go here
  

Learn more

• A direct quote from the Goodsearch site, "Here's an easy way to raise money for your favorite cause. Just start using Yahoo! powered GoodSearch.com as your search engine and they'll donate about a penny to your favorite cause every time you do a search! In addition, do all of your shopping through their online shopping mall, GoodShop.com, where you can shop at more than 2,400 top online retailers and a percentage of your purchases will go to the charity or school of your choice. You pay the same price as you normally would, but a donation goes to your cause!"

• For more information here is a link to the FAQ's
  

• Still have questions? Here is a link to a 15 minute webinar. The 15 minute webinar will show the new features of GoodSearch. Download the webinar here.