Talking SMARTBoards & Much More! » Websites

e-Learning for kids

anne marie — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:39:27 +0000

A friend of mine, Marie, sent me a link to e-Learning for Kids and I’m glad she did! It is filled with wonderful free resources…

“Established in late 2004, e-Learning for Kids is a global, nonprofit foundation dedicated to fun and free learning on the Internet for children ages 5 – 12. We offer free, best-in-class courseware in math, science, reading and keyboarding; and we’re building a community for parents and educators to share innovations and insights in childhood education.”

It is available in 4 languages and is very user and SMARTBoard friendly, not to mention the programs are motivating, interactive, fun, educational and some ven have voice input-YEAH!! There are so many great lessons, games, etc.- too many to mention, so head on over and do soem exploring, guaranteed you won’t be disappointed!

iCue

anne marie — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:07:10 +0000

If you haven’t heard/read all the buzz about iCue from NBC Learn, it’s time you did! iCue is an acronym for Immerse, Connect, Understand and Excel. This is a dynamic, fun site that offers access to hundreds of videos, graphs, images. letters, cartoons, etc. and allows you to share information. It’s quite unique. In there own words…

“iCue is a free, online, collaborative learning environment for students and lifelong learners ages 13 and up. It includes discussion forums, fun games and activities, and hundreds of current and historic videos from NBC News. Whether you are joining to improve your grades, connect with friends, or just learn new things, iCue gives you a safe, fun environment for discussion and learning.”

All of this informaiton is correlated to courses in U.S. History, U.S. Government and Politics, English Language and Composition and more. Click on this link for a quick, informative tou r of iCUE. There also is a very extensive FAQ section that will answer any questions you might have about iCUE. You will need to create a free account which is easy and painless. All of this opens the door wide for student collaboration, teacher directed activities and lots of learning! ENJOY!

Triptico is Terrific!

anne marie — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:52:32 +0000

Triptico is a site that every teacher who uses a SMARTBoard should take the time to check out since it offers several free interactive activities that are simply wonderful! I love them all! ENJOY!

HelpKidzLearn

anne marie — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:08:51 +0000

HelpKidzLearn is a collection of free software for young children and those with learning difficulties to play online. The software is catagorized into four sections: Games and Quizzes, Stories and Songs, Creative Play, Find Out About.

Many of the options work very well with the SMARTBoard - I love the Snakes and Ladders game which is very similar to the board game, Shoots and Ladders. This game is awesome for practicing counting skills, eye/hand coordination, turn taking skills, etc. Some of the options also present with audio support- like the Shopping Time Game.

HelpKidzLearn was created and is maintained by Inclusive Technology Ltd. There is a great interactive visual timeline produced by the Down’s Syndrome Association, that once downloaded can be used to easily produce timetables with pictorial clues for young children and those with more complex difficulties. This timeline can be a positive supplement to daily schedule boards to assist students in anticipating transitions and daily schedules. ENJOY!

Magic Studio

anne marie — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:00:26 +0000

Magic Studio is a Network of Interactive Learning that has been on my “need to explore closer” list since this summer. I started to explore it this week and have really found some of the features to be versatile for the SMARTBoards, classroom use (laptops) and on wikis (embed). One of the advantages is that if you create an activity to use on the SMARTBoard you can then embed that into your class wiki for students to use as a review– now that is AWESOME!!! I should note that you do need Macromedia Flash Player 8 or above to use Magic Studio. If you navigate to the Browse feature you will find “great images, video, audio, reference text and interactive resources to customise or to use straight away just as they are.” For example, here is a great pre-made drag and drop review to practice addition (2-10). To use with the SMARTBoard I would view it in full screen. There is a zoom feature so you can make the screen even larger. You could also embed this drag and drop into your wiki or blog as a student review. Here is a link to the Magic Studio Tour which give you an overview of the features. In addition to the drag and drop feature Magic Studio will also allow you to create an interactive image explorer, a timeline, presentation, quiz or a featurette ( text and media). Basically you are adding “hotspots” to create the interactive- very coool!! You can upload your own images, etc. or you can use content from their content channels. Everything you create remains private unless you decide to share it. You can sign up for a free individual account to save and create activities. They also offer an enhanced, paid for service to schools ”wishing to take advantage of cross-platform collaboration, sharing and community building amongst teachers, learners and parents”. ENJOY!

ABC Adventure

anne marie — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:03:34 +0000

Harcourt Publishing has an ABC Adventure interactive game that teaches/reinforces the letters of the alphabet. A keyboard appears on the screen and the player uses their computer keyboard to fill in the missing letters. It has nice voice output and I like that the letters are highlighted. A very basic, effective activity. This is a great activity for students to review the alphabet and practice keyboarding skills. It presents well on the SMARTBoard and you could either have students use the computer attached to the SMARTBoard or use the SMARTBoard keyboard. ENJOY!

ReadWriteThink Calendar

anne marie — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:06:59 +0000

I came across the website, ReadWriteThink Calendar, and wanted to share. What I like about this resource is that it not only presents daily historical information using text and visual supports, but it also gives you links to lesson plans and other resources to give you ideas and to make lesson preparations easier. It also could be a springboard for students to research and report on specific events on the calendar. I envision it being a good resource to reinforce calendar skills, follow directions, cause/affect, etc. when incorporating it with the SMARTBoard. ENJOY!

I also wanted to mention is that some classrooms have incorporated the History Channel’s This Day in History Video into their daily morning activities with positive results. The site is linked to a picture on the SMART Notebook daily calendar and the students simply touch the picture to activate the video. Very direct, with immediate visual feedback– watching the video! ENJOY!

Get Your Web License!

anne marie — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:25:01 +0000

With the start of school upon all of us and the need to stress the need for Internet safety on out “to do” lists I wanted to share a fun PBS site to teach, reinforce and review Internet safety for elementary students called Get Your Web License. Students take a “driving test” by answering specific questions regarding Internet safety and earn their “license” when they have correctly answered all of the questions and completed the “driving test”. If you are reviewing skills with students as a class this activity presents very well on the SMARTBoard. This activity would also be a great activity for parents to do with their children at home. ENJOY!

The Plural Girls- double the learning fun!

anne marie — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:31:07 +0000

The Plurals Girls is a fun game on FunBrain.com that reinforces identifying plurals. “Twin sisters Pearl and Flora lost their friends in the bubble machine. Help them get their friends out by choosing the correct plural form of the given word.”With each correct answer a friend appears from the bubble machine. 8 correct answers ends the game. There are two difficulty levels for each game. The multiple choice options work well with the SMARTBoard since the game gives you two answers and you simply touch your answer. With the fill in the blank options you need to type/spell your answers. You could utilize the SMART On-Screen Keyboard to type the answers, as long as the cursor is in the answer box.

So if you need a game to reinforce/practice plurals head on over and introduce yourself to The Plural Girls, Pearl and Flora, they’re sure to make you smile- ENJOY!

PhotoPeach

anne marie — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:24:01 +0000

I have been using PhotoPeach for some time now to create quick and easy slide shows to introduce or review/reinforce a concept. Today I received an email from the folks at PhotoPeach saying that they had added some new and improved features. As they explained:

1. New Peachy Editor to Help You Tell Better Stories Online!
- Choose where to show the caption on each photo (center or bottom)
- Explain your stories in more detail by inserting a blank slide with text only.
- One-Click Duplicate photos to make better explanations and transitions.

2. Fine-Grain Speed Control Options

3. Introducing the All-New Quiz Concept to the PhotoPeach service.

Adding a quiz to slide show- how coooooool is that. There are so many classroom applications! You simply type in the question and give a choice of 3 answers. Love it! The best thing is that all of the new features are very easy to use and as always the slideshows present great on the SMARTBoard and embed wonderfully in your blog or wiki.

Here’s a quick PhotoPeach I created of our gardens. ENJOY!
gardens on PhotoPeach