Saturday, August 31, 2013

A collection of websites good for the classroom!





Web Resources


web resources
Welcome to the web resources page. You will find web 2.0 resources that you can use in the classroom for student engagement and learning. Below is a taste of the types of resources you will find here. It will be updated often, so please make sure you come back and check it out. I will be opening a suggestions area soon, and I hope to see some great websites which you find useful for learning and teaching.

Website LinkDescription
web1 funbrain(NEW) Funbrain
Funbrain, created for kids ages preschool through grade 8, offers more than 100 fun, interactive games that develop skills in math, reading, and literacy. Plus, kids can read a variety of popular books and comics on the site, including Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amelia Writes Again, and Brewster Rocket. Funbrain’s games help students acquire new skills in reading, math, and problem solving.
web1 play kids games(NEW) Play Kids Games
Play Kids Games provides free online kids games that are both fun and educational. Aimed at ages pre-K through middle school, it offers kids a safe environment to discover their abilities and learn new skills with interactive and fun computer games. Our games build skills in math, logic, memory, vocabulary, alphabet, spelling, geography, computer skills, colour identification, shape identification and other various problem solving. Teachers can also create their own games.
web1 learning games for kids(NEW) Learning Games for Kids
These educational games for kids make learning fun with math facts, language arts, and more. Children enjoy learning with educational games. Kids can learn with math addition facts, multiplication flash cards, language puzzles, and more to make their learning experience rewarding and fun. Want educational games that make learning fun for preschoolers up to middle school kids? This is your place.
web1 funschool kaboose(NEW) Funschool (Kaboose)
Funschool offers online resources and games from kindergarten through to grade 6. It includes a parents and teachers section, polls and craft ideas. This site has quite a few resources right across the curriculum. Check it out!
web1 Fisher Price online games(NEW) Fisher Price Online Games
This site is for children in preschool and kindergarten. Play and learn with your child online! The Fisher Price online learning games are a fun way to spend quality time with your child. You may want to preview a few of them first to see which online learning activities are most appropriate for your infant, toddler, or preschooler … and which games are so much fun your child will want to play them again and again!
web1 cookie(NEW) Cookie
At cookie, child experts and educators design interactive online games for children. Cookie learning games for kids help in building skills needed for success in school. While playing fun educational games, children learn to read with phonics, build skills in math, language, social studies, science and much more. Educational videos encourage children to keep learning, even after school hours. This site is quite popular.
Discovery Kids websiteDiscovery Kids
This website includes a lot of great resources for the primary / elementary classroom. It includes games (with 8 different game categories depending on what you are trying to achieve); puzzles (with 8 different categories of puzzles); a tell me area (to find out intersting facts – using videos from different sources including Mythbusters); an activities area (with 6 different types of activities); and a quizzes area (with 4 different types of quizzes).
NASA Education websiteNASA Education
This is the go-to place for anything to do with NASA and space. There are teacher and student sections. The teacher sections includes information and resources for different grade levels, from Kindergarten right through to adult learning. This is where you find games, activities and information. The student section includes a lot of great resources for different grade levels as well. This is where learners can find games, interviews and other cool stuff.
Spellin City websiteSpelling City
This is one of my favourite spelling websites. It enables you to customise spelling lists for your students. you can set up a free account or pay for a premium account. I use the free account because it suites me perfectly. I have used it to create different spelling lists for my students each week. They then log on with my unique username, select their group list and either test themselves, learn definitions, or play games like hangmouse. For grades K-6.
Kids Discover websiteKids Discover
This website is packed full of a lot of great resources and information for teachers, parents, and children. It has more than 140 supplemental nonfiction titles for students in Grades 3-7, free resources for teachers, and interesting science and social science facts for young learners.
Young Kids CyberSmartYoung Kids: Cyber Kids
Cybersmart Challenge activities are a fantastic way for schools to encourage internet safety and positive online behaviour in the classroom. With Safer Internet Day approaching on the 5th February, this resource is great for those starting the new school year. Young Kids has games and activities for younger children up to about grade 1.
Kids Cybersmart websiteKids: Cybersmart
Cybersmart Challenge activities are a fantastic way for schools to encourage internet safety and positive online behaviour in the classroom. With Safer Internet Day approaching on the 5th February, this resource is great for those starting the new school year. The kids area features information, comics and activities about internet safety and cyberbullying.
Cybersmart SchoolsSchools: Cybersmart 
Cybersmart Challenge activities are a fantastic way for schools to encourage internet safety and positive online behaviour in the classroom. With Safer Internet Day approaching on the 5th February, this resource is great for those starting the new school year. The schools area includes resources and lesson plans for teachers across all year levels of school. It also includes information about professional development (a requirement for all teachers in Australia).
Storybird WebsiteStorybird
Storybirds is a great resource for creating, reading and sharing visual stories. It is free to sign up and you or your students can be creating delightful stories in minutes. It can be used for many purposes, with the most obvious ones being for literacy activities (such as creating a narrative) or for parents to create books for their children. I have made a few myself. I will share them with you soon.
NLVM websiteNational Library of Virtual Manipulatives
The NLVM is a great resource for teachers and students. There are free and paid manipulatives (online games) that encourage learners to think and learn about mathematics. Topics covered include geometry, number and operations, algebra, measurement, and data analysis & probability.
Decimal Squares websitesDecimal Squares
This website is fantastic for students. It features 8 different online games related to decimal fractions. Some are for younger years and beginners to the concept of decimals, while others require more advanced knowledge. All of these games are great for classroom use and require students to think and problem solve.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Using Croak it and QR Codes

Here are some really cool ideas combining apps to produce something!




So what can you do???

  • Students introduce themselves the first days of school. Post the QR codes around the room and students try and match the introduction with the students in the class. Great getting to know you activity.
  • Share news with parents.
  • Make various recordings/qr codes for places or important people around your school. Take kids on a tour of the building the first day and use the QR Codes to give information about each location or special person at the school.
  • Use this with book intros to get students excited about different books in your class library.
  • Use to explain the answer to math problems.
  • Use to review homework.
  • Use to preview content for social studies or science units.
  • MOST IMPORTANTLY... HAVE STUDENTS CREATE THEIR OWN for THEIR LEARNING! I stress this because it is so important to get students actively involved in their own learning.