What search engine are you currently using? I might suggest that you branch out beyond Google and use Vivisimo or Kartoo. Vivisimo searches and then clusters the searches into topic areas. Kartoo searches and then provides the user with a web that shows the results of the search and how the sites are related. Depending on what you are looking for, how you wish to narrow your search, and the types of sites you are looking for will determine which site best meets your needs.
Friday, October 15, 2004
I know we are always seeking ways to make the Microsoft Office products more accessible to our students. This new software from Scholastic entitled Keys does just that. The program provides a template with "kid friendly" icons and an easy-to-use interface. It can currently be downloaded for a 45 day trial. Single copies cost $59.00 and discounts are available for multiple machines/schools. Check it out!!!
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
The National Council for Teachers of English produces a wonderful electronic newsletter called NCTE Inbox. Issues arrive weekly and contain "news, views, and ideas" for teaching language arts. Don't delay! Sign up today!
This week's issue contains great ideas for teaching vocabulary. The title of the article is called Break out your Dictionaries in honor of Dictionary Day. Dictionary Day celebrates Noah Webster's birthday! Included in this issue are research articles and a lesson plan from the Read Write Think site called An Alternative to Testing: Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster.
This week's issue contains great ideas for teaching vocabulary. The title of the article is called Break out your Dictionaries in honor of Dictionary Day. Dictionary Day celebrates Noah Webster's birthday! Included in this issue are research articles and a lesson plan from the Read Write Think site called An Alternative to Testing: Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster.
Friday, August 27, 2004
There are so many wonderful sites for teachers. Check out Sites for Teachers. This portal sites has links to over 1.000 educational sites.
I'm always looking for great clip art. Here's a new site to check out, School Clip Art for Teachers. The clip art is free. If you're interested in purchasing additional clip art, there's always that option!
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
It's easy to create your own rubric with these resources.
Check out Rubistar. This site has a tutorial, ready made rubrics, and easy to follow directions. You must sign in to use the site, but enrolling allows you to save rubrics for up to a year.
If you want a pre-made rubric, take a look at Teach-nology. You are allowed to choose the type of rubric you want to create, select a graphic for the top of the page, insert your name, and choose a name for the rubric. The rest is done for you. Easy to use, but may not emphasize what you want your students to focus on during the project.
As I find other sites, I'll keep you posted. :)
Check out Rubistar. This site has a tutorial, ready made rubrics, and easy to follow directions. You must sign in to use the site, but enrolling allows you to save rubrics for up to a year.
If you want a pre-made rubric, take a look at Teach-nology. You are allowed to choose the type of rubric you want to create, select a graphic for the top of the page, insert your name, and choose a name for the rubric. The rest is done for you. Easy to use, but may not emphasize what you want your students to focus on during the project.
As I find other sites, I'll keep you posted. :)
Monday, October 13, 2003
For those of you interested in the butterfly project:
These three books are extremely helpful for helping your students locate photos of the lifecyles of a butterfly.
The Lifecyle of a Butterfly by Bobbie Kalman, Butterfly (Science Emerget Readers) by Susan Canizares, and The Journey of Butterfly by Carolyn Scrace.
Remember give your students a large enough organizer for them to record their drawings. Don't be afraid to also use posters or the encyclopedia as a resource!
These three books are extremely helpful for helping your students locate photos of the lifecyles of a butterfly.
The Lifecyle of a Butterfly by Bobbie Kalman, Butterfly (Science Emerget Readers) by Susan Canizares, and The Journey of Butterfly by Carolyn Scrace.
Remember give your students a large enough organizer for them to record their drawings. Don't be afraid to also use posters or the encyclopedia as a resource!
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Copyright
It is important to teach our students the copyright rules for multimedia projects. Just as we teach them not to copy verbatim from a book or an encyclopedia, we must also teach them the rules regarding music, pictures, and text from sites on the Internet.
Here's a fabulous link created for elementary and middle school students. Welcome to Copyright Kids!. Some of the site topics include Copyright Basics and FAQs, Definitions, Parent and Teacher Information, and a Quiz. The best part of the site is the interactive yearbook! Here's a description from the site:
"Students can learn about the fundamentals of copyright law in the Copyright Basics section of the site. Teachers should feel free to distribute the Copyright Basics in class. Students can then join the Lincoln Middle School Multimedia Yearbook Club members as they navigate through copyright law along with the help of their knowledgeable guide, "Copyright Cat." By working through the various copyright issues with the members of the Yearbook Club, students will find out how copyright might apply to them and why it is important to learn about it! They will discover how copyright law applies in the areas of music, photography, fine arts, and film" (From the Welcome to Copyright Kids! site.)
If you are interested in teaching your students about trademarks and patents, try the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Kids' Pages.
This site has many interactive components (games and puzzles) as well as sections that are geared for K-6 (Twinkle Lights), 6-12 (Bright Lights) and Parents/Teachers/Coaches (Guiding Lights). The whowhatwhenhowwhy link includes FAQs about patents that might be useful for a unit on Inventions.
It is important to teach our students the copyright rules for multimedia projects. Just as we teach them not to copy verbatim from a book or an encyclopedia, we must also teach them the rules regarding music, pictures, and text from sites on the Internet.
Here's a fabulous link created for elementary and middle school students. Welcome to Copyright Kids!. Some of the site topics include Copyright Basics and FAQs, Definitions, Parent and Teacher Information, and a Quiz. The best part of the site is the interactive yearbook! Here's a description from the site:
"Students can learn about the fundamentals of copyright law in the Copyright Basics section of the site. Teachers should feel free to distribute the Copyright Basics in class. Students can then join the Lincoln Middle School Multimedia Yearbook Club members as they navigate through copyright law along with the help of their knowledgeable guide, "Copyright Cat." By working through the various copyright issues with the members of the Yearbook Club, students will find out how copyright might apply to them and why it is important to learn about it! They will discover how copyright law applies in the areas of music, photography, fine arts, and film" (From the Welcome to Copyright Kids! site.)
If you are interested in teaching your students about trademarks and patents, try the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Kids' Pages.
This site has many interactive components (games and puzzles) as well as sections that are geared for K-6 (Twinkle Lights), 6-12 (Bright Lights) and Parents/Teachers/Coaches (Guiding Lights). The whowhatwhenhowwhy link includes FAQs about patents that might be useful for a unit on Inventions.
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Need a site that has readable text about complex health issues for students? Check out Kids Health for Kids. Some of the section headings are Dealing with Feelings, Stay Healthy, Everyday Illnesses and Injuries, My Body, and Kids' Health Problems. There is even a link for articles written in Spanish!
If you enjoy the claymation idea - here's a great site for more step by step directions and an example you may share with your students.
The site is called Clay Animation Made Easy. The site was created by Tonya Witherspoon, an Educational Technology Specialist at Wichita State University. Tonya shares movies, directions, and links to other clay animation sites.
Check it out!!
The site is called Clay Animation Made Easy. The site was created by Tonya Witherspoon, an Educational Technology Specialist at Wichita State University. Tonya shares movies, directions, and links to other clay animation sites.
Check it out!!
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Information Literacy site - Here's a matrix created by Janet Murray that correlates Information Literacy skills with the Big 6 Skills and the National Educational Technology Standards. It's called Big6 Matrix: Use the Internet.
Here's the description from the site's home page:
"The new education must teach the individual how to classify and reclassify information, how to evaluate its veracity, how to change categories when necessary, how to move from the concrete to the abstract and back, how to look at problems from a new direction - how to teach himself. Tomorrow's illiterate will not be the man who can't read; he will be the man who has not learned how to learn." -- Herbert Gerjuoy
Correlate Mike Eisenberg's and Bob Berkowitz' Big6™ Skills with the National Information Literacy Standards developed by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and Association for Educational and Communications Technology (AECT) and the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS) to organize an introduction to research on the Internet.
Here's the description from the site's home page:
"The new education must teach the individual how to classify and reclassify information, how to evaluate its veracity, how to change categories when necessary, how to move from the concrete to the abstract and back, how to look at problems from a new direction - how to teach himself. Tomorrow's illiterate will not be the man who can't read; he will be the man who has not learned how to learn." -- Herbert Gerjuoy
Correlate Mike Eisenberg's and Bob Berkowitz' Big6™ Skills with the National Information Literacy Standards developed by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and Association for Educational and Communications Technology (AECT) and the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS) to organize an introduction to research on the Internet.
Friday, September 12, 2003
There are so many fabulous math sites available! Check out the sites that were mentioned in the September 2003 NCTM News Bulletin.
Allmath.com has a series of links and tools available. You can make flashcards, read biographies, or access a glossary. There are also links to other great math sites. Under the link for math articles, you can find over 200 biographies of women mathematicians.
E-zgeometry.com has "printable lesson notes, support materials, helpful links, practice quizzes, a weekly math challenge problem (PoW), and lots more... explore."
Of course, don't forget my favorite, Ask Dr. Math. It contains a wealth of open-ended problems that you can pose to your students. They can post their answers - or you can use the archives to find problems that match the content you are presently teaching. There are even elementary and middle school problems available. Your students can ask for expert advice via e-mail. There are even two new books Dr. Math Gets You Ready for Algebra and Dr. Math Explains Algebra now available for purchase.
Okay, I know.... The best site of all is The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. :)
Allmath.com has a series of links and tools available. You can make flashcards, read biographies, or access a glossary. There are also links to other great math sites. Under the link for math articles, you can find over 200 biographies of women mathematicians.
E-zgeometry.com has "printable lesson notes, support materials, helpful links, practice quizzes, a weekly math challenge problem (PoW), and lots more... explore."
Of course, don't forget my favorite, Ask Dr. Math. It contains a wealth of open-ended problems that you can pose to your students. They can post their answers - or you can use the archives to find problems that match the content you are presently teaching. There are even elementary and middle school problems available. Your students can ask for expert advice via e-mail. There are even two new books Dr. Math Gets You Ready for Algebra and Dr. Math Explains Algebra now available for purchase.
Okay, I know.... The best site of all is The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. :)
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Take a field trip to the National Gallery of Art.
The National Gallery of Art houses one of the finest collections in the world illustrating major achievements in painting, sculpture, and graphic arts from the Middle Ages to the present. Search the collection by specific artist, title, or a combination of criteria.
Find art activities for kids at the National Gallery of Art Splash Page.
You can even borrow over 120 teaching resources free of charge! The National Gallery of Art loans materials to educational institutions, community groups, and individuals. Programs are designed to meet the national standards in the visual arts for kindergarten through grade 12. The catalogue is indexed by subject area and presentation format. Print the order form and send it to the National Gallery of Art to request resources-- they recommend placing your order at least one month in advance.
The National Gallery of Art provides slide teaching programs, multimedia programs, videocassettes, CD ROMS, and videodiscs to millions of viewers each year. These programs are intended to foster awareness of the visual arts and make Gallery collections accessible to a broad audience beyond the Gallery's walls. A variety of artists, subjects, techniques, and styles are examined. Many programs contain suggestions for related activities and questions designed to stimulate discussion of the art and artists, of cultural and historical issues.
The National Gallery of Art houses one of the finest collections in the world illustrating major achievements in painting, sculpture, and graphic arts from the Middle Ages to the present. Search the collection by specific artist, title, or a combination of criteria.
Find art activities for kids at the National Gallery of Art Splash Page.
You can even borrow over 120 teaching resources free of charge! The National Gallery of Art loans materials to educational institutions, community groups, and individuals. Programs are designed to meet the national standards in the visual arts for kindergarten through grade 12. The catalogue is indexed by subject area and presentation format. Print the order form and send it to the National Gallery of Art to request resources-- they recommend placing your order at least one month in advance.
The National Gallery of Art provides slide teaching programs, multimedia programs, videocassettes, CD ROMS, and videodiscs to millions of viewers each year. These programs are intended to foster awareness of the visual arts and make Gallery collections accessible to a broad audience beyond the Gallery's walls. A variety of artists, subjects, techniques, and styles are examined. Many programs contain suggestions for related activities and questions designed to stimulate discussion of the art and artists, of cultural and historical issues.
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