MMMMM Smells like Math!

Are you tired of those same old math worksheets that you've been using with your students year after year? Well Math Fact Cafe is a wonderful website where you can create, customize and print worksheets for your students with the simple click of a mouse! Create sheets on money, time, multiplication...the list is endless. And it doesn't stop there! If you don't have time to create your own can download one of the pre-made worksheets just as easily! If you aren't in the mood for worksheets then you can create customized flash cards for your students or simply let them play some wonderful math games! This site is a great resource for teachers so definitely take a look and enjoy a warm, soothing cup of MATH!

Make Your Students Go EEEEEEK!

Check out TeachHub's great Halloween inspired writing prompts, science experiments, activities and much more! Not only are these activities educational, but they are centered around a holiday that students LOVE, so it's sure to keep their attention! What better way to spend Halloween at school than to learn and have fun doing so!

**Be sure to check out the rest of TeachHubs great resources while your are there! The website it filled with numerous lesson ideas, teacher blogs, professional development opportunities...the list is endless!**

http://www.teachhub.com/

Your Wish is my Command!

Well...maybe not my command, but definitely the command of the great website, Wall Wisher! This is a great collaborative website, where the participants can be sitting at all individual computers and see what others have added to the wall! I've used this website for a few different activities with my kids. All of the posts have to be approved by the teacher before going live, which is great when working with older students! One of the first times I used it, I had my fifth grade students post a sticky to the wall telling what they were going to miss about our school when they moved on to the middle school. Once all 100 fifth graders posted to the wall it could then be embedded onto a teacher site where parents and other students can read the responses. This was a great activity that students, parents and teachers all loved. I've seen on some other great sites where people embed videos and links into their walls. Instead of having students write a research paper, have then post to the wall wisher! This resources has endless possibilities! How would you use it?

Click here to sign up for FREE!!! http://www.wallwisher.com/

Work "SMART"er!

Whether you have a SMART board or a Promethean board, if you're anything like me, your interactive white board has become a staple in your daily classroom activities! Usually I enjoy making my own SMART notebook lessons, however, I do dabble in SMART Exchange here and there, just to get some good ideas. Recently, while browsing for some cute lesson ideas, I found some great Halloween activities, ready for use! These activities deal with all subjects, including math and literacy, for all different grade levels! My favorite thing is that they can easily be customized to the needs of your students. To download some of these great interactive lessons, click on the image below! ** Remember, to download lessons, you do have to be a member...but sign up is quick, easy, and FREE, which makes it totally worth it!**

Are you in the DEN?

One of my new favorite resources is the Discovery Education Network! Many of my teachers love it for it's countless amount of great streaming videos covering everything from Magic School Bus episodes to following deep sea divers into unknown territory. But there is much more to the DEN than many people know! As a member of the Discovery Education Network, you can create assignments and even assign them to students. When the students complete them, you are notified from Discovery! I have used the assignment builder to create video quizzes, writing prompts, and much much more! There is a place for you to upload your resources, as well as view resources from other teachers! The DEN is definitely a great network for teachers to work with one another to create globally competitive students! Best part of all, the DEN is FREE! Click below to view the DEN and all they have to offer for your classroom!

What in the world is a "glog?"

Though it may be a funny little word, a glog is an AMAZING tool for both students and teachers to use! A glog is simply a digital poster. What makes a digital poster better than a paper one? Easy!...You can include, not only text and photos, but animated graphics, videos, links to documents...the list is endless! Glogs can be used by teachers to introduce a lesson, such as the one here, or used by students as a research project, such as the one here. Glogs can be as simple or as complex as you like! Everyone, from ages 5 to 105, can create a glog! Click here to start glogging with your students! http://www.edu.glogster.com/

What are you searching for?

Many times I allow the children to use the Internet to research and find their own images to add to their projects. However, I am very weary of Google and Bing, simply for the fact that they are not filtered and nearly anything can come up by simply searching for french fries for example. I love Google for myself, and I use it often, but it makes me uncomfortable to let the children use it on their own. Therefore, I searched for some kid friendly search engines and came across searchenginewatch.com whichs lists quite a few good ones! Here's some to name a few...if you know of more, please add to my list!

Ask Jeeves for Kids
www.ajkids.com

Kids Click!
www.kidsclick.org

Looksmart's Kid Directory
http://search.netnanny.com/?pi=nnh3ch=kids

Yahooligans
www.yahooligans.com

Along Came a Turtle...

New Market was recently visited by a very friendly, and very cuddly, little turtle by the name of Morpheus Fortuna. Morpheus is from Pennsylvania. He travels around to different schools throughout the United States and learns about the different cultures and communities in each state. What does this have to do with technology you might ask? Well Morpheus helps promote global learning. When Morpheus arrives in your school, you are asked to update his Twitter account, his blog, and his wikispace. The students can view these sites to learn where Morpheus has been and what he has learned. They can learn about other cultures and communities without even leaving their classroom. We also took lots of pictures with Morpheus and created Animoto videos with them and Skyped with a class that had him previously. Morpheus is a wonderful tool for all grade levels to help introduce our children to the "outside world!" To have Morpheus visit your school or just learn more about him click here! http://morpheusfortuna.wikispaces.com/home

Click below to view our 2nd Grade Animoto video with Morpheus!
http://animoto.com/play/XWUFOAmPZJu3R3402xfGJg

Extra, Extra, Read All About It!!!

I was looking for some good digital story Web 2.0 tools and came across this great website! www.fodey.com On this website, students can type in a story and make it look like a newspaper clipping. I used it with my second graders recently. We watched a video on Christopher Columbus and talked about his voyage to America. Then the students because "reporters" for the Spanish Times! The website was so easy to use! They created a name for their paper, a date for when it was released (October 12th, 1492 for us of course!), a headline, and then typed their story! They came out so great! Here is an example:

I'm so excited to use this site with some of my other grade levels...the story possibilities are endless, and it's a neat way for the students to publish their work rather than just on plain white copy paper!

"Wordle" You Waiting For?

Not only does it have the CUTEST name....but it is one of the best websites I have found to use with students!www.wordle.net  It, like many of the other sites I use, can be as simple or as in depth as you like, depending on how comfortable you are with Web 2.0 tools and what level your students are at! A wordle is a mash up of words, (a word cloud), all about one subject. Students simply type their words into a text box on the website, hit go...and they have a wonderful wordle! They can use as few or as many words as they like. For the more advanced students, there is an advanced button, where they can use numbers to decide the weight (size) and color of each word. They can also change the layout, font, background, etc.

Some ways that I have used wordles in the past:

• All About Me-Student Favorites
• Character Description-describe, compare, and contrast characters in a story
• Community Helpers-describe job, clothes, and how they help community
• Authors-list their books, and subjects
• Good Citizens-describe what a good citizen is and does
• Class Lists-a cute, different way to display your class list

The list of uses is endless. I have used this website with Kindergarteners through 5th grade. While the work is simple, the end product looks like computer professionals put it together. Your students will absolutely love this website! And best of all....IT'S FREE!!! So WORDLE you waiting for? Send me some of your ideas on how to use a wordle word cloud!

Blog All About It!

A blog is defined by Mr. Webster as "a website on which an individual or group of users record opinions, information, etc. on a regular basis." Blogs can be used for an endless number of things....including student writing!!! Blogging is a wonderful, new, exciting way to help your students, of any age, with their writing skills! You can blog about ANYTHING from describing your favorite book character to comparing and contrasting different landforms throughout the US. It can be as simple or as in depth as you would like. You could have students answer with a single sentence or a 5 paragraph essay. 

Blogging not only helps the students improve their writing skills, but it also helps the teacher to gauge how well their children have grasped the understanding of the essential question. By simply posting the essential question and having the students respond with the answer, the teacher can then evaluate the things he/she needs to focus more on or the things the students have mastered.

A blog can be a wonderful collaborative tool in the classroom as well. When students have created their post, teachers, students, and even parents, can then view the blog and make comments. This can begin a classroom discussion with the touch of a keyboard!

While there are many blogs out there, the safest one I have found is www.kidblog.org. You, as the teacher, create student account with the click of a mouse, and can control who can view the page, read the posts and make comments. KidBlog is a blogging tool that can be as open or as private as you want. Teachers, students, parents, and guests all must have a password to view the page.

Blogging gets students EXCITED about writing! They enjoy reading what their teacher or peers have to say in their comments and it only makes them want to write more! So what are you waiting for??? Go get your BLOG ON!!!

9/11 Lessons, Videos & More

With it being the 10th anniversary of the tragic 9/11 attacks, there are some wonderful learning tools available to show your students. These not only help to teach them about America's history, but also about community and country, and coming together as a whole. Here are some links to some great resources for K-5 students.

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/?ErrMsg=Please%20provide%20a%20Username%20and%20Password&returnUrl=player%2Ediscoveryeducation%2Ecom%2Findex%2Ecfm%3FguidAssetId%3D9ACC3141-CBA4-4F74-A6F9-25737A8546E5%26blnFromSearch%3D1%26productcode%3DUS&query_string=

http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/911/

http://www.911memorial.org/teach-learn

http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks/videos#911-timeline

http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/september11th/

Hope these help! :)

Welcome!

Hi All! I have started this blog as a resource for teachers. Hopefully you will find it useful in incorporating various types of technology when creating your lessons! I plan to include websites, programs, lesson ideas, etc. for K-5 teachers.