My New Favorite Site!!!

Ok, so y'all know I am always looking for new, fun websites and tools to get my kiddos interested in learning! Well, I have found my new favorite thanks to Shannon Miller, an AMAZING educator who I found on Instagram! (If you haven't heard of her, make sure you go check out the wonderful things that she is doing in education!) Shannon introduced me to PebbleGo, an emergent reader and research site. I have one word...."WOW!" I mean this site is what I have been looking for! It is filled with nonfiction articles on anything you could imagine! The articles include read aloud capabilities, as well as sounds, videos, corresponding printouts, and games! It works wonders for my researchers who have a little bit of trouble reading those more difficult sites. I introduced this site to my K-3 teachers and students and they instantly fell in love! There is also a mobile-ready PebbleGo in the works, which would be great for the 1:1 classrooms! Now, you know how I am about my tech tools....I like FREE. However, when it comes to a site that my kids and teachers LOVE and get a lot out of, I am willing to pay. This tool is one that you will have to pay for, but it really isn't too expensive and I think that it is totally worth it! Make sure you go check it out today and get yourself a free trial! You'll get hooked!

Kindergarten Day in the Lab

One of my favorite days of the week is Thursday's this year! Why? Because that is when my Kindergartners come! I had a little trouble in the past creating lessons for my kinders that weren't too simple. I don't want them to spend their computer time learning to click and drag or find their letters on the keyboard. Yes, I do believe those things are important, but I feel like that "stuff" can be incorporated in with more thought provoking lessons. When my students enter the lab I want them to be engaged in inquiring, analyzing, collaborating activities...yes, even my kindergartners!

A couple weeks ago, my kinders started a partner research project on the animal of their choice. All I gave them to begin was a pencil, paper, and a few links they might find useful. Ready, set...GO! I only see my kinders for an hour a week, so going into it I planned for multiple weeks.

The first week the students chose their animal and wrote a few things they already knew about it. They then came up with 2 questions they had about their animal.

Writing what we already know and 2 questions we have about our animal.

Week two, they began researching their animals. Along with finding the answers to their questions, they also had a place on their paper for WOW facts. These were things that really stood out and they would like to share with others.

Researching our animals, using Big Universe, Pebble Go, Discovery Education, & Enchanted Learning.

The third week the real fun began! Students got to use their Discovery Education accounts to create an interactive board in Board Builder. They are in the process, now, of putting all of their information onto their boards, along with some awesome videos, images, and sound effects from Discovery.

Building our boards using Discovery Education Board Builder.

Next week, we will be finishing our boards, and the students will become the teachers! They will use their boards to teach me and the class about their animals.
This is the first time that I have done a complete research project with my kindergarten students and they have blown me away! I truly believe that your students can accomplish anything you believe they can. It does take patience but it is so worth it! I am so excited to see their "lessons" on animals next week!

Helping Our Students Help Themselves

Have you ever had those students who want to search for something but just can't spell the keywords? Or when they do find a site they can't read the information? This makes research very frustrating for the students. We, as tech loving teachers, want to make researching FUN and SIMPLE for our students! Well here's how!
Google now has a voice search. By clicking on the microphone on the right hand side of the search box, students can vocalize what they want to search for.

Google then records the student's voice, types the correctly spelled word into the search box, and displays sites dealing with the keyword.

So now the kids can easily find sites focused on what they want to research. But how can they make sure that the sites are on their reading level? Google's got that under control also! Students can filter the sites by reading levels.

Basic **Best for Primary Grades

Intermediate

Advanced

To filter the results students can click on Show Search Tools on the left hand side of the screen.

Then scroll down and click on Reading Level.

Students can then choose what reading level suits them best. Basic is the best choice for most primary students.

Once they choose a level, websites links are displayed below and the researching can begin. 

Researching doesn't have to be a hassle for the students or the teachers! Google makes researching easy and fun for even the youngest student! By using the Voice Input and Reading Level tools, we can help students to become more independent workers!

What are some of your favorite ways to use Google?

Flipping Over Digital Books!

I am so excited to share this awesome website with you called FlipSnack! Simply upload your students' work and create a really neat looking flip book that you can send out to parents, embed in your website or blog and much more! One of my 3rd grade groups researched all different types of spiders. They each typed their information into a template slide that I created using PowerPoint. Once they were finished, we saved their slides as .pdf files (easy to do with a free PDF creator!). I then uploaded the PDF's to the FlipSnack website and created my book! Instead of the boring PowerPoint slideshow, the kids can now flip the pages of an interactive book, complete with a title page and binding! These are so neat to create and the books are even customizable (yes I made up that word!) to make them look just like you want! Best part of all....it's free to sign up!!! Love it! Click here to sign up and make sure to take a look at our finished spider project below!

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