Fantastic Fridays: December 10

Fantastic Fridays: December 10

1. Classroom Spotlight Project: Podcasting and Websites
Kat M. is spotlighted this week for her work in podcasting on the Mac computers. Check out her fantastic website at http://ihm-xserve.ihm-school.com/~kmanzella/aprendemosahablar/main/Welcome_.html ! Although she has done an awesome job on the website, the real value is that students are able to review what they have covered in class once they get home in the evenings. She has this website listed in her Edline classes so students and parents can access the materials easily. Please see me if you'd like to create something similar-- it's a lot of fun!

2. Student Websites: Time and Money, Open-Copyright Music

Time and Money for Lower Elementary: Technology does a very good job of allowing students to work at their own pace and providing instant feedback for simple problems. These skill-rehearsal websites for lower elementary students allow you to monitor each student's progress, while not requiring a lot of teacher involvement for differentiation. You can access this site (or I can add it to your dock!) at https://sites.google.com/site/ihmhighpoint/time-and-money

Time

1. Identifying Time to the Hour
2. Time Travel
3. Another Telling Time
4. Telling Time: Stop the Clock!
5. Willie the WatchDog Game (Play with a partner!)

Money

1. Toy Store! Find coins to make your purchase
2. Fish Money
3. Counting Money
4. Discovering Coin Values - drag coins into the cup to equal the amount in the blue area.

Open-Copyright Music: Copyright laws only allow educational use of copyrighted music for 30 seconds! All of our middle school students would love to use their extensive personal music collections for class PowerPoints and movies, but a better choice (and more appropriate!) would be http://www.freeplaymusic.com. This source provides students with a searchable database of background music. Begin by clicking on a style of music, then click on the "mp3" version of the file to download clips.

3. Teacher Productivity Tools: Computer-Based Assessments
Grading, grading, grading... it's the job that never ends! Although most assessments require personal attention (such as rubrics), some of our testing methods could be automated using computers. If you give assessments with multiple choice, matching, or T/F questions, consider using one of the following websites to ease your grading burden. Edline also has an assessment tool which we could evaluate!
http://www.quia.com/web
http://quizstar.4teachers.org/
http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/signup/education/ 

Your video this week illustrates a 5th grade field trip. Students use technology tools to record and explain their learning experiences in math, science, and history. I was personally delighted to see the inclusion of the technology specialist in the process :) Enjoy!
http://www.edutopia.org/ferryway-school-saugus-ironworks 

Fantastic Fridays: December 3

Fantastic Fridays: December 3

1. Classroom Spotlight Project: Extending Novels

The fact the 6th-8th grade students are reading novels should come as no surprise to most of us. Teachers are very familiar with the importance of "read and report" in literature classes. However, Maggie J's students are experiencing a "wrap-around" approach to novels as they explore online resources which complement their reading. Student access Edline at home and in class for maps, movies,websites, and historical references to provide an in-depth digital library to accompany their work. What a great use of Edline and digital resources to expand their perception of literature!

2. Student Websites: Travel the World

Although we would all love to take a world-wide field trip with our students, it's not always feasible. Consider the following resources for bringing the world to them through technology.

• Google Maps: http://maps.google.com/ . The satellite and street views provided in Google Maps give students the feeling of "being there" at historical landmarks and locations in your classroom curriculum. The accompanying program, Google Earth http://www.google.com/earth/index.html , is a free download, and I would be happy to add it to your computer to allow students to see some amazing features. Try going to Google Maps and looking up your favorite spot or historical destination-- it's like a mini-vacation!
• ePals: One of the ISTE standards for technology is that students learn to use technology to communicate and collaborate with students around the world. Consider using epals at http://www.epals.com to connect with another classroom around the world!
• The Iditarod: Looking forward to March, the Iditarod is a dogsled race in Alaska which some teachers have used as a learning  opportunity for their classrooms. Check out these two sites for lesson planning ideas: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/iditarod/ , http://iditarodblogs.com/teachers/
• Journey North: Right now, we're enjoying the approaching winter season, but it won't be long until crocuses are blooming! Plan now to integrate the online "Journey North" activities to give your students the opportunity to gather data as part of an enormous project! http://www.learner.org/jnorth/

3. Teacher Productivity Tools: Christmas Science

Sometimes, the last few days before Christmas can be a challenge for planning. Of course, we all teach right up until the last bell! Just in case your students are having trouble focusing, try using these "Christmas Science" sites to keep everyone "On Task, On Target"! Or, just enjoy them for yourselves...

Chemistry Carols: http://people.bu.edu/metalman/chemistry_xmas_carols.html 

Science Stunts for Parties: http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/top-10-science-stunts-for-christmas-parties/

Glassblowing Christmas Tree: http://www.holdman.com/christmas/glasstree.asp

Super Christmas Lights: http://www.holdman.com/christmas/video.asp

The Audobon Society’s Christmas Bird Count: http://www.audubon.org/Bird/cbc/

This weeks video: A tutorial on how to create the perfect Google Map for teaching in your classroom!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhAH53HZhxI&feature=player_embedded

Fantastic Fridays: November 19

1. Classroom Spotlight Project: 8th Grade "Respect Life" Multimedia Projects

8th Grade students are adapting their formal essays to digital media! Sterling S. has planned an opportunity for students to extend the written word into a new media of their choosing. Students are creating PowerPoints, Keynotes, and iMovies to present their work. Formal writing is the foundation of the project, and this chance for differentiation (http://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-definition-strategies-alber ) encourages students to think about the most appropriate and convincing product for their work.

2. Student Websites: Research Strategies

Internet research often becomes synonymous with the new term "Google It!" for our students. How can we avoid the distractions of inappropriate, inapplicable, or low-quality websites in their research practice? Just like all good lessons, it takes planning. Encouraging students to use the internet for research is extremely important, and your role as a teacher is to help them find websites or search terms to guide their work. Keep in mind, also, that Wikipedia is not considered to be a reliable source for academic work (http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/wikipedia-founder-discourages-academic-use-of-his-creation/2305 ) 

Strategy One: Consider the following resources as starting points for internet research with your students

• Yahoo Reference Library: http://kids.yahoo.com/reference 
• CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ 
• Time for Kids: http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/hh/rr 
• Internet Public Library: http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/

Strategy Two: Teach students to add search terms for more specific results

• Instead of searching for "planets" , try searching for "planet facts for kids"
• Instead of searching for "quotes" (which will yield stock market data), try searching for "quotes not stock". This is called "adding a modifier"
• Instead of looking for "interrogate" when searching for a definition of the work, try "definition: interrogate". Google will automatically find definitions of the word. 

Strategy Three: Create a link list! See below...

3. Teacher Productivity Tools: Creating a Link List

One of my favorite 5th grade teachers regularly did a project about Civil War Biographies. The students spent hours research their assigned person, but got bogged down with all of the genealogy resources and were often plagued by biased websites. For example, the first search result when "googling" "Civil War Biographies" is run by an individual who openly states his Pro-South bias. A solution to this is to pre-select a list of links which will be useful for your students.

Here's an example of a "link list": https://sites.google.com/site/olgtech/civil-war-biographies-1. I intentionally made it very plain to illustrate how quickly a teacher can make one! Please let me know if I can help you create a link list for your class.

For your video this week, please visit http://edutecher.net/tv.php . There are some well-done tutorials on teaching with technology, and you will have fun choosing one which would work with your classroom!

International Society for Technology in Education - Blog Submit Your Ed Tech Horror Story for the Halloween Edition of ISTE Connects

International Society for Technology in Education - Blog Submit Your Ed Tech Horror Story for the Halloween Edition of ISTE Connects

Posted by: Katie Stansberry

Monday, October 25, 2010

I love this time of year. Great decorations, spiced hot apple cider, and an excuse to buy mini-candy bars; what’s not to love? I also relish a good scary story and spent many a summer night in front of a campfire listening to my older and more sophisticated cousins spin tales of ghosts, goblins, monsters and the occasional escaped mental patient.

Now that I’m a bit older, the stories that scare me have taken a slightly different tact. I have a reoccurring nightmare where Flickr, Gmail, YouTube and Google Docs all simultaneously disappear from the Web, taking all my content with them.

Some of my scariest technology horror stories are all the more frightening because they are true. Memories of projectors that refuse to connect to my laptop during big presentations, viruses decimating networked computers, and visits from the boogieman of the computer world – the blue screen of death – all have the potential to keep me up at night.

In honor of Halloween week, we’re looking for your scariest ed tech horror story. Did a power surge fry your computer? Did a student accidentally download a virus that took down your entire school district’s network? Did a presentation on new media tools go horribly awry? We want to hear about it.

Please send your ed tech horror story (250 words or less please) to katie@isteconnects.org by Saturday, October 30. I’ll compile them into a special Halloween post for ISTE Connects. The prize for the worst of the worst ed tech nightmare will receive a free copy of your choice of one of ISTE’s popular new books; either Web 2.0 How-To for Educators by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum or From Fear to Facebook: One School’s Journey by Matt Levinson with a foreword by Erin Reilly.

Fantastic Fridays: October 22

Fantastic Fridays: October 22

1. Classroom Spotlight Project: School Newspaper

Our SOAR students have been working hard on the new IHM School Newspaper! Using the Mac computers, students create their individual stories. Since the "Newspaper" folder is shared on the network, each person can edit the same file, allowing students to collaborate. Connie C. is doing an awesome job working on this collaborative, project-based strategy.

Having a network here at IHM is a great way for students to share files. We can also use it to send internet links to each Mac computer! If you have a few links you would like to add to your students' docks (at the bottom of the screen), just send them to me. You'll be amazed at how much time it saves in trying to type in those loooooonnnngggggg web addresses.

2. Student Websites: (K-5) Planning for Thanksgiving and (6-8) Primary Sources in Social Studies

The internet is such a powerful tool for pulling together resources from the entire globe, across eons of history. I hope your students will benefit from these authentic resources:

• (K-5)Scholastic.com : The First Thanksgiving http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/letters_signup.asp . This site provides a wide variety of resources, from narrative accounts of Native American and Pilgrim life, to a LIVE WEBCAST! You must sign up in advance to participate in the webcast (I can help set up the projector, etc!), but the other resources are also extremely valuable
• (K-5): The Official Website for Plimoth Plantation: http://www.plimoth.org/ Well-designed website with realistic images and information. Also includes appropriate games.
• (6-8): American Memory from the Library of Congress http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html . This website is the "go-to" source for primary documents and images from American History. Consider using the images for writing prompts!
• (6-8): PBS Teaching Resources http://www.pbs.org/teachers/classroom/6-8/ . Pbs is is not technically a primary resource, but it provides many online videos for free to classroom teachers. Specifically, many video resources appropriate for both science and social studies are at http://video.pbs.org/

3. Teacher Productivity Tools: Social Networking

We all know that teachers can't be "friends" with their students-- no Facebook, MySpace, or personal emails. However, what if online social networking tools could be used as a teaching, learning, and information tool? It's possible to set up social networking resources such as Facebook and Twitter to provide school information. Edline is an awesome way to begin this journey. Many schools, churches, and youth programs have set up Facebook accounts (with extremely tight security restrictions) strictly for the purpose of providing information to their members. Check out this fun new "child-centered" social networking site, which focuses on teaching safe and appropriate online skills: http://www.scuttlepad.com/ !

Please visit the blog at http://ihmtech.blogspot.com/2010/10/fantastic-fridays-october-22.html to view the fun "extra" message!

Get a Voki now!



Press the triangle "Play" button to hear my message!

Fantastic Fridays: October 15

Fantastic Fridays: October 15

1. Classroom Spotlight Project: Gathering Data Using Apple's "Numbers" or Excel

4th graders will begin a new project next week integrating science and technology! Students will gather daily data about evaporation of water in their classroom, and record the data in "Numbers" to create tables and graphs. Patty K. and I are excited to facilitate these SCIENTISTS in their professional research!

2. Student Websites: Reading and Literacy Online
For this week's topic, I'd like to list an online source for digital publications for each grade level. Enjoy!

• K-2: http://www.starfall.com (Starfall is an invaluable resource for early literacy!) and http://www.storylineonline.net/ (celebrity actors read some very high-quality books aloud, with images from the books!)
• 3-5: Scholastic News and Time For Kids are great ways to add current events in an age-appropriate format, and include video segments. I especially like the quizzes and extra resources on TFK.
• 6-8: http://www.bartleby.com/ Bartleby is a collection of all copyright-free publications. It's amazing that we can read so many classics for free! You will want to pre-select resources for your students from this site, since it also includes works that may not apply to your classroom standards.  http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/ Online poems for students (high quality).

3. Teacher Productivity Tools: Digital Storytelling and Literacy

You mention the word "vacation", and 20 hands shoot into the air... do students like to tell their stories? YES! Listed below are a few resources for digital storytelling in the classroom. A digital story can be made with PowerPoint, Keynote, Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, or even KidPix! All of the elements of quality writing still apply, but with an added multimedia feature.

• http://teachingteachers.com/ Awesome digital storytelling resources
  
• http://www.techteachers.com/digitalstorytelling.htm A general page for links and resources about digital storytelling.
  
• http://www.kidblog.org This classroom-oriented blogging tool allows students of all ages to share their work. Only users you add to the "list" will be able to see the students' work. Comments can be turned off or on. I used this as an incentive for excellent work, and it was awesome!

I have two videos for you this week, and they are more instructional than usual. The first is how to add narration in Keynote, and the second is how to add narration in PowerPoint. Now you'll be able to teach all of those students how to create a digital story with sound!

  

Fantastic Fridays: Oct. 8

Fantastic Fridays: October 8

1. Classroom Spotlight Project: 2nd and 3rd Grade

Peggy H wrote the following about her extra Friday Technology time: "Third Grade is enjoying computer time on Fridays. We have concentrated on Brain Pop subjects that enhance the content in our basal reading stories and on Math Facts."

2. Student Websites: Geography
Technology allows us to cross borders without passports, and to span the continents without plane tickets. The following websites are targeted at all ages of students learning about our planet:

• GeoSpy: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Games/GeographyGames/Geospy 
• Continents Game: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/World_Continents.htm 
• Mr. Nussbaum: Too many resources to list! http://www.mrnussbaum.com/circumcode.htm 
• States, Capitals, and Landforms: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm 
• KidsGeo: http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-games/

3. Teacher Productivity Tools: Student Response Systems and Internet4Classrooms

How many of us love to watch "Jeopardy"? Student response systems are a tool which allows students to instantly send a response to your central computer. These useful "tools" are manufactured by several different companies, but the link below goes to the "SMART Technologies" version. 

http://smarttech.com/us/Solutions/Education+Solutions/Products+for+education/Complementary+hardware+products/SMART+Response/SMART+Response+PE

I am often asked to find a specific website or game to accompany a skill. I am now going to give away my secret! I always go to http://www.internet4classrooms.com to look for standards-based resources. It's an awesome, well-designed site. Please take a minute to check it out.

Here's my video of the week, an "inspirational" student video about reading. I hope they had copyright licensing issues all worked out before using this song!

  

Fantastic Fridays: Friday, Oct. 1 "Thinking Outside the Box"

Fantastic Fridays: Friday, Oct. 1-- "Thinking Outside the Box". 

Standards, benchmarks, grades, and testing are all key components of the education system here in America and at IHM School. In all of the details and complexity of education, it's helpful to occasionally reflect on the "big picture". Our IHM Philosophy states, "We strive to develop lifelong disciples and learners intellectually, spiritually, physically, and socially recognizing varied learning styles in a faith-based environment". This week's posting focuses on the development of the lifelong learners here in our building.

1. Classroom Spotlight Project: Letters to the Homebound. 

Marli H. encourages students to use our Word Processing software (Pages on the Macs, or Word on the Dells) to compose letters to homebound parishioners and their friend. Students who may struggle with handwriting appreciate the chance to communicate without embarrassment of their writing challenges, and the recipients appreciate the clear text! It would also be possible to create audio or video messages using the Macs, which could be emailed by a teacher, posted anonymously to a website, or burned to a CD.

2. Student Websites:  Thinking Skills and Saints
Students often ask "Can we have free time?" It's nice to take a break from the standard curriculum, but there are some awesome game-based websites which cultivate thinking skills. Try a few-- even 5 minutes can promote math and reasoning skills!

• http://www.schooltimegames.com/logic.html 
• http://playwithyourmind.com/brain-games/online-brain-games/word-games/

November is traditionally the month of the fabulous "Saint Projects"! Many students will be researching a saint online. Try the following websites!

• http://saints.sqpn.com/ 
• http://www.catholic.org/saints/ "Saints and Angels"
• http://www.loyolapress.com/saints-for-kids.htm Loyola Press "Saints for Kids"

3. Teacher Productivity Tools:Education Nation and Pocket Projectors

• "Education Nation": This week, Rockefeller Plaza was the site for an enormous, publicized "Interactive Summit" about the state of education in the US. Sterling Elementary, in NC, was one of the "spotlighted schools". You may access the copious materials available at http://www.educationnation.com/ . On the opening day of this summit, President Obama was interviewed, and made the touching observation, "Well, first of all, there is nothing more important than teaching. I genuinely believe this. And I don't know a teacher who can't look back and say, 'You know what? Here are so many lives that I've touched, so many people who I've had influence over,' and each of us have memories of some great teacher who steered us in the right direction" (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39378576/ns/today-parenting/ ).
• "Pocket Projectors": I have to admit, as a techie, that I am fascinated by these! Starting at under $200 (less than an LCD tv, and it will project an image up to 72" diagonal!), 3M is manufacturing small, portable projectors. Check them out! I can't wait to try these out in the classroom. http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Pocket/Projector/

Finally, here's our video for the week. This Columbia, SC teacher discusses how technology has impacted learning in her classroom:

http://www.educationnation.com/index.cfm?objectid=8EF952F6-CCDC-11DF-8853000C296BA163

  

Fantastic Fridays: Friday, Set. 24

Welcome to "Fantastic Fridays" for Friday, Sept. 24.

1. Classroom Spotlight Project: Sharing Websites with Parents
Does homework always need to include a piece of paper? Connie C. suggested several fraction skill websites to parents this week through Edline. You may consider having parents sign a form to verify the number of minutes students have spent on online skills practice instead of a worksheet! Instead of grading HW in class, consider displaying the website using the projector (lower grades, I can set it up for you!) and working on a few problems together.

Here's what Connie sent to parents:

"Also, I have noticed that most of the students have forgotten how to reduce fractions, change fractions into mixed numbers, and add/subtract fractions.  Here are some websites to review fractions:

http://www.funbrain.com/cgi-bin/fob.cgi

http://funschool.kaboose.com/formula-fusion/number-fun/games/game_action_fraction.html

http://www.coolmath4kids.com/fractions/index.html

http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-fractone/index.html

http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-fraction-splat/index.html

Please have your child spend some time working on these.  Please drop me an email or send me a note if your child does work on these websites.  I would like to reward them."

2. Student Websites: Cartoons and Animations
One of NCTE's "Common Standards" states, "Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts" (http://www.ncte.org/standards). One way to address this goal is the use of cartoons and animation in the classroom. Take a minute to explore these two websites:

• http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/ This website allows students to create comic strips online. It's a challenge to condense complicated ideas into three panels, and to apply grammar and language conventions to a new media! Remind students that not all comics are funny. 
• http://www.kerpoof.com/ Click on "Make a Movie". This website empowers students to create online animation similar to a cartoon. Characters can move and use voice bubbles, in addition to several other features. Students can also make online storybooks and drawings on this website. *Note: This website may take several seconds to load due to the size of the files*

3. Teacher Productivity Tools: United Streaming Online Video

"Discovery Education streaming is the most comprehensive digital video-on-demand and online teaching resource available today. Educators get access to a rich collection of more than 40,000 video segments and 4,000 full-length educational videos—all designed for easy integration into the curriculum and correlated to state standards."

I have set up a school trial of United Streaming (it requires a yearly fee) for the month.

• Website: http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/
• Username: ihmtech
• Password: ihm123

Once you have logged in, use the search tools on the left side of the screen to find a video which would apply to your curriculum. Although we do not have a subscription to United Streaming at this point, I wanted you to be aware of it.

And finally, here's our video of the week, from SchoolTube. I hope you enjoy hearing these "Digital Natives" tell us how they like to learn! (FYI, most of us are "Digital Immigrants"-- people who did not grow up using Technology tools)

Fantastic Fridays Sept. 16: Video Interviews, "Words", and Daily Readings

Welcome to "Fantastic Fridays" for Friday, Sept. 16.

1. Classroom Spotlight Project: Video Interviews

Julie G. planned an awesome "Interview" project with our 8th graders. Noticing that our Mac Laptops all have integrated Webcams, she decided to augment the lesson by having students record their interviews. It's like having a video camera available at any time! To record video from the Mac laptops:

• Start "iMovie"
• Choose "File" and then "Import from Camera"
• Click "Capture" to being recording
• Click "Ok"
• Click "Stop" when you are done recording
• Exit out of the Camera window with the red dot
• Now, your clip is displayed in the "Event Library" at the bottom of the screen to save or edit!
• Here is a great source of ideas for integrating student-created video projects in your curriculum: http://www.alicechristie.org/edtech/dmedia/ 

2. Student Websites: Spelling City and Wordle

Spelling City: If you teach spelling, and haven't seen http://www.spellingcity.com , GO THERE NOW! :) You'll want to put this resource in your classroom newsletters, so parents will be able to use it as well. One of the most useful features is the ability to pre-create activities with your spelling list, so students don't need to type in the words individually at the beginning of the lesson. You'll have to register first, which is an easy and free process. For directions on creating the activities in advance, click here: http://www.spellingcity.com/faq.html#52

Wordle:"Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends." You will love this! Check it out at http://www.wordle.net 

3. Teacher Productivity Tools: Daily Readings
To receive Daily Scripture Readings in your email each morning, try Flocknotes. Click here to register: https://www.flocknote.com/register.php , and then you will receive an email to log in. It will ask you for a picture and phone number, but you do not have to add those-- just keep clicking "Continue"! Next, you'll have the chance to click on "Browse Existing Networks". Select "Faith Formation". You can click on "Subscribe" to add any of the items listed. I also added "Daily Catholic Quotes", and I absolutely love it. Here's the quote I received yesterday: "At first we feel called by God and attracted by him. We grow in our vocation and get the impression that God has gripped us and will never let us go. We want to withdraw from him in order to escape his grasp. But he loves us too much to allow us to fall. He holds us fast, challenges us."

- Fr. Notker Wolf

And finally, here's our video of the week, from Edutopia! It shows a school in SC using tech to help differentiate instruction, a favorite topic of mine.

Friday, Sept. 10: AIMSWeb, Grammar, and Puzzlemaker

Hello IHM! Welcome to our second "Fantastic Friday"!

1. Classroom Technology Spotlight: Maggie is working with PowerPoints about the citrus industry. Students are creating persuasive presentations to evaluate threats to the citrus industry. A fun alternative to PowerPoint is an online tool called "Prezi" at http://prezi.com/ . This free Web 2.0 tool creates "non-linear" presentations. Here is an *unfinished* example of the "glogs" from last week: http://cboone.edu.glogster.com/glog/

2. Student websites: Grammar Skills-- Language conventions are a standard benchmark in each grade, and are permanent fixtures in most standardized tests. If "your" tired of reading "there" mistakes, try these websites!

• Power Proofreading 
• Quia Quiz- To/Two/Too: http://www.quia.com/pop/1000.html
• FunBrain- Word Confusion: http://www.funbrain.com/whichword/index.html
• Quiz- There/Their/They’re: http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/75.html
• Another There/Their/They’re Quiz: http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz115704d41148.html
• Double Negatives - a quiz
• To/too/two quiz - by James Rainville
• Sit or Set Quiz - Complete the sentences using the proper form of "sit" or "set." 

3. Teacher Productivity Tools: Puzzlemaker-- Puzzlemaker is a fun way to create customized worksheets. Create your own crossword puzzles, word searches, and other learning tools at http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/ 

And for dessert...  "I Need My Teachers to Learn", by Kevin Honeycutt

 

Welcome to Fantastic Fridays: Technology at IHM!

Hi Everyone! 

Welcome to our first segment of "Fantastic Fridays". This weekly posting will spotlight three elements of technology here at IHM. I will email you a copy of the posting, but you may also access it through this blog address.

1. Classroom Spotlight Project: Haiti Project
Sigrid's Wednesday afternoon 8th grade class is working on a multimedia research and action project covering Haiti. In anticipation of the Sept. 27 "Haitian Dancers" visit, these students are researching, writing, and creating a multimedia project (drama, dance, podcast or other format). Students will learn to use Glogster, an online poster creator (http://edu.glogster.com/) as a media for information. I will post links to their final projects at the end of September!

2. Student Websites: Math Computation 

All students need practice with basic math computation. Although these websites may not be the most enriching, they are a proven best practice for math fluency.

• Math Fact Cafe: http://www.mathfactcafe.com/view/default.aspx?t=F 
• IXL: Try using a "problem of the day"! http://www.ixl.com/math/practice/
• Math Mayhem: Almost too much fun :) http://members.learningplanet.com/act/mayhem/free.asp 
• Leon's Math Dojo: http://www.iknowthat.com/com/L3?Area=Dojo *NOTE: This site will ask you to register. Click on "Maybe Later" to access the games without registering*
• Math Baseball: http://www.prongo.com/math/addition.html 

3. Teacher Productivity Tools: Edline
By now, most of you have had some fun accessing the online version of Gradequick. Most parents should be regularly checking Edline for classroom news. Did you know...

• You can post videos to Edline? Try using a digital camera to take a short video of a great activity in your classroom. To save it to Edline, add a "News" document, and click on "Import an Existing File"
• Edline does not save a copy of your emails? You may want to consider composing your emails, newsletters, or other postings in Word, and copying/pasting them into Edline. This also saves you from Edline's charming habit of logging you out and losing what you're working on. 

And for dessert.... here's a funny (but edgy!) video interpretation of Taylor Mali's poem "What Do Teachers Make?":