ABCYa! – Updated

Last year, I blogged about the fantastic ABCYa! website.  As the site has now been updated, I wanted to not only highlight the update, but another reason that it is a fantastic, safe resource to use in the classroom.

Recently I have been working with a number of classes from prep to year 7, and have noticed that many teachers are now starting to incorporate tools such as Wordle into their classroom.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Wordle …… but, on further use and investigation,  I have seen dangers of using it in the classroom!

 

 

As the gallery of images is updated regularly, there is no way of filtering the information that will appear – not a great function when using it in a classroom!  Whilst a high percentage of the time, the content will be appropriate – you still don’t want to have to explain that ‘one time’ a student saw something inappropriate to parents or your administration team!  Wordle have addressed this issue on their website:

The Wordle front page will never feature images or links that are inappropriate for classroom use. Therefore, it’s possible to configure an institution’s “site-blocking” software to keep Wordle safe for classroom use.

Simply have your networking administrator block the following base URLs:

• http://www.wordle.net/gallery
• http://www.wordle.net/next
• http://www.wordle.net/random

and your users will not be inadvertently shown anything that’s not safe for classrooms.If your filtering software only blocks per domain, then you’re out of luck. It’s either no Wordle at all for your school, or Wordle avec des gros mots.

As Wordle recognise, this may not be a ‘fix’ for all schools.  If your school falls into that category (or you are waiting for the filters to be put in place), then you should visit ABCYa! word clouds.

This safe and easy to use Word Cloud tool is fantastic to use with students of all ages.

 

ABCya.com word clouds for kids! A word cloud is a graphical representation of word frequency. Type or paste text into the box … and press the arrow button to view the word cloud generated. The appearance of a word cloud can be altered using the graphical buttons above the cloud. It is also easy to save and/or print the cloud by simply pressing a button.

The tool is very user-friendly, and even comes with instructions for a very common ‘word cloud’ issue of keeping words together.

Students enter their words into the box, and then click on the arrow.

The next interface in the sequence is extremely easy to use, and allows the students to manipulate their word cloud.

 

When the students click on ‘save’, the word cloud defaults to a JPEG image.

I love that students can change the colour to black and white for ease of printing on the school printer, but would also like to see colours on a white background too.

Overall, this site is quick and easy to use with no chance of students viewing inappropriate content.  The other great thing is that you can safely recommend it for use at home (where your school filters are obviously not in place!) and be sure that all content viewed by your students is appropriate!

Virtual Books

Recently I was exploring the Queensland Government Library Services website, and amongst the hundreds of fantastic resources I found there (which I HIGHLY recommend you explore!!), I came across some wonderful – FREE - virtual books.

This interactive book collection uses the latest page flip technology to deliver virtual books. You can zoom in on a page, listen to accompanying audio and discover detailed information.

Please note: not all virtual books include audio.  

The books, such as the ‘Rosie and Wallace’ series, are fantastic to display on an interactive whiteboard.  If you are an employee of Education QLD, you are also able to download the ‘Rosie and Wallace’ books from the Learning Place as well.

 

 

Take some time to explore not only the ‘Rosie and Wallace’ series, but the other fantastic books on offer as well.

Arts Alive.ca – National Arts Centre

Whilst working with teachers at my school recently, I noticed that several year levels are planning units of work that focus on dance.  Personally, I have admired dancers for many years …. but just don’t have the knowledge (or rhythm!) to teach a whole unit on it!  After consultation with my Twitter PLN (Personal Learning Network), I was directed to the Arts Alive website. The Arts Alive website:

ArtsAlive.ca is a performing arts educational website produced by the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The goals of ArtsAlive.ca are:

• To engage younger generations of Canadians in information, multimedia resources and activities pertaining to the performing arts, and
• To provide free performing arts-related primary and secondary resources to students, parents and teachers to aid them in learning about and teaching the topics presented.

Not only is there a huge section on dance that includes teacher and student guides, video footage (and a heap of other things!), but there is also a fantastic tool that lets the students compile their own dance in the Virtual Dance Studio.

The Virtual Dance Studio allows the student to compose their own ballet or modern dance.  They put together sections of the dance through what they have learned throughout the site, and then select music bring it all together – so fun!

Very engaging for the students!  You could even take it a step further and have the students practice and perform their dances as part of a culminating activity.

Really, there is just too much wonderful content to mention individually.  Do yourself a favour and head over to the Arts Alive website and explore it for yourself!

Shhh …. it’s Quiet Tube!

Ever wanted to show your class a You Tube clip, but held back because you didn’t want all the ‘extra’ stuff that surrounds the clip? Too scared of what may pop up in the suggestions area, or in the comments section? Well, there is something you can do to remove all of those hassles …. just be quiet!

When You find a You Tube video you would like to use, simply go to the address bar and type the word ‘quiet’ in front of the You Tube in the address.  This would mean your address would go from this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en&v=D7o7BrlbaDs&gl=US

to this:

http://www.quietyoutube.com/watch?hl=en&v=D7o7BrlbaDs&gl=US

What this does, is remove everything else from the page …. easy!

Below is an example of the normal You Tube, and then what you will get if you use Quiet You Tube:

You Tube Example

Quiet You Tube Example

A fantastic and easy tip that will save you accidentally displaying any content (that you can’t control) that may be inappropriate for your class to view.  With Quiet You Tube you can welcome the world back into your classroom!

PS.     The You Tube examples above are WELL worth watching.  Just amazing what can be done with You Tube!!

Storyline Online

The Screen Actors Guild Foundation is proud to bring you Storyline Online, an online streaming video program featuring SAG members reading children’s books aloud.  Each book includes accompanying activities and lesson ideas.

The site has some wonderful activities, and a great selection of books and readers:

• To Be a Drum, by Evelyn Coleman; read by James Earl Jones
• Guji Guji, by Chih Yuan Chen; read by Robert Guillaume
• Sebastian’s Roller Skates, by Joan De Deu Prats; read by Caitlin Wachs
• Sophie’s Masterpiece, by Eileen Spinelli; read by CCH Pounder
• Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon; read by Pamela Reed
• Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, by Mem Fox; read by Bradley Whitford
• No Mirrors in My Nana’s House, by Ysaye M. Barnwell; read by Tia and Tamera Mowry
• The Night I Followed the Dog, by Nina Laden; read by Amanda Bynes
• Thank you, Mr. Falker, by Patricia Polacco; read by Jane Kaczmarek
• My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, by Patricia Polacco; read by Melissa Gilbert
• Knots on a Counting Rope, by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault; read by Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels
• Brave Irene, by William Steig; read by Al Gore
• A Bad Case of Stripes, by David Shannon; read by Sean Astin
• Private I. Guana, by Nina Laden; read by Esai Morales
• Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, by Eileen Spinelli; read by Hector Elizondo
• The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg; read by Lou Diamond Phillips
• Me and My Cat, by Satoshi Kitamura; read by Elijah Wood
• Dad, Are You the Tooth Fairy, by Jason Alexander; read by Jason Alexander
• When Pigasso Met Mootisse, by Nina Laden; read by Eric Close
• White Socks Only, by Evelyn Coleman; read by Amber Rose Tamblyn
• Romeow and Drooliet, by Nina Laden; read by Haylie Duff
• Enemy Pie, by Derek Munson; read by Camryn Manheim

What a fabulous way to encourage the students to add expression and variety of pitch and tone to their reading.

You could even take the idea further by having the students record themselves reading their favourite story books and make them available on the server for students from the school to access.  Perhaps they could create a compilation of authors or stories in a Powerpoint file that they could load on junior school computers.  What a great project!

The students of my class have really enjoyed listening to these stories, and I hope yours will too!

Earthquake & Tsunami Resources

As with many events in our world, our students watch the news and sometimes struggle to understand how such an event could occur.  The recent Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan has students curious about these natural disasters, and what causes them.  The resources below are a collection of resources to view and use with those students who are eager to find out more: 

Japanese Tsunami Videos

• Helicopter footage of Tsunami
• Tsunami moving across the countryside
• 10m wave moves through town
• Evacuees on Airport rooftop
• Large waves move whole port inland
• News Helicopter footage of aftermath
• News Report: Nuclear Reacctor explosion
• Rooftop rescues plus tsunami footage
• Animation from NOAA’s Environmental Visualization Laboratory showing the tsunami wave height across the globe 

General Earthquakes Resources

• Wicked Science Interactives
• Basic info on Earthquakes for kids

Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Information

• How Shifting Plates Caused the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan
• Japanese Earthquake – News for kids, by kids
• Before and after photos of the Earthquake & Tsunami
• Japan’s Strict Building Codes Saved Lives
• What caused Japans Earthquake and Tsunami?
• Teachable Moments from the Japanese Earthquake & Tsunami

Games and Interactives

• Stop Disasters Game

Computer kids – Eat my Bytes!

For those beginners out there, I just wanted to share with you a fantastic site that has some basic information and ICT worksheets for you to work through with your students.  Computer Kids is an Australian site that has been created by Cheryl Hill of Lindfield East Public School in NSW.

With over 10 years experience in devising customised computer skills lessons, Cheryl is currently contracted at Lindfield East Public School in Sydney, where students engage in technology rich activities including movie-making, web design and digital animation (in addition to core skills, word processing, spreadsheets, multimedia & presentations and internet usage).

 

The site is very basic, and easy to navigate.  It has several sections that include a gallery, typing, teachers and an about section.

A great feature of the site is in the teachers section where there is a link to loads of free (.. and you know I love that word!!) ICT worksheets that range from care for equipment to how to use Microsoft Word.  The resources provided cater for most primary school students – with K-2 and 3-6 worksheet sections.  Below is an example of the worksheets provided (click to enlarge):

As well as the worksheets, the site also has some great touch typing links for you to use with your students.  If you have a lower school class, you may even like to join and take part in the ‘Tooth Tally Project’.

Overall, the site is great starting point to creating student ICT journals that the students can refer back to if they need help on how to complete a task that you have previously covered.  I have used the ICT worksheets in a student journal in the past with fantastic success!  Another bonus is that, if you have limited ICT resources in your classroom, you can have the students working on these activities whilst they rotate through the stations you may have set up for them.

Groovy Mathematics!

Whilst finalising my term planning recently, I came across a fantastic site created by Beenleigh State School that has cut down on my interactive, digital resource searching considerably – always a bonus!!  The site is called Groovy Mathematics.

Groovy mathematics is a collection of interactive, digital resources that  is separated into levels 1 – 4, and then by strands.  Remember to review the levels with the National Curriculum in mind – although the resources are still valuable, they may not necessarily be in the correct spot, with the correct strand title. For example, the National Curriculum has the following three strands:

1. Number and Algebra
2. Measurement and geography
3. Statistics and probability

I have found some wonderful resources on the site to use during my lessons, and also sites to add to my virtual classroom for the students to follow-up on a concept we have covered in class.  The students have enjoyed having these quality sites to work on ….. and I have enjoyed having the extra time I have saved by using this site!   Thank you Beenleigh State School.

Although all of these resources are linked to from the Beenleigh State School site, it is important to note that the school does not host these resources. As with every resource on the internet, ‘viewing prior to using’ is always recommended. 

Maths Starter of the Day

Many teachers around the state have recently had interactive whiteboards installed, yet are still a little unsure of how to incorporate them in their daily teaching.  A fantastic site that I found through Twitter recently was the Maths Starter of the Day website.  The concept behind the site is incredibly simple, and as the name suggests, is one problem for the students to work on each day.  Fabulous to put up on the interactive whiteboard first thing in the morning to get students settled and straight into independent work.  Who knows?  We may even see some improved results come NAPLAN time!

Beware … some of these problems are quite tricky, so you are best to view them beforehand!  Don’t forget to scroll down to find the answers!

I love this concept, but I am thinking that I’ll need to go through the archives and possibly create my own whiteboard file that has more tailored activities for my year level. I’ll let you know how I go!

Monster Sciences

 

Introducing Monster Sciences! 

 

Whilst wandering around the internet looking for some fun and effective ways to introduce scientific concepts to my class, I found the Monster Sciences website.  For someone like me (who is interested in science, but quite cautious when it comes to scientific experiments - in case I set the room on fire by accident!!), this site gives clear and easy to understand experiments that are then backed up with knowledge in the teacher’s notes.

Everything you find at Monster Sciences was written for teachers by a teacher who understands the challenges of teaching in today’s classroom.  All the experiments are printable, designed to be effective, fun, hands on and are FULLY EXPLAINED in complete Teacher’s Notes.  They use simple, every day items that can easily be brought from home – no fancy expensive equipment required!

 

From the creator of the site:

I’m a teacher and a scientist and I have a passion for teaching science to kids, even really young kids.  Science investigations are a fabulous way for kids to get their brains working – they need to use lots of thinking skills, including observation, logic, reasoning and comparison.  Hands on activities allow them to see the results for themselves, enabling them to construct their own understanding of the way the world works. All that and they are fun too!

There are many fantastic experiments to choose from:

This will definitely be a site I revisit regularly …. I am hoping it will bring out my inner scientist!