Language Arts

• Into the BookThis site is great for learning about the many different reading strategies.
• Starfall This site has a lot of learning activities for beginning readers. Students can listen to stories to learn vowel and consonant sounds, practice their ABC’s and lots more.
• BookPALS Storyline This site has a variety of popular children’s books read by different actors that students can listen to. It’s a great way to provide students with a chance to be read to by many different people.
• Dance Mat Typing This is a fun way to learn how to type correctly on a keyboard.
• Look Out Below This is a fun game where you get to see how many words you can make using a larger word.
• Critter Jumble This game helps you practice spelling different words.
• Voice Thread This is a great tool to use to create collaborative reading and writing projects and much more.
• Kerpoof Kids can create and share online stories, greeting cards, pictures and even animated movies with this tool.
• Comiqs This site allows you to create your own comics using either your own photos or the clipart and images provided on the site.
• SillyBooks Students can upload their own writing to this site and read stories uploaded by other students as well. Each month a student story is selected and then turned into an animated movie and featured on the site.
• Big Universe This site allows students to create their own online picture books as well as explore books that have been created by other users. You can embed your finished products in different websites and blogs once you are finished.
• Tikatok is another tool that allows you to write, publish and embed your on book online. You can also order a print copy of your book for a price.
• Lulu is another online publishing tool with an interesting twist. This site allows you to upload your story or book and then sell it either as a printed book that people order or as a download. They set the publishing price and you decide how much above that price you want to charge. You can actually make money by publishing your writing!
• LookyBook This site has a great collection of children’s picture books that you can view in full color online. You can embed the books in your own website or blog and virtually flip through the pages whenever you like.
• Shelfari This site allows you to create a virtual bookshelf where you can keep a list of recommended books for others to see. You can see what other people are reading and recommending as well.
• myWebspiration is an online version of the popular Inspiration tool. The one big difference with this online version is that you can easily collaborate with others to create maps and other graphic organizers.
• Scholastic Story Starters is a tool designed for 1st-4th grade students to help generate ideas for stories and guide them in their writing.
• You just can’t beat the School House Rock video library when it comes to finding ways to reinforce concepts from across the curriculum.
• SpellingCity allows you to create your own list of spelling words for your students to use to test and prepare for the ever popular spelling test…or celebration that takes place in elementary classrooms across the country each Friday.
• Roy the Zebra has a variety of interactive games to help kids learn and practice reading and writing skills.
• Pikikids is one of the many online cartoon/comic strip creation tools that students can use to make their own comic strips about a wide range of topics.
• PBS KIDS Island is a great tool for helping kids practice different reading skills. Kids get to play a variety of games that feature different PBS characters and you can even track their progress to see what they have accomplished.

Here are some sample books embedded from LookyBook and Big Universe.

Read this children’s book and hundreds more on BigUniverse.com

Math

• Crack Hacker’s Safe In this game you have to find the pattern to open the safe.
• Test the Toad This is a fun adding game.
• Spacey Math In this game you have to solve the math problem in order to keep the alien spaceship from attacking.
• Tangrams This site has different tangram puzzles that you have to solve.
• Buzzing With Shapes This game is like Tic Tac Toe but you have to identify shapes to make 4 in a row. It works best to play with a partner.
• Counting Money This site will help you practice counting money.
• Money Practice In this game you drag coins to a cup to equal the amount shown.
• Math TV is a series of videos each of which first presents a problem and then goes through the process of solving that problem.
• HippoCampus has a great selection of resources for math, science and social studies that are geared towards middle and high school students. The material is arranged much like a multimedia textbook with narrative videos, timelines, images and more.
• Math Arcade from the Fun Brain site is a nice collection of math games for 1st-8th graders.

Science

• EdHeads Simple MachinesThis is a great site to help kids learn about simple machines and be able to identify simple machines in everyday life.
• Here is a link to a site that provides a panoramic view of the moon along with audio clips from the real astronauts as they toured the moon’s surface. http://www.fullscreenqtvr.com/moon/
• Google Moon is much like Google Earth but it provides images of the moon instead. You can find information about the different Apollo missions that landed on the moon and see pictures that were taken during those missions.
• The Volcano Explorer allows you to learn more about volcanoes by creating your own volcano and watching it erupt.
• This site has an interactive diagram of the rock cycle that you can use to learn more about the different types of rocks and how they are formed.
• Geo Mysteries has some neat scientific mysteries for kids to solve that include animations, photos, explanations and more. Check it out and see if you can help Rex the Dino solve some mysteries.
• The Solids and Liquids Module provides you with the chance to see what happens to different objects when you heat them up and cool them down.
• Click here to see a variety of cartoon animations that help to explain solids, liquids and gases and their different properties.
• Build Your Wild Self is a great site to help students learn more about different types of animals and their various characteristics. Students can design their own animal and even download an image of it to their computer.
• ARKive Education provides access to a wide range of modules on different science related topics. Each module contains images and videos pertaining to the targeted topic or concept. The modules download as complete Power Point files that you can use and modify as needed.
• TestToob is a YouTube style site that is focused on student created science videos. Students can upload their videos, watch and comment on the videos of others and even enter contests with their videos. The site is monitored for appropriate content.
• Fantastic Contraption is a great tool to use to help middle school students better understand physics. You use a variety of tools to build different contraptions in order to accomplish a pre-determined task.
• HippoCampus has a great selection of resources for math, science and social studies that are geared towards middle and high school students. The material is arranged much like a multimedia textbook with narrative videos, timelines, images and more.

Social Studies

• Virtual Earth is an alternative to Google Earth that doesn’t need to be downloaded but still allows you to do many of the same things such as search for different locations and view them as a map or satellite image.
• TerraClues is a tool you can use to create geography-based quizzes or scavenger hunts for students. You can create clues and tag the answers to different locations on the map or even have students create their own maps.
• Mapwing can be used to create virtual tours of different geographical or physical locations. You can upload your own images to use in a tour add comments at each stop of the tour and much more.
• CircaVie is an online timeline creation tool that students can use to learn about sequence of events and to create their own timelines.
• Dipity is another online timeline creation tool where you can include images, videos and text in your timeline. You are also able to embed your finished timeline and share authorship with others so that they can add events to is as well.
• AllofMe is one more timeline tool to check out.
• ILike2Learn provides many different map and geography based quizzes that you can use with students.
• This Lewis and Clark simulation allows students to travel along the same trail with the famous explorers and learn about their trip.
• Mapness allows you to create your own online travel journal complete with images and embedded videos. You can plot your route across the map and create a trip representing all sorts of journeys.
• HippoCampus has a great selection of resources for math, science and social studies that are geared towards middle and high school students. The material is arranged much like a multimedia textbook with narrative videos, timelines, images and more.

This has been a busy summer for me. I attended the NECC 2008 conference in San Antonio where I was inundated with information and products. I’m still getting floods of calls/emails from vendors that want to sell me something. In spite of all that, it was instructive to see what other educators were doing all over the country. They say 18,000 were there. I believe it! Some sessions were too crowded to get in, but the great thing about this conference is that they archive a lot of the sessions online. So I will continue to learn/attend throughout the year.

NECC 2008 in San Antonio

Then a few weeks after returning from NECC, I attended the Discovery Education National Institute in Silver Springs, MD, just over the river from the capitol. That was an incredible experience. The Discovery people prepared an action-packed week of activities and sessions. I learned so much and am still processing the tips and tricks and figuring out ways to implement the training this year with our students. One thing I am sure of: we have not used Discovery Streaming to its capacity and I want to take advantage of that valuable resource this year. In the coming weeks, I will be passing on as much as I can for you to implement with your children.

Rube Goldberg machine in Discovery lobby

Dinosaur in Discovery lobby

“If you’re not networking, you’re not working,” or you are as strong as your strongest link. This has been a revolutionary idea for me. When budget constraints eliminated our professional development funds several years ago, I was very upset as I felt the classes I took really added to my performance as a teacher. While I would still like those funds back and appreciate having the money to take classes or attend conferences, Web 2.0 has changed how I approach professional development. I can frequently learn new tricks by “tuning in” to the movers and shakers of the ed tech world. NECC holds a national conference every year and the handouts from the sessions are archived for a year on their web site. You can learn a lot just by reading the handout! Sites like twitter.com allow you to be proactive. If you don’t know something, ask, and someone will probably answer! Web 1.0 is a powerful resource for teachers and students but the information moves from publisher to consumer, is read only and is not interactive. Web 2.0 makes it as easy to create as to consume. Anyone can publish, share or exchange information.

Free software for creating digital stories or projects is available. Highly recommended is audacity, photostory and moviemaker. All are PC friendly so you can use your work computer. All that is needed is a microphone. A great source for learning these programs is ilife4windows.wikispaces.com.

Google continues to develop new and useful tools for educators. One teacher has developed a site to feature google “lit trips” where a book is studied and the places in the book are “pinned” into googleearth with commentary (googlelittrips.org). Googledocs was discussed as a way to edit documents online with a collaborative group. It saves time and energy.

Both blogging and podcasting were discussed and samples of programs available were displayed. There are a few available on our school web site right now, but wouldn’t it be great if we could see what everybody is doing in our school?

We discussed the virtues of unitedstreaming and developing a way to share our lessons. There is no reason we should duplicate our efforts. Free professional development is also available through unitedstreaming. Becoming a DEN educator is another way of expanding your reach and learning new applications.

The story…It is Christmas Eve. Maria and her brother Fritz are anticipating with excitement and impatience the celebration that will take place in their beautiful home in Frankfurt. They are wondering if all their guests will come despite the snow storm. Maria is especially concerned about their godfather, Papa Drosselmeyer. The godfather arrives late and brings with him extraordinary presents among which is an unusual nutcracker that turns out to be a young, handsome prince. Thanks to Nutcracker, Maria is freed of undesirable guests, the mice, and travels to a world of magic and enchantment with her prince. They are greeted by the Sugar Plum Fairy, and entertained by acrobats and dancers from all over the world! Was it just a dream? What do you think?

The story of the story…The history of the Nutcracker tale is as rich as the story itself. Nearly two centuries ago, in 1815, the German writer E.T.A. Hoffman published a story called The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, telling how a little girl’s love brought to life her cherished Nutcracker, an enchanted Christmas gift from her mysterious godfather. In 1847, the French writer Alexandre Dumas published a retelling of Hoffman’s story. From this adaption, the Russian composers Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky and choreographer Lev Ivanov created their ballet, The Nutcracker, which was first performed in St. Petersburg in 1892. Why has The Nutcracker remained so popular throughout the world? As the story explains, “if you love something very much, it is always alive.”

Writing application: Do you have a toy or an object that you love so much you wish it would come to life? If so, describe how you imagine that experience. What conversations would you have with that come-alive object? What in your world would surprise your come-alive object? What would you do on your first day together? (Many of my students (particularly boys) have loved The Indian in the Cupboard books which follow this pattern. ) Non-writers can draw a picture of the object and dictate a story.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about the last few days is an article I read regarding the Google culture and some of the aspects that make it unique. Today I can’t put my hands on that article, but here are some of their company principles taken from their web site:

I’ve been thinking about this in connection with homeschooling. My hope is your student has time to explore the ideas he/she is passionate about. While there is a place for textbooks, please don’t neglect following your child’s interest. Some of the best learning may happen outside of what you plan. Some of my most memorable moments in teaching were when my students led me “off topic” and we explored some area that interested all of us. Homeschooling gives you the freedom to follow those interests. So…enjoy your time with your student and take advantage of the gift of time.

Speaking of this co-op, I am happy to report that three are active in my little world. I love the idea of parents taking charge of their children’s education and a co-op gives you the opportunity for complete ownership of the curriculum. You also get the advantage of many teachers. “Many hands make light work” and it is great to have your work load shared. The creativity of a group of minds always notches a classroom up; team teaching with like-minded instructors always works. It is also beneficial for your kids to have other eyes on them. Different eyes notice different gifts. Anyway, I salute you! You are doing a great job and bringing another dimension to homeschooling.

All of that aside, there is a star party happening tonight at UCI, and you could have one in your backyard if you want to get up at midnight. Tonight there is going to be a total lunar eclipse. There is no better way to talk about an event like this than when it is happening and the kids get to see it. Worried about school tomorrow? If you do school at midnight, they can sleep in tomorrow! You can read all about it here: http://www.ocregister.com/news/moon-says-earth-1822563-color-comes. Also featured in this article is the meteor shower coming on Saturday. If your student does experience either one of these events, make sure you have him write about it the next day! And if all of this just sounds too “out there” for you, schedule a time to visit the Griffith Observatory this year. It has just reopened after a massive refurbishment program.

Another fun resource online is the NASA site: http://www.nasa.gov/. Look at both the “for kids” and “for teachers” pages for ideas for your astronomy study. I’ve also told many of my families about the book “Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System.” Near the beginning of the book, the author, Alvin Jenkins, plots out a scaled solar system for you if the sun was the size of a basketball. “At this scale, the solar system is almost a mile and a half across, and all of its planets could be held in the palm of your hand.” One year the Brea co-op did a walk where parents had mapped out the relative distances of the planets from the sun. Those kids had a graphic picture in their heads that came from the ground up.

So…don’t call me early in the morning. I’ll be star partying tonight!