"I am a kindergarten teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom and am an Apple Distinguished Educator. I teach at Drayton Hall Elementary in Charleston, SC which is an Apple Distinguished School. I am also a Discovery Education STAR educator. I am passionate about literacy and personalizing learning in the classroom."
"I wanted to post a list that talked about how to "use" technology in the classroom, but I found myself revising that word "use" to the more general word, "model." The reason I did this is because so many teachers believe that if students aren't actively sitting in front of the computer screen themselves, then clearly technology is not being used in the classroom.
This myth can be a gatekeeper of sorts for many teachers, and I wanted to create a list that both gives advice on how to "use" but also acknowledges that in simply modeling the use the of technology, the students are also learning to use it in an indirect way."
Great collection of nonfiction ebooks from National Geographic Explorer. They are free and can be read independently or read aloud with text help. Great for the SMARTBoard!
Check out Miss Hill's Digital Hallway link at the bottom of her page. This is great way that she shares student work displays with parents who can't get into the building. Miss Hill adds a QR code for the display video to her newsletter so parents can access it from their smartphones as well! Great idea!
"Reading Bear teaches children to read by introducing phonics principles painlessly and systematically, while teaching new vocabulary. We are planning 50 presentations."
"Welcome to Peoria Public Library's Tumblebooks. By clicking the link you will be able to use the Tumblebook Library, a collection of animated books. Children can use this service by themselves or with a parent, reading tutor or teacher. Teachers may project Tumblebooks and let the entire class enjoy a story together.
You will also find games and puzzles at Tumblebooks and can save favorites, read in other languages and set the controls for your own needs. Explore it for yourself now!"
"In October, 1868, Laura Jernegan, a 6 year old girl from Edgartown, Massachusetts set out on a three year whaling voyage with her father, mother, brother and the ship's crew to the whaling grounds of the Pacific Ocean.
This website, produced by the Martha's Vineyard Museum, tells the story of Laura Jernegan and the journal she kept on her voyage. It also tells the adventurous history of whaling. "
This interactive journal was written by a 6-year-old and allows you to see her handwriting as well as use a "magic lens" to read it clearly in type. Would work great on the Smartboard. Super primary source that is grade appropriate! Not something we often see! :)
"This worksheet generator produces all sorts of basic math worksheets - as long as it is one of the four basic operations and it is whole numbers. Use the script to make multiplication tables worksheets or missing addend worksheets or division with remainder. Create worksheets for addition/subtraction/multiplication in columns or long division (by choosing 'vertical' form). You can use negative numbers. Experiment with the options to customize the worksheets as you like!"
"ABCya! is the leader in free educational kids computer games and activities for elementary students to learn on the web. All children's educational computer activities were created or approved by certified school teachers. All educational games are free and are modeled from primary grade lessons and enhanced to provide an interactive way for children to learn. Grade level lessons incorporate areas such as math and language arts while introducing basic computer skills. Many of the kindergarten and first grade activities are equipped with sound to enhance understanding. Fun children's Holiday activities are available in grade level sections! "
"The Kidspiration activities/templates cover the following topics: comparing, equal groups, measurement, patterns, place value, and sorting. Teachers pick a different concept and spend 1 month using the Kidspiration activities/templates. Within each concept there are 4 to 9 different activities that are differentiated chronolocially. All children have an opportunity to work with the activities and meet grade level requirements for math. Those students who show success with the grade level templates can continue to the differentiated templates for extension of the concept areas. "
" Nine part online guided reading story, comes with literacy worksheets and discussion sheets. Use in the classroom on your interactive whiteboard or computers"
"This is a free range of interactive teaching programs (ITPs) designed to support whole class teaching. The Flash Design and Development was carried out by Lightness Ltd. The games may be used with interactive whiteboards or on individual computers. The materials are based around phonemes and include prefix and suffix materials as well as more general tools such as magnetic letters and numbers."