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Integrating Technology in the Classroom: It Takes More Than Just Having Computers

Access an online weather forecast. Most elementary grade teachers begin each school day with a discussion of the date and local weather. Why not take an extra minute to visit a site such as UM Weather, The Weather Channel, or USA Today Weather, to find out what the rest of the day might bring? If you have a few extra minutes, check out weather in other parts of the country as well.   Include URLs in your monthly calendar. Each month, Education World provides a printable and editable coloring calendar for classroom use. Before distributing copies of the calendar to your students, add the URLs of a few sites that will add to their understanding of the months events -- and encourage them to visit those sites. The September calendar, for example, might offer links to sites about Labor Day, Grandparents' Day, and Hispanic Heritage Month. (A kid-friendly search engine such as Yahoo Kids will help you locate appropriate sites.) Or, students can find the sites themselves as they complete a Months of the Year Project.   Access online weather forecasts in French, German, or Spanish. Begin foreign language classes with a discussion of the day's weather. The Weather Channel provides weather information for Brazil, Germany, France, and Latin America in the native language of each country.   Challenge students with online mathematics problems. Add a daily or weekly mathematics challenge to your seatwork assignments, math lessons, or extra credit activities. The Math Forums Math Problem of the Week offers word problems in five categories -- math fundamentals, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, and pre-calculus. The AIMS Puzzle Corner provides more than 100 math-related puzzles appropriate for students in upper elementary grades and middle school. Most include printable worksheets. Aunty Math's Math Challenges for K-5 Learners offers biweekly word problems for younger students, while high school students will enjoy the news-related math problems at Math Counts. Dont like todays problem? Not to worry! Most of the sites listed also include extensive archives. If you teach grades 3-8, extend your students online math experience and encourage them to match wits with students around the world by participating in the Abacus International Math Challenge.

Provide a URL in place of a quote. Do you write a quote on the chalkboard each day, for students to reflect on and discuss? Instead of writing out the quote, provide students with the URL and have them locate the days quote themselves. Quote of the Day, Quotes of the Day, and Quote A Day are all excellent sources of funny, inspirational, or thought-provoking quotes.   Introduce a word of the day. Extend students vocabulary by including an online word of the day in opening activities, seatwork assignments, or language arts lessons. The Daily Buzzword at Word Central provides a word of the day and related activity appropriate for upper elementary students. Vocabulary Builder offers words and definitions for students in grades 4-6 and grades 6-9. The

more likely to be engaged in learning.

need to press buttons

think out problems

manipulate the tools they have to achieve a goal

improve focus among students

independently

accelerate struggling students close the learning gap between those at the back of the class and the A-students

gives teachers more options

Tablet computers are more than electronic textbooks. With their fast processor, Internet connectivity, and large touch-screen display, tablets can function as powerful graphing calculators, video players, and photo editors.

ut the iPads have helped engage students, cut down on paper, and allowed

absent students to keep up with classwork.

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