Group items tagged

To help you start off 2011 with some good resources to try in your classrooms, I'm posting a list of eleven good resources to try, today's list features language arts resources. In creating this list I branched out a bit to include ESL/ ELL resources.

"Most of the resources can be used in KS1 and KS2 but some do lend themselves to the upper age group and above. The aim is to provide high quality resources that can be used in stand alone literacy lessons, can form the basis for a whole literacy unit or can support literacy units that you already have in place.   With the many book based activities I would advocate using the book alongside the digital resource.  "

The Encyclopedia of Life is a terrific online resource with "information and pictures of all species known to science". Search an animal's name and several tabs are made available, including the overview, details, outside resources on that topic, classifications and names for the animal and so much more. If you are a biology teacher, this is a site you should bookmark for your students.

"What it is: IKT FOR LAGET out of Norway has created a fantastic ebook all about Energy.  This is more than just a book that happens to be online (I know we have all seen those!), this is an interactive book that is great for ALL of your learners.  In addition to the text and bold images in the book, there is an audio feature on every page that will read the text to students.  Click on the video icon to watch a related video.  Students can even download related images from some of the films for use in their own projects where they reflect or construct their own understanding. Additional resources and links are provided within the book for teachers, parents, and students.  All of the additional content "enlarges the book" into something really useful for learning and exploring.   This is a big step in the right direction for ebooks- no more trying to pass off a PDF as a digital ebook, this is the real deal. How to integrate the Digital Energy Book into the classroom: If you study energy in your science curriculum this ebook is a super resource and addition to your classroom library.  Set up the ebook on classroom computers during independent reading time for some non-fiction reading material.  The ebook is great for all levels of readers, confident readers can read the book independently while struggling readers may want to read along with the audio.  Use the ebook as a "big book" using an interactive whiteboard or projector connected computer to read about energy as a class." iLearn Technology

A slew of resources for Smartboards!

This website has been forwarded to me from the Science Consultant Jane Diner:Here is a wonderful website focusing on resources to support the nature of science at all grades. I hope it can help you in your planning:

This is a great wiki showing how to tag in social bookmarking sites

An amazing list of tech resources for teachers listed by category. If you are trying to think of a way to integrate technology, this is the site for you!

Game site resources listed by subject, Making your own games, Reasons to use gaming in the classroom...

"Turf Mutt is a nice free resource from Discovery Education. Turf Mutt features ten free environmental science lesson plans for K-5 teachers. The lesson plans have clearly defined objectives and detailed directions for carrying out each lesson plan. The majority of the lesson plans span several days. The lesson plans use a combination of hands-on activities, see Discovering Dirt, and reading/ research activities. Although not directly connected to the lesson plans, Turf Mutt has some videos to help students learn about topics in Environmental Science."  Richard Byrne

This is a great site that is basically a giant FAQ database on everything tech. There are topics on the Internet, Hardware, Files and Sharing, Email, Images, Chat and Classroom Management. When you choose your topic there is a list of common questions that teachers or other tech users might ask. For example in the hardware section there are questions like what is a flash drive, or how do I burn a CD in Windows XP? The questions are basic for those of us who work in tech everyday but very common for those that don't. Each section also provide additional links to other resources that users can consult when they have questions.

Today in Canadian History, a resource site for students of Canadian history.  Click on any date and it will tell you everything that happened in Canadian history on that date. 

How to integrate technology into your classroom with only a few resources. 

If you haven't seen Digital Citizen:  Using Technology Appropriately, you may want to (actually, you must) check it out. I could see this being very useful ---I especially like the Nine Elements-Themes of Digital Citizenship ----The resources section is quite comprehensive as well!!

When you're trying to figure out how to use a new piece of software or a new web application, searching YouTube for how-to videos often returns some useful stuff. But for teachers there is a better place to turn to and that place is Russell Stannard's Teacher Training Videos. Russell Stannard's videos are screencasts in which he walks viewers through the process of using software and web applications from beginning to end. The videos are categorized by the purpose of the application  such as blogging, podcasting resources, online quizzes, file sharing, IWB, etc. There are also categories for EFL and MFL.