Week 6 - Classroom Aids

Week 6 Classroom Aids (7/9/2010 – 7/15/2010)

During this week explore 5 great classroom aids. How could you use these to enhance your classroom? Whole group instruction or in a lab situation? If you are a librarian could you use any of these to enhance your library instruction?

Math Manipulatives
This is part of the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives put out by Utah State University. It has Manipulatives for all grades PreK- 12. How could you share this with the Math people on your campus?

Kids Zone
 A website put out by the National Center for Educational Statistics a division of the U.S. Department of Education. This website offers, words of the day, This day in history, Create a Graph, Mind Benders, Probability, and a Grab bag of educational tools.This is one stop shopping for easy ways to incorporate technology into your day. How would you use this with your class?

Google Lit Trips
Developed as part of the Google Certified Teachers Program, (Google Lit Trips is not otherwise affiliated with or sponsored by Google Inc) this website gives you a new way to read great literature. It is broken down into grades K-5, 6-8, 9-12. These are interactive activities centered around a piece of literature; from Make Way for Ducklings to Macbeth, this is a great tool to use in Language arts, English, Social Studies, History or your Tech App classes. They even have a great tutorial on how to use the site.

ScribleMaps
Powered by Google. This tool allows you to scribble on maps. Yes Scribble on Maps. You can zoom in and out, customize maps, put markers on different cities, and then print them. This would take a Flat Stanley project to a whole new level.

Word Sift
Students can type in any amount of text, Word Sift will then allow you to use a visual thesaurus to find better words, see images of different words, and alphabetize the words. What a great way for students to amp up their writing.

Activities:
1.Explore each of the sites above.

2.Blog about which of the tools could you see yourself incorporating into a lesson and how? Share another favorite sites that maybe similar or one you currently use in your classroom/library that wasn’t shown?