Saturday, August 20, 2011

Math Pickle


This site was shared by someone...wish I remembered who!  In my excitement about this site, I didn't even mark it as a favorite.  I just started sharing it with fellow teachers.  So thank you, whoever you are!

Back to the site.  The first thing I checked out was a 6th grade lesson on prime and composite numbers.  I clicked on the video and was disappointed that it was on YouTube until I realized this was a video to help teachers use a particular strategy to teach the concept.  Then I noticed an associated powerpoint to show to students.  In addition, there is a pdf with the graph paper needed for students to complete the exercise.  Unfortunately I was unable to open another file however, give it a try.  You may be able to open it.  WIth the resources I could access, I would be set with this lesson!

I skimmed over the $1,000,000 Problems and I think I need to give that a bit more attention.  In fact, there are other pages that need a bit more of my attention. 

All you MATH teachers out there...make sure you check out this site! Just click on the title of this post.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Classroom Sweepstakes

Click on the title for your chance to win over $500 worth of supplies from Carson Delossa and Scotch.  The sweepstakes runs until September 30th and you can only enter once.  25 teachers will win.  Maybe you will be one of the winners!!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Target Field Trip Grants

Just got a reminder about the field trip grants offered by Target.  Thanks to Free Technology for Teachers for that reminder!  Each year Target store awards 3 grants of up to $700 each for field trips.  Click on the title of this post to check out the grants.  Do it fast though because the clock is ticking.  Only 46 days until the applications close.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

The Week in Rap

The Week in Rap returns next Friday with upgrades.  A recent email shared the news. It's always been a quality resource and I will be interested in the upgrades especially the weekly quizzes.

Direct from the email...

What's NEW about The New Week in Rap?
_ - Activities and quizzes for students each week
- Teacher-created lesson plans and handouts
- A better quality streaming video (hosted on our site - no Vimeo or Youtube)
- We'll be charging a subscription fee of $5/month to access The Week in Rap.


Friday, August 12, 2011

Discovery Education

I've wanted Discovery Education for a long time now and have asked the principals to consider purchasing a school subscription.  No luck there.  Yesterday I received information about free resources on Discovery Education.  If you click on the title, you'll go to the home page.  Go to Teachers near the top and the drop down menu will give you the option to click a grade level and the free resources.  There are lots of great lesson plans and some videos.  I followed the link to Social Studies and found Student Adventures.  Looked interesting and I may be able to use this in the classroom especially during our country projects!  Next I checked out the Students tab and found some videos under Homework Help.  The videos could be very helpful for students to use.
I'd suggest you click on the title of this post and head over to the free resources to see what you can find at Discovery Education.  I'm dedicating some time today just for that!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Story Starters

Scholastic is a great resource for teachers.  You can find almost anything you need to reinforce areas of curriculum.  I was just looking at the site again today as I gear up for the first day of school and was reacquainted with the story starter generator.  Click on the title of this post to check it out.  I'm thinking this might be  fantastic to set up for the writing center.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Teach By Magic

This is a neat site I found last school year. There are lots of great videos to use for free or you can subscribe to an upgraded account and have access to all the videos. My 6th grade students enjoyed the "Hole World" video and were excited to complete the activity. The site includes the solutions to the tricks, printouts and directions. Check it out by clicking on the title of the post.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Free Computer Recycling

Direct from a recent email...

Free computer recycling from Apple ends September 2nd. Sign up by September 2, 2011, and Apple will collect any brand of computers and peripherals from your school for free recycling. Secure and environmentally responsible, the process Apple uses results in a high recovery rate of commodities. Plus, all recycling is done locally, so you can rest assured that your old electronics won't be shipped overseas.

To learn more about why Apple recycling is good for your school and to register for pickup, visit www.apple.com/education/recycling or call 1-800-APPLE-LN.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Algebra Help

This is direct from the site...

Algebrahelp.com is a collection of lessons, calculators, and worksheets created to assist students and teachers of algebra. Here are a few of the ways you can learn here...

Lessons
Explore one of our dozens of lessons on key algebra topics like Equations, Simplifying and Factoring. Check out the entire list of lessons...

Calculators
Having trouble solving a specific equation? Our Equation Calculator will show you the right answer and a step-by-step solution so you can solve the next one. Over the years, algebrahelp.com has helped students solve over 15 million equations! Our calculators don't just solve equations though. See all the problems we can help with...

Worksheets
Need to practice a new type of problem? We have tons of problems in the Worksheets section. We can grade your answers automatically, or you can compare against the answer key. Browse the list of worksheets to get started...

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Math Fun Facts

This looks like a fun site to use to challenge your students. Each fact is a puzzle or an article to foster interest in mathematics. Just click on the tilte to go to the site.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Comic Creator

Here's a great site from Boys Life. Students can make a comic easily by adding characters, adding text and then printing it out. The only thing I don't see is the ability to embed the comic in a blog. There are plenty of kid comments on the page and it looks like most liked using it. Check it out by clicking on the title of this post.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Thinglink

I signed up for this site a few weeks ago and had some trouble getting it installed on my blog. I don't know what happened on my first try because it worked just fine the second go round.

So what is a thinglink? The site says...A thinglink is an interactive hotspot you define inside an image, from a thing (an object, a person, or a place) to a link (a shop, a blog post, or anywhere you like).

Once I added the widget to my travel blog, all I had to do was add tags on my photos. Check it out on Travels with the Boones. I've only just played with it on 3 photos and I need to do a bit more work with it on my student site but I can see using it in the classroom as a teaching tool.

Check thinglink by clicking on the title of this post.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

B & N Studio

I love it when companies provide free things for kids...and that means free for teachers also. Click on the title of this post to go to the Barnes & Noble Studio site to watch videos of children's books. I listened to actress Molly Ringwald read Rob Scotton's Splish, Splash, Splat! as pictures from the book were shown. More things are available but the on-line storytime is spot that interests me!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Sunlikely

I love to keep track of weather, especially winter weather. Here's a new site shared by Make Use Of. Just click on the title of this post to check out Sunlikely. Type in the name of the city or the zipcode and click enter. That's it! Simple to use with basic info. Use it for the US only!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Google URL Shortener

Have a google account? If you do, add the Google URL Shortener to your account. It's extremely easy to use and it has a social networking aspect so you are able to share your shortened links.