I happened across this site while in search of summer slide websites for reading. Florida Education Association (FEA) has compiled some great resources, K-8 (can possibly be used for high school, too), that will be of great help this summer. TipsThe site starts out with a great list of tips to encourage students to read over the summer. Setting goals and visiting the library are just a couple of the great tidbits the site gives. WebsitesFEA also gives some great links to websites to encourage summer learning. They are divided between K-5, K-2, 3-5, 6-8. The sites they give are sites I am, for the most part, familiar with using. They have some great suggestions. Reading ListsThis may be my favorite part of the website! There is a section of reading lists, and I mean lists. There are SO many lists for students to look through in order to find the right ones for them. All in all, this is a great website for students to use that need guidance for reading selections or that need some great websites for learning. Florida Education Association's website is another one to add to your bookmarked list!
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Today I am not going to direct you to one site that has a subject or activity on it. This post will focus on my own student technology site. This year I taught a 2nd grade technology class, and many of the sites we used in class they wanted to use at home. That's exciting because it means they enjoyed what we did, are still learning, and since I only saw them every 6 days, they were practicing their skills. Throughout this experience, I wanted to keep a site where the kids could access their websites. I have another Weebly that you can actually get to from here. On the navigation bar at the top, you can click on 'Student Site' and be directed to their area. During the summer students are more than welcome to use that site! I am going to be updating it, but their links will be there all summer. Access it here http://schwartztech.weebly.com/. You can then go to Students > and then choose the appropriate grade level. Honestly, I am still working on this site. I have made it to 3rd grade as of publishing time of this blog post. I hope to get further on it this week. Students are free to go to any grade level, as many of the sites have multiple grade levels as choices. OrganizationThe sites are shown using Symbaloo. This is a wonderful way to display links using tiles. There is actually one I created for teacher resources up above under 'Website Collections'. On all of the Symbaloos you can find ELA in the top left corner, math in the top right, sites with many subject areas in the bottom right, and science/social students in the bottom left. There are technology links, typing practice, and other fun sites in the center area. Some of the links may contain ads, but the games are safe for children. As always, monitor their use and talk to them about using the Internet!
One more post next Monday will close out this 6-week series. To see all the posts in one area, select "Summer Series 2015" under 'Categories' to the right. All posts will be on one page then! Questionaut is an interactive website that delivers Math, Science, and English questions, but in a very creative way. There is artwork created by Amanita Design where players must click in strategic orders to release the questions. The questions available are higher order questions, most started at about a 4th grade level.
Start out by getting your character into the hot air balloon, then move through 8 different levels of questions. Each level is specific to one of the mentioned subject areas above. You are in charge of filling the balloon each round by answering questions correctly. If you get a question wrong, it deflates the balloon by one puff of air. Then you get a new question. The questions change each time you enter the game, but the clicks are the same to activate the questions. Halfway through my Summer Series, and this week's focus is a challenge that just started today. It is a free online reading program for students. It lasts from May 4 to September 4. Parents, if you sign your kids up for it, you can get free book lists, activities, and tips. Students can unlock stories and earn rewards as they log their reading.
All you have to do is go to the Scholastic website to sign up today! You enter your birth date and then get directed to a screen to register your child. Along the bottom of the screen you get daily reading tips. Today it is "5 Tips for Building a Reading List for Advanced Readers". You then register your reader. The next screen will lead you through some different information regarding the program. You will see a "Register Here" or "Login", you will want to register. There is a quirky way to get a screen name for this program that is kind of fun! Then it allows you to create your password. You can choose to link your child to the school, but that is up to you. You are then registered. There is a main screen where you log your minutes for the day and it totals it. Kids can earn different badges, invite their friends (think, challenges), and play reading games. This is another wonderful way to encourage reading and do it in a fun way! Good luck and happy reading! Last week I showcased Wonderopolis, which is great for reading and writing. It can also be useful for science and social studies depending on the articles students choose.
This week I am taking my focus to math. TenMarks is a website many teachers have used to allow students to work at their own pace, especially if they need reteaching or enrichment. The company, an Amazon company, provides personalized online math practice for 1st through 12th graders (Algebra 2). This summer they are providing a free Summer Math Program that typically cost about $40. You can sign up now and they will notify you via email when it is time to begin. Your child will:
The website states that students only need an hour a week...an hour! Parents and students will receive an end-of-summer report card they can share with their teachers the next school year. Another wonderful way to keep students from taking the "summer slide"! Try TenMarks Summer Math Program this summer. Over the next 6 weeks, I will spend Mondays focusing on websites and/or apps that will benefit students to use over summer break to avoid that "summer slide". Consider some of these activities that are previewed over the next 6 weeks, as a part of your child's summer routine. Camp Wonderopolis Wonderopolis is a great site in itself. They pose a question each day that is accompanied by a video and typed explanation. Students can learn the vocabulary through Wonder Words, check out galleries, test themselves, submit wonders, and search for past wonders. It is one of the best sites out there right now. A great tool they offer in the summer is Camp Wonderopolis. Starting June 15, 2015, Camp Wonderopolis will begin. You can register your child as a parent and then customize your experience based on what your child really likes. As a Camper or Counselor (recommended for families), you can track your experiences through 6 tracks of scientific exploration. The students can test to earn 42 different Wonder Cards. This experience is completely FREE! You can preregister at their website now. I did some of this with students in summer school last year, and we had so much fun! You can access Camp Wonderopolis 2014 to see what the kids did last year. There are Wonders within each section of science and then some great, easy experiments and activities. Some Benefits of Wonderopolis
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AuthorA teacher turned techie with an obsession with Google, teachers that love learning, and students that love life! Archives
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