This site has interactive content that can be used by K-5 educators. Select a subject area and then focus on a topic to explore. Identify the topic you have chosen and the grade level you intend to use the activity with. Then describe the type of activities you found and how you can integrate it into your teaching practice. Click on the link to get started: http://interactivesites.weebly.com/index.html
158 comments:
I chose Social Studies Map and Direction Skills for a second grade class. I found some great websites in which the students can learn about different types of maps, how to use a compass, or the cardinal directions. There were three sites/activities that I found to be very educational and fun. After giving a brief introduction to the unit, I would teach the children about the various topics and then I would integrate these computer activities into the lessons. I could do this by having the students work in rotating stations, in which one of the stations would be computers. At the computer station, I would allow the children to pick from a few of the games and play them for a certain amount of time. This would allow the students time to use the various educational games and hopefully learn how to apply some of the topics to real world situations. For example, one game teaches students how to use a compass and then quizzes the student. This is beneficial because at the end of the game the student will know how to use a compass, instead of just learning what a compass does.
This website has many links to other sources that can be very useful for social studies teachers. I chose the topic of immigration which I can use with an eleventh grade social studies class. This website provides a map of Ellis Island, which is split up into four sections: the waiting room, inspection, quarantine, and ferry to Manhattan. Each section provides a picture and an explanation of what happened in that portion of the island. Using this interactive website, I would create a webquest which would require students to visit each portion of the site and answer questions. Overall, I think this would make the lesson interesting because the students would be engaged with the content.
-Mariya L.
Cara, your lesson sounds very interesting. I like that the students in your lesson would learn about several different topics. Moreover, your idea to turn the computer portion of the lesson into a rotating station activity makes it more interesting. Playing a game on the computer is an excellent idea because it makes learning fun.
-Mariya L.
I looked at several math games including "Angles" and "Mean, Median, and Mode".
The "Angles" game was ok, it allowed the students to discover concepts on their own such as opposite angles congruency as well as alternate interior angles however the mechanics of the game could be difficult for students, especially when it came to rotating the protractor. If that problem is avoided then it can become a very good educational game.
"Mean, Median, and Mode" was a good game for statistics. It provided just enough information and the students would need to do the rest of the work on their own (probably with a calculator). They would probably have to show work on paper and just use the game as a tool and not necessarily the only means of learning the lesson.
These can be great tools for teachers to use in place of lessons that students can find boring. This can also be used as a review lesson, or a website students can visit to practice before a test. Students will probably find this more interesting and tolerable way to study than normal practices.
The Math programs on this site are great for learning the basics. This will be great for both visual and tactile learners. Giving them hands approach to learning what the different terms mean. Being able to see and manipulate shapes to see the difference between for example translation, rotation and reflection in graphing will be a great for students when first learning these topics. It also makes these problems that would normally be tedious and boring for students into a type of game they will want to complete. One of the biggest problems I think in math is certain students find it boring and repetitive but this makes these tasks fun.
I chose Social Studies U.S. Government. Specifically, I looked into the interactive Constitution part of the site. I feel that I could use this in either my social studies courses, in any secondary grade level, or in a Government course for 11th or 12th graders. So many students have a difficult time understanding what the "fancy language" of the Constitution is trying to say, and I think that this site breaks it down perfectly so that they students can use it at home or in the classroom. If we are discussing a time in our nation's history, such as the Civil War, I could pull up the 13th Amendment on the website so the students can see what the amendment says and the explanation below it. I think it makes the Constitution easier and more approachable for all students.
I am always looking for websites that have a large content area with as little advertising as possible. This particular website is full of activities, is easy to navigate, and has enough variety where students won’t get bored after a few sessions. I explored the language arts activities, as I am always looking for ways to supplement the ELA portion of the students’ day with some alternative to the textbook.
I can imagine using this site in two ways: first, as a way to make spelling or reading lessons more interactive, involving the entire class after a workbook lesson. I can also envision a classroom tech. center with a link to this website. I would appoint “tech. times” for each student to have throughout the course of a week. Each student would have the opportunity to link to this site for a fun learning experience.
Although my focus was on ELA, I agree with those who posted ideas about math curriculum. Giving students as many ways to work with numbers is always beneficial, especially students who tend to struggle with number concepts.
-Peter L.
I chose a geography game called Geospy. It's a game that quizzes you on basic geography. These quizzes range in difficulty. Identifying the African Countries is probably the hardest. This activity could work for all grade levels. Elementary School Students could identify the states. I would use this game at a high school level if we were learning about a specific region. This is a good way of finding out the student's prior knowledge. Although this game can be difficult, it will not give any in-depth information about geography.
-Patrick Heffernan
Even though I plan to be an English, ESL or French teacher I decided to try games in each subject area to see what types of activities each section had to offer. I was pleasantly surprised to find that each subject was connected to at least one other subject in some way aside from the obvious Math/Science and English/History pairs. For instance, I played a game where a student would match the letter of a music note to the music note on a staff and create a word; this game combined English and Music and would help students with note recognition as well as spelling. A connection between subjects makes the material students learn more meaningful to them because they know they’ll need it for other classes. I also liked that the general areas of interest such as holidays, brainteasers, and typing included other subject areas which would help teachers reiterate the material students learned but in a different context. Each subject and topic have a variety of colorful, engaging, fun games that would appeal to the interests and learning styles of most, if not all, the students in a classroom which is very important when planning activities. These games would also help ESL students or students who need a little extra help with a subject because they are interactive, simple and straightforward (but still make students think).
I chose English Language Arts and then rhyming words. I would use these with kindergarten or first grade. I found many different kinds of activities. Some activities give different characters that either spell or show a picture of a word. For example, boy or cat. Then the student has to find the correct word or picture that rhymes with that initial word. There are more advanced activities for rhyming words, which involve students reading a whole paragraph where the students identify the highlighted word and find a word that rhymes with it. I could use this in my teaching practice by involving it in my everyday English Lessons. A lot of schools have a foundations program which involve students being about to rhyme. This is a great way for students to understand the main ideas of rhyming words, work on word families and successfully be able to rhyme first pictures for beginners and then more on to more advanced thinking with words.
I examined the "Writing" section for English Language Arts. Although the site is K-5, the games on this section all seem very low level. They would be best suited for the younger grades or LEP students. Most of the activities involve the act of composing various types of writing. For example, there is one activity that asks students to write a complaint letter about a broken toy. They chose the best option from 3 prewritten texts for each part of the letter (salutation, intro paragraph, body paragraph, etc..) and click and drag it to the appropriate spot. This is a great way to familiarize students with the basic structure of a written letter. However, I do not see any activity on that entire page that actually involves writing or typing of any kind which is a bit strange. Still, the page has some fun and interesting activities for anyone that is trying to learn various text structures or proper word choice for different intents.
-Jesse G.-
The interactive site that I chose focused on social studies for grades K-2. The activities were based on Maps and Directions. I found several different activities that included fun and engaging games for the students. I think this is extremely important in the younger grades because maintain focus and enthusiasm is the only way to be truly effective. The first activity had students Choose a Challenge, for example, I chose “Going to the Cinema.” An interactive map of a community is displayed and the student is prompted to follow the instructions to a plot a route on the map that visits the right locations in the correct order to arrive at the destination. When the student is done, they click “GO” and the route activates, showing the student the path in action and telling them is they chose the correct locations in the correct order.
Another activity I found could be useful focused on Cardinal Directions and also displayed locations and landmarks that you would find within a community. The students must drive the car on the screen by clicking on the “North, South, East and West” symbols. If they chose the correct directions, they will reach their desired location.
The last activity I thought was fun for students was called Landscapes. The students have to help the character (a frog) pick up all his camping belongings that surround him. In order to complete this successfully, students must direct the frog which way to walk to pick up specific items using North, South, East and West directional.
I played/completed all of the activities above and found that I was even interested in the activities. These would all be interesting to children and I feel it will help maintain their interest. I think these interactive sites, especially the ones I discussed above will teach students about the given topic using realistic contexts. In my classroom I might have everyone participate in the activities as a class so the students are all familiar with how to navigate the site, and then I can allow students to complete the activities in groups or individuals during computer/free time. I think these games are a great way to reinforce the topics.
I chose to do Social Studies because that is what I plan on teaching. I then selected Civil War. From there I was given a few options from where to go from here. The majority of options had to deal with a map so that is what I did. This interactive map allowed to identify an event and then label the area with the event. This could be used as a lesson for a third grade student. Because it is not being used on a high school level the things that are listed on the map should be very basic events and locations. I think that this map activities will help to make the lesson much more interesting and will have to keep the students engaged.
-Nick Gilbert
I chose States and Capitals under the Social Studies section. I really enjoyed all the rescources that this website has to offer. I think this is a great website to remember for when I substitute classes because it offers fun ways to keep the class busy, while reinforcing the information that the students are already learning.
One activity I really liked was a map of the united states, which asked you to click the state it named. I think this would be great for a high school classroom because a lot of students are unable to label the states on a map. By splitting the classroom into two groups, I would make this a team competitive activity. I think that would provide the students with a fun way to learn how to identify states.
I, like Cara, chose Social Studies Map and Direction Skills for a second grade class. I choose this because in under-graduate studies I was assigned a unit plan for the second grade level on Map and Direction skills. Where the unit plan I created was informative, I feel that the students would respond better to the interaction of the compass, and actually being able to move characters in specific cardinal directions. I also like the idea, as Cara said, as using the website as a center or a station. Overall the opportunity to allow interactivity is always viewed as a benefit in my eyes, and that is what the website provided.
I chose multiplication under the math section and intend to use this activity with 5th grade. I believe it is extremely important for students to have a solid foundation in multiplication because they will use this skill throughout their entire educational career. The activity I liked most was the multiplication Pac-Man game. The students are given a multiplication problem and must move the Pac-Man towards the ghost with the correct answer. After they eat the ghost with the correct answer, they will be given another multiplication problem. I think this activity can be used to practice and retain multiplication facts and allow students to learn while also having fun. Overall, I think the multiplication section had a lot of interactive and educational activities for the students to master the multiplication facts.
3rd Grade Social Studies: Maps and Directions
I found several interactive activities that I would incorporate into teaching map skills and directions.
• Learn How to Use a Compass: There is brief instruction, identifying of compass parts, and then allows students to practice their compass skills. I would use this activity to introduce compass usage and then apply their skills on a larger scale; I would pair the students and distribute compasses to students to practice outside of the classroom.
• Treasure Hunt: This interactive game focuses on longitude and latitude, challenging the students to find the hidden treasure based on the longitude and latitude given. This is great practice for longitude and latitude! Perhaps, we can incorporate a real treasure hunt in the classroom using these skills, as well.
• Map Skills and Key: Students must create their own map, using states, counties, etc. They must create a corresponding key. I would allow students to use this program or draw their map ad key.
• Landscapes: Students learn how to identify landforms and landscapes on the map.
• Cardinal Directions: This interactive game prompts the students to park the car in the given area—directing students using cardinal directions. I would teach the students the four cardinal directions and use this computer game to reinforce their skills after the lesson.
To conclude the unit on map skills and directions, I would set up centers for the students to review key material and reinforce their skills. I would incorporate these interactive games to engage the students.
2nd Grade Science: Matter- Seasons and Weather
I found interactive activities that I could incorporate into my unit on seasons and weather.
Hartcourt slides: I would use this Powerpoint-like slideshow to explain the different seasons to the students as the beginning of the unit. The student will take notes on the slides as well as questions about animals and their habitats.
Season Stickers: the students have to choose a season and place the appropriate stickers in the scene given. They activity tells the student if he or she is right or wrong and then proceeds to the next question. I would use this in the classroom to demonstrates the students’ understanding of the seasons (when plants and animals grow).
Discover Simulation: This interactive game allows the students to link weather and seasons together by determining what type of clothes to wear during the season as well as describing the season and answering critical thinking questions.
EdHeads: This interactive activity is great for students to learn about the weather. They are able to be meteorologists at the touch of a button. They are able to use their skills of temperature and the weather for this as well. As this, I would proceed and ask the students to make their own weather report and present it in class.
In addition to these interactive games, I would provide students with hands-on activities of my own such as creating a weather graph in class (integrate math), worksheets pertaining to weather and clothing/habitats, and some experiments related to weather like a hurricane and tornado.
I chose to look at all the different activates under the Math headline. Although these activities are geared toward grades K-5, I think that sometimes the older students need a quick refresher. Rather than standing in front of the class and teaching them a lesson to help them recall information that they have learned time and time again, a quick game or java applet will produce the same results. I also think that these activities can also help students who have fallen behind or struggle with a specific topic. For example, in the Math tab there was a section devoted solely to circle. Although these activates won't go as in-depth as my students may need it, if a student is struggling with the entire topic of circles, several of these websites can help the student "catch up." Again, since I will be teaching older grades I think this is great resources for struggling students or as a quick review to engage the students' prior knowledge.
The topic I chose for the Interactive sites for education is English. I chose parts of speech for third grade; I decided to focus on parts of speech since that is what I am focusing on for our e-textbook project. I found many activities such as games where students have to pick the correct answer to a question. I liked the games because they were very interactive and today’s children are so used to technology and playing games on computers that I think they would enjoy learning this way. There were also activities where it described certain parts of speech with a definition, examples and pictures. I would use that type of activities for students to go home and review what we learned or for students to gain a further understanding of what we learned. I also liked it because it is a tool that parents can also use. There are times when parents have a hard time helping their children with homework, with the interactive site the parent can go on the site with their child and read up on what was taught that day and do some exercises with their children. Students can also use the interactive sites to study and learn more about what is being taught in the classroom. The interactive sites will be especially beneficial for ESL students who need more practice at home.
I chose to look for math: decimals activities. I am currently teaching decimals to my third graders because it will prepare them for fourth grade math. These activities will work for fourth grade students. One of the activities, The Legend of Dick and Don Decimals, was a fun interactive game. It provides humor along with many different skills involving decimals. It reviews conversions of grams to kilograms and fractions and percents to decimals. It also reviews order and comparison of decimals. These interactive games can be used as a review before an assessment, am extension plan, or even an introduction to a new lesson. Students have another resource to at home or on their own time as well. The activity, Fruit Splat, is an educational game that can allow the student to have fun while learning how to compare and order numbers. This website can be really helpful for any subject area.
The interactive site I choose was for social studies and was focused on the colonial time period in America. The interactive sites that were offered could be used for grades 2-4. All of them were very visual and a there was a good interactive geography site that I would certainly use in my teaching practice. It gives the students a good understanding of what the original 13 colonies of America looked like. This would be great to use on a SMART Board, having students come up to the front of the room and map out certain things. Two other interactive quizzes I found would certainly be resource in the classroom as well, just to use them as a review game with students. Shows the students some other visuals of what life was like back in colonial times.
After choosing the countries tab under social studies, I came across a European History interactive map that can be used as a game in the classroom. The countries are listed in alphabetical order, which allows the students to choose a country and select its location properly on the map. It will bring out excited and competition while a student is learning. After the student finds the correct location, a paragraph of information on the country would appear that allows the teacher to pause the game and instruct the students about the country.
This game will bring geography and history together. The ability to locate the country allows a student to understand the region and compare countries that share a border. The most important aspect of the game would allow the students to be educated in a fun environment that uses of technology. The only difficult aspect of this game is a classroom would have to be provided with a SMART board.
I chose the Science: Seasons and Weather area for a 1st grade level. There are many great websites that can be used with diverse learners. The students are able to explore the different weather patterns. Some games have the children figure out what to wear during the different forecasts. Other interactive sites give the control to the students so they can see how manipulating the different variables of humidity and temperature result in different weather patterns. They also have a site that has the pictures of the seasons, the text describing the different seasons, and an audio recording of the text. These activities help all learners explore the information in innovative and creative ways. It would definitely be something that I would use in my classroom.
I chose the topic of life cycles for a 4th grade class. This includes the life cycles of plants, insects, animals, and humans. This website offered many interactive and fun activities for students. These activities can be worked on in centers, individually, in a small group, or as a whole class activity. The activities could be used as a way to assess prior knowledge, review, or assessment at the end of the lesson/unit.
Another resource I really liked that could be used for any grade level is the 0-99 and 1-100 chart. The numbers can be highlighted and the final chart of the concept the students are learning that day can be printed. Number charts can be used for learning and teaching so many different math concepts and this chart allows it to be visual and interactive.
The category I chose was the Kindergarten Math link. Here I found awesome interactive games and activities that students could play to reinforce the different lessons that we learn. I think these games would be great to do as a whole group where students at the age could sit on the carpet and watch and learn from each other, or as a station idea where each student gets their own screen to do their own work. I believe that both of these ways would provide the teacher with different assessments and observations on how well the student grasped the lesson. I think that technology is a great way for student to have fun and practice the skills they have learned.
I chose the animal adaptation topic in the science subject area. The simulator (at www.abc.net.au/beasts/fossilfun/camouflage/camouflage.swf) allows students to see how coloration and pattern placement help animals survive in different environments. If conditions are not right, the system announces that the animal will be eaten and suggests that the user make changes to how the animal looks or places them in another location. You can also step into the role of predator and plan how to effectively approach cautious prey. Although it is likely intended for a young audience, this activity could be successfully integrated into a 9th or 10th grade biology classroom. It presents important concepts in an easy to see trial-and-error style. If one combination of fur color and habitat does not match well, changes can be made to find better choices. I would use this site to let students play around with natural disguise possibilities before introducing the main points of camouflage and adaptation.
I chose ELA/Punctuation for a 1st grade class. The online game that I chose to use with my class is a game on the BBC website. The student has to select the correct punctuation mark and show where it goes in the sentence. This game could be used as a follow up activity to a punctuation lesson. Although it does not teach punctuation, it is a great reinforcer of the topic. This game is a fun, engaging way to get students to practice the use of punctuation marks.
I chose the Kindergarten math link & then chose "counting/numbers". While scrolling through the different activities in this one category, I found so many interactive games that not only would make my students think and get their brain going, but it makes the lesson fun especially if its something such a game or something they can come up to the SMARTboard and do. It definitely will keep the students engaged and make learning fun!
I clicked the math addition link and started to play the addition Pacman game. It is really exciting to see them turn a classic game into interactive learning. These addition problems seem appropriate for first or second grade. I will be a teacher aide in a 1st grade classroom next year and this game is very appropriate. The game provides you with an addition equation and your job as Pacman is to eat the correct answer which is written on the ghosts. A very exciting game that will keep kids motivated to learn math while also having fun.
I chose the Spanish application for beginner Spanish. It was a great way for students to learn the vocabulary for introductions and salutations. It was also good for recognizing the different titles of a person, such as Mr., Mrs., Miss, etc. I would use this application as a follow-up or review activity for a quiz. The application included a matching game called "pair-off" which allowed for the opportunity of the retention of vocabulary words. These types of activities are engaging and students will find these to be an exciting and fun way to study for an assessment.
Since my area is college education in communications media, there wasn’t much for me to choose from here that I would use in the classroom. The focus was geared for younger students. In looking at the different subjects, I chose English language arts, specifically in writing. Writing is one of the key skills students have to utilize in college. Additionally, it is one of the areas students have the most difficulty with. Even in communications media, students have many more opportunities in their future careers if they have good writing skills.
I chose the application “Extreme Sentence Surgeons”. Once the app is open, students are given a paragraph where they need to correct spelling, grammar, missing periods, capitalization, apostrophe errors, and more. I found this to be very interactive for students to use and will keep them engaged on a computer rather than a traditional notebook/white board. Teacher’s would find great use with this application!
I choose holidays and chose the fall activities. The activity I choose is the math activity. The reason I choose this is because I teach in a Kindergarten class right now this a type of interactive game that I would use with my kids. I would use this to help with math practice as well as to combine with our fall theme. I would allow the students to play this during a free time or during computers when we play education games. I could also use this when we work on the SMART board together as a class. I really like this website because it has a lot of kid friendly links and games you can play with children of all ages.
I chose social studies/communities for a second grade level. It had great activities for the students. There was a crossword puzzle, interactive pictures for the children to create their own communities and an explanation page that explained each community in depth. This is a great too! I would absolutely use this in my classroom. I would consider using it on the smart board, iPad or pc computers. I feel the students would be engaged and learn by using this interactive site.
I chose math for the subject area and focused on addition. I would use this for the first grade level. There were dozens of interactive games to chose from that can be useful for young children. I picked on one game to see how it worked and it helped children with visuals to count how many shoes there were in total. I purposely clicked the wrong answer to see what would happen if a child got it wrong and all it did was eliminate that answer as a choice and leave the rest. I liked this because there was no big X or saying they were incorrect. It gave the child more opportunities to get the correct answer. I would use this website for many different subjects for children to be able to play around with while learning simultaneously.
I chose the topic Mathematics, specifically Algebra because I am teaching that subject now to my 7th and 8th graders. The activity I took a look at was a balancing scale game where the scale started unbalanced and you had to solve the equation to balance the scale out. Whenever I teach solving equations I always relate them to balancing a scale, and the students either understand the analogy or they really do not get it. Now that I found this interactive balancing scale, I feel like the visual effect and interaction of the game would be very beneficial for my students to comprehend the material. I think all of the different activities on this website would be useful for my students with disabilities that I also teach. It is a hands on approach to comprehension of many subject areas within mathematics. Not only will students understand the material, but they will also have fun and be engaged within the process. I will definitely use these interactive sites in my teaching career.
I am going to school to become an English teacher and sometime down the road to be a TESOL teacher. I think that spelling and grammar are big issues for kids. I remember when I was in high school they stopped teaching us grammar and just focused on how to write a perfect essay. After going onto the site I played around with the capitalization button, spelling button and all the other grammar information they had on the site. I think as a future teacher I would use them for the students that I have. It’s said that not everyone will be on grade level when it comes to reading so I think that site would be perfect to brush up skills and what not. Also regarding TESOL, I think that website is perfect for skills. English is a difficult language as it is and for my ESL/ELL students it’s going to be a challenge. Having a fun way to learn English will help them be confident and focused in class.
I think that interactivesites.com is a very beneficial website for educators. When I first got to the website, there was every subject field. When you click on the subject, it brings you to a page where there are different topics to click on. For instance, in Language Arts, there’s “ABC’s, Parts of Speech, Phonemes & Words” and so on. I think that this is very beneficial because it gives teachers something to do with the kids, without the teachers having to create it. It’s quick to use and available 24/7!
I chose English Language Arts and Spellig as my interactive learning site concentration. I chose the “Take On The Teacher” game where the student has 45 seconds to select as many correctly spelt words as they can. Every correct spelling gets a point and every incorrect spelling loses a point. In the first round, the words ranged from “neighbor,” to “lagoon.” The student is presented with two different ways of spelling the word, one being incorrect. After the student submits the answers, they show which words were wrong and the correct way to spell them. The next round gives an even shorter time, 15 minutes, to complete the same activity.
I think this is a fast and fun way to encourage children to work on their spelling skills. The computer skills necessary are pretty basic and the concept is fairly easy to recognize. I feel that, for the types of words used in the activity, a student at the 3rd grade level and up could benefit from this game. The other activities on this page, such as “Spelling Central,” and “Spelling Bee,” were also fun and interactive ways to fine tune a students’ spelling skills.
I would integrate these activities into my lesson plan by having these available during ELA lessons in class. I would have some children doing group work, one-on-one work, and these computer-based activities. I feel that because technology is such a prevalent means of education, a child is sure to feel completely comfortable and intrigued when it comes to these programs.
The Interactive Sites for Educators contains a lot of fun games and activities for educators to incorporate in their classroom to help instruct on a wide variety of topics. As my focus is Secondary English Language Arts, I thought the punctuation, grammar and parts of speech games were useful. However, since the activities were really too young for high school students, I felt that the activities could be beneficial to ESL/ELL students. The activities could be used to instruct and re-enforce basic skills in an engaging way.
This site has many great games for every subject area. As teachers we are usually fortunate to create our own unit plans and teach our students as we want. Using this site for games is a great tool to implement in a unit in lieu of a standard lesson. This is a great opportunity for students to either learn a topic or review. I think if you give a quiz or ticket out the door and find that students do not really grasp the concept of the lesson(s) you can let students play games to re-learn the topic. This is a great interactive way of learning instead of being bored doing repetitive mathematics problems on the board or as a class. If someone is struggling in math it is always good to have a second person explain it 'their' way. These games may be the second way of explaining.
I personally bookmarked this site, as it branches into very diverse and helpful sites for every curriculum you could think of. I personally looked through ESL and the "Teacher Tools" section. The activities were engaging and one could find themselves browsing for hours. I feel this site is not only helpful for teachers, but when turned over to the student, gives them the freedom to self teach and explore through the links.
I chose English Language Arts and the working with sentences activities. Being a TESOL teacher I would use these activities for any grade depending on what level their English speaking, writing, and reading skills are at.
The activities are educational and at the same time fun. Depending on the age of the student, some activities might be easier to grasp or harder. Again, it would depend upon the reading, writing, and speaking levels that the children are at in the case of the subject that I teach.
I thought that the games having different levels and becoming more and more challenging as the game goes on makes learning not only enjoyable but something that students would want to do, if only so that they could reach the next level in the game.
I chose Social Studies as the subject, and I chose US Presidents as the topic area. I found a majority of the websites to be quite interesting and engaging, which is important, because some students may not find the topic of US Presidents and Government of interest to them. These games have the potential to even make the least engaged student yearn to become knowledgeable in our Presidents and government.
Each activity can help students have a better understanding of all aspects of our government and history, including: the three branches of government, what is the President's job, the lives of our past Presidents. There is even one activity that has the student play the role of President, and you have to balance the Federal budget.
Being that my primary focus is teaching English to high school students, I found that most of the content on this website was not age appropriate for the students that I will be teaching. Despite the gap in age/content level, I still think that I can find some use for this website in my classroom.
I chose to take a look at the grammar section of the English Language Arts page. Like I said before, the difficulty level of these activities is not really appropriate for high school level assessment. However, this is not to say that I wouldn't use one of these interactive activities as a motivational tool for a much more involved and complex lesson. Introducing something like this at the beginning of a lesson can motivate students to participate because it is something that they can easily understand. After the students are properly motivated, I can use the same basic ideas these activities are teaching and continue to build on them by expanding the topic into more complex terms.
These interactive websites and game are awesome for elementary students. I looked at the ELA section since my cousins are always talking about the reading they do or the words they learn. These sights are great for students who finish early and they are extremely important for students who need a little extra help. I will definitely be showing these to my aunt so my cousins can have fun and learn at the same time.
I also agree with Megan who talked about the games being educationally and fun. Most importantly the level increases. The games become more difficult as you go through them which I think is great.
I had chose the math section. Division to be exact. This is a cool sight because it will keep the child interested and engaged. And not only that, the level increases as you go. It's fun, but it teaches agility at the same time. This was great
As an Early Childhood Educator I definitely see myself utilizing these interactive sites in my classroom. The first site I choose under Language Arts is Reading/Sight Words -Basic Sight Words Volume 8. This game is fun and uses constant repetition for students to say and model the sight words. It allows them to listen to a sentence and click the sight word as they hear it in the sentence. The second site under Language Arts is ABC's because it allows children to strengthen their letter recognition skills. The specific activity I choose was putting objects in the correct order based on the beginning sound heard. This is an excellent to use in K-2 classrooms for students that struggle with letter recognition and identifying the beginning sounds. The game gradually increases in intensity and it encourages children to say the words out loud and pay attention to the beginning sounds. This could be used to support English Language Learners as well both in the classroom and at home.
I wish each interactive site was leveled according to grade level so that students would only have access to the games that pertain to his/her grade level, thus it would be addressing only their grade level skills. For example once you click math, you have the option to choose from angles, coordinates, fractions, etc… and a 1st grader is not learning those skills as of yet, so it would be counter-productive for them to have access to those sites. Overall, this is a great online resource for teachers to utilize in their classroom and even assign some games as an at home activity. I love how the site itself is first classified by content area/topic; then it branches off to different subtopics within that area, such as alphabetical order and ABC’s under Language Arts. These are great activities to use as centers or differentiated tasks, because they allow the child to use a variety of games for ABC’s, depending on their skill level.
I have chosen ELA that I would use with English Language Learners. I would use the facts and opinion activity with fourth graders. The boy reads his report that contains both facts and opinions of the text. Facts and opinions are explained and then the student playing will sort them into separate piles. I would first have students brainstorm on what a fact and an opinion is. Then they would partake in this activity. As aw whole class they would read a text and write one fact and one opinion. Then they have to write a similar report as the one in the activity. Lastly they would read a fact or an opinion to the class without saying which one it was and the class would have to sort it into the fact or opinion pile.
I agree with Kev Dluginski that these games can be used to supplement curriculum and as a tool to teach common core standards to students that need differentiation. These games are easily accessible within the classroom or at home. Students can work on them at their leisure and they are very engaging so they address visual and auditory learners, not to mention, it allows children to use technology in a productive and meaningful way.
I thought this was a great website! I chose the American Revolution for 4th grade Social Studies. There were five different websites, all very interactive and engaging. Two were interactive maps where students can click on different parts of the map to learn more and be quizzed on what they know and learn. Another was an interactive website where students learn about the battles and military during the Ameican Revolution. Another was a really interesting website that showcased "The Museum of the American Revolution" which had many different documents and artifacts with lots of pictures that students could click on to learn more about. My favorite website was a game where the student is a Patriot Spy and they need to get a letter passed the redcoats to Paul Revere, which leads them through a historical old city map of Boston, exploring historical sites along the way. I would use this game and the Museum of the American Revolution with my students. I would integrate it in my classroom by using the Museum website along with my SmartBoard presentation about the American Revolution, pulling it up whenever I was mentioning a document or could use the graphics to engage my students. I would use the game as an activity to reward the students with if they finished their classwork. I could also use it as a reviewing tool before a test, as it reviews different aspects in an exciting way. Overall, I really loved these websites which were all a very interactive, engaging, and exciting way to help students learn. i would definitely use it in my classroom.
This site has many options but is missing a few key subjects such as English and Health. However, the games that they do have show educational value while also interacting with students. Games are good for students since most students do play on the computer or Ipad at home so they have a lot of back ground knowledge to play educational games at school. Games keep students engaged while also having students learn things such as social studies or math so that students aren't just sitting in the classroom not interested or engaged in what the teacher is talking about.
I chose to look at Parts of Speech through ELA, there were so many games for students to play. The games on the website are also helpful for students who are on different skill levels so they can play games that are appropriate to their skill level; for example some games just focus on identifying verbs or nouns and others have full paragraphs.
This website is excellent! I looked through the math section and really thought it was a great way to teach a lesson. This website gives students a way to interact with one another in a different way. Students can play games on this website and have a better understanding of what they are learning. Today, students lives are revoloved around technology. This website gives the students a way to continue what they love to do at home. Games are a great way for students to understand all concepts of what is being taught. I will defintely use this website when I start teaching in the future!
This website has a lot of great resources. I looked through the math section. Even though the website is geared towards grades K-5, I think that older students would also benefit from some of the math games as well. I played around with some of the algebra games and I think that these could be a great refresher for middle/high school students. They could also be used at the beginning of the school year in an algebra class to help assess the level of understanding before moving on to the harder levels of algebra. I think that the games help engage students and provide a different approach to learning which can be very helpful to accommodate all different learning styles.
-Lauren G.
This website is great! There are a lot of resources educators can use in the elementary classroom. It covers a large array of activities for multiple subject areas. I browsed through several sections. I took more time in the Language Arts section. It covers topics such as alphabetizing, grammar, punctuation, phonemes, writing, sight words, and more. One particular part that I found very useful were the Parts of Speech activities. This is an excellent tool to use for young children who are learning all about the mechanics of the English language. There is often a lot of confusion within this subject area so learning through interactive activities is a great tool. It is great for differentiating instruction as well. I will definitely look back to this website when I am in an elementary school classroom.
-Christie M.
I absolutely loved the "Interactive Sites for Education" page! This page consists of many different links and interactive games for students to use on smart boards, computers, or other technological devices. From looking at the sites, I found that it covered various amounts of different smarts, from math, science, and social studies all the way to music, typing, and Spanish. I feel that these interactive sites are necessary tools for students to be using in the classroom. Because children are so used to technology, this will be something that is familiar and easily accessible for them. It also provides a fun, visual way to learn rather than the traditional text book ways of learning. I chose to try out a few of the math and science games on the site because those were always subjects in which i struggled with as a child. I dreaded my math homework, and preparing for tests all the way up until my college career. As I played a few of the games I found that it made learning math more fun. In my opinion, if learning is fun, children will enjoy it a lot more as well.
As Lauren mentioned above, I agree that although this site was meant for students K-5, it can help benefit older students as well. No matter what age group, it can always help to be used as refresher activities, and can always put your mind to the test. It can also be used as a review for the very basic fundamentals of learning that is important to know to excel through more advanced topics and problems.
I chose the different Spanish part of the Interactive website. I absolutely love the different activities. The use of having the vocabulary and grammar as a visual aide can really help students grasp the language. As a Spanish teacher, I would love to incorporate the different activities in lessons for beginning level students. Each lesson shows a fun game or scenario in which the students can us on their own time to practice the language. As a teacher, I would also use the different lessons as a starting point in introducing new vocabulary. Students have the opportunity to read, listen, and repeat what is said on the different programs. This is really important because to be proficient in a language, one must practice not just writing skills, but also achieve in listening, speaking, and reading.
I love this whole idea. When I went to the website I ended up spending about an hour here.The first section that bought my eye was the brainteasers. Unfortunetley a good percent of the games had been reoved. I did play a lot of the games that ere still on the website and I have to say some of them were quite hard. After that I looked at the social studies and the science sites. In the SS site I chose to look at the colonial times and also found this to be fun, but yet again slightly hard. I felt like you already had to know the content. On the science site I shoe the human body and had a lot of fun labeling either different animals or a human body parts.I looked a sites that were geared toward the human body. I am a firm believer that children actually learn more when they are engaged, motivated, and having fun. Having websites were children can learn and have fun at the same time is a plus in my book. I throughly enjoyed exploring this site.
I choose to look at the Social Studies options, and choose the communities interactive sites. They ranged from basic, like distinguishing between rural, urban and suburban, to a little more advanced, like building your own mini community. Since I am unfamiliar with exactly the age's that these are taught, I could say for that the age range, K-5 these visual interactive tools would be great.
One thing that sparked my interest though, is that in Special Ed I feel that these tools could be beneficial as well, especially for the Visual Spatial learners. This technology could teach key points about the types of communities we live in and help the student's recognize the differences, all while being fun.
I opted for the English Language Arts section of the website. I love how it opens up to more specific components of what makes up ELA--the alphabet, grammar, parts of speech, poetry, punctuation, rhyming, sentences, spelling, vocabulary, and so on. There are so many aspects of this field, as in all of them. It really helped to narrow down the options. The first option I chose was "Rhyming". It took me to a selection of interactive lessons, which would mainly appear to elementary age children--which is perfect for me. I also chose "Alphabetical Order". Again it took me to an assortment of options for that topic. I really enjoy this website. It would be great for students to practice the specific topic we are working on but in a more exciting way. I know that when I was in elementary school, we had a program called "Type to Learn". It tested us on the usage of they keyboard, where the letters are placed and also where to properly place your fingers on the keyboard. We played all of the challenges, achieved new levels and beat the game without realizing that we became a better typist. I have never needed to look at the keyboard while I type and I type quite fast. This "Interactive Sites" website reminded me of that. It is a way for students to retain information without actually realizing they are doing so. I will certainly utilize this website as a future teacher.
Katie Risolo
Once on interactiveactivities.weebly.com I choose the math option then chose geometry. In the geometry category I choose symmetry, rotation, and flips. I thought this was a fun website that I could incorporate into my classroom. I was playing the symmetry game and it was challenging and entertaining at the same time. I liked how the game gave you immediate feedback after you answered a question. The games were visually appealing and I think this could be a great motivational tool to use with the kids by letting them play these games once they finish their work. It could also be used for extra help if a student is struggling in one specific area.
Overall, I was really impressed by the amount of resources available on this website. I focused my browsing into the science section, as I plan to teach middle school and high school biology. Within the science section, I was surprised by how many sections there were to choose from! To narrow it down, I picked body systems, because anatomy and the human body have always been my favorite subjects within biology to learn and to teach.
I explored the activities on Muscles, The Heart, and The Digestive System. I would have to agree with Lauren, in that these activities seem to be geared towards the younger, elementary student- this site would probably be simplistic for my future students. However, I do think it would still be possible to incorporate the activities into my classroom. One idea I had would be to assign students one of the miniature presentations as homework the night before you plan to introduce the unit, to give them a broad introduction to the material. This way they would have some context for the lecture because the presentations would give them some basic background information.
I also thought the self-quizzes could be useful to students who want to check their understanding of the material, perhaps before a larger in-class exam. Yes, the quizzes may be simple, but it would guarantee the student that they are familiar with the material and can give them the self confidence to dig deeper into the material, and tackle more difficult concepts.
I really liked this interactive website. I chose the mathematics section and loved the variety of skills it included. I clicked on fractions and played a fun matching game. i currently teach fifth grade and this game would be a fun way to review fractions. There is so much curriculum to cover but games are a fun effective way to reinforce and review skills.
I really enjoyed this website. It is hard finding education sites that have a lot of variety as well as good quality products that are useful for students and teachers. This website covered basically every subject and had many different categories for each subject for students to choose from. Not only was this website full of different activities for students to do, it was also extremely easy to navigate which is another big plus! When I was exploring the website, I spent most of my time on the math section, looking at the different things that were available for that particular subject. What I love most about this website is that there are so many different options which helps keep students interested. Sometimes, I find that with a lot of websites, when there are not enough options and students are forced to play the same educational games over and over again, it starts to become redundant and they lose interest. There are many ways I could see myself incorporating this website into my lessons in the classroom. It can be used to make things more interactive and hands on for the students as well as being used as both a motivation and a wrap up activity to end a lesson.
I agree with what Carly said about the quizzes on this site. Although they are easy like she said, they reinofrce information that is important for students to remember and it is also a great confidence booster when they do well, just like she mentioned. It is important for students to feel like they can do the work that is being asked of them to be complete or that is beaing taught to them.
Currently, I tutor a student with a learning disability. The student is in first grade, and his biggest academic struggle at the moment is understanding the concept of subtraction. Therefore, for my subject area I chose to explore the interactive content of Math, and more specifically subtraction. On the website, I found numerous interactive subtraction games. For example, subtraction harvest and balloon pop subtraction. I would use this activity as reinforcement after the normal subtraction lesson I would do with him. The student tends to become unfocused after listening and practicing math problems. I would hope that integrating this fun activity would spark his interest after listening to the lesson, and would be great to help him understand the concept of subtraction. Overall, I felt this website was a lot of fun to look through, it puts all of the interactive activities and games into one place for educators.
I chose the Social Studies link and then I picked states and capitals which I can use when teaching American History for 7th, 8th and 11th grade classes. I played two of the games that I think the younger grades would really enjoy playing. I played where is the mysterious Mr. N and in this game you have the option of playing either cities, capitals or famous places. This would be a great game for the beginning of the school year so the students can be familiar with the United States. The other game I played was the capital penguin. In this game you had to match the capital to the state. I believe these are two good educational games because I feel students need to learn the capitals of the states.
The topic I have chosen was Language Arts: Parts of Speech and I would use this in a second and third grade class. The website I chose used adjectives and adverbs to make an advertisement. It has the students pick a product to advertise, then it has them choose an adjective from some words to describe the product, then it has them pick an adverb to put in the slogan, and then it displays the advertisement like a commercial using the words the students choose. I really liked this website because it shows the students how we use adjectives and adverbs every day. I also allows them to be creative by helping create an advertisement. I would integrate this into my teaching by using this as a fun activity to reinforce adjectives and adverbs. The classroom I am in now is learning about adjectives and adverbs and I think this would be a fun activity to do with them.
I chose the subject area of ELA (English Language Arts) for grades Kindergarten and 1st. There were many websites with useful teaching tools to select from. I picked The random House Kids site to explore. I decided to focus on Rhyming words which I would use in a lesson intended to expand vocabulary. I think the website would also help with student’s sight words and reading skills. There are printable coloring work sheets to utilize as well as some games. Excerpts from the story Fox and Sox can be used in a lesson as well. Golden books are stories children may already be familiar with and will keep them engaged. The computer will read to the student. There was also an activity called Cat Up At Bat but unfortunately I could not navigate to that game. After returning to the screen prior I noticed a game called River Rhyming which I might use in a center or during computer time. The game is fun to play and when you reach the end there is a BIG CONGRADULATIONS!!! I think games like these encourage children to sharpen their reading and rhyming abilities as they build their English Language skills. I would love to also use programs like these in an ESL classroom for children who are new to the language.
-Gina A.
I absolutely love the interactive site for Spanish! This is perfect tool to use as a listening activity for my 8th graders. The cartoon characters in the videos will certainly grab their attention, as well as allow them to hear the vocabulary in real life context. The supplementary quiz questions that follow would serve as an excellent activity to do together as a class, or have students to do at home as extra practice. Since this site covers so much material, I can use it as a review tool as well. I can direct students to this site if they need to revisit a specific topic. I am looking forward to showing my students this site!
I chose English and Poetry for a first grade class. I found some great games on identifying and creating their own different types of poems. After introducing various styles of poetry you would be able to use these games and programs to review the poems and have students create their own as well. Some of the programs are like "MAD LIBS" in a way where you have to fill in blanks but adhere to the style and format of the type of poem. So after introducing the topic of Haiku poetry I could have the students use the fill in program to create their own then have them use the "refrigerator magnet" program to create their own haiku poem on a refrigerator using the word magnets given to them. This could be a fun and interesting way to peak student interests in poetry and have them further understand the topic.
-Michael O'Keeffe
Danielle Collins says,
The first subject i looked at was science, i love how it shows the break down of each part, being able to move things around, it makes it so interesting and fun.comparing and contrasting the plant and animal cells i enjoyed. Since math can be so boring, i chose to look at that next. The activities making math more fun, the algebra and how to measure area and perimeters i found helpful for being a visual learner.
I chose to look at Social Studies activities for Ancient Egypt. The Pyramid Builder activity seemed like a great way for students to understand the tremendous planning that went into creating them. The game requests a lot of player input and decision-making so I think high school students would find it very engaging. The activity covered everything from what types of scaffolding they used to the proper angles and ratio of slaves/officials/farmers/craftsmen so students would leave very knowledgeable about the building process. At the end of the activity you are told how long your pyramid would take to build and given hints as to what you could do better if you were not successful. I'm embarrassed to say that on my first time playing my pyramid would take 76 years to make instead of the ideal 20! However, the activity was fun and informative even though I failed. I think students would have a blast completing it in groups. I will have to keep this activity in mind because it is something I would like to use if the school I teach in has the necessary resources available.
Since I am currently teaching sixth grade Social Studies, I chose to look at the activities for Ancient Egypt. The curriculum for sixth grade Social Studies is world civilizations, and I taught a unit on Ancient Egypt in the fall. There were several great activities that I would plan to use with my students when I teach this unit next year. The geography activity in which students explore Ancient Egypt would be a good introductory activity to introduce students to where Egypt is on a map and the important cities and landforms which affected life in Ancient Egypt. The students can click on different cities and landforms, such as Alexandria or the Nile River, to learn more information. I would use this at the beginning of the unit with my students to help them understand the geography. The activity which explains hieroglyphics and has the students practice using hieroglyphics would be useful in explaining how writing developed in Ancient Egypt and the first forms of writing used pictographs instead of letters. Finally, the Timeline of Ancient Egypt activity would be a good review at the end of the unit for students to review the important events which occurred in Ancient Egypt. It also helps the students visualize the events in chronological order.
Since I am a social studies teacher I chose the social studies link. From there I decided to follow the ancient Egypt link. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of useful pages that are all gathered together in one place. What is also very nice is that the links are large and show a picture to represent what they lead too. Now many of these links are for younger students, and being that I am certified for secondary education it would not be as suitable. However, I could make good use of it if I was teaching sixth grade. In sixth grade the curriculum covers ancient Egypt and the students would be able to get a lot out of the various links. At first I would want to focus on the overall geography and rise of Egypt. The first link gives a very good overview of Egypt’s history allowing the students to develop a basis of knowledge before diving more in depth. There was another great link of the various gods and goddesses that the Egyptians worshipped with pictures and overviews for each one. It is also important to show the various innovations the Egyptians created during their time, there are links for both building pyramids and the Egyptian mathematics system. I could utilize many of these different links in a variety of ways. When teaching about polytheism I would be able to show them the site of each god and goddess giving them control to learn about each on their own. I could also focus on the long lasting legacy of the Egyptians and allow them to build their own pyramids and also learn about the unique mathematics system they created. While the links are somewhat childish they do offer enough information to allow any age gain some more understanding and a more hands on approach to the information.
Since I am studying to become an elementary ESL teacher, I chose the Phonemes and Words section of the ELA site to help students develop sounds and words from the English language. This site contains a number of activities that help students blend letter sounds and digraphs to create words. I especially appreciated that the activity only allowed students to blend letters and vowels that make real words, which is a problem for many English language learners and students in the lower elementary grades. My favorite activity was the baseball game that reviewed affixes and verb forms and allowed students to score when they chose the correct spelling ending of words, after hearing it spoken. The Story Creator game was another functional activity that could be used in my classroom. It gives the student the option of choosing a setting, characters, and props, (with appropriate pictures) to create sentences for a story. The game also provides a word bank, which is necessary for English language learners since they may not have acquired the language to support an entire story. Since English language learners come in at all grades and levels, I am able to adjust the games to meet the needs of any student. Many of these activities can be used as an independent formative assessment since it can be printed and possibly scored to gauge how much of the content the student has retained. It can also be used as a fun, collaborative and competitive game between groups in the classroom.
I want to start off my stating that this website was wonderful. It is incredible how many resources are provided that will support the student's growth in all areas. Since I am currently a first grade teacher, I first looked into the grammar section that reviewed synonyms and antonyms. I have been trying to find specific ways that will support my current student's growth or understanding regarding antonyms and synonyms. I found the activities to be very engaging and easy to understand. It was interesting to see that many of these games were built for student's serving as a positive activity rather than an activity that would serve more as a challenge. What I mean by this is that many of my student's still struggle to read. Having a structured layout with words that are easy to read will support my student's growth in performing activities such as antonyms and synonyms. I also looked through Social Studies and I was amazed to see that they had various types of activities involving all different periods and eras in history. Since our project in class is focused on immigration, I was thrilled to see that there were a few resources that we could implement into our unit. I thought it was truly amazing that the student's were able to go into the Ellis Island floor plan and explore how it looked and how meaningful it was. As I become a hopeful and future ESL teacher, I noticed many language arts activities that would positively support the student's growth. Allow the student's to begin with ABC activities where they can then challenge themselves in building sentences is truly an amazing way to engage and support each student's growth. I am really looking forward to using this resource!
I found an awesome site on the interactive website that works very well with one of my social studies courses. Next year I will also be teaching World Regional Studies and that deals with many of the ancient civilizations. The website that I found is on childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.au. This site deals with chronology and gives an explanation of each time period as you scroll through. There are awesome animated pictures that deal with each time period. The site talks about mummies, the first settlers on the Nile River, hieroglyphic writing, the Egyptian state, pyramids, geography, and pharaohs. My school really stresses the point of chronology and this would definitely reinforce that skill. At the end of the time line, after you've learned about the year and an explanation to go with it there is a quiz at the end. This is a great way to test what your students just learned. I can definitely see myself using this source.
I examined the "Writing" section for English Language Arts.They would be best suited for the younger grades or LEP students. Most of the activities involve the act of composing various types of writing.There is one activity that asks students to write a complaint letter about a broken toy.This is a great way to familiarize students with the basic structure of a written letter.I do not see any activity on that entire page that actually involves writing or typing of any kind which is a bit strange.Still, the page has some fun and interesting activities for anyone that is trying to learn various text structures or proper word choice for different intents.
I chose the algebra section for math. I played a game called Bracket Basics. This requires students to try expressions out and know how to use PEMDAS to get an answer. This would be a great use of a DO NOW. It has students think in depth about where numbers should go. It also tests their knowledge of PEMDAS because they will not be able to determine the expressions unless they know the order of operations. This can also be used an as assessment or a reinforcement for students who need for practice.
The integrated sites for education, I chose addition for the math section. I played a penguin game, which required students to solve the problem and find the right answer by feeding penguins with fish. I felt that this was a fun and educational game for students. Games that incorporate animation and different interests engage students and help them to want to learn more. If students want to review different topics covered in class, this is a exciting way practice! I would definitely use this for my students.
I really enjoyed exploring these interactive pages. I choose the social studies section on the Civil War and I absolutely loved it! This is definitely something that I could incorporate into my classroom. My students often struggle when using maps and for them to be able to click and explore a map in a fun and engaging way would really help them to better understand the purpose of a map and how to read it. I will definitely be using these webpages for future lessons.
I really like these interactive games. I played an addition game, and it was a great visual for students to count the bugs on the screen. This is definitely a great website to have in my classroom. I really like how there are various subjects that teachers can use. Kids are engaged in visuals and sound effects it helps them learn and keeps them interested. I will use this site for many of my lessons, great assessment tool as well.
The interactive sites for education was awesome. I am certified social studies 7-12, so I choose S.S. and countries. They had a lot of different games, but one of my favorites was Country Toad. This game had a toad on a lily pad and coming down the stream were 4 different countries. In order for the toad to leave you had to jump on the correct floating land mass that matched the country the city his lily pad said. I was never good at knowing countries and different cities in them so I would have loved a game like this in middle school or even freshman year of high school. It was fun, engaging, and very educational.
I chose the English section, and thought my activity was a very clever concept to engage students. My topic I chose was poetry, and it was an activity to show students how simple it is to be creative with descriptive words. My object that I chose was a sunflower, and I thought it was important that it provided an example before starting. This is a great tool, especially for students who are turned off to poetry, so they can see how simple it is to be creative with just simply making a list of descriptive words. Although this activity is at an elementary level I think it might be appropriate for those who continued to struggle throughout the years in middle and high school. Although they are beyond this level intellectually, it can still be very insightful as a re-introduction. Especially with poetry, the less challenging the experience the more open minded students become. I would use a technique like this as a beginning of the year stepping stone prior to reading or writing more in depth subject matter. - Amanda M.
I found the interactive sites website to be a very resourceful tool for the classroom. I chose to check out the science websites since I will be working on finishing my eTextbook in that content area. Since I am geared towards working with the younger grades I feel these site interactive games could be useful for the Smartboard to review a given lesson. I chose a life cycle game in order to see what interactive games I could incorporate in my life cycle lesson plan for grade 1. It can be used as an informal assessment or used for differentiation of instruction.
I chose ELA and spelling. I think this website would be helpful for both my elementary school students and ELL students. I think I could use these games with my 1st graders and beginner/intermediate level students. I saw spelling test activities, ways of memorizing words, and spelling words of pictures shown. I like how some of the games offer different grade levels as well. This is a very helpful website that I would definitely benefit from using. I think my students would enjoy it as well. It is both fun and educational. I could integrate it in my classroom as a part of their spelling test and review. I think it would also help ELLs for further practice at home.
I chose U.S. Presidents and Government because this is a valuable webpage that can be used throughout the school year in a U.S. History class (11th grade) as we move on from the American Revolution and George Washington all the way through the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. One of the interactive sites, provides quick link bios to all Presidents which is important as it gives students a foundation for what each president is responsible for in history. I would even have students take a look at this page early on in the school year to become familiar with each President's role so they already have that foundation once we get to them in the curriculum. Some of the webpages even provide higher level thinking, including the "What Would You Do if you were President." It allows students to pick their own cabinet, and create their own budget among other things, and then see how news reporters react to your decisions. This would be a great activity for students to do in groups if the technology exists in the classroom, and then present their reasoning to the class on why they made the decisions they did. This should probably happen a little later on in the school year as a fun activity after a test.
After exploring Interactive Sites for Technology, I decided to choose the English language arts topic since this is a strong and interesting aspect for me. I have taken many courses in ELA and am always curious in finding new ways to develop learning. After navigating through the site, I chose spelling, which included many activities that can be very useful for first graders or even English language learners. There are games that could be used for beginner students, or even students that are a little more advanced. Using big pictures and cartoons along with positive reinforcement will really engage the students. Spelling is an essential part of ELA since they are used to formulate sentences, and I think it would be an excellent idea to use at home to sharpen skills and practice what was learned in class. Some games could be suggested for children to work on at home, and teachers can assign different games for each child. As a teacher, I would incorporate this in my classroom as routine quizzes and it would be a great review that children would want to do.
-Cristina S.
Interactive Sites for Educators
Area: Science
I chose to evaluate interactive sites in the science section, as I am always on the lookout for useful demos or activities for my high school physics classes. The site offers many useful interactive demonstrations and learning games, all of which are very well made and professional looking in their appearance and function. I found there to be some shortcomings when it comes to potentially using these in a classroom setting.
One way the site can be improved is by grouping the sites not only by category (English, science, etc..) but also by grade level range. An even further improvement could be including the core curriculum or national science standards that each site addresses. It would take some time for the site administrators to evaluate each site and classify them accordingly, but it would then be trivial to compile the evaluations in a database and include a “Sort by…” function. These changes could make the site a much better resource for teachers by saving the time taken going through sites that may not be age-appropriate for their classes, and allowing teachers to quickly choose sites that target the concepts or standards that they are looking for.
I looked at several sites within the science section in the subsections of Physics &Motion, Magnets & Compass, Electricity & Energy, Earth, Moon & Sun, Perimeter and Area (from the Math section), Bones & Skeletal System, and Light. Many of the sites were from the BBC and Manchester Children’s Museum. Teachers should be aware that some of the terminology may be unfamiliar to American students, such as the use of the word “trolley” for a wagon. Most of the sites that I visited would not be very useful for a high school or middle school level, but would certainly be appropriate for elementary school science.
One could possibly utilize some of the sites in a higher level science class by using them as a starting point to as deeper “why” questions and evaluate how students can apply knowledge and understanding to explanations of observations. For instance, in a simple game where a caveman pushes or pulls a rock to get it to a target area in which the choices are limited to “big push” and “small push” in various situations, the answers are likely very obvious to even a first or second grade student, but employing a “why” question may lead to discussions of forces and potential/kinetic energy.
Almost all of the demos and simulations would likely require a knowledgeable teacher to help students to evaluate the outcomes of the simulations. For example, an electricity game in which students are required to build circuits to specifications like “two dimly lit bulbs that can be turned on and off” or “a single brightly lit bulb” has an outcome that I found by putting two 3 volt batteries in series that the bulb is burned out. The activity itself offers no explanation for this, and without prior knowledge of current, voltage, resistance, and Ohm’s law, a student of the grade level that the activity is leveled at would be mystified as to why this outcome occurs.
(Continued)
I found a common a shortcoming to most of the demonstrations and simulations of the physical phenomena modeled in most of the sites: The demonstrations could very easily be done, cheaply in most cases, and better in almost all cases, by simple physical demonstrations. A battery, light bulb, and a few wires would be a simple and fast way to demonstrate circuits and allow students to experiment with electricity. In one of the demonstrations of light, a simulated flashlight is used to light a simulated screen at different angles showing the spread and concentration of light as a function of angle. There is no good reason not to just do this in front of students in your class with an actual flashlight. It works, I assure you. Models and simulations have a place when the concepts modeled cannot be simply demonstrated, like the interaction of atoms within a molecule, or the interactions of planets and the sun in the solar system, or the changes in population or landforms over long timescales.
One of the problems with using a computer simulation to illustrate and simulate physical phenomena is that the students may be less likely to actually believe that what they are seeing represents what really happens. In a simulation, like in a game, anything can be manipulated. While students may easily be able to learn and adapt to the “physical rules” within a simulation or game, they may unconsciously or consciously realize that the “physical rules” in a simulation are not necessarily accurate to the real world, and in many cases are not, whereas outcomes that occur right in front of them are not subject to such questioning, and are believed and internalized. Simulations may be useful if students are able to first replicate real-world phenomena in order to build up a faith that the simulation is valid, and then extrapolate from there to conditions that would not be feasible in a classroom setting. For example, I have found physics students over the years to be extremely resistant to the idea that an object dropped downward from rest and an object launched horizontally will hit the ground at the same time even thought they have taken different paths. They simply refuse to believe that the perpendicular aspects of their motion are independent of each other. No amount of computer simulations or even calculation exercises serve to convince them. It is only when they actually see it happen in the room, often more than once, that they believe it. After that revelation, students are better able to use the launch simulators and actually believe that they are faithfully modeling what would really happen.
The sites provided may be most useful to begin to teach scientific concepts, and allow students to independently explore some aspects of science, but should be used in conjunction with more tactile and real-world demonstrations and investigations to be most effective.
I explored the topic measurement in mathematics. I intended to use these activities for third grade. There was several interactive games on the website. One was a cooking topic about estimating and measuring, using cinnamon rolls and placing them into different size pans. Another game had different size fishes, with a ruler as a guide to figure out how many inches they were. I can integrate these activities after I model how to measure objects. In addition, I can use the games to practice before a test on the topic.
Giovanna Bove
Blog Reflection #5
Topic: Telling time
Grade level: 3rd grade
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/maths/telling_the_time/play/popup.shtml
I would use this game in a third grade classroom because there are three different levels “medium, hard and really hard.” The first level entails looking at a hand clock and the student picking the digital clock with the corresponding time. This is a good way to start the game because the student is practicing telling time on the two different types of clocks. The hard level asks the student to tell the time, add/subtract time and pick the corresponding digital clock. The really hard level asks the student to do the same thing but instead of picking the answer from a choice of digital clocks, they are picking it from the time written out in words.
The game progresses at a good pace and challenges the student to tell time and use his/her mathematical skills. I would use this game in my classroom by pulling it up on a smart board or projector and break the students up into groups. I would give them time to discuss the answer and the first team to raise their hand will get an opportunity to say what they think it is. The team with the most correct answers at the end will get a little prize.
I chose the English Acrostic Poems. I think this is great because it will keep the students engaged and as an educator I can gauge their ability to think on their own. Also, I chose the sentence building bubble as well. This is a great one because student will learn how to form a logical sentence with the appropriate grammar. I happen to really like this website and I will definitely use it in my classroom.
The interactive websites were great and will be extremely useful in my classroom in the future. As a Social Studies teacher and former American History teacher, I find the site on the U.S. Presidents to be great! It covers all of the presidents and gives a brief description on all of them. While working on a certain time period, some with many different presidents, the class can jump right onto that site to learn about the president and then continue the discussion on the time period. I think a student project can be created also where students are given a president and have to make a PowerPoint or a Prezi presentation about a president. They could use this program as a source and as a guide on how to format their presentation. I think this would be great to use in a middle school Social Studies class.
Gabriel Ramos said.....
I am very eager to utilize some of these interactive websites in my classroom. My subject area is Spanish and I was very happy to see that there are a number of useful sites within my subject area. One of the sites I found (and will utilize immediately) is entitled "the clock store." This site provides a very interactive atmosphere that will engage students into practicing the time in Spanish. This is great for beginners! I am currently teaching introductory Spanish so this particular site will be very useful to me. I intend to use this site after giving the students a basic understanding on "telling time" in Spanish. I plan on using the site to reinforce our classroom activities. Thank you for sharing!
The topic that I have chosen is seasons/weather. The grade level I choose to use this activity for is Kindergarten. One activity that I found goes over the weather that day. I feel that my students would find this interesting and fun. Students could come up to the computer and click on pictures that symbolize different types of weather like rain and snow. Not only can children click on the different types of weather, they get to see it in action on the screen. This is helpful for children to make the connection to the weather shown on the computer to the actual weather outside. This is definitely something I would like to use every day during our morning meeting!
The other activity I have chosen about seasons/weather is the one where students learn about the seasons. I want to use this in my classroom because we are currently learning about trees changing through the seasons. I feel this is age appropriate because students can follow along with the text as it is read to them. This activity provides a lot of information for each season. In addition, the activity has many visuals. They are real world pictures and not cartoons. I also like how easy it is to navigate. The activity offers quick keys to press to do things such as replaying the page or moving to the next page.
http://interactivesites.weebly.com/seasons--weather.html
Tara Berglind
My subject area is Spanish, so I chose to look at the Spanish section. The topic I would choose to use this site with is expressing the date/time in 6th grade for Spanish 1. The site offers a few different activities in regard to expressing this topic. The date/time is a difficult thing to express just because it combines a multitude of vocabulary like the numbers, months and verbal phrases. The site actually has some good interactive situations that build these concepts from the ground up using a realistic concept or situation. For example, numbers are taught through theater seating and the lottery. Each interactive situation has the opportunity for students to hear and read the new vocabulary in the situation at the same time. This is beneficial for both auditory/visual learners, as well as pronunciation/spelling. It is then broken down and defined on a list for students to study. Last, it provides a quick practice quiz to see if students have retained information. This site could be useful as either a ticket out after learning these concepts to check comprehension, review before a test or during the lesson to liven up the mood or show how vocabulary is used situationally. I’m actually really excited to explore other topics on this site and integrate them into my student teaching.
I looked through the Mathematics section on this weebly. While most of it seemed mostly for remedial purposes when discussing their application to grades 7-12, the computer game which involves converting fractions to decimals would definitely have some application to a 7th grade classroom. Many students find difficulty in math problems which involve either decimals or fractions and having a lesson or activity which concludes that whichever form seems difficult can be switched to the alternate form to be more easily read can be very helpful to students. On the whole, I find most of these activities to be supplementary at best, but I can imagine it being a small homework assignment of a specific high score in order to get in some practice in an entertaining way.
When exploring this website, I was draw to the math and science sections because I teach elementary math and science. I found this site to be very helpful to me as an educator. My class loves math games, especially interactive math games. I wouldn't use these to teach my lessons but, i think they would good to use at the end of a unit as a review before an assessment. I would also use these as a small homework assignment. My students enjoy going to websites and playing games or watching videos to complete a task. I think my students would enjoy this site and it would be a fun way for me to reinforce a topic that i am teaching.
My subject area is Social Studies. I explored the different topics available on the website for Social Studies. I would definitely use this in my classroom. My 8th grade is currently learning about the Civil War. My students always learn about the character and person of Abraham Lincoln. The websites on the presidents, specifically Lincoln, would be great for the students to virtually explore his life and his ascent to the White House. My students are given iPads. As a result the
students would have easy access to these informative websites.
I explored the blog that was about Interactive websites for education and found it somewhat useful. I am currently a Spanish teacher and I went through all of the activities that the website had to offer for Spanish teachers. I did not find a lot of information that would be useful in my classroom, but that does not mean that it wouldn't be useful for other Spanish teachers. I teach my classroom as more of project based classroom and the activities on the website, we're more of an interactive one on on student based activity. I feel as if the students would either be able to practice on laptops provided by the teacher and or at home, only then would it be an activity that I would benefit from as a Spanish teacher.
After exploring this website for a short time, it was inevitable that this can be used as a valuable source in the classroom on a regular basis. The website is great because not only does it cover a lot of subject content, but also supports interactive learning. These interactive learning sites can be extremely beneficial in not only aiding the educator but in aiding different types of students as well. As a result of the use of this website, many different types of learners will be able to connect easily with subject content/concepts. Another important part of this website is that students can access and learn without the teacher present or on their own time. This site gives students the opportunity to explore subject content deeper and kind of get some "extra help" on content learned in class or upcoming. I am a huge fan of this site and I will definitely be using this as a resource in the future and in future lessons as well.
The topic I chose is Earth Day. I would use this interactive site to teach students at a second grade level. The content is fun for students and allows them to explore different aspects of Earth Day through a technology-based lesson. The site reads through different information about Earth day to students in character voices and requires students to search for ways they can conserve energy as they learn about it. I would integrate this into my teaching practice by using this activity to teach my students about why we recognize Earth Day and how they can conserve energy in day-to-day tasks. After participating in the game at the end of the online lesson, I would follow up with a writing activity for students to complete based on what they learned about Earth Day. This will allow students to focus on the content during the lesson and then apply their new knowledge to an informal writing assessment.
The topic I chose was winter. The grade level I would use this site to teach students would be kindergarten. I would use the snowman book and have the students listen and follow along to the story. This online book includes colorful pictures as well as pictures of children on each page. They are not only pictures, they are animated and demonstrate the words that are being read. This online book shows the students how to build a snowman. At the end of the book you are able to drag and drop pictures to create your own snowman. As an activity in class, I would have the students come to the rug for reading time. I would pull the book up on the smart book and have the students listen to the story. At the end of the story there is an activity to build a snowman, I would call on different students to put the snowman together. After this activity I would have the students return to their desks and have them build and create their own snowmen with cut outs, crayons, and glue. After I would hang each students snowman in the classroom. It is a fun and creative way to help teach students body parts and following multi-step directions.
This was a great website! The topic I chose was the 100th day and I would use it for my kindergarten class. This was actually really helpful because we are celebrating our 100th day of school this week. I liked that there was an interactive game from starfall.com, which we use in our classroom very often. This game allows the students to practice counting to 100. I would also have the students play the 100 snowballs game. The object of the game is to use the 100 snowballs to make anything they would like. I would use the snowball game as an introduction to a project the class will be doing. For the project, each student will be given the number 100 and will have to make a picture based off their 100. Finally, I really enjoyed the bubble game where the students had to click to drop the correct number in numerical order. This is a great way to help the students with counting and work on number recognition. Some of the other games didn't have much educational value to them, but they seemed like fun competitive games for older students. This was a fun website that I think many students would enjoy.
Allison Schmidt
For my interactive website, I chose math with a focus on decimals, because I currently teach 5th and 6th grade math, and at some point throughout the school year I teach both grades how to work with decimals. For these older students, I would first use some of these games as review for a test. One of the games was a matching game. Students had to solve whatever operation was given to them, for example 0.7 + 0.6, and then find its matching card, which had the correct answer. Another game required students to practice ordering decimals. They had to pop the balloons, which contained decimal numbers, either in order from greatest to least or least to greatest, whichever the directions indicated. There was also a good game called “Scooter Quest” that helped students with knowing and understanding place values when working with decimals. Lastly, my favorite game was Problem Solving with Addition and Subtraction of Decimals. I thought this game was such an effective and engaging activity for students to work on multiple skills such as adding or subtracting decimals, and working on real life word problems. The game gives students a scenario using prices at a store, but students must determine based on the question whether they have to add or subtract the decimal numbers in order to solve the question. I thought this weebly website provided such great websites that I can implement into my classroom and students would be very engaged. As previously stated, I would either use these as review for a test, or students could have independent practice time when we have access to our school computer lab or the I-pads.
The game I chose was under the Phonemes/Words topic. I would use this in my current Pre-K classroom because there are so many simple games and activities that would work with what we are learning right now. For example, the word Bingo is a game I regularly use with my higher grouped students who are ready for speedy words. It is great practice to recognize these speedy words in a fun, interactive game. I also really like the various games that involve word families. These games are good to play with younger children as they promote early literacy readiness. I would also use these games as fun brain breaks for kids. Allison, I think those games would be great to use as a review before a test. It would almost be as if the students didn't know they were reviewing for a test, but rather just playing a game. You could also use these games as a reward for those who are following directions/rules, finish early, etc.
For my interactive website I chose Math to focus on. I am a third grade teacher I am always looking for different programs for my students to practice their facts at home. In this interactive game I chose division since we just started fractions and are having to revert back to division again. I chose to try Croc Doc game, and it really is a great way for students to practice their facts. The student don't realize that as they are playing this croc game they are forced to practice their math facts. I personally feel as we are moving through society where technology is becoming such a big part of what we do this is what kids will want to do to study their facts. Its so important for our students to have these basic skills for pretty much 3rd grade and up. Having these different types of websites and games gives the students a chance to re-learn and practice the information in a fun way.
I chose to view a science topic – weather and seasons. This will be relevant for first grade. The site has a lot of resources that I can use as a teacher for my class. I enjoyed viewing the site about the four seasons. It provides a reason for the four seasons and discusses the changes in the weather, the ground, animals and even human beings. I found it to be very informative, especially how it ties all the seasons together. It even highlights the amount of sunlight which affects the length of the days, during the various seasons. The audio is crisp and clear and the visuals are stunning. I think it will gain any child’s attention. This clip can be used as an introduction to the four seasons. It will get the students interested in the topic on the four seasons. This can also be used as a differentiated learning method for students who may need additional reinforcement on the topic. They can navigate the site easily as well as go at their own pace, since they get to press the play and continue button. Some other activities that can be incorporated into the lesson about the weather is the “Looking at the sky” interactive. Students get a chance to look at the sky and make a prediction as to whether or not it will rain or snow; as well as if it is day or night. Students also get the chance to play a game where they have to guess what clothing or accessory is needed for a given day or night, or weather condition like snow or rain. This site can be used as a motivation or “do now” so that it can tests students’ prior knowledge, before beginning a lesson on weather. Another activity that I found interesting for students was a” stickers for all seasons “. This allows children to differentiate what clothing and tools or accessories are needed for the various seasons. Students are shown a landscape and they would get to pick what items go with what season. Along the way they are cheered on. I think this can be used as a way of testing if the students understand the lesson on season and weather, and can therefore be used as a wrap up activity for the class.
I took a large portion of time to explore this website. I found that it had great interactive content in every subject area. I decided to divulge into the English language arts area of the website. I have realized that with some of my students they struggle with differentiating between proper and common nouns. I found the perfect game where they have to select if the word that appears is common or proper.
I plan to implement these interactive content lessons into my everyday practice in the classroom. I believe that it would be a great activator to lessons that can be done as a whole group effort or through independent practice. This can easily be implemented as a do now as students enter the day or at the end of the day right before dismissal. I plan to take a pre assessment and post assessment to see if these interactive web links have a positive effect on my students’ overall academic achievement.
I thought this exercise was great. I picked Social Studies and did the President exercise. This exercise would give out questions, with Presidents John F. Kennedy, FDR, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson; with each question there would be a fact about the President and the student would have to match each fact to the President. At first, I thought this exercise would be great for middle school students, but after going through the questions I felt that the exercise would be a good fit for high school because some questions were advanced. Some of the questions that were asked were: Which President gave Fireside Chats? The answer was FDR. Another question was, Who was the youngest man to be elected President? The answer is JFK. Last, I thought that the exercise was engaging and both students that like and dislike Social Studies would enjoy the activity.
Clicking around this site was quite exciting actually. The range of amazing activities that were provided were not only helpful, but useful to have students use within a classroom. I clicked on the Science Tab and then under habitats. I figured that I might be able to use what I find in my final Online Textbook Project. I clicked on a bunch of the different tabs that were available and really learned a lot of great activities. This could be used in the classroom by creating a QR code or having students click on the websites in order to find out more information, in an interactive way, about where animals live and how we can save their habitats from becoming extinct. It was really fun clicking around on the different games and activities and learning more about where animals live, how they survive within their habitats, why animal's habitats are so important to their survival, and how people can help keep the habitats alive. I would absolutely use these resources in my classroom on a daily basis with all of the subjects!
This website was very easy to navigate and it was a lot of fun to look at all of the different educational tools and games that it offers. As a math teacher, I think that there are many games and activities that students would find fun and educational. There are many games that could be used to help struggling students and ones that can help students who may not be motivated to do math. The brain teasers also caught my eye. I think that those games were great for students who think outside of the box and like a challenge. The games allow students to engage in educational games that stimulate their minds and help with critical thinking. I think that the teacher tools were a great way for teachers to bring in different activities into their everyday classrooms in order to have a variety of types of work for students to do. I hope to use this website in my classroom in the near future!
I thought this website was very interesting and could be extremely useful inside the classroom. There are so many activities in each subject area that would be really engaging for students. I chose to explore the English Language Arts section. This section had 15 categories to choose from. It ranged from the basic ABC's to reading sight words. I can see myself using this website especially the ELA unit in my classroom right now. My students are autistic and I think the interactive aspect of this website would be very engaging and motivating for them, especially if it was brought up on to the SMART board. Each area has several different activities that you can choose from. This would be a great tool to either introduce a lesson or even wrap it up at the end. The game that I thought was very cute that I could try in the classroom was in the sight words section, called Popcorn words. students have to listen to what the monkeys want to order then click on the word/items to give them what they want. There are three levels so it can accommodate several students in the class.
This has probably been my favorite blog post so far. I found this website to be very useful in the classroom because of the amount of activities. It is sometimes hard to keep the students engaged in every topic, but having these different activities can really keep them motivated. I chose to explore the math section that had numerous topics for activities. Since I teach Geometry, I looked very closely at those activities and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how many I could use. Geometry is a very visual subject, so I liked that there were multiple activities that showed exactly what happened to certain shapes when they were transformed. I plan on using some of these activities when it is time to review for the Regents. I agree with Annemarie when she says that the interactive aspect would be very engaging and motivating with students with disabilities as well. It gives them yet another resource to learn from and allows them to be more hands on with topics that normally would not have been so interactive.
I really like this so many activities for the kids to do at home and in the classroom. This make learning fun for the children. I also like Stacey, The first one I went too was the math there were so many activates that I didn't know where to start. I like the fact that is has level so you can monitor the child to see where they stand and as a teacher gives us a good ideal of the child weakness. I also went to explore the English and click on the site word, I love this especially for children who has trouble with site. The best thing about this site is that this will work well with children with disability who is having trouble with any subject. Jennifer Gesualdo
Looking through this website, I was actually very interested. It was informative and a great tool to use. There are so many different types of cool and interactive activities. It provided a lot of helpful activities you could use in the classroom with your students. My classroom would benefit from this since I work with students with autism and they are learning a wide range of things that are included in the website. For example, the typing section would be amazing for my students because they are all learning how to type and identify letter on a keyboard. This would allow the students to engage and be more interested in their goals that are currently being ran. I would definitely use this website in my classroom with all different subjects. This makes learning so much more fun for all types of learners! Also if we can put this on the SMART Board my students would really benefit from it. We would be able to do this during centers where they will take turns on the SMART Board.
The activities I found for my Spanish classes were interactive, fun and entertaining. Two activities that I can integrate into my classroom is the Word Bingo and Spanish Word Toss. They have the options of choosing Spanish to English and English to Spanish. Most of the topics that can be practiced in these activities are taught in Spanish 1 which I teach to my students. It has a lot of visuals and sounds to keep students entertained and want to participate in the activities. These are definitely activities I can integrate into my classroom to better facilitate teaching and learning a new language.
I choose "Word Invasion." It's an ELA game in which you have to shoot, old school arcade style, the words that match the given type of part of speech. Everything you hit a word the type of speech is changed and the words are replaced. This is a wonderful app. I am currently working on this topic with my 6th grade ELA class. The game forces you to think fast about what the parts of speech are and how to choose an example of it. There are different levels and difficulty settings too, differentiation! I can easily use our school IPads for a day to have this as a review day.
I found this website to have a lot of fun resources while it was also easy to navigate. As a teacher, I am always looking for new and inspiring ways to engage my students, as they love using the smart board. I ended up choosing to navigate "Earth Day" the most in-depth considering that is what I am teaching them about in school right now. My students found this site to be fun and had a good time learning about Earth Day, while they thought they were playing games. The facts that this website is hands on and visual really helps my students who need visuals for understanding. As the site provides information on the given topic chosen, the narrator has different character voices that allowed for the students to feel more connected and engaged. This website is a great resource tool for teachers to use.
After looking through this website, I feel that a lot of these tools are important for teaching. One reason for this is because technology is how we keep the students entertained and engaged in the lesson. Although, I am a teacher for a secondary levels, these math videos are very helpful for me as I notice that even though some of these should have been taught already, some students will struggle. These interactive activities are giving students practice while they think they are playing game.
One concern for me about this is, students might get to use to all the stimuli in the programs and when it comes to other assignments won't be able to focus.
Although I am a secondary teacher, I explored the math links to see if any could be applicable to my students. I have noticed that some of the material my students learn when they are younger, such as fractions, is not as fresh in their minds as I would hope. If I ever have a resource room in which my students need stronger foundational skills in math I could implement some of these games to make their learning a little more interesting.
I think anytime there is a site to help teachers help students have fun while learning, it is win/win. This site is particularly fun, hands-on and easy to use. It is a fantastic resource for students. My eleven-year old son and 9 year-old daughter had fun navigating this site. If I were to use this site as a teacher, I would become very knowledgeable in it. This way I could introduce and guide my students smoothly through it. Also, what a great homework assignment this would be! When I become a teacher, I will definitely integrate this website into my lesson plans.
As a prospective Spanish teacher, I believe that the best way for a student to learn a language is to do it through activities and games. Therefore, I think that these websites are excellent for any teacher. Obviously, some of the these games are meant for a younger age group. However, i believe that the usage of games will only strengthen a student's desire and ability to learn a second language. I played the game Spanish Word Toss, and I could not help but keep playing the game. I feel that using interactive games and activities not only makes learning more enjoyable for a student, but it also keeps all students engaged.
The topic I chose was Social Studies, and in particular U.S. Government. This topic for my 7th and 8th graders can be somewhat confusing and challenging at times. These games are great for introducing the topics, as well as review. Generally, I would introduce the three branches of government via graphic organizer notes and Brain Pop videos. I would then introduce the plethora of games listed on the site. Branches of Power and the Three Branches games seem very appropriate for my students for them to be actively engaged.
The topic I had chosen was sight words. Teaching sight words can be a bit boring and finding different activities to help learn them is important. I think that the activities provided on this page are great for pre-k through first grade to practice identifying sight words. Popcorn word can be done in homogeneous grouping because it has three different levels. My Reading Tools is a great way for students to practice spelling words that may be used in their writing. I think the games/activities on this page would be good if there is down time in the classroom. They may also be used throughout computer lab time. I think a great thing for a teacher to do is to encourage the use of these activities by providing the students access this page and play a game of their own choice. This allows the students to be more involved in the process of learning.
This site is a great tool for students and teachers alike. It is well organized and easy to navigate. used the science section and found it was a great resource for teachers to use to find really good informational videos, that are short and touch on all the important parts. Also this could be a great study tool for students to use. Because all the information is in one place, and it is presented in a very student friendly way. Also it meets all different forms of learning styles. it is hands on, audio and visually stimulating which will over all cause high engagement on the students end
The website is very user- friendly. I can see a site like this being used by students at home with their parents. I clicked around, and soon realized that it was a website for elementary school grades. However, the links were very clear and and colorful, which would be attractive to students. I explored the math tabs mostly, and enjoyed that the area/ perimeter link led to games that were pretty interesting for kids. The games allowed them to create figures of their own and calculate the area and perimeter based on what they created. The algebra games were cool too. Many of the games in the math section were diverse, in that they appealed to individual students' interests. I saw a game based on aliens, bouncy balls, food, etc.
I chose to explore angles activities in the math section. I would use this with four grade because this is one of their topic areas and something my students struggled with a lot this year. These activities have digital protractors to help students measure angles, add angles, and determine what type of angles they are. My students had a lot of trouble using and reading protractors so I think any interactive and engaging way for students to get practice and use them would be helpful when they take the state test and have to use them or just in general when they have to use a non-electronic protractor. I agree with Kaity that this website is very user friendly, which would be very appealing to the students, especially the younger ones, and their parents so they could use it with their children at home.
While navigating the website, I chose to explore the topic of Multiplication. There are so many activities included on the page that I would use with my 3rd graders. Multiplication is a very important concept for students to grasp and constant repetition and practice is vital for this comprehension. I would definitely use the activities in my classroom and to have my students use at home, as well. Incorporating gaming into the classroom can be engaging for students, so these multiplication games are perfect to use. If I have ten minutes before my students have to get ready for lunch, I could put one of the activities on the SMART Board for my whole class to participate in. For example, with the Cone Crazy activity, the students have to make their customers’ ice cream cone orders by answering the multiplication problems and then clicking on the flavor of ice cream that is labeled with the corresponding answer. I could have my students stand in a line in front of the SMART Board, and each student could have a chance to answer a problem. In addition, there were other activities on the page that I could use along with my math lessons. For example, the Picnic Multiplication activity offers great explanations of how to solve a multiplication problem, such as by using repeated addition. Providing students with additional ways to learn and practice multiplication facts other than by using worksheets will benefit their learning experience.
This site is a great tool for students, parents, and teachers. It's set up is well organized and easy to use. I wish when I was in school a site like this was available. Not only does it have a great appearance, but it proves great information for the user. For students, this site could be used as extra practice in multiple subjects. Students can click any subject and section they need extra help in, or need to study. I know as a student I could have used the math section to get extra problems and extra help. For parents, this site could be a helpful tool to learn how to help their children with homework. Today, with common core, parents are falling behind practices the students are now learning. With this easy site, parents can learn the material themselves and therefore help their children. For teachers, this site gives great ideas and videos to be used in the classroom. The videos can be helpful to provide students with great visuals which breakdown lessons. The activists in this site also provide different ways teachers can teach a specific subject. I believe when I become a teacher I will use this site myself to provide my students useful and engaging activities.
Elizabeth Capizzi
In my classroom, I have added a SMART Board center during math workshop to make students more engaged. This website will help me save time planning because it provides entertaining, pre-made games for students that are at various levels and includes a majority of what is covered in the 4th grade math standards. As my students struggle the most with division, I decided to focus on that topic. Most of the games are similar to the drill-and-practice apps that test students on their basic facts. Even though this doesn’t require higher level thinking, this would still be helpful for those students that need the practice. The games I am most interested in are those that show students what it means to divide through models. One game creates arrays based on the dividend the student used. Then, the student is able to break apart the array into groups using the divisor. When students are done attempting to solve the problem on their own, the computer checks their work. I also liked Tara’s ideas to use these games whenever there may be a few extra minutes throughout the day or to use it during a mini lesson.
This website is very useful. I selected a topic area that had games. The games were interactive and helped students reinforce what they had learned in algebra. I really like this because if provides a different medium for the kids to use and solidify the content that you've already taught. I can see these types of resources being highly utilized in the future.
Chris, I really like how you got a different perspective. I didn't have any videos on the links I selected. With videos to learn additional information and the games to reinforce it, this could be a very valuable tool for subs to use so the students dont have a "wasted" day. If students could watch a video and then practice it in a fun way it could make a big difference for the kids.
Blogspog is a Buggy program and clearly has flaws. I replied to this post multiple times before it became visible to others. I shouldn't have to rewrite my work or specifically save my work because the system is bugged. We should have systems and programs we use that are reliable, ESPECIALLY in our Technology Class!
Interesting website. The only recommendation I would have is that there be a P.E. or Health and fitness link to go to. But with what I had to work with I chose an interesting site on the national geographic website about your human footprint. I feel that his site relates to everything we do and discusses some key points that can relate to P.E. or health and wellness. Our human footprint is the impact we make on the world. It is not just eating an egg per-say but the ways in which it wound up on your plate. The gas used to transport them and the etc... This site could be a good way to introduce a unit on health and fitness.
Great site! I focused on Math and looked all the games and activities. This site would be great for my kindergarten/ first grade class. Math is a big struggle. Each student has a different math ability which makes it difficult to get everyone on the same page during math time. The one tool I thought was interesting,was the "Funny Fingers". This can be a tool for teachers to provide a visual cue for the students.I think this is a great site and will use it in my classroom.
This site is incredible. I focused mainly on Social Studies as per my certification but I thought all the activities and games they have for children were very well developed. Envisioning myself as an elementary school teacher, all the offered subjects and units of history with accommodating games or interactive activities developed, there are an infinite amount of concepts that this can be developed from in the classroom. It can be incorporated to alternative learners as well as the audio/visual learners, and can be differentiated in different activities to reach students of all skill levels while still embracing growth. As a teacher in high school, I wish there was a website as easily accessible and developed for high school curriculum as well.
Sidenote: What I also liked about the Social Studies activities, was that they had several games and activities that you could click different cities or people to think out more information about them. If computers or iPads were easily accessible in the classroom, the can be developed for group/individual activities amongst students.
This site is amazing. As soon as i looked at some of the subjects, i wanted to show my son and have him explore and learn! I looked specifically at the Social Studies folder, as that is my area i am getting certified in, and I thought all the games and activities were well thought out and constructed. Now that we are working on our eTextbook assignment, a lot of the activities, looked like there were made on Glogster. Even though this site is only for k-5, I see students benefiting from this greatly. Is this site meant to be used in the classroom or at home to enhance their understanding of the subject?
I specifically like the community folder in the social studies section, how you can basically create your own village. It will help students understand the concept of community and their neighborhood residents, district, populous, etc. I agree with Christopher, i wish their was something like this for high school students, and so accessible to the finger tips of the students.
Even though I am not a big fan of technology use to learn, i would use this in a heartbeat for my students, and i like that students with disabilities, or visual learners specifically, as Christopher said again, can use these interactive learning games and activities to enhance theirs studies. I give it a thumbs up in my book, and will definitely come back to in the future.
This site is great! Looking at the different activities under each subject area and grades shows great and interactive ways for students to learn. The subject I chose was Language Arts and chose to look at the different activities listed under reading and sight words. I loved how there were a wide variety of different games in this section and how easy it is for students to use. One of the first games I clicked on was Popcorn Words, where the students would pick a level and then listen to a word and click on the word they hear. The other games were also great in showing the different grade levels for the students and not letting them move on until they correctly identify the other words. I could see using these games in a kindergarten and 1st-grade classroom, however the levels on each game make it adaptable for other grades and students on various reading levels. I would use these games as a way of assessing and allowing students to practice sight words during Language Arts instruction. I think having these games on the Ipad or computer is also a great way to engage students in the classroom because many students love using technology in the classroom. However, if students do not like using technology, these games can be easily made with index cards. Having these interactive and engaging games can help students further learn reading and sight words. During my time tutoring a 2nd-grade student who was an English Learner, I noticed his difficulty reading sight words. To try and fix this, I created a slapping game, similar to one of the games on the website, where I made cards with the words on them and then asked the student to slap on the word that I read aloud. By the end of the game, many other students were joining in and practicing their sight words. Rather than just being a boring lesson on sight words, the students were engaged and loved playing a game, not even realizing that they were learning. I would use these games on the website to create a similar experience in my classroom.
In response to Shana:
After reading your comment, I went into the social studies folder and saw the community folder. I thought that this a great way to teach communities to students, by allowing the students to create their own communities as well as hear and see examples of the different types of communities. I would definitely use this in my own classroom when teaching this subject. I also agree with you and Christopher that it would be great if a program like this were readily available to students in higher grades.
Awesome site! Extremely engaging and seems like it would be fun for the kids, while learning. I looked at the interactive sites for typing which looks great. I think it is extremely important for the students to learn the keyboard and learn how to type. Technology is our future and it doesn't seem like it's going anywhere. If a child knows how to type they may benefit in many different ways, another interactive site I looked at was the English Language Arts; I feel that this subject in school is essential. This site can help a student who struggles with it by playing on this site and learning while doing so. The sentence games I really loved! For a student to know how to form a sentence at an early age and then perfecting it in the grades to follow is very important so to have access to these games is great for both the students and teachers!
The subject area I selected to look at was science; I think this is a great site as it gives you so many different ideas that you can incorporate into a lesson of your own. I focused in on the sites that include the earth, moon and the sun to see if there was anything I could incorporate into the group project. I think interactive activities are a great way to engage students in the learning process. I agree with Shana, I think that I too would use this for students in my class that present with disabilities or visual learners. I also this is a great way to enhance learning and make it more “fun”.
I really enjoyed exploring this website. The site offers a variety of subjects and interactive activities that a teacher can totally expand upon in their classroom. The subject area that I selected was social studies, specifically focusing on communities. If I had to use the activities that were given for this content area, I would use these activities for a first or second grade. The activities allows you to build your own community, in either a rural, urban or suburban community. This would be a great way for students to learn about the different types of communities as they are able to understand the key parts of each community and how they are all unique, yet different. Students would also be able to expand upon these three activities of developing their communities with the given options by creating their own communities that they live in based on their understanding of the physical features and community helpers within their own societies. This would allow students to engage within active learning, as they are able to connect their own experience of their own community, with the other types of communities in which they will be able to determine similarities within each community, while recognizing and identifying differences as well.
In reply to Claire, I have to agree that interactive activities are a great way to engage students within the learning process. It keeps students motivated and allows them to take the knowledge that they learned and apply it in their own way that sticks to them best. It does in fact, make learning more "fun", which strays away from the typical direct instruction lecture infront of the classroom, and calls for engagement and participation through the use of technology, which we know, is increasingly growing in the classroom today.
The subject area I chose was mathematics, and more specifically on the topic of “Greater Than, Less Than and Equal.” The activity I explored was the “Balloon Pop Math; Compare Numbers.” This activity displays two numbers and the student must choose whether or not those two numbers create a greater than comparison, a less than comparison or an equal to comparison. I think this activity provides a subtle support for students because it pairs the symbols ( >, <, = ) with the mathematical phrase (greater than, less than, equal). This activity would be appropriate for the early/primary elementary grades starting at Kindergarten to about 2nd grade in my opinion. Comparing numbers is a part of the Kindergarten Common Core Standards, which is why I believe it could be used starting in Kindergarten through 2nd grade. I would use this activity as a reinforcement/review game with my class. Specifically, I would integrate it as a practice game after a unit of comparing numbers, as well as a constant reinforcement of the mathematical skill.
In addition, there was an additional game called “Raceway Number Values.” This activity displays two numbers and the student must drag the comparison symbol to complete the inequality. The difference between the previous activity and this one is that the student can pick a level ranging from easy to hard, and can also choose to compare either whole numbers, fractions, decimals or a combination of all 3. I believe this game would be appropriate for grade levels Kindergarten through 5th, considering it gives the option of what type of numbers they are comparing and the level in which it challenges them.
In response to Shana: I agree that this website for interactive activities would not only be useful for general education students, but also for students with disabilities and specific learning styles such as visual learners.
I chose Math as the subject and estimation as the topic. I would integrate this program into a third grade classroom. There are a few activities here that will get students engaged. I found one game that has bubbles with two numbers being added inside. There are a few bubbles on the page and the player needs to click on the bubbles in ascending order. If I were to use this in my classroom, I would put it on the SMART board, this way the students can sit on the rug and come up one by one and click on the bubble that they believe to be correct. I believe that it would get the kids excited because I can make it a competition to race against the time. There is another interactive game that allows the player to decide whether the question is asking for an estimated or exact answer based on the language in the question. The game then walks the player through how to complete the problem step by step, showing the player how to estimate two numbers in order to add them more quickly. I would use this game with all of my students. I would do it on the SMART board so all of the students could see and participate. If I had any students who were struggling with this topic, I would have them use this program on their own at a computer so they could have enough time to walk through the problems at their own pace.
I think this website is an amazing tool for teachers with elementary age students. It is a great way to get them engaged because it turns learning into a game and reinforces lessons that they have already learned.
Response: I agree with Alexa, I think that using these games as reinforcement and review. It allows students to take what they know and apply it in a fun way.
The subject I chose was science for 5th graders. The topic I picked was animal classification because I am teaching that now with my students. I would use the activity called "A Touch of Class" with my students. The activity has different animals and plants in rows and columns. Then there is a topic that you have to click on the animal or plant that has the characteristics of the topic. I would use this to review the different classifications and their characteristics. I would also use "grouping animals" as another activity. This might be below their grade but it is a good motivation for the students. It explains what each animal eats based on their teeth, then lets the students match the teeth to the type of food. It gives the students another example of how scientists classify animals.
Reply comment: I agree with Laura on how great this website was. It's extremely interactive and students are having fun while learning. It's a great way to get students drawn into the lesson.
I choose to research science while on this website. I choose the topic Cells since I currently teach science and cover cells. There is a great activity where you explore the different organelles in plant and animal cells. I can implement this into the classroom through a group activity or have the students sit with Chrome books and work on the activity. This is a great way to allow the students to explore cells and understand how they work to maintain homeostasis.
Reply Comment I agree with Kaitlyn that the "A Touch of Class" activity would also be a great tool to use in a science classroom. Having kids explore to learn is a great way to help them be active learners.
I selected Language Arts and decided to focus on reading/sight words. This activity would be intended for Kindergarten and maybe 1st grade. I found a lot of fun and interactive activities such as "Popcorn Words" and "Magic E Adventures". I think these kinds of activities would be great to use in the classroom as a way to get students even more interested in the topic and to continue practicing their reading without it feeling like they are doing work. Being able to turn learning into a game is a huge motivator for kids at that age. I think it is especially helpful for struggling readers to practice their reading while having fun and building up their confidence.
Reply Comment: Alyssa made a great point that these types of educational games reinforces information that you have gone over in class.
I believe that these websites are amazing for students and teachers, in both learning and teaching differently. Not only does it allow students to learn effectively but it allows teachers the ability to see what works best for each individual student. Being that I am an English major I decided to chose the language arts section of the site. I believe that it is very good in the way it presents proactive learning, also it allows further learning in areas where teachers are unable to spend more time on due to time conflict. It includes all parts of the English language and the main components when trying to master the basic parts of speech etc. This would be a site that I would use for review for my students as well as using it with students who need additional time on specific content which is extremely helpful because it includes all subjects.
I think this a great interactive site for students and teachers. I love that it’s user friendly which makes it easy to navigate and find things. I clicked on the Spanish section since that is what I plan on teaching. I enjoyed the interactive game of the word toss. These interactive games and activity would be great tool to keep students engaged. I don’t think I would focus and entire lesson one of these activities but I could use it for reviewing vocabulary words. For example the Spanish word toss game had good vocabulary words. Allowing my student’s to play this game for a small period of time can help them review vocabulary words. This could be beneficial to visual learners since they’re getting visual cues from the computer screen.
The “Interactive Sites for Education” is a great website which provides plenty of opportunities for students to learn multiple subjects in fun and exciting ways. I choose mathematics, specifically multiplication, for 5th grade. The activity I found that might be most interesting and fun for 5th grade students is “Pac-Man.” The students can move the Pac-Man towards the ghost by correctly solving a multiplication problem. Then after correctly answering the question, they are given another multiplication problem to solve. This activity is great for students to practice multiplication at home to study for quizzes or tests, or as an educational award for doing well in class.
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