Weekend Website #127: Brown Bear Typing

Every week, I share a website that inspired my students. Here’s one that I’ve found effective in… Here’s a great website to answer that question.

Weekend Website #126: BrainPop Game Up

Every week, I share a website that inspired my students. Here’s one that I’ve found effective in… Here’s a great website to answer that question.

Weekend Website #125: Starfall Math

Every week, I share a website that inspired my students. Here’s one you may have missed. Starfall is a lot more than reading…

12 Great Websites for Earth Day

April 22nd is Earth Day. Celebrate it with your students by letting them visit these six websites:

1. Breathing Earth
2. Breathing Earth YouTube Video–of CO2 use, population changes, and more
3. Conservation Game
4. Environmental footprintEco-friendly houseEeko WorldBreathing earth– the environmentConservation GameHome of the FutureMy Garbology
5. Ecotourism Simulation–for grades 4 and above
6. EekoWorld
7. Electrocity
8. Eyes on the Earth–from NASA
9. Footprint calculator

Summer Keyboarding Class–How to Win FREE K-8 Keyboarding Curriculum

Every summer, I teach a keyboarding class to 2nd-8th graders. It’s sixty minutes a day, five days a week, for three weeks. This summer, I’m moving it online, through my Keyboard Wiki.

Ready? Don’t need any more information? Click here to join.

There will be two sessions:

• June 24th-July 12th (no class July 4th)
• July 15th-August 2nd

Class will be self-paced, self-managed, the sixty minutes arranged whenever the student can make it fit into summer schedules. Required materials include:

• The Essential Guide to Teaching K-8 Keyboarding–digital or print, as a guide to weekly activities–ebook free when you join class
• membership in the Keyboarding Wiki–also free with the class
• access to the internet and/or Skype
• a full-size keyboard (not an iPad)

42 Great Story Websites You’ll Love

Check out our latest addition of great websites–Stories. There are 45 websites for grades K-5, everything from audio to international to write your own. Enjoy!

1. Aesop Fables—no ads
2. Aesop Fairy Tales
3. Aesop’s Fables
4. Childhood Stories
5. Classic Fairy Tales
6. Comic Creator
7. Edutainment games and stories
8. Fables and Fairy Tales
9. Fables–Aesop, beautiful
10. Fables–Aesop, nicely done
11. Fairy tales
12. Fairy Tales and Fables
13. Get Writing—write your own story
14. Interactive storybook collection
15. Ivy Joy Fables
16. Listen/read–Free non-fic audio books
17. Magic Keys–stories for different ages
18. Make a Story
19. Make another story
20. Make Believe Comix

Weekend Website 123: Google Gravity

Inquiring minds don’t always need a purpose. Fun is often inspiration enough. Check out this clever rendition of Google Search:

Tech Tip #44: Clean Your Computer Weekly

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: I’m afraid of getting slammed with viruses, malware, all that bad stuff that comes with visiting the internet. What can I do?

A:  If you take reasonable precautions, the chances of being hit are minimized. Here’s what I do:

• Don’t download from music or video sites. They have the greatest amount of malware statistically because the Bad Guys know we-all like getting free music and videos.
• Make sure your firewall is working. Windows comes with a built-in one. Maybe Mac does too. Leave it active. It’s under Control Panel-Administrative Tools
• Do the following every week:

Weekend Website #122: Dance Pony Dance

Every week, I share a website that inspired my students. This one’s just for fun–but boy is it fun

7 Technology Tools Every Educator Should Use–the Movie

Click for full list of resources

A month ago, I wrote an article about 7 technology tools that have made a big difference in my classroom:

• BigHugeLabs
• Jing
• Nanoogo
• Polldaddy
• Tagxedo
• Voki
• Xtranormal

I posted it on TeachHub and they turned it into a movie. Take a look:

7 Technology Tools Every Educator Should Use from KTA on Vimeo.

10 Easter Sites For Your Students

Many Christians celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. The Easter date depends on the ecclesiastical approximation of the March equinox. This year, it’s March 31st. Here are some websites your students will love:

1. Easter color-me (for Kindergarten/first grade)
2. Easter Color Me to print or import to drawing program
3. Easter games
4. Easter games II
5. Easter games III
6. Easter games IV
7. Easter poems and songs (to play online)
8. Easter Puppies–video
9. Easter songs for kids
10. Easter Word hunt (Starfall)

24 St. Patrick’s Day Sites For Students

Getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day? Try these fun websites:

1. Coloring Pages–import into your drawing program and color
2. Color the shamrock
3. Color the Pot-o-gold
4. Color the leprechaun
5. Coloring–More coloring pages
6. Coloring–More coloring pages–pick one, let kids import into your drawing program (i.e., KidPix)
7. Games–St. Pat’s games and activities
8. Puzzle–St. Pat’s Puzzle
9. Puzzle–St. Pat’s puzzle II
10. Puzzle–St. Pat’s drag-and-drop puzzle
11. Puzzle–St. Pat’s slide puzzle
12. Puzzle–St. Pat’s slide puzzle II
13. Puzzle–St. Pat’s greeting–in a puzzle
14. Puzzle–Leprechaun jigsaw puzzle
15. Quiz–St. Patrick’s Day Quiz
16. St. Pat’s math
17. St. Patrick’s Day history–video
18. St. Pat’s Day songs–video
19. St. Pat’s Sudoku
20. Tic tac toe
21. Webquest for St. Patrick’s Day I
22. Webquests II
23. Webquest III
24. Wordsearch

5 Favorite Websites for K-5

One of the biggest problems I face as a technology teacher is the wealth of information out there for teachers, parents, students. I try to stay on top of it (as you who subscribe to my Weekend Websites know), but there is so much more than I can cover with one-a-week.

So, this week, I’m giving you 5. You will love these. I find myself sharing them with colleagues in answer to their tech ed needs so decided it was time to share them with you also:

BrainPop Game Up

BrainPop offers a great group of games for science, math, social studies, and health–all easy to maneuver, age-appropriate and fun learning. The gamification of education is alive and well at BrainPop

Fly Across America

This is a gorgeous eight-minute tour across America via biplane. It took my classes by storm.

Knowmia

Filled with Free video tutorials and interactive materials for your students. This is a website and an app with tutorials, over 10,000 lessons, ‘knowledge maps’ for chemistry and biology, even a how-to for creating video lessons.

How to Pick iPad Apps for your Classroom

You’ve heard the chatter. IPads have become the go-to literacy tool for authentic learning in the K-8 classroom, the one that says ‘Our program is cutting edge, up-to-date, inquiry-driven‘. Students want to use them, want to share and collaborate on them, and will follow almost any rules if it means they get that tablet in their hands.

The problem with the iPad as with the internet is: TMI–too much information. There are tens of thousands of apps, each proclaiming itself to be the solution to all classroom problems, each promising to be the practical strategy for learning math or science or state capitals or whatever their buzz word happens to be.

How do teachers sort truth from marketing?

You evaluate the apps. It won’t take long to realize that the best share similar characteristics. They encourage organic conversation, scaffold learning, are student-centered, and inspire risk-taking on the part of  student users. What’s that look like when it plays out on an iPad? According to the Texas Computer Education Association, apps should:

Weekend Website #121: Class Badges

Every week, I share a website that inspired, excited, and/or informed my classes. Here’s one on a popular trend in education–awarding badges:

One Million Hits–Wow

Photo credit: Miss Piggy

I have to pause a moment to thank all of you for that amazing number. Who would have thought three-and-a-half years ago when I started Ask a Tech Teacher, I’d reach 1,000,000 hits.

Follow me

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Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-8 technology for 15 years. She is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, presentation reviewer for CSTA, Cisco guest blogger, a monthly contributor to TeachHUB, columnist for Examiner.com, featured blogger for Technology in Education, and IMS tech expert. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

Weekend Website #119: 5 Great Website to Teach Letters

Helping munchkins learn their letters is one of the most frustrating–and rewarding–tasks in Kindergarten. Te ability to decode words leads to the vastness of the universe available through reading. If you’ve every met someone who can’t read, you know first hand the pain and embarrassment that dogs them every day in a world where literacy is expected not exceptional.

Anything to make this process fun is a good thing. Here’s a great list of websites that do just that. Students can see the letters, trace them on the screen with their fingers, play games with them, and suddenly find A to Z as comfortable as their favorite teddy bear.

• Find the letter–easy, medium, hard
• Find the letter
• Bembo’s Zoo
• Starfall Letters
• Click the Square

20 Valentine Sites For Your Students

Here are some fun Valentine sites to fill those few minutes betwixt and between lessons, projects, bathroom breaks, lunch, and everything else:

1. Valentine Sudoku
2. Valentine mouse skills
3. Line up the hearts
4. Dress up the heart
5. Valentine unscramble
6. Valentine typing
7. Valentine puppy jigsaw
8. Valentine drag-and-drop
9. Valentine match
10. Valentine tic-tac-toe
11. Valentine projects from Winter Wonderland
12. Write in a heart
13. More heart writing
14. ‘I love you’ in languages Afrikaans to Zulu
15. Valentine’s Day apps
16. Valentine Day games and stories
17. Valentine coloring book
18. Valentine Day poem generator
19. Valentine rebuses
20. Valentine rebus game

Do you have any I missed?

Weekend Website #118: Scale of the Universe

Wondering what’s out there, past our Earthly bounds? Here’s a great website to answer that question.

Great Websites Updated!

Once a year, we update the massive list of great kid’s websites we keep on Ask a Tech Teacher. We collect all of the new websites used by our association of teachers, place them in their proper grade and category, and then share them with Ask a Tech Teacher readers and those who use the K-6 technology curriculum (soon-to-be K-8).

Please check out the changes, updates, and the more than 2000 websites on this growing list. Go to this link, find your grade, and see what’s there for you.

• Kindergarten: 154 websites
• 1st Grade: 159 websites
• 2nd Grade: 428 websites
• 3rd Grade: 461 websites
• 4th Grade: 504 websites
• 5th Grade: 462 websites
• 6th Grade: 285 websites

We added many new subcategories. These list all websites across grade. You decide which works for which age group:

• Digital Citizenship: 113 websites
• GIFs: couple hundred
• Holiday websites: 24 websites
• Keyboarding: 35 websites
• Human Body: 67 websites
• Math: 68 websites
• Mouse: 12 websites
• Music: 15 websites
• Research: 32 websites
• Science: 179 websites
• Stories: 44 websites
• Virtual Tours: 16 websites
• Word Study: 60 websites

Top Ten Websites of 2012

Every week, I post a website that my classes found useful, instructive, helpful in integrating technology into classroom lesson plans. Some, you agreed with me about; others not so much. Here, I’ll share with you which sites readers thought were the most helpful in their efforts to weave tech into the classroom experience. Between these ten, they had over 120,000 visitors during the year. See if you agree:

1. Great Kids Websites–this is a list of hundreds, organized by grade and topic. It’s no surprise it came in at #1
2. 20 Great Research Websites for Kids–I suggest you post these sites where students can easily access them. I have them on the internet start page that’s the first site students see when they open the internet. This was #5 last year and inched its way up to #2 this year.
3. 18 Online Keyboard Sites for Kids–Overall, keyboarding websites are the most popular posts I have. In my school, it’s the #1 request from the classroom teachers–that students type faster. There were four more subsets of this theme in the top ten, but those sites are included here, so I skipped them for the purposes of this post.
4. 62 Kindergarten Websites That Tie into Classroom Lessons–a collection of my favorite tech ed kindergarten sites
5. Four Online Sites to Teach Mouse Skills–this is geared for youngers. They’re fun and are skills every student must master
6. 31 Human Body Websites for 2nd-5th Grade –Great list although I’ve added to it this year. Stand by for an update in 2013
7. 41 Websites for Teachers to Integrate Tech into Your Classroom–a collection of the top websites I’ve found to integrate tech into the elementary classroom
8. 23 Websites to Support Math Automaticity in K-5–these are math websites that focus on speed and accuracy
9. 10 Great Virtual Field Trips–there are some great virtual field trips on this list. Link to it from this list I keep updated
10. 62 First Grade Websites That Tie into Classroom Lessons–like the kindergarten list, these are my favorites from first grade

Weekend Website #111: California Missions

By Mdhennessey at en.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

Here’s a list of 40 websites that will inspire your fourth graders about California missions:

1. CA Missions–each
2. CA History-Missions
3. CA mission history
4. CA Mission Internet Trail
5. CA Mission Life
6. CA Mission Pictures
7. CA Mission Pictures—all Missions
8. CA Mission websites–list of
9. CA Mission websites–list of
10. CA missions
11. CA Missions
12. CA Missions 1780 to present
13. CA Missions Foundation
14. CA Missions Online–each
15. CA Missions today
16. CA Missions–Christianity
17. CA Missions–each
18. CA Missions—each mission
19. CA Missions–general
20. CA Missions–general II
21. CA Missions–general III
22. CA Missions–info on each II
23. CA Missions–info on each III
24. CA Missions–list of sites
25. CA Missions–more
26. CA Missions–more
27. CA Missions–Santa Barbara
28. Daily Life at Missions
29. Father Serra
30. Father Serra II
31. Father Serra III
32. Father Serra–more
33. Father Serra—still more
34. Google Earth Mission Tour
35. Mission Quotes
36. Mission Timeline
37. Mission Websites for Kids
38. Santa Barbara Mission
39. The Spanish Missions
40. Tour CA Missions with Google Earth

Tech Tip #36: The Internet Toolbar Disappeared

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q:  My internet toolbar disappeared. All I see at the top of the screen is, more of the page I’m on. No tools. What do I do?

A:  Push F11. You can hide the internet toolbar or unhide with F11. It’s that simple.

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To get the complete list 9f 98 Tech Tips, click here.

To ask a question, click here.

Dear Otto: Should I stick with age limits on websites?

Do you have a tech question?

Dear Otto is an occasional column where I answer questions I get from readers about teaching tech. If you have a question, please complete the form below and I’ll answer it here. For your privacy, I use only first names.

Here’s a great question I got from Leanne:

I am a Middle School teacher. Many of the teachers in my school want to use websites that state you need to be 13 or above. So far we have avoided them but as technology becomes more pervasive in our school and cooler and cooler websites become available, this is getting harder to stand by. How do you approach using websites that require 13 or above access?

Thank you, Leanne

And my answer:

What a great question. It is getting pervasive and kids are so comfortable on the internet, they find these sites and don’t understand the age restriction. Here’s what I do: I stick with the guidelines. It is too convoluted to get students to understand why it’s OK to break the rule in Case #1 and not in Case #2. Plus, parents don’t understand when our pedagogic judgment is it’s OK This Time and not That Time. It comes out as a subjective decision rather than an objective determination based on facts. As a result, I follow posted rules and find a different website that accomplishes what I need to.

Is there a particular website you’re trying to work around? Maybe I can help with that.

14 Holiday Websites For Your Students

Need a few websites to fill in sponge time? Here are Holiday websites that will keep students busy while teaching them:

1. 12 Days of Christmas
2. Holiday collection
3. NORAD Santa
4. Penguin Show
5. Reindeer Orchestra
6. Holiday—North Pole Academy
7. Holiday—match game
8. Holiday hangman
9. Holiday—Math Facts
10. Holiday Crossword
11. Holiday Hangman II
12. Holiday—find the word
13. Holiday—Design a Gingerbread House
14. Holiday Elf Games

To sign up for Weekend Websites delivered to your email, click Weekend Websites here and leave your email.

For 760 Websites organized by grade and subject, click here

7 Technology Tools Every Educator Should Use

Click for a full list of resources

A big part of my job as technology teacher is IT coordinator, which means I must keep up with tech ed widgets and tools so I know what to recommend to the teachers at my school. I have a robust PLN that constantly shares what they are using in their classrooms, programs like PowToon, Dipity, Tikatok, Yacapaca, Glittertools, Chart Gizmo, Noteflight–you get the idea. Still, there are more than any one teacher can test properly.

In a perfect world, here’s how I determine which of these hundreds (thousands?) of tools are student-ready:

• I try it myself. Does it work easily and as promised? Is it intuitive? Are there intrusive ads that will distract students as they work through the steps?
• Next, I query my social networks. Have my fellow tech teachers had success with this tool? What problems did they run into? Is it stable? If my e-colleagues find the glamor is only skin deep, I move on.

If a tool passes these two tests, I try it in class. Since I teach over 430 students every week, that’s the true barometer. If a program survives the hands-on  grade-level labor of dozens of students, if they can create a project that supports their learning in new creative ways and still have fun, I’ve found a good tool.

Weekend Website 40: NORAD Santa

It’s the time of year when inquiring young minds want to know–Where’s Santa? Here’s a great website to answer that question.

Track Santa on Xmas Eve

18 Thanksgiving Sites For Your Students

Need a few websites to fill in sponge time? Here are Thanksgiving sites that will keep students busy and still teach them:

1. Various Thanksgiving websites–BillBear 4 Kids
2. Online/Offline Thanksgiving activities–some require a computer, others not so much
3. Thanksgiving information–history, poems, and more
4. Starfall–Silly Turkey
5. Thanksgiving Tic-tac-toe
6. Thanksgiving Jigsaw
7. Thanksgiving Jigsaw II
8. Thanksgiving Games
9. Thanksgiving games–Quia
10. Thanksgiving educational websites from CybraryMan
11. Thanksgiving Wordsearch
12. Thanksgiving activities
13. The First Thanksgiving
14. Thanksgiving Lesson Plans
15. Thanksgiving Online Coloring Book
16. Thanksgiving Webquest
17. You are the historian–Thanksgiving
18. Thanksgiving video–Brainpop

Weekend Website #116: Google Street View Locations

Every Friday, I share a website (or app) that I’ve heard about, checked into, been excited to use. This one covers anything on your mind and uses the quintessentially-popular Google Earth. I know you’re going to enjoy this review.

Google Street View goes inside locations

Weekend Website #115: Minecraft

Every week, I share a website that inspired my students. This one is a blockbuster as far as student interest, risk-taking, enthusiasm.

Click to visit website and play movie about Minecraft

Age:

Weekend Website #114: 55 Digital Citizenship Links

Understanding how to use the internet has become a cornerstone issue for students. No longer do they complete their research on projects solely in the library. Now, there is a vast landscape of resources available on the internet.

But with wealth comes responsibility. As soon as children begin to visit the online world, they need the knowledge to do that safely, securely, responsibly. I’ve collected resources here so you can make your choices.

Here’s a list of 55 Digital citizenship links. They cover K-6. I’ve given the list a permanent address here.

How to Teach Digital Citizenship in 3rd Grade

How can I teach my students about digital citizenship

Understanding how to use the internet has become a cornerstone issue for students. No longer do they complete their research on projects solely in the library. Now, there is a vast landscape of resources available on the internet.

But with wealth comes responsibility. As soon as children begin to visit the online world, they need the knowledge to do that safely, securely, responsibly. There are several great programs available to guide students through this process (Common Sense’s Digital Passport, Carnegie CyberAcademy, Netsmart Kids). I’ve collected them as resources and developed a path to follow that includes the best of everything.

Here’s Third Grade:

Overview/Big Ideas

Why is it important to be a good digital citizen? How can students do this?

Essential Questions

• What is a ‘digital citizen’?
• What are my rights and responsibilities as Digital Citizens?
• How is being a citizen of the internet the same/different than my home town?
• What are the implications of digital citizenship in today’s world?

Weekend Website #113: Digital Passport

Every week, I share a website that inspired my students. Here’s one that I’ve found effective in covering the myriad branches of the question, How can I be a good digital citizen?

Weekend Website #109: Google World of Wonders

Every Friday, I share a website (or app) that I’ve heard about, checked into, been excited to use.

Explore the world as a virtual tourist

A Virtual Tour of America–Via Biplane

Another virtual tour, this one of America…

See more virtual tours here.

Weekend Website #112: Nanoogo

Are your students visual learners rather than linguistic? If you answered yes, you’ll want to visit this site.

How to Teach Digital Citizenship in Kindergarten

How can I teach my students about digital citizenship

Understanding how to use the internet has become a cornerstone issue for students. No longer do they complete their research on projects solely in the library. Now, there is a vasy landscape of resources available on the internet.

But with wealth comes responsibility. As soon as children begin to visit the online world, they need the knowledge to do that safely, securely, responsibly. There are several great programs available to guide students through this process (Common Sense’s Digital Passport, Carnegie CyberAcademy, Netsmart Kids). I’ve collected them as resources and developed a path to follow that includes the best of everything.

Here’s Kindergarten:

Tech Tip #91: Internet Problem? Switch Browsers

How can I help you?

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

I’ve been having more than usual problems with my browser, Firefox. Often, I can fix things by switching to Chrome. Sometimes, it’s the reverse, so I wanted to repost this tip as a reminder at the start of our new school year:

Q: I’m trying to use a website and it keeps telling me Flash isn’t installed. I know it is. I even re-installed it and it wouldn’t work. What do I do?

A: Change browsers. I have this problem more often with Firefox than Explorer in my lab. When students try to use one of the websites on our internet start page and find it won’t run correctly, the first thing I check is which browser they’re in. If it’s Firefox, I switch to IE. That more often than not fixes it.

Weekend Website #108: Wowzers

Every Friday, I share a website (or app) that I’ve heard about, checked into, been excited to use. This one covers math. Since ‘math’ is by far the most popular search term of readers who seek out my blog, I know you’re going to enjoy this review.

Math learning for students; evidence for teachers

Weekend Website #107: Google Search Education

Every Friday, I share a website (or app) that I’ve heard about, checked into, and become excited to use. This one is tools available for teachers to help their students maneuver the often-tricky machinations of the internet.

A complete course in how to search using Google