Computers
From Eduwiki
(Christy Swintek) Website: National Gallery of Art: NGA Kids Discipline: Art History, Design, Computer Skills Grade Level: K – 12 Address: http://www.nga.gov/kids/ Description: This excellent website provided by the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. is full of exciting interactive activities for kids based on the styles and theories of popular artists and classical masters. Children can create original works of art using a painting program, then use their artwork to create notecards, wrapping paper and screen savers. Another program allows kids to rearrange the iconic images in famous works of art while learning about the artist’s techniques and characteristic style. There is also an interactive digital photography and photo editing program that is simple to use and allows young artists to easily experiment with photo editing. The website also provides an excellent research resource in the form of downloadable issues of Inside Scoop magazine for kids that highlights a different renowned artist or movement in each issue.
(Zeahna Young) Discipline: Computers
Grade level: K-5
Web site address: http://www.computerlabkids.com/
Description: This is a site for teachers and offers many useful tools for teaching about computers and computer skills. It helps ensure teachers know the various parts of a computer, and how to explain these parts to students, and also has pictures of computer parts and worksheets to help students familiarize themselves with basic computer knowledge. There are also printable computer lessons and worksheets, as well as links to early typing exercises and games for students. The site breaks down parts of the computer on a level that an elementary-aged student could understand, and shows how to learn to begin to use tools like a mouse, a keyboard, a microphone, etc.
Contents |
Standards for Computer Instruction
Online Resources for Computer Instruction
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Lynn Sohasky
Computers 601OL
February 13, 2010
WEB RESOURCES
1) Web Site Address: readwritethink.org
Discipline: Language Arts
Grade Level: K – 8th
Description: This is a great site for Language Arts lesson plans. There are numerous free printouts for creative book reports, note taking, essays, newsletters, Venn diagrams and more. One excellent resource is the “Character Business Card” book report. A planning guide and rubric are provided to guide students as they create a business card with a main character as the focus. Specific methods are given for improving student performance in writing and reading. There are hundreds of lesson plans covering poetry, writing skills, parts of speech, story and expository writing, strategies for reading, and much more. A reference link to each state’s standards is included so you know what standards you are covering for each of the included lesson plans. (Lynn Sohasky)
2) Web Site Address: freerice.com
Disciplines: Vocabulary, Art, Chemistry, English, Geography, Language Learning (French, German, Italian, Spanish) and Math
Grade Level: 5h – 12th
Description: This non-profit educational site was created in 2007 in hopes of educating and helping to feed people. As each person “plays a game” (answers questions on their desired subject matter) sponsor banners appear at the bottom of the screen and these sponsors pay for the rice that goes to people around the world (correct answers are equal to 10 – 20 grains of rice). The UN World Food Program is the distributor of the rice. The vocabulary section alone has 60 levels of vocabulary and over 12,000 words and is tailored to each user’s own level of difficulty. The Art site displays paintings and the student has to choose the artist. If you choose an incorrect answer, the site gives you the correct one and will retest you later in the game. The Math site is handy for learning math facts and has 10 levels of difficulty. On the Language Learning sites students may practice their foreign language vocabulary. Practice at locating countries and world capitals is available in the Geography section. In the Chemistry section, the Periodic Table symbols are presented in question and answer format in order to facilitate learning. (Lynn Sohasky)
3) Web Site Address: mathforum.org
Discipline: Math
Grade Level: K – 5th
Description: One of the most unique features of this website is “Ask Dr. Math”. Anyone can ask a math question, at any level, and a volunteer “doctor” will respond. There is a library of 5000 past questions and answers that is available to reference. Aside from many lesson plans, the site hosts a “problem of the week” in four math areas – math fundamentals, pre-algebra, algebra, and geometry. These problems are also catalogued and available to the user. Mathforum.org sponsors “Teacher2Teacher and other math forums for teachers to communicate, discuss, and compare notes on all kinds of math questions and classroom issues. Included, as well, is an internet math library link with information on math from the most basic level to college level. The “math forum showcase” link highlights special math projects created by users of the forum. (Lynn Sohasky)
4) Web Site Address: smithsonianeducation.org
Discipline: Art, History, Science, Math, Music, Multiculturalism
Grade Level: K – 12th
Description: This site has “Smithsonian in the Classroom, with access to live webcams of animals in the National Zoo. These webcams are paired with classroom activities such as observing, predicting, and writing in a nature journal (with free downloads). There are also educational videos of an earth science nature (such as “The Galapagos”). Art links guide the user to architecture lessons and lessons about famous artists, as well as lessons on Indian art, Asian art, African art, Latino art and American art. Links to sites for students include “IdeaLabs”, an interactive learning site with information from American presidents to the Apollo 11 space mission. Students can also access selected exhibits from the Smithsonian Museum. Included is a directory of educational and informational Smithsonian websites available by topic or subject matter. One of the most captivating features of this website is the link to “Know-it-All”. This link has games and fun facts about “all things Smithsonian”. Math lessons include designing a doghouse and creating patterns. Music is explored through poetry (ballads) as well as in many other ways and Multiculturalism covers societies from “A to Z”. (Lynn Sohasky)
5) Web Site Address: 50states.com
Discipline: History
Grade Level: 4th – 12th
Description: 50states.com is just what it sounds like – a site where you can obtain information on all 50 states. On the main page there are links to all 50 states as well as the commonwealths and territories. When giving the 5th grade assignment on state reports, I always recommended this site to my students. Each state site has loads of facts – all the important ones as well as trivia – and further links to even more information about their state. This is a very comprehensive “state info” site. (Lynn Sohasky)
6) Web Site Address: kidsastronomy.com
Discipline: Science
Grade Level: 3rd – 5th
Description: This site enables students to learn about the planets and other bodies in the solar system. It is interactive – you can click on a planet, a planet’s moon/s, visit an asteroid belt, comets, or learn more about the sun. This site is a great tool for “science centers” in a classroom equipped with computers. Each planet site has interesting trivia as well as facts, for example, the source of each planet’s name is explained. There is also a link that will allow you to build your own solar system. (Lynn Sohasky)
7) Web Site Address: sciencenationalgeographic.com
Discipline: Science/History
Grade Level: 6th – 12th
Description: Learning about science is fun at this site. There are links to many educational videos about space, the sea, and interesting creatures. There is also an amazing link to “The Jason Project”, which features ongoing projects and connections to people who are exploring our world. “The Jason Project” was started in 1989 and enables students to become engaged in science as it is happening. Students can follow along, from their computers, as scientists get up close and personal with tornados, hurricanes, and other natural phenomena, explore oceans, mountains, and follow expeditions. Another feature of sciencenationalgeographic.com is the “map machine” where you can obtain a map (satellite or street) from anywhere in the world. Additionally, there is an interactive atlas of human history that traces civilizations and events. A comprehensive site with lots of educational possibilities, there are also lots of lesson plans for teachers. (Lynn Sohasky)
8) Web Site Address: internetforclassrooms.com
Discipline: Language Arts/Math
Grade Level: K – 8th
Description: Included in this site are numerous Language Arts and Math activities, standards, assessment tools, technology tutorials, and lots of links to other educational sites. This site is a great tool in a classroom because it offers students lots of interactive choices in refining their Language Arts and Math skills. These activities are fun and provide immediate feedback about a student’s progress in an area. The site also offers brain teasers, a question of the day, sources for quotations, “ask an expert”, and interesting trivia. (Lynn Sohasky)
9) Web Site Address: Bartleby.com
Discipline: Language Arts
Grade Level: 6th – 12th
Description: This is a research and informational site where the student can find poetry, read books online (from fables to Shakespeare, the Bible, the classics and everything in-between), look up quotes, find answers to questions about English language rules and usage, and link to Roget’s International Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases. For ease of use, books may be referenced by subject, titles, or authors.
(Lynn Sohasky)
10) Web Site Address: Historyteacher.net
Discipline: History
Grade Level: 5th – 12th
Description: An online resource that is run by a history teacher. It is a primer on historical events, a test study center, and a catalogue of primary and secondary resources. There are 220 downloadable power points on a range of subjects from American History to Global Studies. Links take the user to many of the world’s major newspapers and history websites. (Lynn Sohasky)
Drew Nguyen E ED 602 Web Resources
(1) Disciplines: Math
Grade Level: K-8
Website address: http://www.mathplayground.com
Description: Math playground is a site that makes learning math meaningful and fun for children. The site includes math games, math videos, word problems and logic puzzles. When playing the interactive games, students are given multiple opportunities to solve the problems, and can ask for help when they are stumped. Working with word problems, students can select the concepts they want to work with, as well as the grade level. In playing with logic puzzles, students are playing with games and puzzles such as Sudoku, Mancala, Battleship, Coin Weighing and Tangrams. For more in depth study of math concepts, students may watch the math videos, which in details demonstrate numbers and their properties, subtraction, addition, multiplication and division, fractions, percents, decimals, geometry, and so on. The website is children-friendly and interactive which keeps children interested and learning. This is a wonderful website which provides children with extra help, as well as reinforce concepts they are learning in the classroom.
(2) Discipline: Math
Grade Level: Pre-school-8
Website address: http://www.coolmath4kids.com
Description: This website is a fantastic website that is useful for teachers, students and parents. For younger children between the ages of 3- 5, there are coloring book pages that parents can print out to help children learn numbers and identifying the spelling for each number, as well as shapes that allow children to touch count. While coloring, children are also exposed to shapes such as triangles, circles, squares, and hexagons on the pages. For students, there are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, times tables, pre-algebra lessons, and math flash cards, in addition to various math games. When playing math games, pictures are provided for children to visually see shapes in 3-D, giving them a more in-depth understanding of shapes they are learning about.
(3) Discipline: Arts, Computers, Government, Math, Science, Social Studies, Health
Grade Level: K-8
Website address: http://www.kids.gov/
Description: This website is helpful for students that are seeking information on multiple subjects. For students in kindergarten through grade 8, student-friendly information can be found on the arts, careers, computers, government, math, science, social studies, money, and health, fitness and safety. When students click on the tab for the grade selection, and click on the specific subject, they are taken to a page with links that they can click on to go to the individual pages devoted to their subject of interests. For example, if a student were to select “Math” under the K-5 link, she would then be taken to a page that provides government sites with links that she can click on to learn how math is used by NASA or play games using cryptology for code-making and breaking to learn about how the National Security Agency uses cryptology. There are also various links to other resources that students can further learn about which are written in children friendly language and easy to navigate.
(4) Discipline: Arts, Languages, Science, Math, Social Studies, and Literacy
Grade Level: Pre-K-6
Website address: http://www.apples4theteacher.com
Description: This site provides educational resources for both students and teachers. It includes interactive learning games, activities and quizzes that check students’ knowledge of various subjects. Students and teachers can search by subjects in the arts, language, literacy, math, science and social studies. For example, in the arts, students can learn about various holidays and events through coloring pages, arts and crafts activities, interactive games, skits and recitals. In language, students can learn ASL, and ESL games for English language learners. Under language arts and literacy games, students learn letter recognition, sentence building, Dolch sight words, nursery rhymes, and printable short stories. In various science activities, children learn about dental health, the human body, plants, the solar system and weather through interactive games, as well as having information about various subjects read to those students who are auditory learners. The site also offer teachers various thematic games, classroom activities sorted by month and teaching ideas that are interesting and creative.
(5) Discipline: Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, Sciences
Grade: K-5
Website address: http://www.primarygames.com
Description: Primary games is a website that offers interactive games and various activities for different disciplines. Further it offers activities such as postcard making, downloads of games, puzzles, writing and coloring activities for holidays through out the year. For example, when a student clicks on the tab for math, they are taken to a page with many math games that vary by skills. There is a math game called Moon Cakes, and there are 3 moon cakes on display. The objective of the game is to select the moon cakes in descending order in the number of yolk each cake has. Another activity offered for Earth Day under the Science tab allows students are create a stationary and then write about the things that they can do to make the Earth a better place. Under language arts games, students can play a game in which they spell the name of the objects shown with long vowels by dragging the letters on display into a box. Games offered on this site are children friendly and engaging with bring visuals to stimulate students’ learning.
(6) Discipline: Health Science
Grades: 3-12
Website address: http://kidshealth.org
Description: Kidshealth.org is a wonderful website that offers young children and teens numerous facts and information that range from how to deal with emotions, how to stay health, illnesses and injuries, how the body works, staying safe, health problems, a kids’ dictionary of medical words, and health problems of grown ups. The website also offers movies and games in which learn and nutrition and how much sleep is needed each night. When a student click on category such as Staying Healthy, students can get information about how to keep fit while having fun, or in the category of Being Good to My Body, students can learn about the various things that the can do to keep their body healthy (how to take care of their skin, their teeth, and their ears, etc.) This site is very informative and provides important facts on how children and teens can keep themselves in the best shape, physically and mentally.
(7) Discipline: Math and Language Arts
Grades: K-8
Website address: http://www.funbrain.com
Description: Funbrain is website that offers interactive arcade-style math games, grammar games and various web books that are popular to students in elementary and middle school. One of the math games offered on this site is a called Line Jumper. Students select the level of difficulty, then the game shows a number sentence and students would click on the answers on a number line to answer the questions. While students are practicing their math facts, they are given the opportunity to see a visual representation of how their answers are represented on the number line. The site is very children friendly and easy to navigate; it also offers a game finder that is finds games according to students’ grade level. Funbrain also has resources for teachers and parents. For teachers, there are multiple games and lessons that can be utilized in their own classroom that varies by subject and are tied to classroom curriculum. For parents, there are resources and tips on how to help children with their homework, how to deal with parenting challenges, how to manage family finances, and expert advice for frequently asked questions.
(8) Discipline: Math
Grades: K-12
Website address: http://illuminations.nctm.org
Description: Illuminations is a website that offers many resources for teaching math. The site contains activities that are divided into grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. The lessons in the various grade, are Number & Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, and Data Analysis & Probability. When selecting activities to be used in the classroom, some activities offer teachers a guide on how they can facilitate the activities in their classroom. It also offers insight on how their chosen activities help children learn to do math and communicate among their peers, as well as how to practice to be reflective teachers to better help their students learn. This website is intended for teachers, and offers numerous and helpful activities that are designed to standards for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
(9) Discipline: Art
Grades: 3-12
Website address: http://www.nga.gov/kids/kids.htm
Description: This website is a much like the kid’s corner of the National Gallery of Art. It offers interactive art that can be created through the use of computers. Interactive art can be created by students using digital photography and editing, as well as combining visual elements offered by the gallery’s collection of portraits for students to create their own American folk art portraits. Students can also use a program called, BRUSHster to create abstract art that is truly their own and one of a kind. In addition, the National Gallery of Art online offers a program that creates interactive still life that mimics masterpieces of part artists. The projects completed online by students would give them a deeper understanding and appreciation of different genres and styles in art.
(10) Discipline: Language Arts
Grades: K-2
Website address: http://www.starfall.com
Description: Starfall is a website that uses phonemic awareness and phonics to teach children to read. Children are first introduced to the sounds of each alphabet as the upper and lower case of each letter is presented to the students. Then, students can play various games in which they are asked pick out letters that corresponds with the sounds they hear to form a word for pictures shown. In these games, students are exposed to long and short vowels and then are given the chance to create words and hear stories with words containing those vowels. On this website, students also learn to label objects as they drag the name of objects to its location. Further, students can select poems that can be read to them as they click on each word, to help them with word/sound correspondence. In the last stage, students began reading short stories in different genres on the website. This page can easily be navigated by students and contain pictures that helps student decode their words.
Title http://linktotheresource.com A few sentences to describe what the product does and why it might be useful. Be sure to indicate the appropriate grade level (elementary, middle, high, undergrad, graduate). Also please indicate if the resource is free/open or something that must be purchased. Avoid making unsubstantiated claims and remember that others may edit what you write - your contributions to the list are part of a living document.
Place your resource descriptions into the appropriate category:
General Computer Resources
ThinkQuest
Discipline: Technology
Grade Level: Approximately grades 1-12
Web Address: www.thinkquest.org/en/
Description: This website is designed to facilitate collaborative learning in the classroom. ThinkQuest can be incorporated into lessons from any curricular area through online projects, assignments, peer review, etc. The site offers narrative competitions, website competitions, library information, and more. ThinkQuest is available by application. Eligible institutions include accredited primary/secondary schools, and educational organizations.
Storynory
Discipline: Language/Computer
Grades: K-6
Web Address: http://www.storynory.com/
Description: This is a wonderful resource for students who are learning how to read, know how to read, and ESL students. This website has stories such as Educational, Junior, Fairytales, Classic Authors, and Original Stories. These stories are in text and are also played through the computer in audio. This is great for students so they can hear the speaker reading the book and they can follow along by reading on the computer. I clicked on one of the books and I found the speaker to have perfect englsih, and to speak clear and slow so it made it easy to follow along.(Michelle Kaufman)
Ask Kids
Discipline: All
Grades: 1-8
Web Address: http://www.askkids.com/
Description: This is a website directed towards students that have questions or need help with assignments or homework. They type in a question they have and the website will assist them as much as hey can. Also, located on this page are links for games and movies and there is even an option where the user can draw with a pen, pencil, or highlighter.(Michelle Kaufman)
FactMonster
Discipline: All
Grades: All
Site: http://www.factmonster.com/
Description: This website is about information. The user can click on the many topics (math and money, people, United States, world, sports, homework center, and science), and they will be able to retrieve information about that topic. Also, this website has a almanac, dictionary, atlas, timeline, encyclopedia, and thesaurus link for users to click on if they need to assistance with those areas. I found this site to be a wonderful tool for students to use when they need information on particular topics or when writing papers.(Michelle Kaufman)
Discipline: Basic computer typing skills.
Grade Level: All grade levels.
Web Site Address: http://www.typinginstructor.com/
Description: This website is a site designed to teach students of all ages basic computer typing skills. Each student has a username and password so their scores are kept each time they play. Students start at a beginning level where the program teaches them the basics of the keyboard. Then, they begin to practice and take quizzes to pass each level. The program mixes repetitive typing assignments with fun typing games so students are never board or become disinterested. I have seen K - college level students benefit and enjoy this site. You can download this program on any computer and begin playing. (Nicole Warner)
Word Processing / Typing
DanceMat Typing
Discipline: Computer Skills
Grade Level: 3-8
Web Address: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
Description: This is a great website for students to learn how to type. The site is very colorful and inviting. There are different levels that the student can begin with. It is highly interactive and is sensitive to your keyboard. The friendly snake that is the typing teacher, has the student pressing keys to follow along and knows when the wrong key on the keyboard is pressed. I decided to try this site out to see how it works and thought it was such a wonderful tool. As the students get better with their typing they move up in levels until they become a proficient typer.(Michelle Kaufman)
Dance Mat Typing
Disciplines: Typing, Computers
Grade Levels: 2-6
Web Address: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing
Description: Dance Mat Typing allows kids to learn typing on their computers by following the instructions of a cartoon character. The site features four levels of typing with three stages at each level for a total of twelve typing stages. As the student completes a stage, she is rewarded with a song and dance. Worksheets for each stage can be printed and used with a typewriter or computer. (Kim Milanovich)
