Newsela and Blendspace

Newsela — (Grades 2-5) This site provides current event articles on various reading levels (sports, health, science, arts, kids, etc).  Each day there are new articles that you can assign to your class (or read in small groups).  Each article has about 5 different reading levels (by lexile level)…so students can read about the same topic at their own level.  There are quizzes students can take, and best of all, there is a search bar that allows a teacher to search for articles that relate to certain reading skills (Author’s Purpose/Point of View, Text Structure, Central Idea, etc).  It might be another resource to add to the list of ways to engage your students in Reading.
Blendspace — (All Grades) Love, love this resource!  Blendspace allows you to create collections of web resources on a certain topic (videos, websites, pictures, etc).  This resource would be great to use with your students in the computer lab, as a small station within your classroom, or even as a way to organize materials you will present to your students on your Activboard.  You can add quizzes and monitor student progress too, if you want.  There are even tons of lessons already available that you can use immediately with your students. We are going to be encouraging you to move away from Portaportal (due to all the ads), and this is an excellent resource to take its place. :)

Online Testing Practice Sites

Just wanted to pass along a website that was mentioned for SOL practice in the 5th grade meeting yesterday.  It came from Mary Hollar at West Salem Elementary.  It’s called www.thatquiz.org, and it has online review problems for Math…including a way to practice with a protractor and a ruler (be careful, though, since the cm ruler on this site starts at the end of the ruler).

There is also an entire page of links that Pam and I have put together to allow you to practice for SOL tests using computers, including released practice tests from prior years (they don’t look exactly like the test, but they are still good practice).  Take a look when you have a chance.  To find it, go to Your school’s homepage>Students>Links for Kids>Your Grade Level>Online Testing Practice or click here.

If you know of anything else that should be added to this page, please, please let me know.  The more ideas and resources we have, the better!! :)

Websites to Use with the Smartboard

Finally, this wasn’t really a question, but it is a reminder from me. Don’t forget to use websites with SMART Boards.

I’m creating some ready-to-go pages listing websites (by subject) with links to sites that work well with SMARTboards. It’s taking me some time because there are so many out there. You can check out what I have at the moment on the SCS SMART Board Sites for Kids page (Your school homepage > Students > Links for Kids > SMART board sites for kids). Meanwhile, if you want to start looking for your own, or suggest some to me, that would be great! Here are a few sites that already list a bunch…

Smartboard in the Classroom

Great Sites for K-3

And this is a great blog to follow…Teachers Love SMART Boards….there’s always new and exciting posts about using SMART Boards in the classroom.

I keep a list in my delicious account too (though it is getting very long): http://del.icio.us/tcoffey/smartboard

While you are looking, if you find a good one, please, please leave me a comment and share it. I’ll add it to the SCS SMART Board page so that others can use it too!!

National Geographic Magazine Links

ngexplorer.jpg
If your class receives one of the monthly editions of National Geographic Explorer, you might want to check out the website that goes with the magazine!

National Geographic Young Explorer (Grades K-1)
Even if you don’t subscribe to the magazine, you will love this site! Here you will find an interactive version of the magazine posted online. It will read the stories to the students and allow them to virtually “flip” through the pages.

Suggestions:
Talk about a great way to use the Smartboard! Have your students find and underline important words, sounds, or punctuation and/or write in the answers to the question with the Smartboard pens.


National Geographic Explorer (Pioneer Edition) (Grades 2-3)
National Geographic Explorer (Pathfinder Edition) (Grades 4-5)

Here you will find online activities (games, quizzes, videos, pictures) to go with each month’s topics. They also link to the full text of one of articles in the magazine.Suggestions:
Have the students individually complete the online activity with the laptops after reading the corresponding article. If time is limited, the class could also complete the activity together using the Smartboard. Also, use the Smartboard to read the online version of the article together. Use the Smartboard pens to find important context clues, vocabulary words, main ideas, facts, etc. directly on the online version of the article.


Also…while you are looking at National Geographic, make sure to check out the main kids site… National Geographic for Kids
I could get lost on this site for hours. It contains articles, games, pictures, videos, news, activities….all in a very interactive and kid-friendly way.

Suggestions:
Have students watch videos and play games that align with units in Science, Health, and Social Studies. Read the stories and complete activities and games in Language Arts (like Photo Fill-ins or the Cartoon Factory). Have students research animals for projects and find information in the form of pictures, words AND video. Check out the Young Explorer World Atlas in Social Studies. There are so many things to choose from…take a look and see what you find!


How Your Students Can Find These Links:
I’ve posted a link to the site on the SCS Links for Kids Page. To find it, go to your school’s website and click Students > Links for Kids, choose your grade level, and look under Science.

Color Coded Maps

I thought this site (which lets you custom create a map of states) is pretty fun. Here are the places I traveled in 2007. I’ve have to do some research back into vacations during my childhood to figure out where I’ve been in my lifetime…we did a lot of driving when I was little.
create your own visited states map

There is also a site that will create a custom map of countries…here’s my very limited map of my lifetime…
create your own visited countries map

I could see uses for these sites in the classroom (beyond where you’ve traveled) like stories the class has read from around the world or correspondence with other classrooms or a Flat Stanley project. Do you have any ideas?