Some new content for this outdated blog!

I always find these great websites/articles/videos and never have the time to post them.  Today is the day that I try to post a few of the items I have found recently.

All About Explorers is a great website that is completely bogus.  It is an opportunity to teach kids that everything on the Internet is not always fact based.  Some of the "facts" are pretty obvious.  Take a look for yourself.

Geddit is an app and a website that allows students in schools that are 1:1 to give private feedback to the teacher about their understanding of the content.  It sounds like it would be great for even kids to use their cell phones in school!

YTTM.tv stands for YouTube Time Machine.  When visiting this site you can pick any year you want and look at YouTube videos from that year. This would be excellent for History lessons.  There are some filters that allow you to sift through the results.

Looking for inspiration in your classroom?  You can sign up at WingClips and have access to thousands of video clips from popular movies.

Below are some great videos I recently heard about: Living on One Dollar:





Google Search Tips:






 ...And just for fun and motivation to not give up!

Children's Media Use in America

I received this infographic this morning showing how portable media use is continuing to rise.  Even compared to a couple of years ago the increase is around 5 times!  It is also interesting to look at the gap between lower-income and higher-income families.  

Thanks to Common Sense Media for this infographic!

Here is a video called Tour the States. I love those dry erase whiteboard artists. Aren't they great!

A little encouragement from Kid President for Teachers

I am pretty sure that Kid President started at Freed Hardeman University in Tennessee. He has created a lot of inspirational videos encouraging people to "make the world less boring". This video is for teachers and the video at the bottom is the "Pep Talk" that started it all. At the end of the second video, he dedicates it to a little girl named Gabbi who was fighting cancer. She is the daughter of a friend of mine. She was recently told that she is cancer free after a liver transplant and other battles.

Chris Columbus Day is October 14th

There will be a free video on Brainpop during the week of the 14th, but in the mean time I found an Old School Christopher Columbus video.

Study Jams

After talking with a teacher today about activities for the water cycle, I came across the studyjams website by scholastic. I have bookmarked this website before, but I don't think they had as many topics at that time. They now have a lot of math topics ranging from place value to algebra and geometry. They also have science topics on plants, animals, scientific inquiry, etc. They provide an interesting video along with a little quiz. I thought it was interesting and thought I would share...since I don't think I did the first time I found it!

http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/index.htm

Canadian Border- Straight Line?

I really enjoyed learning about the "straight" line that separates the U.S. from Canada.  It is interesting to find out that things aren't always as they seem, especially when looked at a little closer.  Enjoy.

Kid Snippets on YouTube

I have subscribed to these videos for a while and I absolutely love them. I think they are hilarious. My girls like to watch the new ones that come out (I think every Monday). Anyway...I embedded my favorite one so far below. I wonder if a teacher would want to have their students try to create something like this??? The children create the story and the teachers act it out with child voices. I think it would be interesting.

A remix of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.  He was awesome!  PBS has also created Reading Rainbow, Julia Child, and Bob Ross Remixes.  Now if they could only do the Lawrence Welk Show.

Chris Hadfield

Chris Hadfield is a Canadian Astronaut that recently made headlines for singing a David Bowie song from the International Space Station (I included the video below).  He has also produced some videos about normal everyday things and how the astronauts perform these activities in space.  I included the links below.  They are from YouTube, so you will need to log in with a WebTop account.  Enjoy!

What happens to tears in space?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9S4ofhyOe8&safe=active

Brushing your teeth in space

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=b0_kTQHQwGE&NR=1&safe=active

Taking care of spills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=a_JmTYq9FZk&feature=fvwp&safe=active

making a peanut butter sandwich

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=2vio09T-8qA&safe=active

David Bowie song- Space Oddity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo&safe=active

Getting sick in space

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzlG9efOg1A&list=UUdNtqpHlU1pCaVy2wlzxHKQ&safe=active

sleeping in space

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyFYgeE32f0&list=UUdNtqpHlU1pCaVy2wlzxHKQ&safe=active

exercising in space

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wam7poPzG1w&list=UUdNtqpHlU1pCaVy2wlzxHKQ&safe=active

wash hands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUUvlnnVMSQ&list=UUdNtqpHlU1pCaVy2wlzxHKQ&safe=active

nail clipping

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xICkLB3vAeU&list=UUdNtqpHlU1pCaVy2wlzxHKQ&safe=active

Great Video about Seizing Limitations

Links about talking with children about tragedies

Here are some links about talking with children about the recent shootings.  With a 1st, 2nd, and 4th grader at home, I would prefer to talk to them myself (and I have) about the shooting that took place on Friday.  However, there might be the occasional question or the topic might be brought up from some of your students.  If questions arise, you might want to check out these links on how to talk with children about tragedies and then tell the parents about what was discussed in a note home.

http://www.fci.org/new-site/par-tragic-events.html

http://www.sesameworkshop.org/assets/1192/src/HereForEachOther_vEng2012Modified.pdf

http://www.aft.org/yourwork/tools4teachers/together/schonfeld.cfm

http://www.dougy.org/news-events/news/the-senseless-shootings-how-to-talk-with-your-children/1466/

Sketchometry

Found a really interesting math site today called Sketchometry.  This website works in your Internet browser so you do not need to install anything to get it to work.  It will also work on iPads!  The site allows you to draw graphs, lines, polygons, and other trigonometry functions.  It is design is simplistic and easy to use.  I have enjoyed messing around with it!

Check it out at http://beta.sketchometry.com/

Some things I have found recently

Here are some websites I found as I was cleaning out my Google Reader.  Let me know what you think.


Create a character scrapbook
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/scrapbook/

Awesome tours of points of interest from around the world
http://www.airpano.com/

Website on Eli Whitney...you know... the cotton gin???
http://www.eliwhitney.org/new/museum/eli-whitney

Great site to learn about responsibility with money
https://yacenter.moneyisland.com/

Vocabulary site 
http://wordia.com/

The scale of the universe- pretty interesting
http://www.htwins.net/scale2/

Free online tutorials and classes
http://www.gcflearnfree.org/

Advertisements at the Super Bowl...Are they OK for kids?

The Super Bowl is this weekend and a lot of children will be watching...and that is great! What I don't like about it is that my children will also be watching the ads. Advertisements have become more risky each and every year. The companies try to one-up what they did the previous year. The article below from Common Sense Media gives suggestions on what to do when these ads come on in front of your children.

Sex, Beer, and the Super Bowl: Are Your Kids Watching? | Common Sense Media

I recently found some good websites through the different blogs that I follow.  I will add some of them to the Jefferson Edline page for easier access.  Since I really don't type up newsletters anymore, I thought I would send this out in an email after posting it on my blog.  Enjoy....

Typing for primary (K-2)

•  http://www.uptoten.com/kids/kidsgames-coordination-lettergame.html
• http://www.tvokids.com/play/bees_and_honey/bee2blueback.swf

Typing for intermediate (3-5)

• http://www.tvokids.com/games/keyboardclimber
• http://funschool.kaboose.com/gamesFiles/flash/kaboose/spidertyper/spidertyper.sw

Interesting math sites

• http://penflakes.com/flakepad/ - design things and talk about symmetry
• http://www.thinkingblocks.com/index.html

Science

• http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes/

Reading

• http://www.wordtamer.co.uk/
• http://www.childrensbooksforever.com/

And just for fun

• http://www.drawastickman.com/

Technology Use in Schools

I am just now getting to the summer issue of THE Journal.  I found an interesting article about technology use in the classroom.  Some studies are showing that teachers and students are not using the resources that are available to them.  So...what is it like at your school?  Are teachers using the technology that they have in their classrooms?  Are they using it in meaningful and engaging ways?  Are students using technology in the classrooms?  All these questions are very relevant since we are putting tons and tons of money into purchasing new tools all the time.  Follow the link to read the article and let me know what you think.

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/1105/journal_201106/index.php?startid=42

Cyberbullying- Good resources and suggestions

Good article from THE Journal on cyberbullying.  http://goo.gl/Gen72

Anne Frank House

This is a very informative website showing a 3D walkthrough of Anne Frank's house.  It provides videos and excerpts from her diary at different points of interest in the house.  I really enjoyed learning new information as I took the tour.  http://www.annefrank.org/en/Subsites/Home/Enter-the-3D-house/#/house/start/help/

Three Awesome Websites

Love these three websites about our solar system.  I spent a couple hours this morning perusing the loads of information on the 50th anniversary website for NASA.  It was great!  Check all three out.

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/50th/main.html

http://www.solarsystemscope.com/#plans

http://climate.nasa.gov/Eyes/eyes.html