Online Game Creation

I am always looking for ways for students to create their own online games using class content.  I believe that this is an interactive, educational part of the internet that hasn’t been as polished as other aspects.  That being said – a beginning website for this is: Classtools.net

• It’s free
• Students can use it without logging in
• Easy to input questions and answers
• Easy to share game with others to play

 

At Classtools.net students have the ability to input information and create a game based on that information.  They then can save their game and require other students to play their game.  At first when you enter the website it looks like a poorly made website because of the confusing design and color choices.  But if you dig further you will find that it does have some hidden treasures.

The main treasure I have explored thus far is the Arcade Game Generator – which is a link on the right side of the home screen.  If you click on the Arcade Game Generator link you will be sent to a Quiz creation wizard.  You can edit the title and create questions and answers here.  The key on this screen is to put your cursor over Example because then you can see exactly how to format your questions and answers.  You can also determine the type of game you want to play with the information – although I like to leave it free choice.

Zooburst

I know that I mentioned this website on my last post – but it’s so good that I had to mention it again.  I have recently been using Zooburst in the classroom and it’s been terrific.  Zooburst is a 3d pop up book creator.  It is free and relatively easy to use. 

I began my lesson having students write poems about our school.  I then introduced them to zooburst.  Zooburst has its own database of pictures that you can search through, or, like many of my students, students can find pictures on google images and upload them to Zooburst. 

Because the “teacher-student” account costs money – I created a teacher account and had all my students login to it.  They can all work on seperate books on the teacher website at the same time.  Unfortunately, there is a maximum of 10 books you can create for an account.  You also need to make sure you have an e-mail address because the password for your account will be e-mailed to you.

The actual 3d pop up book, is awesome.  You can move it and rotate it by clicking with your mouse and dragging.  You can change colors and even add quotation bubbles.

But… the coolest thing about this website is that it has the potential for Augmented Reality.  Augmented Reality is where 3d images are displayed through a webcam.  It’s like virtual reality. 

So I started one of my students poems.  At the top there is an option (if you have the capability) to go to webcam mode.  When you go webcam mode, there is a printout for you to print.  Then – if you display that printout in front of the webcam the book will come to life in your webcam.

It’s awesome!

To review:

• Zooburst: free
• 10 books maximum for an account
• 3d
• Upload images or search for images
• Augmented Reality available with web cams

Learning and the Brain

I recently went to a conference called Learning and the Brain in Boston.  There I got to hear numerous incredible speakers including Howard Gardner, Heidi Jacobs, and Dan Willingham.  There were a number of interesting points made about education throughout the lectures – some of which I will be highlighting in future blog posts.

Heidi Jacobs presented some interesting tech tools that I wanted to bring up:

1. Zooburst: If you haven’t visited this website – it’s a must.  It allows for you and your students to create pop-up books.  It is very easy and the capabilities are impressive.  It allows for the creator to time the pop ups and to write their own story.  For the actual pop-up pictures you can upload from the internet.  When you are finished you can print the book or share it.

2. Visual Thesaurus: This website allows for you to type in a word to find words similar to that word.  Something that is unique about this website though is that each time you type in a word you can click on any of the synonymous options and they will bring up a whole new selection of words similar to them.

3. Gap Minder: Have you used gap minder before? It’s rockin.  It’s a graph that presents results from countries all over the world throughout history – and it’s interactive.  Its especially helpful for teaching inference as students can work to create causations.

This was more of a speedy post- I will make sure to go more into depth with future blogs.  Do check out these though!

 

Lego Serious Play

One recent activity that was introduced to me was called lego serious play.  Lego serious play is full of educational activities and tools for education.  Many of the actual concepts involved align with the 21st century skills.  I have linked a short film on Lego Serious Play.  If I get a chance I may start incorporating this in my classroom.

What have I learned recently?

I have been trying to incorporate a lot of technology in my classroom recently.  Like I said in my last post, I constructed the interactive whiteboard that Johnny Lee geniously created.  It works.  That being said I do believe the software he recommends on his website is really the only software that works ‘well’ with this contraption.  Another thing that is important to remember is that the placement of the wiimote is vital – and if it shifts than the whole touch-display is off-put.  I have not done the interactive whiteboard with my students yet because I want to make it a little more fool-proof.

I recently acquired an ipad2 from my district to see its functions in the classroom.  I have been using Doceri – which enables the ipad2 to link to your laptop and then you don’t have to stand up at the front to control your laptop – it also allows for you to write or draw on the ipad2.  It’s actually a very handy program.  I have not had the freedom to use other apps yet – but I’m hoping the district loads some on the ipad2 soon – as its very limited with its capabilities, or I just can’t figure out all its uses. 

That being said, the students have never been more engaged with the lesson? or with the ipad2? than when I pull out that device.  They love it.  It just has a pretty steep learning curve.

There you have it.  I will keep you posted on the interactive whiteboard and try to get some pictures of it in use.

 

Interactive Whiteboards (and cheap ways to make one)

Interactive Whiteboards have become ‘new technology’ in classrooms today.  Some of you may be saying – “we’ve had interactive whiteboards for years.”  Do you believe that you are maximizing your use of those whiteboards?  Others may be asking, “What’s an interactive whiteboard?”

Interactive Whiteboards are just what they’re titled.  They’re ‘often’ special whiteboards (smart boards), or devices that are placed on standard whiteboards (mimios…) that allow for users to touch the whiteboard to operate the computer. 

Positives?

• Students can come to the board and not have to worry about ink
• Raises level of student engagement through it’s interactivity
• Increases student motivation
• Promotes enthusiasm
• Supports learning styles

Negatives?

• Learning Curve
• Expensive
• Can become time-consuming
• New applications can be confusing
• Technology hazards

So what if you can’t afford to have an interactive whiteboard in your classroom?  Johnny Lee, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon, has created a new way of creating your own interactive whiteboard.  Watch the following film to see how easy it is to set up your own system.

You can easily purchase the wii infrared pen on Amazon.com as well as a bluetooth adapter (if your computer doesn’t already have it) = all of that is less than 30 bucks.  The software for your computer is free on Johnny Lee’s website.

I am currently installing this at school and hope to present pictures and reviews of this being used in the classroom.

No more Youtube ads?

There are so many good movie clips available to teachers on youtube.  On this website I have mentioned a number of them (flocabulary, schoolhouse rock, khan academy).  So what can you, as a teacher, do to show youtube videos without all the ads on the side?  or what if you want to show a portion of a clip without showing the entire youtube clip?

Well, as always, here’s a free resource for you.

It’s called: SPLICD.

Splicd is a very easy-to-use.  All you have to do is copy your youtube url and decide the seconds you wish to play.  Then you can easily share your video with others or on your class website.

Here is an example of using SPLICD for the Youtube video: It’s too Late to Apologize: A Declaration. Example.

Ebooks?

One popular fad today is owning kindles and nooks.  I walked to our neighborhood library and noticed that ebooks can now be checked out.  Immediately I thought, is this for real?  or is this just another fad?  It doesn’t quite feel the same reading from these devices than it does from reading a book.  But you can have 100s of books in one device!  Incredible.

So how can I translate ebooks to the classroom?  I was on a 21st Century Field Trip through my district when I learned that there is a website that creates ebooks for free!  So of course – here it is:

EPubBud

• It’s free – although you will need to sign up.
• So easy to use! Allows for a lot of creativity.
• Insert pictures easily.
• You can download your ebooks onto the e-devices.

The Practical Post

I recently held Back-to-School night with my 5th grade parents.  While preparing for it I asked myself, ‘what are you excited about for this year?’  Oh sure – I’m going to have to cover reading and math curriculums, homework expectations, behavior, routine and schedules, and IB traits… but what is unique about this year?

So I pondered this and I realized that the resources I have available to me right now I was either ignorant of or they hadn’t been created before.

So I decided to create and title this blog post the Practical Post.  This blog is full of exciting new resources – but will I use all of them this year?  Nope.  These tools can quickly become overwhelming.  So what is at the forefront?  What are the tools that I will absolutely introduce on Back-to-School night?

Here’s the list:

1. Class Website: This website will be the hub for the parents to find tools used throughout the school year.  Oh – don’t get me wrong, I also use it to communicate through, but the primary purpose is to create a place where parents can go to to find links to useful resources to aid their students.

2. Khan Academy: Many of my parents ask what their children can be doing at home to further their education.  Here’s an excellent website.  Last year I requested from my district that all students’ district e-mails work on this website.  This year they all work!  This means that my students have pre-assigned logins and I just simply have to add myself as a coach for each student.  Students work through a knowledge map and achieve energy points along the way.  Eventually this will earn them badges and awards.  This site is also full of ‘tutorial’ videos which are clever and easy to follow – and they explain everything from basic addition to university mathematics and sciences.  If students ever get stuck they can watch a quick video to aid them in understanding the concepts and content.  In addition – I, as the coach, get to see each students’ statistics.

3. Spellingcity: This website is a must have and use for elementary classrooms.  I have my spelling lists pre-loaded for the students so they can just find my name and get going.  The website offers games to go along with the words and pre-tests (which I give an additional 10% extra credit if they print off a pre-test they completed at home).  This website is such a help for students who just can’t figure out spelling.

4. Games: I have a link to Games that I have added on to my symbaloo page.  These games are all educational.  The first few weeks of school I let the students discover some of them (otherwise – I’m not sure they would ever be discovered).  As a result – the students fall completely in love with them.  Let me highlight a few of them: Oiligarchy, Electrocity, and Energyville are all games related to our unit on Energy.  The students learn a lot about expenses and energy types as they work through the games.  Kerpoof is a website that allows for teachers to set up their own class list and student logins.  Then the students can access the website and create videos, drawings, and storybooks.  The students absolutely love it.  Icivics is a fantastic website for finding games related to history and civics.

5. Tools: The last link I share with my parents is the tool page.  This page is full of web-based presentation tools, media tools, and search tools that the students will be using – especially in their Exhibition (the culminating event in the IB process).

I wanted to give you a quick synopsis of what I actually use in the classroom.  That being said, every year I do discover new resources to use and I try to adapt my classroom. Even now I am trying to figure out a way that I will use KidsBlog inside and outside of the classroom.  I hope this Practical Post gives you a better idea of what web-resources I prioritize at the beginning of the school year.  Feel free to link to my games page if you have a class website (or let me know of any other excellent educational games you have discovered).

Big words/small word: vocabulary

Vocabulary is a part of every classroom.  Students need to learn the terms and definitions in order to discuss the subject matter better.  So what sites are available for vocabulary building online?

1. Wordslike: Wordslike is an easy-to-use website that allows for students to input a word and a list of like-words (synonyms) pop up.  Many thesaurus’ are fairly limited- this website provides a wealth of synonyms.

2. Wordstash: Wordstash allows for teachers to create flashcards for their vocabulary.  There already exists a large bank of words and flashcards on the website so it is easy to create your own flashcard, vocabulary lists.  Teachers can also make their own class list so that students can find the flashcards they need to study.  It’s free!

3. Clockwords: Clockwords is a game that requires you to be quick on your feet.  Your job is to produce words in order to destroy robotic spiders.  There are a number of stages that get more and more difficult as you play.  It’s a game of speedy-words.

There are many more vocabulary websites that could assist you as supplemental tools for your classroom.  Another one I have blogged about in the past is Spellingcity.  The vocabulary form of that website does cost money, but it seems to be an excellent product.