ClassDojo

This classroom management tool is a free resource for teachers K-12.  Personally, I think it's much more appropriate for the elementary grades, but maybe junior high students could have some fun with this site as well.  It's a free site and takes mere minutes to customize your class.  Students are assigned a monster avatar and teachers can customize the positive and negative points.
For my second grade students, I award three positive points:  Listening, Helping Others, Working Hard.  The negative points are:  Talking, Disrespect, and Wasting Time.  As I watch my class, I can assign points to individual students or to the entire class.  You can also customize the display so that only positive points are shown to the group. 

My favorite part of this site is that I can control the site from IWB, my iPad, and my iPhone!  The points I add from any device are uploaded to the site and kept current.  So we're walking down the hallway and I can give my "Mystery Walker" a point for the class or for himself!  I also left my iPad with our rotation teachers so the Librarian and Computer Lab teachers could add or deduct points!  
I would definitely recommend looking into the site.  I don't know about you, but I needed a "boost" to my behavior management.  This time of year can be stressful!  I'm not sure if I will always use ClassDojo, but it's a nice change of pace and it kept my students very engaged today.  Check it out!

ActivInspire, You Just Keep Getting Better and Better!

Just wanted to pass along a message I received a few minutes ago via ProComputing....make sure to update your ActivInspire software for your Promethean!  The newest version of software allows for direct embedding of HTML code.  This will support YouTube, Prezi, Glogster, Voki, Blabberize, and many other fabulous programs.
Remember, your Promethean Board is only as interactive as you make it!  Get out there and design!  I'm going to link to an article which will give you more information about how to make the best use of this update to your ActivInspire software.

12 On How to Use Promethean's Embed Option

Also, is anyone else going to the TCEA Conference in Austin this year?  If you are, make sure to look for my Instructional Technology Team from Commerce! 

Gudli

Gudli is great little site that I just discovered after reading a post over on iLearnTechnology's site. (If you haven't discovered them, you should definitely head over there.)

Gudli is designed for early education students, Pre-K-1st, but would be appropriate as a center activity for grades 2-3 as well. It is well designed, easy to navigate, and very colorful. Children will be engaged from the moment they enter the site.
"Gudli is a unique online experience for kids where they enjoy learning. With our interactive educational games children develop skills in maths, logic, memory, words, creativity and more. Gudli is free, full of fun, easy to use and the ideal learning space for preschoolers to second grade kids."

I will be posting less during the summer because I am trying to finish graduate school and prepare to change grade levels for the next school year. I hope you'll keep checking back on this little blog and please consider becoming a follower! Wishing you a fantastic summer!

Brain Nook

Brain Nook is great site that I discovered after reading back articles on the blog, iLearnTechnology. If you haven't discovered this blog, I recommend it! Brain Nook is a fun, interactive site geared for young students needing to practice math and reading skills. It is free to register, but you have limited access. Full access requires a premium membership. Even though the free access is limited, there is quite a bit for students to complete. The graphics are colorful and easy to navigate too!

I know the school year is winding down, but this would be a great resource to share with parents to help keep students active over the summer. Check out this great site!

Cinco de Mayo Activities

Can you believe that it's May??? I'm having a hard time understanding that it is almost time to begin those "end of the year" activities. My district will soon begin our final round of benchmarks and I will be looking for fun and relevant activities to keep my class of first graders entertained while I complete testing.....one child at a time. Don't even get me started on that! Cinco de Mayo will be this Thursday and I have found several activities for our younger students. Sorry, secondary teachers....this post is for elementary! All of these activities are for use on your IWB or computer work station. Enjoy!

Great PowerPoint activities and links to printables and games for your class!








Cute game for younger students. This is a Memory Matching game spoken in Spanish. As you match the tokens, the pinata fills and lowers to the ground. Successful rounds cause the pinata to burst and spill the candy. This game is hosted on the Scholastic site.







Hosted by TheKidzPage, this site has several games for younger students. There are also printable activities such as coloring sheets and puzzles. Watch this site though, there are several ads on the page. Teachers may need to assist students in navigating around this page.

Also...."ask and ye shall receive"! I have 10 followers! Wow! Thank you so much! I hope to build this blog into a site where you can always expect to find great ideas for integrating technology into your classroom. Please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you need for your classroom. I'll do my best!

TeacherLed

TeacherLed is an interactive resource for educators. This site appears to be a blog with English and Math activities for K-12 classrooms. The site does not appear to have been updated since March 29th, so I'm unsure if new content will be added.

All of the links appear to be in working order so I suggest taking a few minutes to look through the site and bookmark/download the activities you feel are most appropriate for your classroom. Personally, I think my students will enjoy the Rainbow Multiplication and Word Circle activities. I can't wait to go back and investigate the site fully, but it's definitely worth a mention! http://www.teacherled.com

I am always on the hunt for new activities, but if you need help locating resources, please comment and let me know. I'd love to try and help. Two heads are always better than one!

And on a completely unrelated note....9 followers? Thank you! I'd love to crack double-digits, so please pass this blog along to your friends! :) Happy Teaching!

Bubble Burst

Bubble Burst has to be one of the most fun (and challenging) games for your IWB! Students can use Bubble Burst to practice prime & composite numbers or odd & even numbers.

The object of the game is simple. Use the claw to burst only the bubbles with prime or odd numbers. The difficulty comes with the speed and accuracy needed! Your students are going to have a ball! What a sneaky way to encourage them to practice these skills! Shh! Don't let them know that they're studying! Keep it a secret!

http://www.teacherled.com/2008/04/02/bubble-burst/

EcoKids

EcoKids is a Canadian based website for Earth Day activities. There are games and activities for students that can be used on your IWB. I would not recommend these games for younger elementary students, but the activities are appropriate for upper elementary/middle school. There is also a teacher section where you can register for lesson plan ideas and printables. Just in time for Earth Day!

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/index.cfm

Interactives

Interactives is a great website to check out for middle & high school teachers. There are several activities in Math, History, Language Arts, and Science. Only two of the games are reserved for elementary students. The games are all well done and would be a great resource for either introducing or reviewing content. Enjoy!

http://www.learner.org/interactives/

Sheppard Software...We Make Learning Fun!

Sheppard Software houses an enormous amount of content for your IWB. Games and activities are available for PreK-8, however the majority of the games are for elementary. There are still gems to be found for secondary teachers. Content on the site includes all of the core areas. The site is engaging and easy to navigate. While there are a few advertisements and pop-up windows, I still think site is worth using on your student computers or IWB. Some of the activities can even be differentiated for ability level. If you haven't checked this site out yet, bookmark it for future use!

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games_menu.htm

"Our educational games will give your brain a workout! Learn new things and challenge yourself by advancing to higher levels."

Create A Graph!

Create A Graph is a fantastic tool for middle school and high school teachers. Upper elementary students will also be able to make use of this great tool! You can create bar, line, area, pie, and coordinate plane graphs. Students can completely customize this graph and print their results when finished! Take a look around the site! You'll be surprised!

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx?ID=52cd6409573b4382b47ea618895d4622

Build An Online Habitat with Switchzoo!

Anyone else going to the zoo this year? My class is going in just a few weeks and we always include a science unit on habitats. Here is a great site for you to use in your class as you discuss animals and their habitats. It's Switchzoo!

Perfect for your IWB, you simply choose an animal and then create the perfect habitat! There is a compatibility meter for your students to help them choose the correct biome, vegetation, and precipitation! Great activity!

http://switchzoo.com/games/habitat.swf

Word Girl

She's.....WORD GIRL! Looking for a great new way to expose your students to more vocabulary? Try PBS Kids' Word Girl! Great cartoons and activities for use in your classroom. Very engaging episodes that your students will enjoy. And....and, and, and.....Word Girl has an online vocabulary competition once a year! Unfortunately, it's already passed. Next year, my class will be registered! :)

http://pbskids.org/wordgirl/

Topmarks

Topmarks is a teaching resource site that is absolutely HUGE! Can you sense the excitement? I'm positively drooling over some of the great resources. Of course, this being a technology blog...let's talk interactive ideas for your whiteboard.

Topmarks breaks down their content into key stages. These stages correspond with primary/elementary/middle/high school ages. There are interactive games and activities for all of the core subject areas. There's something for everyone! Once you've arrived at the site, please look around for other great content. Enjoy!

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Interactive.aspx?cat=76

Scholastic

Did you know that Scholastic has great online activities perfect for your IWB? I didn't. Now I do! There are fantastic games and more importantly, comprehension activities for use in your classroom. Perfect for SMARTboards, Promethean Boards, and Mimio. Activities range from Pre-K to 12th grade and cover Language Arts, Social Studies, Science & Math, and Learning Games & Teaching Tools. I am most excited about the Science section!

All of these activities are free for teachers. If you are a member, then there is a lot more content available for you. Might be worth the investment. However, go check out the free activities. Here's the link:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/whiteboards/languagearts.htm?eml=TNL/20100105/TNL

Pete's PowerPoint Station

Pete's PowerPoint Station contains hundreds of PowerPoints and games for use in your classroom. All grades and almost all subjects are represented. You can easily search out PowerPoints for use in your instruction. I used to import these PowerPoint files directly into ActivInspire on my Promethean board, but I felt limited by what I could do with the file. Annotations were always having to be "cleaned" off before I moved on to the next slide.

Now, I simply open the PowerPoint file in MS and I hover my stylus over the lower-left corner of the board. This brings up a menu for me to use. I can advance the slides, choose pen colors, and choose marker colors. This only works in "slideshow" mode. I'm sure there are similar options with SMART boards but I only have experience working with Promethean.

http://www.pppst.com

PowerPoint Games!

Good evening! Found a terrific website that has free PowerPoint templates. These unique games are easily downloaded and can be modified to fit your curriculum needs. Also, these files are easily imported into SMARTboards and Promethean Boards for use in your classroom!

Enjoy the templates!