Featured 7-15-2014: Biblionasium

 

Designed to engage, encourage, and excite young people about reading, BiblioNasium is a free, social network for children in elementary and middle school.

 

 

BiblioNasium includes the tools to function as a literacy partner, helping teachers efficiently develop and propel an effective, challenging, independent reading program.

 

Differentiate reading programs to meet students' individual needs by monitoring reading logs, creating reading challenges, and helping students expand genre choices and tailor reading lists. Build and manage programs by group, class, grade, and individual student.

 

 

More that you can do with BiblioNasium:

• Track what each student is reading and at what level, using Lexile® measures provided onsite.
• Virtual bookshelves help kids keep track of what they’ve read, what they like, and what they plan to read.
• Kids can share book recommendations and books, building conversation and connections around reading.
• Mascot and reading coach Chip Manzee motivates and entertains kids, challenging them and rewarding good reading behavior.

 Tour the Biblionasium website

 

BiblioNasium has taken measures to keep information safe. Only approved friends and the registered educator can see a student’s name and school.  Other signed-in users can see the student’s anonymous username, books, and other non-personal information. No users can see student information without authorization.

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Featured 7-2-2014: Peekaboo Studios

 

Peekaboo Studios is an educational app developer focused on building apps aligned with Common Core State Standards for PreK-12.

 

Peekaboo Studios has created over 140 apps that teach early concepts, critical thinking, vocabulary, math, music exploration, and more. A few of the available titles are Best Books for Tweens, Ultimate Trivia: The Fault in our Stars, Learn the Colors, Math 7 Testing Prep, Learn the Alphabet, and Reading 5.

 

There are apps available for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, Google Play Android devices, Barnes & Noble's Nook, and Amazon's Kindle devices. For a full list of apps:

• iPad/iPhone/iPod: Apple apps
• Nook apps: Nook apps
• Apps for Kindle: Kindle apps
• Android apps: Google Play apps

You can contact Peekaboo Studios for a free promo code to try out one of their iOS apps (only Apple provides promotional codes).

 

 

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Featured 5-28-2014: One Hen

One Hen provides educators with flexible curriculum resources designed to help students develop financial responsibility, personal initiative, global awareness, and giving back.

The motivation for One Hen comes from the children’s book, One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference. A young Ghanaian boy named Kojo who uses a small loan to buy one hen, which in turn lays eggs and hatches more hens, until he eventually becomes the largest chicken farmer in the country.

 

One Hen challenges kids in grades K-8 through a series of interactive lesson plans, an engaging storybook, and a website of games and activities. Teams of students face the challenges of running their own real-world small businesses. With the profits they earn, they repay their loans and make a donation to a non-profit organization of their choice, helping to meet a local or global need.

 

 

In the process, the young entrepreneurs learn necessary skills in business math, personal financial literacy, and social entrepreneurship.

 

One Hen is a non-profit organization whose mission is to "empower all kids to become social entrepreneurs who make a difference for themselves and the world.”

 

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Featured 5-27-2014: BrainPOP Educators

 

BrainPOP Educators presents tips, tools, and resources to excite and support anyone who educates young people.

 

BrainPOP offers animated educational movies, quizzes, games, activities, and other resources for students in grades 3-12, covering more than 750 topics in the areas of Science, Math, English, Social Studies, Health, Technology, and Arts & Music. The movies are supplemented with resources including a quiz, activities, related games, a timeline, and a selection of high-interest reading.

 

 

On BrainPOP Educators you’ll find resources including lesson plans, calendars of events, and creative suggestions for using BrainPOP in the classroom. It also includes a blog that announces new BrainPOP features, hosts guest bloggers, and follows current events from the world of educational technology. 

 

 

A database, searchable by standard, subject and grade level, correlates BrainPOP topics and games to Common Core math and English standards is available. The database also allows you to correlate BrainPOP movies with curriculum standards from individual states and Canadian provinces.

 

 See an overview of BrainPOP Educators

 

BrainPOP Educators offers a variety of training resources including outlines for giving workshops, handouts, and webinars.

 

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Featured 5-13-2014: ReadWorks

 

ReadWorks is a national non-profit organization that provides free, research-based, Common Core-aligned reading comprehension curriculum.

ReadWorks supplies units, lessons, and authentic, leveled non-fiction and literary passages directly to educators online to be shared broadly.The curriculum is based on the most highly regarded, proven research on reading instruction, and includes:

• Informational and literary passages and question sets for grades K-8
• Skill and Strategy lesson units for grades K-4
• Comprehension (close reading) units for grades K-5
• Novel study units for grades 5-6

ReadWorks is committed to "solving the nation's reading comprehension crisis by giving teachers the research-proven tools and support they need to improve the academic achievement of their students."

 

 

 View Intro to ReadWorks

 

The ReadWorks curriculum is aligned to the Common Core State Standards, the standards of all 50 states, and to top core reading programs. Each lesson page lists the standards that a specific lesson aligns to on the Standards Alignment tab. You can also edit your profile to automatically show the standards alignment for your state and grade.

 

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Featured 5-7-2014: Shooloo Learning

 

 

Upper-elementary and middle school students can help one another practice word problems and apply math to real life using the collaborative learning platform, Shooloo, which means “Number Joy” in Chinese.

 

At Shooloo  students can write their own math word problems, publish them onto the web, get feedback from other students, demonstrate their solutions, and continuously clarify their math reasoning.

 

Tagged with the associated Common Core State Standard, word problems are accompanied by I Can statements. Students can easily compile their own I Can journals, enabling teachers to assess which students are struggling with which Common Core standard. Analytics provide automated progress tracking, real-time reporting, and standards-based grading.

 

 

Founded just last year, Shooloo already claims the world’s largest collection of student-authored math word problems that can be used for on-line learning, worksheets, discussions, and assessment.

 

 Watch Shooloo -- Collaborative Learning for Common Core Math

The Shooloo concept aligns with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practices. Students publish their own math word problems, construct viable arguments, critique the reasoning of others, and model real life with mathematics.

 

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Featured 4-30-2014: Math & Movement

 

A kinesthetic, multi-sensory approach to teaching math, Math & Movement incorporates physical exercise, stretching, cross-body movements, yoga, and visually-pleasing floor mats designed to encourage students to practice math.

 

Students physically hop, walk, crawl, dance, or touch the mats and banners as they learn, thereby using visual, auditory, motor, and kinesthetic learning processes.

 

 

Math & Movement takes advantage of children's natural inclination for movement and creative imagination to master basic math. The floor mats and banners cover the concepts of addition, subtraction, telling time, skip-counting, multiplication, division, fractions, factoring, positive/negative numbers, Cartesian coordinates, money, unit circle, place value, decimals, percents, rounding, and probability.

 

The movements are divided into six categories:

• Active Math: Whisper/Loud Movements - Designed to give your students physical exercise while simultaneously enhancing math and reading ability.
• Active Math: Skip Counting Movements - Designed to provide additional physical exercise while learning the multiples.
• Sit-Down Math Activities - Designed for quiet time and involve stretching.
• Tapping at the Table Activities - Designed to be used in between other activities, while students sit at their desks.
• Hallway Math Activities - Designed to be used walking in the hallway to and from lunch, PE, art, music, computer or library.
• Math 'n Yoga Activities - Incorporate math practice into popular yoga moves.

The Math & Movement program is based on research that suggests that moving during learning facilitates muscle memory, an important factor with younger children whose abstract thinking skills are not fully developed. It also draws on research suggesting that cross-body movements integrate the left and right hemisphere of the brain, waking up a sleepy brain and helping to establish newly learned material in memory.

 

 

 Watch a Math & Movement demo video

 

While developing their math skills, Math & Movement lets students simultaneously experience an overall sense of well-being. Using these activities during the day, before testing, or during transitions, allows teachers and students to feel energized, focused, calm, and prepared to learn.

 

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Featured 3-26-2014: The Inquiry Project

The Inquiry Project aims to build an understanding of science in students ages 8-10 that lays a foundation for later understanding of matter in terms of molecules and atoms.

 

The Inquiry Project is centered on material, weight, volume, density, and related ideas that are important and challenging for students. Elements of this work are the integration of mathematics and the focus on investigative inquiry.

 

Research, curriculum, assessment, and professional development are blended in one coherent system, each component being essential to developing an understanding of how to best prepare learners.

 

 

The basis of The Inquiry Project lies in three content-specific dimensions of inquiry: measurement of matter, change and conservation, and scale. It has been designed to feature the following fundamentals of scientific inquiry:

• Questions
• Evidence
• Explanations
• Knowledge
• Communication

 Watch an intro to Talk Science Pathways

 

The Inquiry Project is a partnership between teachers, TERC, and Tufts University funded by the National Science Foundation.

 

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Extra 3-21-2014: NYPL Children's Books

 

A group of librarians from The New York Public Library read more than a thousand titles this year, shared countless stories with the children who visit their branches, and compiled Children's Books 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing 2013.

 

This list includes the titles NYPL’s librarians thought to be the very best children's books for toddlers through sixth graders. 

 

 

Many of the stories focus on classic, timeless themes, stories that reveal feats of bravery, quests for justice and redemption, friendships lost and found. In these books, "heroes and heroines find ways to slay dragons, right wrongs, and prevail against all odds. They offer reassurance and inspiration in a world that can sometimes seem strange and dangerous."

 

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Featured 3-5-2014: Teaching Kids News

Teaching Kids News produces daily, timely, relevant kid-friendly news articles for kids, classroom educators, and parents. A new article, based on what is actually happening in the world, is offered every day (except holidays).

 

Every story is in kid-friendly language and is appropriate for kids in grades 2-8. As well as accessible vocabulary, Teaching Kids News provides context for everything in each story, so students can understand what’s going on, and why.

 

In the Curriculum Connections, students are encouraged to think critically about the story and also about the way the story is presented. Does the story exhibit a bias? How might the story be written differently by another journalist?

 

Teaching Kids News strives to "teach balanced literacy in a meaningful way.” Teachers have a current events resource that can be used for shared, guided, and independent reading lessons. At the bottom of each article are Writing/Discussion Prompts, Grammar Features, and a Reading Prompt that will enable you to connect with your students and solve real-life issues.

 

 

The articles are intended to work well in a classroom setting, in small groups, or for individual students. Each article can be a nearly complete lesson plan.

 

 See a video introduction to Teaching Kids News

 

Teaching Kids News has a sister site, Getting Kids Reading, with tips, activities, games, websites, research information and ideas that will help you get your kids reading.

 

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Featured: 1-23-2014 News-O-Matic

News-O-Matic from Press4Kids* offers children aged 7 to 11 their first daily newspaper. News-O-Matic produces five news stories each day, covering world news, science, sports, and more.

 

News-O-Matic readers also have access to history timelines, news games, interactive maps, and many other features. Readers also have the opportunity to rate the articles, ask questions, and submit drawings that relate to the news.

 

Each News-O-Matic article is aligned to the 3rd- and 4th-grade levels of the CCSS for English Language Arts and Mathematics. The articles provide students with necessary and exciting nonfiction content. The free daily Teacher Guide will indicate the precise correlations. Recall, comprehension, and discussion questions included within the guide will provide further practice. 

 

 

For schools without tablet technology, News-O-Matic will be accessible via a free daily School Version emailed in PDF format.  

 

Watch a video about News-O-Matic

News-O-Matic helps develop a daily reading routine while encouraging readers to become knowledgeable, global citizens.

 

*Incorporated in 2012, Press4Kids is a publisher of daily news applications for young readers built by journalists, educators, and entrepreneurs. Their goal is to inform children about current news and world events as well as to encourage them to read on a daily basis. All Press4Kids publications are 100% ad-free. 

 

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Extra: 1-2-2014 Sally Ride Science

Sally Ride Science provides tools for college and career readiness designed to fuel students' passion for STEM fields and careers.

 

Sally Ride Science strives to bring science to life for students ages 10-13, supporting and sustaining students' natural interests in science and technology. Books and eBooks on Cool Careers in Science and Key Concepts in Science vitalize science and show kids that science is creative, collaborative, fascinating, and fun.

 

The Sally Ride Online Academy offers professional development, helping educators incorporate engaging career-focused approaches into their existing instruction.

 

 Watch a video about he basics and benefits of the Sally Ride Online Academy

 

The Sally Ride EarthKAM is a NASA-backed program enabling students and teachers to learn about Earth from the unique perspective of space. 

 

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Featured: 8-22-2013 Kid in Story Book Maker

Create visual stories in support of learning, social modeling, and early literacy with Kid in Story Book Maker.

Place your student’s picture on every page of the story using Kid in Story Book Maker’s templates. It's easy and fun to make any child the star character. You can also write your own custom story or modify any of the templates.

Kid in Story Book Maker was specifically designed to benefit children who use visual narratives to complement auditory directions, model task analysis and expected social behavior, reinforce routines and to engage struggling readers.

The free Kid in Story Reader allows teachers and parents to share stories they create with students, friends, and family via email or Dropbox.

 Watch the Kid in Story Demo

Kid in Story Book Maker is available from the iTunes App Store for $6.99 (USD). It is compatible with iPad and requires iOS 5.1 or later.

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Featured: 8-14-2013 Hopscotch / Daisy the Dinosaur

Hopscotch and Daisy the Dinosaur are two free iPad apps designed to help young children begin to learn to code.

 

Hopscotch is a free, visually appealing, easy-to-use programming language that allows kids to unleash their creativity and create their own games and animations.

 

 

Drag and drop method blocks into scripts, then press 'Play' to see your code in action. As the student becomes more advanced, add more objects and use custom events, such as shaking and tilting the iPad, to run the code. 

 

 See a video about Hopscotch

 

Hopscotch requires iOS 5.0 or later.

 

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Daisy the Dinosaur is a free, fun app with an easy drag-and-drop interface that kids of all ages can use. Students learn the basics of computer programming by animating Daisy to dance across the screen. 

 

 

Kids will intuitively grasp the basics of objects, sequencing, loops and events by solving this app's challenges. After playing Daisy, kids can choose to download a kit to program their own computer game.

 

 Watch a video about Daisy the Dinosaur

 

Daisy the Dinosaur requires iOS 3.2 or later.

 

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