Kidspiration Resources from the Company

(I received this comment on an earlier post about Kidspiration 3 that is worth sharing with everyone. Thank you, Molly, for the great information and resources! ~Amy)

Amy,

We are happy to know that you are enjoying your experience with Kidspiration! If you are looking for new Kidspiration ideas, lesson plans or examples, please do not hesitate to contact us, or visit our website. You may be interested to know that we have several complimentary professional development Kidspiration webcasts that are archived and available for viewing at: http://www.inspiration.com/Educators/Trainer-Resources#archives.

We also have an upcoming Kidspiration webcast on May 14 - Keep Your Students Learning Till the Final Bell with Kidspiration 3 - http://www.inspiration.com/Educators/Events#Webcasts.

Thank you again!

Molly O'Hara

Inspiration Software

Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Administrators

I had the pleasure of hearing Chris O'Neal, from the University of Virginia, speak this week at MICCA on the top 10 web 2.0 tools administrators should be modeling in their schools. Thanks, Chris, for a great session this week!

Here was Chris O'Neal's top 10 list:

1. Google Docs and Google Apps


2. Blogs


3. Wikis (see Chris O'Neal's wiki that corresponds with this presentation here)


4. Delicious (check out his delicious account online)


5. Creative Commons


6. Slideshare


7. Skype


8. Audacity


9. School Tube


10. Twitter
    

Photo by tsuacctnt

Kidspiration 3: New Features

Kidspiration 3, the primary version of Inspiration, will be coming to FCPS as of this fall! Let me sum up some of the new features that will make a good program GREAT!

• Improved Record Option (so that you an record your voice longer on every textbox, and not just one per page)
• Easier to add text boxes
• Improved Teacher Control: on the teacher enabled menu, teachers can lock items into place so that they are not accidentally moved and placed on top of other items.
• Expanded symbol library of clip art
• Symbol search: now you can search for clip art by keyword like in Inspiration
• Word Guide: Look up word for definitions, synonyms, antonyms
• 5 New Math Tool Views!! (This is my favorite part): Color tiles, base 10 blocks, pattern blocks, fraction tiles, fraction boxes
• Math Text boxes: write fractions, division, and vertical math notations
• Step Work Space: allows teachers and students to show steps of a math problem in an easy to ready format
• Cross-out stamp: allows you to "cross out" items when showing subtraction, division, or regrouping
• Multiple Page feature: Now you can click through pages easily with up and down arrows, which allow you to open multiple documents in one window at a time
• More curriculum content, lesson plans, and teacher tools

The best improvement by far is the addition of the math tools. You can easily model equivalent fractions, or multi-step addition and subtraction with regrouping. The base 10 blocks can be color coded to show the top and bottom number of an addition problem. Use the "group" tool to group 10 ones together to make a rod. Use the "break apart" tool to separate rods into ones and flats into rods. No need to use physical manipulatives when you are teaching! Think of how easy it would be to clean this up after math!

I summarized some of these features from Peggy Wood, a Technology Resource Specialist from Cecil County, that I saw speak at MICCA this week. She has resources on her page. Thanks, Peggy, for one of the best sessions that I attended at MICCA!

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Discovery Education Goes Green

Discovery Education has partnered with Waste Management to bring teachers and students the "Think Green" website, which they hope will people the rewards of recycling in real terms. With Earth Day approaching, this site couldn't come at a better time.

Teachers: check out the teacher resource section where you can find lesson plans on recycling, renewable energy, electronics recycling, composting, landfills, and the 4 R's: reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover. Teachers will also find teaching activities, video assets, worksheets, puzzles, and more powered by Discovery Education.

Students: search the student site for puzzles, videos, and interactive activities that bring them closer to the world around us.

Games for the Classroom

Looking for an educational way to fill a few extra minutes at the end of the lesson? Need an engaging, educational warm up? Maybe these classroom game websites can provide you with what you need! Many of the games on these sites also work well with your eInstruction Chalkboard, Promethean Board, interactive whiteboard, or Promethean Slate.

Novel Games


Novel Games is a site that promotes healthy, non-violent, educational games that the whole family can enjoy. There are several categories to choose from, and the best part is that the games can be embedded into your website, blog, wiki, or social networking site.


Eclipse Crosswords


Eclipse Crosswords is a software download, and there are many counties where teachers are not able to download software on their school computers. However, keep in mind you can download this software on your home computer and create your crossword puzzles there. This software makes it incredibly easy to create a crossword puzzle. Just enter in the words and the clues, and the software does the rest of the work for you!


Brain Training Games



Brain Training Games requires you to create an account with an email address, but this is so the site can track your progress. Login to the site, play the brain games, track your progress, and play against friends. This is a fun and easy way to keep your mind healthy and give it a work out.


Fun 4 the Brain


Fun4theBrain is a site for elementary students to practice basic skills in addition, multiplication, division, subtraction, and English. The site creator is constantly adding games to the site, and students do not need an email address or account to play the games.

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Earth Day Activities for K-8

With Earth Day approaching, I found two sites that are appropriate for K-8 learners.

The first is Earth Day from Scholastic. Here you will find activities for K-8 including:

• A Water Experiment
• Recycling Game
• Earth Day CyberHunt
• Earth Day Math Hunt
• and more
  

The second site is also from Scholastic: Kids' Environmental Report Card. This is a chance for kids to make their voices heard as they vote on topics that are important to them. You can also see the results from last year's Environmental Report Card to compare how issues are changing.

The World Wide Web in Plain English

Another gem from Common Craft:


This is a YouTube video found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZoMbBzqxyc

Related Post:

Wiki in Plain English
RSS in Plain English