found: an excellent interactive guided reading website!

Everyone, meet Roy.
This tale tells the story of a unique zebra who has lost his herd! Help Roy find his herd!

This website, is both beautiful and actually laugh out loud funny. I sat one night, flicking through the interactive pages of this story, laughing at the witty jokes and illustrations.

This is ultimately a 'guided reading' activity site for Early Stage 1 - Stage 1. It contains a 9 part adventure series based around Roy the Singing Zebra. The site also contains lesson plans, online activities and games for students, songs and many printables! It even documents how to adjust your lesson if you do not have a smart-board!

Go and take a look at the lovely website here.

mathematics in everyday life.

(image is from a screenshot I took)

I found a great interactive resource which revolves around the use of mathematics in everyday activities. It is called 'Cyberchase', and essentially contains videos and interactive games that reinforce concepts such as AREA, PERIMETRE, SPACE, TIME, MEASUREMENT, GRAPHING ect. Additionally, it has a 'Parent/Teacher' section, which gives free lesson plans and information. Ideally, this site is suited for primary aged students. I intend to use this on Prac after a lesson about TANGRAMS.

Selah.

{Selah - 'to pause and reflect'.}

We have just had another superb tutorial, with everyone giving their presentations and introducing us to a bunch of fantastic resources that promote 'meaningful learning'. To record our attendance at the session we needed to post a thread on the discussion board relating to our two favourite resources and a little commentary on the issue of 'evaluation'. Additionally, we needed to post a link to our 'Delicious' social-bookmarking site. Here is what I wrote:

After hearing so many wonderful presentations this afternoon, I have decided that I like the look of the StoryBird Website, and the FossWeb site. The StoryBird website is very sweet, and basically allows students to write and draw their own 'online story' for them to export and share with family/friends. It also is free, which is such a major benefit. The FossWebsite is a science based website that has really fun and interactive games for students to learn about science based content such as 'Solids and Liquids'.

The process of evaluation, for me, is actually quite tricky. There are so many aspects to consider when analysing a type of software/hardware, such as:
- how does it promote meaningful learning?
- how can teachers use this in the classroom with it being beneficial?
- can students 'construct' anything out of these soft-wares to make their learning more in-depth?
(These are just a few questions you need to ask yourself)
Additionally, you must weigh up the positives and negatives, and relate them to studies/research and readings! Despite the lengthy process, evaluations must be done in order for us as pre-service teachers to sort the meaningful learning technologies from the dodgy ones. I would like to find out how other people evaluate resources, so that if I have missed out on something, I can learn how to better evaluate and analyse.

It is also interesting to note what other sites my fellow bloggers found interesting. Hannah raised some interesting points on what whether sites that are interactive, are automatically promoting meaningful learning. Additionally, Martine (whose blog you may not be able to access, only if you are included in UTSonline) finds the iPhone Basic Maths Deluxe application really innovative and educational. It is always good to be looking at what other students find interesting, as they may introduce you to an amazing resource that you would never have found on your own.

Now, I'm off to prepare my 'Mid-Semester Statement'!

*image thanks to Shirshir Naik, who posts his art on the 'StoryBird' website.

Bees, Picasso & BamNana

Thanks to this flickrer!

I am constantly astounded by the amount of interactive resources freely available on the Internet! It is such a fantastic place to find great teaching resources, tools and ideas! BUT - as many good sites as there are, there are probably double the amount of dodgy sites. This is why it is great to collaborate with our fellow student teachers and exchange interactive and student-centred learning sites. I have been looking at a few websites today, focussing on different KLAs.

English - 'The Spelling Bee Game'.
This is great for older kids, namely Stage 3. Students first choose a character and then participate in a 'virtual' Spelling Bee. Children listen to the word, and have the option of hearing the definition and how it can be used in a sentence before typing it out. It is in the form of 'drill & practice', whereby if the students get the answer right, they move on to another word, but if they spell it incorrectly, they are either out, or have to try again. This site is both engaging and fun, and has the potential to be a great 'smartboard' resource!

Visual Arts - 'Mr Picasso Head'.
I am a visual arts lover. Sometimes I think that I will only teach the children Art - who needs to be a good speller anyway! Just kidding! But I wish that Primary Schools found time to practice more Art with students. This site is fantastic for teaching specifically on the attributes of Cubism and could be used as an introduction for studying Pablo Picasso. Students are able to 'drag & drop' Cubist elements to create and arrange a 'Picasso-style' portait. Again, I believe this site is better suited for Stage 3 children, but then again, who knows! I guess you could try it out on younger kids, and see what happens! The only downfall I believe, is that there is no background information or theory behind what Cubism is and who Picasso was. Despite this however, it is a fantastic creative website!

PDHPE - 'Dole Superkids BAM-NANA Game".
This whole website is great for teaching on the subject of Nutrition and Fitness. It is highly informative and interactive. This particular 'BAM-NANA game revolves around a 'Banana-man' trying to defeat his arch enemy 'Saturated Fat' by catching 5 fruits and vegetables while dodging all foods containing saturated fat. Children use the arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate the 'Banana-man' around the game and to catch the foods being thrown from the sides. It is actually quite fun, and requires undivided attention. I feel younger kids (Stage 1 & 2) would really enjoy this game, and learn some nutritional facts in the process!