Jeopardy Labs

A few years ago, one of the "big things" was to create a Jeopardy-like PowerPoint to use with your students as a creative and "techy" way to review for any and all curricular areas. I created quite a few. I even conducted professional development sessions on exactly this topic. I loved it. Kids loved it. Teachers {sorta} loved it. Two big complaints about these were the crazy amount of time it took to set one up, and all of the detailed action links from one slide to another slide, etc. Even the most basic of templates could have 50+ slides for one game!

Jeopardy Labs is a site that makes it super-easy to create Jeopardy-like games. Quick Build allows you to create a free Jeopardy-like game. You will need to create a password for each game, and as soon as you create one, it will be available for anyone to use. You can also become a Jeopardy Labs Member, which gives you a fancy template manager, privacy control, and delete control (you can't delete templates you create with the free version). The LIFETIME membership fee is $20. If you really like Jeopardy Labs and think it's something you will use for a while, this might be worth the cost. If you're not sure, then stick with the free Quick Build version for a while.

One of the things I like BEST about Jeopardy Labs is the "browse" feature! I was going to create a game about weathering, erosion, and deposition. I decided to browse for one first, and I found TONS of them already made and ready to use! (Give it a try!) You will want to be sure you've gone through the entire game and checked to make sure that it's accurate information and it supports your curriculum, but I bet you can find some good ones!

Check out Jeopardy Labs today and let me know what you think!

Crickweb - Free Online Education Resources & Games

Looking for ways to get your kids excited about learning? Crickweb is a fantastic collection of educational interactive teaching resources and activities. If you have an Interactive Whiteboard or Projector, let the kids take the controls and watch them learn. If you do not have an Interactive device, no problem! The activities and games are just as fun and beneficial when using a computer mouse!

Their resources are organized into Early Years (PK-K), Key Stage 1 (1st-2nd grades), and Key Stage 2 (3rd-6th grades).

 

Don't forget to check out the Fun Games and Links sections of the site. Be sure to check the activity first because of the terms this site uses aren't exactly the same ones we use on this side of the pond, and some activities might be confusing. 

What's your favorite Crickweb activity?

Technology Academy 2012

EM-S ISD Faculty and Staff are invited to the second annual Technology Academy.
June 5-6 @ Hollenstein Career & Technology Center

• Sign up in Eduphoria today.
• Don't miss Keynote Speakers Darrell Brown and Dr. Jim Chadwell! (Be sure to sign up for the Opening and Closing sessions too.)
• Smart phones and mobile devices are welcome, but not required.
• Door prizes ... really good ones!

See you then ... at the movies!

Guest Post: A Few BrainPop Features I Forgot About

I'm excited to share a post from Becky Burnett's Tech Tips and Such blog today. Be sure to check it out. If you'd like to receive emails when her blog is updated, sign up for her mailling list here!

From Tech Tips and Such:

I was in a session earlier today about BrainPop at my local education service center, and decided that there are "A Few BrainPop Features I Forgot About". Since I forgot about them, I thought some of you might have too. Our district is fortunate enough to have a BrainPop subscription, but if your district is not, have no fear, there's some wonderful free features too!

If you have ever seen a BrainPop video you know that they are short and sweet, as well as very informative (if you haven't, click here to view one). I think they are a great way to intro a concept or reinforce. They can be class activities or individual student activities. Also, BrainPop is adding to the collection of activities that support their videos and the concepts that they deliver. Read on to learn (or be reminded) of a few.

FREE STUFF! That's right, I said free =)
You can get free stuff from all of the BrainPop sites (BrainPop, BrainPop Jr., BrainPop Español, BrainPop ESL), but it's best to go from the main BrainPop site so that you can see ALL of the free stuff from ALL of the sites! Just go to the main BrainPop page (brainpop.com) and click the button for free stuff. 

Search By Standards
I think this comes in particularly handy when you have a student or students that are struggling with a particular skill but it's also good for many more reasons. Just click the Standards button, select your state/subject/grade, and then click the link for the proper video or resource. It's not just videos listed here, but also games, which leads me to...

GameUp

These games are ALL FREE and intended to be reinforcement for skills that are demonstrated in the videos. This being said, they work well after a video has been watched, and also for reinforcing a concept that has been covered in class in a different way. The games can be accessed by clicking the GameUp button on the main page, or after a video has been watched.

That's just a few, but there's lots of other great things on their site too. I definitely suggest that you go check it out or revisit if you haven't been there in a while. Enjoy and Happy Friday!!

Thanks Becky! That's good stuff!

Dollar Days at Scholastic Teacher Express!

It's that time of year again ... Dollar Days at Scholastic Teacher Express! Better hurry though, because the sale is only good through Wednesday, 3.28.12.

These downloadable "e-books" and "e-pages" are PDFs and can therefore be read on a computer or most mobile devices.

You will need a Paypal account to make your purchase, but as soon as you do, you will be redirected back to the Scholastic site to download your items (including the items you downloaded last year if you took advantage of their Dollar Days then!)

I just downloaded two books ... what about you?

Tech Tip Tuesday ... The Wild Classroom

If you teach science, you should definitely check out The Wild Classroom. This non-profit organization based in Washington state is providing exciting, quality videos that explore a variety of science and biology concepts. Each of their episodes have lesson plans and useful links that can be used with our students.

The videos are exciting, entertaining, AND educational. What more could you want?  

What is Biodiversity? is one of their popular videos. Take a look ... what do you think?


Be sure to check out some of their other popular topics ... Alpine Tundra, Rainforests, Z is for Zebra, and World's Deadliest Snakes (okay, maybe I'll skip that one!).

Don't miss the interactive Biomes of the World map. Click on a biome for more information, informative videos, and links to scientist profiles, travel information, lesson plans, and species profiles for each region.

Tech Tip Tuesday ... GAMEUP (from BrainPOP!)

If you're anything like me, BrainPOP is already one of your favorite educational resources. I started hearing rumors (and then even confirmed rumors) last year that BrainPOP was working on something new ... GAMES!

Each game (I used to make my kids call  them "educational activities" so it didn't sound like we were having TOO MUCH fun in class!) ties directly into curriculum. There are also links with each of the games to other BrainPOP resources about the subject matter. Since we are lucky enough to have a district subscription for our K-8th graders, all of the suggested videos will be accessible with the click of the mouse!

GameUp has categorized the games into Science, Math, Social Studies, and Health right now. There are even a few student-made games available on the site. These games look like they're most appropriate for our older elementary and middle school students.

For our younger kiddos, be sure to check out the BrainPOP Jr Games site. There are already more than 225 games that fall into Science, Health, Reading & Writing, Social Studies, Math, and Arts & Technology.

Check out this sequencing game about email.

After I drag the pictures to the correct order, Mobi gives me a "thumbs up" and then gives me the opportunity to play again or learn more. By clicking Learn More, I go right to the BrainPOP Jr. E-mail video and all of the other tools that go with it.

I'm excited to see how much our students enjoy BrainPOP's newest feature, GAMEUP! Let me know what you think. =)

Tech Tip Tuesday ... Study Ladder

Study Ladder is an exciting online resource primarily for PK-6th grade students (older students may also benefit from some of the activities!). 5000+ interactive activities are available for nearly every subject - math, language, science, music, art, health, and more. Another biggie ... it's FREE for teachers!

You will need to sign up for an account, but then you can choose to use the activities in a computer center, as a class activity on the projector, or in the computer lab. If you set up your class, your students will have full access to all of the activities throughout the day and can even have some access at home (they are limited to 3 activities from home).

Even if you choose not to set up your students with accounts, you can still access the resources for class use.

Some of the activities could actually be used as lesson and others would be great for reinforcement. Each activities gives you the option to be opened in a "Whiteboard version", which simply opens it in a larger, new window.

Be sure to check it out!

Tech Tip Tuesday ... ABCYa!

I've been so focused on our transition to LIVE these days that I wanted to share something totally unrelated to email or calendars! If you've never visited ABCYa!, you're missing out!

ABCYa! is fantastic site for interactive, educational activities that your students (mainly K-5) are sure to love. A few of the activities are highlighted on the site, but if you're looking for activities for a specific age group just scroll down and click on the appropriate grade level.

The activities for each grade level cover all core subject areas as well as computer education too! This would be great for the kids in the computer lab, at the student computers during center time. If you're lucky enough to have an interactive projector or any other type of interactive equipment (SMARTboard, Mimeo, etc.), be sure to try this out on the big screen in your classroom!