CyberSmart

Cybersmart is a great website that can help protect students when on the World Wide Web. Cybersmart provides activities, resources, and practical advice to help young kids, kids, teens, and parents safely enjoy the online world. Cybersmart also offers training and resources for schools and materials for library staff. Developed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, Cybersmart is part of the Australian Government’s cyber safety program.  It has a live text news feed. It provides lessons on how to socialize on the internet and what is the appropriate and what is not. One particular example is how to deal with cyber bullying and how to say no. Not only does it protect the student on the computer but also on the cell phone.  To help raise awareness of cybersafety issues with library users, library staff may like to use some of the free Cybersmart resources, including the issue-specific downloadable brochures, below, which are designed for parents and their children. The Cybersmart Schools Gateway houses a wide range of cybersafety information and teaching resources for primary and secondary schools. These accessible and engaging materials are designed to help schools develop and implement a holistic approach to cybersafety. It is a great website that provides an abundance of safety tips and lessons.http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/

Write me a Story

Write me a story. The website KidsCom - Create - Write me a story is a great website that provides students with the ability to be creative when they write. Students can learn to write correctly and they can even get a chance to publish their writings on the internet.

This is how the site works:

·         Each week we'll challenge you to write a story using the character, place and prop we give you. Your story can be as funny, sad or silly as you want, but nothing your parents would get mad about. (Speaking of parents, you should get their OK before sending your story to us because many people around the world might be reading your stunning work.)

·         Each week we randomly select five stories by kids 11 and younger and five by kids 12 and older to put in the Ballot Box. That's where all KidsCom Kids can vote for their favorite story of the week. The two stories with the most votes in each age group will be showcased in Stunningly Stupendous Stories the next week!

It also is a safe and secure site making comments such as “Don't forget: for safety's sake leave out personal information like your last name, phone number, e-mail or home address in your story.”
When it comes to critical thinking skills there is a section called “Take the write me challenge”
This website is great and I would definitely suggest it to any teacher, student, or parent interested in learning ways to write.

Website dedicated to Special Needs students

While blogging this time I decided to concentrate on an area that gets very little attention or credit where it is due. When dealing with special needs children a lot of attention and patience is needed and that is why I chose this website http://www.teachersnetwork.org/impactII/profiles03_04/mcnamara.htm

This website was created for people who need help when trying to figure out how to deal with a special need child whether it is a child or teacher. The site is constructed in a way that can help not only teachers but the student and parents as well. It is an impact service rendered to the services of teachers and administrators on how to develop the skills needed to provide a special needs child with the atmosphere he or she needs to get a respectable education. Special needs could mean anything from learning disability to physical ailment that requires full time attention and supervision. Actually my sister is an aid for a blind student at the school where she works and she has to type all of her text books into brail in order for her to be able to read. She requires full time supervision. This website can be very helpful to those in need of the training that is required or suggested even to care for special need students.

 

Integrating Science and Technology in the classroom

Integrating technology into education while including science can be exciting for students and for teachers as well. The website sciencespot.net provides teachers with an enormous amount of information to teach students. It provides topics such as: Ecology, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, etc. In each sectioned topic provided for these teachers there are many different lesson plans to choose from. It also has many options for students to do activities such as Science Club where students can perform projects with cool and interesting names. For example: Egg drop, junk box wars, science Olympiad, Bubble gum blowout, etc. The website also has options for parents as well. You can quiz your child in the Daily Science Trivia with trivia topics such as: Scientists and Inventions, Insects, Dinosaurs, Weather, Bats, Health Chemistry, Earth Science, Etc. Another way that teachers can test their students is by using the websites Science Starter. Teachers use smart boards to teach these science starters. The science starter provides teachers with more websites in order for the students to look at other science projects so they can either replicate them or get ideas on making up their own. The starters typically take 5 minutes or less to complete and provide students with a focused activity to start class. Also by using the starters to review material that was covered in class it helps to gauge what the students have remembered from previous lessons. It helps to let teachers know that additional lessons are needed. Other links that this website provides is The Nature Center where students can do outdoor lessons on how to plant and grow items. The Reference Desk is a tool that is used for teachers to look up science information. The Idea Factory is used to help students make up projects from lists of ideas derived to correlate with science. This is a great website for teachers and students to integrate science and technology into the classroom.http://www.sciencespot.net/

Integrating Writing and Technology

Integrating technology into the classroom is easier said than done. When it comes to integrating technology and writing it makes it pretty simple. With the website that I chose to post it makes writing and integrating technology into the classroom be timely and will go smoothly. It shows students how to take a shorter approach to writing that looks more professional and important. It also shows them how to use web references and how to quote correctly. It also helps the student with grammar mistakes and show them how to correct them. It provides question such as "How to correctly display and capitalize headlines". There are grammar projects called grammar got you that helps the student learn in a fun and constructive way. It also provides lessons on how to use email it takes them on techno lingo for the internet age and tackles the toughest of issues. It gives quick and easy tips for non writers. Helping the students that are not typically writers present their writing in a professional manner. Also it has a section that helps students with confusing word couples, for example when to use whom or who, anxious or eager, and their and there. It is a great site and is very helpful for students, teachers, and parents. It provides them with a central location for using web references when using the internet to write correctly.http://www.webreference.com/internet/writing/

Technology Kidport.com

While this world and its technology is ever changing us as human beings search for the greatest and most cutting edge features that are going to help in the education field. I found this website http://www.kidport.com/default.htm . It is a great website used to make kids think. It is mainly used for younger students or children that haven’t started school yet. I would say that it is based mainly for third grade and under. What is most important about Kidport.com is that was designed for children that have physically handicaps or special learning needs. It is used to coincide with therapists that work alongside these children and use it as a tool for developing new mental capabilities. Kidport.com says that it is an Internet-based educational service designed to help K-8 students excel in school. It provides a unique, multi-step program to create empowered learners, not simply good students. My suggestion would be depending on your students learning capabilities this is only a third grade level material. The content of this site is a think and learn center, workbook module and research center, and a section for teachers and parents on how kids learn and what kids love. I believe that this site stands for student parent interaction and I firmly believe in having an involved parent. It provides teachers and parents with great learning tools for children that are soon to be students in schools. It has great material.

Technology in the Classroom

How can teachers integrate technology into the curriculum in today’s classrooms? One example would be to create virtual or online schools where students can learn at there own pace and in their own learning style. With all the information and free web sites that are available to teachers and parents today it makes it easier to help students with class work or homework. It can also help students at testing skills and helping them improve in weak areas. Think Quest is a website that can provide teachers, students, and parents with a vastness of information that can be used to reach all areas of learning. It helps teachers prepare lesson plans and projects for students to participate in. It provides comments from individuals regarding course work that teachers or parents may have created to help students. It also has a section where students can explore projects and find a project that he or she might like to participate in. Not only does it help them with decision making, other students can join in on the project where the students can make it a group effort. Students can also have global challenges against students in different parts of the world. There are different entry levels so it is available for students of all ages. Students can also be awarded with prizes. In the library section of the website it breaks subjects down into categories where students can choose what they want to work on. In these categories there are subcategories where students can play games, read lessons, take quiz’s, or even make projects. By utilizing free web sites such as this one teachers can easily climb over the barrier of technology funding and reach into a child’s mind and show their true potential.
http://www.thinkquest.org/en/