Tool 9

Kids don't do anything in the same way. Using technology keeps kids engaged in learning and at their own pace and within their own learning style. Technology allows for us to individualize and differentiate to meet the needs of more kids than traditional teaching. I'm so glad that we will have so much technology available that most children will have a device available throughout the day.

In stations/centers, students can get off task. We want to keep them focused on the learning objective in front of them and we want to know what they learned through center and small group work. Using blogs and other Web 2.0 tools students have more choice of how they share what they learned. If students aren't held accountable the time is wasted.

I tried all the sites for elementary kids. I couldn't even get into Tutpup because I couldn't find an animal and a color with a specific number in order to log in. I gave up after many tries. Learning Games for Kids has some good games and it's a cute site. It's not very rigorous and I think my kids would get bored fast with much of what is available on that site. TES Board is much more challenging. I tried a few of the place value games and they were pretty good. I would use this site as a station. Study Ladder is good. You set up classes and assignments so it reminds me of Odyssey. I use that as a workstation constantly, so I could see myself using this one in that same capacity. Thinkfinity has lots of stuff on lots of content areas. However, there's so much to see and the site isn't as pretty to look at as others. I think you really need to know what you want. If you aren't sure and you are just looking for something good, this might not be the best site to browse.

I love love love the site on Ed Tech!! I've already shown it to other people working with me because it's so cool. I looked over lots of apps but the ones I think I will want my kids to use first will be the dictionary app. Kids in a book club can have an iTouch or iPad in their group and use it when they come across words they don't understand. I also like Free Word Warp. Many of my kids are good spellers because they can memorize, but this puts their spelling skills to the test to build on what they can already do. I also like On This Day. It gives historical information for things that happened in history on this day. This is something kids can do when they come in in the morning or during the day if they are looking for topics to write about, research, etc. It gives students a bridge for converstations.

These devices are just another way to keep kids engaged in learning. Information is moving so fast these days, we've got to keep kids plugged in to what's happening in the world. Centers are just one way. I've had kids work on their own individual research, look up something we are reading as a class, answer questions when they pop up and we don't know the answer. There's so much to do.