WJC Technology

http://techtoolsforreading.wikispaces.com/

Tech Tools for Teaching Reading is a series of in-services focusing on the effective integration of technology into the elementary reading and language arts curriculum and re-focuses the way we think about and teach literacy. This series of in-services will revolve around the use of technology to promote reading, writing, presenting, viewing, listening and speaking. All six modules in this series are correlated to the ARI strands of phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. Many practical tips are offered here to help teachers embed technology in their reading curriculum.

Investing for Kids
http://efinancedirectory.com/article_directory/Investing_for_Kids.html

What are Exchange Traded Funds? What is the difference between a spread and a bid? What do banks do with the money that you deposit and what does the FDIC have to do with it? How is coin and paper money really made? What is the difference between CDs and bonds? Features on this Web site include kid-friendly tips on avoiding identity theft, the basics of investing, how to create a budget, and how the stock market works.

The Smithsonian for Students
http://smithsonianeducation.org/students

If the movie Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian whetted your appetite to learn more about the Smithsonian Museum collection, then this site will get you even more excited about the museum’s 142 million objects, including everything from fossils to tapestries. On this site you will find profiles of our nation’s presidents, a “Walking on the Moon” Apollo 11 mission page, and some of the Smithsonian’s collections as well as tips for starting your own collection. The Secrets of the Smithsonian features behind-the-scenes secrets such as the history of the Hope Diamond and even spiders in space!

The Berenstain Bears
http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/berenstainbears

This Web site features all of the Berenstain Bears books. Students can browse through short descriptions of all of them, find out more information on how to purchase them, and check out a section on new releases. In the activities section, you’ll find an interactive coloring game, a “Money Matters” presentation, coloring sheets, and more.

Classics for Kids
http://www.classicsforkids.com

Do you know students who are interested in composing their own music? Who want to know more about the different instrument families? Who need to get those musical periods down once and for all? If so, then this Web site is for them. Students can search composers by musical period, by country, or browse for a particular composer on a timeline. One link allows visitors to listen to entire movements of famous pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and more. A musical dictionary might come in handy for those cryptic musical terms. There also are games to play, including Compose Your Own Music and Rockin’ Rhythm Master.

Willard Wigan Micro Sculptures
http://www.willard-wigan.com/default.aspx

Read about this artist who creates sculptures of such small proportions that you need a microscope to see them. Each piece typically sits within the eye of a needle or on a pinhead. As a creative outlet to deal with dyslexia at school, Willard started making minute pieces of art from the age of 5. This site features a gallery of his work, including replicas of the Statue of Liberty, Tutankhamen, and Marilyn Monroe.

From the creator of Quizlet: My mission for Quizlet is to make learning vocabulary not a chore. I know a lot of teachers assign vocabulary to students, but few students actually “absorb” words into their vocabularies after they take their test. Which kind of defeats the purpose, right? So Quizlet is my response – it aims to make learning fun, thus make learning effective. At the very least, it can help students do better on quizzes and tests even if they don’t fully “absorb” their words.

http://quizlet.com/

This college has created 100’s of sound files for classic literature from K age – college age.  You can download the book or story being read or you can download a copy of the book or story.  It has Aesop’s Fables, fairy tales, poetry, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, etc.  I found this web site through iTunes:  http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/index.htm  or http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/ If you have iTunes, you can download these books into your iTunes library.

From the website:

Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. You can:

• Download the files to your Mp3 player and listen on the go,
• Listen to the Mp3 files on your computer,
• View the text on a webpage and read along as you listen,
• Print out the stories and poems to make your own book.

Kids.LearnOutLoud.com is your destination for educational audio & video content for kids & teens. Here you’ll find Kids Audio Books, Free Learning Resources, MP3 Audio Book Downloads, and Podcasts for Kids.

Play Interactive Phonics Games.
At Starfall, students can play free games to boost their phonics skills. Teachers are able to choose games based on which skills they’re working on in the classroom. Students fill in beginning sounds and actually hear them aloud as they solve problems. There are also short illustrated stories that students can read, as well. The words from the story are shown on the screen and can be clicked on if help is needed. The voice highlights every letter of the word and reads it aloud to the student.

Watch picture book videos.
Click on Storytime Online and choose from Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, Harlem by Walter Dean Meyers, and Brothers of the Knight by Debbie Allen.

Work with Published Authors.
At Writing With Writers, students can create myths with the guidance of Jane Yolen, compose a mystery step by step with Joan Lowery Nixon, learn about descriptive writing with Virginia Hamilton, write poetry with Jack Prelutsky, and workshop with Scholastic News editors about writing articles.

Find Rhyming Words.
At RhymeZone, all kids have to do is fill in the box with the word they’re trying to rhyme and click Go Get It! This rhyming dictionary pulls up hundreds of possibilities. The choices are broken down by the number of syllables. It will also find synonyms, antonyms, definitions, related words, and more.

Publish Students’ Stories
Kids’ Space is an award-winning site that focuses on multicultural sharing in a commercial-free environment. Students can upload their stories and read other students’ work from around the world. One of the neatest features is Beanstalk, where kids can write an original story to go with a picture in the gallery. www.kids-space.org