Search Engines
Search engines are very powerful tools. They make life easier by allowing you to search most of the internet for whatever it is you are looking for. By learning how to properly use a search engine, you will get better, more accurate search results.
Website Evaluation Video
Favorite Website
http://www.turtlediary.com
One website I plan to use in my classroom in the future is TurtleDiary.Com. This website has (literally) thousands of games for pre-k through 5th grade. There are activities for math, science, and language arts. The website also has lesson plans, age appropriate math videos, worksheets, online practice, and so many other features. It can be projected onto a SmartBoard as a center rotation, or used independently on a device.
Favorite Wiki
http://ig5thgrade.pbworks.com/w/page/4619994/FrontPageThis 5th grade class used a wiki as a class dictionary. Each time they discussed a vocabulary word, or just an unfamiliar word, they recorded it in their wiki. It is organized so that you can click each letter on the right hand side of the page and it will take you to the list of words for that particular letter. It is also cool that all students can access this from any device, as long as they save the web address. This example is not as neat as I would want my class' to be, however the idea is really good.
I agree with what you said: Search engines are very powerful tools. They are! It is important for students to learn how to properly use them. I love the two websites that you talk about in this blog. The Turtle Diary seems like a very engaging website for students to do activities with math, science and language arts. The other website you listed is such a great idea to do! It would be good to have a main class wiki and have a class dictionary attached to it. I love this idea.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Evaluating Websites video would be great to show students in order to help them understand how to evaluate a website. It has a lot of useful information. I almost chose this video to include in my own blog, but I was concerned that they used C.R.A.P.P. as the memorization tool. This may be inappropriate for immature students. I definitely agree that the teacher may want to stop the video before it gets to that part.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I was amazed at how many games and activities that Turtle Diary had. This site would be extremely useful in the classroom.
Search engines are great to use in classrooms. Students just need to be taught on proper evaluating techniques. Which brings me to your video. I loved how it was animated and entertaining for viewers. Children would definitely enjoy this video. I noticed that you were concerned about the acronym. I agree that you should know your students and know if they are mature enough to handle the acronym before using it in your classroom. However, (if you thought they could learn about it without getting out of hand) I think it wouldn't be a bad method to teach. It would make them laugh and probably insure that the students actually remember the acronym in the future when evaluating websites. Also, I think using a wiki as a classroom dictionary is a great idea! It allows the students to interact, use technology, and explore different vocabulary. The students would have ownership over this because they are the ones creating the dictionary.
ReplyDelete