ABCya! - Interactive Educational Games

My kids have used Starfall for years.  It's one of the most simple & helpful reading websites we've found. I've just come across something comparable.

ABCya! is has what looks like hundreds of interactive educational games.  It's split into grade level & categories.  Here's the 2nd grade list.

Here's one game that helps kids with sequencing. It's a train track.  The object is to add the next block in the sequence in order to build the track for the train to go.  Finish one track and a new one appears.

My oldest daughter is still having a hard time with money.  What's more confusing than a dime being worth more than a penny and a nickle less than a dime?  This application gives kids a number of cents; (practicing my semicolon use - did I do it right?) they have to drag the right number of coins into the box and then check to see if they're right.

 

And what's more fun than Bingo?  Am I the only one who spells that word out every time I read it? ABCya! has a math Bingo game that's simple, but effective.  It times the player and for strategy purposes repeats several numbers on the same card, so you can decide which one you want to use to get Bingo as quickly as possible.

Follow ABCya! on Twitter, for the latest interactive games.

My Semicolon Confession

I have a confession to make.  I'm 37 years old and I still don't quite grasp; when I'm supposed to; use a semicolon.  Thankfully the folks at theoatmeal.com have a little cartoon to help; us all out.

John Stossel In The Classroom & More

I just got my copy of John Stossel in the Classroom & viewed it.  Good stuff.  He addresses the following topics and more:

Should everyone really vote?
Should farmers really get subsidies?
Is it really impossible to achieve the American Dream?
Who can make better more efficient roads, government or private companies?
Why do so many people want to be famous?

In addition to the DVD, his website has all kinds of resources including teacher guides and a video of the month that you can stream straight from your computer.

This is a great tool for parents, too.  Make sure your kids really understand capitalism, government, and their relationship to them both.

If you haven't got your copy yet, you can do so at his website, http://stosselintheclassroom.org/.

Focus, Focus, Check Facebook - I Need Help

Thankfully, Donald Miller provides some good and simple advice for being able to focus...a kitchen timer.

I just make a list, then pick one, then set my little timer for an hour or twenty minutes or whatever amount of time that specific assignment will cost me. And then, while the timer is ticking away on my desk, I don’t let myself do anything else. I don’t answer the phone, I don’t work on other projects, I don’t bake cookies, I just focus on that specific writing assignment. When the timer goes off, I decide whether I want to keep working on it, or move on.

When You're Just Not Smart Enough To Help Your Kid With Math

Enter Math A Tube.  Created by parents for parents, they bill themselves as a website designed to help parents who just can't help their kids with their math work.

They cover many different math topics including fractions, geometry, and decimals.

If you are one of the few who could actually help the rest of us, they welcome contribution videos.

What is Back Channeling & How To Teach With It

Wikipedia defines back channeling as "the practice of using networked computers to maintain a real-time online conversation alongside live spoken remarks."

In a nutshell, the teacher is presenting information and the audience is fully engaged by listening AND typing notes and questions back & forth to one another.  I know...it sounds crazy, but it works.  Rather than just being passive listeners, students have to be fully engaged in the discussion taking place.

TodaysMeet is a free service that lets people set up private chatrooms.  Set-up takes less than 30 seconds and students can be logged in and back channeling within a minute.


Notice there's even a way to integrate Twitter by using hashtags.  Why would this be useful?  Lets say you give your students a homework assignment to watch the State of the Union speech and back channel their questions & comments throughout.  If you were to put the hashtag #sotu anyone on Twitter would have their comments automatically posted to your chatroom without them even knowing it.  This might be helpful to give your students a different perspective on what they're watching.

Just provide your students with the website address, have they type in their name, and you're off & running.

Below are a couple good posts regarding back channeling in a classroom.  It would also be useful for homeschooling networks to facilitate online live discussions about things just like the State of the Union speech.

• What is backchanneling and how can you use it in your classroom? 
• Backchanneling in Middle School Social Studies

Lost In Translation

Here's a fun little website called BlahblahFish that takes a phrase, translates it into any of a number of languages, then translates that back into English.  There's probably a good illustration about connecting or communication somewhere here.
For instance, here are some translation translations of the phrase, "Please stay seated until the ride comes to a complete stop."

Italian - It remains I pray put till that the turn does not come to a complete arrest.
Spanish - He remains based please until the stroll comes to a complete shutdown.
Hungarian - Please stick seated whilst the she's riding comes yield one supplements stops.
Korean - Burning, when this is complete stopping until, seat and stay.

How about the phrase, "Earn the right to be heard." Some of these are downright insightful.

Italian - Gain the right to be felt.
Welsh - Gain ' group right to be heard.
Japanese - Profit do the right to be heard.
Filipino - Earn the right toward possible hear.