GotBrainy for Expanding Vocabularies

Check out a terrific Web 2.0 site called GotBrainy, which can help students visualize words with pictures.  Visual pictures and connections are useful for expanding vocabularies, as they allow students to make associations with words to help recall their meaning.


That's where GotBrainy comes in as a clever and fun way to represent words with pictures.  The site challenges students to find appropriate pictures for SAT and ACT-type vocabulary words.  They can be witty, memorable and hilarious, like this one:

GotBrainy.com

They also have to use the words in a correct, contextual sentence.  You can have students upload their pictures and sentences to the site.  Alternatively, you can use the words and pictures already on the site and show them to students as examples.  Then, allow your class to use magazines, web photos or pictures they take or illustrate to represent the vocabulary words you want them to practice.  Encourage them to be as creative as possible, as they will likely remember the meanings of new words that they associate with a funny or interesting picture.

Using the "Skype Mystery Call" as a Geography Activity

What an exceptional geography activity I found at Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog!  It allows students to interact and compete with a classroom anywhere else in the world, trying to figure out one another's geographic location.


This activity is called a "Skype Mystery Call," and the video posted below shows a good example of how it is done.  Integrate technology by using Skype to contact a class anywhere on the globe.  Leave the other class' location a mystery to your classs.


Next, assign jobs to small groups of students.  For instance, some kids can work with an atlas, while another uses GoogleMaps; other kids can keep track of which clues are given, etc.


The two classes take turns asking each other geographic questions about their opponents' location.  If the other team responds with a "yes," the first team can continue with another question.  If the other team responds "no" to a question, then it is their turn to ask one.  Only yes and no questions are allowed, so students have to use their geographic knowledge, map skills, and logical reasoning to find where the other class is located.


The class wins if they are first able to come up  with the correct location of the opposing class.


As the video demonstrates, kids can find this activity exciting and engaging.  Give it a try to test your students' geographic skills, and get to know another class in a cool game.


The Mystery Skype Call from langwitches on Vimeo.

Video Cameras for a Plethora of Classroom Activities

Edudemic posted 43 Surprising Ways to Use Video Cameras in the Classroom, and many of the ideas may be a useful way for you to liven up lessons by integrating technology.

Notable uses?

• Recording activities for parent involvement
• Making a visual representation of a poem
• Observe weather conditions
• Record their trip to a specific destination as they translate and follow step-by-step directions in foreign language.

Watch here!

Top Teaching Tips of the Week (September 20-26)

1. Browse through the first season of PBS’s great show, SciGirls, which promotes scientific discovery and analysis.  It's an excellent resource for teachers in the middle grades.  The show encourages the study of math and science as viewers join girls as they solve an interesting problem in each episode.  Technology, internet use and cartoon characters also help this show seem relatable to students, and real scientists also make appearances.  I highly recommend SciGirls!  Also, visit their activities and projects page to see ideas for science class.  The activities are also helpfully provided in Spanish!
2. Here's a great use of classroom technology:  have students create their own short children's book using ArtisanCam, which allows them to write a story and "publish" it for everyone to read online.  The neat thing is that students can also select from images to illustrate their story, and they all actually look like children's drawings!  Peek through the gallery for some examples.  Students could practice using story elements, and you could also integrate science by having them include facts about animals (such as their habitats, for example) because the pictures use animals as characters.
3. To practice basic math facts, young students could Save the Apples in this online game.  They can practice addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and select their level of difficulty.
4. Your class could practice visualization and summarization skills by designing a comic strip or short graphic novel based on a few pages of text.
5. Use Bingo instead of a written history or geography quiz if you want students to remember details about different Native American groups, states, etc.  Make some Bingo cards (you could even use regular paper and have students draw a chart)  and have your class fill each box with a term from the unit's list.  Then, call out clues ("This Southern state is also known as 'the Peach State'") and have them mark their box if they have the word written down.  Because students have to know their facts in order to win the game, this is a good assessment tool, and it's motivating to students.  It has the benefit of a "Jeopardy" game with easier preparation for the teacher.

Top 5 Teaching Tips of the Week (August 23-29)

1.  Looking for inexpensive center ideas, or quick classroom activities, that are easy to create?  Check out The Cornerstone’s economical, easy and creative center ideas.

2.  FreeTech4Teachers gives you 11 ideas for integrating technology this year.

3.   Use this helpful flipbook to guide students in organizing their binders (from Mary Blow via Scholastic.com).  She also shows you how to turn this organization tool into an easy assignment for the first days of school.

4.   Check out this cool class project about pirates.  Wikispaces is a great way to make a collaborative project engaging to students.

5.   Give students a fun, imaginative science lesson about animal habitats in this PBSKids online activity.  Using the site’s drawing tool, students analyze and respond to a monthly challenge by designing a fictional creature's habitat.

Find any good tips?  Let me know about them, and I'll be sure to credit you!