Technology in Your Classroom : Hot Websites :
Hot Websites January 2005
By Linda Lindroth
Start the new year right with some terrific websites your students will love
Whether you are working with snowflake-repeating patterns or school-wide activities for the 100th Day of School this month, math should be an integral part of your preparations!
Common Cent$
www.statefarm.com/kidstuf/kidstuf.htm
This economics site for K-12 compiled by State Farm Insurance uses motivational games to teach the elements of economics and responsible spending. Teacher and Parent resources list a variety of websites and books to reinforce consumer education concepts. There's also a detailed Overview and Activities lesson plan for each game.
The games are divided into K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12 and consist of colorful interactive games to simulate good economics. Skills include wants vs. needs, credit, savings, investment, budgeting and money management. Students will ask to play these games again and again.
PBS Teacherline – Interactives
teacherline.pbs.org/teacherline/resources/interactives.cfm
PBS Teacherline has a wide range of manipulatives to enhance student understanding of many mathematical concepts. Many of the PBS Teacherline interactives provide the related standards and include lesson plans and activities to assist with instruction. One of my students' favorite activities features the Number Cruncher where students input a number, and then the machine crunches the number using a hidden rule and students use the output to guess the rule. Another favorite is the Frog in the Well where students change the variables to create a number/pattern relationship. My students were motivated to complete trial after trial while watching the frog animation. I've found Space Blocks to be another popular tool and very effective in visually showing surface area. Trust me, your students will want to explore all the interactives collected at this great teacher resource. Each of the interactives are also featured in PBS online courses for professional development.
Teaching Ink
http://teachers-teachngink.com
As I'm sure you know, teachers love idea books and blackline masters that reinforce concepts being taught while getting students to think it through and apply the skill to real-life problems. Teaching Ink is a web subscription service that does all of this with great graphics, a searchable database (by content area or topic) and online pdf files that are accessible from home or school without taking your idea library with you in your briefcase. It's wonderful!
Teaching Ink has reproduced their great resource library and now features over 1,400 lessons that can be accessed with an annual subscription of $29.95. There are a number of terrific sample lessons you can try. A good choice for the months of December and January would be the Elections sample on the Electoral College. Or, try the logic and problem-solving activities from the Math area. Be sure to click the E-Newsletter for calendar events and related E-Library events.
Have fun!
Mac G5 -- Tech Spotlight
With the new iMac G5 from Apple Computer, we can say goodbye to bulky, heavy computer equipment that takes up an entire desk area for a workstation computer in the classroom or lab. The sleek, slim G5 puts all the CPU workings into the 17" or 20" monitor which is mounted on a compact aluminum stand.
With an eye to the needs of education, particularly the K-8 market, Apple Computer has designed a special education model iMac with 1.6 GHz G5 speed (512KB backside cache and 533 MHz frontside bus) with 256 MB RAM. It ships with a 40GB hard drive (half the standard model) and no optical drive or modem – all for $1099 to educational institutions.
This is an ideal setup for classrooms, computer labs or offices in the education setting that use a network server for storage space and to deliver licensed software without the need for a CD or DVD.
For more information, or to check additional configurations and specs, visit www.apple.com/education or call 800-MY-APPLE.
Linda K. Lindroth is Technology Editor and Web Coordinator for Teaching K-8. She is also a Technology Resource Teacher in a K-5 computer lab in Lexington, KY.
