Typing Practice

Hey all! Happy Thursday! I have found even MORE great web resources to utilize with my students. Below, you will find websites that help students improve their typing skills. Feel free to check a few of these out:
The Frogs Are Off Their Diets

Dance Mat Typing

Save The Sailboats

Spacebar Invaders- My favorite!

SpellingCity.com

Ok, I found another AMAZING resource for those students who would like additional practice with their word study list each week. This tool, SpellingCity.com, can be utilized by students each week for additional practice with the words they are studying. All students have to do is click on the link, type in the words from their word list, and begin working on games and activities using those words. The website will quiz students, teach them using flash cards, and will help with with vocabulary as well. If you have a few minutes, go check out this great new tool. It is DEFINITELY worth the time!

Wordle

Wordle Example

I find Wordle to be a great resource for making a collage using text. It is very user friendly and the possibilities are endless! I made a quick Wordle using words that I think of when I reflect on the new resources I have found over the past few weeks. Here's the link to the Wordle I created: Web 2.0 Wordle

Kerpoof

Have your kids check out Kerpoof! It's a fun and interactive site where children can create movies, cards, drawings, and story books all ONLINE! It is very easy to navigate and definitely user friendly. It's free to sign up. Here's just one quick thing I made using the site. It's a picture I threw together real quick to show you a small glimpse at what this website has to offer.

Sqooltube

Another resource I find to be rather useful is Sqooltube. Sqooltube is an online database filled with educational videos from k-12. I use this resource mostly when planning science lessons. This site has all sorts of good clips on it. Sometimes, I will show the Bill Nye videos as part of our review before our tests in science. Videos are a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom and engage students with additional examples of science concepts. Below, you will find the link to the videos on Changes in Matter, the chapter students will be tested on this Thursday.

Physical/ Chemical Changes pt. 1

Physical/ Chemical Changes pt. 2

Physical/ Chemical Changes pt. 3

A Great New Website...

It's Pinterest! By visiting http://pinterest.com/ you will find a great new addition to your already growing set of resources. This site is not necessarily a teaching/educational resource as much as it is a bookmarking/organization resource. This AWESOME site allows users (anyone with a valid email address) to basically "bookmark" or save favorite sites and images to different "pin boards." I would compare pin boards to a virtual file folder or clip board where you can organize your different sites into varying categories. Common pin board categories include: Recipes, For the Home, School, Crafts, Family, etc. I have been on the site, "pinning" tons and tons of new resources. I find this site to be very user friendly and the best part is, when you pin a website, it saves to your account NOT YOUR COMPUTER. This means, I can access my favorite websites/images from any computer with an internet connection. How awesome is that? Please go check out this site and let me hear your feedback on the pros and cons.

Walk-A-Thon

Wow! The Walk-A-Thon was a great success. With the help of our wonderful students and families, Gorrie CRUSHED our goal of $25,000 by raising over $30,000 this year! The monies raised with go towards making Gorrie an even more amazing school than it already is! I wanted to give a special thanks to Melissa Borchard for organizing the event and putting hours and hours of her time in to making it a great day! Also, Cynthia Heil and Pat Ashby for taking time out of their schedules to come in and create our class banner with the kids. Pat also helped get our Little Buddies banner put together as well. I really appreciate our help and support throughout the year!
The weather held up and the kids had a very nice day. Here are some of the pictures I was able to snap.