Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 10/21/16

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my PLN. As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!

Note: Each resource is labeled with a level and subject area to make it easier to use.

Levels:  E: Elementary; M: Middle; H: High; G: General, all levels; SN: Special Needs; T: Teachers

Subject Areas: LA: Language Arts, English, Reading, Writing; M: Math; S: Science; Health; SS: Social Studies, Current Events; FA: Fine Arts; Music, Art, Drama; FL: Foreign Language; PE: Physical Ed; C: Career; A: All

Who Wants Pizza? – “The "Want Some Pizza?" activities are designed to introduce fractions in a concept-building way. The activities can be done on computers with Internet access with square grid paper printed out and used along with the electronic images. On the "More Practice" pages, students color online on a square grid. An effective model is for pairs of students to work together at the computer talking to each other about the activities and drawing the fractions on the grid paper. One advantage of using grid paper over other fraction modeling manipulatives (fraction bars or pattern blocks, etc.) is that any denominator can be easily modeled with grid paper.” (L:E,M; SA:M)

Math Playground – fun math games for K-8 students

ToonyTool – “ToonyTool.com is a free online cartoon maker and comic creator tool: Create and share your own cartoons, comics and memes online for free. Choose a background or upload your own background. Add your own or our characters en choose from our text clouds. You can also add Meme texts or props. Download, print or email the resulting cartoon or save it online and share it on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.” (L:T; SA:A)

Visual Fractions – “The purpose of Visual Fractions is to picture fractions and the operations on them.” (L:E,M; SA:M)

Google CS First – “Each CS First club is based on a real-world theme and offers about 10 hours worth of lessons and activities. The different club themes aim to attract and engage students of varying backgrounds and interests. All materials are targeted at students in 4th - 8th grades (or between the ages of 9 - 14) and are free and easy to use.” (L:E,M; SA:A)

Original photo by Pat Hensley