Educational Software Blog

Zuitube has one of the largest free collections of videos for kids on the internet. Videos are something students love to watch. From reinforcing lessons to supplemental learning material, videos can be used in classrooms.

With this site, you don't have to worry about finding kid-friendly videos because they are all appropriate for children. Since the videos have been reviewed by parents and teachers, you can be sure that the 60,000 videos are suitable for your classroom! You can search for certain topics, categories and channels. Channels allow you to watch videos in "play all" mode. This allows kids to watch all the videos within a channel without interruption.

Zuitube is great for all school grade levels. Since it is free, there is no login or sign up required. With a variety of topics and suggested videos, this kid-friendly site would be a great tool for the classroom. You can also browse the most viewed, newest, most shared and most tagged videos all on the home page. Silly Songs and New Music are also great videos for sing-a-longs. Kids in KidZui can rate videos with 25 unique emotion tags to express their opinion. The tags page in ZuiTube helps kids find new videos by tagged emotions. They can browse videos by such tags like "cute," "awesome" and "weird." The tags page will show videos under each tag from the last 24 hours.

Presentation of content is graphical so kids who are learning to read can utilize the site.Teachers can use Zuitube to introduce or supplement lessons, to enhance blogs or websites, as a listening and comprehension tool and so much more!

Free Teacher Resources including Math Games by Learning Today

With the use of computers, pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, has been calculated to over 1 trillion digits past the decimal. Pi is an irrational number, which means it will continue infinitely without repeating. Pi is equal to about 3.1415926535...

We often estimate pi in elementary classrooms to be about 3.14. As such, Pi Day is celebrated annually on March 14, in accordance with Einstein's birthday, by math enthusiasts around the world.

Pi Day falls on a Sunday this year, but you can still incorporate fun Pi Day festivities in your classroom. Students of all ages love celebrating the magic of numbers. There are many ways to incorporate the event into your curriculum.

Pi Bee

Every year my fourth and fifth grade students participate in a Pi Bee. The students have one day, night, or weekend to memorize as many digits of pi as they can. You will be amazed at how many digits of Pi your students will memorize. Last year's winner memorized 89 digits of pi in one morning!

The winner received a large pie to take home to their families and a ribbon. Students get engaged and motivated about the beauty and magic of numbers and still talk about pi day, years after. To introduce the Pi Bee I start off with the video below.

Links for an excellent Pi Day Celebration: 

• 10,000 Digits of Pi
• Circumference and The Dragon of Pi Read Aloud and Lesson Plan
  
• Pi Day Exploratorium
• Free Pi Day poster
• Pi Day e-cards

Sometimes learning vocabulary can be tough for students who are more of a visual learner. Weboword is a great tool for those students who prefer learning through images.

Great visual aids are important when learning the actual meaning behind words. Weboword is a visual vocabulary tool that gives students pictures to go along with vocabulary terms. These pictures are important in helping students build stories in their minds, that way remembering the terms.

Each word in the dictionary is accompanied by a sketch of the word, the definition, the history of the word, the pronunciation and a situational use of the word. There is a new vocabulary term featured on the home page each day. The vocabulary page has past words for reviewing purposes. There are also crossword puzzles that are based on the featured terms.

Weboword is a great tool for helping struggling readers improve their skills. By simply working with one vocabulary term a day, teachers can help improve students' word fluency and reading skills. This tool can be used on interactive whiteboards with whole class instruction or to inspire students to create their own sketches for certain vocabulary words.

The sketches are great because they look just like a sketch that any student would draw. This different way of learning vocabulary will offer students an opportunity to challenge their minds. By breaking away from traditional word lists and flashcards, students can relate to the images presented to them, that way making a better connection to the words.

Reading Curriculum and Reading Games by Learning Today

Last week, I posted a video inspiring educators to incorporate technology in their classrooms. This week, I came across the video below with a similar message, but a slightly different approach. Whether or not you agree or disagree with Dan Brown's approach, his edgy call to action has been effective in opening communication about the future of education in the information age. While Dan's video is focused on higher education, it can serve as a springboard for discussing the future of k-12 schools in the information age.

An Open Letter to Educators by Dan Brown

"Institutional education needs to do more than adopt a few new tools!"

Dan argues that information has been liberated, and as a result, is now free for all to acquire. In the information revolution every enterprise and institution has had to reinvent itself, but what has education successfully and consistently accomplished? He urges, "Institutional education needs to do more than adopt a few new tools." Teaching facts is not adequately preparing students for the real world. He calls for an education that empowers students to be creative and develop new ideas to change the world for the better. He insists that if education does not reinvent itself for today's society, the world will not need it anymore.

Dissenters argue that education is more than finding information on the internet. It should be about synthesizing and applying information in creative and purposeful ways. I think Dan Brown and educators all over the world can agree that we need to continue moving forward to ensure that our students are prepared to meet the challenges of the future with fresh, new ideas.

The question is how can we adequately and timely prepare our schools and teachers for this shift in paradigm? And most importantly, how can we ensure that all students in this nation receive access to this excellent education? What are your schools doing to make learning relevant and empower students in the information age?

Free Teacher Resources by Learning Today 

Subject: Reading

Subskill: Reading Comprehension

Concept: Literary Elements

Grade Level: Middle Elementary

"I am in love with a young girl from my tribe, but I am not allowed to speak with her because I am poor. I have nothing to offer her or her family," he answered.

"Hmm," said the woodpecker, "I might be able to help you." He began pecking holes, tap, tap, tap, into a hollow tree branch. Soon the branch broke off and fell to the ground. As the young man picked it up, a soft wind blew over the branch. Out came beautiful music!

Surprised and delighted, the young man picked up the branch and blew into one end of it. The sound touched his heart. Then he put his fingers over the holes and blew into it again. This time all his feelings came out in musical notes. The sounds were so beautiful that birds from all over the forest came by to listen. Soon the tree was filled with birds. The young man practiced into the night until he fell asleep under the tree.Early the next morning, he woke up feeling happy. "Thank you for this wonderful gift, Woodpecker. I shall play my new music to the tribe, and they will see I have much to offer."

Many birds followed the young man as he walked back toward the tribe playing his music. When the girl he loved saw him sitting outside her tent making his music, she immediately fell in love with him, too.

"I have nothing to offer you but the song in my heart," said the young man.

"You are richest of all men in the tribe," said the girl, "for you are rich in spirit."

The girl's family gave their blessing, and the couple soon married. From that day on, the young man became known as "Flute Boy."

Here are some questions to ask after listening to the story:

What was the young man's problem at the beginning of the story?

How did the woodpecker help solve the young man's problem?

What is the theme of the story?

Why do you think the author wrote this story?

Reading Curriculum and Reading Games by Learning Today

About us: a peek inside Storybird on Storybird

Storybird is a free online service for families, friends, teachers, and students to collaborate in creating short, visual stories together that can easily be shared, embedded or printed. The website provides fun and simple tools to make short, visual stories in a user-friendly and kid-friendly environment.

You can search by artwork or theme to begin.  Stories can be written by one person or two or more people in a round robin fashion and can be shared privately or publicly. Publishing with Storybird is "global, viral, and instantaneous" which provides extra motivation for young authors and artists.

To begin, start a Storybird by writing a few words or dragging and dropping a few images from the digital desktop. The next person - sitting side-by-side or across the world, can take their turn, adding words and pictures. Collaboration continues until the story is ready to share and publish. If the story is public, users can comment on the story, share with friends, or embed on their website.

How can Storybird benefit my classroom?

The original purpose of Storybird was to reconnect families in storytelling, even families miles apart have the opportunity to read, write, or share stories together. In the eyes of an educator, Storybird is also an amazing tool for motivating young authors by providing an audience for storytelling, a platform for publishing, and an interactive and exciting venue for collaboration.Teacherscan use Storybird for independent or collaborative story creation in Writer's Workshop and as a library of kid-friendly, visual literature to use for read alouds, reader's workshop, etc.

The website says it best, "Storybird promotes imagination, literacy, and self-confidence. Kids who play with words and pictures early in life tend to score higher in cognitive and aptitude tests later on. They read and draw more, and are better able to understand concepts and ideas. Plus, they become comfortable with the act of creation: turning nothing into something. In an idea-based society, that's a key advantage."

How can I get started?

Storybird Quick Tour from Storybird on Vimeo.

Free Stories for Kids and Reading Games by Learning Today

Kids and games. A combination of things that will always work.

With all the websites out there, teachers and parents are often looking for a safe and fun place they can let their children visit. At Jimmi Rocks, Under the Sea Adventures, you can find plenty of interactive and educational fun and games for students.

On this vivid underwater themed site, students can navigate through this virtual world while learning facts about sea animals, creating their own art, playing interactive games and communicating with others while they earn points to decorate their very own underwater world!

When a parent or teacher registers for the site, they get access to accept and request other members, limit the amount of time their children are allowed to spend on games, set the chat to be open or not and monitor the children's activities, all for free. If you want a premium membership, you also have the option to upgrade your account.

Through the activities, students get to develop literacy skills, inspire creativity, learn decision making skills and knowledge about sea creatures. Jimi Rock, a dolphin, will be your guide as you travel through the site. Each place you visit on the site is also a book that you can read along with.

Activities that students may participate include designing their own underwater character, learning about sea creatures, painting a picture of a sea, visiting dive sites, taking a quiz about these sites, writing messages in a bottle and much more!

This site is great for elementary age students, especially when you are teaching about the ocean and using underwater themes. With activities ranging in science, literacy and art, students will be engaged and learning!

Free Teacher Resources by Learning Today

http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html

If you are an educator, you know what it is like to search frantically for lima beans and spray paint on a Sunday afternoon or to call every school in your district searching for a complete set of geoboards on a Tuesday morning. Manipulatives are often few and far between and sometimes require an art degree to create on your own. Thankfully, with a computer, an internet connection, and a java-enabled browser, these priceless tools are now at your fingertips.

The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (NLVM), started in 1999, serves as a virtual library of interactive, web-based virtual manipulatives for mathematics instruction. NLVM offers manipulatives in Number and Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, and Data Analysis and Probability. It is organized by strand and grade level for quick and easy searches.

The library is comprehensive including hundreds of resources for every subject, concept, and skill. Teachers can use NLVM in their classrooms on interactive whiteboards, projectors, or in computer labs to enhance their mathematics classroom and actively engage students. The manipulatives help students visualize mathematics relationships and concepts. To view the manipulatives you only need a computer with an internet connection and a java-enabled browser.

The KidsKnowIt Network is a website that started as an elementary teacher's classroom site. The ultimate goal of this site is to offer tools that can be used for teaching - for free.

Sometimes student have a lot of free time. Instead of spending it watching television or doing unproductive activities, this site serves as a portal for educational fun. The site provides free access to tons of educational tools. With the help of real teaches, mothers and volunteers, this site is always updated with new features and material. Teachers and parents have also spent time helping develop new projects and material to ensure that the site is age appropriate.

You can search the site for resources in topics like Astronomy, Biology, Geography, Geology, Math, Memory and Spelling. There are featured historical quotes, facts and lessons all on the home page. Free interactive games are a popular item on the site, too. St. Pat's Math Adventure Game, just in time for St. Patrick's Day, is a popular math game. In this fun adventure, both math skills and video game play skills are presented. In the world of St. Patricus, you are a villager that must help recover the stolen flags. To remove the evil spell you must solve the math riddles that are presented.

Free educational movies cover a variety of topics. Each movie ends with an interactive online quiz and new movies are added weekly. These are great for reinforcement after teaching lessons.

Fun and educational games, activities, worksheets, free online classes, and much more are all offered here to help make learning fun.

The owner of the site believes that great education should be fun and free and should not be restricted to only those who can afford it. With the power of the Internet, anyone can access these resources. This site definitely lives up to its mission.

Free Teacher Resources by Learning Today

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

A Vision of 21st Century Teachers

The question is, outside of funding, how can we best support, challenge, and enable teachers to incorporate the use of technology in their classrooms? Please share!

Free Teacher Resources by Learning Today