Category Archives: Technology Tuesday
Technology Tuesday 5
I attended a summer retreat this past weekend for past and current Armstrong Educators. One of the new Armstrong Educators was very good at keeping us on track with this website that allows you to set different timers. 🙂
It’s called Online Stopwatch and it’s free to use and the different timers are so fun!
There are basic timers like an hour glass and a clock:
And then there are some fun ones like the candle, rocket and even snails racing! 🙂
You can use these on your Interactive White Board or on a tv screen that’s hooked up to a computer. They make fun little noises when time is up and they make the kids laugh! 🙂
Also, stay tuned…later this week, fun things will be happening on my Kristen’s Kindergarten Facebook page. You’ll have to “Like” my page to see the fun, so be sure to do that before Thursday (hint, hint!).
Kristen 😉
Technology Tuesday 4
I’ve posted about this site before, but Sesame Street just keeps adding new games, and I keep loving them! Here are some new favorites as well as some older ones! 🙂
When you first go to SesameStreet.org, you will see this page. To get to the games, click on the blue games button at the top.
Then, this screen comes up. You can click on any of the games to get started. If you’re looking for a specific game, click on one and then on the next page you can search for it.
You can click on the character selector wheel at the left to pick a different game to play. This is a picture of Bert’s Bottlecaps (a GREAT game for sorting by more than one attribute!) I also like how the parent/teacher directions/ideas are written to the right so that they know what’s going on if they miss the directions. The extension ideas are awesome! This one tells parents to have their child sort the laundry to keep practicing this skill.
This game is a new one. It’s a word building game and my most favorite thing about it, is that the children cannot click on the first letter of the word until they listen to Bert and Ernie talk about the words. It cuts down on the kids clicking at random letters and gives them time to think as they hear the word being said.
We play lots of the sorting games on Sesamestreet.org. We really like the “Elmo’s Laundry” game and “Bert’s Bottlecaps”.
Here is a picture of Elmo’s Laundry. Elmo gives the kids a description of how to sort the laundry (it keeps getting more difficult each round they play). It might say “pants with white stripes” and the kids tap the laundry that matches that description. It falls into Elmo’s laundry basket and then they tap the next one. It starts out with underwear, so they all get a kick out of that! 🙂 See the tiny green button just to the right of the laundry game? If you tap/click that, it will make the game screen larger, helping us to reach on the Promethean Board. This game has been bookmarked on my student computers so they can all play it there during Math Work Stations.
Here is “Bert’s Bottlecaps”. The kids have to sort Bert’s bottlecaps based on the attributes he gives them. This one was red objects on the left, animals on the right, and red animals in the middle. This one is a little bit harder, but once the kids catch on, they really do well!
I also like that it’s free and there are no ads that pop up on this site! 🙂
Kristen 🙂
Technology Tuesday 3
One of the things I love most about Microsoft Word is that you can do so many things with it besides just typing papers. 🙂
I found this great tutorial showing how to make labels using Word.
It really is very easy to make your own labels and signs for your classroom!
Don’t have all these cute fonts?
Check out dafont.com
and Kevin & Amanda for lots of cute FREE fonts. 🙂
Kristen 🙂
Technology Tuesday 2
My friend Steve just told me about this awesome app that will allow you to use your iPad/iPhone device to run your computer from anywhere in your classroom–no wires!! Steve uses it to control his Promethean Board while walking around his classroom.
It’s called Reflector.
The really neat part is that he can use his camera on his iPad/iPhone as a document camera while he is walking around his classroom. He can show any student’s work in the classroom as he is walking around! COOL!!
The app costs $12.99 (USD) and I think I’m going to jump in and take the plunge!
Kristen 🙂
Technology Tuesday
I wanted to share with you a new app I’ve been using to organize my books at school.
It’s called BooksApp2 and it’s free in the iTunes App store
I’ve been using it to scan the ISBN numbers on the back of my books and I can organize them by series, author, genre, or lots of other ways.
You can even keep track of who you have loaned books out to!