Primary fun with ABC Mouse!

I was looking through my posts the other day and I realized that I really don't have that many resources for Pre-K and K teachers!  Luckily, I had this little gem of a website on standby!

ABC Mouse is a great resource that is FREE for public school teachers! (Click here to sign up for the free public school account) Using this site you can set up a single teacher account with the option of setting up accounts for each of your students.  For each account you set up, you can choose the level at which that student functions.  Choosing the level sets it up so that the students is only able to choose activities that apply to their level.  The student will eventually level up as he/she makes progress on their current level by completing the outlined activities.

There are over 2,000 activities for your students to complete, either by exploring the general classroom, or by following the outlined lesson activities to progress to the next level.  Available activities have a strong focus on reading, but also include math, music, art, and beginning social/science.  As each activity is completed, students are rewarded with tickets that they can save up to buy things for their avatar or classroom.

 

Documentary Heaven

As you may know from previous posts, I am a big fan of documentaries.  I think these types of films are wonderful for education because of how they focus on a certain topic to convey facts and/or opinions.  They can be wonderful debate starters, eye-openers, etc.

Documentary Heaven is a portal for finding documentaries that have been posted online.  Use this site to search through subjects, or by keyword to find a film that fits your lesson.  There are over 2100 videos to search!  I found a neat science video about important astronomical discoveries, hosted by Bill Nye.  Click here to watch it!

None of the videos are hosted by the site, meaning that they may be Vimeo, YouTube, or some other video site, but they are all collected here for easy searching and viewing.  However, this does mean that if your district blocks YouTube, you will not be able to watch some of the videos.

I also want to caution you that there may be some inappropriate or controversial videos featured on the site, so make sure you check it over carefully before displaying anything to your students.