Wondermind: Your Brain Explained

Wondermind is a wonder-site that was established to investigate the relationship between art and science and how everything that has to do with art or science comes together in that big thinker on your shoulders: Your Brain!

Visitors to the site have the chance to explore the workings of the brain and how it develops as we grow, all in the frame set of Alice in Wonderland.   The entire site is an interactive journey where you can answer questions, play games, and watch videos to learn about the functions of the human brain.  Best of all, it relates complex scientific processes and terms back to the well-known story of Alice in Wonderland, making it all easier to understand.

Wondermind is truly wonderful!

Interact with the Human Body!

Welcome back!  It's time again to start another school year, and I'm sure you are all running around like mad getting everything ready for a perfect start.  With all that running and preparing, you may be wondering if your brain may be about to explode, or your heart may thump out of your chest, or your adrenal glands are working non-stop!  Well, maybe the site I am sharing for today may help you find out a little more about each of these as well as the rest of the human body!  Check out BioDigital Human!

From the site itself, 

"BioDigital Human is a virtual 3D body that brings to life thousands of medically accurate anatomy objects and health conditions in an interactive Web-based platform."

The 3D display is wonderfully interactive!  You can build each system on the skeleton, adding or removing to show just what you need.  Within each system, you can add or remove parts and learn about each organ.  Clicking on an organ will zoom in and display specific information about that part.  And I feel like I should also let you know that this anatomical viewer is 100% anatomically correct...if you get my meaning....just make sure you don't put yourself in an awkward position if you allow students to use this site.

Have a wonderful school year! 

And don't forget that I love your comments and feedback!  Just as a side note, I would ask that if you leave a comment and you share a link in your comment, please type the whole URL, rather than putting text in place of the link.  For example, instead of putting My Blog please put http://thepenguinsslide.blogspot.com instead.  Thank you!

Test Your Google Searching Skills With Gwigle!

UPDATE:  I'm very sad to say that as of today (well, really I've been trying for a week now...), Gwigle seems to be down.  As in, gone from the Internet.  I'm hoping that it may pop up again, so I am leaving this post in the hopes that it could possibly redirect you to a new Gwigle, if one ever emerges.  But for now, our Gwigling days are over. :(

Use Gwigle, the fun online game to improve your Google searching skills!  With each level you progress through, you will learn the ins and outs of doing a proper search --No, it's not always just putting in a word and hitting go!--

Gwigle will teach you about using notation that will help you filter or expand your searches, making them much more effective. The game will show you a Google search screen, with certain key search terms replaced by question marks.  It's up to you to figure out what replaces the ?????

Having trouble answering a question to move on to the next level?  Click on the link to "Show Tips" to read about what search strategy is being displayed. Or, if you still can't get it, I tried Googling some of the results that show, using some of my newly-learned searching skills of course!

Try it out to become a Googling expert today!

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.

Visualize Math On Your IWB With Thinking Blocks

I recently attended a mini workshop on implementing the Common Core in Math. A large portion of the strategies that I learned used manipulatives as modeling and learning tools. This reminded me of a post I read a few months ago on Teachers Love SMART Boards.  In the post, Jim outlines a neat math resource called Thinking Blocks.

Thinking Blocks is a site that offers you virtual manipulatives that you can project, and interact with on your Interactive White Board.  There are specific sections for Addition, Subtraction, Fractions, and Ratios.  Each section allows you to choose examples of varying difficulty as well as watch a video to go along with each example.

Once you are ready to begin solving your own, the program walks you through the steps of the equation, prompting you to place the thinking blocks where they go.  Students can track their progress as well.

If you would like to make your own word problems to solve, there is also a modeling tool section where you are free to type in your own problem and make your own thinking blocks to go with it!

Have fun modeling!

Can You Tell Me The Color of Joy?

The Color Of is a neat little site I stumbled upon a while ago.  All you do is put in a search term, and it generates the color of that term from tagged images on Flickr. The result is an interesting, and not always expected palette of color.  It's just in beta form right now, but I could see this being an interesting art activity...maybe do a search, then print out the resulting color and make a picture from just those scraps of paper.  Maybe even a writing activity, talking about how the color was achieved or how each part of the color represents a different part of the original search term.  Have fun with it!

Here are some of the searches I did:

and of course....

Truly Touching Stories from Ordinary People at StoryCorps

 This website has recently come to my attention and in the short time I've known about it, it has become very near to my heart.  Story Corps offers short recorded stories from real people telling their real stories.  The stories on this site tell everything from pain, to joy, to learning, to loving, and beyond.  They are usually not longer than 4-5 minutes but the amount of feeling and true emotion put into each recording is incredible.

The site also gives other educational resources, including suggestions for interviews and a list of "Great Interview Questions"

Play these for your students, play them for yourself.  Either way, you will not regret listening to these truly touching accounts of pure humanity.


Here's a special sample to help all of you out on a rainy Monday when being a teacher may not seem so glamorous (click here if not showing):

As a side note:   Sorry for taking such a big break from posting!  I'll try to get better at posting more often!

Say what?

Have you ever wondered where some of our figures of speech come from?  I actually do all the time!  I mean, if you really think about it, some of them sound pretty silly; Why would you bury a hatchet in the literal sense?  What does that have to do with ending an argument?

Well, today's website, The Phrase Finder has many of the answers you might be looking for!  The site is a searchable collection of proverbs, American phrases, phrases coined by Shakespeare, nautical phrases, and phrases from the Bible.  Search or browse for any idiom or expression and find the historical origins of the common saying.

And by the way, "burying the hatchet" comes form a Native American custom of literally burying a hatchet as a way to make peace.  It was a symbolic motion that removed a symbol of war so it would never be seen again, hence promising peaceful relations.

Timetoast

Timelines seem like an essential part of any history lesson.  Reading and creating timelines is a skill all students should practice, so I would like to share an online option for doing so:  Timetoast!  Timetoast is a website where you can browse for or create your own digital timelines.  Creating an account is required to make your own timelines, but doing so is free!

If you would just like to browse an account is not necessary and you can search for a specific term, or look through categories to find the timeline to fit your needs.  Timelines that are available for viewing on the site are made by other users....so be sure to look them over carefully for accuracy before sharing them with students.

If you can't find one that works, try making one!  Creating a time line is easy!  Simply click to add an event, put in the date, add a title, and a description, and even add a picture if your would like.  The time span is automatically put in for you as you build your timeline.  Click here to see a timeline I made in about 5 minutes.

Once you have found a timeline or made your own, you can link to them, or embed them in your website.  Below is an example timeline I found about the life of Steve Jobs:

Happy timelining!

This.......Is.......Jeopardy Labs!!

Everyone loves a good Jeopardy review game!  And, I've seen them come in all forms....from overhead projector transparencies, to poster board, to game consoles, to SMART Notebook templates, and beyond.  Here is another to add to your repertoire!

Jeopardy Labs is an online resource for creating your very own Jeopardy templates.  It's very easy to type in your own answers and questions in the editor.  The site even allows you to save your template with a password so you can come back to edit it at another time.  You do not need to create an account to use the site, since each game created gets it's own URL address.  However, creating an account is a possibility for (what I am assuming is) a one-time price of at least $20.00.  An account allows you to see a list of all your created templates, control privacy settings on your templates, and delete templates.

Once you've finished creating your template, you can play the game with up to 12 teams, and even keep track of the score and used Answer clues right in your web browser.....or download it and play it from a Flash player on your computer, no Internet needed!

If you're not in the mood to create your own Jeopardy game, you can browse for games created by others and use them as-is or tweak them to fit your needs.

Check out this 8th Grade Science Vocab Game that I found and modified:
http://jeopardylabs.com/play/8th-grade-science-vocabulary2


Oh, and the theme song is NOT included. For those of you who would like to download it from televisiontunes.com click -----> HERE   :)

Storyline Online, stories from the stars!

Looking for an extra addition to that book you're reading to your K-2 students? Check out Storyline Online! This site is offered by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation and brings video of your favorite actors reading childrens' books for free!

Check out Ernest Borgnine (The Dirty Dozen ....or to the kids, the voice of Mermaid Man on Spongebob Squarepants) reading Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, or watch Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings) read A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon, or watch my personal favorite, Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion, read by Betty White!

The stories also show the illustrations in the books that are accompanied by some animation.  You can also look for suggested activities to go with each book.

Check out the site today to see if the book you are reading is in the list!

Welcome back! Let's kick it off with Daily Infographic.

Hello and welcome back everyone!  The first week of school is just about over!  I won't go on to tell you how many are left....but just know that it's going to be a GREAT year!

I wanted to post about a neat site I found just a few days ago: Daily Infographic.

So, what is an infographic, exactly?  Well, Information Graphics are simply visualizations of some form of data or knowledge.  It can be the results of a survey, a how-to method, or some other set of information.  The graphic part makes the info easily followed and pretty.

Daily Infographic publishes an infographic, found from the web, every weekday.  The topics vary greatly, but they are always jam packed with great information.  If you find one that relates to your lesson (and yes, the collection is searchable and "browse-able" by category!) you could literally take a whole class period to scroll through and discuss what's shown.

Here is an interesting example about jobs for recent grads...something to show seniors, maybe?
Click on it to enlarge:

Check out the site and even follow it to stay updated on the newest Infographic each day!

Another School Year Done

Well, it looks as if we have come to the end of another year.  I hope everyone had a great one!    I won't be writing any blog entries over the summer, but as we both have to admit, September will be here before we know it, and I'll be back to write about all those great tools out there for you to use with your new classes!  So, take some time in the next few weeks to enjoy the weather and relax a little!  Happy Summer!!

~Amber

Did you Know About Gmail +1?

A lot of the sites I feature require a log in and or registering with an email.  I know that this can be a dangerous area for many school districts due to the legal issues associated with school-sponsored emails, cyberbullying, etc.  So today I wanted to share one of the solutions to this problem that I use.

If you want your students to sign up for a Web 2.0 site such as Animoto, Prezi, Toon Doo, etc, you can sign up for a free Gmail account.  If you sign up for a Gmail account, say penguinsslide@gmail.com [NOT ACTUAL EMAIL!...At least, not an email where you can contact me], you automatically get access to a plus-one feature.  This means that you can use your Gmail account as many different email accounts, simply by adding "+1".  For example: penguinsslide+1@gmail.com is seen as a different email from penguinsslide+2@gmail.com.

You could assign a different +number to each student in your class so they could each have "their own" email!

The best part about all this is that while each email with a different +number is seen as individual, all emails sent to that address get sent to the main email: penguinsslide@gmail.com.  You, being the only one with the password to the account, are the only one able to check the email.  While this makes for quite a few emails to check for account activation, it ensures that your students are not getting any inappropriate email.

Try it out and leave me a comment to let me know what you think!  If you have any questions, just email me!