Top 10 Ideas to Dive Deeper Into Technology and to Model Lifelong Learning
by Cameron McKinley

Use these sites and ideas for exploration, communication, evaluation, and skill building. Please make sure to be with your students when they are using the Internet. Also, some sites have advertising so always check sites for appropriateness before using with students.

1. Go online for Math

Try these online manipulatives: http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html You can provide your class with an online geoboard and much more. Ttry it and see! Or try this site: http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/ where you will find online pattern generators, estimation activities and more.You'll find more activities on the K-5 grade level pages. Go to this site and click your grade level: http://www.quia.com/pages/labs.html

2. Go online for Language Arts

Language Arts Ideas Online-Visit my site with resources by Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) categories:

http://www.quia.com/pages/readingresources.html You'll find a link to online stories. http://www.quia.com/pages/onlinestories.html Try Storyline Online, where each story is read by a screen actors guild member and has lesson activity ideas for all levels. http://www.storylineonline.net/

Or try the Read Write Think activities online-Students can learn and do online. http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/index.asp

3. Go online to communicate through wikis, podcasts, and photo sharing

http://www6.miami.edu/bb/iac/LnL200701/wikiway/ . The handout to go with the webcast is here: http://www6.miami.edu/bb/iac/LnL200701/wikiway/handout.pdf or just dive in and set up your own free wiki. Wikspaces.com is offering free, no advertising wiki space online for educators. You will find easy to follow tutorials on the site to help you get started. Once you are set up, you and your students and/or parents can collaborate online! Go to this link to sign up: http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers100K

More about wikis: http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/sites/sites079.shtml

You can even have your students add to one of the biggest wikis around, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia! http://www.wikipedia.org/

4. Use Google Earth

You can download Google Earth for free here: http://earth.google.com/ Use the tools menu and measure distances or objects. Go deeper by watching an online tutorial about using Google Earth here:(Requires a password: Discovery)

https://discoveryed.webex.com/discoveryed/k2/tool/record/recordinginfo.php?RecordID=10111647

5. Scrapblog the Past, Present, or Future

Have students create a scrapblog as if they lived in another time in history and have others comment online: www.scrapblog.com Set up a scrapblog of your own. Use it to take your students to the resources you want them to see online. See a sample scrapblog here with comments from teachers on how they might use it in their classroom: http://camruns.scrapblog.com/school

6. Go digital with United Streaming digital content

Enjoy free video content for your students at http://www.unitedstreaming.com

Educators gain on-demand access to 50,000 content-specific segments from 5,000 full-length educational videos.

7. Go Online for Science

Have students try one of these interactive science sites: http://www.fossweb.com/index.php or http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/index_flash.shtml

Or try the online microscope here: http://www.open2.net/science/microscope/

8. Get students problem solving with free software

Teach yourself how to use a new program or get a student to learn it and teach the class.

Get students thinking by downloading these free programs to prepare them to think, problem solve and evaluate:

Create your own 3D model with this free software: http://sketchup.google.com/ or for younger students, try this free online Lego building program,: http://web.telia.com/~u16122508/proglego.htm

9. Learn Evaluation skills and Internet Safety

Make sure you discuss with your students how to evaluate web content. Here is an online form you can use to rate sites. http://www.ncwiseowl.org/kscope/Hovercraft/InfoSkills/KnowFlow/Evaluation/website_eval.htm

Explore the PBS site called Don't Buy It http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/ and have students create their own ad so they will better understand how anyone can say anything http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/advertisingtricks/createyourownad_flash.html

Help yourself and your students learn better searching techniques here, to ensure they find helpful information: http://webquest.sdsu.edu/searching/fournets.htm

And keep kids safe by using the resources on these sites: http://www.netsmartz.org/educators.htm and http://www.isafe.org

10. Explore

Find an online activity for your students. Choose your grade level in the white box. There are links for each grade K-5 organized by subject. www.quia.com/pages/labs.html