Tag: teacher tools

3-12, Art, Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Math, Multiple Intelligences, Music, Science, Teaching Tools, Videos

Fibonacci

Terri Eichholz

The mysterious Fibonacci pattern can be a great way to hook students into both math and science. Here is a fun video from YouTube that shows the connection, and a link to some Fibonacci lesson plans integrating music.

Direct YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahXIMUkSXX0

Education, Teaching Tools

My Favorite Teacher Tools

Terri Eichholz
Many schools are out for the next two weeks, which gives teachers the opportunity to catch up on their personal lives.  Sometimes, though, teachers like to use this time for planning.  As the number of subscribers to this blog climbs, I am aware that many of you may not have had time to read all of the posts, or might have missed some of the earlier suggestions.  So, I thought this might be a good time of year to summarize and emphasize some of the most valuable resources I have reviewed so far.  Today, I would like to offer my Favorite Teacher Tools:
#3 – Thinkfinity:  This site is a great place to look for quality, standards-based lessons in a variety of subjects.  Many of the lessons are linked to free online printables or interactives that will enhance your own prepared lessons.
#2 – Extend-A-Menu:  This tool is invaluable for any teacher who would like to differentiate by using menus.  By selecting from his or her own online menus, the teacher can create a printable task sheet for any number of topics.  (If you do not want to purchase it, you can use the demo option at the top.)
#1 – Triptico:  Download this tool to your desktop, and you will be amazed at the ease in which you can incorporate it into your daily routines.  Once you load a class list, it will select teams for you, randomly choose names, create word magnets (with 42 different backgrounds to choose from; it’s great for an interactive board!) and many other really neat tasks.  It is very user-friendly, and the students love it.
Here are links to my posts on each of the above in case you would like to read more about them (the above links will take you directly to the sites for each resource):  Thinkfinity, Extend-A-Menu, Triptico
Apps, K-5, Research, Student Products, Teaching Tools, Videos, Websites

BrainPop’s GameUp

Terri Eichholz

Many educators already know about BrainPop, a subscription site that offers animated videos on a variety of educational topics.  It includes quizzes and downloadable handouts, as well as ideas for lessons.  BrainPop is also available as a free app for iOS.  For free, one can watch select videos.  Recently, BrainPop also made their subscription videos available with this app, so you can log in to that as well on your iDevice.  The new feature some of you may not know about, however, is “Game Up“, which is the BrainPop games area.  Partnering with a few other websites, BrainPop is continuing to add interactive games which tie in to their videos.  They are also offering resources for students and teachers to develop their own games.

Bloom's Taxonomy, K-5, Teaching Tools, Websites

Stump the Professor

Terri Eichholz

“Stump the Professor” is one of several free downloads available from The Positive Engagement Project, a site that “is equipped with a variety of tools for teachers to get their students positively engaged in active learning.”  The free downloads are all thorough activity packets designed to help with engaging students.  Each packet that I reviewed included explanations, examples, and templates.  “Stump the Professor” detailed a review game in which students design the questions.  Another one that I liked was “True and False – Three Points of Proof”.  In this activity, the students are given the answers to questions from reading passages, and then must prove why the answers are correct and the other alternatives are not.  Teachers can also find activities for math and character education on the site.