Literature Map

I've said it once. and I'll say it again, I love ilearntechnology!  I always find something to whet my whistle.

What I learned today:  Literature Map is cool!  Put in an author's name and voila! a magical web of new authors' names appear. Here is the one I created for Jenny Han. In her informative post, Kelly describes how teachers might utilize this resource in the classroom.  Literature Map kind of reminds me of the Book Seer, a site that provides a reading list based on the book you just finished.   

Carrot Sticks

As far as bloggers go, I'm pretty much a newbie. I'm still learning the ins and outs of the blogging world. Luckily, there are some amazing sites out there that I can look to for inspiration. I've mentioned ilearntechnology before, and thanks to Kelly's alliance, I've found some other awesome blogs to follow, like freetech4teachers.com.

Both of these blogs regularly highlight technology resources, and both blogs have featured CarrotSticks.


CarrotSticks is an online multiplayer game that encourages K - 5th graders to practice their math computation skills.

I love how students are given the option of practicing alone or going head to head against an opponent. Another cool thing is that problems get more challenging as you play. When I was there, I accepted a challenge from another person and was surprised to get a three digit addition problem. (I'm embarrassed to admit that I lost!)

I'm so happy to be able to pass on this little tip: Teachers can get a classroom account for FREE by emailing support@carrotsticks.com.

No Pulling Hair!

Last week I received this email from a teacher:

"I am really struggling with writing. I want to pull out my hair!!!! We have been practicing writing prompts and they are really needing work on word choice. Do you have any lesson suggestions? I am so burnt out trying to find ideas I could cry."

Boy, do I feel her pain. As a classroom teacher, I, too, wanted to provide meaningful and engaging activites for my students, but there never seemed to be enough time to search for them!

Now as an instructional coach, it is my job to help teachers find books, websites, and other resources that create positive learning experiences for students, and I must say, I love the challenge!

I know Halloween is long gone, but really, do kids ever get tired of monsters? The Monster Exchange Project encourages the development of reading and writing skills while integrating technology. Here's how it works: Classrooms are paired together. The students in each class draw then write a description of a monster. The students then exchange their descriptions via e-mail. Using only the written description of the monster, the students must use their comprehension skills to try to redraw it as close to the original picture as possible. Both the new and original drawings are posted online to compare.

A couple of years ago, when I was looking for a lesson for Camp Write-A-Way I discovered Writing Fix. There is a wealth of information and lesson ideas on this site. I ended up doing Sausage Sentences,

which the students loved!

Story Starters from Scholastic is another great resource. What could be more fun that using a slot machine to help create a story? It is very similar to a RAFT. A teacher's guide to this resource can be found here.

ilearntechnolgy (winner of the 2009 Best Educational Tech and Support Blog...Yay!) has many ideas for integrating technology and writing. StoryBird is a recommended site that offers "collaborative storytelling for families and friends." I also like Telescopic Text. We always say to students, "Show, don't tell." When you click on the highlighted portions and the sentence expands with descriptive words, students will finally understand what we're talking about!

I also want to mention one of my all-time favorites, ReadWriteThink. There are hundreds of lesson plans, and the online student tools are fantastic. It's impossible to leave ReadWriteThink without a great idea.

I'm still on the hunt for more great ideas, but I hope these will keep the teacher from pulling out any hair (at least for a little while.)

I found gold!

Sometimes surfing the internet can seem like panning for gold. You spend hours and hours looking for something worthwhile, but more often than not, you come up empty.

However, if you keep at it long enough, you eventually find some little piece worth keeping. If you are very lucky, you discover a huge nugget!

That's what happened to me about a month ago. I was searching for some differentiation sites to share with teachers, and I found ilearntechnology.

ilearntechnology 's creator, Kelly Tenkely, teaches 3-5 technology and is a technology integration specialist and instructional coach for elementary teachers. Kelly finds and shares wonderful online resources and expertly explains how they might be used in the classroom. Whenever I visit, I always find something that I can use the next day.

I was excited to hear that Kelly had nominated for a 2009 edublog award . I encourage everyone to visit ilearntechnology then vote for this gold nugget here.