Pinterest in the classroom? Absolutely! Pinterest is an online bulletin board where you can keep track of internet ideas and sources under specific categories or boards that you create. Like me, my students enjoy Pinterest so I thought why not…
It’s hard to escape the children’s toy lesson without addressing the prevalence of Apps for Smart phones and tablets as the new toys for toddlers. Give it just a couple of years and this lesson will be obsolete as the students you’ll be teaching grew up playing more with Apps than physical toys and they will have no idea why that may be a problem. Regardless of your bias, we need to teach tomorrow’s child care workers & parents how to evaluate Apps that are good for children from the ones that are fluff.
This project encourages students to write their own children’s book using the STORYBIRD free website. They don’t even have to be artistic as templates from a variety of artists are available for use. After they write their book they create a VOKI to encourage others to read it. VOKI is also a free website where student create a talking avatar. Students can create books on any themes or you can assign a specific theme. The possibilities are limitless.
Tired of messy physical posters? Introducing Glogs–virtual, interactive posters that don’t take up physical space and are a blast to create. Use this new virtual poster technology with any subject! This lesson is a fast, fun way to teach students about sandwiches and incorporate technology all at the same time!
Good, free educational technology is a great thing. Create a private Facebook-like community for your specific class. It’s free to sign up and easy to use especially if you have used Facebook before. Keep your class engaged in learning beyond the classroom.
This is an investigative project for students to research specific food borne illnesses in more depth and then visually showcase them through Animoto, a free site that turns photos and video clips into professional video slideshows in minutes.
Teaching personal finance can be a challenge especially if you have all the old, outdated resources that emphasis doing just about all your budgeting, check writing, goal setting, etc on paper. Students start the eye roll as soon as you hand out the “how to write a check” worksheet. Granted, they should know how to fill out a check even if they only use their debit card now. The world is changing and we want students to be turned on to being good financial stewards. This means we need to help them find technologically advanced ways to keep track of their spending, budget, and set goals. One of my personal favorite free personal finance websites is Mint.com.
With so many things needing pictures these days, I thought many of you would appreciate a place to get free clip art. These are some of the best photo and image sites. Use clip art to enhance your PowerPoints, website, and worksheets!
We have come to a critical place as educators–to embrace technology or try to beat it down by forcing kids to keep it in their lockers or not bring it to school. While technology should not distract from learning it can enhance it if we let it. Here are some Apple App’s to aide in teaching Family Consumer Sciences.
Cross “journal” off your list of school supplies -the world’s going paperless and so should you and your classroom! The newest way to journal is online. Online journaling has been around for a while but Penzu is a little different…
