Here's a handy resource to help you start the new year off right. Scholastic's Daily Starters provide a new language problem, math problem, and fun fact for each day of the week.
Activities for Pre-K through 8th grade are provided.
Here are some sample activities:
3-5 Language
1-2 Math
Each page also includes a Teacher view and Student view option. The teacher view option includes answer reveals for the problems.
Hope your new year is off to a fabulous start!
Lexipedia is a site designed to visually show relationships between words.
Simply type in a word. I used the word impact, which is a vocabulary word my fifth graders study.
You will then see a web of interconnected words. The colored dots signify parts of speech.
The left side of the screen provides definitions and more information on the words in the web.
Users can also turn off different parts of speech in the web to focus on certain words.
Lexipedia would be a great way to introduce vocabulary words. I could also see students then creating their own word webs based on what they see at Lexipedia.
HonorPoint is a site dedicated to the learning of multiplication facts.
Students and teachers can use an interactive multiplication table to see the relationships between numbers.
The site also provides review and study areas where students can see all of the facts for a number or have facts revealed a number at a time.
The practice drills allow the students to respond by clicking on a multiple choice answer.
Finally, the test is more like traditional online multiplication practice where students type in answers.
I will be adding this site to my collection of places for my students to practice their facts. I love having a variety of choices to appeal to all of my students!
The Harcourt E-Lab provides great illustrations and practice modules for math curriculum's. There are E-Labs for Third Grade, Fourth Grade, Fifth Grade, and Sixth Grade.
For example, Multiplying Decimals and Whole Numbers allows students and/or teachers to select numbers for a problem and then see a graphic representation. This would be great projected for students to see during a lesson.
A fellow teacher and I were looking for a way for students to practice division facts online. Enter Oswego schools Math Magician site! Students can practice addition, subtraction, multiplcation, and division facts. The Math Magic is also a great challenge.
Students are given one minute to solve 20 problems. This allows for practice which is not overwhelming for students and could be done at a center. Students can select mixed practice or focus on a specific number group.
Clay Yourself is a fun website your students will adore. I had some of my fifth graders clay themselves on the last week of school. They loved it! We were just having fun...but I also think students could create characters and write about them.
I know you are wondering...so go clay yourself!
Next year, my fifth graders will be taking the NeSA Science test. This Nebraska state test will cover science topics from first-fifth grade. I know this will be a challenging test for most students.
I've started putting together online activities to help them review many science concepts. You can check them out here (scroll down to find the science activities).
I would love to add more sites...leave a comment if you know of other great science sites.
Can you guess the topic of this word cloud?
Guess the Wordle is a very creative use of Wordle word clouds. Every week day a new word puzzle will be posted for you and your students to solve. Puzzles cover topics like famous events, places, and entertainment. Mondays offer easy puzzles.
These would be a great sponge activity. Teachers could project the word cloud for students to see. Students could guess what the word cloud is about...they could even write guesses for a quiet reflection time. Then, have a student hover the mouse over the cloud to find the answer.
I plan on making a few puzzles of my own dealing with topics my students are currently studying.
If you haven't guessed the word cloud theme yet...hover your mouse over it!
My fourth and fifth grade students started using Google Apps this year. They are able to easily work on, save, and share documents. I love it! This Slide Show from the Google Apps for Education team highlights several ways to utilize Google Apps with students. I will be sharing some of my ideas for using Google Apps in Elementary school in future posts.
A few days ago I shared the a post about the Harcourt Grammar Glossary. I meantioned that I wanted to create a scavenger hunt to go along with it...well here is the printable document. This would be an easy NeSA review activity for 3rd, 4th, or 5th graders. It would also work for 2nd graders as they learn many of these terms.
