BrainPop Jr. - Games

Here's another good computer site from Mrs. Wit................. free educational games for the K - 3 crowd!! http://www.brainpopjr.com/games/

Classroom News

If you are looking for computer activites for your child(ren), be sure to visit our Keystone Elementary Home page. Check out the Student Stuff link along the left side. This site has many wonderful, educational, & safe websites linked there. You can find anything from ABC practice to counting practice sites on this page.
I know your child(ren) will enjoy visiting this page!!!

Math Arcade on Fun Brain

Mrs. Witkowski, our Instructional Technology Specialist, is always on the lookout for good educational activities & this one is super! Math Arcade is a great website to help students practice math facts and skills. This might be a little difficult for some K1 kids, but I'm sure there are a few who will be able to do these activities soon or with a little help from an adult. If you have older children, this website is great for them as well!!
There is enough variety on the site to keep kids interested. The game board atmosphere gives students a goal to complete - they have to successfully play all 25 games to reach the end. Students can progress through the site based on their math ability. Math Arcade would be a great site to bookmark so your child can access it throughout the school year. I've added Math Arcade to the "Favorite Links" area on this blog!

BCC - School Science Clips

Check it out... another interesting computer site from Mrs. Witkowski. The BCC science clips are a collection of science related activities & games for students who are 5 - 11 years old. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/5_6.shtml
Students can grow virtual plants, experiment with pushes & pulls, hearing & sound, forces & movement, electricity, rocks & soils, simple machines, light, solids & liquids, friction, habitats, life cycles, changing states of matter, reversible & irreversible changes, forces, & much more. The site is organized well, by age group, & has several activities at each level.

Fish World - Computer Game

Younger children will enjoy creating their very own fish tank where they can add starfish, crabs, & turtles. This is a great game for kids learning to use the mouse or for kids who just want to be creative. http://www.prongo.com/fishtank/

New Computer Site - Check It Out!!

This looks like a good one to check out..."www.mrnussbaum.com - A thousand sites in one!! Welcome to http://www.mrnussbaum.com/ is an interactive website designed specifically for students in grades K - 8. On this site you will find dozens of interactive games, activities, worksheets, and teacher tools that pinpoint essential skills. MrNussbaum.com was created and developed by a teacher!" I looked at it a little & saw where you can search for skill areas in a specific grade level, but I didn't see alot for Kndergarten. One thing to remember..... your child will soon be entering 1st grade, so you may find more skills on the 1st grade level.

IXL MAth & 101+ Web Resources

Thanks (again) to Mrs. Witkowski, our Technology Specialist, for these sites. Even though your child is only in Kindergarten, both sites look like keepers!! Bookmark them now ... IXL Math would make a great site to use during the summer to review skills learned this year & to get a jump start on what's coming up next year. The 101+ Web Resources site may not be something your Kindergarten child is ready for now, but it looks especially interesting... might be of interest to older children or even yourself!

IXL Math - IXL Math is a helpful math site that provides all of the math skills (pre-K thru 6th grade) that are learned in a particular grade level. Students can click on each skill to receive a set of practice problems. This resource appears to be helpful and parent-friendly. This would make a great site for summer reviewing! :)

101+ Web Resources for Students - 101+ Web Resources for Students is a great listing of different sites for students. The sites are organized by topics such as Almanacs, Encyclopedias, and Style Manuals. It is a good site to share with your students as a starting point for them when doing research or needing help.

SOS - Help for Parents

Recently, I heardd about an excellent book on behavior management called SOS Help For Parents by Dr. Lynn Clark, Clinical Psychologist. I was intrigued enough to check out the author's website to see if there might be some ideas I could use with my students.
If you are interested in learning some behavior management tips to use with your child(ren), visit http://www.sosprograms.com/index.html to see video clips of parenting methods and skills that Dr. Clark describes in his book.
Also, check out the Child Behavior link at the top for chapter samples. There are many good ideas listed for: Ways of Increasing Good Behavior, Major Methods for Stopping Bad Behavior, & Helping Your Child Express Feelings. This might be just the book for us all!!!
You might also visit http://www.freebehaviorcharts.com/charts/#chart for free behavior charts to print off & use at home.

2 More Computer Sites

Thanks to Mrs. Witkowski for locating these websites.

Education.com An Education & Child Development Site for Parents Parenting & Educational Resource - This is a great website for parents - click on the link for your child's grade - there is a wealth of informational topics to peruse. Education.com also has reproducible worksheets designed for preschool through fifth grade students. The worksheets can be searched by grade level or by topic. Each worksheet is available in pdf format for free.

The Official Eric Carle Web Site - Did you know that THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR recently celebrated its 40th anniversary? Eric Carle is acclaimed and beloved as the creator of brilliantly illustrated and innovatively designed picture books for very young children. His best-known work, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has eaten its way into the hearts of literally millions of children all over the world and has been translated into more than 47 languages and sold over 29 million copies. Since the Caterpillar was published in 1969, Eric Carle has illustrated more than seventy books, many best sellers, most of which he also wrote, and more than 88 million copies of his books have sold around the world.

Earth Day

In honor of upcoming Earth Day, on 4/22, check out Ollie's World. It's a fantastic place to begin the celebration early. Ollie's World - Interactive sustainability resource for kids Here students will learn about the 4 R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink as they apply to the 5 action issues of waste, water, energy, air, and biodiversity. The site is packed full of games, puzzles, information and projects.

Primary Games

A couple more websites:
http://www.primarygames.com - A fun place to learn - free games for kids!

Johnnie's Math Page - Fun Math for Kids and their Teachers - Johnnie's Math Page is the site to find fun math for kids, math games, and even a little math homework help. Interactive math activities from across the web have been organized by topic to make math learning enjoyable and interesting. For parents and teachers, you will find math lessons and math worksheets as well as links to other math teaching resources. For those who like a challenge, you will find free math games in the math puzzles section.

Thanks again to Mrs. Wit, Keystone's Instructional Technology Specialist, for finding these great educational sites. These sites are not designed for just Kindergarten, so if you have older children there may be things for them as well.
Math Playground
Welcome to Math Playground, an action-packed site for elementary and middle school students. Practice your math skills, play a logic game and have some fun!
:: e-Learning for Kids ::
A wealth of resources categorized by grade level (K-6) and subject area. "Free education for children globally."
http://www.littlebooklane.com/
Reading resources for K - 1.
Children's Stories Free Audio Books Online Audio Stories
Online Audio Stories is an impressive collection of free audio stories online. The audio books are all free and downloadable. The online version of the story includes accompanying text for students to follow along with. The short stories will transport students on a fun adventure of listening to fairy tales and classics. The extensive collection includes stories by Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, Brothers Grimm, Tales of Time, Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Bronte, Aesop, Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, Joseph Jacobs, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Blake, Oscar Wilde, Louisa May Alcott, Hans Christian Andersen, William Shakespeare, and many more. The stories are read with excellent voice, inflection, and timing, making them a joy to listen to.
Professor Garfield Foundation: Internet Safety and You
Internet Safety with Professor Garfield is offering lessons on online safety, cyberbullying, and coming soon: fact or opinion and forms of media. Each lesson is composed of three parts, watch, try, and apply. In the “watch” section, students watch a video starring Garfield and his friends. The video teaches an important Internet safety lesson. In the “try it” section, students are given a chance to play a game that checks for understanding and redirects thinking if students missed a concept. In the “apply it” section, students help a character from the video to make wise Internet safety decisions.

Pinky Dinky Doo

Pinky Dinky Doo is another great find from our Computer Specialist, Mrs. Witkowski. This awesome website is for pre-k through first grade students only. The site is based on a PBS show of the same name. The website has fun activities for kids to take part in including word games, story podcasts, videos, and a place for students to create their own story podcast. Pinky Dinky Doo loves making up stories and teaches students that every story has a beginning, middle, and end. The stories are often full of metaphores and similes and often have a great message for kids too. Every story also has one giant fancy word like “collaborate” or “gracious” teaching students rich vocabulary as well.

Online Flash Cards

Here is another computer site that might be beneficial for your child & any older children in the family. I haven't had time to personally play with this website or completely check it out, but when I heard about this I immediately thought this could be a great way to make flashcards for all the words we have learned in Kindergarten this year. These words were posted in an earlier entry.
Flashcard DB provides students with two excellent study methods. Students can create their own flashcards or you could create a set of flashcards for students to study.

Free Online Flashcards with Spaced Repetition: FlashcardDB

Parent Website

Welcome to Kinderteacher!

This link is for parents................ there are all kinds of activities listed for you to do with your child. Mrs. Critchell's Kindergarten is a website filled with great ideas for Kindergarten teachers as well as parents of Kindergarten students.
According to the homepage, Linda Cricthell was a teacher for 36 years with ten of those years spent in Kindergarten classrooms. Mrs. Critchell's Kindgarten is very well organized with activities and lesson ideas categorized by months and by major holidays.
In addition to resources for teachers, Mrs. Critchell's Kindergarten has great resources for parents of Kindergarten students. The parent page has activities students can do at home to develop fine motor skills as well as educational craft activities. The parent site also has a list of educational websites that Kindergarten students can use at home.

ABCya!!

Thanks again to Mrs. Witkowski for finding this great educational website!! I'm adding it to my favorite links section & you can also find it on the Keystone Elem. web page at the Student Stuff link listed under Fun & Games. ABCya! is a leader in free & exciting computer activities for elementary students to learn on the web. All educational computer games and activities were created or approved by certified teachers! Activities are modeled from primary grade lessons and enhanced to provide an interactive way to learn. The activities incorporate content areas such as math and reading while introducing basic computer skills. Many of the kindergarten and first grade games are equipped with sound to enhance understanding. You can also find great elementary holiday activities here! Holiday activities available in grade level sections! http://www.abcya.com/index.htm

Storynory

Thanks again to Mrs. Wit for finding....... Storynory.
Storynory is a collection of FREE audio books for kids. There is a mixture of new stories, fairy tales, and specially adapted myths and histories. Each week, since November 2005, a new audio story has come out. Search stories by newest additions, original stories, fairy tales, classic authors, educational, or junior stories. The stories can be subscribed to as a podcast in iTunes, through their iPhone/iPod touch app, via email, or RSS feed. Story Nory also offers the text to accompany the audio so that kids can read along. Check out: http://storynory.com/

Hans Wilhelm's Holiday Books

Three years ago I went to the PA Kindergarten Conference in Harrisburg & was priviledged to attend a session with author Hans Wilhelm, one of America's foremost author/illustrator of children's books.
Recently, I received an email from Hans announcing he has added some new Holiday Books to his website. The books are totally free and can be enjoyed on your computer, powerpoint, smart board, or can even be printed out for your children.
Go to http://www.childrensbooksforever.com/ and click on "Holiday Books". Click on the book's image and it will open up the story. Hans has a super collection of free books for children of all ages on his website. To learn about this author of more than 200 children's books, go to: http://www.hanswilhelm.com/hans-pages/about-home.html

ABCya

Under the Favorite Links column on this web page, I listed the website ......."ABCya". From Favorite Links, click on the link to go directly to this website or click on the link in today's post. http://www.abcya.com/index.htm
On the main screen, click on Kindergarten to find activities for students ages 5 - 6. The website has activities that cover grades K - 5 for those of you with older children.
Today during Computer Lab, the children visited this site & explored some of the different educational &/or fun games. There are many many educational activities as well as just for fun activities your child can complete on ABCya, but you may have to work with them the first few times until they have learned how to do/play each activity. This is a great site with tons of activites for computer time at home. :)

Motivation Station & WatchKnow

Another thank you to Mrs. Wit, Keystone's Instructional Technology Specialist for finding 2 new technology goodies........ I hope you can find the time to explore these 2 sites.
Motivation Station--Parent Corner From Discovery Education, a free web site for parents with interactive content. Ideas for motivating students.
WatchKnow - Videos for kids to learn from. Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, has launched a new web site designed to gather and organize educational videos for students ages 3 to 18. The site, WatchKnow.org, currently features more than 11,000 videos across 2,000 categories on subjects such as math, science, and history. The nonprofit site features new software, developed specifically for the site by Sanger, that allows wiki-style collaboration among users.
Also, in case you haven't heard ............ Mr. Ryan Smith was recently hired by the Board of Directors for the Elementary Tech job. Ryan is a CUP graduate & actually did his student teaching 2 years ago with Mr. Turk in 6th grade & Mrs. Riley in Kindergarten. We are very happy to have Mr. Smith join the KES Staff.