Ed Tech Review

In fourth Grade my elementary school got it’s first computers.  They were the state of the art amazing Apple II Computers.  These amazing machines allowed you to type and correct mistakes, without starting all over, and create cool looking banners with Print Shop.  It seemed that Mac had a strong hold on the education market early on, especially in the elementary sector.  This trend continued through my high school years, where I spent my time programming in basic and pascal on our Apple IIe’s.  There was a crack in the dam, when our school purchased a PC lab for the CAD program my senior year.  Soon high schools colleges, and businesses were dominated by the PC.  But Apple despite inferior technology at the time held strong in the Elementary School market.  Apple was nearly dead with a fledgling user base of dedicated fanatics that still swear up and down that pre-OSX operating systems were better than Windows XP.  Based on the frequent crashes an multiple systems  with my Macs I would respectfully disagree with these fanatics.  Finally the Elementary Schools got some sense and realized that they were wasting money on Macs, and started making the shift to PC’s  But Apple still had some fight left in them.  The iPod was introduced and widely accepted as the music player of choice, and with this significant influx of cash they transformed the there sub par Hardware and Software into the Modern powerhouse of computing.  Consumers are flocking to Mac in record numbers, and businesses are beginning to shift.  But what about the strong base of Elementary schools,  Well Mac labs continue to be replaced by PC’s.  Finally Mac has the best product out there, and it the schools are dropping it like flies.  In reality, I understand why.  Schools have begun to realize that Apple does not have a competitive price. I can put together a computer that is component for component identical or superior to Mac technology for about half of what Apple charges.  Software is much more available for PC than Mac, especially in regards to open source tools.  It is easier and more affordable to find PC techs.  You can save a lot of money going the PC route.  But it does seem a little ironic that schools stuck with Apple until they produced a good product and then jumped ship.

Scholastic Bee Movie Resources 

Dreamworks Bee Movie will hit the theaters this Friday.  It is a perfect time to use the buzz created by the movie  to provide interesting lessons in science and geography.  Scholastic has put together a very good collection of resources that will get kids interested in these subjects.  It includes a full color printable map of the United States to accompany the lessons and activities.

http://www.edtechreview.net/best-special-education-websites/

We have begun our directory of special education directory. This will include general information sites and sites for Special Education Technology.

Website Lexia Learning

Listed: #1 in Best Reading Software

Lexia Reading is a great application with a comprehensive management solution. This reading software focuses on phonics, but as you progress through the levels comprehension skills are also improved. The Strength of this program is that it adjusts its level based on how the student is doing and provides adequate reteaching for skills not mastered.

I have finally come up with a direction that I like with this website.  In an effort to become a more useful site for educators I am seeking out the best.  The best software, hardware, and websites in handy categories to help you find the resources you need fast.  In the next few days you will see new categories in the main menu and these will help you find the newest and best resources to get you going in whatever direction you would like with the best tools to get you there.

LOC.gov is the best resource on the web for primary source documents, and lesson plans and activities related to primary source documents. LOC has taken is now testing a new look and feel to help you find the resources you need faster. To preview this new source go to http://www.loc.gov/teachers/preview/ .

What can you find at the Library of congress site?

• Founding Documents
• Lesson Plans
• Themed Resources
• Online Activities
• Historical Documents

If I listed everything the page would go on for pages and pages. To get a better idea of how the LOC can enhance your teaching Visit http://www.loc.gov/teachers/preview/ and take a few of the online professional development courses to help you get started using this great resource.

Last year I told about an upcoming website that provided a great way for teachers to share curriculum and teaching resources. Curriki has grown and blossomed into the resource that I imagined in my original article. In my brief time on curriki this morning I was able to find a lesson plan that was ready to implement for a reading lesson, a grading rubric for a class project, and a PowerPoint present ion for a science lesson I will be using next week. It is far better than many of the pay sites, because these are the real materials that teachers have created to teach specific content. It is not jumbled in some generic template. Curriki is definitely a must bookmark website. The content continues to grow, as more and more teachers share their content on this powerful WIKI just for teachers.

http://www.curriki.org

Last month I did an article that listed some of the best math activity pages on the net. Well I missed one. NumberNut.com is a free math activity site that has a huge variety of flash-based math games. Beyond the games, they also have very good descriptions of mathematical concepts. Students are able to learn a concept then practice with one of the games. It is a well-organized site and perfect for many lessons.

There are many great sites out there for better teaching students about math skills. Here are a few
of the best sites I’ve found and use on a regular basis. I must admit I have not visited all of the
math sites on the web, so to say they are the 10 Best Math Sites on the Web may be a stretch, but
they are the 10 Best Math Activity sites that I have found so far. If you have a site that you think
should be mentioned please leave a comment and share.

Enjoy the Ten Best Math activity pages!

1. http://www.aplusmath.com/ - The A+ Math site helps students learn mathematics
   interactively with a mathematics game room, flashcards, and practice sheets.
2. http://www.coolmath4kids.com/ - Coolmath4kids is a colorful Web site (how did they
   make that dangly cursor?!) that has fun mathematics activities for children and adults age
   3 and up.
   
3. http://www.edinformatics.com/kids_teens/kt_math.htm - Edinformatics: Information for
   the Information Age offers many links to online mathematics sites for instruction, practice,
   and games. Descriptors tell the age level (kids, teens, mature teens) of each site.
   
4. http://www.figurethis.org/index.html - Figure This! Math Challenges for Families has a
   teacher’s kit complete with a PowerPoint presentation and blackline masters to introduce
   this series of family problem-solving mathematics challenges to parents. The grade levels
   of the activities range from grades 1 through 6.
   
5. http://www.kcw.org/reprek6.htm - This site has resource links for parents and educators
   of children grades pre-K to 6.
6. http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/technology/babbitt_math_tips.html - This site
   presents 10 tips for selecting mathematics instruction software for students with learning
   disabilities.
7. http://mathforum.org/arithmetic/arith.software.html - The Math Forum @ Drexel Web
   site offers arithmetic software or sites, some for purchase, some for downloading; other
   lists of links; and descriptions of the programs.
   
8. http://matti.usu.edu/nlvm/nav/index.html - This virtual library of interactive
   manipulatives for interactive mathematics for pre-K to grade 12 comes from Utah State
   University.
   
9. http://www.netn.net/14113.htm - This site has many interesting science, early education,
   activity, and organization links for elementary school teachers and for parents of
   elementary children. Some of the sites are free and some charge a fee for their materials.
   
10. http://www.kidsnumbers.com —The Exciting Math Website For Kids providesmath
    skills development programs are research based, and seem to work well.

http://www.worldwidemetric.com/Measurements.html

Have you ever wondered how many yards the 100 meter dash is, or wanted to figure out how many inches, or centimeters your 23 mile commute is.  Well OK maybe I’m the only one interested in some of these trivial bits of information, but we often find it necessary to make conversions between different units of measurement.  Worldwide Metric has made this process much easier with there easy online calculator.  It includes  conversions for length, weight, volume, pressure, and temperature.