tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47512570896787449112024-02-20T14:39:53.438-05:00The Trendy TeacherAn organized website (blog) for teachers looking to use technology in their classrooms to enhance their lessons. Contains descriptions and reviews of many websites and other activities involving technology.The Trendy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557337552981479603noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4751257089678744911.post-29255506425963780142011-07-31T12:41:00.001-04:002011-07-31T12:49:53.755-04:00CellCraft<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">In one sentence…</b> a free online interactive game that teaches students about cells.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Website:</b> </span><a href="http://www.cellcraftgame.com/Home.html"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.cellcraftgame.com/Home.html</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Grade:</b> 6-12</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Description:</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CellCraft is a free online game about cells.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students learn how a cell functions, about certain molecules (glucose and ATP), and cellular organelles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is all done in a fun and engaging way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This game can be downloaded to the computer desktop making it easier to access.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It can also be played online by clicking on the given <a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/cellcraft/cellcraft">link </a>(I actually found it easier to use this <a href="http://www.carolina.com/category/teacher+resources/interactive+science+games+and+simulations/cellcraft.do">link</a> because it does not contain Ads).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The creators of this game mentions on the website that they would like to create a teacher package with would contain a student lab that students could fill out as they play the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope that they do this because this would make a very good lesson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, you could create your own worksheet to go along with the game.</span></div>The Trendy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557337552981479603noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4751257089678744911.post-66375892857733414922011-07-30T22:10:00.000-04:002011-07-30T22:10:10.821-04:00Washington, D.C.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">One sentence description:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A song about Washington, D.C.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Website:</b> </span><a href="http://freesongsforkids.com/audios/washington-dc-0"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://freesongsforkids.com/audios/washington-dc-0</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Grade:</b> 3-5</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Detailed description:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The website “Free Songs for Kids” offers many free songs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One song I found to be a good educational tool is the song titled “Washington, D.C” by the Teacher and the Rockbots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The full length song is available here for free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can also buy the CD that comes with many more educational songs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “Washington, D.C.” song includes many facts about Washington, D.C.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of these facts are not commonly taught, like how many bathrooms are in the White House, but appeal to the interest to the students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used this song in a lesson about Washington, D.C. in a 3<sup>rd</sup> grade class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found that after the students listened to the song once they had already memorized the chorus which includes some of the most important facts that the students needed to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The song also teachers about major buildings/monuments found in Washington, D.C. which include the White House, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, Capitol building, Library of Congress, and Lincoln Memorial.</span></div>The Trendy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557337552981479603noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4751257089678744911.post-90852589189041258352011-07-28T22:09:00.000-04:002011-07-28T22:09:37.225-04:00Math Magician<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">One sentence description:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Practice math facts within a given amount of time.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Website:</b> </span><a href="http://oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/mathmagician/maths1.html"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/mathmagician/maths1.html</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Grade:</b> 1-6</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Detailed description:</b> This website allows students to practice math facts in a timed session.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The website is very easy to navigate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First student pick a category; addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or mixed operations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then students choose a level; level 1 or 2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Level 1 is easier and for the most part (some involve the number 10) involves one digit numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Level 2 involves two digit numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would suggest you take a few minutes to do the level yourself before you have your students do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In level 1, the goal is to solve 50 math problems in 2.5 minutes and in level 2 the goal is go solve 100 math problems in 5 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once the student starts, there is a timer on the side to show how much time is left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the top of the screen it shows what question number the student is on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once the student answers all questions, it gives the students the percent of questions correct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also tells them how fast it took to solve all the questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a good feature to have to show the students that go to fast and are not very accurate that they need to slow down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I used this with a class, I had the students do this activity twice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The goal was to get a higher percentage correct on their second turn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When using this activity it is important to focus on the individual students’ scores and not compare their scores to the other students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make sure to point this out to the students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are a few disadvantages that I have found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, if the student does not complete all the questions in the given amount of time, it does not give the percentage correct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are able to see what question the student left off though and could use that as a goal to increase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another disadvantage is that you are not able to see what questions the students answered incorrectly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The student also does not know when they answer a question wrong so they do not get instant feedback.</span></div>The Trendy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557337552981479603noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4751257089678744911.post-12563334994236587682011-07-27T23:03:00.000-04:002011-07-27T23:03:57.464-04:00Speakaboos (online books)<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>One sentence description:</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Speakaboos is a website with online stories.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Website:</strong> </span><a href="http://speakaboos.com/stories"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://speakaboos.com/stories</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Grade:</strong> K-3</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Detailed description:</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Speakaboos is a website with many features.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will focus on the “stories” feature in this post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many online stories that can be categorized by many topics (too many to list but a few are fairy tales, nursery rhymes, Arthur).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a search feature which allows you to search by theme, author, or celebrity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Celebrities read the online stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some authors also read their stories, for example Marc Brown reads some of the Arthur books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the stories are also in Spanish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stories play on their own but there is a pausing option.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not all the stories are free, so to access all the stories you must become a member.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are also lesson plans, worksheets, and online games to go along with each story.</span></div>The Trendy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557337552981479603noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4751257089678744911.post-55681150033316947012011-07-26T22:11:00.000-04:002011-07-26T22:11:07.064-04:00Online Stories (on KOL Jr.)<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>One sentence description:</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A website with online stories.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Website:</strong> </span><a href="http://kids.aol.com/KOL/1/KOLJrStories"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://kids.aol.com/KOL/1/KOLJrStories</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Grade:</strong> K-2</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Detailed description:</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The website KOL Jr. has many sections, but I will only focus on the “stories” section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe in a later post I will review the other sections but for now you will have to check it out yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “stories” section includes online versions of published books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stories are not animated but there are illustrations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The text is read and the words are highlighted as they are being read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story flips between the pages on its own but there is a pause feature available to pause the story at any time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stories are organized by these categories: animals, Arthur (by Marc Brown), fairy tales, family, rhyming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not know if the stories are word for word of the original story or not, but I would assume they would be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would be a useful website for a struggling reader.</span></div>The Trendy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557337552981479603noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4751257089678744911.post-79328866609171619732011-07-25T22:57:00.000-04:002011-07-25T22:57:15.938-04:00Books by Ezra Jack Keats<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>One Sentence Description:</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author Ezra Jack Keats official website with animated stories.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Website:</strong> http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org/</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Grade:</strong> K-2</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Description:</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This website is all about the author Ezra Jack Keats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My favorite resource is the animated stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are three of Ezra Jack Keats’ stories which have been animated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “Educator’s Corner” link sends you to a page with links to lesson plans/ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some are related to Keats’ books, including those which are not animated on the website.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “Kid’s Corner” link is where the animated stories are located.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are also games as well as activities (coming soon) for students to play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many other links related that you can check out (I only mentioned the ones that are more geared towards teaching lessons) including the author’s biography and awards.</span></div>The Trendy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557337552981479603noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4751257089678744911.post-10872045516418808692011-07-05T22:17:00.000-04:002011-07-05T22:17:59.700-04:00Financial Soccer<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>One sentence description:</strong> A online soccer game which tests students financial knowledge.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Website:</strong> <a href="http://www.financialsoccer.com/index.php">http://www.financialsoccer.com/index.php</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Grades:</strong> 6-12</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Description:</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><u>Pregame:</u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This contains links to files with content related to the questions that will be asked during the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The content is organized by age and subject. This could be used to study before the game or for teachers to use for lesson plans.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><u>Single Player Game:</u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is an online soccer game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the start of the game, the students choose what country they want to play for, and what country they want to play against.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also choose the length of the game from 5 minutes to 30 minutes (this is a good feature to have when you want to use this during your lesson).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also choose the difficulty of the game (based on age). Students must choose a player to move.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are given three players to move and must choose one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To move or pass the ball, a question is displayed and must be answered correctly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These questions are all financial related.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Above each players head it either says “easy, medium, or hard.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This allows the students to choose the difficulty of question they want.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The farther the pass, the harder the question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To move or pass to a player, the students must answer the question correctly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To steal the ball, the students must answer the question correctly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the player with the ball gets close to the net, they have the option to shoot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The student must answer the question correctly to get a goal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><u>Head to head game:</u> Very similar to single player game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The major difference is that when a question is presented, instead of having a certain time to answer the question, it depends on how the other person answered the question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If one team answers the question wrong, then the other team gets the ball.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Additional Features:</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are links to lesson plans and other teacher resources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The game can also be downloaded to the desktop.</span></div>The Trendy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557337552981479603noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4751257089678744911.post-29520010431930872522011-06-27T23:52:00.000-04:002011-06-27T23:52:54.204-04:00Biz Kid$- Videos about money and business<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>One sentence description:</strong> A website containing episodes of the show “Biz Kid$” which is about money and business.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Website:</strong> </span><a href="http://www.bizkids.com/default.aspx"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.bizkids.com/default.aspx</span></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Grade:</strong> 3-6 </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Description:</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This website if the website for the TV show “Biz Kid$.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The website contains every episode of the show.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each episode is split into many segments, allowing only certain segments to be shown instead of the whole episode.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The episodes cover many topics of money and business including what is money, what you do with money, starting a business, credit, marking, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could not find a way to make the videos larger, which one was weakness of this website.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Additional Features:</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are links to other website which are about money or business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will not go into detail here as many of the links will be talked about in separate posts so I can give a better review for each.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is also a blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The blog talks about a variety of topics related to the show including awards won and other facts (for example, how a piggy bank got its name).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The Vault” is a monthly newsletter with more information, links, stories, activities, etc.</span></div>The Trendy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557337552981479603noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4751257089678744911.post-91147881921832427732011-06-26T17:55:00.001-04:002011-06-26T17:57:29.753-04:00Planet Orange- Teaching children about money and money skills (earning, spending, saving, and investing)<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>One sentence description:</strong> Interactive game that teaches children about money and money skills (earning, spending, saving, and investing)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Website: </strong></span><a href="http://www.orangekids.com/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.orangekids.com</span></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Overview:</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Students become astronauts in this interactive game that teaches them about money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Space Station is the students’ home base.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They travel to Planet Orange and at different cities on Planet Orange they learn about different aspects of money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Grade:</strong> Independently- grades 4-6<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(This website contains lesson plans for the earlier grades too.)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Standards:</strong> NYS Social Studies Learning Standard 4 (</span><a href="http://www.nysed.gov/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.nysed.gov</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>More detailed description:</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><u>Space Station</u></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the space station, students are allowed to create their astronaut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They can also change the design of the space station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost everything students want to do on the Space Station requires them to use the space money (Obux).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students have to use it wisely (budget) so they will have enough money to buy gas to travel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students can also review their statement where it shows how much they have spent and earned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They earn money by completing lessons at planets, taking quizzes, and working a job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jobs can only be done once every 12 hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some jobs are educational related.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students can also play games at the arcade. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These games are not educational but for the enjoyment of the students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><u>"Planet Orange"</u></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At each planet, students listen to lessons about money and business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some lessons have interactive activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After students listen to each lesson, they have to take a quiz to receive a badge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If students answer a question incorrectly, they will not earn the badge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will be given two choices; go back to the planet and listen again to the lessons or retake the quiz.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students have to get every question right (all 5) to earn the badge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the lessons, students are able to click on unfamiliar words related to money to get the definition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two weaknesses:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Students can click through the lesson before the narrator is done talking thus allowing students to just skip over this part (but students do have to answer all the questions on the quizzes correctly to move on which are based on the lessons).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the end, when students have earned all four badges, it does not say “congratulations” or anything to let the student know that they have completed the game (after students earn each badge, they do get a certificate which they are able to print out).</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Accommodations:</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Each lesson includes a lot of text, but it is all narrated by the characters.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Additional features:</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Teacher can create a free account.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This gives you access to many resources, including lesson plans, activities, and activity books for grades Pre-K to 7<sup>th</sup> grade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are math and ELA activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would encourage you to check out the website to get a better understanding.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.orangekids.com/teacher/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.orangekids.com/teacher/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is a parent informational section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This informs parents about the purpose of the website.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.orangekids.com/parent/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.orangekids.com/parent/</span></a></div>The Trendy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557337552981479603noreply@blogger.com0