Media Matters
December 2012
Story Math: Storytelling and Math
Story Math is a collection of three activities that use storytelling to present math in a new way. Students take part in the interactive stories to discover new math concepts, help them learn new math vocabulary and understand concepts more completely. In addition to the stories, there are also games and activities where students can practice putting the math they have learned to the test. Students can take turns reading (mute it for this option because the text is read automatically). The story can be paused along the bottom while students discuss the stories and the math in the stories. As an extension activity, students could take a math concept that they are learning and ask them to create a story of their own, including the vocabulary associated with it. (http://www.heymath.com/web/funStuff/storymath.jsp)
Teachable Moment
Teachable Moment aims to encourage critical thinking on issues of the day. Student readings and classroom activities are available for elementary, middle, and high school levels. Topics include current domestic & international events, conflict resolution, and intercultural understanding. (http://morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment)
Lit2Go
Lit2Go is a FREE online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. Teachers and students can download files to an iPod or Mp3 player, listen to the files on the computer, view the text on a webpage and read along with the audio, and print out the stories and poems. Lit2Go can be searched by author, tiltle, or searched via the database (by author, keywords, title, or reading level). Each reading passage can be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along or supplemental reading material for your classroom. Great resource for struggling readers! (http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/)
Jeopardy Labs
Jeopardy Labs is an awesome website that lets you build a Jeopardy game board without the use of Power Point! All that you have to do to start is enter a password so that others can’t edit your game. Then it is as simple as titling it, typing in categories and then entering questions and answers. This is really SO easy to use! You can also search through Jeopardy games created by others. (https://jeopardylabs.com/)
Dance, Factors, Dance
Dance, Factors Dance is a fantastic site to visualize factorization diagrams. This site is a great one to explore as a class or individually on student devices. Students can pause the dance, rewind, and fast forward as they explore. Be sure to watch (or fast forward) to the three digit numbers…this is where things get really interesting! As a side note, when looking at the numbers in grid form, you know if a number is prime if it can only make one rectangle. I read that... did not realize it! Note: This site doesn't work with Internet Explorer, but it works fine with Google Chrome or Firefox. (http://www.datapointed.net/visualizations/math/factorization/animated-diagrams/)
The Physics Front
The Physics Front is a free site that contains teaching resources on Physics and Physical Science. The resources are searchable and are arranged by level: K-8 Physical Science, Physics First, Conceptual Physics, Algebra Based, and AP / Calculus. Resources are then organized by topic. There are lesson plans, links to other resources, technology, links, and other resources. (http://www.thephysicsfront.org/index.cfm)
Annenberg Learner
Annenberg Learner uses media and telecommunications to advance excellent teaching in American schools. Their website provides outstanding lesson plans and interactives across the curriculum (including the Arts and Foreign Languages) and for all grade levels. (http://www.learner.org/)
Watch Know Learn
WatchKnowLearn has indexed over 33,000 educational videos from YouTube and placed them into a directory of over 3,000 categories. The videos are available without registration. To filter the results, select an age range (using the slider) then click on the directory of subjects/topics. (http://www.watchknowlearn.org/)
Art Think
ArtThink, created by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, offers theme-based activities in visual arts, language arts, history and social studies. The site lets students investigate artists’ work, lives, and their historical context. The Activities Index is a good way to see all of the resources on the site. There is a MS Word downloadable Teacher's Guide for each activity. This is a great way to integrate the arts into the content areas! (http://www.sfmoma.org/artthink/default.asp)
Holiday Fun Stuff
Interactive Holiday Snowglobe is my favorite holiday distraction. Using your mouse, shake the snowglobe and watch what happens! It's a great stress reliever, too!
http://www.peerengage.com/assembled/e-tractions/snowglobe/globe.htm
Elf Yourself is a fun way to create a video card! Simply import a person's photo and watch him or her perform! (http://host-d.oddcast.com/elfyourself2012/home.php)