Assignment #2

I decided to look for websites in these four areas: spelling, science, geography, and math. I figured that these were good subjects to have some fun interactive games for, or that I might need some inspiration when trying to teach these subjects. Here are the links to my bundles:
geography
math
science
spelling

spelling city is the first site I will tell you about. It is a site where children can practice their spelling in a number of different ways. They input their spelling words from their class list, and from there the list is formulated into different games, or they can be tested on them. There are also sample lists that children can use to just get better at spelling. I thought this would be really useful as an extra homework assignment or an option for kids to use during the time they have to work on their spelling.

smithsonian education contains a lot of useful resources for science and history. There are activity sheets that can be printed off and used in class, and several games. There are resources for educators, students and families, all of which are very useful. There are many different lesson plans for educators that can be adapted for any age level, with corresponding activities in the in the student section. Overall this site would be extremely helpful in putting lessons together and engaging the students in interactive games to further emphasize the concepts being taught.

math playground has tons of games that help children with their math skills. Many of them are for upper elementary, but there are some for the lower levels. They are all very interactive and a lot of fun. It covers a variety of types of math, in a number of different ways. This would be a great way for students to get some extra practice in certain areas they are struggling in, or could be a fun homework assignment rather than a worksheet.

national greographic provides a great resource for geography and other aspects of social studies. There are tons of games for the children to play, but also other types of interactive activities. There are quizzes and videos and stories about different animals. It is a very fun website and would be very appealing to kids. It is great for teachers to use as re-inforcement for particular concepts. Children can also use it as a research tool - teachers could very easily tell them to go use this website to discover a new fact about an animal or something and use it as an easy and fun assignment.

Del.icio.us could be very useful among other teachers as a way to share exciting new sites to get your kids engaged. Sometimes it is hard to find time to research new sites for games or even just a fresh perspective on teaching a certain topic. But with del.icio.us, you have easy access to other teacher's sites for a quick mode of research. It can also be very useful in the classroom with students as a way for the students to share information with each other and with other students aroudn the world. Maybe they are doing a research project on a certain topic, rather than having to search the whole web and hope to find something useful, they can just look at other student's tags for websites on that topic. I think it would cut down the frustration level significantly, as well as providing them with a way to begin networking with others.