Linda's blog

Spring is such a beautiful time in North Georgia, but I can imagine that many of you do not have the arrival of spring on the top of your “to think about list.” I would bet that the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Test in a notch above the wonder of spring!

And that’s too bad, isn’t it? I’m reading an interesting book, “Readicide”, about how our high stakes testing is making our children good test takers, but not necessarily good students. I have to agree. But, I also have to agree that testing is a fact of life, like it or not, and we have to get our students as prepared as we possibly can.

Now is a good time to use the Web 2.0 tools that you have discovered to help your students get prepared. I am preparing a lesson on differentiation using the Internet, and found a tool that looks very promising. It looks like something that would not take too much preparation on your part, that students would enjoy, and could provide some change in routine while still allowing for review.

This website has quite a few already prepared set of flash cards, but you can also make your own. When you put in your own list, it makes flash cards for you, but also gives the student a dozen other ways to review material. I can see that this would be very good for math vocabulary such as names of types of two- and three-dimensional objects, language vocabulary–like parts of speech, kinds of literary devices, etc.,and for science or social studies vocabulary. If several teachers at one grade level work together, you could build a good review that students could use at home as well as at school. Your gamers will like the bug game, and those who enjoy hangman and word search will be happy also. No matter which way they decide to use the games, they will practice what you need for them to know by test time.

One other site I found that those of you who use your projectors and whiteboards will find interesting. It allows you to draw an approximate circle, then makes a perfect circle for you. For the mouse-challenged, it’s wonderful. Be sure to take the tour before you start playing with this one. When I first tried it, I was not impressed, but when I found all that it would do, I could certainly see it’s usefulness.

Let me know how you like these sites, and let all of us know how you are using technology to help prepare your students for THE TEST.

I found an interesting tool that I think elementary students would love to use.  I discovered it on a site that used it for students to describe themselves and their interests, but I think it would be fun for students to use it to make a summary of whatever they are studying by using key words to make the word art. The end products are called wordles. (www.wordle.net) I made one using fourth grade geometry terms, but you could use adjectives or other parts of speech, words that could be used instead of said in writing, Civil War generals or battlefields, types or components of soil, etc. Check it out!