Tuesday Tech Talk #6

Welcome to Tuesday Tech Talk, bringing you some of the best web sites I’ve found recently, that you can really use!

The first two great sites for this week will help your students learn about the upcoming election in a child-appropriate manner.

Scholastic News Online, Election 2008
Students can read about the candidates and learn they stand on issues.  All issues discussed on this site are child-friendly, and presented in a way that elementary students can understand. Students can also follow campaign news as reported by Scholastic Kid Reporters, play election games, and more.  Lesson plans are available for teachers, too!

You may want to look at the Live Web Event that will be held on Nov. 3, at 12:00 p.m. ET.  Questions can be submitted ahead of time and students can talk with the Scholastic Kid Reporters.  This would be a great event to show on the SmartBoard!

Growing Voters 2008
A professor from Lesley University and her students created this site for Teachers.  They have developed classroom activities for teachers, included suggested lesson plans, and a wide variety of other resources all about voting and the 2008 election.

Two more great sites for this week are:

The First Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is just around the corner so you’ll want to take a look at this site from Scholastic.  Students can look at the Mayflower voyage, learn about daily life as a Pilgrim, and learn what really happened at the first Thanksgiving.  One of the things I especially like about this site is that it will read all of the information to students if the click the sound icon on each page.  Please note, there is a chat board (aka forum or message board) on this site.  I would NOT recommend that you allow students to access it.

While you’re looking at this site be sure to click on the link about the live chat.  On November 13 at 10:00 a.m, and 1:00 p.m. there will be a live chat with a present day Native American and a Pilgrim interpreter representing a young Pilgrim boy.  Questions can be submitted ahead of time.  As with the live voting event, this would be great to show on the SmartBoard.

Computer Lab Favorites
Scholastic has put together what they call “50 one-stop learning activities.”  These are web based activities, sorted by grade level areas and subject areas. These are great activities for differentiating instruction in the classroom, for use during computer center time, or for whole class instruction on the SmartBoard.

If you check out the Computer Lab Favorites, be sure to leave a comment with your recommendation for other teachers at your grade level!