This has been posted before but if you're after any more sites for learning topics try here!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Sites for teachers
This has been posted before but if you're after any more sites for learning topics try here!
Science Friday
Science Friday's tagline is ...making science user friendly. The site has video, activities /experiments and super up to the minute information.
Music fun for primary kids
Cute site with some fun music activities and great printables for learning music.
Homeschool share lapbooking/bookmaking
Part of the handy Homeschool share site this link is to pages of templates for booklet making and lapbooking supplies....super cool to have at hand.
Alphabet colouring pages
A friend just sent me this link to colouring pages....click on the
large letters to the middle left on this page...each letter has
animals/plants on....fun for the wee ones learning letters or maybe
spelling out their names.
www.everythingpreschool.com/coloringpages
Free 'Help your child to learn...' books
Free powerpoint presentations for kids...all subjects
I have posted this before I think (ages ago) but they have updated it...so here it is again. Great selection of powerpoint shows on heaps of topics....under each main topic is about 20 or so smaller topics....everything from history, grammar, science, maths etc...some really good stuff esp for visual learners!
Links for science games
Here is a great list of links to some super games with excellent
content! Some for each area of science...
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/onlinestuff/games.aspx Physics/energy ets
http://www.scienceworld.ca/fun_stuff/playstuff/bodyworksgames.html
human body games..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/mammals/challenges/ Animals
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/games/ Dinosaurs/prehistoric
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/games/ History
Have fun!!
Free reading site
Really cool preschool site
This is a cool site for preschoolers...and early primary I guess! It
has videos for all topics, songs, learning abcs...numbers
etc...science experiments...craft ideas etc etc etc...really fun stuff!
Note...this is all linked through you Tube...I didn't come across any
dodgy adverts etc but would not recommend leaving your kids to click
around...
have heaps of fun!! Darnia
First readers online printable
Funny homeschool merchandise....
How children learn at home by Alan Thomas
by Alan Thomas and Harriet Pattison (from Public library)
This book is a follow up to a previous Alan Thomas book where he found
that many homeschooling families drifted towards a more informal way
of learning (like unschooling I guess). The new book tries to discover
just how it possible for children not following a curriculum, or
receiving sequential teaching to end up with an education on par with
(or superseeding) what school's have on offer.
It's an easy read full of 'real life' discussions with many h/school
families/children.
I personally didn't find much of it revolutionary ( probably as I've
read extensively on unschooling before...and have made my own
conclusions from learning this way)but would like to recommend it to
anyone considering a less formal approach....especially those
convinced it can't/won't work!
Darnia
School Express now FREE
School express is now entirely free!! Over 550 e-workbooks/ unit studies...all printable...all subjects...it's a treasure trove for sure. New freebies added weekly....keep an eye out!
Many books (free ebooks audio etc)
I haven't been to this site for ages....but today I am re-enthused!!
What a massive selection of every book you'd ever need to read....all
classics....loads of historical fiction....most are in also in
audiobook format...you can choose download format too.
It's a must have for all those hard to find books you need!
Darnia
Teachers pay teachers freebies site
Get a load of this site!!! The link below is to all free
downloads....superb!
LIFE magazine historical photos
Bruce van Patter on solitude and learning
I liked this Sparkler by Bruce Van Patter...gave me something to think
about this morning while I drink my coffee! For those of you new to
Homespun...I love Bruce Van Patter!!! He has a fabulous homeschool
friendly website for creative writing....there's a link at the
bottom...do check it out. These sparklers come as weekly emails.
The Sparkler
Week 19, January 12, 2009
On the Brink of creating
From time to time, I like to peer into the childhood of a writer to
glean ideas about developing young authors. Here are the words of
Carol Ryrie Brink, who penned the Newbery-winning Carrie Woodlawn:
Much of my childhood was lonely, but it was not unhappy – just enough
unhappiness to make me think and appreciate. Because I was lonely, I
learned a most valuable thing – how to make my own amusements by
reading, writing, drawing, making things with my hands, and spending
many happy hours on horseback. I always had animal friends – dogs,
cats, and pet chickens. My grandmother and aunt were both great
storytellers, and I lived vicariously the exciting childhood that my
grandmother had lived on the Wisconsin frontier. Her stories were one
of the delights of my earlier years. *
There are a number of wonderful ingredients for a healthy imagination
in this quote.
1. Loneliness. Notice she doesn't equate solitude with sadness. I
have read many anecdotes and quotes from authors that support this
idea that time spent alone fostered creative thinking. As parents and
teachers, we're constantly trying to fill those spaces. Sometimes,
kids need to have solitude to force them to use their imagination.
2. Self-amusement. This follows on the heels of having nothing to
do. Sadly, I find that far too many kids today do not know how to do
this. Why? Precisely because their solitude is filled with the
yammering of made-to-order electronic amusement. It's not wrong to
make available the raw resources of play, but look what she used:
books, art material, crafts and nature. Not many children have
available the menagerie that Carol did, but there are many ways to get
children face-to-face with nature. My daughter has spent hours
watching beetles, caterpillars and goldfish.
3. Grown-up storytellers. Carol learned to weave a tale from her
grandmother and aunt. How often this holds true for authors. Someone
in their formative years told them stories. Don't underestimate the
value of sharing your experiences, particularly if you can frame them
like a story – set up your "want" and the problem you had to overcome.
As you tell your own tales, you'll do two things – reinforce the
structure of a story and demonstrate how to mine one's experiences for
narratives.
Finally, I love the word she uses in her last sentence: delight.
That's what an active imagination should produce. There is an
unfettered joy in the journey of creativity – whether it's in the
unfolding of a well-told anecdote or in the pursuit of one's own
ideas. As we work with children in the coming year, may delight be
the product and the process.
Bruce Van Patter
Don't forget I have creative writing helps you can download:
www.brucevanpatter.com
The Story of Stuff (video)
for kids and grown ups!
Called The Story of stuff this is an interesting line drawing animation
(about 20mins long) about where your stuff comes from, how it's made,
where it goes when you're done with it and how it's polluting the planet.
Lapbooking and timelines
Re: Project books, mindmaps and Timelines
As far as mindmaps go..there are two great books by Tony Buzan called
Mind Maps for kids and Mind maps for kids Rev up for revision. I think
the library has them or Whitcoull's sells them.
Timelines...there are loads of great free printables online...don't
spend a fortune! We have made several starts on one but are shifting
ours to 'index cards' this year to save space and for easy additions.
This is a good basic info site
http://www.squidoo.com/homeschooltimelines
http://www.angelfire.com/or/mtdewbydo/timelines.html
Great site for free images
http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/
Project books...not sure where to start...there are literally millions
of pages of freebies for Notebooking ideas.... try these for starters
http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/notebooking.htm
http://www.notebookingpages.com/index.php?page=Free-Homeschooling-Resources
http://www.squidoo.com/notebooking
http://www.notebookingnook.com/
http://www.ourlosbanos.com/homeschool/printablesnotebooking.html
http://www.homeschoolnotebooking.com/Free_Pages.html
http://homeschool.consumerhelpweb.com/basics/notebooking-pages.htm
If you google either lapbooks or notebooking..you will find enough
stuff to make your eyes fall out! There are also free units like the
ones at School express which are all free and useful as project starters.
Darnia
Calendar and stickers learning tools...free
This site has a cool set of calendar pages with accompanying stickers for 'special days'...super to use as a fun activity for wee ones learning months etc or with older kids to jumpstart finding out more about famous days, cultural holidays etc...easy print too!
Evan Moor and Dover e-newsletters
Sign up here for free weekly Evan Moor newsletter...has great free printables etc
http://www.evan-moor.com/Free/Newsletter.aspx
Dover publications free sampler newsletter
http://www.doverpublications.com/sampler4/
More must see games....multiple subjects
Free creative writing workbooks
Thanks to Sandra for this link....
If you've got a child keen to try their hand at writing a novel check
out the freebies at nanowrimo three free workbooks designed to guide kids at different levels
through the process. I'm sure you can make use of them even if a novel
seems a little ambitious just now!
Funny....the word up......
Lovers of the English language might enjoy this.
It is yet another example of why people learning English have trouble
with the language. Learning the nuances of English makes it a
difficult language. (But then, that's probably true of many languages)
There is a two-letter word in English that perhaps has more meanings
than any other two-letter word, and that word is 'UP.' It is listed in
the dictionary as being used as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].
It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of
the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a
meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak it ; what's UP,
and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the
secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends and we use it
to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers
and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP
the old car. At other times the little word has a real special
meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an
appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be
dressed UP is special.
And this up is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is
stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem
to be pretty mixed UP about UP ! To be knowledgeable about the proper
uses of UP , look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized
dictionary, it takes UP almost 1 /4 of the page and can add UP to
about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building
UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your
time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP . When the sun
comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets UP the
earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP. One could go
on & on, but I'll wrap it UP , for now .......my time is UP , so time
to shut UP! Oh...one more thing: What is the first thing you do in the
morning & the last thing you do at night? U. P! Now I'll shut up....
Heaps of food for thought on reading
This page is loaded with all the reading you'd ever need to do on reading....reading difficulties, reading teaching methods etc
My favourite 'unschooling' books and sites
Hi Michelle....and everyone interested! Several of you have asked me
about 'unschooling' books etc recently...so here is a list of my
favourites.
Websites....there are millions....but these are my favourites.
http://sandradodd.com/ The best Unschooling/natural learning info
you'll ever find...my personal top site ever! Ok Sandra is a little
extreme in some of her views...but it's all mind and eye opening!
http://skylarksings.com/ David Albert Great writer....especially
great articles about unschooling maths...he's an easy, friendly
read...all books outlined on here.
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/ John Taylor Gatto Ex teacher of the
year New York City....excellent writer on education...somewhat
political but mind broadening!
http://www.holtgws.com/ John Holt "The Godfather" of
unschooling...all his writing is amazingly appropriate for today,
which is encouraging as he wrote over 40 years ago!
http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/ Joyce Fetteroll A massive collection
of writing on Joyce Fetteroll's style of unschooling
http://www.lifelearningmagazine.com/read.html Site for Life learning
magazine....this link is to the back issues section ...you can read
online or print!
http://www.alfiekohn.org/index.html OK Alfie Kohn isn't an unschooler
or homeschooler....but he speaks a lot of sense.
Books....
Jan Fortune-Wood - Doing it their way
All the John Holt books especially - How children learn and How
children fail
Grace Llewellyn- Guerilla Learning and Teenage liberation handbook
John Taylor Gatto - Dumbing us down
Mary Griffith- The Unschooling handbook (good general overview)
If there is anything more specific you need just ask...I have loads
more info!!
Darnia
Learning games for kids...esp maths
Great crafts site for all ages!!
Art and literature videos
This is a massive collection of free films on art and literature
topics. Each film has an age rating but use your discretion. Covers
all areas of art, practical and historical etc...There are films on
authors , on writing process etc too. Under the writing link there is
a full course in creative writing available free as a pdf also.
Well worth visiting and bookmarking!!
Human body online games
These are fun wee games for younger kids based around human body topics, such as inside the boday, reflexes, muscles, viruses etc
Cute tool for rhyming
This is a cute tool for rhyming...great for poetic kids.......or adults stuck in a rut....lol.... type any word to find a rhyme!
Let's Play Math
My new favourite blog...let's play math! What a super idea for a blog. Chocca with fantatsic advice, games and ideas for hands-on math...brilliant for those unschooling maths or to help with any programme.
OLOGY
This is a great science site by the American Museum of Natural History. Learn about Astronomy, archaeology, biodiversity through fun games and activities!
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