The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives website is one of the best math tools available to teachers. The resources, lessons, and tools are amazing. I highly recommend browsing through the site. The web-based applets (small programs) cover all strands of math and can be used by all grade levels. I have tried just a small percentage of the tools and my students have loved using all of them. We especially enjoyed the lady bug mazes and challenging each other with the geoboard activities.

From their website:

"The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (NLVM) is an NSF supported project that began in 1999 to develop a library of uniquely interactive, web-based virtual manipulatives or concept tutorials, mostly in the form of Java applets, for mathematics instruction (K-12 emphasis). The project includes dissemination and extensive internal and external evaluation."

Visit the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives . (Say that three times fast!)

You also have access to customizable modules and tracking tools to meet the needs of your classes. Check it out and let me know what your class enjoyed working on.

Reading and Language Arts resources.

I would like to share two excellent resources for reading and language arts in todays tech tips. The first is Reading Rockets (click to go there). From their website: "Reading Rockets is a national multimedia project offering information and resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help." This excellent site has tons of great tools that can help with reading instruction; parent tip sheets, multimedia resources in audio and video format, and much more. The second site is readwritethink.org. The link will take you to the interactive tools section of their website. These sites allow students to use engaging, challenging, and fun tools to develop literacy skills. A great example is the persuasion map tool. This helps students to visualize their persuasive writing before starting their paragraph. It is a great mapping tool.

The first tool that I would like to share is a very powerful one. Working on Word or Office documents in multiple places can be quite challenging. One computer might have the program and another might not. The versions may be different or a host of other issues can cause it to be very difficult. ThinkFree.com, Writely.com*, and zohowriter.com are all web based "Word-like" word processors. They look very similar and function almost exactly the same as Word. In some cases, they even have some more features if you are using an older version of Word. These tools can be very powerful for the whole writing process as well because they allow multiple people to work on the same document. You can collaborate, edit, and share very easily. If you have access to the internet you can create, open, and save your documents even if you do not have Word on that computer. Click the links below. Each site will have a tour of their offerings.

* ThinkFree

* Writely

* Zohowriter

*Update: Writely.com was purchased by Google a while back and it is now part of Google's docs & spreadsheets. This is great because now you have word processing and spreadsheets in one online tool.

End of year awards

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Originally uploaded by KnowledgeFarm.

The last day of the school year for students! Wow! This year has flown by . I can't believe how quickly it has gone. Now is a time to rejoice, reflect, and rejuvenate. We get to rejoice and celebrate so many success that all our students have had throughout the year. I wish our 5th graders the best of luck as they move on to new adventures in middle school. As a teacher, reflection can be a very powerful process to help improve and discover new methods. And finally, rejuvenating is necessary to help us comeback strong and refreshed. I look forward to next year, but not just yet. :)

This picture was taken this morning in front of the school. 8:40 am and still frost on the ground! It was 46 degrees Fahrenheit and slowly starting to warm up. I am not a big fan of cold weather but it is neat to see changes in seasons. South Florida, which is where I moved from, had summer and summer lite. Those were the only two seasons.

School update: The CRCT online practice tests are going well in my classroom and we are having parent information nights to help our parents to utilize this great resource from home as well. The Center Promote teams are working hard on their websites with a concentration on the research and information gathering at the present time. Besides the cold weather, all is well at Center Elementary.