Dean Kindig and Moira Prister

In my last post, I wrote about TubeChop, which edits out the parts of a video you don’t want. Quietube lets you remove the “visual noise” (ads, comments, suggested videos) that may be inappropriate or distracting.

1. Go to http://quietube.com/ and drag the button to your bookmarks toolbar. Don’t know how? → Here’s a quick tutorial.

2. Go to  https://www.youtube.com/  and

2. Search for the video you want (I chose ChickaBoom, so I Googled “YouTube Chickaboom”).

3. Open the video.

4. Click the quietube button you dragged to your toolbar. No more ads, comments, or suggested videos!

http://www.tubechop.com/

TubeChop lets you take any public YouTube video, chop off the intro and/or the ending, and save it as a new video. Here’s how:

1. Go to https://www.youtube.com/  and

2. Search for the video you want (I chose ChickaBoom, so I Googled “YouTube Chickaboom”).

3. Open the video and…

4. …Click Share underneath the video.

5. Highlight and Copy the link.

6. Go to  http://www.tubechop.com/  and…

7. …Paste the YouTube link into the text window that says “Search Video”. The same video appears.

8. Slide the left slider below the video where you want the video to begin.

9. Slide the right slider below the video where you want the video to end.

10. Click “Chop It.” You now have a video that starts where you want it.

Google and Mattel just came out with a View-Master-like gadget that lets you take virtual field trips. You insert your smartphone into it. Here’s more:

http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/13/google-and-mattel-view-master/?ncid=rss_truncated

We saw RIT’s presentation on Classrooms of the Future this morning with the 3rd and 4th graders. This looks like it would fit right in!

http://www.fun4thebrain.com/subtraction/snowballFightSub.swf

This site lets you choose the difficulty of the problems, then choose the right answer to throw a snowball.

http://www.kiel.k12.wi.us/faculty/jwills/Concentration.cfm

You need to put tagboard or other stuff paper in your inkjet printer to print these out, but print the fact cards and the matching answer cards, then cut them out. Shuffle and spread them out on a table face down. Player A turns over two cards; if they’re a match then they remove those two cards and take another turn. If they aren’t a match, Player A must turn them back over in the same place, and it’s Player B’s turn. The winning Player is the one who has the most pairs of cards when all have been turned over.

Let’s face it. Kids would rather play a game than do your blending lesson worksheet. Make Syllabllopoly! I’ve added the first 19 short vowel clusters to squares around the blank gameboard (it’s the maximum size for our copier, 11×17″; make lots so you don’t have to ever do that twice). Put initial sounds on the cards (3×5 cards cut in half). Color half the squares orange and half the squares blue, adding extra lines on 3 squares. Grab a die.

Player A and B both get 2 initial sound cards to begin, and the remaining cards go in a draw pile in the center. Both place a player marker on Go. Player A rolls die, moves that number of spaces, and says the vowel cluster they land on. Player A and his/her team try making a real word (names count as real words) using the initial sound with the vowel cluster. If they are successful, they get 10 points.

Player B rolls die, moves that number of spaces, and says the vowel cluster they land on. Player B and his/her team try making a real word (names count as real words) using the initial sound with the vowel cluster. If they are successful, they get 10 points AND another initial sound card from the draw pile.

If player lands on a square with 2 (or 3) colored sides, and if they can make 2 (or 3) words instead of just one, they get 20 (or 30) points.

Player who is ahead in points at the end of a pre-set time limit wins.

• We have a student who has trouble with the words used in math. In my search to find terms, I came across lists divided out by grade level. He’ll love this because he has a competitive spirit and wants to know where he stands. It helps him try harder.

•  Vocabulary Cards Kindergarten.pdf, 842.65 KB 
•  Vocabulary Cards 1st Grade A thru L.pdf, 2.95 MB 
    Vocabulary Cards 1st Grade M thru Z.pdf, 458.38 KB
•  Vocabulary Cards 2nd Grade A thru L.pdf, 1.27 MB
    Vocabulary Cards 2nd Grade M thru Z.pdf, 781.95 KB
•   Vocabulary Cards 3rd Grade A thru L.pdf, 1.43 MB
    Vocabulary Cards 3rd Grade M thru Z.pdf, 758.44 KB
•   Vocabulary Cards 4th Grade A thru L.pdf, 1.47 MB 
    Vocabulary Cards 4th Grade M thru Z.pdf, 1,022.84 KB

Kids respond to literature, especially biographies, if they can make a Glog, a graphic blog that summarizes their learning. This boy went off-the-charts enthusiastic about this, and couldn’t believe there was a webpage on the Internet that he created! We sent this to his parents:
Hi,

Look what I’ve found!
.

Click and check it out! Babe Ruth

A VMI board is my Visual-Motor Integration game board.  It’s made on 18′x18′ white oaktag. Buy some blank dice here:

 http://www.atomicempire.com/item.aspx?item=20148

and scrounge some player pieces (incomplete chess sets make wonderful pieces; so do the tops of depleted markers, milk jug caps, even small white bathroom tiles).

Mark the 6 sides of one die as follows: R, L, U, D, C, C (Right, Left, Up, Down, Choice, Choice). Children place their player marker in the center of the board. When the child rolls the die, that is the direction they move one space. Then they have to draw that design on their paper. Advanced version: Have the children draw that design on a nearby table, enhancing visual memory.

The next time there’s a bake sale, school supper, teacher appreciation day, or other foodish pleasure at your school, someone will leave a polyethylene container behind. Even an old one at a garage sale will work well (spend no more than 50 cents). Despite attempts of the school to return these, one one ever claims at least one. It is your duty to claim them and use them for salt trays. A container with a top is highly recommended.

I prefer salt to anything else to fill the tray to 1/2″. Sugar gets licked. Fine sprinkles of a single color are a second-best choice. Sand seems to attract more moisture than salt. Multicolored sprinkles are distracting. Regardless, change the salt every three months or so.

I have kids look at their word in one place in the classroom (a spelling word, sight word, or phonic pattern word), and then walk to the tray and write it slowly in the salt. If the word doesn’t show up well, I’ve put black construction paper or a dark mat under the tray to provide contrast.