Carrotsticks Online Math Game!

No not the food.  Thanks to “Free Technology for Teachers”. I have set my students up on the website Carrotsticks. I am a technology nut with a class set of laptops.  Anything I can use that engages my students, and integrates technology is a win-win for me. I like this site because it provides my student with drills in subtraction, addition, division, and multiplication.  My students LOVE it for so many reasons. The most important reason is that they can compete against each other, they love this.  We had indoor recess today, and you know what they did?   The majority of the class was on Carrotsticks Online Math Games.  It has everything they love, an Avatar they create, competition, and points, lots of points!!!! It does what I need it to do, drill my students on Math,  it can be accessed at home, and it’s safe.  I am going to see if this helps improve their mathematical ability.  The only drawback is that I have students playing at 9 p.m., when they should be in their beds! 🙂

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Technology Rules!

My class  got our laptops back today! Well, actually, they’re not our laptops, we have to share them with the school. I had to write an essay explaining why I wanted the laptop cart housed in my room, that wasn’t a problem. I feel like they’re mine because none of the other teachers really use it. The teacher across the hall was using it, until one of her students completely bent the plug  while bringing it back to my room. And yes, I was secretly happy for that little incident. But back to the topic at hand, I love technology,, more importantly, I love integrating technology into my lessons. It opens up a whole new world for my students, and myself.  I have taught the same Reading series for the last three years, I’ve always changed the way I’ve taught, but with the laptops, Wow! The laptops stay on my students’ desk from the time they enter in the morning, until the time they leave in the afternoon. Don’t get me wrong, they still do work the “old school” way with pencil and paper throughout the day,but  the available technology allows other options to engage them.  KidBlog,( their very own blog), Edmodo(FB for students), Twiducate(Twitter for students), Glogster, (virtual posters), Tweentribune,( online current events the kids read and comment on), the list is endless. I’d like to give a special shoutout to Richard Byrne, Free Technology for Teachers, if you use nothing else, use his site. He is an excellent resource for beginner and expert alike! I realize I am fortunate to have laptops, some desktops, and other resources some might not have. But even if you are a one computer classroom, there is still a way to integrate technology. And to the teachers who are fortunate enough to have these tools , and not use them, tsk, tsk! No excuses allowed, I have been teaching for over 26 years, so the old person excuse doesn’t work.:)Stick your finger in, the water is fine, and try just a little at a time, you’ll grow to love it as much as I do!