Web Activities

Funbrain.com.
I really enjoyed playing the math game Bumble Numbers on funbrain.com. This would be a perfect activity for my first graders to practice their addition facts. I like that you can choose your skill level before beginning a math game. My students could play this independently or with a partner. I also enjoyed the Mad Libs activity because the game let you choose verbs, adjectives and nouns from a list of possibilities. Many of these words, however, would be beyond my first graders. This might be an activity that we could try as a large group. I think they would enjoy reading the silly story at the end. Another game that I tried was Spellaroo. I liked this game because students are asked to read a sentence and pick out the word that is incorrect. I think this would be a fun game to try as a big group. Though I selected the beginner level, many of the words would be difficult for my readers.

Teach-nology.com seems like a great resource for teachers to use. In particular, I liked how the lesson plan section was organized into monthly themes. This would be a great resource to use when I am looking for projects for Mother’s Day or a special holiday. I also really enjoyed the math flashcard game. This would be a great tool for my students to use to practice subtraction and addition facts. I like that you can choose how many cards to play, the difficulty level and it gives you encouragement. One resource that I did not like is that the “hint” option just gives the correct answer. I thought it would be better to actually give a strategy instead. I think that my first graders would definitely be able to play the flashcard game independently or with a partner.

pbskids.org, Cyberchase: This page had a lot of different activities. This might be an activity that I would let my students choose during free time. I think that they would enjoy the animation, the sounds and the game choices. I tried a math game and paper delivery game. Both were fun and they integrated math concepts into the activities.

My favorite link is starfall.com. My students love to play on this website. It is very easy to navigate and it provides a variety of learning activities. One of my favorite tools is the interactive book section. Students can read or listen to books. Each story also has some type of interactive game to play. Students are not only reading, but they are also interacting with the characters. Each month there is a different theme book. This website is a great independent learning station because students can navigate the site very easily and can choose from a variety of learning activities.