MoneyVille!

MONEYVILLE

WHO: MONEYVILLE is for students 3-9 years old

WHERE: http://moneyville.ie/  

Great for a center activity in math k-3

WHAT: From the Moneyville website: 

Moneyville.ie is an educational and very fun universe that was specially designed for school children 5-9 years old. With its entertaining games and various activities, your students can explore where money comes from, what money is worth and how they can prioritize and save up.

Students are given their own house and room, as well as their own character. This ensures a connection and recognition when they return to the Moneyville universe. A special area designed for children from 8-9 years of age enables them to learn about finances on a more abstract level. For example, they must make a number of decisions that can affect their total finances during a year.

The only thing left to do is to begin exploring and learn about money, finances and basic mathematics!

Your students can visit:

• The apple booth, where they can make money by gathering apples and selling apple juice.
• The post office, where they can sort packages and make money by helping out.
• The city gate, where they can earn money by helping to paint.
• Karen's shop, where students can purchase items for their personal rooms and clothing for their characters.
• A sorcerer who knows where a golden treasure is hidden! If students can answer his questions correctly, he reveals the location of the treasure.
• The Wish Jar, where the children can save the things they would like to save up to buy.
• The family game is specially designed for children from 8-9 years of age. Here, children create an imaginary family, choose their home and whether they are to have a car or bicycles. They must pay expenses every month – including unexpected expenses – and they must save up for holidays and celebrations.

But there needs to be time for recess as well! The Time Machine is a sanctuary where the only objective is to have fun. Your students can:

• Journey to ancient Rome: A puzzle where they construct buildings such as the Colosseum.
• Journey to ancient Egypt: Where they help to paint and decorate a room in the Cheops Pyramid.
• Journey to the Middle Ages: Where they can shoot a bow and arrow.
• Journey back to the time of dinosaurs: Here students must find dinosaur eggs buried underground by collecting hearts, pushing rocks and avoiding dangerous creatures.

MISSION US

 http://www.mission-us.org/

WHO: PBS's MISSION U.S.

WHAT: This looks like a fantastic game for learning about the American Revolution!Players become a 14 year old boy (Nat Wheeler) who is leaving home (Uxbridge, Massachusettes)  to become an apprentice in Boston in the winter of 1770. Along the way, students will have to select Nat's actions in the game. Throughout the game, Nat meets various people along the way, from poets and slaves to Paul Revere. Depending on the choices the player makes, Nat will end up either being a Patriot or a Loyalist. The great part of the game is that the players will learn both sides of the story leading up to the Revolutionary War. 

Throughout the game, players collect "Smart Words" and items that help enrich their learning of the period. There are also a TON of resources (great primary source links) and lesson plans in the "Teacher Section" to go with the game.

Why: Mission U.S. is a great way to enrich a unit on the Revolutionary War. 

HOW: You will need to set up a teacher account. Once you do, your students will log in with a code. Once they are linked to your teacher account you can see how far they have gotten in the game and what vocabulary words they have collected. When you go to play the game - computer lab would work best -you may want to have the students bring in ear buds so it doesn't get too loud or distracting since students will be at different levels. Working in pairs would also work nicely. (Indian Hill Teachers - just email me and I will help you with the set-up if needed.)

Here is a great video overview of the game and how to set up an account. 

This video shows Mission U.S. in action in a classroom.

Blogging Help

The fastest and easiest way to get your students blogging is to use KidBlog.org. KidBlog is a safe and super easy to use. Contact me if you are in my district and I will show you how to set up your class, demo a lesson about commenting to your class, and get you blogging in no time!


Here are some short videos to get you going:








Resources To Help


How to set up a blog.
Student Instructions.

Happy News and Morning Meeting

 HAPPY NEWS

Who: All students.

What: Ideas using technology to help with Morning Meeting.

How: Below is a link to "Happy News" sites. Have the students weekly go to these sites and report on "Happy News" that is going on in the world during Morning Meeting. You could have a "Happy News Monday" or a "Good News Friday." A great way to encourage students to share and hear positive news! 


Where:  Click on "Happy News and Current Events" http://macconnell.wikispaces.com