A wiki of fun things to do for students

[Sue Tapp]

I am running a year 8 centre next year and am slowly constructing a wiki of fun and hopefully stimulating resources for students to turn to when they have some 'free time' I would love any help or suggestions from the group. Please let me know or just add them to the wiki I have only done few pages so far. Can you think of some fun apps the kids might like? http://wwww.chillintime.wikispaces.com/ I am also looking at all the great listings on Lenva Shearing's wiki http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/

[Cheryl Oakes]

Hi Sue, how about buildasnowman
http://akidsheart.com/holidays/christms/snowman.htm

[Sue Tapp]

Thanks Cheryl I will check it out-all the best of the season to you!!

[Dianne Rossi]

What age students are you focusing on?

[Dianne Rossi]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/ cute but effective keyboarding program

funbrain.com - has some educational games

kidsheart.com - in general has lots of activities

[Sheri Edwards]

My students love: Art Pad --- online sketch -- email or save to gallery-- http://artpad.art.com/artpad/painter/

I am starting this page with a google news gadget for my students about current events -- you can of course copy the idea if you haven't already thought of it -- it's more research and connection though.
http://whatelse.pbwiki.com/The-News-and-You-Directions


One poetry picture site I love is PicLit. See directions here.

Have your tried Bookr? Here's a directions set I made.

How about Bubblr? Here's a set of directions.

Thanks for sharing your ideas and site! I liked the art page.

Sheri

[Alice Barr]

Hi Sue: Great idea here. I found this article about the Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners from T.H.E. Journal. Some of them might be of interest.

[Jeff Bailey]

Sue, I spent most of my day playing with the game on our wiki. I bookmarked many of them myself. How engaging and what a great way to do some critical thinking and problem solving. I particularly like the magic pen one! I have some to add to your collection if you like them.

For younger kids you might like http://dsc.discovery.com/dinosaurs/dinosaur-games/dinosaur-games.html


http://mypuzzle.org/games/light-bot.html This one is a great math/computer programming game (not as hard as you think)

Here's a neat language one http://crickler.com/crickler.html

And here's one about wolves in an ecosystem that older students might enjoy

[Jeff Bailey]

Sorry, the last link didn't get through http://www.wolfquest.org/

[Dan Ryder]

A fun sound-oriented problem solving game is Auditorium at http://www.playauditorium.com/. It's a grand time for all and shapes thinking in a little different way. There's a free version available online -- and the full version is a fairly good buy as well.

[Carolyn Stanley]

Hi, Sue,
I took a look at your wiki; you might want to add:

www.bighugelabs.com

to your art list. It's a really fun spot -connected to Flickr - where kids can upload photos and manipulate the tools to do all kinds of cool projects.
I run a computer club in a middle school after school on Thursdays. I'm anxious to follow some of your links.

[Terry Friedlander]

Thanks to all of you who have discovered or used PicLits.com
We are growing and appreciate any and all users. We have users from K2 through seniors in their eighties.
The words and photos change daily ( M-F) and you can post to facebook, e-mail, and print your Piclits.
Language Arts teachers and ESL/ELL teachers are our major users. If teachers have access to a SMART board, the site is extremely conducive to class participation. DRAG-N-DROP allows for not only creative writing but for teachers to teach punctuation, spelling, grammar, vocabulary etc ..... FREESTYLE is also an option when words seem to come easier.
Would love some feedback. Thanks
Terry Friedlander, founder
[e-mail]

[Sven Braune]

Hi Sue, I think you inadvertently addressed a great topic: a place to share great links ... Maybe we could rename the title of this post to "Great links to Great Sites" ... :-)
Anyways, I have another great site, which addresses things like Internet Safety, Internet Etiquette, etc. If you are interested, check out this site: http://svenbraune.ca/kidsresearch/cyberspace/
***Note: I compiled these four resources from the Media Awareness Network. I guarantee that it is free of those silly and annoying ads :-)