ME AND MY LAPTOP
  • My Blog
  • About Me

Beautiful, Interactive Vocabulary

7/5/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Recently, I discovered a vocabulary website called Membean.  The site offers personalized vocabulary lessons to help with preparation for the SAT, the GRE, or general vocabulary improvement for both individuals and schools.  The vocabulary lessons are visually stunning and very interactive; however, they are not free.  Personally, I know that my school simply cannot afford to pay for tailored vocabulary development for each student, but Membean's format has given me the idea of setting up a vocabulary wiki and having my students create their own interactive vocabulary pages, including definitions, pictures, videos, sentences with context clues, etc.  If your school has money to spend, by all means, it appears to be well worth the money, but I know for some of us, spending even a penny more isn't an option. 

With that said, let me tell you what Membean has for free.  (Doesn't the word "free" have a beautiful ring to it?)  Membean has a wonderful collection of podcasts featuring different root words.  (Thanks, Membean!)  I plan to use a study in roots, prefixes, and suffixes as an integral part of my vocabulary curriculum this upcoming school year.  In fact, I plan to use Membean's podcasts as a bellringer activity in my classroom by having students make note cards to record the meaning of each root word.  I'll have students record the root, its meaning, and definitions of multiple words based on that root; they will also draw an illustration to accompany the root word.  Students will be given an online pretest to assess prior knowledge, and will be retested throughout the school year to measure to assess growth.  Below, I am sharing the template that my students will use to create the note cards.  As always, feel free to copy/print/distribute.


Word Root of the Week
View more PowerPoint from jesspilgreen
0 Comments

CHARACTER TRADING CARDS

1/30/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
Read Write Think has a fantastic template for creating Character Trading Cards.  These cards are in-depth, too; they require a rather careful character analysis in order to complete.  When students are finished, they can print the card and add hand-drawn illustrations.  I would love it if images could be imported to add to the card before printing, but students could probably print pictures separately and glue them in place if they want a cleaner look than a hand-drawn illustration.


0 Comments

QUIZLET

1/30/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
One of my amazing, tech-savvy coworkers presented a workshop about Quizlet at a district in-service last spring, but I did not take the time to try it for myself until recently.  This website is a great tool; I could see it being priceless for RtI and Special Education students who need accommodations, as well as any student who wants to know how to better prepare for tests and quizzes.  Quizlet allows you to create your own flashcards (which I have used Flash Card Machine to do before).  Where Quizlet surpasses other online flash card generators is in its ability to take the flash cards that you create and turn them into practice quizzes and games.  It also offers the option to print flash cards.  Once the teacher has created a set, he or she can supply students with a URL for direct access; or, you can have students collaborate to create their own cards.

Note: Apparently, Flash Card Machine has added a lot of new features, including printing options, quizzes, and an ipod app.  


0 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    Dr. Jessica Pilgreen, Ed.D. 
    lives in Southwestern Illinois with her husband, daughter, and two dogs. She teaches 9th & 12th grade English at a small rural public school where she continues to learn new things every day.

    Archives

    December 2020
    July 2018
    June 2018
    January 2018
    December 2013
    October 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    Categories

    All
    3d
    Art
    Astronomy
    Audio
    Augmented Reality
    Avatars
    Blogging
    Bloom
    Cell Phones
    Chat Rooms
    Citations
    Community
    Conferences
    Crazy Talk
    Data
    Differentiation
    Digital Storytelling
    Discussion Boards
    Document Cameras
    Edusim
    E Mail
    E-mail
    File Converter
    File Sharing
    Flashcards
    Flip
    Game
    Google
    Google Drive
    Google Earth
    Grammar
    Green Screen
    Literacy
    Literature
    Maps
    Multimedia
    Mythology
    Nbpts
    Nonfiction
    Nonprofit
    Parent Contact
    Pdf
    Photography
    Plagiarism
    Podcasting
    Poetry
    Polls
    Poster
    Presentations
    Publishing
    Puzzles
    Qr Codes
    Quiz
    Qwiki
    Research
    Scanner
    Screencasting
    Screencasts
    Screenshot
    Shakespeare
    Signs
    Smart Boards
    Smart Boards
    Smart Phones
    Social Networking
    Spelling
    Standardized Testing
    Tests
    Texting
    Twitter
    Video
    Videos
    Virtual Reality
    Visual Learners
    Vocabulary
    Webcam
    Webcams
    Websites
    Widgets
    Word Clouds
    Writing

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • My Blog
  • About Me