Have you ever looked at the cost of learning software for your computer?
I am pretty sure that, after two years of begging, I'm going to get a computer in my classroom this year. Seeing how other teachers have 2-3 computers (one has like, eight laptops, but I think she hoarded them over years and years and refurbished them herself, so I'll let her slide) and how there are several smartboards floating around the school, I don't understand why it's taken this long to get me a computer. My first year, I had one broken computer in my room. I also had a laptop safe, a printer/scanner bed (with no printer or scanner). The entire setup weighed about 1,000 lbs and nothing turned on. It took until after Christmas to get them taken out.
My second year, I had two computers! I was so excited. Except, no electrical cords, mice, keyboards, printers or internet connectors. I finally managed to get everything I needed to learn that one wouldn't turn on and the other worked a little (Word Processing) but couldn't go online or run CD-ROMs.
This year, however, we're getting a new computer lab and I begged the computer teacher to keep me in mind when they got rid of the old machines. I'm willing to refurbish myself. And if I can't, I'm gonna kick up a bigger fuss. There's no excuse for this.
Okay, sorry, rant over. Time for the free and cheap stuff!
Since I'm (probably) getting a computer, and the software is really expensive, I am determined to find cheap or free web-based applications my kids can use to reinforce their learning while also gaining some computer savvy.
PBS Kids! I learned about PBS Kids! from one of my students. Apparently, PBS has hipped itself out since I was a kid. They still run perennial favorites like Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, but they've expanded their educational shows (and even revamped The Electric Company!) and made a corresponding website. Children (with the help of parents or teachers, depending on age) can surf on to the site, read about their favorite shows and characters and play educational games. All content on the site is FREE, and a lot of it is similar to if you bought a $50 Sponge Bob or Clifford CD-ROM. The familiar characters pull the children in to the games and they don't notice/don't care that they're learning (or, better yet, they know they're learning and they like it!).
There are math, literacy and science games, and they're sorted by corresponding show. Don't be tricked, though! Reading Rainbow has a math game (place value), so you can't know just by show. It's a good idea to go through the games and find which games are good for which kids. By the same token, however, if PBS Kids! is a choice during choice time, I might give the kids free reign to explore the site. They also have a good Teachers' and Parents' Guide.
Starfall.com is a site that some of my fellow teachers use, and they actually said that a lot of their students find it boring. Apparently it's hard to navigate away from certain tasks and the kids can't progress if they don't "pass" a certain level. But I was playing around with it and I found it easy to navigate and you could even quit mid-task. I think the problem might be if you make a class profile and give each child a section, then they have to pass all the levels. Anyway, though some friends said their classes found the program frustrating and boring, I navigated the site and really liked it. There are 4 categories you can play under:
ABCs, which is for emergent readers as well as higher readers who need to practice phonics skills;
Learn To Read, which features very short texts mostly consisting of very basic sight words and words in word families;
It's Fun to Read, which consists of higher-level (F, G, H if I had to guess TC levels) texts for early readers that they can navigate by category of interest; and
I'm Reading, which helps early readers learn to read in phrases. Each section has clickable words that can be read to them if they get stuck (like using a Leapfrog) and the pictures animate if you click on them. Students can choose to get help reading word-by-word or opt to have entire pages read to them as they follow along. There's a lot you can do with this site and I think it'll be a valuable tool for my students. Plus, this is another
FREE program, so why not give it a try?
Finally, a program that is not free, but appears to be worth the money. Some of you might be familiar with the
Reading A-Z program, but I wasn't until recently. There are all sorts of leveled books and activities and Readers' Theatre opportunities, but the best part is the
Raz-Kids sister site (Raz =
Reading
A -
Z). As you can tell from the little picture of the "reading room" on this site, there are leveled book baskets of online books that the kids can read. Like the Starfall site, unfamiliar words can be read by clicking on them, and the pictures animate. There are additional games you can play after finishing a book that demonstrate comprehension, phonemic awareness and other skills. The virtual baskets level from pre-A (called aa here) to Z, so this is great for all teachers from K-6 (or maybe a low-functioning 7th or 8th grade class, if it isn't too babyish).
You can sample some of the materials at Raz-Kids for free, but you do have to pay for a membership. I think this is a real deal, though. For $60 a year, you can enroll your class, level your readers, check their assessments and do all sorts of other nifty stuff. Furthermore, if, like me, you have a Special Education class of 12 students, it's conceivable you could partner with another small-class teacher (or a few of you, if you have a 6:1:1 or an 8:1:1 ratio!) to bring the cost down to anywhere from $15 - 30 per teacher per year. Even if you can't pair up with a friend, this is a good resource at a reasonable price, so I thought Cheaper Teachers should know about it.
Which brings me to my question - does anyone know any other free or low-cost learning programs for the computer (web based and CD-ROM both OK as long as they're free and inexpensive)? Please let me know if you do so I can check it out and review it for everyone here!
I'm exhausted from setting up my classroom all day (it looks like Calcutta in there!) but thought I'd give you an update about this cool bit of technology I just found called SmileBox. Except I'm tired. And lazy. So I'ma let the website tell you instead:
