Top 25 Interactives for 2011

hackNY 2011 Spring Student HackathonLast week, I shared the top 25 lesson plans on the ReadWriteThink site, based on your mouse clicks. Today I have the most popular student interactives on the ReadWriteThink site.

In case you’re unfamiliar, interactives are web-based tools that students can use to learn about language, to organize, summarize, and analyze, or to write and print poetry or prose. These tools span all grade levels—from word play games for kindergartners to graphic organizers for high school students.

Here’s the official list, based on web hits, of the interactives that were used by the most students and teachers during 2011. Visit the pages for related lesson plans and other resources that will help you try out these tools in your own classroom:

  1. Comic Creator (K–12)
  2. Acrostic Poems (K–12)
  3. Story Map (K–12)
  4. Letter Generator (K–12)
  5. Diamante Poems (K–12)
  6. Plot Diagram (1–12)
  7. Persuasion Map (3–12)
  8. Shape Poems (K–5)
  9. Printing Press (K–12)
  10. Construct-a-Word (K–2)
  11. Bio-Cube (3–12)
  12. Word Family Sort (K–5)
  13. Venn Diagram, 2 Circles (K–12)
  14. Essay Map (3–12)
  15. Compare & Contrast Map (3–12)
  16. Timeline (K–12)
  17. ABC Match (K–2)
  18. Fractured Fairy Tales (3–12)
  19. Character Trading Cards (3–12)
  20. Picture Match (K–2)
  21. Book Cover Creator (K–8)
  22. Crossword Puzzles (K–12)
  23. Literary Elements Map (6–12)
  24. Alphabet Organizer (K–12)
  25. Stapleless Book (K–12)

Don’t see something that fits your classroom? You can find even more online tools on the ReadWriteThink site. Visit the student interactive section of ReadWriteThink site for many more options.

As always, if you have feedback or questions about ReadWriteThink, all you have to do is contact us.

—Traci Gardner

 

[Photo: hackNY 2011 Spring Student Hackathon by hackNY, on Flickr]

 

What are your thoughts on educational gaming?

USA Today’s recent Top 10 video games for kids this year notes some educational games and others with literary or pop culture connections. The Independent Florida Alligator (U of Fla) reports that More colleges using video games as educational tools. Even the military is using games as part of their training, and they may soon be completing that training on their cell phones.

It’s not surprising, then, that we see stories like these about teachers using gaming in the classroom:

So what’s going on in your classroom? Do you use games in the classroom? How do you respond when families ask for recommendations for educational games? Have any great resources to share?

 

 

This post is the introduction from “July 11 to 16 on ReadWriteThink.” Read the rest of the post on Facebook.