Math History, Humor and more

January 20th, 2020 by ClickSchooling No comments »

 

It’s Monday, January 20, 2020, and time for Math at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

Math Academy/Platonic Realms

(www.mathacademy.com/pr/index.asp)

Age Range: 5 and up (Grades K and up; children with parental supervision)

 

This amazing, ICRA-certified (G-rated) website was produced by a handful of math and math education graduate students in Boulder Creek, CO. There is all kinds of FREE content that is highly accessible to all ages, from kindergarten to university student and beyond!

Each day, there are new items in the following categories: 

  • Mathematics quote of the day! (And an archive of previous quotes).
  • Daily Challenge: This comes with a hint, and you can also view the previous day’s problem and solution.
  • Historical Note: Learn a surprising fact about the history of mathematics!
  • Math Humor – In the left column under “graffiti” you’ll find new jokes each day! Because this site is designed for *all* levels of mathematics, some of the jokes are easier for everyone to “get,” while other more mystifying ones might just be good incentive to keep learning more math! (Parents, as always, should preview the jokes to determine suitability.)

In addition to the daily features, there is an enormous math encyclopedia. Many of the encyclopedia entries are supplemented by free “prime articles.” Be sure not to miss, for example, Zeno’s Paradox, Fibonacci sequence, and Story problems (how to solve)!

Please note: Some of the links on this site did not work; however, there is enough information here to keep you busy for a long time.

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Foreign Language Practice through Games

January 18th, 2020 by ClickSchooling No comments »

 

It’s Saturday, January 18, 2020, and time for Foreign Languages at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

Internet Polyglot

(www.internetpolyglot.com/)

Age Range: 13-18 (Grades 8-12, with parental supervision)

 

Internet Polyglot offers a variety of free interactive lessons and games to help you practice over 35 languages by memorizing vocabulary words and their meanings along with phrases and simple sentences.

Scroll down to select the language you want to learn. Then choose the translation you want. A new page opens that displays all of the vocabulary lessons (includes audio) that cover topics such as animals, weather, transportation, food, money, shopping, education, entertainment, numbers, colors, clothing, time, and much more. You can also watch pictures of objects and hear the word that describes them pronounced by a narrator. And this is sort of like virtual flash cards: 

  • Picture Game – A word is displayed and you select the correct picture.
  • Guessing Game – A word is displayed and you select the correct definition.
  • Typing Game – A word is displayed and you type in the correct translation.
  • Matching Game – Drag-and-drop the translations that match displayed words.

You can play-and-learn all of these games for free on this ad-supported website.

Note: There were not a lot of ads on our visits to the site. However, the ads are randomly generated, so, parents AS ALWAYS should preview the site and supervise use of it.

You must register (free) to create your own lessons, save your results, and customize the activities as desired.

As the website explains, Internet Polyglot assumes that users already have some experience and knowledge of a foreign language prior to using the activities at the site. It is intended as a supplement to a foreign language program – not as the sole method for learning a language.

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Virtual Field Trip to Six Villages in Viet Nam

January 17th, 2020 by ClickSchooling No comments »

 

It’s Friday, January 17, 2020, and time for a Virtual Field Trip at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

Mekong Lifeways

(folklife.si.edu/resources/mekong/Engframe.html)

Age Range: 11-18 (Grades 6-12, with parental supervision)

 

This set of online photo albums from the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage provides a virtual tour of traditional lifestyles of people in the Mekong Delta region of Viet Nam.

The whole family can enjoy looking at the photos of the six different cities. When you get to the site, select a city from the six photos in the center of the page:

  • Trà Niên
  • Vinh Châu
  • Trà Sết
  • Long Định
  • Phum Soài
  • An Thuận

On each city’s main page, read the introduction at the bottom of the large graphic, then select a photo archive from the left-hand column. Once inside each photo archive, you need to read the information at the bottom center of the page, then navigate using the thumbnails across the *top* of the screen. (Don’t sorry, it’s easier then it sounds.)

Together this montage gives you a little taste for the variety that exists here, and a bit of an idea of what makes each of these six cities special.

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Explore History through Timelines

January 16th, 2020 by ClickSchooling No comments »

 

It’s Thursday, January 16, 2020, and time for Social Sciences at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

Explore History through Timelines

(www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html)

Age Range: 10 and up (Grades 5 and up; children with parental supervision)

 

Lovers of timelines will thoroughly enjoy this simple-to-navigate and ultra-informative website.


Using the two sidebar navigation tools, hone in on the points of history you wish to survey. Discover the people and events covering a time span of 3,000 years. This website allows visitors to explore not only the events in history, but also the people and places of history. In addition to timelines for general history, events, and people, specific topics covered include: 

  • Science
  • Culture
    • Artists
    • Music
    • Writers
  • Religion
  • Politics

Once you have selected a particular timeline to view using the left-hand side bar, narrow down your timeframe using the right-hand sidebar. The entries within the timelines are clickable, providing additional topical information on the right hand sidebar.

In addition to the timelines, there is a selection of maps to geographically envision the seven periods of world history: 

  • Early Civilizations
  • Greek Colonization
  • Rome & Han China
  • Barbarian Invasions
  • Expansion of Islam
  • Mongol Empires
  • A.D. 1500-1800

An online, comprehensive, 250 chapter history text written by Frank Smitha that complements HyperHistory is also available for free through the link “Book Text”. (Please note that the “Book Text” link takes you to an external ad-supported website.)

Timelines are a valuable resource for putting history into perspective and you will find yourself bookmarking this site to come back to time after time.

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Free AudioBooks of Classic Stories & Poems

January 15th, 2020 by ClickSchooling No comments »

 

It’s Wednesday, January 15, 2020, and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

Lit2Go

(etc.usf.edu/lit2go/)

Age Range: 5-18 (Grades K-12, with parental supervision)

 

This website provides free audiobooks of classic literature, stories, and poems in MP3 format that you can download to your MP3 player or listen to on your computer. You can also read the text of the literature on the webpage or download a pdf and print it out to read offline.

When you get to the site, you’ll see an introduction and links to the ways you can browse for information including by: 

  • Authors – Enjoy listening to literature by Aesop, Jane Austen, J.M. Barrie, Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Brothers Grimm, Thomas Jefferson, Jack London, Melville, Poe, Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert Louis Stevenson, Thoreau, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, Walt Whitman and many more.
  • Books – You can listen to titles such as Anne of Green Gables, Black Beauty, Common Sense, The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Gift of the Magi, Just So Stories, A Little Princess, The Merchant of Venice, Rip Van Winkle, The Scarlet Letter, Treasure Island, The Ugly Duckling, The Wind in the Willows, and more.
  • Readability – Click on any grade level from K-12 to find a suggested list of suitable titles based on the Flesch-Kincaid reading level scale.

This is a terrific resource for homeschoolers, unschoolers, and carschoolers!

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[ClickSchooling] TED.com: Agile Aerial Robots

January 14th, 2020 by ClickSchooling No comments »

 

It’s Tuesday, January 14, 2020, and time for Science at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

TED.com: Agile Aerial Robots

(http://www.ted.com/talks/vijay_kumar_robots_that_fly_and_cooperate.html)

Age Range: 9 and up (Grades 4 and up approximately; children with parental supervision)

 

This is a fascinating and entertaining physics tutorial on the development of tiny, autonomous, agile, aerial robots that have many applications – from being first responders in disaster situations to playing musical instruments.

In this 17-minute video filmed for TED.com (TED stands for “Technology, Entertainment & Design”), the speaker is Vijay Kumar from the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Lab, at the University of Pennsylvania. He and his students blend computer science and mechanical engineering to create the next generation of robotic wonders.

Watch as the flying quadrotor robots fly through hula hoops, work together to build construction projects, provide 3-D imaging of buildings, and even play musical instruments.

If this doesn’t get you interested in science, physics, engineering, entertainment, and the possibilities they offer – nothing will.

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Kids learn to play Chess!

January 13th, 2020 by ClickSchooling No comments »

 

It’s Monday, January 13, 2020, and time for Math at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

ChessKid

(www.chesskid.com/)

Age Range: 7-18 (Grades 2-12, with parental supervision)

 

This website was designed to help young children learn how to play chess. The game of chess provides intellectual stimulation while improving concentration, logical thought, and critical thinking.

When you get to the site, sign up for the free lessons. Learn about the board and the pieces. Then take some simple quizzes to get a certificate. After this, you can select a virtual opponent and level of challenge for some real practice playing chess.

Parents and teachers who wish to help guide their students through this site can select the sections designed just for them to see the syllabus, direct links to specific lessons, information about privacy, and so on. (But kids can learn a lot here independently as well!)

Chess provides opportunities for friendships, an outlet for competition, and a relief from boredom. Chess is a lot of fun!

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Everyday Art Starters

January 11th, 2020 by ClickSchooling No comments »

 

It’s Saturday, January 11, 2020, and time for Art at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

Everyday Art Assignments

(www.everydayart.org/)

Age Range: All (All grades; children with parental supervision)

 

This website is the result of a project conducted in Pittsburgh, PA that encouraged people of all ages to rediscover their creative energy through artistic assignments suggested by real artists.

While the actual art project took place in 2004, the assignments are archived at the website to inspire artistic endeavors forevermore. 

When you get to the site, you must wait for the introduction that is slow-moving, and then double-click on the final words in the presentation to get to the menu. Your patience will pay off. From the menu, you can read about the “EAA” – Everyday Art Assignment project, and review “Successes” – artistic submissions by people worldwide.

THE BEST PART OF ALL is the “Artist Assignments.” Click on this item and a new page opens featuring the photos of 15 artists who contributed SUGGESTIONS for art assignments that you can try at home. Click on the artist’s photo, and a new page opens to their art assignment. You’ll find suggestions such as: 

  • Persephone’s Return – Learn about the Greek goddess of Spring through planting seeds and tracking their growth with a nature journal.
  • Everyday Ritual – Create a photo-documentation of an everyday ritual.
  • Gained in Translation – Write a 24-line poem and use a recommended website to translate it into multiple languages.
  • Fiber Jambalaya – Use old clothes to create the craziest quilt ever!
  • Make A Paper Doll of a Great Friend!
  • Use 17 Objects to Create Peace.
  • And more!

Each Art Assignment provides very simple instructions, leaving the rest to your imagination. Pictures of other people’s results are provided to help you better understand the assignment. 

Think of this website as an “art-starter.” Even if you don’t do the exact assignment, it will certainly inspire artistic expression in one way or another.

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Virtual Field Trip to Leaning Tower of Pisa

January 10th, 2020 by ClickSchooling No comments »

 

It’s Friday, January 10, 2020, and time for a Virtual Field Trip at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

Leaning Tower of Pisa Photo Gallery

(www.towerofpisa.org/leaning-tower-of-pisa-photos/)

Age Range: All (All grades; children with parental supervision; younger children and non-readers will need assistance from mom or dad.)

 

Learn all about the famous “Leaning Tower of Pisa” located in Italy with these photos and facts.

Built in 1173 as a bell tower for a cathedral, it began its unintentional incline during construction. There have been ongoing efforts over the centuries to shore up the tower and save it from toppling over. When you get to the site, click on a photo and then scroll through the different pictures of the tower and the area. Then check out the top menu to learn more: 

  • Facts
  • Campo dei Miracoli
  • History
  • Historical Facts
  • and more!

We also found this website. See the Leaning Tower of Pisa in 360!

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Learn all about Jamestown and Captain John Smith

January 9th, 2020 by ClickSchooling No comments »

 

It’s Thursday, January 9, 2020, and time for Social Sciences at ClickSchooling!

 

Recommended Website:

On the Trail of Captain John Smith

(www.nationalgeographic.org/interactive/trail-captain-john-smith/)

Age Range: 9-14 (Grades 4-8, with parental supervision)

 

This website offers a fun, interactive game that allows kids to learn about Captain John Smith’s voyage from England to America and the establishment of a colony in what is now Virginia.

When you get to the site simply click on “Let’s Go” to play the game. Be sure to turn on your speakers so you can hear the narrated video presentation that is also displayed in text below the screen.

The topics are:

  • Off to Virginia – Watch an introduction and brief history about the initial voyage.
  • Building A Fort – Learn about the disagreement among the colonists about building a fort to protect the colony.
  • John Smith is Captured! – Discover the difficult conditions the colonists face and the exploration they embarked upon to find relief. Find out how John Smith was captured by Native Americans and the result of his capture.
  • Powhatan’s Power – Learn about Captain John Smith’s meeting with the Indian Chief Powhatan. Is the legend of how Pocahontas saved John Smith’s life true? Discover historians’ perspective on this story.
  • Help from the Indians – Play a treasure hunt game to find the natural resources in the bay and marshlands that helped the colonists survive.
  • Exploring the Chesapeake – John Smith and the colonists were seeking gold and a Northwest Passage. Find out what they DID find, and play some games that will test your skill at virtual fishing and boating.

And more!

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