Web 2.0 Financial Literacy K-12 Sites

The Core standards include financial literacy. I was looking for Web 2.0 financial literacy resources to share with our teachers and this is what I found. This should save you time and give you resources you may not been aware of. Explore and enjoy!

Financial Football

http://www.practicalmoneyskills.com/games/trainingcamp/

Grades 9 to 12--free

Visa and the National Football League have teamed up to help teach financial concepts with Financial Football, a fast-paced, interactive game that engages students while teaching them money management skills. Teams compete by answering financial questions to earn yardage and score touchdowns.

Teach Banzai

http://www.teachbanzai.com/life-scenarios/

Grades 9 to 12--free

Teach real-world financial literacy, for free. Merge classroom learning with real-world experience as students learn to make wise spending decisions. Banzai is a web-based tool that is free for you and your students!

Biz Kids

http://bizkids.com/

Grades 9 to 12--free

BizKids, a website and public television series supported by America's Credit Unions, includes external links to finance games, activities, savings and debt calculators, and information on starting a kid business. Teacher resources include support materials for the television episodes and online video segments.

Kids Bank

http://www.kidzbank.com/

Grades 1 to 6--free

KidzBANK is a fun, educational program for schools, in partnership with their local financial institutions, for teaching the habit of saving and other financial life skills to their students. Our country is faced with a negative savings rate and an un-banked population of 12 million households. KidzBANK is an excellent tool for changing this by introducing young citizens and their families to financial institutions and creating a lifetime savings habit.

Money in the Bank

http://www.econedlink.org/interactives/EconEdLink-interactive-tool-player.php?lid=358&&filename=em358_BanksBankersandBanking-MoneyintheBank.swf

Grades: Elementary--Free

This very simple activity for elementary grades calculates how long it will take to save for a goal. (A simple spreadsheet lesson introducing formulas can accomplish the same thing!)

Compound Interest Calculator

http://www.econedlink.org/interactives/index.php?iid=2

Grades: High School--free

With this resource, students can input monthly savings, age, and compound interest rate, and then see how much their money will grow by retirement. A graph shows the proportion of principal and interest. (Again, a spreadsheet can do this as well.)

Universal Currency Exchange

http://www.xe.com/currency/

Grades: High School--free

This site includes information on every world currency and up-to-date currency converters.

Stock Quest Game

http://stocksquest.coe.uga.edu/

Grades: 4-adults--Free

Individuals or groups can play the stock market with virtual money; teachers can track students' progress; friendly contests are also feasible. The site includes lesson plans, a guide to stocks, and information on online investing.

Stock Market Game

http://www.smgww.org/

Grades: 4-adults

In the Stock Market Game, a program of the Foundation for Investor Education, students collaborate and negotiate in teams, drawing on Internet research and current news as they compete to build a successful virtual portfolio. The program requires an initial teacher training session and a nominal annual registration fee.

Miniyanland

http://www.minyanland.com/

Grades: Elementary--free

This financial literacy game allows players to invest or earn money over time (even by doing offline chores, verified by parent e-mails) and make saving and spending choices.

Fedville

http://www.frbsf.org/education/fedville/popup.cfm

Grades: Elementary--free

This cute site has lots of interactive elements woven into a financial literacy theme, but some of the games have minimal learning value.

Escape from the Barter Islands

http://www.clevelandfed.org/learning_center/online_activities/barter_island/index.cfm

Grades: Elementary--free

This little simulation for primary students demonstrates how barter works and why money is more efficient than barter for trading goods or services.

Count the Money

http://www.mathplayground.com/count_the_money.html

Grades: Elementary--free

Students practice mental math skills with this money counting game.

Fifty Nifty Econ Cards/print

http://www.federalreserveeducation.org/resources/fiftynifty/

Grades: High School--free

Economic vocabulary cards and a teacher's guide for K-6 can be printed from the site, or a free set of cards can be ordered online. The site includes related offline games, activities, and assessments, as well as a glossary and chart of concepts organized by grade level.

The Allowance Game

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1776.pdf

All ages-- free

This free simple printable game for all ages uses beans as "allowance" and promotes discussion as it guides students in prioritizing spending choices.

Once Upon a Dime--print

http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/ve/LIBRARY/DIME.PDF

Grades: 6th graders to 9th--free

This free printable comic book for middle-schoolers presents basic economic concepts through a story of the development of the economy of a mythical island.

A Penny Saved--print

http://contentdm.unl.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?

CISOROOT=/comics&CISOPTR=24&CISOBOX=1&REC=4

Grades: middle/HS--free

A 24-page resource in comic book form, with dense vocabulary and concepts geared for middle and high school students, can be downloaded from a graphic link on this page (83 mb).

Great Minds Think

https://www.newyorkfed.org/publications/frame2.cfm?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eclevelandfed%2Eorg%2FLearning%5FCenter%2FOnline%5FActivities%2Fgreat%5Fminds%5Fthink%2Findex%2Ecfm

Grades: middle school--free

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is offering a free activity book that makes finances fun. Great Minds Think: A Kid’s Guide to Money, produced by the Bank’s Learning Center and Money Museum, is filled with engaging exercises to help middle-school-aged kids make thoughtful decisions about money.

The Story of Banks

https://www.newyorkfed.org/publications/result.cfm?comics=1

Follows three young entrepreneurs as they use progressively more sophisticated bank services over a 23-year period. Also explores the role of checking deposits and lending in money creation. 24 pp.

My Money.gov

http://www.mymoney.gov/

Grades: Middle School--free

This site compiles economic resources from 20 U.S. governmental agencies in one place. You Are Here is a virtual mall where middle school students can learn consumer concepts; the majority of the links at MyMoney are geared for teens and adults.

Council for Economic Education

http://www.councilforeconed.org/

Grades: All--free

This site includes print, online, and linked economic resources.

Junior Achievement

http://ja.org/

High School--free

Resources for entrepreneurship.

Jumpstart Coalition

http://jumpstart.org/

Grades--K-12--free

The website of the Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy includes a clearinghouse of extensive links to other financial resources, National Standards in K 12 Personal Financial Education, and "reality check" personal checklists.

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Elementary and Middle School Web 2.0 Resources

After working with several elementary and middle school teachers we have decided that these are the best resources we have found useful at this time. We hope you enjoy the list and find resources you can use in your classroom.

Language Arts Resources

Story Line Online This site has famous actors read books to your students http://www.storylineonline.net/

Spelling City—you can add your own words http://www.spellingcity.com/

Cartoonster –online cartoons free http://www.kidzdom.com/tutorials/

Grammar Girl---http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

Kids spell.com--http://www.kidsspell.com/

Snack Tools--http://www.snacktools.com/ Flipbooks from pdf’s, polls, presentations, video, audio, and web tools

Fun English Games.com-- http://www.funenglishgames.com/

Science Resources

PB Primary Science resources http://www.bp.com/multipleimagesection.do?categoryId=8042&contentId=7035870

National Geographic for Kids-- http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

Science Daily--http://www.sciencedaily.com/

Science for Kids-- http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments.html

Scientific calculator--http://web2.0calc.com/

Virtual Cells--http://vcell.ndsu.edu/animations/

Math Resources

Fuel the Brain—elementary math http://www.fuelthebrain.com/

Math Playground—PreK-8 http://www.mathplayground.com/

Illuminate—math online activities Pre k-12 http://illuminations.nctm.org/

Math Dude http://mathdude.quickanddirtytips.com/

Kids Math--http://www.kidsmathgamesonline.com/

Thinking Blocks—MS/Elem math site http://thinkingblocks.com/index.html

Free fraction tools http://www.conceptuamath.com/fractions.html

Visual Fractions http://www.visualfractions.com/

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives http://nlvm.usu.edu/

Who wants pizza—2 to 7^th grade fractions http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/fractions/frac.html

Academic Games

Games Games.com—Games for all subjects http://www.gamesgames.com/

ABC YA.com—K-5 academic games http://www.abcya.com/

Arcademics Skill Builders --Academics + Arcade Games for many subjects--http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/

Art Education 2.0 http://arted20.ning.com/

Create Music online http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/11/9-tools-students-can-use-to-create.html

Twitter Resources and Activities

Twitter is just the best free resource for conservations and input into your classes. Students think in text today and this allows for quick and short responses. Students like it and it seems they will tweet things long after class is over.

I use it to find trends in my field and to share what I am doing in my classroom.

Tweet Deck--allows you to manage the information easily. It is a free download that organizes your tweets by hashtags. You can organize tweets by the people or hashtags. It is easy to use and allows you to tweet from the programs. It keeps things focused so keeping up is easy.

Twitter Poll--allows you to get immediate feedback from your students. I use it for back channeling and formative assessment at the end or start of a class.

Tweet Chat--This allows you to follow a specific hashtag and have a running conversation on a topic. A point to remember if you want to not overwhelm your followers when having a #hashtag chat, start any tweet you want to "hide" with @HideChat or @HideTag. I use this during lectures or videos--I can stop and answer questions or review things students are not understand immediately.

NOTE: This also works when live-tweeting events or shows.

Tweet Grid--allows you to manage tweets by hashtags. It's online so no download--it also allows you to follow 9 hashtags at once. It's quick and easy! It saves you time and can be accessed from anywhere because it's online. You can tweet from this site. I use it to monitor chats with in my classes--all seven of them at once.

Tweetree--Allows you to watch a specific hashtags but not reply--but it does give you a url to share with others. It allows me to let the students see the input from the day before. Doesn't allow them to reply at that time.

I have my students research their chosen field and what hashtags to follow. They can ask questions of professional in the field and find out what trends are in their field. Every profession has hashtags. They can follow professional organizations or specific topics of interest.

Titter in the Classroom Wiki This site is loaded with ideas for using Twitter in your classroom--check it out!

Hope this helps inspire you to jump in and start tweeting in your classes and professionally. All comments and suggestions are welcome! Email me at skeehner@crcsd.k12.ia.us

Web 2.0 Tools in the 1 to 1 Classroom & Business Education Classroom

What are Web 2.0 Tools?

• Usually free
• Web-based
• Available from anywhere there is an internet connection
• Unlimited possibilities
• Good for differentiating instruction
• OR Or my definition . . .
• World-wide Educational Based 2.0Tools
  

The best part is they are free!

Teacher Productivity Sites

Twitter Resources

Tweet Deck--allows you to manage the information easily. http://www.tweetdeck.com/

Twitter Poll--allows you to get immediate feedback from your students. http://twtpoll.com/

Teacher Resources

Quizlet--allows you to create online flashcards that turns them into games for the students to play and review the important information you want them to learn.
http://quizlet.com/

Make Use Of--http://www.makeuseof.com/ Free PDF Files about many computer programs and computer skills (ex. facebook, photoshop) Delicious--Online bookmarking--great site to find new resources http://www.delicious.com/

Financial Literacy Sites

Ed World--Financial Literacy http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/mathchat/ mathchat027.shtml

Power Pay-- https://powerpay.org/

Jump Start--Reality Check http://www.jumpstart.org/reality-check.html

Financial Football-- http://www.practicalmoneyskills.com/ games/trainingcamp/

Great Cyber Sites

Cyber Bullying-- http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/ cyberbullying-toolkit

50+ Effective Mobile Learning Tips and Resources [PDF]-- http://blog.simplek12.com/education/effective-mobile-learning/

Google Resources

Google Docs--good for collaboration projects and sharing your presentations with students to access for review at home.

Forms—surveys Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Presentations

Google Sketch--a CAD type program that is free and can be
used in many ways and has thousands of templates to get you started.

Google Sites--free websites that are easy to use and look great

Google Searches

Goofram Searches--http://www.goofram.com/

Google Squared-http://www.google.com/squared

Google related searches from Google Home Page:

• Google Wonder Wheel or
• Google Timeline or
• Google Reading level or
• Google Dictionary--To find these do a search and when you get your results look on the left hand side down below under more search tools

Wikis for the Classroom

PBWorks--http://pbworks.com/
Allows you and your students to create a free website which is easy to make and change

Wiki Spaces--http://www.wikispaces.com/
Allows you and your students to create a free website which is easy to make and change

Teaching Video Resources

• YouTube--Great videos but many schools block this site. You can download from home and bring in to show
• Teacher Tube--great site have to register or you get commercials.
• Learn it in 5--free resources for teaching many items that are quick five minutes or less
• WatchKnow--videos for students to learn from

Presentation Sites

Prezi--http://prezi.com/
This site allows you or students to make a presentation that is exciting.

Google Docs--Allows many people to share the presentation and allows people to collaborate when making them.

Free Image Resources

Google Images--maybe copywrite issues

Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly image library for teachers and students
http://pics4learning.com/

Flicker storm -- this site has images that can be used professionally
http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/

My Favorites

Egg Timer--timer http://my.online-eggtimer.com/

Cool Text--logo generator http://cooltext.com/

Creates word play--Wordle http://www.wordle.net/ OR Tagxedo http://www.tagxedo.com/

Back channel resources for feedback

Wall Wisher-- http://www.wallwisher.com/ OR Lino It http://linoit.com/ OR Answer Garden--http://answergarden.ch/create/

Screen Casting http://www.screenr.com/

Animoto Make Free Videos http://animoto.com/

Voki Create a talking avatar http://www.voki.com/

Poll Everywhere allows feedback from cell phones http:// www.polleverywhere.com/

Make Use of has a how to book for almost any computer program or web program (ex--facebook) http://www.makeuseof.com/

Tiny URL shortens your long URLS so when you share them with your students it easier to share them http://tiny.cc/ OR Itsy Bisty http://bitsy.me/

Rubric Star http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php Resource of hundreds of rubrics or make your own

Go animate makes cartoons http://goanimate4schools.com/public_index

Zamzar Online Conversion of files like videos and audio http://www.zamzar.com/

Online Converter--http://www.online-convert.com/

Flixtime makes 60 sec. videos--http://flixtime.com/

Turdy Search-- Gives you a reading level for your search site results http://www.twurdy.com/index.php

WOW--I bet your head hurts! My advice is to pick one or two and to get started. Then add one as you see it would help you in your effective instruction. Have fun! Remember you do not have to be an expert to use any of these tools Or have a student teach you how to use it!
Questions? Contact me or follow me at twitter--CRBusiness Or my Blog at http://mrskeehnersblog.blogspot.com/ Or my website
https://sites.google.com/a/crcsd.k12.ia.us/crbusinessdept/home
Thank You!
10/2/11

My Favorites Wikis

We all need resources that are quick and easy to use. As a teacher finding connections is the hardest. Here are some of my favorite Wikis:

Skye in Schools Allows you to connect with other classrooms easily.

PBWikis Contains directory of wikis for education and much, much more!

Teaching with your IPad This wiki has tons of information about IPads and even more ideas on how to use them.

Cool Tools for Schools This wiki has Web 2.0 tools for everyone and every thing you can imagine.

Wiki for Twitter in Schools Classroom activities and ideas for using twitter in a classroom.

These are just a few a use on a weekly basis--I'll keep adding as time allows. Enjoy!

Differentiating Instruction Using Web 2.0

Differentiating instruction has always taken time to set up because of supplies and supplemental materials needed. In today's world with the Web 2.0 tools--students only need access to a computer and the world of differentiated instruction if available for FREE! Here a few of my favorites:

PB Works This allows my students to create an online portfolio of their online work. It's quick and easy to work with. It also allows be to grade items and evaluate them. You need a place to embed their work or link to their online projects.

Wall Wisher This site allows students to brainstorm and solve problems. I also use it to have students ask questions. Or a bell ringer activity at the beginning or end of the hour to pull students ideas together. Its great the next day to start by answering the questions on the wall. The students can add question at night or in study hall when ever they have one they can add it.

Quizlet Allows you to create flash cards for students. They can be printed or used online. It creates games and tests for the students to practice the information. I use it for tests reviews. My students scores have increased noticeably since I started to use it. I paste the link in my website but could embed the code.

Glogster It allow students to create interactive posters that they can share with the class. Check it out the kids love it and it is free--you do have to do some set up.

Flicker Storm Online picture to use for visual learners. Easy to use and easy to search for what you are looking for. Use it for vocabulary posters for my walls. Student create and print I use in class for my units.

Prezi More fun than a Power Point and all online so you don't have to own a program. It creates interactive presentations. Easy the students have no problem creating them.

Zamzar Converts videos so you can use them in your class--in case YouTube is blocked in your school. We also use it to convert Quicktime Player videos and audio into something useable for all computer types. Have the students record a video or audio from the computer using a webcam--not perfect but it works!

Watch and Know for Students Good videos on many subjects that are short and to the point. They are great starters for a subject.

The Search Engine List This helps the students pick the right search engine for the type of research they are doing. Its organized and contained search engines I didn't know existed. Very helpful. Great link for your website!

Online Web 2.0 Sites This is a listing of many Web 2.0 sites and organized by type. Whenever I need an idea I check this site and find one that fits the project I want to produce. It is an amazing site and a must bookmark for every teacher.

These are just ten sites I used weekly. I will put more up as I have time. Hope this helps you find a new site or idea to use in your classroom. Please post your favorite site so we can all learn about what works in a 21st Century Classroom.

How do you give up control?

In this new age of 1 to 1 computing the problem isn't the students--it's the teacher! I know I'm a control freak and letting go of control of my classroom is scary! I've been slowly doing it for years as the computer has taken over my business curriculum--however it's hard.

For those of you that are new to this process I can give you these words of advice:

• Learn to use Twitter--I love Tweet Deck to learn new innovative ideas for my classroom--I set aside 10 minutes everyday to Twitter--and I rarely tweet--I just read them.

• Start off small and slowly create projects to engage students in the computer projects for your subject area--there is a WEB 2.0 Tool that will inspire you. Check them out at http://www.go2web20.net/
  

• Know what you want before you assigned a project--having a rubric is very helpful to you and your students--these will constantly change as the projects progress over the years. Sometimes I had too high of expectations and sometimes too low. Live and learn! Great site that helps is http://rubistar.4teachers.org/
  

• If you wait until you have all the programs or Web 2.0 sites mastered they are old--jump in and the kids will learn along with you or you from them.

• Tons of ideas out there--there is a wiki for everything--Google it!

• Let students make suggestions for projects--they have great ideas.

• I truly believe it is no longer about "How much" I cover but "How" I cover it.

• Developing a student social network site is critical to the 21st Century Classroom--it is how today's students communicate. Edmodo--http://www.edmodo.com is free and Ning is cheap!
  

• TEACHER LEARNING--is more important than ever before--it can't only be about our content--it's about our--Pedagogy!

• Student Responsibility is critical and an important piece--it will only hurt them later in life if we don't set deadlines and expect them met! Employers will reap the benefits later!

• TIME is still precious and teacher's will need time and support to make the changes necessary for a Student Centered Classroom. Differentiated Instruction site http://www.sde.com/teacher-resources.asp#DIresources

• Find someone who is doing it and visit them--follow them through a day of teaching. A good mentor is critical.

• Don't give up--it will be worth it in the end!

The author has been a classroom teacher for 30 years and is currently the Iowa Business Education Teacher of the year.