Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Here is a summary of two new episodes that I listened too! 

Episode 315 GG Possessives : They aren't just for possession.

This episode addresses the common mistakes people make with possessives.  People often wonder where or whether they should use an apostrophe or not.   People misunderstand and think that anything in the possessive case is only for something capable of possessing such as "mine" and "our"; in relation to the adjective possession. Possessive cases in which ownership is not involved, these can be called relational possessives.  This episode makes a valid point that people who think that inanimate objects can't have things is silly.

"To see how illogical the complaint about inanimate possessives is, forget about noun cases, and look at the verb “have.” If you truly believe that inanimate objects can’t possess things, then you should also have a problem with sentences like “A triangle has three sides.” Triangles are inanimate, so they can’t “have” anything!"

This is a great example because obviously triangles do have three sides. This episode is helpful in the classroom because it describes the history of the possessive case and identifies the common misinterpretations people have about the possessive case.  This episode provides plenty examples of scenarios where the possessive case does make sense, even if the noun is not able to actually possess something because its an inanimate object. This blog is great for auditory learners who understand concepts better while listening.  

Episode 310 GG Stationary, Stationery:

Memory Tricks!

This blog discusses the common misunderstandings of the words Stationary, Stationery, Complement, and Compliment.  The episode provides definitions and memory tricks to help you remember the difference between the words.  First, stationery is what you would use to write a letter on.  For the memory trick, it said to think of the "e" in it as in writing an email. I thought this was very clever because it relates to the real world, and students will definitely remember this because they are growing up writing emails rather than writing letters now a days.

Stationary with an "a' means not moving, fixed in one place, still.  A memory trick to remember this is that when you are stationary, you are often standing, and standing also have an "a" in it.  I think this podcast is very beneficial to the classroom because it simplifies grammar concepts and gives understanding to common grammar confusion and misconceptions.

Check out Grammar Girls Website here for more Quick and Dirty Tips!

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing is also another podcast's that is similar to the Math Dude, but it gives helpful tips for writing. One podcast I was able to listen to was one about the difference between first, second, and third person. It gave good examples of what first person, second person, and third person is. It defines what possessiveness is, and the different uses of it is. This was a great episode because it tells you when its appropriate to use each tense, showing how knowledge of these tenses is applicable and useful in real life. Another episode I listened to was about how to write a better complaint letter. It gave examples of how you should not address someone in a complaint letter and stresses how manners are very important. It explains how being polite but getting your point across will most likely get you what you are looking to achieve from writing the complaint letter. Each episode is great and relate able to the real world. It shows how having these basic skills and having basic knowledge of grammar can benefit you in your real life.

The Math Dude: Quick and Dirty Tips to Make Math Easier

One of the podcast's I chose to follow was The Math Dude: Quick and Dirty Tips to Math Easier. One of the episodes I listened to taught its listeners how to raise an exponent to a power. It went over the most important facts about exponents. Such as defining exponents and the general properties of exponents. Such as adding and multiplying the exponents. I also listened to a podcast about altering your holiday recipes. The podcast's talked about how you can double or cut your holiday recipes in half. It talked about how we can alter fractions within recipes. This was interesting because it showed students how fractions and math is applicable in their real lives. I also listened to an episode about how to multiply and divide negative numbers. The podcast was very informative and lays out in a simple way, how to multiply a positive number and a negative number. The Math Dude is a helpful podcast that provides simple and easy tips to remember while doing math.

ANIMOTO!


Animoto is a program that is a video slideshow maker with music! Animoto is very easy to use and it has plenty of options for adding music and backgrounds to your video.  Animoto is great for creating short films to present to your classroom about what topic you may be learning that day or to intensify a subject.  Showing a video from Animoto about what your lesson is going to be about will engage the students and excite them about the subject your teaching!  Animoto videos are great for class openers.    You can also assign your students to create a video with Animoto for a presentation!  Animoto is fun and easy to understand.  Also, educators can apply for free to use Animoto Plus in the classroom!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR ANIMOTO NOW!

GLOGSTER!

Glogster is a 21st century multimedia tool for educators.  Glogster is a program where you can create your own interactive poster! Your poster can contain music, videos, pictures, land links!  The possibilities are endless!  This program is great for teachers because it is a fun interactive way for students to learn.   Glogster is a creative way to express your knowledge and skills in the classroom and beyond!  On each poster, students can see first hand about the subject that they are learning; they can watch a video, finish an assignment, or look a pictures to learn the topic of the day! Assigning your students to create their own glog is also a great way for students to present a specific topic, while expanding their knowledge about the material!  Glogster is really fun to use/create and is entertaining to use while teaching a lesson!

Click Here to Sign up for Glogster!

FREE iPad apps for teachers and students!

 


Free Books:  The Free Books app offers over 23,469 classics that are all free! With all different genres from Shakespeare, philosophy, to Victorian novels; free books has something that will catch your interest! It has personalized recommendations, authors letters, and even offers Night Mode reading!  Check Out the Free Books App Now!

Math Quizzer:  This free app engages children and is a fun, interactive way to help children increase their skills in subtraction, addition, multiplication, and division!  It also offers "flash cards" to challenge a child's speed! Math Quizzer keeps track of your progress and scores and is great way for children to study at home as well. Check out the Math Quizzer App Here!




Sundry Notes: Sundry notes is a great application for teachers and students.  Sundry Notes application lets you write texts, draw, record voices or sounds, highlight texts, create tables, import images from your photo library, and much more! It's a great way to organize your notes.  And its also free! :) Check out the Sundry Notes App here!

iPad "apps" for Second Grade Teachers and Students!

Timed Reading:   Timed Reading is an application for students with the k-4 reading level that allows them to focus more on comprehension rather than word decoding.  This application will count how many words the child reads per minute.  The goal of this applications is to help students read smoothly and quickly.  There are over 250 short engaging stories. For teachers, this application has a tracking device that allows the teacher to track a students progress or even the progress of the whole class.   Based on the child's words per minute rate, the application will recommend what level of reading difficulty the child should attempt next. This application received 3 to 5 stars!
Download Timed Reading App Here!

BrainPOP! :  The BrainPOP app engages students to learn through many different approaches.  This app has animated movies, interactive games, entertaining characters, high-interest readings, and interactive quizzes.  BrainPOP offers all different subject areas such as Science, Math, Social Studies, English Language Arts, Technology, Arts, Music, Health, Reading, Writing and English as a Second Language.  This app received 5 stars across the board from users!
Download the "BrainPOP!" App Here! 

Drawing Pad:  The Drawing Pad application lets students unleash their imaginations and gets their creativity flowing! It is a mobile art studio with realistic photos.  It has markers, crayons, colored pencils, paint brushes, stickers, roller pens and more!  With this application you can blend and soften colors to optimize your photo to your liking! It is a great app that has gotten tremendous reviews! Download Drawing Pad Here!