I have chosen to write about "Sheppards Software". It was a colleague of mine that had used this website with her class and I thought that I would try it too. It was enormous! On this website you can find fun things to do in English. Here the pupils can learn new words and have fun at the same time. They can learn about other subjects than English. Here you can find activities for all ages.
You just need a computer connected to Internet and this link below to get started.
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/
When you introduce this to your class or if you want to use it with all of your pupils, it is good to have a projector.
You can find hundreds of educational games, activities, quizzes, articles and more. The website is divided into different categories, for example animals, world, language arts, health, science, math and pre-school. If you go down the page you can find even more subjects, as history, brain, nutrition and seasons.
There are games, quizzes and other activities for all ages and if you scroll down you can see which category is recommended for each age.
At the bottom of the page there is a link "free for teachers". If you go to that page you get information on how to download things from this website and you can use them in your school or for pupils to use at home. The best of all is that it is free and you can download as many "games" as you want. There are more than one thousand schools worldwide that have taken advantage of this already.
"Pre-school" is good for newbeginners because in the other categories you need to have studied English for a while and you also have to be a good reader. In "Pre-school" and "Kid´s corner you can find things to listen to and learn.
It is a very extensive website, as a teacher you really have to take your time and try the activities. But if you have younger pupils you can let them try the "Pre-school" activities themseves and tell each other about them.
They can find many things to do on their own like games, jigsaw puzzles, memory games and things to paint.
When you get to know this website you can choose activities to use in your ordinary teaching. There are a lot of things about animals. One thing that is good here is that you can include a lot of other subjects when you are working.
As on many websites there are a lot of commercials but it is because of them the website can be "free".
It is an extensive website, so take your time. Good luck!
Anna-Maria Svensson
Sheppard software seems to be a useful website that I might try in my class. At first I found it a bit messy, it's hard to know where to start, which exercise to choose. My pupils will probably love it because of all the colours an many activities to choose from. You mentioned the commercials and I understand why it's there but I don't find it appropriate that pupils can look at personals " Women looks for men" while they are working with English, neither in school or at home. But especially not in school.It's good that they recommend sections in levels, which makes it easier for me to find what I'm looking at. You say I can include a lot of other subjects when I'm working. What subjects and how can I do that? I had hoped to get some good examples from you. You don't talk about if or how parents can use this website, but do you think it's good for homeworks, so the pupils can practise the skill they need to develop at home? I might tell my pupils about this website so they can try it at home. And I might use it in class when I get to know Sheppard software a bit more, because of your conviction of it's excellence. Ulrika
ReplyDeleteWhen I read your blog entry I got curious about the website. I looked at it for a long time and as you say there is a lot of things you can use in school or at home. I let my daughter, who is ten years old, try it and she thought it was fun. I liked the mathexercises. There you could practice on all kind of mathematic problems like basic operations, time, fractions and so on.
ReplyDeleteIt could be a problem that the website shows so much advertising but you can find advertising on all free websites so you have to teach your pupils not to enter them.
You have to take your time when you on this website because there is so much to choose between but it is good that they have put the exercises in different levels. It helps you to find an exercise for each of your pupils. I will probably use this site in school and I am sure my own children will try it again.
Helene Hofling