netTrekker Blog

Play Time

Can you imagine your life without a decorative box to put your paperclips in, without rubber bands, without being able to purchase a variety of shoes at an inexpensive cost, windows in your home, shoelaces, motion pictures, the use of paper money, cotton clothes, a suitcase with a collapsible handle or how about a telephone? These are just some of the items patented in March that have made our lives more comfortable, more organized, and definitely kept us more entertained.
March is also the time of year for the science fair projects, and through these projects our teachers will cultivate young inventors of the future. What neat gadget will they create to improve our comfort, organization, or entertainment?
If you do a search in netTrekker d.i. for inventions and then refine your search by “Video” (under the multimedia selection) you will find my favorite inventions resource, the Lemelson Center. Here students can either play games that sharpen the mind and prepare them for creating inventions or teachers can watch video on how creativity, play, and science all work together.
Oh, okay – teachers can play the games too. I know I have!

Tags: inventions, netTrekker, projects, science fair, video

Teachers’ Domain: Interactive Fun!

Teachers’ Domain offers a diverse collection of activities and media resources for your classroom. The netTrekker sites in Teachers’ Domain contain video, interactive media, images and .pdf files.  Resources accessed through netTrekker pertain to Social Studies and Science topics, but, once you log into Teachersí Domain you can search any topic and find rich resources that address all areas of the curriculum.

The Teachers’ Domain site encourages you to register, requiring you to complete a short and simple profile. The process asks:

• The type of school
• Where it is located
• A user name/password you would like to access Teachers Domain
• Your name
• Email
• A COPPA regulations confirmation that you are over 13 years of age
• A question of how did you hear about Teachers Domain?

If your school uses a universal user name for the students to access netTrekker d.i., consider registering it here as well!

To continue on with the theme of hearts that Amy introduced with the SMART resources, here is an example of an interactive resource found in netTrekker d.i. from Teachers’ Domain. My search word was heart. I refined my search to only show Teachers’ Domain resources and then selected the entry about

heart transplants. It pulls up an interactive program for your students to actually conduct a heart transplant. It includes the background information, questions, and the standards for this activity.

It is simple and truly a rich resource to enhance your classroom, all available in netTrekker! View this short video to see this classroom application in action.

Teachers’ Domain in Action

Tags: interactive media, netTrekker, Teachers' Domain, The Collections, video

Linking outside of netTrekker d.i.

Did you get your folder started? I hope so, because today we’re going to look at how to add websites not found in netTrekker d.i.

netTrekker d.i.has over 300,000 digital resources that are relevant and aligned to your state standards, but there are bound to be websites not in netTrekker d.i. that you would like to add to your Portfolio. You may wish to add the link to an online quiz, your personal website, an online document or a link to another subscription provided to your students. Any of these links may be easily added to your netTrekker d.i. portfolio.

First, click on My Portfolio and open up the folder you want to add the link to. You will see several buttons running across the top of that folder, including a button that says “ADD WEBSITE”. Click on that button and a new window will pop up. This is where you will add the URL (I recommend copying and pasting the URL so there’s no mistake), the Name of the website you are adding and then a description of the website.

Please note that Read Aloud, Dictionary and Readability will not work with links originating outside of netTrekker d.i.

Some of the items that I like to add to folders include Quizzes from Quia, a book list from Scholastic’s Book Wizard, a link to my blog or wiki, or BrainPop videos. What websites will you be adding to your portfolio?

On a side note, if you have a great link that should be added to netTrekker d.i.’s database, you can send it to us via the CONTACT US TOOL. The CONTACT US TOOL is located on the right hand side in the yellow MY TOOLS box.

Tags: blog, My Portfolio, netTrekker d.i., quiz, Save Search, video, website, wiki