Thursday, February 3, 2011

Google Art Project - Technology Rocks!

Google's new Art Project http://www.googleartproject.com allows you access to the art collection in museums around the world.  This is one of those sites you need to see to appreciate.  I haven't shared many technology resources for arts teachers, but the Google Art Project is an example of how technology can bring paintings to life for you and your students. 

It's somewhat like Google Earth but with paintings on the walls of museums.  You can pan the room, zoom, find out information about each painting, see museum floor plans, post links of pictures to social networking sites, and build your own art collection, if you have a Google account.

There is a FAQ page that includes videos, including a visitor's guide.  This would be a good way to introduce the Art Project to students.  The FAQ discusses copyright protection of the images and Google's terms of use.  It is important that students understand copyright as it applies to paintings - a great opportunity to discuss fair use of images. 
The ability to build a collection of online art is very cool.  I hope you check out the Google Art Project and please share it with any art teacher you know.
Here is one example of a van Gogh I like.

Painting Details

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

IXL Math - Free Dynamic, Fun, Interactive Practice

IXL Math provides online, engaging math problems for students from Pre-K through 8th grade.  You can access dozens of skills for Pre-K through 2 and more than 200 skills from grades 3-8.  The ISL Math site provides links to state standards and the Common Core Standards.  The site keeps it simple with an easy to navigate interface. 

Although there is an available subscription to this site that tracks student progress and provides reports, all of the interactive skills practice I've shared are available free and without a log in.


This is a robust collection of examples that cover so much curriculum content.  The other thing I like about the site is that when you get a wrong answer, you can click an explanation of the proper solution to the problem.
Here is an example from 5th grade fractions.

Check out IXL Math and see if it will help your students practice the skills you teach them.

Share your thoughts about this tool in the comments and pass the site on to a colleague.