Class of Tech

You Are Here - Online Activities, Resources, & Games to teach kids to be smarter consumers!

2012-02-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

You Are Here is a cool interactive site developed and hosted by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) that offers many resources to help make kids smarter consumers. You Are Here is broken up into 4 main sections of information:

The West Terrace - This is where students can learn about advertising techniques, suspicious claims, and more.

The Food Court - Students can learn about business competitions, monopolies, supply and demand, and more.

The Security Plaza - Students can learn about protecting their privacy and their online identity.

The East Terrace - Students can learn about online rip offs, bogus offers, and scams.

There is even a Parents & Teachers Page with informational PDF Printouts and lots of lesson plans for each topic.

Check out You Are Here at:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/youarehere/index.html

"Its My Life" - Games, Activities, Advice, & Resources for Teens

2012-01-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

Its My Life is a great resource provided by PBS that offers many resources, stategies, games, advice and forums for students to discuss issues relating to being a teenager. Student can watch videos, share their experiences, take polls, play games and more across 6 different subjects related to today's teenagers.

It's My Life is broken up into resources and activities covering Friends, Family, School, Body, Emotions, and Money. Just the games alone are a great resources for students who have a few extra time in class and you would like them to do something educational or worthwhile.

It's My Life has contributions by a number of experts, doctors, teachers, conselors and more. There is no subject off limits, but the subject matter is moderated to remain clean and safe for students and school.

Check out It's My Life by PBS at:
http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/index.html

We Give Books - Free Online Children Books & Helping Others All In One!

2012-01-09T05:28:00.000-08:00

We Give Books is an awesome site that shares FREE Online Children Books. This site was shared with me by one of our wonderful school counselors.

Every time you read a book, We Give Books a book to an organization or child that needs it. The books are high quality online versions you can clip through page by page, complete with illustrations.

You can sign up for an account, or use your Facebook account to login, and keep track of the books you have read and the what has been donated on your behalf. This is fun for your children and students to see how you progress and how much you give.

Check out We Give Books at:
http://www.wegivebooks.org/

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-02T19:33:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2012 to you all. I have been on a holiday for the past several weeks and will be back sharing online Web 2.0 resources by the end of this week. Thank you to all of you for your support and interest in my blog. I really hope to get more feedback and comments on my blog posts in 2012 to truly make Class of Tech more interactive. Thanks again and Happy New Year!

ToonDoo - Create custom comic books, online, with your own characters, images, and more!

2011-12-02T06:20:00.000-08:00

ToonDoo is a site that allows students to create their own Comic Books, online, in their web browsers. If you use technology in your class, you have probably heard of ToonDoo, but are you using it?

Last school year, I blogged about using ComicMaster to create Internet Safety Comics. You can read that post RIGHT HERE. This year, we moved to ToonDoo to provide a more customizeable experience that really doesn't limit my students creativity.

ToonDoo gives students a great resource to practice writing stories with a setting, characters, introduction, rising action, climax, resolution, and conclusion. Students could start with a rough draft, or story board, then use their storyboard to create their final comic.

Mr. Dean "TraitR" in ToonDoo!

You can even use your own images to import into ToonDoo. I took more than 30 images around my school of the cafeteria, gymnasium, hallways, classrooms, labs, etc. Then, students could create their own "TraitR" or comic version of themselves to populate their images. You can see the TraitR of myself in the image to the right.

Since one of my passions is Internet Safety, I have my students creating Comic Books about 1 of 3 Internet Safety Topics; Online Identity Theft, Sexting, or Cyberbullying. We start with a storyboard or rough draft. When students have completed their storyboard, and I have checked it, they may begin working on their final comic. A storyboard really helps give the students a direction so they do not waste time staring at ToonDoo and trying to come up with a story on the fly. Each of my students' Comics must define the Internet Safety Topic, list 3 ways to prevent it, and list 3 ways to stop it if it has already happened.

Here is an example of one of my student's finished comic books about Online Identity Theft:
http://www.toondoo.com/ViewBook.toon?bookid=331651

All of the characters were created by my 6th Grader, and the backgrounds on each frame are an assortment of images from our school, standard backgrounds from ToonDoo, and images from a Google Image search (since some scenes take place at home). Students start by creating each frame of the comic, one by one. They can then add these frames into the BookMaker and piece their frames together into their own Comic Book.

Here is another student example of a ToonDoo Comic

ToonDoo can be addictive. I will warn you, students can spend a whole class period just trying to get their TraitR to look exactly like themselves.

I love ToonDoo. It is a free site for basic services, which is more than what we need in class. You can also, of course, pay for an upgraded membership if your school can afford it. When students are finished, they can share their Comics via email, Facebook, Twitter, or they can simply share the URL of the Comic. This makes it very easy to share the comics with classmates, the school, the local community, and beyond.

If you are interested in my StoryBoard Worksheets for this project, or my overall lesson plan, you can email me at mrddean@gmail.com.

Check out ToonDoo at : http://www.toondoo.com/

Sense-Lang - Free & Customizable Touch Typing Lessons and Classroom Environment

2011-11-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

Sense-Lang is a site I just started using this year. Sense-Lang has great resources to allow students to learn Touch Typing Basics and strengthen both their speed and accuracy. I used Typingweb.com last year, and liked the way it worked but I had to enter each of my students one by one (with the free version) cause it had no import feature. Last year we were not on a block schedule so I was able to do that. This year with a block schedule and 300 plus students, I really didn't have the time to enter everyone one by one. Sense-Lang allows you to create classes, then students can login to your class with a class specific code, create their own account, and start typing right away.


Sense-Lang will let you create your own Custom Lessons

One of the features that is really nice in Sense-Lang is the option to customize your own lessons. I created all 15 typing lessons for my students, each introducing 2 new letters or characters. Typingweb.com would not let me do that. I can also create custom typing games, lessons, and tests using any words, letters, or phrases that I want. I can even export my class progress and results to my email and open it in Excel. Now you can easily create a graph in excel to show student progress.
Sense-Lang may have some ads on the home page, but once the students open the typing window for practice or quizzes, there are absolutely NO ADS! I have found Sense-Lang to be one of the most full featured, FREE, online browser based typing websites you will find. I am enjoying it and I love that my students can work on lessons in class with me, then practice at home in their spare time.

Check out Sense-Lang at: http://www.sense-lang.org/

They even have a very easy to follow tutorial for the Sense-Lang Teaching Module to help you set up your class and get started. Check it out: http://www.sense-lang.org/teachers/instruction.pdf

Reflections: Masters Course Technology Integration Class

2011-11-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

This week I am completing my Technology Integration class as part of my Masters of Education Program. During this class, I learned more about the importance of creating and participating in an effective PLN and resources to help strengthen my PLN. I was also able to create an Internet Safety & Awareness WebQuest. It was excited to create another WebQuest for the first time in years. I felt like I was learning it all over again "for the very first time."

I feel that my teaching strategies will change more in the area of applying myself as a leader of change in technology integration. I will continue to strengthen my PLN and share it with my teaching colleagues. I will continue to share my resources and strategies with my colleagues via this blog and social bookmarking sites. I will be a leader of technology integration in my school by leading by example instead of forcing my strategies and resources on my colleagues.

A Thin Line - MTV's Site for Internet Safety & Digital Rights Online

2011-11-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

A Thin Line is a very nice site created by MTV to promote digital rights and share Internet Safety Resources, tools, videos, and strategies. This site is more appropriate for 8th Grade through High School Students since some of the topics may be inappropriate for younger students.

A Thin Line covers various Internet Safety Topics including:

Sexting
Constant Messaging
Spying
Digital Disrespect
Online Cruelty

You will find many different videos and even places for students to post and share their experiences with these topics online and even "SOUND OFF" or "DRAW THE LINE" against those who are bothering them online.

The site even includes an Interactive online map for students around the country to "DRAW A LINE" and share what they are doing to stamp out Sexting, Digital Disrespect in their home towns!

Check out A Thin Line at: http://www.athinline.org/

Technology Integration - How we can serve as "teacher leaders" in our professional setting?

2011-10-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

Any teacher who is effectively trying to integrate technology in their classroom knows how importance technology can be in the learning process of 21st Century Learners. But what about some of our colleagues who have no interest in technology integration? How can we serve as teacher leaders in technology integration in our schools? There are two areas that I fell are paramount to serving as teacher leaders in integration. These areas are sharing and leading by examples. Nobody wants to be forced to do something they dont feel comfortable doing. Technology integration can work as the same ways. We need to invite our colleagues to join us or browse our Personal Learning Networks or PLNs. We can show them what is working in our classroom through social bookmarking sites we invite them to join, through out blogs we ask them to browse, in our examples and lesson plans we share on our school websites. When I find a resource that would be a great tool to integrate in the classroom, I try to email it to teaches I find would benefit from the resource.

I also attempt to reach out and share the awesome projects we complete in class. It is always nice to show off the finished projects your students are completing, but also the steps, strategies, and resources used to get there. Allowing your students to share their impressions on a classroom forum is a great tool to show colleagues the level of engagement your students are experiencing in an effectively integrated lesson plan.

I will never force technology integration on my fellow teachers, but I will always be open to share ideas and strategies with any teachers that want to use me as a resource. This is the most productive first step I feel I can take to standing as a teacher leader in technology integration.

Hector's World - Interactive Internet Safety Videos & Activities for Elementary Aged Students

2011-10-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hector's World is a site out of New Zealand with 7 animated video episodes to teach students (Target Ages 2-9 Years Old) about Internet Safety. It is obviously never too young to discuss basic concepts of Internet Safety and Digital Etiquette so Hector's World is a fantastic resource for Elementary Aged Students.

Hector's World has 7 animated episodes students can watch, as well as, worksheets/guides students can fill in or read along the way. The episodes star Hector, a talking dolphin, and his undersea friends as they share basic concepts and strategies for staying safe online. These episodes are short but full of information and a great discussion starter or extension to your Internet Safety Discussions. These animated episodes cover topics such as Protecting Personal Information, Cyberbullying, and Computer Security.

One of the areas I really like on Hector's World is the MP3 Download Section where you can download music and Lyrics to several Internet Safety Based songs and have students perform them in class or record them using a free resource such as Audacity.

You can even download instrumentals and song lyrics.

The website has lesson plans for each animated episode broken down into different age groups so the information is age appropriate.

The site can be difficult to navigate since you have to use bubble shaped arrows to move forward and backward within the site instead of browser window controls. If you press back on your browser, it will start you all over at the beginning of the site. So there is a learning curve to navigating the website, however, there is a website "tour" you can follow that shows you all of the features. These tours are broken up for students, parents and teachers as seen in the image.

Lesson Plans Are Broken Down by Grade Level!

Hector's World does have a site map to help you navigate between the different parts of the site. This is helpful for both students and teachers, looking for a specific lesson or activity.

Check out what all you can do with your students at Hector's World at:

http://www.hectorsworld.com/island/index.html

Internet Technologies & Concerns

2011-10-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

As we strive to incorporate as many Internet Technologies and Resources into our daily curriculum to reach 21st Century learners, there are some concerns that can arise.

Are we choosing the best resources that help our students have authentic and effective learning experiences or are we simply trying to incorporate the latest technology trends just to say we did or because others are doing it to?

Are we relying too much on technology in our daily curriculum so when technology lets us down, we do not give ourselves an opportunity for a back up plan or on the fly replacement activity that is just as effective?

We can alleviate these concerns by continuing to network with other instructors via blogs and other social networking sites to see what is working in their classrooms. We can discuss if the latest and greatest resources are truly assisting in effective lesson planning or providing a distraction from the learning process for our students. Sometimes I know that I get excited when some of my colleagues or online friends get excited about a new resource. I feel like I just have to find a way to integrate that technology or resource into my curriculum.

As long as we all stay connected, share our experiences, and truly try to integrate technology to provide a better learning experience for our students, then when we fail, that doesn't mean we didn't necessarily succeed in some ways. It is the experience and the journey to get there that will mostly make us all better teachers and provide teaching & learning experiences that stick with our students.

Symphony of Science - Scientific Knowledge and Philosophy through Music! This site is simply AWESOME!

2011-10-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

Symphony of Science could be one of the coolest sites I have found in a while. The site was created by John Boswell, who was heavily influenced by the Internet Legends The Greggory Brothers (Double Rainbow All The Way Across the Sky Music Video) and DJ Steve Porter (who created the awesome Rap Chop Music Video). Symphony of Science features 11 full length music videos heavily influenced by the classic PBS Series Cosmos with Carl Sagan. Many of the videos and the words to the songs are remixed episodes from Cosmos, Ted Talks and more. To quote Mr. Boswell on the site:

"The goal of the project is to bring scientific knowledge and philosophy to the public, in a novel way, through the medium of music. Science and music are two passions of mine that I aim to combine, in a way that is intended to bring a meaningful message to listeners, while simultaneously providing an enjoyable musical experience."

Did I mention this site is AWESOME? The Music Videos are so well done and really engaging. I shared them with an 8th Grade Science teacher of mine yesterday who was actually talking about Quantum Theory. He immediately included the video from Symphony of Science called "Quantum World" about Quantum Theory in his presentation for discussion today.

Here is the Quantum Theory Video from Symphony of Science.

You can visit Symphony of Science at: http://symphonyofscience.com

Anatomy Arcade - Interactive Games and Resources About the Human Body!

2011-10-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

Anatomy Arcade is a really neat site that has online games and interactive resources to help students learn about the anatomy of the human body. The games themselves are divided up by body systems. For example, you can click on games, then choose games about the skeletal system, articular system, muscle system, circulatory, respiratory, nervous, digestive, endocrine, and general.

The games are pretty simply, including matching, jigsaws, word searches, crosswords, etc. Anatomy Arcade would be a great resource for Elementary Students just starting to learn about the Human Body Systems, or for students needing an extension to your current class curriculum.

You can check out Anatomy Arcade at: http://www.anatomyarcade.com

My Top 3 Most Used Classroom Resources, Goals, & More!

2011-10-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

Today, I wanted to look at my top most used classroom resources. Currently, there are no other resources I currently use more than:

Google Docs -Google Docs is online, browser based, and free. My students can create documents, presentations, and spreadsheets without needing Microsoft Office installed at home. They can work on any of these at the same time as a partner or small group. GoogleDocs even autosaves regularly for students that have a hard time remembering to save their work or save it in the right place.

GlogsterEDU - Allows students to create interactive "glogs" or posters. Think of it as digital scrapbooking with a collage of media including music, text, videos, hyperlinks and more. For more about GlogsterEDU or to see my example, CLICK HERE to read my previous blog post.

Fakebook - Fakebook is resources created by ClassTools.net that allows students to create fake Facebook pages for anyone they wish. We use Fakebook to create pages for our Historical Figure Presentations and we create them as part of our Novel Project (they create pages about characters from a book the whole 6th Grade Reads). Students do not need to even have an email to save their Fakebook Page.

As this school year advances, I hope to improve my skills teaching and integrating GoogleDocs in my class curriculum. I use GoogleDocs quite a bit, but there are still so many other skills I need to learn. I just recently taught myself how to create self graded quizzes using Google Forms in GoogleDocs. I also want to improve my Internet Safety Curriculum. Internet Safety is a huge passion of mine and I have never rested on my current curriculum and lesson plans. The site KidSmart I blogged about this week is a new resource I will be using in my class.

To reach my goals, I will continue to look for resources and training materials online to help me teach myself. I will extend my curriculum to include more extensions using GoogleDocs to increase my students familiarity with it. I will continue to browse the near 100 blogs I frequent to find more quality Internet Safety Resources. I will also increase the number of activities we complete in class pertaining to Internet Safety. The more access my students have to quality Internet Safety Information and hands on activities, the more aware they will be in their daily journeys online.

Kidsmart - Internet Safety & Awareness Resources, Games, Videos, Class Activities, and MORE!!

2011-10-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

KidSmart is a site from the United Kingdom that offers a large assortment of resources and activities focused on specific topics of Internet Safety & Awareness & Digital Citzenship. KidSmart offers resources and information covering :

File Sharing
Mobile Communication
Music
Gaming
Social Networking
Digital Footprints
Chatting
Safe Searching & MORE

Once you click on a specific topic, KidSmart's site offers videos, tips, information, resources, links and more. This is another site with very kid friendly information and resources covering various topics pertaining to Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship.

Check out KidSmart at: http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/

21st Century Learning & Teaching

2011-09-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

As this 2011-2012 school year continues in full swing, it is a great opportunity to assess how effectively I am reaching and teaching our 21st Century Learners. I feel as if I am very prepared for 21st Century teaching and learning. I several hours every day looking for new resources, tools, and strategies to reach today's 21st Century Learners. I focus on what tools will not only make the learning process more engaging, but also help make my lessons "teaching that sticks." I try my best to share my resources and strategies with my colleagues at school, and when time permits, with my colleagues online with my blog. The process of researching, assessing, sharing, re-assessing is very important to the education process today.

I feel my students leave my classroom everyday with new skills to use and help them function effectively within our school and within our community. I try to show them resources that are free of charge, yet provide the features needed of high priced software. I try to integrate tools that are available online so students can work on projects at home and at school. I also challenge my students to learn and teach one another, even having my students use a Presentation to teach a lesson in class.

My biggest strengths when it comes to 21st Century Learning is my passion to never settle with the lessons and resources I have, but I am also trying to perfect everything. Most of my lessons have at least 5 years of manipulating, editing, teaching, re-teaching, before they are ever where I want them. My core projects are renewed or recreated every year to keep my class activities fresh for my students and myself. My biggest weaknesses when it comes to 21st Century Learning is my dependence on technology. My daily lesson plans and objectives are posted on my website for my students. All of my important bookmarks are saved using social bookmarking sites (delicious and diigo). My lesson plans, resources, activities, rubrics, and more are not saved on my school computer, but in storage space in the "cloud." When the Internet goes down, it feels as if I have lost access to everything. However, at least I keep hard copies of everything in my classroom "bible" if I ever need a quick resource or activity when technology has let me down.

Technology, School, & Me!

2011-09-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

Everyday I walk into my classroom, I feel I do a great job of integrating technology into my daily curriculum. As a technology teacher, it is my job and my passion. Walking through my school, it is awesome to see many teachers developing lesson plans and digital age learning experiences. Booking our computer lab or mobile laptop carts is becoming more difficult with each passing week as school progresses.

Students in 8th Grade are able to plan and present "Virtual Vacations" to historic places and events they discuss in Social Studies Class, they create video dictionaries about the meanings of standardized test vocabulary, they virtually explore famous Civil War battles online, and create podcasts about school events and monthly updates around our school. Students in 7th Grade get to create one minute video book reviews about their favorite or least favorite books , record audio interviews with famous authors and historic figures, and create graphic digital art as a connection to Art Class. Our sixth graders create collaborative presentations online within Google Docs, write and record school related rap songs within small groups, create Anti Bullying/Cyberbullying Comic Books online, and Internet Safety Awareness Glogs on GlogsterEDU. These are only a small sample of the examples you would find in my school of teachers creating digital age work, online responsibility, and inspiring digital creativity and design.

The major barriers or "divides" you would find in my school related to the use of technology would come more with inexperience than accessibility. Although booking the labs can take some patience, many teachers are not familiar with how to creatively and effectively integrate technology into their curriculum. This is an exciting challenge for me to find more ways to engage professional growth and leadership within my school to help my colleagues find more create ways to teach our 21st Century Learners.

I am not fearful of integrating and using technology at all. As a 6th Grade Computer and Technology Instructor, I have embraced technology as one of the most important and effective educational tools in the classroom. My only fears come from when my technology does not work or function as it should. Every time technology lets me down, I have to be adaptive and patient with my alternative activities. I have become so dependent on technology that just the Internet being down at my school can keep kids from reading our agendas on my website or using an online resource. I do not fear using technology or teaching others to use it. I fear when technology does not work for me as it should.

My personal goals as I journey forward are built around finding more creative ways to effectively integrate technology into my 6th Grade Curriculum. I will create more genuine learning experiences and teaching moments "that stick." I will continue to work harder to exhibit leadership in sharing technology integration strategies and promoting growth among my colleagues.

Scriblink - Your Free Online Virtual Whiteboard!!

2011-09-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

Scriblink is a site that offers basic whiteboard capabilites, for free, within your web browser. What is really cool about Scriblink is you can write on blank pages, upload your own photos and images, or paste a URL of an online image and add your own annotations to it.

Scriblink allows you to share the whiteboard with a friend via a unique URL that you share with them. There is even a chatbox to chat with those you are sharing your whiteboard with.

Finally, you can save your images you create in Scriblink to your hard drive for later review (students who are absent?). Scirblink offers many awesome features with the price tag we all love, free. This would be a great resource for collaborative mind mapping, organization, working math problems, brainstorming with a partner, and much more. The only downside is a very small banner ad at the bottom of the site, which is not very obtrusive to the experience at all.

If you already have an air writer or smart board of some type, you probably already have a software similar to this. Also, it can be somewhat difficult to write with your mouse, but it improves with time and practice. However, Scriblink works fantastic if you need quick whiteboard interactivity in your classroom.

Check it out at: http://scriblink.com/

1906: The Great Quake Cover Up - Earthquake Simulator from Discovery Channel

2011-09-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

1906: The Great Quake Cover Up is a fun interactive resource from the Discovery Channel that allows students to explore earthquakes and their effects on different structures. Students select a type of surface to erect a building on, the type of "earthquake proofing" technology they would like to use, then subject the building to three different levels of earthquake intensity.

This is an awesome site to extend your classroom curriculum about natural disasters and earthquakes, you could use it as a resource to have students practice predicting (What will happen if....), or as a resource for comparing and contrasting (Why did structure A outlast structure B).

Check out 1906: The Great Quake Cover Up at:

http://dsc.discovery.com/guides/planetearth/earthquake/interactive/interactive.html

The Mason Dixon Report - An "1861 Civil War Cable News Show!"

2011-09-15T06:51:00.000-07:00

The Mason Dixon Report is an awesome site containing 7 video "News Reports" covering an "in depth look beneath the surface of the Civil War." I saw this posted on Glenn Wiebe's History Tech Blog HERE!

The Mason Dixon Report re-imagines the events of the Civil War through "live" news reports, on air debates, editorials and more. Once I started watching the first video, I couldn't turn away. These videos are very well done and incredibly entertaining. They cover the "stories" with such a serious demenour it makes the videos almost comical, but always educational and entertaining.

These videos would be a great extension to your Civil War Curriculum, could provide as an opening activitie to help activate and develop prior knowledge for your Civil War Lessons, or simply just provide another resource for your visual learners to explore the Civil War. As I was watching this, I thought to myself "This is how I would love to explore the Civil War!"

You could even use these videos as models to create your own Civil War News Reports in class.

Check out the Mason Dixon Report at: http://masondixonreport.com/

"What September 11th Means To Me" a simple activity using Wordle.

2011-09-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

Wordle is a site that allows students to create cool graphic images and posters using an arrangement of words, phrases, and sentences. Words that repeat the most in your Wordle, will appear larger than other words.

Type in a list of words or phrases to get started!

In my class, students are using Wordle to create images/posters of "What September 11th Means to Me." Students type into Wordle a list of words, phrases, emotions, sentences, what that date means to them as individuals, and anything else they know about September 11th. The only input I give them is to make sure their Wordles are respectful and appropriate for school.

A few tips I give my students is to start their Wordle by typing "9/11" or "September 11" at least 5 - 6 times. This will make those words appear larger and more like titles on the Wordle. Also, make sure any names you want to appear together, that you type those names as one word. For example, Osama Bin Laden you would type into Wordle as OsamaBinLaden so all 3 names appear together and do not get split up.

As they list their words, phrases, emotions, sentences, etc, I encourage them to type the words that mean the most to them more than one time. This, again, will make these words appear larger within their Word Graphic. This is a great little assignment to assess student prior knowledge about 9/11 or to open up your classroom lesson plan or discussions about 9/11.

I have included a few examples that 2 of my students created in class to help you get started.

Check out Wordle at: www.wordle.net

VectorKids - Interactive Math Games and Skill Builders for Kids!

2011-09-07T18:29:00.000-07:00

VectorKids is a site that offers several interactivities and games to help build student skills in Mathematics (and even Social Studies too). The site offers mostly math activities to help students with basic to intermediate math concepts.

VectorKids skill builders include help for multiplication tables, solving for variables, division rules, addition, subtraction, counting money, geometry and even a United States Capitals Game.

The games are simple and would offer a nice extension to your classroom activities or extra help for specific students who may be struggling with these concepts.

Check out VectorKids at: http://www.vectorkids.com

Illuminations: Resources for Teaching & Learning Mathematics!!

2011-08-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

Illuminations is a site created by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) filled with resources, activities, games, lesson plans & interactivities to help teachers teach and students learn mathematics and math concepts. This site has a lot of resources you could use in your classroom for students from Kindergarten to 12th Grade.

My favorites are the 107 different online activities to help make math come alive right in front of your students. Instead of simply discussing fractions as parts of a whole, Illuminations allows students to actually see fractions visually represented and manipulate them to further understand their relationships to one another.

Illuminations also has over 600 lesson plans, all free to use, that include everything you need to implement in your classroom as soon as today (with a little planning of course).

Check out NCTM's Illuminations at:

http://illuminations.nctm.org/

ChessKid - Learn, Play & Enjoy Chess!

2011-08-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

ChessKid is a cool site that aims to teach kids the basics of chess, teach beginner and advanced chess strategies, allow students to practice chess, and students can even play opponents online. The site has many videos that teach the basics for students who may struggle comprehending the written basics on the site.

Chess is a fantastic game but can be incredibly difficult to learn, especially as a child. However, the game can be played whether your 8 or 80 nearly anywhere at anytime.

If you are interested in having your students practice problem solving, use their critical thinking skills, starting a chess club, or simply sharing one of the greatest games with your students, ChessKid is the answer.

Check it out at: http://www.chesskid.com/

Math Playground - Math Games, Word Problems, Problem Solving & Math Videos for Elementary & Middle School Students

2011-08-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

Math Playground is a nice interactive site that was requested to me by one of my 6th Graders. I have hundreds of sites that help students practice and review math problems and functions, but this was not one of them.

Math Playground offers children in elementary and middle school many different math interactivities and games. Some of these games are created specifically for the site, others are embedded from other sites. The games are really good and there seems to be many different topics and standards covered. The site does have a few ads on it, but students are used to this.

Math Playground is a great site to help students review particular concepts you are covering in class. It is a great resource to extend your math curriculum outside of your classroom or to allow your students to play and surpass the time when they are finished with a class project. I have added this to my Math Resources to allow students to use the site when they are don with their work in my Computer Class.

Check out Math Playground at http://www.mathplayground.com/.

CommonSense Media offering Free Cyberbullying toolkit for educators!

2011-08-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

CommonSense Media is offering a free cyberbullying toolkit for all educators. If you aren't a member of CommonSense Media, what are you waiting for? The site is free and offers a plethora of Internet Safety Resources, Strategies, and information for elementary, middle, and high school age students.

The Cyberbullying Toolkit offers information broken up into different ages. It even includes all the information for an Internet Safety Outreach Program for your local community.

The website also sends members email updates of new resources and information available on their site.

CommonSense Media is a great site that should be in the Internet Safety Toolbox of all educators.

You can check out the CommonSense Media Cyberbullying Toolkit by clicking here.

Or, you can simply check out the CommonSense Media Site at http://www.commonsensemedia.org/

Diamante Poems : A Writing Resource from ReadWriteThink

2011-08-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

Diamante Poems is a cool little resource that guides students into writing a Diamante Poem. A Diamante is a type of poem that has a strict structure and does not have to rhyme. A Diamante can be written as a Synonym Diamante or an Antonym Diamante.

The project is a great way to review parts of speech such as nouns, adjectives, and verbs, as well as, practice creative writing and formatting in Word or Google Docs. We are currently using the site to help us create a Diamante, then we re-type the Diamante in Word and practice our formatting skills by adding an image, a page border, changing the page color, text size and color, and adding a Word Art Title.

Check the site out at: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/diamante/

On Summer Vacation - More daily updates coming on August 10th.

2011-07-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

I apologize for my absence the past several weeks. I have been on Summer Holiday, in addition to, starting my Masters Coursework. I will be updating my Class of Tech blog with daily resources again in August when my school is back in session. Thanks so much for your interests in my blog and have a great summer.

Mapeas- Interactive Current Events Browsing

2011-05-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

Mapeas is an interactive way to browse Current Events around the world. Different types of markings are placed on a world map. The smaller the marker, the older the news. The numbers on each marker tell how many stories will open/expand under that particular marker. If you see a Sports Marker with a number 6 on it on Indianapolis, then 6 sports stories will open up/expand when you click that marker.

The news is updated from the Assosciated Press, ABC, Fox, NBC & More. Each news event is normally a video report from a local news station. This helps make Mapeas a fantastic resource for your visual learners and/or learners with special needs.

There are different types of markers for different topics of news (Business, Entertainment, Science, Sports,etc). Mapeas would be a great resource to help your students quickly find Current Events stories or direct them to finding news stories in a specific country or region.

Check out Mapeas Today!
http://mapeas.com/

Chemistry Games on Sheppard Software!

2011-05-22T18:19:00.000-07:00

Sheppard Software is a great site that offers many different learning games covering a plethora of topics and subject matter. One of my Social Studies Teaching Colleagues uses the sites States and Capitals games to help his classes study for their Geography Tests. One of the neat sections of their site that would be a great connection to your Chemistry lessons would be their Chemistry Games Page.

The Sheppard Software Chemistry Games Page features 8+ games covering the Elements and the Periodic Table. These games vary in levels of difficulty that you can choose. If you are looking for a resource to help your students study the Elements and the Periodic table, or a simply resource to extend your classroom lessons, check out the Chemistry Games page on Sheppard Software.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Elementsgames.htm

Grapholite - Create Custom Graphic Organizers and Charts

2011-05-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

Grapholite is a very slick online Graphic Organizer and Flow Chart creator. The site is very simple to use and has a plethoria of shapes, arrows, tools, colors, and more to customize your organizers any way you want.

The site has a demo mode that allows you to use the tools without signing up or signing in. However, you will need to sign up for an account to save or print your work.

This is a site that is very easy to use, but offers a lot of tools and templates to help you create that perfect graphic organizer for your classroom lesson.

I would recommend Grapholite more for teachers and instructors than to be used by students since you do need to sign up to save your work. However, if you are tired of creating your graphic organizers in Word or Open Office, give Grapholite a look.

https://grapholite.com

Jeopardy Labs - Create Jeopardy Style Review Games that students can access anywhere!

2011-05-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

Jeopardy Labs - Jeopardy Labs is an interactive website that allows you to make Jeopardy Style Review Games that students can access online, anywhere. You and your students do NOT have to have PowerPoint to use Jeopardy Labs.

You can very easily create a quiz without even signing up for an account and for FREE. Or you can create an account to get easy access to all of your quizzes and games. However, to create an account, you need to donate at least $1 via paypal. I simply chose the free option and have not had any issues.

For the free account, all you have to do is create a password so you can log in later and change/edit your game. When you play the game, you can have up to 12 different teams duke it out in a game of Jeopardy. You can even use the built in scoring system to keep the score for each team.

Check out Jeopardy Labs today for a cool way to review and study for your classroom curriculum. I have even post a Final Review Jeopardy Game that I use with my 6th Graders. You will find the link below.

Check out Jeopardy Labs - http://jeopardylabs.com/

Check out my 6th Grade Applied Skills Jeopardy Review - http://jeopardylabs.com/play/applied-skills-final-exam

STOP Cyberbullying - An easy to read, easy to navigate resource for Cyberbullying information.

2011-05-03T11:07:00.000-07:00

STOP Cyberbullying is the "free cyberbullying toolkit" created by Wired Safety. I have taken Cyberbullying very seriously the past few years with my students studying not just what it is and why it happens, but also, how to stop it and prevent it. My students have to create Internet Safety Posters pertaining to Cyberbullying, as well as, create Anti-Cyberbullying Comic Books.

STOP Cyberbullying is a site that I share with my students who need to know the basics of Cyberbullying. The site does a nice job of explaining what cyberbullying is, how it is done, why people cyberbully, prevention tips, how to take action, and laws pertaining to cyberbullying.

I am not going to say that Wired Safety's STOP Cyberbullying page is the greatest resource for cyberbullying information you can find. However, it is a very easy to navigate resource with easy to read information for your students. I recommend this site to my students researching cyberbullying, in addition to, several other sites I will share on this blog at a later date.

Check out Wired Safety's STOP Cyberbullying Toolkit and see if it can fit into your classroom Cyberbullying discussions.

http://www.stopcyberbullying.org

Picnik - Fast Free Browser Based Photo Editing without having to sign up!

2011-05-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

Picnik is one of the better browser based photo editing sites that you will find. Browser based means that Picnik simply runs in your web browser and does not have to be downloaded and installed on your computer. One of the best featueres of Piknik is you do not have to sign up and use it's photo editing features.

We are currently working on our "Rap It Up" Cummulative Group Project in my class. One part of the project has my students creating posters for their rap groups to hang around the school. Picnik has been a huge hit with my 6th Grade Computer Class because of the dozens and dozens of effects you can easily apply to any image you upload. They can even add multiple effects and filters by layering them over the top of each other for even MORE cool customizations.

When my students are done, they can very easily save their edited photo back to their computer. Again, students do not need to sign up or use an email address to use this site.

There are Premium Features (which include many more filters and photo effects) that you can upgrade to by paying a small fee. However, we have found the free resources on Picnik to be more than enough for our photo editing needs!

If you ever need a quick resource for your students to crop, resize, flip, re-color, or add cool effects and filters to their photos, check out Picnik:

http://www.picnik.com/

Below are some of the examples a student and I have created with Picnik:

ThatQuiz! - Quick Practice Quizzes covering many subjects and ALL grade levels!

2011-04-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

ThatQuiz.org is a fun little site that offers various customizable quizzes covering Math, Geography, Science, & Vocabulary. Each quiz can be customized to set the time, the level of difficulty, whether the site offers feedback, and more.

This site offers a great opporitunity for instructors to have their students review a large variety of subject matter for different class subjects. This site is great for "POD" or beginning of the class activities, classroom review sessions & Games, or even an activity to work on to review for a test.

I would never recommend a site like ThatQuiz.org to be used as a sole teaching tool. This will never replace class instruction and class practice. However, it is a great review site, time filler, or fun website students can navigate in their spare time.

Check out thatquiz.org

"This ISTEP Test" Original Rap Song and Music Video

2011-04-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

I have been away for a week spending my free time working on this video. In Indiana, we take our annual standardized test, the ISTEP Test, this week.

Below is the finished product. Feel free to use this video in your classroom if you are a teacher in Indiana and grades 3-8.

ViewPure - "Videos without the clutter!" View Youtube videos without comments, ads, links, etc.

2011-04-18T17:50:00.000-07:00

ViewPure offers educators and opporitunity to view your favorite, classroom appropriate of course, youtube videos without the comments, links, ads, related videos, etc that may be inappropriate for the classroom.

"Napoleon" by History4MusicLovers on Youtube

ViewPure's interface is very very simple. All you have to do is paste the link to any youtube video you want, and view it against a very plain white backdrop. As many of you know, there are great videos on youtube that you would like to share with your class, but some of the comments and "related videos" are definitely not what you want students looking at.

"Napoleon" by History4MusicLovers on ViewPure

ViewPure's homepage does have some annoying ads at the bottom of the page, however, when you view a youtube video through ViewPure you do not have any ads.

I love what the site offers and will continue to use it in my classroom.

http://viewpure.com/

Wordia - "Bringing Words to Life"

2011-04-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

Wordia is a very interesting "visual dictionary." The site works as a dictionary, with parts of speech & definition, but each word also contains a video of the definition. That's right, you get a user submitted and reviewed video where everyday people simply say or read the definition, act it out, dress up like the definition, etc.

It is a great tool for students just learning the English language, students strengthening their vocabulary, or even as a cool idea for a classroom project. A collegue of mine had her students make videos of important ISTEP Testing Words and Terms. The ISTEP is our statewide standardized annual test in Indiana.

Check out Wordia today, or get out and have your students start creating their own visual dictionaries.
http://www.wordia.com/

Common Sense Media - "Talking about Sexting"

2011-04-11T10:32:00.000-07:00

Sexting is sending sexually revealing photos or texts to another person. Sexting is a topic that many teachers may choose to dance around when it comes to Internet Safety Discussions. The fact is, we should be discussing Sexting within the classroom as much as we discuss Cyberbullying and Protecting your Private Information. Sexting is becoming more and more of a problem for our children/students every single day.

Common Sense Media has a great page for teachers with a nice video, information, stats, tips for parents, etc when dealing with Sexting. This is not an all encompasing site with everything you need, however, it is a great starting point for researching, learning, discussing, and teaching about Sexting.

I recommend you preview the video and the information on Common Sense Media's Sexting Page before sharing it with your classroom. The video may be inappropriate for some students. In my classroom, I normally send a page home that mentions we are talking about sexting so my parents are aware.

Below, I have also linked 2 videos that detail stories of Sexting and where the consequences may lead. I have shared these stories with many of my students. Both are very heartbreaking and eye opening.

Jessie Logan's Sexting Story
Hope Witsell's Sexting Story

Books Should Be Free - Free Public Domain Audio Books for ALL!

2011-04-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

Books Should Be Free is an outstanding resource that contains hundreds of audio books totally free to download as an mp3 or iPod audio file. Each audio book is in the public domain, meaning nobody owns the copyright any longer and anyone can distribute them. There are many many classic books that can be shared with your struggling readers, ESL Students, or someone wanting to simply listen to a great story.

If your classroom is readying a classic literary piece, you will probably be able to find the audio book on Books Should Be Free. This is a great tool that should be in any teacher's "box of tricks."

http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/

Scribble Maps - Draw on and customize Google Maps without even signing up!

2011-04-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

Scribble Maps is an interactive Google Maps application that allows you to draw, write, add shapes, lines, etc to Google Maps. You do not have to sign up and the site opens and is ready to use the minute you open it in your web browser. Want to trace Lewis & Clark's Trailblazing adventures? Want to have students create a route to their favorite vacation destination? Want to highlight different areas of your own community? Scribble Maps allows you to do it.

Scribble Maps takes a few minutes to get the hang of, however, the tools are familiar to anyone who has used the drawing features in Paint or even Microsoft Word. Your students will pick it up and run with it in minutes.

http://www.scribblemaps.com

Let Them Sing It For You - You type it, it sings it!

2011-04-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

Let Them Sing It For You is a very simple site that takes whatever text you type, and sings it using samples from popular songs. Of course some names or words are not in the database, but the site will allow you to submit suggestions for a word, a song you can find the word in, and the artist that sings it. That way, the database can be updated to include more and more words in the future.

Simply type your text in the box, click on the play button, and listen to the site sing your text back to you.

Some fun classroom connections would be to use Let Them Sing It For You to "play" your daily lesson plan to your kids. See who can repeat what you are going to do for the day after the "song" is finished playing. It could also be used in various listening skills activities to have students actually focus on the substance of each sentence, and not on how it is being said.

Check it out!

http://sverigesradio.se/cgi-bin/Src/sing/sing.asp

Spring Break!!!! I will be on hiatus this week!

2011-03-28T18:16:00.000-07:00

I will be spending Spring Break with my family this week. I will be back next week with weekly Web 2.0 resources for your classroom.

Paper Rater - Free online Grammar Checker, Plagiarism Checker, & Proof Reader!

2011-03-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

Paper Rater is a very nice resource that allows teachers OR students to check their papers for spelling errors, grammar errors, writing suggestions, and even plagiarism. We all know you can easily check spelling and grammar in nearly any word processing software. However, Paper Rater also checks the content in your paper against an Internet Search to see if the content was copied from the Web. Some of the best features of Paper Rater are that the site is TOTALLY FREE. They even have a pricing link on the page that, when clicked, further reiiterates the site is completely free. Also, you do not have to sign up to use Paper Rater. You simply click "USE Now FREE" and you are ready to go.

This is a great tool for teachers, but even better for students. Many times, my students who have been accused of plagiarism make mistakes. They copy and paste a small portion, intending to re-write in their own words, then site the source, only to forget one of these steps.

Next time you are checking Research Papers and one paper seems WAAAAAAAAAAY better than it should be or if you want to be honest with your kids and show them Paper Rater as a tool before they turn in their work, check out Paper Rater.
http://www.paperrater.com/

Boolify Project - Easy Boolean Search Techniques and Practice for Kids!

2011-03-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

This Thursday and Friday, we are studying Internet Search Tips in class. For many of my 6th Grade Students, an Internet Search is typing the exact information or question you want to find information about into google, ask.com, or answers.com. For example, if a student wants to know details about George Washington's Early Career, they will simply type in "What did George Washington do in his early career?" in one of the above mentioned sites.

One of our discussions this week covers basic Boolean Search Operators such as "and, or, & not." The Boolify Project offers a very cool visual search engine so students can see the exact logic behind their search and how changing their search can change their results. Their search is put together like the pieces of a puzzle that they can easily add or remove one by one. Their search results are then placed at the bottom of the page.

This is not only a great site for helping students learn Internet Searching Tips, but also a great resource for helping your visual learners research various subjects.

They even have lessons to help use the site, and many new and awesome tools promised to come later this year. I am sure if they are as good as their Search Engine, I will be blogging about them as well.

http://www.boolify.org/index.php

Comic Master - Anti-Cyberbullying Comic Example

2011-03-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I shared the resource Comic Master http://www.comicmaster.org.uk/. The site offers a very simple comic book creator to allow students to create their own original stories, as well as, show understanding in nearly any classroom Topic.

My class is working on Cyberbullying Comic Books/Graphic Novels. My students are required to:

Define Cyberbullying within the Comic.
Give at least 2 tips to stop Cyberbullying when it occurs.
Give at least 2 tips to prevent Cyberbullying from occurring again.
Each Comic should be at least 2 complete pages, and no more than 3 complete pages.

Today, I wanted to share the example I created for my class. Feel free to use these within your classroom or as a Cyberbullying resource for your students. You can even use them as examples for your students when you create your own Comic Books in your classroom.

Anti Cyberbullying Comic Book Example

Comic Master - Easy Comic Book Creations in the Classroom!

2011-03-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Comic Master is an interactive Web 2.0 tool that allows students to easily create their own comic books/graphic novels. In my class, we are creating comic books about Cyberbullying Prevention. My students have to create a comic that has a problem/solution dealing with Cyberbullying. They have to define cyberbullying, list 2 ways to stop it, and 2 ways to prevent it. We used Comic Master to allow my students to achieve these tasks.

Comic Master does make you sign up to save a comic, however, students do not have to activate their account so they will not have to check their email at school. The tool is offered by the Reading for Life Organization and they even offer more classroom materials to help focus your comic books here:
http://www.readmeresources.co.uk/

A few downsides is that students DO have to create an account to sign up. The email they sign up with is also their username for logging in. Students could create a fake email or you could have your class all use the same email address and their own specific password. The site is limited to only 4 characters and 6 backgrounds, but this keeps students from having TOO many choices.

I love the site as a very engaging creative writing resource. I had a student ask me today "Can we talk while we are working on this?" I always allow my students to talk while working, but the class was so quiet the student was second guessing. The site is very engaging and my 6th Grade Students love it!

http://www.comicmaster.org.uk/

FotoFlexer - Free Full Featured Photo Editing in your Web Browser!

2011-03-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

Fotoflexer bills itself as the most advanced online photo editor. I would have a hard time disagreeing. FotoFlexer is a fun, kid friendly online browser based photo editor with a user friendly interface. The site costs nothing to use and you do not even have to sign up for an account. I enjoy the site because it is very easy for my students to load up their images and apply dozens of effects, crop, resize, mirror, flip, rotate, etc. then save as a jpg file back to my computer. It even has a very handy and convenient UNDO button so students can practice trial and error on their images till they get them exactly right.

Here are some examples of the tools you can use in FotoFlexer:

I know there are other sites that may offer similar features, however, FotoFlexer is another tool to add to your teacher technology toolbox. My students love it and I am sure yours will too. Below, I have posted several examples of some of the editing I did on my school picture.

Check out FotoFlexer:

htp://fotoflexer.com/

Purdue OWL - The most comprehensive MLA Formatting resource for Works Cited Information and Formats!

2011-03-10T18:17:00.000-08:00

If you have ever required your students to create a works cited page (and I am sure you have), then you have probably already found Purdue University's OWL MLA Formatting & Style Guide Website. OWL stands for Online Writing Lab. The site is one of the most comprehensive MLA Formatting & Style resources for works cited information. There are dozens of websites that automatically create works cited pages for you (some I will share later), but Purdue's OWL does a great job of actually explaining the MLA Format.

MLA, APA, blah blah blah, no matter what format you require your Works Cited Pages in, citing your sources of information for a Research Paper, Essay, Class Project etc.. can be very confusing and frustrating for some students. Purdue's OWL offers the resources to help understand the MLA Format.

Navigating the site can be a bit confusing, but to quote my collegue and 8th Grade Language Arts Teacher Mr. Harker, "Once you teach the students how to navigate the site, they have all the resources they need to cite any type of resource of information."

Check out Purdue's OWL MLA Formatting and Style Guide at:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

Eskeletons - Interactive Environment to Explore & Skeletal Anatomy

2011-03-09T18:14:00.000-08:00

This image compares the skulls of Gorillas & Humans

Eskeletons is an interactive site created by the University of Texas at Austin's Department of Anthropology. The site allows you to explore and examine human and non-human primate skeletal anatomy. This site is a great site if you are wanting to study the human skeletal system and/or compare the bones to different primates.

Simply choose your Taxon (Human, Gorilla, Chimpanzee, Baboon, and many more) then choose the bone. Finally, you can choose the view of the bone you want. Then you will find high quality images of REAL BONES and not computer generated bones. You can even select multiple Taxon at once so you can look at and compare their bone images all at once.

This site is a wonderful tool when student human skeletal anatomy or that of different primates.

Check it out at http://www.eskeletons.org/index.html

Fodey - Newspaper Clipping Generator

2011-03-08T10:34:00.000-08:00


A Ficticious Newspaper Article

Fodey offers a neat little webtool called the Newspaper Clipping Generator. Students can create their own Newspaper Story that appears to be cut out, folded, then scanned. We are currently using the Newspaper Clip Generator as part of our Iditarod Cross Curricular Project. Students have to research a 2011 Iditarod News Story, then type a one paragraph summary of the article in the Newspaper Clip Generator. The students then print them out and bind them in the Iditarod Book they each create.

An Example of our Iditarod New Summaries

This is a neat little tool that allows students to create their own realistic or fictitious newspaper clippings. The site does allow you to create cigarette packets so you may want to make sure that students stick with the Newspaper Clipping Generator. I have attached 2 images of clippings I have made. The first one is about my blog and is totally fictitious. The image to the right is an example of the Iditarod News Summaries we did in class.

Check out the site here:
http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

Extreme Planet Makeover - Interactive Planet Creator!

2011-03-04T11:05:00.000-08:00

Extreme Planet Makeover is an awesome interactive website provided by NASA. The site allows you to create and edit your own custom planet. This site is awesome because so many different aspects of how you create your planet will effect the makeup of the planet.

Did you place your planet to close to a star? The hot tempatures will burn up any liquids on your planet.
Did you make your planet very large? Expect it to have a very thick atmosphere like the larger planets in our Solar System.
Did you make your planet to "old" or too "young"? The exact age of your planet will determine the small window and opportunity for life to exist on your planet.

This site is a great extension to your Space & Solar System curriculum and a great way for students to investigate the relationships between planets, the stars, and more!

Check out Extreme Planet Makeover Today!

GCF LearnFree - Great Interactive Internet Safety Resources, Lessons & More!

2011-03-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

Internet Safety is one of my biggest passions within my classroom. I spend more time with my students discussing different aspects of staying safe on the Internet than I probably have to. However, I always feel like there is never TOO MUCH information when it comes to Internet Safety.

In my quest to find more engaging and interactive Internet Safety Resources, I stumbled across these interactive Internet Safety Resources via GCF LearnFree (GCF stands for Goodwill Community Foundation). The site offers tons of free resources for your classroom, including lesson plans and interactives in Math & Reading. They also have some very nice inter-activities for Internet Safety.

Some of the Internet Safety Topics include:

Internet Safety Terms
Social Networking Terms
Choosing Antivirus Software
6 tips for Identifying Phishing Scams (one of my favorites, see below)
Responding to Cyberstalking and Cyberbullying
And Much More! (There are 13 different Internet Safety related Interactive Activities)

One of my favorite interactives is the "Six Tips for Identifying Phishing Scams." You get to look at an example of a Phishing Scam email with very clear bullet points for what to exactly look for in a Phishing Scam. See the picture to the left.

You can also check out their other resources on their home site at http://www.gcflearnfree.org/

BAM! Body & Mind Ad Decoder - A Fun Game/Activity to help decode the true meaning of advertisements!

2011-03-01T11:58:00.000-08:00

BAM! Body and Mind Ad Decoder is a fun activity that allows students to flip through fictitious boy and girl magazines and analyze different health and body advertisements. It is a part of the BAM! Body and Mind Site that is operated by the Center for Disease Control & Prevention. This activity does a good job of showing the true purpose behind advertisements, to persuade the target audience and hopefully make money.

This would be a great activity to allow your students to participate in while talking about writing persuasively, analyze advertisements in media, or even as an extension to a body and health awareness unit. This activity covers ads for Energy Drinks, Smoking, Body Weight, Nutrition and much more. I just love this activity and this site.

This interactive activity is very slick and very well laid out. You can also check out the full BAM! Body and Mind site for more awesome activities and resources for your classroom Health curriculum. This is one of my students favorite sites when we talk about Healthy Minds & Bodies. The full BAM! The site is very kid friendly, easy to read, and written in a familiar language kids can relate to. The full website can be found at:

http://www.bam.gov/index.html

SymbalooEDU - Customizable and Visual Personal Learning Environment. A great way to share your Web 2.0 Resources.

2011-02-28T11:02:00.000-08:00

SymbalooEDU is the educational version of Symbaloo. SymbalooEDU allows you to create a wall of "tiles" or visual bookmarks to share with your collegues or students. It is free to sign up and share your wall with anyone. You can even publish your wall where other teachers can copy it and edit it to create their own walls.

SymballooEDU does offer a premium version to allow your wall to have its own URL and log at the top of the page. This allows you to share an entire webmix you create instead of only a specific page from your webmix.

You can even create different walls with your webmix to better organize your tiles/links. So you could have a page for Math Resources, L.A. Resources, WEB 2.0 Resources, Health, etc. You can see and example of my webmix and the different pages in the image to the right.

Check out SymbalooEDU today and start sharing your links and resources in a very visually appealing and customizable webmix.

http://edu.symbaloo.com/

Conceptu Math - Fraction Tools: Standards Aligned Interactives & Manipulatives to Help Understand Fractions

2011-02-23T18:01:00.000-08:00

Conceptua Math Fraction Tools are great Interactives for helping your students understand Fractions. The site has tools to help understand fractions on a number line, add & subtract fractions, identifying fractions, estimating, equivalents, finding common denominators & more. Not only do they have interactive tools for visualizing each concept, they also have a video for how to use each tool, common core aligned standards for the tool, lesson plans and classroom activities (with a premium membership).

We use this site in Pride Class (Homeroom) as we practice our mathematics skills for our upcomming statewide standardized test.

The site and fraction tools are free to use, but you do have to sign up for a free account to use the tools. You can sign up for a premium account if you would like detailed lesson plans as well as student individual logins.

I would recommend this site as a tool to use with your students as a whole class instructive tool and not as a site you have them work on individually. Again, you would have to pay for those features and I am trying to stress on this blog tools that will not cost you any money. Go check out Conceptua Math and their Fraction Tools and see how you can use them in your classroom curriculum.

http://www.conceptuamath.com/fractions.html

Yebol - A visual, organized, cluster filled search engine, in a good way!

2011-02-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

Yebol is an alternative search engine that organizes your search results into small clusters in an attempt to find the information you are looking for. Yebol will display your search results in small clusters of video of your search query, photos of your search query, the top websites that contain your search query, tweets about your subject, related searches, and much more.

An Example of results from a basic Yebol Search

Here is an example of a search I did just for the name of former Italian Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini. I didn't ask for anything specific, but you can see how my results are clustered by Images, Search Results, News, & Videos. You have the Top Sites on the top left of the page, Related Searches just below that, and the tweets are below the Related Searches (not in the picture).

The search results also make it very clear where the information is coming from by listing the name of the website in bold print next to the Search Results under the Search Results Heading.

Yebol clearly lables the websites' name next to your results!

I am not exactly ready to use Yebol as my go to alternative to other search engines I use in class, however, the site does a good job of organizing your search results in an attempt to narrow your search results. I would recommend Yebol to be used in your classroom for students who are overwhelmed with the information they get from a Google Search. Yebol is also a great search engine for your visual learners since it does a nice job of dividing up your search results visually. Finally, I have found Yebol to do a great job as a Multimedia search engine since it will clearly define images and videos within your search results.

Check out the Yebol Search Engine in your classroom and be sure to share any impressions!
http://yebol.com/

Game for Science - A virtual gaming world built around Science!

2011-02-18T06:53:00.000-08:00

Game for Science is a virtual world where students can create an avatar and explore various virtual islands with activities based in "health, aeronautics, genomics, environment, engineering and more." Students can visit the Virtual World as a tourist, or sign up to edit their avatar, chat with other players, and save their progress. Signing up is free, however, students will need an email to sign up and confirm their email. Visiting as a tourist, students do not need an email or to sign up.

I am a fan of open world online gaming cause they can teach our students many of the unwritten social rules about communicating effectively, respectfully, and efficiently online. Plus, my students love simply seeing other students in the virtual world they can interact with.

I would only recommend Games for Science as a fun extension to your classroom Science curriculum, and at home activity your students interested in Science could interact with, or as an activity students can experience when they are finished with a classroom project (as I am using in class).

Here is a video to show you more about Game for Science

As my students finish up and prepare for their Historical Figure Presentations, I am allowing them to check out Game for Science as an alternate activity when their work is complete.

Check it out at http://www.gameforscience.ca/

UJAM - Collaborative Online Music Collaboration & Creation

2011-02-15T10:42:00.000-08:00

UJam is an awesome online, web based music creator. Your music can be shared between students and they can make their own edits to make each jam even better. This is a great site for creating your own music for podcasts, presentations, classroom rap songs, news shows, classroom videos, and more!

One of the coolest features of UJAM is the option to have a student sing freely into the microphone, and UJAM converts their voice into an instrument and creates a song. Meaning, UJAM recognizes the notes you sing, then converts your voice into an instrument hitting those notes. If you want to create an original song, you do not need to know how to read sheet music. All you have to do is sing or hum the way you want the song to sound, then you can tweak it in UJAM!

You can also sing freely into the microphone or to the beat of a metronome, and have UJAM create music to match your song. This is just like SongSmith by Microsoft or the Songmaker APP on iPhone. You sing, then the program creates music to match and go with your own words. It is pretty awesome. Your students will LOVE creating their own songs from scratch.

The site has some very easy to follow tutorials that can help get students started. You can check out the tutorials here. Students can even record their own vocals in their "jam" or create their own songs. I wouldn't put UJAM ahead of Audacity for classroom recordings. However, for browser based music creation and audio recording, you may be hard pressed to find a better alternative.

Students will have to create an account in UJAM so they will need an email address.

Corkboard.me - An alternative to WallWisher. Your own digital corkboard where you and your students can share quick notes, links, & pictures.

2011-02-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

I thought of posting this after a conversation we had over on Classroom20.com. A teacher was looking for an alternative to WallWisher, a popular Web2.0 tool where you can post a question or comment, and have students add "notes" with their own comments. WallWisher still has many technical issues and sometimes is blocked by school Internet filters. I personally love WallWisher, however, I do have issues where it will not load properly or comments do not appear. You can check out WallWisher for yourself at http://www.wallwisher.com/

Corkboard.me is a nice alternative to WallWisher. It is totally free, you dont have to sign up to use it, and you create your corkboard just by opening the site. When you visit Corkboard.me, simply copy the URL in your web browser and share it with your friends. They can then add their own notes, links, and images. Corkboards have a near limitless size so they should fit nearly any classroom need.

This is a great resource for checking for understanding in your class, a quick 60 bell ringer to have students voice opinions on a prompt or topic, allowing students to ask questions about a lesson, and much more!

Check it out!

Braineos - Free & Easy Flashcard and Quiz Creator

2011-02-10T11:32:00.000-08:00

Braineos is a free site that allows you to create flash cards AND quizzes from those flash cards to help you study for important subject matter. We are currently using Braineos in my class with our Historical Figures Presentations. Students must create a Presentation about a Historical Figure from their Social Studies Book (I give them a list to choose from). The presentation includes biographical information, a Fakebook Wall Page (www.myfakewall.com), and a quiz to check the class for understanding (after the presentation).

I am allowing my students to use Braineos since it is very simple to use, easy to set up, and you can create games and even quizzes from your flashcards. Students can log in with their google accounts, facebook accounts, and more or will have to sign up with an email address. You could even create an account and share the username and password with your students and use Braineos that way.

Here is an example of a Braineos Quiz I created about Computer Hardware & Software Vocabulary!

I would love to hear of your suggestions for using Braineos. If you have any other sites to share that will allow students to easily create quizzes, please share those sites as well.

Biography Search Resources - Where to find the best information about people!

2011-02-09T08:56:00.000-08:00

In my 6th Grade Computer Class, we are starting our Historical Figure Presentations. These are presentations about the Historical Figures in our Social Studies Text Book.

When you are researching information about famous or historical figures, it can be hard for some students to find factual and easy to read information.

Below are the sites I have shared with my students to help them in their searches for Historical Figures.

http://www.biography.com
Very easy to read biographies covering everyone from celebrities to important historical figures.

http://www.history.com/
Very in depth biographies and information about Historical Figures.

http://www.qwiki.com/
A Multimedia Search Engine that returns Multimedia Presentations for your search query. You can find audio, video, links and images all in one search. Great for ESL Students, Special Need Students, and Visual Learners.

http://www.sweetsearch.com/biographies#
Sweet Search is billed "The Search Engine For Students" Every search result comes from websites that have been approved by teachers. This specific link will take you to Sweet Search's Biography Search.

http://www.who2.com/
Features "3,654 Biographies of famous people, characters and creatures.

http://www.britannica.com/
The Online version of Encyclopedia Britannica. You can also sign up for a Free Trail of the Paid Kid's Version of Encyclopedia Britannica.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/
The BBC's specific search for Historical Figures. I found some very interesting information using this site.

Gwigle Game: Google Searching Tips Made Fun!

2011-02-07T10:51:00.000-08:00

Gwigle is a Google Search Game that asks you to guess what the search query was based on the search results. Gwigle is a fun and interactive way to learn google searching tips and practice your search skills. Gwigle is a great extension to any Internet Searching Discussions or lessons you may have in class. Share it with your students and see if they are aware of how search results and the search keyword are related.

Gwigle shows you the results, and you must guess what the search was for!

Audacity Setup, Recording, & Editing Tips!

2011-02-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

Audacity is a free audio recording and editing software. The fact that it is FREE makes Audacity one of the number one choices for recording and editing Podcasts and other audio recordings in your classroom.

Many different teachers will quickly recommend Audacity, however, setting it up for recording and editing what you have already recorded can sometimes be confusing. I am sharing a PDF File I put together to help out with setting up Audacity for creating audio recordings in your classroom and tips for editing your recordings. This will help you set up Audacity for Podcasts and Classroom Recordings, remove background noise, remove pops, save as an MP3 and more!

You can get the Audacity Setup, Recording, & Editing Tips PDF RIGHT HERE!

Please email me any suggestions or tips you may when using Audacity!

Qwiki - Multimedia Web Searches

2011-02-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

Qwiki is a site I have beta tested for several months and has just recently advanced to Alpha Release for all to use. Although I was not overly impressed in my initial searches, the site is very engaging and improving everyday. Qwiki is a multimedia search engine that creates small presentations from pictures, text, links and more based on your search. It even uses text recognition to read the information to you.

The site would be a great Ice Breaker on a subject to kick start investigation. You could also use it with your ESL students for extended learning within your curriculum. You can even look up your home town and see how your town is recognized via Internet Search.

We are using Qwiki for initial searches on our Overcoming Adversity Presentations to research our awesome people and various disabilities.

My cities Qwiki presentation made a huge point about our Shopping Mall. Although there is still plenty of work left in updating Qwikis, there is an option to improve each presentation by suggesting photos, suggesting YouTube Videos, and making suggestions on the voice pronunciations and speed. Qwiki is going to improve as users continue to suggest improvements to current presentations/searches.

Here is a Qwiki Search Presentation I found on the WWW.

http://www.qwiki.com/q/#!/World_Wide_Web

Career Exploration Resources

2011-01-31T10:41:00.000-08:00

When it becomes time to discuss careers in your classroom, there are many resources that can help students begin their exploration of different careers. Below are a few I use in my classroom!

Drive of Your Life
http://www.driveofyourlife.org/ is an awesome interactive website that enables students to create a car, trick it out, then drive and explore different careers based on a students interests. The site was created by The Indiana Youth Institute and is used by counselors in my school when they talk about careers in our Technology Classes. My students have done this for several years now but I always find them going back and messing with different interests and exploring different careers on THEIR OWN TIME even after we are finished in class.

Although Drive of Your Life was originally created for Indiana Students, children from all over the country can use it. It will easily allow you to change your State and City information when logging in. Also, students only need to create a user name and password if they want to save their results and come back later. They also DO NOT need an email address to sign up!

When students want to look at EVEN MORE information about their career, I start them at the sites below:

BLS Career Information Home Page
http://www.bls.gov/k12/ - A great site created by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Students start by answering a basic question about what they like or like to do, then the page gives them career choices based on what they like. Very simple, with information that is very easy to read!

CareerShip
http://mappingyourfuture.org/planyourcareer/careership/index.cfm-
Bills itself as a"An Online Career Exploration Adventure" and offers quite a bit of information about different careers. You will not find every job, but many are represented on CareerShip. Students can click on "Match My Career Interests" and choose an Interest Area for a list of job that matches their interests. Easy & quick with a nice amount of information!

Reduce your footprint: Ecological Footprint Quiz by Center for Sustainable Economy

2011-01-28T11:31:00.000-08:00

Reduce your footprint: Ecological Footprint Quiz by Center for Sustainable Economy

Ecological Footprint is an awesome site that allows you to find what your ecological footprint is (or as the site describes "how much 'nature' your lifestyle requires." It is a great site to use when you are beginning to talk about the Ecosystem/Environment and how our lifestyles can effect them!

The quiz is approximately 30 questions and some may be a bit tough to understand. However, each question does have a link explaining what the question mean/what it is asking. So I would recommend walking through this with your students. The site says there is a "kid" version of the quiz located at http://www.kidsfootprint.org/ but it does not appear to be working at this time.

Live like me and we would need 6 Earths!

The best thing about this quiz is the end of it. You get great suggestions on how to lower your footprint, which opens the door for further discussion and research. We are doing this in my class as a challenge to help make our city "Greener." My students have to create a presentation on what they found out about their own footprint, steps they need to take to lower it, and suggestions for the rest of the community.

Another look at how my lifestyle compares to the rest of the country!

What the Tech? Technology Definitions for Kids!

2011-01-27T11:32:00.000-08:00

In my class, we do a couple of projects where we define and discuss various technology terms. My students will research the definitions of various Computer Hardware Vocabulary, Internet Safety Vocabulary and Internet Browsing Vocabulary Terms. One of the struggles for me has been finding websites that have definitions for technology terms that are easier for 6th Grade or Elementary Students to understand. Below are a couple of sites we are using now, Techdictionary.com and Techterms.com. I also posted a couple of more sites for younger and older students. Do you have any great suggestions for Technology Dictionaries?

TechDictionary
http://techdictionary.com/

TechDictionary has many technology definitions and a button to submit technology terms for future updates. If you can get past the falling snow on the screen and a few of the ads, it has some good definitions for students studying Technology Vocabulary. You can even embed a techdictionary.com search box on your website, Moodle Site, or your blog!

TechTerms
http://www.techterms.com/

TechTerms has some very kid friendly defintions. Many of the definitions will have examples or scenarios that help explain the technology term. They even search terms by the keyword, or browse through categories on the left hand side of the page.

NetLingo
http://www.netlingo.com/dictionary/all.php

I want to like NetLingo. The definitions are good and easy to find. However, they do have "definitions" of Internet Jargon and Slang so kids can look up what WTF means in class. Sure the words are blanked out, but I am afraid some students may be more interested in what IYSS stands for than their assigned terms.

TekMom's Buzzwords
http://www.tekmom.com/buzzwords/

This site is good for younger elementary students. This site is very simple. The words are listed in alphabetical order and are very easy to find and define.

If all else fails, you can always resort to some of the tried and true originals.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

Dictionary.com

http://dictionary.reference.com/

"Who's a Cyberbully?" by Mr. Dean & Little L

2011-01-26T10:50:00.001-08:00

This is a Glog that I created as an example for my classroom during an Internet Safety Glogs Project we were doing in class. I really really wanted a music connection, or some type of song about my subject Cyberbullying. I scoured the Internet, and found a 40 second rap song that was part of a contest. I included the short animated video of that song in my glog, but still wanted more. I decided to write my own Cyberbullying Rap Song that would explain the subject, give tips to prevent it, and tell what should happen if you are cyberbullied. I had Nebula produce the beat, my 6 year old daughter record the chorus, and the rest was history.

Now you can check out my Cyberbullying Glog with my original song "Who's a Cyberbully?" Enjoy and please dont be too harsh!

Here is a link or you can view it below:
http://mrdean.edu.glogster.com/cyberbullyingmrdean/

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Soundcloud - Easy Podcast and Original Music Sharing!

2011-01-25T09:30:00.000-08:00

Soundcloud is a site that lets you share your copyright free music or podcasts easily on your blog or website. In my Rap It Up Project, I always wanted to have a neat way to share my students' original Rap Songs. This is the answer.

A Free account allows you the ability to upload 2 total hours of your own music files. You can then create sets out of these files such as "Podcasts" or "Historical Interviews" and share only these specific files on your blog or website (worked great on my Moodle Site). You can even see an example of one of my SoundClouds uploaded on this blog!

Here is an example of the SoundCloud Player on my Moodle Site.

You can even allow for commenting on the files (which I turned OFF). The player shows how many times each file has been played so you can track popularity.

Soundcloud would be a great site to share any podcasts, interviews, original songs, etc with your community. I was able to upload 52 songs on my Free Account to share my classroom's rap songs. I now want to create another account (hint, hint) so I can upload and share our podcasts.

SumDog Contests and Competitions now available for FREE accounts!

2011-01-24T10:10:00.000-08:00

SumDog is a site that allows students to practice their numeracy skills in competitions versus other classmates or against students around the world. Back in December, I recieved an email from Sumdog notifying me that all Competitions and Games are now available for FREE ACCOUNTS.

I setup a class on Sumdog and had a 2 week competition amongst my students. You can even edit the "Leaderboard" to show only the top 10 student scores or your whole class. What I thought was pretty cool was you could even have competitions against students outside of your classroom. Some of the games even let you compete against other students within the game.

My classroom competition was only supposed to be completed OUTSIDE of my computer class. Students were on Sumdog in Study Hall, at the public library, and at home. At the end of the 2 weeks, I had a dozen students who had spent upwards of 14 plus hours outside of the classroom practicing their numeracy skills.

I awarded the top 10 students with an icy cold Mountain Dew at the end of the competition. A small price to pay to see my students practicing their math skill just 2 months outside of our big Statewide Standardized Test.

www.sumdog.com

GlogsterEDU in the Classroom! "Whatchu Glogging About? "

2011-01-22T10:08:00.000-08:00

GlogsterEDU is a site that allows students/teachers to create interactive multimedia collages & posters to share with their school community or to simply show understanding.

If you are reading this blog, then I know you have already heard about Glogster. Hopefully if you haven't used Glogster in your daily curriculum, you are planning to in the near future.

Here are some ideas of how you could use Glogster in the classroom: Examples of 5 Glogs my students made are in the picture!!

Biography of Famous People (We do a Biography of people who have overcome adversity to achieve great things. Here is an example of mine about Curtis Mayfield.
Create a magazine cover of activities that have occur ed at your school for the week. These can be posted on your school website and shared with the community.
Internet Safety & Awareness Posters (Another project we do in class. Students choose an Internet Safety topic and create a poster/collage with videos, links, pictures, and facts/information. Here is an example of one I created about Cyberbullying.
Jigsaw Information: Have students break down a chapter in their Science Book. Each group creates a glogster with information about a section from their text. Include Videos, links for more information, personal videos and more. Have each group present these glogs to the classroom. A great way to break down large/difficult subject matter and spread out the hard work.
Newspapers: Students can create glogs similar to newspapers summarizing big events (Iditarod, Olympics, Elections, etc) and update them daily/weekly.
Photo collection of subject matter or of classroom & school events.
Video wall of video collections to extend your classroom discussions and/or curriculum.
With the Premium Version, students can upload files to share. You could then use GlogsterEDU as a "Digital Portfolio" to post and share work or projects (Presentations, Graphs, Spreadsheets, etc)!

What are you doing to implement GlogsterEDU in your daily curriculum?