Who2 - A search engine for "biographies of famous people, characters and creatures."

Who2 is an awesome little search engine that allows you to search for "biographies of famous people, characters and creatures."   I mentioned Who2 in a previous post about Biography Search Resources but wanted to give Who2 more attention.  It is a great, FREE, resource to help students quickly find information about a person they may be researching.

Who2 has information laid out where its easy to find

Who2 doesn't go into great detail about a person's entire life, but discusses the bigger moments that made them who they are today.  This would be a great website to use in tandem with other sites (such as Biography.com and/or an online Encyclopedia) while researching a specific person. You will find some ads, but they are not overly intrusive to your research.

Be sure to introduce Who2 to your students as an easy way to find quick information while they are researching biographies.


You can access Who2 at:
http://www.who2.com/

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Internet Safety & Awareness Brochure Creation WebQuest

With our students spending more time online, learning to be positive digital citizens and staying safe online is becoming more and more important.  Unfortunately, many children do not seek the information needed to educate and empower themselves to stay safe while surfing the web or social networking. 

I created a WebQuest for my students to learn about 3 specific topics pertaining to Internet Safety.  These topics are Cyberbullying, Online Identity Theft and Sexting.  The WebQuest asks students to research information about each topic, including tips to prevent them from happening and what to do if they DO occur.

This WebQuest is very similar to the Internet Safety Comic Book WebQuest I previously posted.  However, this WebQuest has students create an informational Brochure they can share with their classmates and/or community.  The WebQuest is aligned to the NETs for Students Technology Standards, includes completed student examples, and even includes valid safe website links students can use to research for their Brochures.  You can click on the link below to visit the WebQuest.

Internet Safety & Awareness Brochure Creation WebQuest:
http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=124038

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Internet Safety & Awareness Comic Book Creation in ToonDoo WebQuest

One of the more popular posts I have created on my blog was using the online resource ToonDoo to create Internet Safety & Awareness Comic Books.  I have decided to adapt this lesson plan to a WebQuest format for all of you to share with your students and fellow teachers.  I used the site Zunal which allows you to create WebQuests easily and for FREE (although you only get to create one webquest with a FREE account).  I have posted the link to the WebQuest below. 


During the WebQuest, your students will look up information about Cyberbullying, Online Identity Theft and Sexting.  I have added 5 online resources for each topic to guide your students' research.  I hand picked these topics myself so they were safe for my 6th Grade Students.  You may want to review them if you have students who are younger, but I think they should be fine.  I have also added one video for each topic to help visual learners gain a better understanding of each Internet Safety Topic. 

Students will research each topic, create a rough draft storyboard, and finally create the final comic book.  This is a very engaging and exciting way to practice the writing process by allowing students to peer evaluate each StoryBoard and make revisions before creating the final comic.

I have also included an example of Comic Books for each Internet Safety Comic that were created by my own students. 

I would love to hear impressions, see examples, or even suggestions to how I could make this WebQuest even better. I am open to anything you would like to share and would love to hear from you!


Here is a link to the WebQuest:
http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=119024 


Here is a quick look at the examples for each topic:

Online Identity Theft:

Cyberbullying:

Sexting:

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"Who's a Cyberbully" Anti-Cyberbullying & Cyberbully Prevention Rap Song

"Who's A Cyberbully" is an original rap song written I wrote and recorded for my school. The video for this song was filmed and created by GMS Students Alex Rawlins and Nick Sloan as a project for Mrs. Vest's 8th Grade Applied Skills Class. The humor of 8th Grade students shows in the video, but the message is very serious. The song details & describes the frustrations and pain caused by cyberbullying (bullying using the internet, cell phones, video games, or other electronic devices), how to prevent it from happening, and what to do if it happens to you. I wrote and recorded this song (my 7 year old daughter sang the chorus) in honor and memory of Phoebe Prince and Megan Meier. Both girls took their own lives after being constantly cyberbullied and bullied by classmates. Please, if you are a vicitim of bullying and/or cyberbullying or know someone who is, contact a trusted adult or teacher. Nobody deserves to be a victim of bullying and/or cyberbullying. Copyright 2011. The music/beat was produced by Nebula.

This song can be used as a tool in classrooms to introduce the topic of cyberbullying, prevention, and what to do if it happens to you! If you would like to contact the creator of this song, please email Mr. Dean at mrddean@gmail.com.

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"The Bully System" Anti Bullying Anti Bully Rap Song

 

This is a song that I wrote and recorded during the 2010-2011 school year as a tool to help students learn about and prevent Bullying.  The song is written to explain what bullying is, how it makes someone feel, what to do if you are being bullied, and how to prevent it from happening. 

The video was filmed and created by students Chris Henderson and Cameron Carter as an 8th Grade Computer Class Project for Mrs. Vest's 8th Grade Applied Skills Class

Please feel free to use this song as a resource or tool to introduce bullying and bully prevention in your classroom.  To contact me, please email me at mrddean@gmail.com.  

The beat is produced by Nebula.

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Forvo - Any Word, Pronounced

Forvo is a site that bills itself as "Any word in the world, Pronounced!"  When I first started navigating the site, I instantly realized what a fantastic tool it would be for your English Language ELL and English as a Second Language ESL Learners.  The site is simple, you enter any word in the search box and can hear it pronounced by simply clicking the play button. You are not limited to a single pronunciation cause there can be dozens for a specific word. 

What is even more interesting, users from around the world can record their pronunciations and upload them to Forvo.  This is awesome to hear a word such as "Castle" pronounced with different accents, from males and females.  Currently, you can hear people from the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, and Canada all pronounce the same word.  This gives you a chance to discuss different regions of the world and how their accents may sound when pronouncing English words.  It also serves as a great example of how their are multiple ways to pronounce a word correctly.  Just because YOUR pronunciation doesn't sound exactly like someone else's, doesn't make it incorrect.

You can check out Forvo at:
http://www.forvo.com/

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Arcademic Skill Builder - Competitive, trackable games to help build basic skills!

Arcademic Skill Builders offers a variety of games to help build and reinforce basic math, language arts, vocabulary and thinking skills.  The site allows teachers to upload a class of students and monitor their progress.  You can even group your students based on ability and assign different games and activities to different groups of your students.  Right now, the site is in beta and allows you to upload and monitor your class for free during the beta phase. 

Arcademic Skill Builders offers skill building games ranging from Grade1 through Grade 6 in topics covering:

• Addition 
• Subtraction
• Division
• Multiplication
• Algebra
• Fractions
• Decimals
• Integers
•  Money
• Time 
• Geography
• Typing
• Language Arts

Games can even be played in competitive multi-player between students in your class.  Students can set up their own private games with other class members by sharing a password.  There is even an iPad app so students can play their games on the go.   Check out Academic Skill Builders today at:

http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com

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