Category: Resource type

NoteSake

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on NoteSake4336 views

What it is: NoteSake is an online note taking tool for students and teachers. Students (or teachers) can take and organize notes online. This makes it easy to access notes from any Internet connected computer. NoteSake also provides students or teachers with the ability to collaborate in groups. Students can take notes for a group project in NoteSake and share with other group members. NoteSake is a God-send for the student who missed a class due to an illness…other students or teachers can share the notes from the day with the student who was absent. NoteSake offers several options for organizing notes; organize by name, date, class, or custom tags that the student adds to the notes.

How to integrate NoteSake into the classroom: NoteSake can be used to teach students how to take and organize notes. Aside from taking everyday type class notes, NoteSake is ideally suited for taking notes while completing research projects. Students can research on the Internet, in the library, or from home and access their notes any time they need to. No more forgetting where all the research papers are stashed. NoteSake also makes it easy for students to collaboratively gather information for projects. NoteSake makes it easy to share notes with others, absent students no longer have an excuse!

Tips: NoteSake requires a valid email address to activate your account. If you teach students who do not have an email address, you could use a teacher email for activation purposes.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using NoteSake in your classroom.

Thinkport Tool: My Timeline

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Thinkport Tool: My Timeline1363 views

What it is: My Timeline is a tool introduced by Maryland’s Thinkport. My Timeline allows students to create professional looking timelines online. Timelines can be saved and printed from the online environment. Teachers can create interactive timelines about any subject that can be filled in by students.

How to integrate My Timeline into the classroom: My Timeline can be used for any history project or to teach chronological events. My Timeline is a neat tool, it allows students to add dates, events details, and an image uploaded from Thinkport’s image library. Students could also use the timeline tool for book reports, re-telling the story in chronological order. Teachers can create and save timelines that become fill-in-the-blank type activities for students to complete.

Tips: Click on the “Sample Student Activities” to see how other classrooms and students are using My Timeline.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using My Timeline in your classroom.

TerraClues for Schools

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on TerraClues for Schools3879 views

What it is: TerraClues for Schools is an easy to use tool where teachers can create interactive “scavenger hunts” with Google maps. Teachers can access hundreds of already made TerraClues to use in conjunction with curriculum or create their own TerraClues to fit their classroom needs. Teachers can also create private classrooms where they assign students to specific hunts. TerraClues hunts can also be shared with other teachers in your school, district, or anywhere in the world. This is a fun way to learn about using maps, curriculum content, and how to navigate the Internet. This site encourages students to learn and implement problem solving skills and learn about different cultures around the world. The Google Maps can be viewed as street maps, satellite maps, or hybrid. (A big thank you to Mike for suggesting this site!)

How to integrate TerraClues for Schools into the classroom: TerraClues for Schools can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. Create a hunt for an explorers unit, any literature where the characters visit different locations (this would be a fun site for Flat Stanley), to teach students about history, in conjunction with web 2.0 tools and pen pals, for any social studies or geography lesson. Create an interactive field trip anywhere in the world for your students (or map out a field trip before you go). This is such a neat site, you are bound to find a multitude of uses for this site in your classroom. Wouldn’t it be neat to have older students create hunts for younger students?

Tips: If you haven’t already, go visit TerraClues for Schools NOW! Click on the “Tutorial Hunt” to see how TerraClues for Schools works. You will be convinced of this tools possibilities in no time!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using TerraClues for Schools in your classroom.

Drupal

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Drupal1864 views

What it is: Drupal is an open source (free) content management platform. This free software package (downloaded) allows teachers to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website. Teachers can use Drupal to create discussion areas for their class, as a content management system, for blogging, as a collaborative learning environment, for classroom social networking, a classroom forum, newsletters, podcasting, online picture albums, and file uploads and downloads.

How to integrate Drupal into the classroom: Make your classroom “classroom 2.0” with Drupal. Encourage student collaborative learning, discussion, and outside the classroom self-guided learning. Drupal helps teachers to teach 21st century skills by providing the platform to do so. Use Drupal to build an online classroom community where students and parents can interact with one another and you. Post assignments online. Students can download and upload assignments. This will bring a whole new aspect of parent involvement in your classroom!

Tips: Drupal handbooks (on the website) are a wealth of information for using Drupal.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Drupal in your classroom.

Exploratree

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Exploratree2398 views

What it is: Exploratree is a free web resource where teachers and students can download, use and create interactive thinking guides (graphic organizers). Thinking guides can be used to support independent or group research projects, students can think and plan easily. Thinking guides can be used collaboratively and shared for group projects. Exploratree has several ready-made thinking guides. Students and teachers can add to these guides or create their own from scratch to meet a specific classroom need. Ready made thinking guides include: tracking an enquiry, futures wheel, lotus blossom, from a different angle, thinking boxes, plus- minus- interesting, scamper, thinking actively in a social context, reverse planning, is/is not, complete reversal, compass rose, facts or opinions, making meanings, compare and contrast, knowing trees, digging up roots, traffic lights, examine existing and new ideas, using the essence, question things, a day in the life, and possible/probable/ preferable futures.

How to integrate Exploratree into the classroom: Exploratree is a wonderful replacement for traditional paper/pencil graphic organizers. They are easy to use, navigate and include some amazing features that just aren’t possible with paper graphic organizers. As a teacher, you can set up the sequence that you want the thinking guide to be revealed, so that you can stage the thinking activity. Each portion of the organizer is revealed as students are working. Students can fill out the thinking guides online as they complete a project or teachers can create a thinking guide that fits a classroom activity and print them out for student use. Students can submit thinking guides so that they can be edited and reviewed by peers or a teacher with comments. Think about using Exploratree for ALL subjects. Students can use thinking guides to explore the scientific process, for KWL type charts, to predict what will happen in literature they are reading, to plan a story or report, to explore a historical figure, to organize thoughts before a writing assignment, in social studies as a current event organizer, to think about choices and possible outcomes, to show mathematical processes, to explore a topic using different senses or points of view, sort facts and opinions, and a day in the life of a notable figure just to name a few.

Tips: Exploratree is in its Beta form so they are open to input and suggestions from educators. If you don’t see a feature you could use in your classroom…go ahead and suggest it!

Engrade

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Engrade2046 views

What it is: Engrade is a free online gradebook that allows teachers to manage their classes online as well as post grades, assignments, attendance, and upcoming homework online for students and parents to see. Engrade makes it easy for parents, teachers, and students to communicate and stay in contact. The free Engrade suite offers a gradebook that automatically calculates grades and provides tools for custom grading scales and weighting assignments, an attendance book that automatically emails parents with absences, a homework calendar for students and parents, and online student reports where students can view their grades, homework and attendance in real time.

How to integrate Engrade into the classroom: Engrade makes it simple to quickly post homework assignments, edit students grades, and take attendance all in one easy to use online interface. Best of all, since Engrade is online based, teachers can update grades and homework assignments from anywhere. Engrade is a wonderful way to keep parents and students informed of grades, homework assignments, and absences in one place. Communication between school and home has never been easier! Engrade is a secure, password protected site so there are no concerns about privacy or security of grades.

Tips: Be sure to check out the Teacher page on Engrade and all of the features that are offered. This truly is an amazing product!

Let’s Say Thanks

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Let’s Say Thanks1876 views

What it is: Let’s Say Thanks is a website that allows students, parents, teachers, and everyone to write messages to our troops serving around the world. By submitting a message through this site you have the opportunity to send a free personalized postcard greeting to deployed servicemen and women. Students select a student created image from the site and then type in a personal message of thanks. Let’s Say Thanks prints the messages and sends them around the world to our troops.

How to integrate Let’s Say Thanks into the classroom: Let’s Say Thanks is a wonderful activity to do around Thanksgiving as an activity in being thankful. What a perfect way to teach students gratitude while making an impact on those serving around the world. You could also integrate this activity into social studies learning about our troops, or current events. We live in a global world and this activity could open up discussions about where our troops are serving and what the culture is like where they are stationed.

Tips: Encourage your students to read the messages on Let’s Say Thanks “From the Troops”.

Photo Booth/ Seenly

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Photo Booth/ Seenly3487 views

What it is: If you are lucky enough to have a newer Mac in your classroom, you are familiar with Photo Booth. Photo Booth is reminiscent of its name sake, it allows students to take pictures with the built-in iSight camera. If you have a pre-Photo Booth Mac or a PC you can now use a free Browser application called Seenly. Seenly lets students take pictures of themselves (even applying different effects like sepia tone or x-ray). Seenly can be used on older Mac’s or PC’s. The only requirement is a web cam. These are coming way down in price, $15-$25.

How to integrate Photo Booth or Seenly into the classroom: Photo Booth and Seenly can be used for a multitude of projects throughout the school year. My favorite project for using Photo Booth/Seenly is for character education development. I create a “How are you feeling today?” grid in Pages or Word and save as a template. Students take pictures of themselves displaying the different emotions and drag and drop onto the template. When they are finished we print them out and create a class book of emotions. This is a wonderful way to teach students empathy. Photo Booth/Seenly can also be used at the beginning of the year for a getting-to-know you project. Create a bulletin board with student pictures. Students could use Photo Booth/Seenly to star in their own stories. Teachers, take pictures of students throughout the year as you podcast students reading. The photos with the podcasts make an excellent end of the year gift for students and parents as they can see and hear students growth throughout the year. Create a classroom “dictionary” where students create definitions for themselves along with their pictures. When teaching action verbs, have students take pictures of themselves actually doing an action verb. You will find a hundred and one uses that you never expected when you bring a web cam into the classroom and pair it with Photo Booth/Seenly!

Tips: See the image below for an example of the “How are you feeling today?” templates I created in Pages. One template was created for kindergarten through second grades and the second template was created for third through fifth grades.

Play Music

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Play Music2337 views

What it is: Play Music is a site where students can explore and interact with music. Students can visit Carnegie Hall for listening adventures, take a seat in the orchestra and listen to and learn about the different sections and sounds of the orchestra, try writing their own music, learn about the symphony, “meet” a concert master, “meet” an instrument builder and composer, and “meet” young composers.

How to integrate Play Music into the classroom: Play Music is an excellent way to introduce students to the Orchestra or Symphony. This is a great site for encouraging a love of music. Use this site as a research tool. Students can learn about different instruments in the orchestra. A lesson that I love to use with this site is to assign each student an instrument to study. Students then make baseball type trading cards in a word document that has a picture of the instrument, the name, and a description of the instrument. Students can print out a few pages of their baseball cards (6 cards should fit on one document). Students then trade their Orchestra cards and when the project is finished, they have a complete orchestra.

Tips: To complete the baseball card idea above, create a template in Word or Pages for the students. This way each students cards will turn out with the same dimensions. To save a document as a template, goto the “file” menu and click on “Save as template” option.

Weebly

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Weebly3169 views

What it is: Weebly is a place to create free websites and blogs. Weebly makes it extremely easy to create a website or a blog because of its drag and drop interface, ready made designs, ability to customize content simply, and the drag and drop approach to organizing pages. These websites are easy to create and have great looking, professional results.

How to integrate Weebly into the classroom: Teachers, use Weebly to create a class website. Here your students can explore topics that you are studying in class, view any assignments that are due, see class pictures, read newsletters, and find content related links. A class website can become the hub for any classroom. Post all current information on your class site, pictures of field trips you have taken, add links to websites you are using in class, other 2.0 resources that you are using such as mind maps, update your classroom blog, etc.  This is a great way to boost classroom-home communication.   Weebly makes it so easy to quickly create and update pages, it is the perfect platform for classroom webpages.

Tips: Weebly has a great live demo where you can try the site out before signing up for a free account.