Secondary Elementary – Page 78

Lunarpages Free Education Web Hosting

November 13, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2750 views

What it is: Lunarpages is a web hosting web service that offers free hosting to k-12 educators and schools! The free web hosting is intended to be used by teachers only (individual student web hosting is not available). Lunarpages will provide a free web builder, free unlimited phone and email support, unlimited email addresses and FTP accounts, 500MB of storage, 20GB data transfer, and one free domain name registration for each account. The only stipulation? You must have a banner ad somewhere on the site that says that Lunarpages donated the site…thats it!

How to integrate Lunarpages into the classroom: Lunarpages hosting is an excellent option for those of you who enjoy building your websites with software like iWeb. It is also an excellent option for a class website built with the web builder Lunarpages provides. Classroom websites are an outstanding way to communicate with parents and students about the goings on in your classroom.

Tips: The free web hosting is only available for k-12 public schools. Learn about how to get your free web hosting with Lunarpages here.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Lunarpages in your classroom.

Middle Spot

November 11, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment3196 views

What it is: Middle Spot is a spectacular new search engine for teachers, librarians, and students performing research. Middle Spot lets you see your results, you can pan and zoom individual website results. Workpads allow you to save and annotate results and sort by collections. Workpads can also be shared with others (colleagues, students, or professional learning communities). What I love about Middle Spot is the blending of the traditional search results (listed along the left side of the screen) with the snapshot results where you can see the results. When your cursor scrolls over a screen shot, the related traditional result and information is highlighted on the left making it very quick and easy to find exactly the results you are looking for. Middle Spot allows you to search the web or search images, very handy!

How to integrate Middle Spot into the classroom: Middle Spot is a great place for students to do research because of the ability to organize their finds and ideas right in the search engine with workpads. If students are working on group projects, they can share their findings and workpads with others in their group. Middle Spot is also ideal for teachers, collect your search results in one place based on topic or curriculum objectives and share with colleagues. Create your own “webquest” with Middle Spot by creating and sharing a workspace with your students. Make workpads for whole class lessons with an interactive whiteboard or projector to save yourself from typing in each url for the activity individually.

Tips: Middle Spot is truly my new favorite search engine. Your students will love the ability to take notes about websites and cite their sources as they go in the workpads. It really is well designed for the classroom setting!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Middle Spot in your classroom.

Big Ideas for Education

November 10, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2970 views

What it is: Big Ideas for Education is part of the Landmark Project created by David Warlick. The purpose of the site is to collect “priority actions that might be taken by a new Department of Education that would promote shifts in education that are relevant to today’s students and their future.” After ideas have been collected, the submitted statements will be linked according to topic to pare down all ideas into no more than 20 basic action statements. The final action statements will be posted on Big Ideas for Education for educators to share insights about their favorite statements. You will be able to order the action statements in order of importance to you.

Head over to Big Ideas for Education and share your big idea. It only takes a minute; but if we educators come together and start discussing some of these great ideas, we will start seeing a shift in education.

My big idea is to: Shift teaching away from teacher as lecturer toward constructivism where students are constructing their own knowledge. (id 158) Technology and 21st century learning skills naturally flow into the constructivist approach to teaching and learning. Using technology within the context of the traditional classroom is always going to feel like you are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, it doesn’t flow naturally. Make sure to copy and paste your big idea into the comment section here…we want to know what your big ideas are!

Daft Doggy

November 7, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2792 views

What it is: I found Daft Doggy several months ago and put it in my “explore more” folder. The Daft Doggy site is in beta version and it isn’t obvious upon first visit what exactly it does. Today I had a little bit of time to go and explore the site more and I am glad I did! Daft Doggy is a free service that lets you record web browsing sessions, play them back, and share recorded sessions with others. It is very simple to use (only 2 clicks to start recording!) You type in the starting point URL and Daft Doggy keeps track of all subsequent URL’s along the way. Daft Doggy doesn’t record everything you do, it only remembers each separate URL you visit in a sequence, it does this both within the site or a separate external site. When students or teachers view the session, a blue bar at the top of the page shows the URL along with reverse and next navigation. Each recorded session is assigned a unique link making it easy to share with students or other staff. After you have recorded the sequence of sites, you have the option of labeling each site and even adding a voice recording that will play when that site is being viewed.

How to integrate Daft Doggy into the classroom: Daft Doggy is a great way to lead students through a series of activities on the web. Younger students especially who would have trouble keeping track of and typing mulitiple URL’s would benefit from a lesson recorded with Daft Doggy. Daft Doggy is also perfect for whole class instruction with a projector when mulitiple sites will be visited. The recorded session will keep you on track and keep you from having to type in multiple URL’s while teaching. As a computer teacher and technology integration specialist, I like Daft Doggy for the ability to make quick guides for students and teachers as well as tutorials. The Daft Doggy recordings are quick and easy to create making them ideal for quickly answering web questions or leading colleagues/students through websites. Make your own online virtual field trips or webquests for students using Daft Doggy. Student projects can also be enhanced with Daft Doggy. Students can create web presentations with site to share with peers. This would also be a great site to use as students are researching. Instead of trying to remember the exact search words and links they used to find a site, they can record their research so that they can re-trace their steps at a later time if needed. So cool!

Tips: This beta site definitely doesn’t have any frills, it is very basic but it gets the job done easily and quickly. To get started just create a login and you are ready to go!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Daft Doggy in your classroom.

The Cool Teacher Podcast

November 5, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2527 views

What it is: The Cool Teacher Podcast is a podcast by educational technologist Chris Haskell who is an instructor for pre-service teachers in methods and applications of technology integration in the classroom (notice any similarities to iLearn Technology?). The podcast “delivers cool tools, techniques, and tactics to transform your teaching.” In episode #7 that came out yesterday, Chris gives a shout out to iLearn Technology’s post on Glogster (thank you Chris!!). The podcasts are very entertaining to listen to and give great ideas for using technology in the classroom!

How to integrate The Cool Teacher Podcast into the classroom: The Cool Teacher Podcast is a wonderful stop (in addition to iLearn Technology) for great ideas and tips for integrating technology into your classroom. You can find the Cool Teacher Podcast at the links here as well as on iTunes in the iTunes store (it is free to subscribe to). Listen to these great podcasts while you are grading, on the drive home, or while you are cleaning up your classroom for the day…just be sure to keep a pad and pencil handy to jot down the great ideas you are sure to hear!

Tips: Chris also has a blog related to the podcasts, you can check that out here. Thanks again Chris!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Cool Teacher Podcast in your classroom.

Kids and Cookies

November 4, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2249 views

What it is: Kids and Cookies is an online flash game that teaches elementary students about fractions in a game setting. Students choose characters to be their “friends” and then choose how many cookies they have. They have to evenly share the cookies with their friends and can use different cutters to divide the cookies. The site provides a great introduction to rational number fractions.

How to integrate Kids and Cookies into the classroom: This is a great site for introducing your students to the concepts of fractions, especially those at the “sharing” and “fair” age because of the way that they have to share and split up the cookies fairly. This would be a good whole class activity with an interactive whiteboard or a projector where students take turns sharing their cookies. As they share the cookies, talk about the fractions of cookies (for example when they split the cookie in half or in thirds.) This would also be a perfect site to use as a math center. Students can visit the center in groups and discuss their findings as a whole class after every student has had the opportunity to interact with the site.

Tips: You can find more advanced (much more advanced) flash math games and activities on the Center of Technology and Education site where the Kids and Cookies game is hosted. This is also a great game for those of you who don’t have Internet access in your classroom because their is a free downloadable version of the game for Macs and PC’s…cool!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Kids and Cookies in your classroom.

Learning Clip

November 3, 2008November 3, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2664 views

What it is: Learning Clip is a wonderful FREE math site out of the UK that provides short learning clips to be used in primary math classes. The short video clips are explanations of math concepts. Each video clip is followed by a game or activity where students can practice the new concept. The whole site is intended to be used in whole class instruction with an interactive whiteboard (although they could be used just as successfully with just a projector or computer/TV hookup). Many of the activities have been integrated with the Active Vote system. If you are lucky enough to have an Active Vote set in your school this is a must see site! The videos and activities are appropriate for first through fifth grades. You do have to register to use the resources on this site, but it is free to register and a very quick process.

How to integrate Learning Clip into the classroom: Use this site to introduce your students to new math concepts. Use an interactive whiteboard, projector, or TV to show the videos. Let students take turns “controlling” the computer during the activity portion. If you have an Active Vote system be sure to actively involve your students in math learning with the integrated activities. This site would also be appropriate for the one or two computer classroom. Set up Learning Clip as a math center for students to visit while they are working on new math concepts or practicing old concepts.

Tips: This site was created in the UK so money and measurement clips may not work in your classroom. The other concepts should blend with your curriculum seamlessly.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Learning Clip in your classroom.

Cyberbee Copyright Application

October 31, 2008Kelly Tenkely3 Comments4017 views

What it is: Cyberbee Copyright is an online flash application to teach students about copyright laws. Copyright laws can be difficult to teach and difficult for students to understand. Cyberbee makes it simple. The flash site features students raising their hands, each asking a different question about copyright issues. When students “call” on the cyber student, they get the answer to the question. The site uses language that is easy for students to understand.

How to integrate Cyberbee Copyright Application into the classroom: This is a great site to introduce your students to before any research project. The interactive nature of the site makes it perfect for an interactive whiteboard and whole class participation. The Cyberbee Copyright Application is a site to bookmark on your classroom, library, and computer lab computers. Students can refer to the site often to refresh themselves on copyright laws.

Tips: Take a look at the other offerings of Cyberbee for research projects. You will find web evaluation resources, citing electronic sources, a quick site tool, and more!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Cyberbee Copyright Application in your classroom.

Glogster EDU!

October 27, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3869 views

What it is: I wrote a post last week about a site called Glogster, since that post Glogster has introduced Glogster EDU! Glogster for Education is a site that lets students combine graphics, photos, videos, music, and text into a great web 2.0 online poster. Glogs are an outstanding way to enhance learning, wikis, and blogs. Glogster EDU offers support and help with creating school accounts and keeping Glogs private.

How to integrate Glogster EDU into the classroom: As I mentioned last week, Glogster is a creative way for your students to display knowledge. Students can create Glogs for absolutely any subject. Glogster is wonderful for book reports, history, math concepts, science, and literature. The ability to embed Glogs into wikis and blogs is outstanding and makes Glogs even more versatile.

Tips: Send Glogster EDU feedback about features you would like to see specifically for education…they have committed to updates based on your feedback!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Glogster EDU in your classroom.

Toy Maker

October 24, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2476 views

What it is: Toy Maker is a website full of free paper toy downloads. While it isn’t directly using technology in the classroom, this is a great site to visit for the free downloads. Toy Maker has everything from paper animals (origami type), to awesome math and learning toys, to toys that move, and gift boxes. This site offers really amazing downloads and teaches students how to follow step by step instructions to create their toy.

How to integrate Toy Maker into the classroom: The math and learning toys on the Toy Maker site are perfect for integrating into your existing curriculum. Living in Colorado means a lot of indoor recess days in the winter months, these toys offer excellent activities for those indoor days! The gift boxes are perfect for holiday gifts home (Christmas, Mother’s day, Father’s day, etc.) or for exchanging with learning buddies. Younger students will enjoy creating one of the animals and writing a story to accompany it.

Tips: Share this site with parents, they will love these printables for rainy days at home!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Toy Maker in your classroom.