Geni

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What it is: Geni is a genealogy family tree site.

How to integrate Geni into your classroom: Encourage your students to learn more about their family. Students can gather information about their family and create a family tree using Geni’s easy to use tools. Parents can collaborate with their students on this project easily. The Geni family tree can be printed out and emailed to other family members.

Tips: Encourage parents to collaborate with their students on this easy to use site.

 

Mindomo

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What it is: Mindomo free web-based mind mapping tool that delivers the capabilities of desktop mind mapping software in a web browser with no software to install or maintain. Students can create, edit, and share mind maps with teachers and other students.

How to integrate Mindomo into your classroom: Students can use Mindomo to create mind maps for all subjects. Students can create character diagrams, comparison charts, story diagrams, vocabulary word diagrams, timelines, effect of events, experiment maps, food pyramids, scientific processes, life cycles, and more. This tool will be valuable for your visual learners!

Tips: Students have to sign up for a free account to use Mindomo they will need a email address to complete registration process.

 

 

Vocabulary

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What it is: Vocabulary is a website where students can build spelling, reading, phonics, and vocabulary skills while playing games. The word games provide a motivation to manipulate, examine, and interact with the core building blocks of communication. There are six games to play and hundreds of options for each game. Games include: Hang Mouse (like hangman), Crossword Puzzle, Word Search, Vocabulary Quiz, Picture Match Game, and Word Scramble.

How to integrate Vocabulary into your classroom: Use the Vocabulary website to introduce new units, during phonics or center time, or as practice during a unit. The Vocabulary website offers multiple levels of each game and many themes.

Tips: Search this site for vocabulary words that tie in with your specific classroom and school themes. The site is appropriate for first through eighth grade. Find the levels that are most appropriate for your students.

 

 

The Story Starter

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What it is: The Story Starter provides 345,935,040 creative ideas for writers of all ages. The Story Starter randomly generates writing prompts that will help students start stories.

How to integrate The Story Starter into your classroom: Have one or two of your classroom computers set to this site during writing or journaling time. Students can click on the random story starter button and get the beginning of a story that they can add to. This is a wonderful creative tool for students who are learning to write fiction.

Tips: Bookmark this page for easy access during writing time.

 

 

The Apple

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What it is: The Apple is a social networking site for teachers. Think Facebook specially designed for teachers! This is the place where teachers meet, discuss, and learn. Use The Apple to read the latest education news of the day, watch education related videos, shop for education products (and see how other educators on The Apple have rated the products), search for jobs, learn about furthering your own education, explore articles and search for lesson plans by subject, share photos, discuss with other teachers, and create your own community of educators.

How to use The Apple in your school: Encourage your colleagues to sign up for The Apple and use it as a place to meet and discuss online. This is a great place to collaborate at your convenience. Meet other educators around the country and find out what works and what doesn’t in their classrooms.

Tips: This is also a wonderful resource for people who are considering becoming a teacher! Be sure to check out the wealth of resources under the “Become a Teacher” tab.

When you sign up, be sure to add me as a contact! ktenkely 🙂

 

 

 

Blogger

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What it is: Blogger is a free blogging tool. Blogger makes it easy for teachers and students to share work, class notes, and pictures online. Educators can even make private blogs for their classes’ eyes only.

How to integrate Blogger into your classroom: Teachers can use Blogger to stay connected to students, parents, and other teachers. Use Blogger for newsletters for parents, keep parents up-to-date about what is happening in the classroom, share photos and student work, post school documents and projects, and assign collaborative group projects online with an easy way to track students’ progress. Students can use Blogger to communicate ideas, photos, class notes, improve their writing skills (give students a sense of audience), improve typing skills, and teach basic web publishing. Students can access Blogger from any Internet connected computer making it an ideal place to collect information for projects, work on unpublished drafts, collect feedback from classmates, and take on collaborative projects.

Tips: When you view a published blog in Blogger, you will see a Next button at the top of the screen. This next button will take you or your students to a randomly selected blog. These are not always school appropriate. To remove this next button, follow the instructions at TechLearning.

 

 

Scribble Screen

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What it is: Scribble Screen is a presentation tool allowing you to write directly onto the screen, drawing the attention of the audience to items which can be in windows from completely separate applications, high-light items as you speak about them, sketch a quick diagram or type some text. Scribble Screen works by capturing an image of the Macintosh screen at the moment it is launched; thereafter drawing occurs on top of this screen image as a background. This background can take over the whole screen (the other applications still running, but hidden) or can be in a smaller side window so you can see the other applications. Scribble Screen is a freeware application.

How to integrate Scribble Screen into your classroom: Use Scribble Screen for presenting information to students. Scribble Screen can be used over any computer application making it ideal for teaching any computer skill, math, taking notes, etc. The possibilities with this tool are endless. This tool is best used with a projector in whole class instruction.

Tips: Note that this program only works with Macintosh operating systems.

 

 

 

Hands on Banking

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What it is: Hands on Banking is a free, fun financial education program that presents the basics of smart money management in an easy to use format game. Topics include budgeting, the importance of saving, bank accounts and services, borrowing money, establishing credit, investing, and more. The curriculum is appropriate for 4th through 12th grades.

How to integrate Hands on Banking into your curriculum: Use the Hands on Banking site as an extended learning activity for the economics or math classroom. Activities can be customized for each age group. The site works best in a computer lab setting because it takes time to get through the entire game. Use this activity at the end of an economics or money unit as a culminating activity.

Curious George

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What it is: PBS Kids Curious George website features several games featuring the popular Curious George character for kindergarten students. All games encourage growth in math and science. Students will use counting skills, observation skills, listening skills, logic skills, basic engineering skills, measuring skills, basic addition and subtraction, color creation, mouse manipulation skills, categorizing skills, and recording skills.

How to integrate Curious George into your classroom: Use the Curious George website during math and science time as a center. Students can stop by the center individually if you have a classroom with several computers, or in small groups in the one to two computer classroom. The site has 13 wonderful games that can be used as extended learning activities in math and science class.

Tips: Visit the Teacher section for Extended learning activities, lesson plans, and related video clips. Be sure to bookmark this page for easy access. Because there are so many games, this may be a site you use often to reinforce skills learned in the classroom.

 

 

Kidoons

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What it is: Kidoons brings time-honored, universally recognized stories to life. Stories include tales from the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, Thorton Burgess, and more. Kidoons offers both online stories and games for kids developing literacy skills.

How to integrate Kidoons into your classroom: Offer students the opportunity to use Kidoons during silent reading time, or during a unit on one of the time-honored authors listed above. The online books are not read for the students, so it is best used with independent readers.

Tips: Visit the teachers section to join the Kidoons teacher’s resource newsletter. Kidoons will alert you of any new games, stories, and ideas for your classroom.

Kidoons does have advertisements on it, use this as an opportunity to teach kids about how to spot ads on the Internet.