Skype In the Classroom

 

An Engaging Lesson:

I had the opportunity to visit Alex Randel’s class today. (DV 5^th Grade) His students were immersed in a conversation they were having with a woman who is currently living in the Ukraine.  This woman is Alex’s sister who talked to the kids and answered questions about life in the Ukraine.  This conversation happened via Skype, projected through his computer onto the big screen.  Wow!  What a great example of giving students 21^st Century learning opportunities. 

If you are interested in learning about using Skype in your classroom, check out the following web site http://education.skype.com/.

Skype in The Classroom
Meet new people, discover new cultures and connect with classes from around the world, all without leaving the classroom.

Spelling City

I was recently introduced to a great website called SpellingCity.  Today my daughter and I used it to practice her spelling words.  As we were going through some of the activities and games, it made me think how fun this would be on an interactive whiteboard (i.e. Mimio).  Whether you have access to an IWB or not it is definitely worth taking a look at. Make sure to go to the teacher resource page to find all the ways you can incorporate this website into your curriculum.  The table of contents includes activities for learning analogies, homophones, contractions, Dolch site words, math vocabulary and much, much more. Thank you Debra MacFarland for sharing this site!

User Guides

Welcome Back!

You can find quick user guides for reconnecting your document camera, VCR/DVD players and many other useful topics on the following web site.   https://sites.google.com/site/technologyintegrationsite/home-page/technology-help-faq

I have some great websites and resources to share with you and will post them in future blogs.

Bubbl.us

Brainstorm online with bubbl.us. Easily create colorful mindmaps to print or share with others.

So easy to use.  Students can save their work online and access it from any computer. This is a great tool to use to encourage students to organize their ideas. https://bubbl.us/

Shorten A Web Address

Many times we need to give students URL links (web addresses) to access websites. These  URL's can sometimes be extremely long with special characters.
The following are a list of websites that will allow you to create shortened URL's for any website. Keep in mind, you really aren't changing the URL you are only creating a link that is easier to remember.
and it's free.......

http://bit.ly/ 

1.     Allows you to paste in several URL's so that student only need the one you give them in order to access several websites.

2.    can customize name

http://tinyurl.com/ 

1.    can customize name

http://goo.gl/

SchoolTube

SchoolTube is a K-12 media sharing website designed by teachers for their school community. SchoolTube is recommended by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) and many other well-respected middle and high school national associations. SchoolTube authorizes you to use any of their links or embedding codes in your school newsletters, websites, or to pass on to your friends and family.  The following are examples of the types of videos that are being uploaded by schools to SchoolTube.  What a great safe environment for schools to post video to and it's free.

Creative Use of a Docment Camera

Mrs. May's butterflies were due to hatch over spring break, so we decided to set the document camera up to take pictures every 10 seconds during the 3 day period they were expected to arrive.  This video is a series of still pictures showing 5 butterflies emerging from their chrysalis.  Thank you Bonnie Feather for the great idea!

Symbaloo

Symbalooedu.com
SymbalooEDU is a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) for teachers to visually organize and share the best of the web with students.Watch this Science student describe how she uses symbaloo for school.

Vocaroo

http://vocaroo.com/
Vocaroo makes recording your voice simple. To use Vocaroo you don’t need to download any software, pay any fees, or  sign up for anything.  What a great way to have students create podcasts.

My Fake Wall

My Fake Wall

Looking for a different way for students to demonstrate learning?

With Myfakewall.com you easily create fake profile pages.. This fake facebook wall generator allows you to create a profile, add friends, and create fake conversations . Students can then share it with an audience that expands beyond the classroom walls. This could be a great way for students present an end product in place of a traditional approach.

Check Out  Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Wall.

Google Wonder Wheel

Google Wonder Wheel

Have you checked out the Google Wonder Wheel?  Google Wonder Wheel is a new feature from Google which allows you to see relevant search results to your query in a unique way.  Students can type in a search topic, click on the wonder wheel on the left hand side of the Google Search page and then watch their search become a graphical display.   As you click on a link the wheel expands out into narrower topics. 

 

Using A+ for Whole Class Instruction

Hidden Web Tools: 11 Tools for 2011

11 Free Web Tools for 2011
Recently Simple K12 released their list of the best free classroom web tools for 2011.  I am attaching their free e-book "Hidden Webtools: 11 Tools for 2011".  With so many resources available on the internet it is nice to have someone else investigate their usefulness.  Please let me know if you have already tried some of these tools or if you would like support finding ways to incorporate them into your curriculum.  I look forward to reading your comments!
Click on this link to open:  Hidden Web Tools: 11 Tools for 2011- E-Book

Tools listed in e-book

Tech Tool #1…Fur.ly – URL shortener for multiple URLs

Tech Tool #2…Typewith.me – online collaboration tool

Tech Tool #3...TubeChop.com – cut online videos

Tech Tool #4...BlipSnips.com – comment and edit online videos

Tech Tool #5…ViewPure.com – simplify YouTube videos

Tech Tool #6…ZamZar.com – file converter

Tech Tool #7…Vocaroo.com – voice recorder

Tech Tool #8…Dropittome.com – file sharer

Tech Tool #9…Morguefile.com – public image search engine

Tech Tool #10…Pics4Learning.com – educational public images

Tech Tool #11…Fotopedia.com – collaborative photo encyclopedia

BONUS TOOL #12…QuietTube.com – simplify YouTube Videos

BONUS TOOL #13…Mediaconverter.org – file converter

Google Global Science Fair 2011

Described as the "first global online science competition". 
Google has just announced that they are launching the Google Science Fair.
Students 13 to 18 years of age are eligible to participate. Go to the links below to learn
more about this opportunity for our students.

Google Science Fair
Here's an example
Prizes