A Google a Day

Google is now offering a great resource for educators and students.  It is called A Google a Day and it is a very simple idea but can be great for students and teachers.  Google a Day offers one question per day and students use their search skills to help them answer the question.  The students search using Google and the question stays with them at the bottom of the page as they search.  Once the students find the answer they can have Google show them what the correct answer is including directions on how the question should be answered and the proper way to search for it.  This is a great tool for students, not only will they learn something from the questions that are asked but they will also learn how to use Google to find the answers that they need more efficiently.

Online Children's Museum

FRABOOM!!!!!

I know it sounds like something went wrong but this website is totally right! Fraboom is a fun interactive website for children of all ages.  Fraboom is free for the most part but they do offer some other features for a monthly fee. With the free version of Fraboom students and teachers will have access to live classes that are taught by teachers, the classes change on a daily basis. Fraboom also has games that are educational and videos that help explain topics like the solar system.  You will also have the ability to check out some pretty cool interactive books that read the book to you if you choose.  Within the book you also have the ability to click on different parts for more information on that topic.  All of this is part of the free version and really with the paid version all you really gain is the ability to watch a few more videos, participate in the live classes and keep track of your points that you can earn by playing the games.  The choice is yours but it is definitely worth checking out.

Quick Presentations

Qwiki is a fairly new website that could change the way that we search for information.  It is unlike all other search engines that I have come across.  Qwiki is very different website that lets you type in your search terms and then it will actually take wikipedia entries and photos and turn them into a fairly decent presentation.  It is still in its beta version but I think that with a little more work this can be a very valuable website.  The best part of Qwiki is the ability to type in what you would like to search for and have a pretty good explanation within just a couple of seconds.  It is very easy to use and it will definitely save you some time.  Qwiki now also offers an iPad app that will do the same things as the website but bundled into a nice easy to use application.

Let Google Docs and Flubaroo do the Grading!

Why do all of the grading when Google Docs and Flubaroo can do it for you. If you use Google Docs there is a great new tool that can be added to your Google Docs account, the name may sound funny but what it can do will amaze you.  Flubaroo.com provides a very nice set of instructions on how to use their tool located here.  Once you have the script installed and you have created your form you will just click on the grade assignment and then tell flubaroo what answers you are looking for and it does the rest for you.  Imagine grading 160 assignments in less then two minutes.  Sounds good to me!

Check out the video!

Random Name Generator

I have recently discovered a very cool little tool that will help you randomly choose a students name.  This little tool is very easy to use, all you have to do is copy your students names and then click on the box that says change names and paste your students into the text box.  Now all you have to do is click on the Go! button and it will randomly select a student from the list.  It then gives you three different options to choose from, a two minute or seven minute stopwatch and then my favorite "remove victim from list."  Check it out, it only takes a minute to set up and then you can save your students names to use again and again.

Discussions in Google Docs

Thinking about using Google Docs!  Here is another great reason to start using it.  As you may know Google has a feature within Google Docs that allows a collaborator to comment on the document itself.  The comments are placed in the margins of the document.  Well now Google has set up discussions that can take place within the margins of the document.  For example I can comment on a student's work and then they can reply to my comment as to what they were thinking when they were writing the paper.  This is a great way to help your students fine tune their writing skills and also a way that students can help each other with writing projects.  Check out this video if you would like to see more.

Voting Made Easy

With the election fast approaching some of you may still not know who to vote for.  You are also trying to explain all of the ads that are on T.V. to your students.  I just found a great website that will hopefully help you figure out who to vote for as well as help your students learn about the current candidates running for office.  VoteEasy is a neat little tool that will let you choose the state that you want to work with and then it will show you who is running for office.  You can click on the pictures of the individuals to learn more about them.  You can also choose the issues that you are concerned with and learn more about the issues.  Once the issue is selected you can answer how you feel about that issue and VoteEasy tells you which candidate shares your views.  Even if you don't want to use this with your students you can help yourself choose who to vote for.

How does this apply to the classroom?
This can be used to inform your students about the different candidates.  You can view the candidates and then have a mock election within your classroom.  Just be weary that some of the issues may be controversial.  The more that we can inform our students the more likely they will get out there and vote.

Great Games for Learning

Currently I am taking an online course through the Verizon Thinkfinity Foundation and when I was looking at there website I found a very good resource not only for the teachers but also for the students to use at home.  It is located in the Games and Tools section on www.thinkfinity.org.  In this section there are many games that the students can play and learn without even knowing that they are learning.  After scrolling down past the featured Games and Tools you can browse all of the interactives that they have available.  This is a great way to find a math activity for your students and make sure that it is appropriate for their grade level.  After you select the grade level and subject it now give you a list of activities and you have the choice to share the activity with someone else, read more about it or just try the activity.  It doesn't get much easier then that!

Stop Bullying Now!

Stop Bullying Now is a great website for teachers and counselors. This website give a lot of kid friendly information that is fun and educational at the same time.  Within the kids section the website gives great information as to what bullying is and what they can do about it.  There are several webisodes that will give great information as well as start great classroom discussions about bullying.  If you need something to help get your students talking this is a great site to start with.  There is also a ton of information for adults and what they can do to stop bully's.  Is cyber bullying a problem there is also great information here as well.  There is a lot of great information on this websites and it will all be beneficial to our students.