More Great Technology Resources: Website Recommendations from the American Association of School Librarians

Best Websites for Teaching & Learning 2013

The 2013 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.

• Media Sharing
  
• Digital Storytelling
  
• Manage & Organize
  
• Social Networking & Communication
  
• Content Resources
  
• Curriculum Collaboration
  

Media Sharing Standards for the 21st-Century Learner 3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and und understanding in ways that others can view, use and assess. 3.3.4 Create products that apply to authentic, real-world context.
	Pinterest  Create connections, encourage collaboration, ignite discussions, or simply share mutual interests through Pinterest. Uploaded or “pin” images and videos from websites, blogs, or your own computer, smartphone, or tablet to create boards. These boards can be private or public, and others can be invited to pin on any of your boards. Any “pin” can be "repinned", and all pins will link back to their source. Grades 6-12. Tip: Have students work in groups to create research projects and share their sources visually.
	smore  Flyers and newsletters become a snap with Smore! Design and create professional online flyers by choosing from an array of templates, styles, and colors to compliment your individual style and audience. With Smore you can embed links, audio, video, pictures, and text into your flyers and newsletters and then publish instantly to get your message and information out quickly. Grades 6-12. Tip: Use Smore to create handouts and flyers to announce school and community events.
	easel.ly   Easel.ly allows users to quickly create infographics and share visual ideas online. Easel.ly has an expansive library of elements and visual objects that can be added to personalize infographics of all kinds. Students and teachers can choose from pre-formatted infographics or start fresh and create their own. Easel.ly is intuitive and easy to use, relying on drag-and-drop features and streamlined menus. Grades 6-12. Tip: Use Easel.ly as part of a research or inquiry project and combine math, research, and digital storytelling skills in the classroom!
Digital Storytelling Standards for the 21st-Century Learner 4.1.8 Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning. 4.3.1 Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person.
	inklewriter   Are you searching for technology that will motivate budding and reluctant writers to author the next great story? Inklewriter provides the format for writing interactive branched stories. While students focus on writing, Inklewriter handles the story paths that end and those yet to be developed. Students who love the "choose your own ending" stories will enjoy writing, editing and reading on this dynamic site. Branched stories with the potential for multiple endings will also intrigue those interested in game development. Finished projects can be shared with a limited or global audience at the author's discretion. Tip: Use Inklewriter to explore decision making and consequences in secondary Health, Social Studies, Science, and English classes.
	myHistro   My histro provides a venue for stories displayed on maps. Watch and read thousands of fascinating timelines, or create your own complete with text, video, and pictures to create a dynamic timeline mashup. Use professionally developed maps or have students develop their own working collaboratively or individually. Export maps in a variety of formats including .csv, .klm, and pdf for offline viewing or embed them on your website, blog, or wiki for easy access. Grades 4-12. Tip: Use myhistro to tell stories that include what, when, and why across curriculum areas and grade levels that work like a dream on your interactive presentation surface.
	FlipSnack    Flipsnack is an application used to convert PDF files into a flipping book that is easy to use. Simply upload a PDF file, customize the book, and share. The online flip books are designed to resemble regular print books. You can choose a classic, hardcover, coil, or interactive flip format for your book, as well as a book size. Color options for the cover and background are also offered. Finished flip books can be published privately or publicly and edited at any time. The final flip book is attractive and professional-looking. Books can be shared on Facebook and Twitter or emailed and embedded with a watermark. Grades K-12. Tip: Students can combine reports or creative writing with pictures and graphics to create flip books that can be shared with parents.
Manage & Organize Standards for the 21st-Century Learner 2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful. 2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information. 3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use and assess.
	BiblioNasium   How many of you use Shelfari? Library Thing? Well, Biblionasium is the social network students in grades 4 – 12 can use to set up virtual bookshelves and keep track of what they’ve read, what they like, and what they plan to read. Students will read more consistently when they connect with friends to share and recommend their favorite books. English, ELL, and Reading teachers will appreciate the inclusion of Lexile ranges. Grades 4-12. Tip: Use Biblionasium in flipped libraries and classrooms to inspire independent reading.
	LitPick  Litpik provides free electronic books to students in grades 4-12. Students take on the role of a book critic, reading books, developing and posting reviews anonymously on the Litpik site where other students can read them. Members can also participate in the Litpik threaded discussion forum with authors, publishers, publicists, and parents who are interested in learning about YA literature. Tip: Use Litpik to provide access to free eBooks and promote reading reviews for students by students.
	padlet   Padlet, formerly called Wallwisher, makes posting things on the Internet as easy as pinning notes on a bulletin board. Using the idea of a blank piece of paper, you can put whatever you want on your wall by dragging and dropping documents and images from your desktop, copying and pasting links to websites or videos or just typing notes on your page. When you finish posting things to your wall you will be able to collaborate with others using a unique URL as well as through a variety of social networks. Grades 4-12. Tip: Use Padlet to brainstorm ideas for group projects or to collect and showcase student work.
	edcanvas    Edcanvas is a connected space where students and adults can organize, present and share information. Gather, annotate and share presentations easily by dragging and dropping images, movies, maps, audio and text and embedding hyperlinks onto a blank canvas. Use multiple frames on each canvas to pre-teach a topic, provide 1:1 and differentiated instruction, and share pathfinders and explore connections. Use your own content or searching on the Internet, without leaving the Edcanvas page to create collaborative projects. Older elementary and secondary students can create collaborative projects by copying individual canvases to make a complete dynamic canvas. Grades 6-12. Tip: Use themed canvases to share how-to videos with students and staff.
	WorkFlowy   Workflowy is an easy to use outliner/organizer that also functions as a to-do list. Logging on, you see a blank page that looks like a word processing document. After you type your first item, everything thing you type becomes part of one giant list. You can have sub-lists and nested-lists and the best part is that you can click on any topic and you will see a new page with all of the related items. Workflowy can easily be used in many educational settings, but can really be helpful in organizing assignments. Grades 6-12. Tip: Use Workflowy to plan and organize a group project or to collaborate with others on shared tasks.
Social Networking & Communications Standards for the 21st-Century Learner 3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners. 4.1.7 Use social networks and information tools to gather and share information. 4.3.1 Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person.
	socrative   Socrative transforms multiple student devices into student response systems for free! Engage upper elementary and secondary students in classroom activities with educational exercises and games in real time via smartphones, laptops, and tablets. Socrative is easy to set up and features formats including multiple choice, True/False, and short answer. Results can be viewed online in a Google spreadsheet or received via email as an Excel file. Grades 6-12. Tip: Use Socrative to administer pre- and post tests to Common Core and AASL standards in your library program.
	QuadBlogging   Quadblogging connects students in four different schools around the corner or around the world to blog with a purpose. Instead of having students write blog posts "that go in their tray to die" teachers sign up on this site and are linked with three other schools to provide an opportunity for elementary and secondary students to blog with each other. Over the last 12 months 100,000 pupils have been involved in QuadBlogging from 3000 40 countries. Grades 3-12. Tip: Use Quadblogging across curriculum areas to develop student awareness of similarities and differences of people from different cultures.
	Marqueed   Marqueed is an easy-to-use, collaborative, web-based platform for annotating images. Simply drag-and-drop images from the Web or add from your computer. PDF files can also be added. Type or draw annotations. Collections of annotated images can be created and shared publicly or kept privately. Best of all, multiple students can collaboratively annotate an image. Grades 3-12. Tip: Analyze a historical photograph to deepen students' thinking about a historical event or period. Upload a poem for students to discuss.
Curriculum Collaboration Standards for the 21st-Century Learner 1.3.4 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within a learning community. 3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners. 3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess. 4.3.1 Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person.
	19Pencils    19Pencils is an easy-to-use online platform for locating and sharing PreK – 6 educational resources, assignments and quizzes. The site’s quality search engine enables teachers to explore the 19Pencils library for resources specific to their students’ needs. Teachers can also add their own content and customize quizzes to target specific learning goals. A helpful feature, especially for younger students, is the display of each resource as a thumbnail image instead of just the URL. After creating class pages of resources, teachers can monitor student progress and assignment completion. Grades PreK-6. Tip: This website is a great tool to use across the curriculum for blended learning and the flipped classroom.
	iCivics   Order in the court. Hail to the chief! Roll call…yea or nay… iCivics is game, activity and resource filled Web site, founded by Justice, Sandra Day O’Conner to help young people of all ages learn about branches of government, citizenship, separation of powers, media influences on government, the budget, and the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Games can be accessed by topic or playing time. In addition to games and webquests, iCivics provides lesson plans with supporting resources for teachers. Grades 3-12. Tip: Combine curricular learning with service learning by challenging students to participate in the iCivics Impact Project.
	Wonderopolis   Wonderopolis is a whimsical, fun website providing "Wonders of the Day" such as "Do Rabbits Have Good Eyesight?" to "When is Technology Old?" A vocabulary list provides a learning base for each lesson. Related questions will spark students' curiosity and motivate them to learn more about the topic. The "Wonderize It" tool lets teachers customize a lesson based on a daily "Wonder" question. The engaging informational text can be used to address Common Core Standards in reading while incorporating related images and videos. Grades K - 12. Tip: Let students pick a "Wonder" to explore and then research the topic more in depth.
	Youngzine   Youngzine is a child-centered website that provides articles, images, and videos about world news, science and technology, society and arts, movies, and books. School-age children are encouraged to respond to the content and may submit articles, short stories and book reviews. All content is reviewed by Youngzine’s editors and updated every two weeks. Grades K-8. Tip: Do you and your students discuss current events? Use Youngzine as a springboard for these weekly or daily discussions. Students can post comments and reflections in the comments section.
	Garbology   Garbology is an exciting and interactive website that answers the question, "Where should my waste go?" It helps elementary-age students better understand how they can reduce trash and stop polluting. In addition to the interactive game, the “For Teachers” section includes nine lesson plans and five fact sheets; the “For Students” section includes a waste assessment and seven useful handouts; and the “For Families” section will inspire families to reduce and recycle. Grades K-8. Tip: Garbology is the perfect addition to your Earth Day unit.
Content Resources Standards for the 21st-Century Learner 2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information. 2.4.4 Develop directions for future investigations. 3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.
	Seriously Amazing   How do you spur curiosity? Just ask the six quirky characters of Smithsonian's Seriously Amazing Website. The Wild will share the diversity of the animal kingdom; The Green reflects the wonder of the natural landscape; The New will show how technology and creativity collide; The Masterpiece embodies artistic expression; The Storyteller shares the tales of the people of America; The Discoverer explores the world and universe. Seriously Amazing links the knowledge and resources of the Smithsonian Institution and sparks a spirit of inquiry. Grades 3-12. Tip: Challenge students to select one of the 6 areas of exploration and learn 5 new facts to share with the class.
	Edudemic   Edudemic is more than just an educational technology website. For students and teachers it's a one-stop-shop for forums, articles, ideas, and resources on everything technology. Edudemic is explorable by topics such as How-To, Tools, or Online Learning. Or browse through the videos collection for amazing examples of teaching and learning. Have a great idea or story to tell? Try submitting a post to Edudemic for a global audience. Grades 6-12. Tip: The All Topics word-cloud allows users to quickly see what's trending in educational technology. Click through and explore!
	Science NetLinks   Science NetLinks is a dynamic Website connecting K-12 teachers, students, and families to STEM resources produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science including lesson plans, interactives, and reviewed Internet resources. The lesson plan and tool databases are searchable by grade level, themes, and content area. Collections spotlight various themes such as Earth Day, Summer Science fun, and Science Apps. There is an Afterschool collection that offers hands-on science experiments which offers student activity sheets, online resources, as well as teacher resources. Grades K-12. Tip: Check out the latest research findings about many interesting topics in Science News.
	TEDEd   TEDEd allows educators to create and share lessons built around YouTube videos. The embedded lesson creator allows users to 1) FIND video content through an integrated search panel, 2) SELECT a video or lesson to be customized, and 3) FLIP a video by adding questions, notes, and content. The TEDEd library is continually growing and is searchable and browsable by series and subject. Grades K-12. Tip: The best lessons are curated by volunteer teachers and TEDEd and compiled under the Best Flips tab. If you're looking for teaching inspiration, look no further!
	Codecademy   What happens when you combine the knowledge and talent of a handful of techies that want to make a change in education? Visit Codeacademy and participate in the teaching and learning experience of the future! Codeacademy has set out to create an online social instructional experience that teaches programming to people around the world. Learn the fundamentals of various programming languages, participate in online coding language labs, and learn how to start a coding academy at your own school. Grades 6-12. Tip: At the completion of the Codeacademy course, have students build their own websites with the code they have learned.
	Digital Public Library of America   The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is an online collection of millions of photographs, maps, sounds, manuscripts, books, and more accessible anytime, anywhere, for anyone. DPLA materials come from museums, archives, and libraries across the United States, and provides primary source examples of our American Heritage and human history. With DPLA, users can explore resources by topic, map, format, timeline, or exhibition. With a free account, items can be saved to lists and shared with others. Grades 6-12. Tip: DPLA's programming interface and open data promote transformative use by designers and developers. Look for amazing tools and programs built by the DPLA’s partners that will turn in to indispensable resources for your students and staff.

Great Technology Sites

More technology related resources, this time from Edutopia.org. This set of resources are a wonderful collection for keeping children in the academic loop.

Have you used any of these?  Do you have any more to recommend?

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/48-summer-websites-kids-teachers-keith-ferrellFrom Edutopia:

48 Ultra-Cool Summer Sites for Kids and Teachers

A good majority of northern hemisphere and international schools are winding down the school year, and doors will be closing as the students and teachers take off on their summer adventures. Here is a list of great sites for kids and teachers to keep you happily productive and learning this summer. These are in no way in any order of personal preference or coolness.
Happy summer!

1) Magic Tree House

If your students like The Magic Tree House series (and let's be honest, who doesn't?), they'll love The Magic Tree House website. Students climb up the tree and enter the tree house to find some great puzzles, fun games and quizzes on any of the 45+ MTH books.

2) Toporopa

Can't afford that summer vacation schlepping around Europe? No worries, just pull up Toporopa on your nearest browser and learn all about the geographical, political, historical and economical aspects of the wonderful continent.

3) ReadWriteThink Printing Press

ReadWriteThink creates a lot of great educational resources. With Printing Press, students can create a booklet, flyer, brochure or newspaper fairly easily. There is a nice guide that walks you through the process, and the focus is on writing. There is a place within each publication for a picture, but not one that you can add from your computer. This space is reserved for students to draw a picture after printing. I'm all for creativity, but it would be nice to have the option of adding a photo or graphic.

4) Spell With Flickr

Spell With Flickr is a simple site that allows you to enter any word, and will then create a photo representation of that word using pictures from Flickr.

5) Freeology

Freeology is a fantastic resource for teachers to download pre-made or create a plethora of free graphic organizers, forms, calendars, certificates, worksheets and more!

6) Tagxedo

Tagxedo is a Wordle-esque site that allows students to create beautiful word clouds. The great thing about Tagxedo that in my opinion is where Wordle falls short is the ability for users to save their creations (without logging in) as either a jpeg or png.

7) Learn Your Tables

Learn Your Tables is a nice interactive site that allows students to practice their multiplication times tables. Learn Your Tables is ideal for introducing topics on an interactive whiteboard (not that you'll have one over summer, but it's good for thinking about next school year), and for extension material on individual computers or in a lab.

8) Virtual Sistine Chapel

Virtual Sistine Chapel is an amazing 360-degree interactive view of the Sistine Chapel brought to you by your friends at the Vatican. You can fly around the astounding artwork and zoom into the frescoes at a pretty decent level. This site would be great for art history and religious studies.

9) Cool Math

Cool Math

Credit: http://www.edtechideas.com

Probably one of my favorite math sites, Cool Math is "designed for the pure enjoyment of mathematics." This interactive site features a plethora of fun games, puzzles, calculators and lesson plans.

10) Science Bob

Science Bob is a fun, interactive site that has several different areas for kids to choose from. There are videos, experiments, science fair ideas and a research help link with many fantastic links to other sites. Don't forget to click on the "Whatever you do, DON'T CLICK HERE" button (or not).

11) Grammaropolis

Grammaropolis is a fun, interactive site that helps students learn about the parts of speech.

12) Math Live

Math Live, a fantastic site for upper elementary students, is full of cartoon math tutorials on subjects like fractions, multiplication, area and perimeter, tessellations, probability, and a variety of other topics. The glossary section is an amazing collection of math concepts animated for more solid understanding.

13) Animal Diversity Web

From the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, the Animal Diversity Web is an online database of animal natural history, distribution, classification and conservation biology. Students can browse the information on individual creatures from the Kingdom Animalia and find thousands of pictures on specific animals. What's great about the Animal Diversity Web is that students can sign up to become contributors to the website. To do this, teachers must submit a request form.

14) PDF to Word

PDF to Word is a fantastically simple site that allows you to do just what the url suggests: convert PDF documents to fully editable Word documents. You simply go to the site, upload your pdf, select either .doc or .rtf, enter your email and click convert. PDF to Word then emails you the word file upon completion. There is no signup necessary and the turnaround time is approximately ten minutes.

15) E-Learning For Kids

e-Learning For Kids is a great site with some wonderful interactive learning games that are engaging and fun. Students click on their grade and can then choose from a list of games divided into subjects.

16) Rhymes.net

Rhymes.net is a simple search site that returns rhyming words to whatever you enter in the search field. The rhyming words are divided into syllables for ease of use, and there is a list of photos of whichever word you search for. Even better, Rhymes.net automatically generates citations for bibliographies.

17) NeoK12

NeoK12 is a fantastic collection of videos, arranged by subject, that have been individually reviewed by K-12 teachers. The videos are all (at least the ones I've seen) via YouTube, all the ads have been stripped, and all related videos removed which, for an educator, is a great thing! There are also quizzes, games and puzzles as well as a cool presentation creator that helps teachers or students create presentations within the site. Also cool is the How it Works section.

18) SweetSearch

SweetSearch is a safe searching site for students. Most search engines search billions of websites and return tens of millions of results; some are from reliable Web sites, some are not. SweetSearch searches only 35,000 websites that have been evaluated and approved by a staff of Internet research experts at Dulcinea Media, and its librarian and teacher consultants.

19) CELLS Alive!

CELLS Alive! represents 30 years of capturing film and computer-enhanced images of living cells and organisms for education and medical research. The site has been available continuously and updated annually since May of 1994 by Jim Sullivan, and now hosts over four million visitors a year.

20) Catch the Science Bug

The educational goals of Catch the Science Bug are to increase science literacy and raise environmental consciousness by adhering to national standards and guidelines for content, to use different teaching methods for engaging all types of learners, and to encourage life-long learning by featuring scientists who model this behavior.

21) SafeShare

Safeshare is a great site for showing YouTube videos without distractions. You simply enter the url of a YouTube video, and Safeshare removes all the distracting related links and comments from the initial viewing page.

22) ABCya!

ABCya! is a fun site for lots of great games and activities. There is a nice word cloud generator very similar to Wordle that creates nice-looking word clouds. The one-up ABCya! has over Wordle is that you may directly save your word cloud as a .jpg without any registration.

23) Ribbon Hero 2

Ribbon Hero is an add-on for Microsoft Office that allows you to play a game within the Office application (e.g., Word), teaching some of the unique features of the program. Users playing Ribbon Hero earn points for doing different tasks within Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.

24) Invention at Play

Invention at Play is a fantastic interactive website from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. When asked what inspired them to become inventors, many adults tell stories about playing as children. The Invention Playhouse takes this fact and offers up great activities to increase problem solving ability, visual thinking, collaboration and exploration.

25) Virtual Piano

As a computer teacher, I can see this site as having huge potential. Virtual Piano is a beautifully sounding piano that you play by typing on your keyboard. You can play "Für Elise" by following the key-pattern available. As this is in beta version, I'm guessing that over time, there will be more song choices and hopefully more learning connectivity with the computer keyboard.

26) Story Jumper

Story Jumper is a wonderful site that allows children to create their very own books. You can create cover pages, add text, upload drawings or photos to illustrate your story, and you can use the Story Jumper clipart gallery, too. One of the best things about Story Jumper is that it is easy for teachers to create and assign student accounts.

27) Google Classroom Lessons and Resources

Web search can be a remarkable research tool for students -- and Google has listened to educators saying that they could use some help to teach better search skills in their classroom. The Search Education lessons were developed by Google Certified Teachers to help you do just that. The lessons are short, modular and not specific to any discipline, so you can mix and match to what best fits the needs of your classroom. Additionally, all lessons come with a companion set of slides (and some with additional resources) to help you guide your in-class discussions.

28) Kubbu

Kubbu is an e-learning tool designed to facilitate teachers' work and enhance the learning process. Teachers can create games, quizzes or crosswords; make them available online for students; and then view and analyze the results.

29) Merriam-Webster Word Games

Merriam-Webster Word Games is a nice collection of games that gets students thinking and improving their lexicon. There are crosswords, cryptograms, word searches, jumbles and a plethora of other brainy games.

30) Questionaut

Questionaut

Credit: http://www.edtechideas.com

Questionaut is a Math, English and Science game from the BBC. The premise of the game is your standard question/answer delivery, but what I really like about this game is twofold. One, the artwork, created by Amanita Design, is amazing. You could get lost in just looking at all the beautiful details. The second thing that really brings this educational game to a higher level, in my book, is that students will have to work and explore to be given the questions. Within each level, the player will need to complete a series of clicks to release the questions, adding a very subtle think-out-of-the-box element to the game.

31) Games for Change

I'm a big fan of quality educational games, and this site takes it to the next level. Games for Change is a non-profit organization which seeks to harness the extraordinary power of video games to address the most pressing issues of our day, including poverty, education, human rights, global conflict and climate change. As of this writing, there are quite a few dead links to the games (Balance of the Planet, ElectroCity, Globaloria), but I have high hopes that updates will come soon, as I really like the idea of this site.

32) Who Pooped

You know that, with a name like Who Pooped, this will be popular with the younger students. Who Pooped is a science site created by the Minnesota Zoo to help students begin thinking like scientists. One way scientists learn about animals is by studying their poop -- also called "scat" or "dung." Who Pooped allows students to investigate various types of scat and try to match the scat with its creator. A very interactive site which would pair well with IWBs.

33) Number Gossip

Number Gossip is a simple search box where you enter any number and receive back "everything you wanted to know about the number but were afraid to ask." For example, I entered the number 38 and got these facts: 38 is the magic constant in the only possible magic hexagon (which utilizes all the natural integers up to and including 19); XXXVIII (38) is lexicographically the last string which represents a valid Roman numeral; 38 is the largest even number which cannot be written as the sum of two odd composite numbers.

34) Illuminations: Dynamic Paper

Need a pentagonal pyramid that's six inches tall? Or a number line that goes from -18 to 32 by fives? Or a set of pattern blocks where all shapes have one-inch sides? You can create all those things and more with the Dynamic Paper tool. Place the images you want, then export it as a PDF activity sheet for your students or as a jpeg image for use in other applications or on the web.

35) Shelfari

Even though Shelfari has been taken over by Amazon, it's still my favorite book review site and would make for a great summer project for parents and students. Shelfari is dubbed the "premiere site for people who love books," and the concept is to create a virtual bookshelf of all the books you've read or are reading. You can then add a rating (one to five stars) as well as a written review of the book and when you are done. And Shelfari gives suggestions on what you might want to read next.

36) Vocab Ahead

Vocab Ahead is a collection of short videos that give definitions, usage and pictures associated with interesting vocabulary words. You can subscribe to receive a vocab video of the day, and there is also a section of videos by students that are fantastic.

37) Science With Me

Kids love hands-on projects, and Science With Me is chock-full of fun science projects. You'll also find science movies, songs, coloring sheets, worksheets and stories to help kids learn scientific principles and science in a fun way.

38) MathRun

A fun site for practicing basic math facts, Mathrun is a simple idea (math problems float up the screen, and you have to tell whether they are correct or incorrect), and I love simplicity. There is no registration required and no advertisements -- I love this, too. Mathrun rates your brain speed (I got mine up to 140 mph before having to get back to work) and keeps a running total of how many problems you solved correctly. This is a great site to use for independent practice.

39) Academic Skill Builders

Academic Skill Builders is a research-based and standards-aligned free website featuring educational math and language arts games that will engage, motivate and help students improve their academic skills. There are many interactive games to choose from and they're all pretty fun, have decent graphics/sound effects, and offer great practice to specific skills.

40) 100 Coolest Science Experiments on YouTube

It's a stellar resource for science teachers that has, as the title suggests, links to 100 cool science experiments. If your district has YouTube blocked, you can download any of the videos using 3outube. There are some really cool videos here, and it's well worth a gander.

41) MathTV

Math TV is an amazing collection of how-to videos in a variety of math subjects. Checking it out, I watched a video on how to multiply fractions and I (a teacher) learned a new method. Imagine what your students can learn. This site is free, but it does require you to register to be able to view the videos.

42) Books Should be Free

Books Should be Free (formally Audio Owl) makes the world's public domain audio books available for browsing in a visual and easily searchable way. You can search for a specific title, or use the genre list to visually scan through hundreds of titles. Books may be previewed directly on the site, or you may download them directly into iTunes, or as zipped mp3 files. The downloads are broken into chapters, which is useful for teachers using this as a listening station.

43) Arts Alive

Arts Alive is a performing arts educational website developed by the National Arts Centre of Canada. There are sections for students, teachers and parents to learn more about the performing arts and ways to discover a greater appreciation of music, theater and dance.

44) Search-Cube

One of my fourth grade students was using this site while researching for a biography assignment. Search-Cube is a visual search engine that presents web search results in a unique, three-dimensional cube interface. It shows previews of up to 96 websites, videos and images.

45) CoSketch

CoSketch is a collaborative drawing site which requires no joining, logging in or registration. Perfect for elementary classes. It's a no frills tool, so there are not a lot of extras, but for simple drawing and text, it works great. Users just go to the site, click on create a sketch, and begin drawing. To add more people, you just send them the url. There's also a nice chat feature. I could see using this to collaboratively solve math problems, play hangman using vocab words, exploring maps (there is a built-in Google Maps support), and a variety of other applications. Finished drawings can be embedded into blogs or websites.

46) Interactive Simulations

From the University of Colorado at Boulder come some fantastic Java-based interactive simulations. From glaciers to natural selection to circuit construction, these simulations really show students how things work.

47) Active Science

Active Science has 15 different scientific modules, each with interactive games and activities. Great for use with IWB.

48) Kerpoof

Kerpoof

Credit: http://www.edtechideas.com

Kerpoof is an online story and comic-creator which allows students to create comic scenes and stories, as well as animated movies, cards, drawings, doodles and pictures. Educators are able to sign up for a class account, which allows an entire class to login simultaneously using the assigned nickname and password created by the teacher. There are no ads or inappropriate content, and the artwork is fun and lively. Finished products may be saved, printed, or emailed. Great site for story creating!
 

 

 

National New Teacher Center

The New Teacher Center (NTC) is a national non-profit that is dedicated to improving student learning by accelerating the effectiveness of new teachers and school leaders. It is much larger in scope than our Lesley New Teacher Community and we thought it would be worth sharing information about this with you, especially information about professional learning opportunities called MOOCs, short for Massive Open Online Courses.  The links are provided below or by clicking through the New Teacher Center website: http://www.newteachercenter.org/about-ntc The New Teacher Center works with schools districts, state policymakers, and educators across the country to develop and implement induction programs aligned with district learning goals. NTC induction programs include programs one-on-one mentoring and professional development, all taking place within school environments that support new teachers. NTC responds to the national need for improved teacher effectiveness by: • Providing outstanding new teacher induction services and programs • Working with state policymakers to create thriving policy environments within which new teacher induction can take place • Influencing the national dialogue on new teacher effectiveness. While many of their services are for specific school systems and programs, the New Tea her Center offers a wealth of resources that you might be interested in.  Keep reading! When we focus on teachers, students succeed. New teachers and administrators are typically placed in difficult assignments in hard-to-staff schools. Many of their careers will not survive this trial by fire. Yet, it is these schools, and the low-income and students of color that attend them, that stand to benefit the most from excellent teaching. Improving teacher effectiveness delivers on the promise of public education and helps close the achievement gap in our nation’s schools. How can we reach even more new teachers, and their students? We found a way. Wouldn’t it be phenomenal if every new teacher in the country had access to the support of a mentor and a high-quality new teacher induction program? We’re working on that. In the meantime, we found a way to help greater numbers of teachers across the country get off to a great start and be able to meet the exciting challenge Common Core State Standards represents. Now, all teachers across the country (and around the world!) have access to three New Teacher Center professional learning opportunities called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) – for free – thanks to our new partnership with Coursera, a leading MOOC provider. (We know this is new territory. Here’s how MOOCs work.) We hope you’ll sign up and spread the word to all the teachers you know. After all, what teacher couldn’t use more support? Sign up for one of these New Teacher Center MOOCs First Year Teaching – Success from the Start Success with your students starts on Day 1. Learn from NTC’s 25 years developing key skills and strategies to create positive, productive classroom environments where students thrive. How do you build relationships with students, establish and maintain behavioral expectations, implement classroom procedures and routines, and use instructional time effectively? Begins August 6, 2013. Sign up or learn more. https://www.coursera.org/course/start1styearteaching Common Core in Action: Literacy Across Content Areas Learn how to apply some of the tools from the Literacy Design Collaborative to incorporate Common Core literacy strategies into your content area. In this course you will implement a template task and examine student work according to the LDC writing rubric. Starts soon. Sign up or learn more. https://www.coursera.org/course/ccss-literacy1 Common Core in Action: Math Formative Assessment This course offers participants an opportunity to engage in a community of learners using an inquiry cycle focusing on math formative assessments as a strategy for implementing CCSS in math. It focuses on the implementation of a Classroom Challenge: a 1 – 2 day lesson developed by the Mathematics Assessment Project (MAP) based on formative assessment and the CCSSM. Starts soon. Sign up or learn more. https://www.coursera.org/course/ccss-math1

Summer professional development for Massachusetts teachers

Summertime, 

     Summertime, 

           SUM, SUM, 

                Summertime!  

SUMMER professional development 

opportunities for teachers!

Taking a course and sharing with other teachers who are spending relaxed time collaborating and thinking about curriculum and teaching practices is a powerful bonding experience that affirms your roles as teachers and gives you energy for September.

   

Here is a list of some exciting opportunities in Massachusetts. 

They are low cost and some are even FREE!

Let us know if you have any others to add to our list.

• Primary Source (Watertown) offers summer institutes: There are face to face courses on Teaching for Global Understanding, Cultural Proficiency, Ancient China, US and the World as well as online courses on Ancient China, Modern China and Japan    http://primarysource.org/summerinstitutes

• EDCO is offering two sets of technology courses - some for a fee, and some for free through the collaborative technology program. The free ones are primarily for the districts who contributed a course - Acton/A-B, Bedford, Brookline, Newton and Sudbury. However, teachers from the other EDCO districts can sign up and go on a wait list - if there is room, they will take them. Anyone can sign up for the paid courses.

          The paid courses are found here: http://www.edcollab.org/?page_id=1681

          The collaborative program is here: http://www.edcollab.org/?page_id=1921

• American Studies Summer Institute at the JFK Museum (in collaboration with University of Massachusetts) FREE  http://www.umb.edu/academics/caps/summer_programs/institutes

• North Shore Museums Courses: To register for these courses, please email Patricia Nichols directly at pat2023@yahoo.com or call Pat at 978-337-5827.

EDHS 544 Lexington Museums Brought to Life: A Study in Integrating Literacy, History, Science and Math Curriculum into the K‐12 Classroom

SUMMER 2013 -  July 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 from 8AM-5PM

There is an abundance of historically significant sites in Massachusetts to educate and inform. This course will furnish teachers with an overall knowledge of the numerous museums, historical sites in Concord and Lexington. Teachers will have firsthand access to a variety of techniques to integrate the history and resources of each museum or site into their curriculum. Interdisciplinary lessons will afford each teacher the opportunity to connect this course work to the classroom and these practices are aligned with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. On site visits to Concord Museum, Hartwell Tavern, Orchard House, Minuteman National Park, The Manse, Hartwell Tavern and Old North Bridge in Concord, also the Buckman Tavern, Lexington Green and Museum of Our National Heritage in Lexington. At the sites, programs may include; hands‐on activities, living history performances, and/or walking tours. Museum staff will work with teachers to tailor programs to school curriculums. Programs embrace multiple perspectives and opinions. The museums’ collections connect artifacts with people, places, and ideas. Museum galleries rich with art and furnishings illustrate life in a particular time period and the different aspects of everyday life. By preserving today for future generations, everyone learns to be thoughtful and active stewards of our national and cultural

resources.  

EDHS 545 North Shore Museums Brought to Life

SUMMER 2013: July 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 from 9AM-5PM

There is an abundance of historically significant sites in Massachusetts to educate and inform. This course will furnish teachers with an overall knowledge of the numerous museums and historical sites on the North Shore. Teachers will have firsthand access to a variety of techniques to integrate the history and resources of each museum or site into their curriculum. Interdisciplinary lessons will afford each teacher the opportunity to connect this course work to the classroom and these practices are aligned with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. On site visits include the Peabody Essex Museum and its Historical Homes, Salem Witch Museum, House of the Seven Gables, Salem National Historical Park, Salem Memorial, Saugus Iron Works, Addison Art Gallery, Rebecca Nurse Homestead and the Witches Memorial. At the sites, programs may include; hands‐on activities, living history performances, and/or walking tours. Museum staff will work with teachers to tailor programs to school curriculums. Programs embrace multiple perspectives and opinions. The museums’ collections connect artifacts with people, places, and ideas. Museum galleries rich with art and furnishings illustrate life in a particular time period and the different aspects of everyday life. By preserving today for future generations, everyone learns to be thoughtful and active stewards of our national and cultural resources.

EDHS 543 Lowell Museums Brought to Life:A Study in Integrating Literacy, History, Science and Math Curriculum into the K‐12 Classroom

SUMMER 2013: June 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 from 9AM-5PM

 There is an abundance of historically significant sites in Massachusetts to educate and inform. This course will furnish teachers with an overall knowledge of the numerous museums, historical sites in Lowell. Teachers will have firsthand access to a variety of techniques to integrate the history and resources of each museum or site into their curriculum. Interdisciplinary lessons will afford each teacher the opportunity to connect this course work to the classroom and these practices are aligned with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. On site visits will include the Whistler House Museum, Tsongas Industrial History Center, American Museum of Textile History, Saint Anne’s Church, New England Quilt Museum, Brush Art Gallery, Lowell National Historical Park, Boott Mill Museum, and the Mogan Center in Lowell as well as the Museum of Fine Arts and Gardner Museum in Boston. At the sites, programs may include; hands‐on activities, living history performances, and/or walking tours. Museum staff will work with teachers to tailor programs to school curriculums. Programs embrace multiple perspectives and opinions. The museums’ collections connect artifacts with people, places, and ideas. Museum galleries rich with art and furnishings illustrate life in a particular time period and the different aspects of everyday life. By preserving today for future generations, everyone learns to be thoughtful and active stewards of our national and cultural resources.

14 (Plus One) Possible Educational Websites For Students

Interesting technology ideas from Teach.HUB.com.  Try these out first, though,  and then recommend them (or not!).  Think carefully about the ages and stages of the children who will be using these, as well, because they are not always appropriate for very young children.  We put these articles and recommendations out for you to look at, think about, and use, but only if they meet your needs and your students developmental levels.   Some of these you have to register to use.  

And this bonus one, too for a bunch of geography and social studies related puzzles and word games:  www.digipuzzle.net. 

14 Educational Websites Students Will Want to Visit

By: Jacqui Murray

The most popular website at my school, hands down, is Minecraft. Even 1^st graders love it (I'm amazed parents let six-year-olds use this sometimes violent game, but they do). Because kids would opt to live in this blocky virtual world 24/7, I only let them play it two lunch periods a week. Those days, my lab is always packed. Kids have no idea they're learning math (estimation, geometry, shapes), science (geology, rocks, minerals), building, or softer skills like thinking and reasoning, problem solving, hypothesis-testing, risk-taking, and collaboration. They don't realize they're exercising that delicate skill called 'creativity' or care that Common Sense Media raves that "Minecraft empowers players to exercise their imagination and take pride in their digital creations as they learn basic building concepts."
As I watched students play (and play and play and play), I started to understand what it was that enraptured them so thoroughly: It's the thinking. They make decisions that result in consequences and ultimately require more thinking. Players can't go on auto-pilot. They must engage their brain.
OK, I get it. No way will I reinvent the education wheel when I've stumbled onto the golden goose: Simulations -- not those shallow ones that walk players through the 'right' answers, but the deep, multi-layered type that are hard to find in the virtual world. I've had one (called SimTower) on my lab computers for ten years. Third graders discover it and play it as often as I let them -- which used to be every lunch hour until Minecraft replaced it -- right through the fifth grade, when the shine wore thin and they needed something new. It's listed below, but you can't buy it. It's only available as 'abandoned software' from the link.
Here are a few more software programs you can use to tantalize your students:

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• Bridge Builder—learn how to design and test bridges
• iCivics—experience what it means to be part of a democracy
• Making History: The Great War—WWI strategy game
• MidWorld Online—learn French or Spanish while completing conquests
• Minecraft (links to MinecraftEdu—fee required)
• Mission US--students role play the American Revolution or the Civil War
• Past/Present—life as an American immigrant in the early 1900’s
• SimCity—learn how to run a city
• SimTower—learn how to run a high-rise

For shorter sessions, try these:

• Coffee Shop—run a coffee shop business
• Electrocity—learn how electricity contributes to the growth of communities
• Lemonade Stand—run a lemonade stand business
• Life (Insurance)—manage your life and see why insurance is important
• Science simulations—lots of choices for 2nd-8th graders

Best news: These are all free.