Online Gradebook & Planbook

Think about using Engrade as your gradebook instead of the old traditional gradebook. Engrade is an online gradebook that you can access from anywhere. With our laptops this site will be even easier to access! I have used this site now for 2+ years and they have made many great improvements over the years. This site is perfect. Also, consider using Planbook Edu, which allows you to create your lesson plans online eliminating the clutter of a lesson plan book on your desk!

Google Tricks for Teachers

100 + Google Tricks for Teachers http://bit.ly/hCZIcu. Lots of great ideas.

What Teachers Should and Should Not Be Posting on Their Classroom Webpages

I found this great post on Mrs. Smoke's Website. She has come up with a great list.

More and more teachers have the opportunity to cut a slice of the Internet pie and share content with administrators, students, and parents.  Many, however, are unsure what to do with this slice or how to serve it up to waiting guests.  Fear not, I have a few suggestions that might get you started.  I’ve broken it down to “Should” and “Should Not” lists in hopes of making it easy.

SHOULD POST

• Inspirational quotes on your homepage are an excellent welcome to your parents and students.  Need help finding a quote?  Try Quote Stumbler (“find a quote” is in the top left corner), Quotiki, or The Quotations Page.
• Upcoming events that pertain to your classroom should always be posted on the site such as field trips, major project deadlines, guest speakers, themed days (I know a Chemistry teacher who has Mole Day once a year), and final tests.  As much as you love the basketball team, it simply isn’t necessary to post those games on your class site.
• Homework assignments should be posted, but I do understand the difficulty with this.  I was never one who could stone in my lesson plans two weeks in advance since my lessons seemed to alter regularly depending on classroom situations.  If your web site does not already offer an assignment calendar, my suggestion is to create an RSS type calendar at RSSCalendar or Kiko.  Students can subscribe to the feed on their own sites and even receive email reminders with Kiko.
• Weblinks that go hand in hand with current curriculum.  Honestly, this is the most important component to your web site.  The most common mistake I have seen is the posting of generic links to grammar or math games rather than the specific units the class is currently studying.  If Ancient Egypt is the topic for February, then post interactive and informational links on Ancient Egypt.  Even if you are a math teacher, put links up on current concepts, not just homework helpers.  Traffic to your webpage will increase and you will find you and the students becoming more dependent on the web page.  Plus, when you need a link for an interactive whiteboard computer lab activity, it will be there without students having to type out 12” URLs.
• Vocabulary and spelling words should be posted.  Yes, I know this seems trite, but trust me.  As parents and students visit your site more regularly, these words will be “in their face”, so to speak, and can be easily referenced.
• Student artwork is one of the best features to add to your site.  Don’t have a scanner?  No worries!  Take digital pictures of the artwork and make a slideshow.    I would update this every few weeks to keep new color and vibrancy on your page.  Even if you are a high school teacher, consider this opportunity.  When I taught language arts, I would spring an art pop quiz on the students asking them to draw the major conflict of last night’s reading in stick people.  I instantly was aware of who actually read the content and it was a wonderful way for students to be alternatively assessed.
• Photo of the day or week with a brief caption.  Have students take photos not just of what is happening in class, but of a stack of novels students are reading, the view out the classroom window, a sculpture in the library, or the dessert at lunch.  It doesn’t need to be a glamorous photo, but it gives parents unique insights to school happenings and encourages students to notice the little things.
• News from the front lines.  Use your web space as the current event news feed for your parents.  Don’t feel that this needs to be lengthy, but it should be relevant.  Include highlights of the week or student quotes. 

SHOULD NOT POST

• Images copied from other websites.  UNLESS you have posted images that you have taken yourself or are in public domain, copyright to everything does not belong to you.  Sorry darlin’.  I do have some light in this dark tunnel, however.  You can purchase royalty free images for less than $2 at many sites such as iStock Photo and StockXPert, and public domain images (aka FREE) can be found at Discovery Education Clipart Gallery,  Public Domain Photo Database, WP Clipart, Photos8, US History Images, and Karen Whimsey Public Doman Images.   There are some wonderful images that you can also use from the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress, but each one has unique copyright rules, so be sure to read closely before posting on your site.
• Your weekly schedule of when you go to PE/Music/Art and recess.  This is only needed at the beginning of the school year and will clutter up your webpage.   The students know the routine fairly quickly, so save the virtual real estate for more enlightening information. 
• Anything that does not fall under district policies.  Be sure to check on rules for posting student names, photos, and work.  This will save you from a great deal of grief later.  I promise!  Oh, and if you need a quick fix for blurring student faces, try FotoFlexer, a free online image editor that has a pixilation tool for blurring.
• Nothing.  I know it takes time to post content on your web page, but you will find the more you post relevant and current information, the more traffic and successful communication you will have with your parents and students.

Good luck with your slice of the Internet pie, and be sure to save a bite for your students.

Evolution of Classroom Technology

WOW! Evolution of Classroom technology: http://bit.ly/fIwE4Q Great look into the past!

Math Games

Here is a symbaloo with K-5 Online Math games. Lots of games for kids of all ages to play!

Through the Wild Web Woods

In an effort to teach children about potential dangers online and how to avoid them, the Council of Europe has offers a game called Through the  Wild Web Woods. Through the Wild Web Woods is designed for students ages seven through ten to learn how to spot danger on the Internet and what to do when they do spot danger on the Internet. The game is available in twenty-four languages.


Looks like a great site to teach kids about the dangers that can be found online.

Geography Games

Reach the World produces good online games for geography students. The GeoGames from Reach the World feature an interactive map which students drag and drop onto different elements. The beginner level games asks has student place continents and the poles in the correct position. As the games levels progress students have to place countries and capitals in their proper positions. In the Build Planet Earth section students have to place continents, oceans, mountains, and rivers in their proper positions.

This is a great site for anyone who studies the continents and oceans. I think this is 3rd grade. It is a fun and challenging site.

Sqworl

Sqworl is a web application that provides a clean and simple way to visually bookmark multiple URLs (web addresses). I can see this being used to bookmark websites that your students could use during read to someone time or just to mark sites you want your kids to use when they use the computers. It is really easy for the kids to see each website and decide where they want to go. Click here for a video on Sqworl.

Also, here are a few sample sqworl sites created by teachers for their students. http://sqworl.com/i3musu and http://sqworl.com/t17uwo (These teachers have some great sites bookmarked!!)

I just made a new Voki. See it here:

Pete's Power Point Station

Pete's Power Point Station

This is a website with all kinds of ready to use power point presentations that you can customize for your needs. Content for all ages and levels. There are tons to power points here!

Technology and Daily 5

Here is a first grade teacher who created a schooltube video on how to use technology with the Daily 5. I know that we do not have all the things she talks about but I am hoping we will get some in the future. At least it can get us thinking about using technology with Daily 5.

Exploratree- Graphic Organizers

Graphic Organizers are an increasing method of teaching content and concepts.  It allows teachers to easily organize information for students and provides ways for students to be able to make connections within the curriculum.  There are several kinds of Graphic Organizers out there, sometimes it is just finding one that works for you and your students.

Luckily, the site  Exploratree does just that.  It provides the ability to view, edit, modify, and print various graphic organizers.  Each graphic organizer allows you the ability to add text, shapes, colors, comments, etc.  So you have complete control over how the graphic organizer looks and works for your classroom.  If you create an account with Exploratree it will allow you to save and store the edits that you make so that they are available if you need to make changes in the future.  An account also allows you the opportunity to create your own from scratch.

Merriam-Webster's Word Central

Word Central allows students to look up words, check out the daily buzz word (word of the day), students can even build their own dictionary on the web. The site also offers a variety of games for students and lesson plans for teachers.

Phrays- A Word of the Day Writing Prompt

Phrays is a simple site that publishes a new word of the day everyday. Each word is published with its definition and part of speech. Visitors to the site are encouraged to write and submit a sentence using that word. Registered users can read the sentences submitted by others and vote for their favorite sentences.
This site would be better for our older kids. However, this could make an interesting addition to Word Work or Work on Writing.

Math Vocabulary

As many of you are aware the site, www.spellingcity.com has made many changes over the last year including their name change from SpellingCity.com to Vocabulary and SpellingCity.com.

They now have added math vocabulary words to their site. Check out the math vocabulary words for your grade level here.

Love those little magnetic poetry kits... but lose all the pieces?

Then Magnetic Poetry is for you. This site has magnetic poetry for a variety of levels. You can read, write, and submit poems on the site. There is also a teacher tab on the page that  includes an In The Classroom guide.

Welcome

In this blog, I plan to post websites, technology tutorials, and technology ideas/tips I come across while researching and reading various blogs. I invite the busy K-4 Gladbrook-Reinbeck teachers to visit my “tech tip” blog if they are searching for ideas to support their teaching methods. Please post comments if you have questions or if you have topics that you would like me to investigate. Enjoy!