StoryIt is a website that doesn’t look amazing with its simple layout and advertisements but has some great resources for the junior primary classroom. While there are stories to read and print, seasonal resources, printable shapes and more – the resources I’ve found most useful are the word games. There are about fifteen word games […]
Author: Kathleen Morris
Why I think Blogs Should be Public
I have had a number of educators have asked me in the past about my privacy guidelines for my class blog. Recently, an educator contacted me for advice when their principal would not allow their class blog to be public. That is, the principal would not allow blogging unless the blog was completely password protected. […]
The Reform Symposium
Kelly Tenkely, who writes one of my favourite blogs, iLearn Technology, has been busy working with some fellow educators on a free worldwide e-conference. The conference, called the 2010 Reform Symposium is scheduled to be held on July 31st and August 1st. The focus of the 2010 conference is on innovative practices in education and […]
Track your comments with coComment
As a reader of many blogs, I like to be able to track my comments and find out when others have added to a comment conversation. A year or two ago, the Edublogs guru, Sue Waters, introduced me to coComment and I haven’t look back! “coComment is a service for managing, powering and researching conversations […]
Blogging Rubric
Thanks to Sue Waters, I recently came across this blogging rubric that was created by Clarence Fisher as a way to assess student blog posts. *click on the image to view a larger version* As the new school term is about to begin and I plan to get more of my Grade Two students creating […]
Quietube: Video Without the Distractions
Quietube is a handy tool that allows you to watch videos such a those on YouTube without all the distracting or inappropriate ads and comments etc. Providing YouTube isn’t blocked at your school, this is a great tool for the classroom! Quietube also works with videos from Vimeo, BBC iPlayer (available in UK only) and […]
Virtual Maths Manipulatives
I nearly always use my IWB (interactive whiteboard) for Maths whole-class introductions and often small group instruction. Publisher McGraw Hill and Glencoe have a great maths resource for your IWB that is an alternative to IWB software. It is called Virtual Manipulatives. Virtual Manipulatives is a Flash based website with interactive manipulatives that students and […]
MeeGenius
MeeGenius is a new site that has been popular on Twitter recently. MeeGenius is an online library of picture books for young children. Currently there are nearly 30 books available to read, most of which are popular fairy tales. The books can be read independently or there is an option to hear the book being […]
New Blog: Teaching Literacy in the Early Years
This year I have been team teaching with Kelly Jordan. Combining our two grade two classes has so many benefits and we are finding we are really meeting the needs of our students this year. Our open plan classroom is a fantastic place to teach and learn! Kelly has recently started a blog called Teaching […]
Blogging Tool: Embedit.in
embedit.in is a site that I saved to my Delicious and Diigo accounts about a year ago but forgot about and have not yet used. I recently rediscovered this site and realised how useful it could be in blogging. This tool allows you to embed almost any sort of file into your blog such as […]
Twitter from a Newbie’s Perspective!
According to the website, http://www.whendidyoujointwitter.com I joined Twitter on 9 March 2009. It wasn’t until early 2010, however that I started really using Twitter. I had tried many times previously to get into this social networking phenomenon but, like all things technological, I needed to see how Twitter could enrich my life in order to […]
Tech Tools for Teachers #14 BTN
Each week Simon Collier and I collaborate on an email newsletter for teachers called Tech Tools for Teachers. Click here to find an archive of past newsletters and to subscribe. This week we review the website Behind the News (BTN) http://www.abc.net.au/btn/ Behind the News (BTN) is a fantastic Australian site by the ABC that helps […]
Smories: Stories for Children
Smories is a website with short videos of children reading original stories for kids. There are 50 new Smories added every month. Writers are encouraged to submit their original children’s stories to be featured on the website. The stories are advertised as being suitable for children aged three to eight although there are many stories […]
Global Collaborative Projects
One of the richest ways you can use technology in the classroom is to collaborate globally. I am becoming a big fan of global collaborations and the projects my Grade Two students work on are proving to be powerful learning experiences. Global collaboration provides authentic learning opportunities that help students learn about another culture while […]
Blog resource: New fonts for your posts!
I have long been a fan of downloading free fonts to use in Microsoft Office documents and I have often wanted to use more interesting and creative fonts in my blog posts. Most blogging platforms have set fonts however which limits your ability to change the appearance of text and therefore the visual appeal of […]