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 […]
Tools, Sites, And Apps
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Storytelling Tool: Five Card Flickr
Five Card Flickr is a simple yet useful tool that I found out about from a number of people on Twitter. Five Card Flickr deals you random pictures from Flickr that you put together to tell a story. From each 5 photos you are dealt, you choose one to add to your story. You then […]
Tech Tools for Teachers #11 VoiceThread
Each week, Simon Collier and I collaborate on a weekly email newsletter called Tech Tools for Teachers to inform teachers of useful online tools. Find out more here. This week we review the website VoiceThread http://voicethread.com VoiceThread is a popular tool that allows you to narrate images, documents and videos. Others can join in the […]
Research Skills and Google Posters
Teaching students how to effectively use search engines such as Google to search for content is a valuable skill. This is something I’ve even started introducing to my Grade Two students. Many people don’t realise there are many tricks to performing the most effective Google search. I also like to have discussions with my students […]
Bringing Learning to Life with Technology
This term my Grade Two class is learning about Aboriginal Australia. In the past, I have taught this topic in a fairly standard way – books and worksheets combined with a few online resources. While the students were interested in the topic, I believe the whole concept of Aboriginal culture remained a fairly abstract topic […]
Clasroom Resources: Teachers Pet
I have been using the website SparkleBox for quite a while to find a wide range of printable resources for my primary classroom. I was therefore surprised to discover that the SparkleBox website has been been undergoing a troubled time recently with it’s creator and editor, Samuel King being imprisioned in January 2010 for child […]
Create a Global Avatar with Gravatar
As I read quite a few blogs, I always like it when a commenter has an avatar (picture of self) next to their comment. Even if the avatar is not a true picture, it adds interest and a personality to the commenter. Often, when someone does not have a recognised avatar, their comments on blog […]