Think Math - Lots of Great Activities

This website came from the Teacher First Newsletter today. It is called Think Math and it is from Harcourt School Publishers. The interactive tutorials can be used as review activities, to introduce new concepts, or for students to learn as groups. These exciting drill and practice activities provide feedback on right and wrong answers. For example, use "Comparing numbers" tutorials and activities to learn and practice identifying the hundreds and tens places. Each example gives immediate feedback on right and wrong answers.
Use Think Math to improve thinking about - Math! Choose either a grade level (K through 5) or a subject (such as Algebra, Geometry, Time and Money, or Data Analysis, to name a few.) Use one or more of the e-lab activities for each subject as well as interactive tutorials explaining the topic. Use the glossary in the upper left corner to understand the meaning of the terms being used. Don’t miss the “Teacher Resources” link with great Adobe PDF resources.

I know I have not written many blogs lately, but I only really want to post when I have something very worthwhile for you to examine and see how it might work in your classroom. I am hopeful that you are about to begin a wonderful winter break and that it will have in it some time to be with family and friends!

Another Way To "Tame The Tedious Teacher Tasks"

There is absolutely no reason for busy teachers to make and spend money on some of the classroom accessories that you may need or just want to "jazz up" an activity in the classroom. I have always spoken about "Ways To Tame The Tedious Teacher Tasks" in my workshops and my list of such resources just keeps growing. Today Pete McKay of The Teacher List wrote about a fabulous website called The Theme Machine from the Teacher Factory. This is a collection of downloadable resources for your classroom. These include name tags, bookmarks, classroom money, stationary, and many things that you might want right at your fingertips. Everything is free, colorful, and cleverly designed. You will want to check this out!

Saying Thank You and Sending Good Cheer To The Military

You may want to have your class remember those men and women who are serving in our military during this holiday season. Two really good websites for doing so crossed my desk this morning. Thanks to a post from Linda Ryan George on Facebook this morning, I was reminded that the Red Cross is back with their Holiday Mail for Heroes. All cards are sent to a specific address and then the Pitney Bowes Company screens them for hazardous materials and then they are sent to the servicemen and women.
Let's Say Thanks is a project done by the Xerox Corporation. This project is done completely online and does not give the actual feeling of sending a card but postage costs will not be a problem.
Can you imagine all the happiness cards from children all of the United States would bring to the members of the military who are far away from home this season?

Thanksgiving Brain-Pop for Free

I am not sure if this post will get to many of you on time, but for those still in school tomorrow, I just found out that Brain Pop was offering their Thanksgiving Movie for free this week. It can be found HERE. I hope I caught a few of you in time.
I also hope that this Thanksgiving Holiday finds you all surrounded by family and good friends, enjoying love, laughter, good food, and football!

Sometimes You Want It Really Big!

Have you ever had an image or text that you wanted to "blow up" into poster size? Maybe you want to use it for a Bulletin Board, a Center Sign, or a visual teaching sign. I once had a way of making a poster using a Microsoft Excel, but this is way easier! It is called Block Poster and I found out about it while reading my daily dose of "wow" from the ILearn Technology blog. I am always amazed at how many useful websites I do not know about and they continue to make me wonder why any teacher would ever say they did not need technology???
Take a look at Block Poster. In three easy steps you can upload an image, decide how big you would want your poster and then click on the pdf that was made for you. It prints out on 81/2 x 11 inch paper or other sized paper that you specify. It can be printed in portrait or landscape.
It is just another useful tool for "Taming The Tedious Teacher Tasks".

Holiday Card Exchange Project To Begin - Registration Opens Friday!

Jen Wagner, in her never tiring efforts to bring excitement into real time/real life learning is once again hosting the Holiday Card Exchange Project Registration will open on Friday. I am aware that many people want to stay away from the religious significance of the holiday season so as not to exclude any religious groups. This project can be done with geography and world awareness in mind without making this a religious project.
After you register, you will be placed in a group with 24 other schools, hopefully from far and wide. You will be asked to make and send holiday cards to the 24 other schools in your group. The cards will include information about your school and your city. Links for ideas of making cards will be provided and of course using scanners and digital cameras to publish cards on your computers would also be an option. By December 7th., you will send your cards and start receiving ncards. The cards you receive will include information about the school and the city it is coming from. Using a map to identify where your cards come from will have students "talking geogrphy". For example, one child will see a card form Minnesota and exclaim, "That class is so close to Canada!" Of course, cities can be located on Google Earth or Google Maps simply with a zip code.
The cards form the basis for the project - but so much more learning about the world can come out of this project.
Again, Thank You Jen!

Handy Tool For Your Classroom - A Timer

I think this would be a very handy tool to have in the classroom - a Simple Timer . This timer can be used two ways. One, as a countdown timer for an activity that you want to keep to a certain period of time. Second, you could use this clock to time a certain event or activity. The Simple Timer can be projected onto a screen or onto an Interactive Whiteboard so that everyone knows how much time is left or how much time they are taking to perform a task.
I learned about the Simple Timer from one of my favorite blogs ILearn Technology.

Purpose Games - Drill and Practice With A Purpose!

I loved these games that I learned about this morning on Free Technology For Teachers. They are called Purpose Games and consist of games that teachers have created so that students can practice things like the states, the skeletal parts of the body, the thirteen colonies. Teachers can create their own game, based on the curriculum that is for their students, they can share games with others, or have their students create games as a review.
There are two types of games. One is a simple multiple choice and the other is more complex (easy to create) one like the map of the states.
This is a wonderful Teacher-Tool website for creating your own games or using games that others have created. I liked this alot! Purpose Games

Planning a Virtual Trip With The Kids?

This is a quick one today. If you are planning to "pretend" that the kids will be traveling to another place, here is a great website to make and be able to print out an actual airline ticket replica. One hint is to put the full name where it says Surname or only the last name will show. It is called Music Airport and it is just one of those sites you may want to bookmark for the future.

For Those That Teach About Angles -Geometry

This website, called Protractor, is specific to using a protractor for the study of angles within your geometry curriculum. It is simple enough and visually appropriate for even showing right angles to kindergartners or first-graders. It is so complete and is shown full screen without any distractions, that I was extremely impressed with it. This would be perfect to be shown on an Interactive White Board.
I found it on Teacher First, an excellent newsletter that is in my in-box every Sunday morning, just like the New York Times (but that arrives in my mailbox!) Sign up HERE to get Teachers First sent to you.

Time For The Pumpkin Seed Count Project - Yeah Jen Wagner!

We are so fortunate that Jen Wagner continues to provide teachers all over the world with opportunities for participating in an online project. They are timely, there is much to be learned by the students, and there is very little effort needed by the teacher. This project is only for the K-3rd. grade set, but I am sure 4th. and 5th. grade students may enjoy doing some of the activities on their own. This project also only goes from October 28th. to October 30th. The project website can be found HERE. This is a great place to introduce a spreadsheet when all of the results are in. You will also be able to make a simple graph/chart with the results. Once the graph/chart is made, students can answer questions like, "Where was the class from that had the most/least seeds in their pumpkin?" "Where is the class whose pumpkin had just about as many seeds as ours had?" Reading graphs like this makes this skill using real life-real time data easily developed even in young children.
Registration is now open for this great project. Much gratitude to Jen!

Revisiting Online Safety

It is always good to revisit online safety several times during a school year. Kelly Tenkely's blog ILearn Technology reminded me today of a website full of lessons that will engage students with online safety lessons. This website is iKeepSafe and as I reread a blog post that she wrote in the past, I remembered how "rich" this website is in great resources for kids, parents, and teachers. Quoting from this post, Kelly states: There are videos, downloadable and printable books, and games for kids. All are centered on teaching kids to be safe online. There are free guided discussion sheets for you to go through with your students, quizzes, coloring pages, etc. This program is the perfect way to introduce Internet safety in your elementary classroom without worrying that the content is too mature for your audience.
Today, her blog invited us to visit the newest video and downloadable book that is featured on iKeepSafe. It is called Fauz Paw and the Dangerous Download. Faux Paw is a Techno Cat who learns the hard way that downloading a file or music may lead to trouble. Much is learned about the legality of downoading and file sharing, but within the appropriate level for elementary students. Very well done!

Time For A New Project From Jen Wagner

Those of you who have heard me present know how passionate I am about the online collaborative projects where your students can engage in a project with students from other places in the world. A simple one-day project and it goes along with the coming Halloween celebration. It is the Pumpkin Seed Count 2009 Project. This project is for preK-third grade and the project registration begins on October 19th. In the meantime, you can plan for this project by looking at the Project Website HERE. Reinforcing math and estimation skills, eaxch class will be counting the pumpkin seeds in a specified size pumpkin. There will be many chances for collaboration and extension activities for the project. Additional information about this project can be found HERE. The possibilities for providing lots of math activities for your students are great, but not time or energy consuming for the classroom teacher. Take a look and note to register on October 19th.

New Quiz Maker - Could Not Be Easier!

The Scholastic Network has had their Word Wizard for awhile. That allowed students to click on any word on The Scholastic Network and get a definition for the word. Now Scholastic Network has gone one step further with the Vocabulary Quiz Maker.
I read about this great tool on Free Technology For Teachers.
All you have to do is provide a title for your word list. Then you list all of the words that you would want your students to define. Click on "Next Step" and each word is defined with one definition or if their are several to choose from, you will have the opportunity to choose from the several options to be used as the definition. Make all of your choices and one click and you are presented with a vocabulary worksheet to print.
There are other vocabulary quiz makers that I have written about in the past that provide interactive online quizzes, but sometimes the "paper or pencil" worksheet will serve your purpose just fine.

Another Way To Tame The Tedious Teacher Tasks

I love to collect these free resources on the web that allow teachers to save time and money. The Teacher List sent by Pete McKay every school day listed a new one today. It is for downloading and printing borders for your bulletin boards. It can be found Here. As you will notice among the many borders to choose form, there will be a few that are specifically applicable to British schools as the United Kingdom is the source for these borders. There are many that would brighten any United States classroom also. I found by just setting my printer to "landscape" allowed these borders to be printed on 6 sheets of paper. Using cardstock would really help enhance their longevity. The colors are bright and even considering the use of colored ink, I would say that they would be cost-saving.
Hope you enjoy them!

Story Cove-A World Full of Stories

I feel like I very often do nothing more than post right from Kelly Tenkely's blog I Learn Technology, but so often she leads me right to the type of websites that I know that my readers are looking for for their classrooms.
When I list websites that allow students to listen to or watch animated stories, I do so for the purpose of giving them one more opportunity to appreciate the idea of the "story". I want them to realize that stories provide interesting characters, settings, conflicts, and resolutions. They will become "hooked" on reading when read to often, and I encourage that to be done by all of the adults who care for them. However, adding more occasions for developing that love of "story" will lead to an ever increasing love of reading. That's why I love the online stories that are available - especially the free ones. Thus when Kelly wrote about Story Cove-A World of Stories I had to check it out. Well into my fifth story that I watched and several others that I listened to, I was hooked!
You must be 13 to register for the website. It is designed to have parents register their own children and then the child has a sign in and password. You will have to decide how you will open this to your students. Not only can students watch the animated story, but they can also listen to it in order to develop visual imagery on their own. The books are also available for purchase and are quite inexpensive. There are lesson plans to download and activities for the students to engage in after watching or listening to the stories. There is an awful lot to gain from this website. Enjoy!!

Math In the Real World

I can always depend on ILearn Technology to let me in on the newest discovery in the field of websites. It seems the sites are always just the thing we are looking for for use in the classrooms or the labs. This one appeals to the lower primary grades, but students who do not grasp the idea of math in the real world will gain new understandings, no matter what grade level they are in. The website that is shown today is Math Apprentice , a flash site that shows kids how math is used in the real world, with real world jobs. Students can explore math through games that feature bicycle designers, biologists, artists, mechanics, inventors, doctors, engineers, astronomers, game designers, programmers, chefs, veterinarians, sportscasters, and meteorologists. Students can explore the math of these jobs as a math apprentice by selecting a character and cruising around a virtual world where they can visit places of business where math happens. The character describes how they use math and provides a fun interactive activity that gives students a chance to practice using the math.

For students who often ask “where will I use this?” of math, this site answers those questions through a fun virtual world. Kids can explore first hand how math is used and then act as an apprentice and solve problems.
Tip: To begin playing the Math Apprentice games, you have to click on “Explore the Math” button on the bottom of the homepage.

Take Your Students On A Field Trip - Target May Pay For It!

Reading in Free Technology For Teachers tonight, I learned about grants for Field Trips that were being offered by Target. They will be awarding 5,000 $800 grants for school field trips. Applications for the grants are due by November 3, 2009. You can find all of the grant details and applications here.

This is also very cool about these grants:

On the grant application page you can find a Field Trip Idea Generator. To find an idea, enter your state, city, and subject area. The Field Trip Idea Generator will give you ideas based on what past grant recipients in your area have done with the grant money.

Give it a try - What have you got to lose?

Map Skills? Geography? Landforms? Ocean? Rivers? Teach Any of These?

What a great way to deliver geography concepts to your class and have them eagerly awaiting the next installment of the lesson. The Globetrackers' Mission is an online "blog" written by fictional teens who are traveling to different places on the globe. It is sponsored by Teacher's First and to me would be an ideal way to builkd student awareness about their world.
Globetracker’s Mission is a unique, engaging way for students in grades 2-6 to learn geography, map skills, and landforms through an episodic story. Each week, a new episode, in the format of a blog post, appears on the Globetracker’s Mission site. The “blog” is written by fictional teenagers Geo and Meri as they travel on a secret “mission” for an unnamed government agency.
All the registration and participation information will be up in mid-September, but as you are planning out your year now, I thought I would alert you to this great resource.

More Places to Get Free Things For your Classroom

I have written before about signing up for Donors Choose as a way to let the world community know about projects you would do with your class if you only had some extra money for supplies or equipment. People who would like to support schools go to the Donors Choose Website and very often choose a project and fund it. Easy for teachers and lucky for the class that benefits. I knew about Donors Choose but today in Free Technology For Teachers, I learned about some other opportunities for getting things for your class without dipping into your own pocket or without having to "beg" for what you need. I have taken these directly from Mr. Byrne's blog Free Technology For Teachers - What a Great Resource!!!

Goldstar Registry is a free service for teachers to use to get school supplies. The idea behind Goldstar Registry is the same as bridal registry services. Teachers visit the Goldstar website and register for classroom materials that they would like to receive. Then if a parent or grandparent asks if you would like anything for your classroom, you can have them look at your online registry.

Classwish is a service through which teachers can find people willing to help purchase supplies for their classrooms. Classwish operates in a very similar manner to Donors Choose. On Classwish, teachers can create a wish list of supplies that they need for classrooms that aren't provided in their school budgets. People looking to help teachers can purchase products on a teacher's list and receive a tax deduction for their purchase.

iLove Schools is a non profit organization that aims to provide teachers with classroom supplies that their schools don't provide. iLove Schools operates in a manner similar to that of Donors Choose and Class Wish. To get classroom supplies teachers register on iLove Schools and create a list of items that they would like to have for their classrooms. Donors can visit iLove School to choose a classroom to which they would like to donate supplies.

If you love free stuff as much as I love free stuff, check out Go To Freebie. On Go To Freebie you can find free samples of everything from bath and beauty supplies to toys and school supplies. Go To Freebie has forums and feedback to share experiences and tips about the freebies. Go To Freebie could be a good resource for teachers that are looking for simple "prizes" to give away to students as recognition for levels of achievement. Something that I do with free samples at the beginning of each school year is give out free notebooks, pencils, and other school supplies as prizes in ice-breaking activities.

As you start your year off, maybe you can not only wish you had what you needed or wanted , but actually get some of these things! Good Luck!

Get an Acer Netbook for Preview/or Great Price

Hi Everyone,

I hope many of you are enjoying this weekend and not sitting inside planning for the upcoming school year....but, if I know teachers - many of you are, if not actually planning, you are thinking about planning.

It is time to get in on a wonderful program for teachers from Acer, the company that makes those very reliable, very small laptops that are really easily portable and convenient.

There is a program that goes like this: You, as a teacher apply (deadline is August 30, 2009) and they send you this computer with no cost to you. You are then obligated to listen to 2 conference sales calls. After 30 days, you then decide if you want to keep the netbook for $199.00 -(most prices I saw were over $325.00) or whether you want to send it back in the box they provide postage-free. With your application also comes a chance to be one of three classes outfitted with a class set of these netbooks.

This is something I really wanted to be a part of. However, I was told that I did not qualify since I was not connected to a school. Boy, I would have loved one of those for travel for under $200.00. So, the next best thing is to pass this offer on to all of you! Good Luck!
Acer Seed Unit Program

Tutorials for Web 2.0 Tools

As the summer is winding down, we are all set for some review and thinking about those Web 2.0 tools that will really enhance instruction this year. Many of you who have been in my workshops know that I showed these tools, but did not delve deeply into the way to use them. I referred you to some tutorials. Now, just in time, all week long, Mr. Byrne who writes Free Technology For Teachers (who I do not think took one vacation day from posting all summer) has prepared some excellent tutorials that make all of these wonderful tools so "user friendly". I have listed and linked you to each of this week's blog postings as he took one tool each day except yesterday when he did a post on Animoto and Voice Thread. The others are for Wikispaces (Make sure you are on the teachers' page so your wiki will be free and ad-free. For the blogs, he uses Edublogs, Blogger, and Word Press.
So for a quick review or to remember why you thought all of these had such potential for the new school year, these tutorials will get you started. Thank you Mr. Byrne!

Using Wikispaces for Creating Wikis
Setting Up A Blog
How To Use Glogster For Education
Animoto and Voice Thread Tutorials
Another Post About Animoto

Get Ready For Some Special Offers For Teachers

This is the time of year that all of the stores are offering specials on school supplies. They are also doing their best to get teachers into their stores. Two stores that will really have "Teacher Appreciation Day" Specials will be office Max and Staples. For both of these, it would be wise to join their Teacher Awards Programs now, so that you can become aware of these specials as soon as they are happening. I know that Office Max is no offering 50% laminating for teachers who are members of the Teacher Perks Award Program. I know they once had Free laminating, but they could not keep up with the demand and have now instituted the 50% policy which is very nice if you have a lot of laminating to do.
Here is what you need to do now:
Join Office Max Teachers Perks Program by going to the Office Max Perks Website and click on the dark grey box on the right that is for teachers. Sign up for a card with your email address and you will be notified of their special Teacher Appreciation Day. From what their Customer Service person told me when I called is that on certain days when they sell school supplies for a penny, teachers with the Awards Card, will have no limits on how many they buy, where others will be limited.
Staples is having a Teacher Appreciation Day in August. Go HERE to find out the day and date in your area. They also have a Teacher Rewards Card that I signed up for. You will then earn Reward Points and get emails about their specials for teachers.
I know you all spend way too much money out of your own pockets - so maybe this little bit of information will help!

Using Wordles To Make Kids Think

Jen Wagner (who I believe never sleeps) has created a group of very clever "brain stimulating" exercises that you can use with your students. They are created from Wordle, a site that allows you to convert text into various shapes. Here is Jen's description:

Guess The Wordle Level 1

Cost: $5.00

Guess the Wordle is a collection of Wordles which are randomly generated text images using specifially selected words and numbers. Each image imbodies a task. The task requires problem solving skills which range from basic knowledge and comprehension skills at level 1 , comprehension and classification skills in level 2, and highest levels of critical thinking in Blooms Taxonomy when they attempt to solve level 3 problems which require them to look beyond simple categories and classifications to a more specific answer.

Included in your purchase is:

52 Guess The Wordle Puzzles Level 1

1 PowerPoint presentation of GTW Level 1

1 PDF color print of GTW Level 1 (For use on bulletin boards/document cameras)

1 zipped file of GTW in jpeg format to transfer to your ipod/ipod touch

Instructions on how to transfer the files.

10% of all sales from GTW Book 1 Level 1 will be donated to the NECC NEWBIE 2010

(http://bethstill.edublogs.org/2009/07/11/how-to-support-the-iste10-newbie/)

After you payment is received, you will receive a link to download the files.

---

All wordles in this book were created by Jennifer Wagner and/or Kathy Shields.

We would like to thank Wordle.net for the generosity in allowing their images to be

licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

If you have any questions, please contact us at guess the wordle (at) gmail (dot) com

I truly believe that Jen and Kathy are literally giving this away for $5.00. I thought I would help them spread the word and help you to have these "brain teasers" handy when you want to have your students think in a brand new way!

P.S. I have not figured out today's Wordle!

Flashcards, Flashcards, and More Flashcards

I know....I know....It has again been awhile since I posted anything. I have to tell you, in my defense, that in the summer the "pickings" are slim. Many of my favorite bloggers, podcasters, and newsletter writers take a little time off for themselves and I certainly understand that. I have not seen many websites that have shouted out, "You just have to blog about that!" in a while.
Today as I read through this weekend's blogs, one of my favorite blogs, Free Technology For Teachers had written a wonderful blog about 10 different websites that allowed you to find, share, and make your own flashcards for numbers or vocabulary. I was going to pick and choose a few and blog about them, but they all sounded so good that I thought the best thing to do is to share the site where you can find the entire blog. It can be found at Ten Places To Make and Find Flashcards Online.
My advice is to, after reading the blog, pick two or three to try out and then pick no more than two that you are going to use during the school year as your tool for making flashcards. No one needs ten different tools that you use to make flashcards. That is much too confusing. I am sure you will find the one that is just right for you!
Do enjoy the rest of your summer. Mine is going way too fast. I am doing quite a few workshops leading up to the opening days of school in different cities. Maybe I will see some of you!

Some Learning Games That Really Teach

I hope that most of you are taking advantage of some "relaxation" time this summer. But, if I know teachers as I think I do, many of you are starting to think of the new school year and taking a few hours each day to make some plans and to find some new activities. There certainly a lot of interactive activities here at e-Learning For Kids , a site that I discovered on one of my favorite blogs Free Technology For Teachers. This site refers to all of the activities as "courses" for students, however I think they are interactive websites that will help to develop a concept or idea within your curriculum. Each activity, in so many categories, provides both learning and practice. This website offers activities in math, language arts, science, computer skills, health and life skills, and ESL/EFL. Each one is listed with a brief description and a recommended age group. e-Learning for Kids is available in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. I think you will want to take a quick look at this website now and come back to it when you are really in the "school mode"! Enjoy the rest of the summer. The weather is finally beautiful in Cleveland.

Playing For Change

Many of you are just embarking on some time to take things a little easier - of course, except for all of those things you saved to do this summer. I know for a fact that teachers never really leave their classrooms behind for the summer - just maybe just a little bit in the background. I thought I would share something inspirational with you this evening.

Playing for Change is an inspirational music project that celebrates diversity and culture that was born out of the idea that through music we can inspire each other to come together as a human race. The project started four years ago on the streets of Santa Monica, with the recording of a street musician playing Stand by Me. Make sure you first listen to the introduction.

This was shared today in a newsletter that arrives each week with one new website. It is called Worthwhile Websites and is sent by Sandra Gluth of Canada. Sign up so that you will start receiving her emails in the Fall. Thanks, Sandra - I really liked this.

I am doing a two day workshop tomorrow and the participants are receiving graduate credit. This means that we go from 8:30 AM to 4:00 each day. I hope I can keep "up"!

Whatever you are doing this summer - take some time for yourself. I will keep blogging as things look appealing.


NEW! Playing for Change
http://www.playingforchange.com
Playing for Change, an inspirational music project that celebrates diversity and culture, started four years ago on the streets of Santa Monica with the recording of a street musician playing Stand by Me. The project was born out of the idea that we can inspire each other to come together as a human race and that music is one way to achieve this. Playing for Change contains videos and musical recordings of artists that have been recorded over the years. Start with the Introduction. And for the Stand By Me video by itself, go here: http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741

*This site is also listed under The Arts.

Sandra Gluth :-)

Phonics Practice

This is for the teachers of very young children. Having something that is interactive with audio and a pleasing visual will go a long way in helping with phonic sounds and how they blend into words. Such a site is Phonics Training Ground , a simple online interactive for teaching and learning letter sounds. I found this on Larry Ferlazzo's blog today. It is a very short game but one to add to your list of activities for teaching the sounds with interactivity and multi-media.

Internet Puzzle Makers

I know I have not blogged for a while, but I have always felt that until I was aware of something new that is really useful, I will not be writing just to write. If you are like me, with so many new tools appearing every day, I only want to know about those that will be very useful to me for my personal use or for you to use as a classroom teacher. Therefore one week I might blog 2 or 3 times, and then some times I will go for several weeks without anything worthwhile to share.
Tonight I was going through Larry Ferlazzo's lists of the Best Websites For.... He has quite a few lists. Tonight I found the one that listed Crossword Puzzle Makers and websites that allow you to make other word games. There were a few I especially liked. Even if you need to register, the registration is quite simple and Free. Here are the ones I liked:
Study Stack - Here you easily create flashcards, hangman games, word searches, and many more activities. (Easy registration needed).

Word Duck - This is an online hangman game for many user-created topics. Once you register for free you can create games using your own words.

APTE At this website you can create crosswords, as well as a number of other word games. One advantage is that they can then either be played online or printed out. Here, too, you have to register.

Just Crosswords - is an easy way to create an online crossword puzzle. No registration is required — just plug in the words and clues and the site hosts it for you.

Thank you to Larry Ferlazzo for not only finding these websites but explaining them in a concise manner.