Virtual Pumpkin Carving Sites

I know I have not posted for quite a long time. I was in the process of retiring from the workshop routine, but have found my interest renewed with some upcoming opportunities and have "dived" back in to it. As I am catching up on websites, I thought I would just start up blogging again. I know I get visitors to all of my older posts, so maybe there will be some interest as I start up again. Another problem was that my Comment Section was being spammed - but I finally figured out how to correct that.
I hope all of you have been fine and trying new things in your classrooms.
Today I came across a list of Virtual Pumpkin Carving Websites posted by Kevin Jarrett . Your students should really enjoy these:
Virtual Pumpkin Carving
Theoworld's Virtuial Pumpkins
Cyberhaunts Virtual Pumpkin Carving
Carve-A-Pumpkin
Virtual Jack-O-Lantern

There should be no mess with these pumpkin carvings.

Jidi

Grammaropolis

I know I have not posted to this blog for quite a while as I have been doing quite a bit of traveling. I am trying to catch up now and am noticing, as keeps happening when I think it is going to slow down, there are more and more really good websites available for teachers.
I was catching up with one of my favorite blogs, iLearn Teachnology this afternoon and have been playing with a suggested site for way too long. It is called Grammaropolis and is the cleverest way of teaching the parts of speech since Conjunction Junction from School House Rock. You must start off by watching the video and you will see what I mean. The site then allows you to use segments of it to teach each part of speech. There are additional videos, songs, and games to provide a good understanding of grammar. Maybe this will counteract some of the raps our kids are listening to and the lack of decent grammar in their text messages.

Make Your Own Online Jigsaw Puzzles

I have always recommended Jigzone as the best website for solving online jigsaw puzzles. This addictive site is still a favorite of mine and it did offer an opportunity to upload your own pictures to create personalized puzzles. However, Pete McKay, of The Teacher List, made me aware of an even better site for creating and solving online jigsaw puzzles. On The Jigsaw Planet you have an easier upload of your pictures, image size did not seem to be a problem, and a much bigger space to solve the puzzle. In the Advanced Mode you can also select the number of pieces as well as the shape of the pieces. By using the URL of the puzzle you create, you can link the puzzles to a website and have the students solve their own puzzles at home. All of this comes with no sign up and is free. One more thing, Jigzone is filled with distracting adverstisements and The Jigsaw Planet has none. Love this new site!

New project Open For Registration

This project is for K-3rd. Grade Classes. It is a simple project but is filled with ideas of using math, graphing, counting, and categorizing. It is a St. Patrick's Day project and will involve activities with a box of Lucky Charms. Only Jen Wagner can put together a project that does so much with something as simple as a box of cereal. Take a look and register HERE. You and your students will have so much fun and really benefit from being a part of a project done by other students and with other students from all over the world!

The Digital Storytelling Teacher Guide - Yours For Downloading!

Free Technology For Teachers a blog that I try to read every day, certainly lives up to its name as it guides me right to the newest tools and/or resources that are available for teachers and, most importantly, FREE! Today Mr. Byrne, the author of this blog introduced us to a wonderful PDF free publication about Digital Storytelling in the Classroom. It is called The Digital Storytelling Teacher Guide. It includes information on using Microsoft Movie Maker and Microsoft Photo Story 3, but even if you are a Mac User or you don't choose to use the free Microsoft software tools, there is still so much contained within the guide to help you engage your students in digital story telling. The writing, storyboarding, preparation for creating their stories really builds a lot of skills that will help them in all fields of learning. I am a true believer in using digital storytelling in the classroom and this guide will certainly do much to get you started or to provide you with many new ideas.

TES IBoard - Interactivities for Computer or Whiteboard

I just came across a wonderful website with lots of interactive learning activities for K-3rd. graders. All of these activities are suitable for and interactive whiteboard. I first read about this when they were charging for the site, however, now it has been purchased by part of the United Kingdom schools and they have made it free for everyone. It is called TES IBoard and is loaded with activities for every discipline. I like the way the sites are almost full screen and have no surrounding distractions. There is something here for everyone!

World Math Day

World Math Day is coming up on March 3, 2010. This is a day when students can compete online with students from all over the world. The content is math skills and use mental math. Each session lasts for 60 seconds. Registration is now open on the Math World Day Website. There are over 500 games and those who score well are put into a Hall of Fame. Everyday until March 3rd., students can practice on the website. This is absolutely free. Last year 2 million students from 204 countries participated. Won't this be great for your students?

100th. Day of School Math Activities

Reading Teachers First this morning (I used to go to the New York Times first on Sunday morning), I realized that many of us were getting to the 100th. Day of School. Many elementary classes find different ways to celebrate, all encouraging students to understand the concept behind the number 100. Teachers First recommended a wonderful website from Math Wired called The 100th. Day of School Activities.
On this site you will find suggestions for many varied activities and also the PDF files for downloading forms that you would use. That certainly helps you to use their ideas without much work on your part. I think there are some great ideas!
I had never visited the main site Math Wired so while I was singing the praises of the 100th. Day Activities, I backed it up to the Home Page of Math Wired and I was very impressed. Lots of theme-based math activities. I think we have found a gold mine here!

"New Project Starting" Alert

I wanted to make sure that each of you was aware that our wonderful Jen Wagner of Jenuine Tech has developed a new project for the month of February. This project builds awareness of the 2010 census that will be taking place all over the United States and in the way, Jen does all of her projects, everything you need is accessible right on her website. Take a look at Everyone Counts, which is the name of this project. It is for preschool-6th. grade and looks to me like there is something for everyone. It should be a fun way to learn about data collection and the opportunities of all curricular areas are many.
I know that I am not alone in praising Jen for all of the work that she puts into these projects. The number of participants that she gets in these projects are testimony for their value as learning experiences for both teachers and students. Thank you, Jen!

A Video All Teachers and Administrators Need to See

I have seen this video recommended on Facebook, in several blogs, and on Twitter. I certainly think it is well worth a look. If you are in a position to show this to your staff , it would certainly lead to the type of discussion that needs to be had in schools everywhere.

A New Place To Find Images - Copyright Free

The days of just searching Google Images for the right picture to go with a lesson or a student report or powerpoint is behind us. First it was Flickr which gave us so many more choices and allowed searches using Creative Commons to check for copyright. Now, today, Sharon Peters posted on Facebook a link to Sprixi - Free Images To Choose and Use. What I liked especially was the ability to download or save an image with the credit to the photographer attached to it. The only pictures on the site seem to be those allowed under the Creative Commons licensing. Now you have more places to find pictures to organize with Vi.sualize.us

Just like Delicious For Your Images - Vi.Sualize.Us

I was reading the newsletter that Jen Wagner sends out each month. You can get this resourceful newsletter HERE. As always, Jen introduced me to a wonderful website, The Teaching Pallette . The author of this website is Theresa McGee, who apparently is an Art Teacher. This website has all kinds of creative ideas. Under her reviews, she has a section called Technology and Gadgets. This is where I discovered Vi.Sualize.Us. The main idea of this wonderful online tool is that it becomes the place to save and share your collected images the same as Delicious allows you to save and share your bookmarked website. If you are using Firefox, it automatically downloads its ability to "right-click" and just save it to vi.sualize.us. If you are using another browser, you can upload a toolbar tool like that used in Delicious. Once the image is being saved, then you can "tag" it to save it within the folder that will allow you to retrieve it when you need it. You can also search this website to find images saved by others.
The implications are many for the classroom. Remember that especially for younger students, you will be finding those pictures that students will use in the power points or other ways that they "show what they know". Now you have a place to save and organize these images so that students can get at them any place that they are connected to the Internet. Additionally, there are safety filters that you can use and the ability to use Creative Commons filters to use only those images without strict copyrights. Do take a look at this new find!! Vi.Sualize.Us

Snow Flake Maker (Just What We Don't Need in Cleveland!)

I have been reading through many of the blogs that I have left unread over the winter holidays and thinking about so many of you returning to school tomorrow (Monday). I know that winter weather will be on many of your minds and if you need something creative and child-ready for the first week in the computer lab - this Snowflake Workshop may just be the thing. By using the pencil, children create the geometric shapes that will be cut out of the folded paper. Then they click on the scissors and the shapes are cut. They can do it again and agian until they have one that they really like. At that point they can save it. They can see their saved snowflakes in the gallery or send/receive it as an email. As the students see how the snowflakes turn out, they can vary their designs. Enjoy!

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.