Tech Tip Tuesday ... MusicTheory.net

If you read my Prezi a while back, you know that I was a music major a bazillion years ago! When I read about this site at Free Technology for Teachers, I was intrigued!

MusicTheory.net has all sorts of interactive music lessons and exercises for all levels of musicians, from beginners to advanced. Music teachers will find all sorts of great tools too!

Be sure to take a look in the Tools section. You will find several different "musical calculators" and an easy way to print your own musical staff paper (with or without the treble and bass cleff symbols). My favorite tool is the Pop-Up Piano where you can play right there on the screen!

If you are a music teacher (or even a former music major!), be sure to check MusicTheory.net out and let me know what you think!

Tech Tip Tuesday ... Shape Collage

I'm excited to share a FREE, fun, automatic photo collage maker with you this week. Shape Collage is a free, downloadable application that creates super fun photo collages using your own images or images from a webpage that can be used on websites, sent as an email attachment, or printed.

• Download and Run Shape Collage from www.shapecollage.com
• Add Photos (drag and drop them in the left pane or File > Add Photos)
• Adjust shape, size, and appearance in the pane on the right side of the Shape Collage dialog box
• In the Status pane (middle), click Preview
• Make any necessary adjustments, then click Create
• Name and Save your image as a jpg, png, or psd (Photoshop)

Shape Collage Demo Video

I'm sure you and your students will love Shape Collage - give it a try!

Tech Tip Tuesday ... ABCYa!

I've been so focused on our transition to LIVE these days that I wanted to share something totally unrelated to email or calendars! If you've never visited ABCYa!, you're missing out!

ABCYa! is fantastic site for interactive, educational activities that your students (mainly K-5) are sure to love. A few of the activities are highlighted on the site, but if you're looking for activities for a specific age group just scroll down and click on the appropriate grade level.

The activities for each grade level cover all core subject areas as well as computer education too! This would be great for the kids in the computer lab, at the student computers during center time. If you're lucky enough to have an interactive projector or any other type of interactive equipment (SMARTboard, Mimeo, etc.), be sure to try this out on the big screen in your classroom!

Tech Tip Tuesday ... Creating Desktop Shortcuts

Today is kind of a cross post from our new EM-S ISD Tech Tips Blog. During our current email transition from Groupwise to Windows Live, one of the most often asked questions I've heard is, "Will there be a shortcut on my desktop for our new Email?"  The short answer is "No."  The long answer is, "No, but it's really easy to create your own desktop shortcut."

That being said, this doesn't just related to email. You can create a shortcut on your desktop to any site you visit frequently. There are several ways, but this is my favorite:

1. Go to the desired site.
2. Minimize your window (if necessary) to be able to see a little bit of your desktop in the background.
3. Drag the icon in front of the URL to your desktop.
4. Right-click the icon to rename it if desired.

Now you've got EASY access to this or any of your favorite sites!