Crickweb - Free Online Education Resources & Games

Looking for ways to get your kids excited about learning? Crickweb is a fantastic collection of educational interactive teaching resources and activities. If you have an Interactive Whiteboard or Projector, let the kids take the controls and watch them learn. If you do not have an Interactive device, no problem! The activities and games are just as fun and beneficial when using a computer mouse!

Their resources are organized into Early Years (PK-K), Key Stage 1 (1st-2nd grades), and Key Stage 2 (3rd-6th grades).

 

Don't forget to check out the Fun Games and Links sections of the site. Be sure to check the activity first because of the terms this site uses aren't exactly the same ones we use on this side of the pond, and some activities might be confusing. 

What's your favorite Crickweb activity?

Blabberize

Blabberize is an online tool that allows students (or anyone) to create a speaking picture. The site itself is pretty easy to use, but here are a few step-by-step instructions:

• Go to Blabberize and create an account. (Ok, creating an account is technically optional, but if you are going to use it effectively, having an account is important!)
• Click "Make" and "Browse" to upload your picture.
• Crop your picture, if desired. Click the arrow on the bottom of the screen to go to the next step.
• Move the purple and green dots around on your image to identify the "mouth". The large green dot will identify how far down the mouth will move when your image is "talking." Click the arrow to go to the next step.
• Add sound by using a microphone and speaking or by uploading pre-recorded audio. (The call-in phone feature isn't working at this time.) Click OK when finished.
• You can add additional scenes, edit the scene you just made, or click Save to finish.
• Add a title, description, and tag words. I encourage everyone to mark these as PRIVATE, which means it will not be searchable. (Because it's not searchable, the tags are not terrible important. I typically use "blab" as my tag. :)
• Save your Blabberize.

Once you've created and saved your Blabberize project, you can click "share it" to share with others via URL or embed it on a blog or webpage.

Now to the fun stuff ... 

Mrs. Stephens' first grade students have used Blabberize a couple of times already this year. The Pumpkins were the first projects they did. After the success with the pumpkins, they read Run, Turkey, Run in class and talked about different ways Tom the Turkey could hide. The students took a blank "Tom the Turkey" home and parents helped them come up with disguises. The students brought them back to school and used Blabberize to create their Talking Toms.

It was REALLY hard to pick just one turkey to share, so be sure you check them all out on Mrs. Stephens' webpage!

How have you used Blabberize with your students?

Technology Academy 2012

EM-S ISD Faculty and Staff are invited to the second annual Technology Academy.
June 5-6 @ Hollenstein Career & Technology Center

• Sign up in Eduphoria today.
• Don't miss Keynote Speakers Darrell Brown and Dr. Jim Chadwell! (Be sure to sign up for the Opening and Closing sessions too.)
• Smart phones and mobile devices are welcome, but not required.
• Door prizes ... really good ones!

See you then ... at the movies!

Guest Post: A Few BrainPop Features I Forgot About

I'm excited to share a post from Becky Burnett's Tech Tips and Such blog today. Be sure to check it out. If you'd like to receive emails when her blog is updated, sign up for her mailling list here!

From Tech Tips and Such:

I was in a session earlier today about BrainPop at my local education service center, and decided that there are "A Few BrainPop Features I Forgot About". Since I forgot about them, I thought some of you might have too. Our district is fortunate enough to have a BrainPop subscription, but if your district is not, have no fear, there's some wonderful free features too!

If you have ever seen a BrainPop video you know that they are short and sweet, as well as very informative (if you haven't, click here to view one). I think they are a great way to intro a concept or reinforce. They can be class activities or individual student activities. Also, BrainPop is adding to the collection of activities that support their videos and the concepts that they deliver. Read on to learn (or be reminded) of a few.

FREE STUFF! That's right, I said free =)
You can get free stuff from all of the BrainPop sites (BrainPop, BrainPop Jr., BrainPop Español, BrainPop ESL), but it's best to go from the main BrainPop site so that you can see ALL of the free stuff from ALL of the sites! Just go to the main BrainPop page (brainpop.com) and click the button for free stuff. 

Search By Standards
I think this comes in particularly handy when you have a student or students that are struggling with a particular skill but it's also good for many more reasons. Just click the Standards button, select your state/subject/grade, and then click the link for the proper video or resource. It's not just videos listed here, but also games, which leads me to...

GameUp

These games are ALL FREE and intended to be reinforcement for skills that are demonstrated in the videos. This being said, they work well after a video has been watched, and also for reinforcing a concept that has been covered in class in a different way. The games can be accessed by clicking the GameUp button on the main page, or after a video has been watched.

That's just a few, but there's lots of other great things on their site too. I definitely suggest that you go check it out or revisit if you haven't been there in a while. Enjoy and Happy Friday!!

Thanks Becky! That's good stuff!

Draw a Stickman

Thank you Larry Ferlazzo for sharing a link to Draw a Stickman. If you're looking for a way to encourage your students to read and follow instructions, check it out!

Follow the simple directions (#1 is draw a stick man!) to go on an exciting and creative adventure. There are currently two episodes available. I'm looking forward to the next!

Your students are sure to enjoy this. You will too! =)

Titanic

Ok, so I may have seen Titanic in the movie theater 6 times. I may own two DVD copies (and one VHS, just for kicks!) of the movie. I may have downloaded and printed the entire movie script. I may have a framed movie poster in my bedroom. I may still cry out, "Rose, move over ... there's room for Jack on that door!" each time I watch the movie.
{Perhaps I've admitted too much!}

That being said, the story of the actual Titanic is still fascinating to me. As we approach the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, your students may be interested to learn a little about it. Be sure to check these out ...

• Unseen Titanic - From National Geographic, this site includes a photo gallery of pictures of the Titanic today, a "Then and Now" photo gallery, an interactive map of the crash site, and an impressive zoomable view of the shipwreck today (a mosaic of 1500 high-resolution photos put together that allows you to see lots of detail).
• BrainPOP's Titanic - you will need to sign in to view the video, but I'm guessing that they will have this video available for free around the anniversary date.
• The Sinking of the Titanic - read Survivor Elizabeth Shute's account of what happened on the Titanic.
• Watch, Know, Learn (a site I'll be blogging about soon!) has an impressive group of videos related to the Titanic's fateful voyage.

I've been planning this post for a while, but was pleasantly surprised to find this post from one of my favorite blogs, Free Technology 4 Teachers in my Google reader this morning. If you're looking for more Titanic resources, don't miss it!

Grammaropolis

Grammaropolis is a fun site that's been around for quite some time. This recently upgraded site provides lots of great ways for students to learn about nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions and interjections! Some of the content of the site is only available to Passport subscribers ($3.99/month or $29.99/year), but there is quite a bit that is available for free. Be sure to check out the Nouns section - the whole section is free!

Looking for more information or specific ways you can use Grammaropolis in your classroom? Be sure to check out this fantastic post from one of my favorite blogs, ilearntechnology!

Black History Month Resources

This summer, I spent a few days in Memphis, Tennessee. The highlight of the trip (other than catching up with my fantabulous college friends) was visiting Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum.

We had a delightful tour guide that showed us the house and shared stories that have been passed down through the generations. The moment that made the biggest impression on me was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with 10 other adults in the tiny basement. I'm 5'2" (in shoes!) and I had to stoop down in some places so I wouldn't hit my head. Our guide explained that there could be as many as 40 slaves living in this basement for days at a time. It was such a humbling experience. If you're ever in Memphis, please take the time to stop by and visit.

Unfortunately, we can't really take actual field trips to Memphis, so I hope you can use some of these resources with your students.

• Scholastic's Underground Railroad: Escape from Slavery - this interactive unit includes a teaching guide, myths of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman Web Hunt and Reader's Theater, Slideshows, and several images, documents and interviews in the Primary Source Gallery.

• Scholastic's Celebrate African American Heritage Resources - In addition to the Underground Railroad unit, Scholastic also provides a wealth of other online resources (History of Jazz, Rosa Parks' Story, a class play called A Long Road to Freedom, Jackie Robinson: Athlete and Hero, and more.)

• Fact Monster's Black History Month Links - includes many short articles about Civil Rights Heros, Notable Speeches, the March on Washington, and more. 

• The Underground Railroad from National Geographic Education  - Be sure to run through this interactive journey and see some of the other resources here.

• The Underground Railroad from The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center - this site does a great job of explaining what the Underground Railroad was, the risks Escaping Slaves endured, Maps of some of the routes, and more. 

• Songs for Black History Month

• KB...Konnected's Kaleidoscope of Wonderful Websites - is a fantastic collection of online activities to celebrate Black History Month by one of my favorite bloggers over at KB...Konnected.

Do you have a favorite resource that I haven't listed here? If so, leave a comment!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Resources

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is coming up! It's a Staff Development Day in our school district, so the kids will be home, but you may want to use a couple of these resources in your classroom during this week. Check out this excellent video about Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thank you KB ... Konnected for sharing this great "find"!

Additional Martin Luther King, Jr. Resources

• Enchanted Learning's MLK, Jr Site - this page shares general information about his life, a timeline of important times in his life, and several activity ideas. (Even if you don't have a subscription to this site and cannot download templates, there are still many good ideas!)
• MLK Jr. Interactive Timeline (from funschool.com) - drag your cursor along the timeline to read about Martin Luther King's history and famous quotes.
• "I Have a Dream" Speech - fill in the blanks of this famous speech and check to see if you were right!
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Video - short video from National Geographic Kids (I recommend it!)
• Scholastic's MLK Resources - K-12 resources including multimedia clips, slide show and quiz, interactive whiteboard resources, and more.
• teAchnology MLK Lessons - find technology lesson ideas here

Tech Tip Tuesday ... Triptico Toolkit

Oh wow ... I feel like I kinda hit the jackpot when my coworker, Lisa, shared this resource with me. If you've been looking for ways to jazz up your lessons or increase student participation and enthusiasm, you will love the Triptico IWB Toolkit!  (IWB stands for Interactive White Board, but you can use these resources whether you have interactive devices or not in your classroom!)

David Riley (of Triptico) created this amazing desktop application that currently contains 22 different interactive resources. Each of the resources are easy to personalize for your class(es).

Click here or on the image above to go to Triptico and click the Download Now link. (That was easy!) After the installation is complete, you are ready to go!

Once it's running, use the scroll bar across the bottom to move back and forth between the 22 available applications. Double-click on the one you want to try. It will open in a new window and it's ready to go!

Here's a look at the activities that are currently available ...

What do you think? 

Tech Tip Tuesday ... GAMEUP (from BrainPOP!)

If you're anything like me, BrainPOP is already one of your favorite educational resources. I started hearing rumors (and then even confirmed rumors) last year that BrainPOP was working on something new ... GAMES!

Each game (I used to make my kids call  them "educational activities" so it didn't sound like we were having TOO MUCH fun in class!) ties directly into curriculum. There are also links with each of the games to other BrainPOP resources about the subject matter. Since we are lucky enough to have a district subscription for our K-8th graders, all of the suggested videos will be accessible with the click of the mouse!

GameUp has categorized the games into Science, Math, Social Studies, and Health right now. There are even a few student-made games available on the site. These games look like they're most appropriate for our older elementary and middle school students.

For our younger kiddos, be sure to check out the BrainPOP Jr Games site. There are already more than 225 games that fall into Science, Health, Reading & Writing, Social Studies, Math, and Arts & Technology.

Check out this sequencing game about email.

After I drag the pictures to the correct order, Mobi gives me a "thumbs up" and then gives me the opportunity to play again or learn more. By clicking Learn More, I go right to the BrainPOP Jr. E-mail video and all of the other tools that go with it.

I'm excited to see how much our students enjoy BrainPOP's newest feature, GAMEUP! Let me know what you think. =)

Flash for iPad??? Yes, sorta.

Thank you Erin (Kleinspiration) for sharing this great tool! If you haven't checked out her blog yet, you're missing out!

I love my iPad. My only real complaint is that it doesn't use Flash, which is limiting. Although you can't actually LOAD flash on your iPad, this is a neat workaround. You will basically be using an app on your device to remote in to your computer. You will be able to browse the internet (watching Flash videos, playing Flash games, using Eduphoria!, etc. as well as access any of the programs or documents on your machine.)

All of this being said, I know our schools do not provide iPads, so this post is mainly for people who have their own personal devices. 

It's really easy to set up and even easier to use ...

• Download and Install Splashtop on your computer (Click here for the download)
• Download the Splashtop Remote app from the App store ($4.99 on 9/4/11)
• Create a password for your computer (my iPad found my computer right away - you may need to enter your computer's ip address though)
• Open the Splashtop App and follow the directions

Why am I so excited about this? What types of things can I do now that I couldn't do before? I'm so glad you asked! I can ...

• use Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer to surf the web rather than only relying on Safari.
• use tabbed browsing - my favorite!
• watch Flash videos online.
• access files saved on my computer.
• edit the files saved on my computer or create new documents (yep, in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, even Photoshop!)
• access Eduphoria to check on class schedules, submit a help request, etc. (This is probably only important to employees in districts that use Eduphoria, but it's a big one to me!)

All of these things are well and good, but what about Educational Purposes? (This is a blog about using Technology in the Classroom!) Well, there are many great uses for a tool like this. To me, the biggest advantage to using Splashtop Remote with an iPhone or iPad or something similar is that it allows the teacher to use the computer without being tethered to the actual desktop machine. 

You do have to be on wi-fi to use the application, which might be a problem in some spots in our schools. 

Let me know if you download it and what you think!

Tech Tip Tuesday ... Online Timers

Do you give timed quizzes or tests? Do you need a way to visually remind students how much longer they have for Centers time? There are several different online timers available that might make things a little bit easier in your classroom.

	E.gg Timer is a super simple interface. Just type in the amount of time you need and click Go and watch it count down to zero.
	ClassTools.net has many, many great tools including this timer. The thing I really, really like about it is that you can set a "soundtrack" to go with it. Just use the dropdown window at the top to select a song. It will automatically set the timer to the number of minutes of the soundtrack, but you can be changed to fit your needs.
	Online Stopwatch allows you to choose to count up from zero (click the UP arrow) or count down to zero for a specific amount of time (click the DOWN arrow). Like the others, this one is very simple to use.
	Now, this one is totally a different than the others. Sometimes we all just need 2 minutes of calm. Give this a try during your planning period (if you have 2 minutes), lunch break, after school, or even at home tonight! Do Nothing for 2 Minutes

How do you use online timers in your classroom? Do you have another one we should add to this list?

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 ... 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!