Copy Paste Character!

Do you use special characters (♫ ✄ ➲)  in your emails, documents for Facebook posts? What about an accent over the e (é) or a tilde over the n (ñ)? I know there's some crazy key combination, but I can never remember what it is! copypastecharacter.com means that you never have to look up those combinations or try to hold down the alt key while entering 4 digits, etc. 

When you need to use a special character, simply head to copypastecharacter.com  find and click on the desired character. It will automatically be copied to your clipboard. Go back to your email or document or wherever ... and paste! 

Yep, it's that easy. ☺

Thank you Tammy Worcester for reminding me of this great tool!

Jeopardy Labs

A few years ago, one of the "big things" was to create a Jeopardy-like PowerPoint to use with your students as a creative and "techy" way to review for any and all curricular areas. I created quite a few. I even conducted professional development sessions on exactly this topic. I loved it. Kids loved it. Teachers {sorta} loved it. Two big complaints about these were the crazy amount of time it took to set one up, and all of the detailed action links from one slide to another slide, etc. Even the most basic of templates could have 50+ slides for one game!

Jeopardy Labs is a site that makes it super-easy to create Jeopardy-like games. Quick Build allows you to create a free Jeopardy-like game. You will need to create a password for each game, and as soon as you create one, it will be available for anyone to use. You can also become a Jeopardy Labs Member, which gives you a fancy template manager, privacy control, and delete control (you can't delete templates you create with the free version). The LIFETIME membership fee is $20. If you really like Jeopardy Labs and think it's something you will use for a while, this might be worth the cost. If you're not sure, then stick with the free Quick Build version for a while.

One of the things I like BEST about Jeopardy Labs is the "browse" feature! I was going to create a game about weathering, erosion, and deposition. I decided to browse for one first, and I found TONS of them already made and ready to use! (Give it a try!) You will want to be sure you've gone through the entire game and checked to make sure that it's accurate information and it supports your curriculum, but I bet you can find some good ones!

Check out Jeopardy Labs today and let me know what you think!

Please Explain!

Are you looking for ways to help your students understand basic (or even complex!) concepts? I've recently come across a couple of sites that create and publish animated explanations of all sorts of topics.

C.G.P. Grey is a YouTube video creator. He is known for creating witty and entertaining educational videos. His tagline is "Complex things explained." He has created and shared many videos like Daylight Saving Time Explained, Are Daddy Longlegs Spiders (8 Animal Misconceptions Rundown), and Copyright: Forever Less One Day. Be warned: he's a fast talker, and sometimes his humor might be a little confusing for our younger students. Be sure to watch the video completely first and be sure it's appropriate for your students.

The first video I ever saw from this YouTube channel absolutely fascinated this good ole Texas girl ... check it out!

Explania provides hundreds of animated explanations, interactive tutorials, and instructional videos for a variety of topics including health, money, sports, and even TECHNOLOGY! (Can you guess which subject I've spent the most time exploring?) Some of my favorites are What is Twitter?, How to Choose a Safe Password, and How Does Cloud Computing Work?

What do you think? Do you think some of these explanations would be helpful to you or your students? And seriously, did you know all of that about Texas? Fascinating! =)

Friday Favorites

It's Friday ... time to share more of my favorites!

Click here to see the full-size Smore. (If you are reading this via email, you probably don't see anything below. Be sure to click here to see the content!)

Leave them wanting Smore

I recently found Smore, a website that helps you create beautiful online newsletters or flyers. And guess what? It's FREE! Yep, free.

All you need to do is head over to Smore or simply click the Smore link on the top of any Smore newsletter (like the one I embedded below), sign up for an account, and get cracking! I could write out all the how-to's, but this site is so easy that you probably want to get right to it. As always, I'm here to help if you need it!

I would love to see examples of how Smores are being used, so be sure and let me know if you create one for your class or your campus!

Boom Writer

Are you looking for ways to get your kids excited about writing? What about creating a class book? BoomWriter seems like a great place to start!

BoomWriter is easy and free (two things teachers LOVE, right?) You can even get a free copy (an actual printed book!) of your first class book.

• The teacher selects or produces his or her own story start, and the students let their imagination and writing skills take over.
• One chapter at a time, the students write, read, and then vote on the submissions they like the most. The winning chapter is then added to the story and the process continues.
• The teacher determines the total number of chapters to be completed, and when the competition is over a new book is ready to be published.

Want to learn more? Check it out ...

If you create a class book, be sure to let us know by adding the link as a comment!

Free Parent-Teacher Conference Scheduler

Parent-Teacher Conferences are right around the corner in our district, so this is the perfect opportunity to share VolunteerSpot!

Top 3 Ways VolunteerSpot Makes Parent-Teacher Conference Scheduling Easier

1. Schedule and sign up parents - fast, easy and FREE!
2. Save time planning and coordinating (up to 85% faster than clipboards, online groups, phone tag and email!)
3. Automated reminders increase parent turnout

VolunteerSpot was originally launched in 2009 as a way to easily organize volunteers for schools, clubs, churches, neighborhoods, and more. Now it can be used to easily schedule parent-teacher conferences! Check it out ...

Parent Teacher Conference Scheduling Online Free Easy from VolunteerSpot

You will need to register for a "Register Organizer Account" at VolunteerSpot, then set up your conferences (HINT: If you are setting up times on multiple days, get one of them set up and copy/paste it to other days!)

WOW! I think this could be a GREAT tool! Let me know what you think.

I Forgot My Flash Drive

Whether you call them flash drives, jump drives, thumb drives, or pen drives, you probably own one {or seven}. For years, they've been quite handy when transferring documents from computer to computer, from home to school, from classroom to computer lab, etc. Flash drives are great until you lose it or forget it at home.

Cloud Storage sounds like something to do with weather fronts and storm systems, but it actually refers to saving data to off-site, online storage systems. Rather than save your files on your own personal computer or on a flash drive, you can save them to a remote database that you can access just about anywhere. Many cloud storage services offer free space (everyone likes FREE, right?). Most services will be more than happy to let you BUY additional space, if necessary.

Some of my favorite FREE online storage solutions are:

• SkyDrive - this file hosting service allows users to upload and access files from a computer; EM-S ISD employees have access to SkyDrive with our email accounts. 
• Google Docs - allows you to upload documents, spreadsheets, and presentations; users can edit files and can publish them so that others can access them or even edit them. 
• Dropbox - like SkyDrive and Google Docs, this online file hosting service allows users to upload, manage, and share all sorts of files. Although I shouldn't admit it, it really is my favorite. =)
• Office Web Apps - allows users to upload, create, edit, and share Microsoft Office documents directly within a Web browser or even on a smart device. These documents are stored in SkyDrive.
• YouTube - quite possible the most well-known online video host (Similar sites for teachers: TeacherTube, SchoolTube)
• Picasa Web Albums - Google's tool that allows users to store, manage, and share image files is called Picasa. The actual application runs on your computer and allows you to work with the images saved anywhere on your computer (it has some really cool photo editing tools!) Picasa Web Albums (PWA) is an online storage system for your images. (Similar sites: Photobucket, Flickr)

Other notable online storage sites include Amazon Cloud Drive (to back up music purchases and Kindle tables), Apple iCloud (syncs files, photos, videos, and more across Apple devices), Box (similar to Dropbox), Google Drive (similar to SkyDrive, works seamlessly with Google Docs).

What online storage solutions do you use? 

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!

End of Year Video Projects

As the end of the school year {quickly} approaches, I've been asked by a few teachers about creating a video project that they can share with their students. There are all sorts of video creation applications available these days - some are downloadable applications that run on your computer. Others are online tools. Check out some of my favorites:

Don't forget that you can edit photos with PicMonkey before using them in video projects. 

Animoto - my favorite tool for creating impressive "Music Video" style videos. I've blogged about it before here, if you want more details. You will need to create an account (be sure to get the educator account if you're a teacher - it will allow you to create full-length videos for FREE!). Once you have an account, you just import pictures, import or select music (they have a nice collection of music you can use for FREE), and let it do its thing to create the video. If you don't like it, just remix it. Your students (and parents and coworkers and administrators ...) will be impressed!

PhotoStory 3 for Windows - it's VERY simple to use. You can import up to 300 pictures (still images, no video), add text/headlines, and select from a wide variety of transitions and custom animations. My favorite feature is the ability to "create" music for your project. Yes, you can import your own music, but you can create your own music in PhotoStory and not have to worry about copyright issues or whether the timing will be right for the number of images, etc. It works all of that out for you! If you are on a district computer (XP operating system), you may already have PhotoStory3 in your programs list. If you do not, have it loaded, you can download it here for free!

MovieMaker - this has been one of my go-to video creation tools for years, but we have experienced glitches from time to time with it. Like PhotoStory3, you can use all sorts of transitions and text/headlines. One big difference is the ability to insert video clips and still images. If you don't already have MovieMaker on your computer, you can download it here.

PowerPoint - yep, I said PowerPoint! Did you know you could import pictures into PowerPoint and create an album in about 12 seconds? Follow the steps in this tutorial from GCF LearnFree.org. You can even save your final project as a move.

Whichever application you choose, your students will enjoy reliving the fun times they've had in your class this year!

Using YouTube Safely

Anyone who's spent any time on YouTube knows that there's some really valuable material out there that can be used effectively in our classrooms.

Anyone who's spent any time on YouTube knows that there's some pretty inappropriate stuff (ads, comments, suggested videos, etc.) out there that should not be a part of our classrooms.

Several tools are available to help clean up all of that "clutter" that is a party of YouTube and allows you use the  videos without fear of what might be coming next. Check out some of these options:

SafeShareTV - Copy/Paste a YouTube link into the field and click "Generate Safe Link". When you click the "Take me to the Safe View" link, your video will open into a new window without any of the extra "stuff" you usually see in YouTube.

ViewPure - Copy/Paste the YouTube link and hit "Create" to open the video into a new, cleaner screen. You can also drag the "Purify" button into your bookmarks toolbar and easily and instantly view a YouTube video in a cleaner environment without having to copy/paste the URL

Want an even simpler option? Simply type the word quiet in front of the "youtube" in the address, and you will see a much cleaner, clutter-free screen.

As always, check with your campus principal before using videos in the classroom. =)

PicMonkey ... My Favorite Online Photo Editor!

I love Photoshop. I use Photoshop almost every day at home. I am willing to pay for Photoshop because I believe it's THAT GOOD.

That being said, I recently stumbled across PicMonkey, which has now become my #1 choice for quick photo editing. To play, just click on any of the sample pictures on their homepage, or click the "Edit your photo" button to browse for your own image. (You can also drag it over to begin editing, but I really find that only helpful to me when I'm using dual screens.)

You will immediately see your tools on the left. "Basic Edits" include tools to crop, rotate, change exposure, adjust colors, sharpen, or resize your image. Don't stop there, click the cutesy little icons on the left to see tons of additional effects and editing tools. They seem to be adding more all the time!

I actually used this totally-embarrassing-departmental-picture of us in PicMonkey to play with many of these tools. If you think it looks odd, imagine what it looked like before all the editing! LOL

When you are finished, hit Save at the bottom and you're done!

Don't get me wrong. I still love Photoshop and will still use it for my crafty-adventures, but I've actually found that I can do simple editing (including adding text) to a picture in PicMonkey in less time that it takes to even open Photoshop. (And it's a WHOLE LOT cheaper since it's FREE!)

ClassDojo

ClassDojo looks like a promising tool for teachers to help manage and track student behavior (positive and negative) and participation.

• Teachers can use the classroom computer or any other internet-connected device (smartphone, table, i-device, etc.) 
• The initial setup looks to be quite easy and there seems to be several ways you can customize it to work for your students in your classroom. 
• There are some awfully cute little monster and critter icons that can be used for students or you can even upload actual student pictures, which would be a real help to substitute teachers! 
• You even get to decide which types of behaviors you will track with ClassDojo.
• Easily print or email behavior reports with a click of a button!
• Want to get your students excited about participating in class? ClassDojo can be used with your data projector to show instant visual notifications for your students ("Well done Josh! +1 for teamwork!").

This video review shows some of the most helpful features of ClassDojo.


Want to learn more? Head over to ClassDojo and check it out. According to their site, you can sign up now for a FREE account. (I'm not sure how much longer it will be free, so you might want to grab an account now even if you don't want to use it right away.)

Don't forget to check with your campus principal before making significant changes to any behavior plans in your classroom or grade level!

No Poster Printer? No Problem!

We've been preparing for our upcoming Technology Academy and have been looking for an economical way to print posters advertising our sessions. (Let me start by saying that we have a budget of $0.00 ... yes, seriously.)

I called a local printer who would be oh-so-happy to print the posters for a mere $115 each. One hundred fifteen dollars each! After I regained consciousness, I started looking around for other options! We can have them printed at a variety of office supply or photo stores, but those posters still range $15-25 each. Since we need 25 posters printed, this is quite a bit over our budget (of zero).

I was thrilled to read about Block Posters on Free Technology for Teachers this morning. This free, web-based tool allows you to upload a high quality image and then determine how large you want the final poster. It then "slices" your images into full-page size chunks and you can immediately download a PDF version of your poster. You can then print them out on a regular printer, trim edges, and tape them together to make a poster.

Remember the What About Me? infographic I created a few weeks ago? Here's how Block Posters has sliced it to print on individual pages:

Try it out ... see what you think!

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!

What About Me? Infographic

Are your students concerned about their social media footprints? Are you concerned about your own?

Be sure to check out What About Me?, a fun infographic-creator from Intel. During the process of creating it, you grant access to your Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts (you don't have to have all three!) and it compiles your most recent posts, your friends' responses, and even the time of day when you post most often. The result is a full infographic just about you. Pretty interesting! 

At the risk of being ridiculed, I've included my very own Infographic in this post. Click on it to see the full-size version. (You may even need to resize the new window. My favorite way to do that is press Control and + (plus) on the keyboard to enlarge the image or Control key and - (minus) to minimize 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!

Kid Friendly Search Engines

I will admit that Google is my go-to search engine about 99% of the time, but it's good to remember that there are other search engines out there that have some really great features. As educators, we need to show our students options rather than just limiting them to what we are most comfortable with or what we know. That being said, it is our responsibility to protect the students from obscene or harmful images or materials. (Read more about CIPA here.) One way to help protect students from inappropriate content is to use kid-friendly search engines. Here are a few options I like:

KidRex is powered by Google, but uses a combination of tools to make internet searches safe for students. Since NO filters are 100% foolproof, they do have a site removal request form for parents or teachers who see inappropriate material. 

Ask Kids is a search engine designed exclusively for 6-12 year old kids. According to their note to parents, each web site in the Ask Kids search index was hand selected as a good site for kids. Ask Kids also adds some fun and games in their searching, which makes learning more fun!

In all honesty, WolframAlpha deserves its own blog post (and will get one soon!) but I really think it needs to be included on this list as well. This is a "computational knowledge engine," rather than a run-of-the-mill searching tool. Check out the video to see how it all works!

Do you have favorite kid-friendly search engines that should be included on this list?

The Picnik's Over (or will be soon)

Picnik has been an online photo editor that we have used in district for a while. Unfortunately, they have announced that they will be closing up shop as of April 19.

If you have pictures stored in an account with  Picnik , you can use the Picnik Takeout tool that allows you to download all of your images in one zipped file. 

The good news is that  Picnik is allowing all users to use their Premium tools for free to edit images between now and April 19, so be sure to take advantage of that!

In the meantime, if you're looking for a new online image editor, be sure to give Pixlr a try - it's my (current) favorite. It allows you to work with layers, etc. to create impressive graphics! If that's just TOO much and all you want to do is a little basic photo editing, try out Pixlr Express. I think you'll like it!

Tech Tip Tuesday ... Awesome Screenshot (for Google Chrome)

I love screenshots. I use them in handouts, emails, blog posts, etc. There are lots of screenshot tools out there and I've even blogged about a couple of them before, but this may just become my #1 go-to screenie tool! In addition to the ability to draw arrows, add text, and mark up the screenie, this one also has a built in BLUR tool that would be so handy when taking a screenshot of a gradebook or any other screen that contained personal information!

Before you get too excited ... this tool will only work in Google Chrome. If you use Internet Explorer or Firefox, there are other options available, but unfortunately Awesome Screenshot isn't for you.

Chrome users can head over to the Chrome Web Store and search for Awesome Screenshot. Add it to Chrome (click the giant button!) and you will see it appear on your toolbar. Easy-cheesy ... right?

• Click the tool on the toolbar
• Select the portion of the screen you'd like to capture. If you choose "Capture Selected Area," draw a box around the desired area of the screen and click Capture.
• Use the tools at the top of the screen to mark up your screenshot. (My favorite tool is the BLUR tool!). Click Done when you're finished.
• You can save your image online (I'd probably never do that), save it to your computer, or just copy it and then paste it into a document or email.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite tool like this you'd like to share?