Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Cutest Book Ever - The Biggest Pizza Ever

If this isn't the cutest iPad book...ever! I absolutely love it. I learned about it from Smart Apps for Kids. JibJab lets you choose what picture to insert in the story and add the child/student name and JibJab will generate it into an awesome story about a pizza. I would definitely give this one 5 stars even if it lacks the ability to generate it into a video (which I'm so hoping JibJab will eventually do). I can imagine how awesome students will think this is when they see their image and name plastered throughout this cute little story. I used my son's name and photo to test the book out. I can't wait to show him tonight. This book/app is completely FREE and you can purchase other titles as well but that's totally up to you. Below is a 4 minute video as I walk you through the story using my son's image.





Reading Bear Online Program

I am totally excited about Reading Bear. One, it's FREE. Two, it's a product from a company in my home state - Mississippi. Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi strives to impact their community by connecting people who care with causes that matter. With that said, Reading Bear is a perfect example of the awesomeness of CFNM. Reading Bear teaches children to read by introducing phonics and teaching new vocabulary. To date they have 14 great presentations with the plans of adding up to at least 50 if not more.

Each presentation can be played as a  video or as an interactive slide show and it introduces one or a few related "phonics rules". This is a "must see and use application" for educators and parents alike. Click on over to Reading Bear and sign up for a free account and use it with your students as a class or individual accounts. You will need an email address and set up a password. It's super easy and I'm certainly impressed.


If that wasn't enough, a Memphis-area philanthropist partnered with CFNM and they created WatchKnowLearn a site I blogged about back in September or October. WatchKnowLearn is an awesome site I stumbled across a couple of years ago. This site is has indexed over 20,000 educational videos, placing them into a directory of over 3,000 categories. The videos are available without any registration or fees to teachers in the classroom and to students at home 24/7. So here you have 2 incredible resources, all for FREE, at your fingertips. Click This to stumble on over to WatchKnowLearn and check out what's been stated as "YouTube with Brains".


Monday, November 28, 2011

Spotify

Have you heard of Spotify? I learned about it from Edwin, my buddy at work. He's as 'geek"y as I am if not more. I learn so much from him. I love that. This post is to inform you of a new way to listen to music.

Millions of tracks, any time you like. Just search for it in Spotify, then play it. Just help yourself to whatever you want, whenever you want it. Spotify is available on Windows, Mac and Mobile. Download Spoitfy today and add a little music to your life.






Turn Your Site Into An App

This is a pretty cool way to view your classroom site or district site on your mobile device. It's pretty cool for any site for that matter. Learned about it from Kleinspiration, another great blog.

Conduit, the same makers of the wibiya toolbar for blogs and sites, provides a FREE service to turn your site into a mobile app. If you would like to have it added to app market, you will have to pay though (Apple - 100 bucks for the year and Android - $25 registration fee). Or you can send the link to friends and followers or post it on your site for others to get your app for FREE (which is what I did).

My link for my CLICK THIS app is: http://clickthis.mobapp.at

You can also use the QR code that conduit provides. Here's CLICK THIS qr code -
And here's how the app icon looks verses adding a home screen button to the home page:


The cool look of Click This on the iPad. I was able to customize the logo and the colors scheme. Conduit also automatically added my Click This Facebook page. Total Awesomeness!


Now go get yours at Conduit! I'm about to go make a quick one for my district...so cool!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Little Bird Tales

Creative children + a story builder = Little Bird Tales, an online tool that:

  • Encourages creativity and self expression
  • Helps reinforce reading and writing skills
  • A GREEN alternative to books
  • NO ads, NO merchandising, NO external links
  • Made with kids in mind!
  • It's Fun and it's FREE for everyone!
Check out the YouTube video on how to get started and let your students imaginations fly freely.

Always Have Your Contacts

Have your ever lost all your contacts? Were you mad with yourself because you didn't have a backup system in place? Try importing your contacts to Gmail, a service of Google (if you don't have an account, it's free) and you'll never have to worry again.

You don't have to get rid of your other accounts, this is just to have a central location for all your contacts. Once you're finished exporting from your other locations, you can import them to your mobile devices. Cool, eh?

Importing from Yahoo!
  1. On your Yahoo! Mail page, click Options in the upper-right corner and select More Options.
  2. From the list on the left side, click Contacts.
  3. Click the "Tools" button just below the Contacts tab.
  4. Click "Export".
  5. You options are:
    • Microsoft Outlook:
    • Netscape/Thunderbird:
    • Yahoo! CSV:
    • vCard Single File: (recommended for Palm Desktop users)
    • vCard, Zip of .VCF files
Importing from Outlook
  1. Click the File tab.
  2. Click Options.
  3. Click Advanced.
Advanced command in the Outlook Options dialog box
  1. Under Export, click Export.
Export command in the Backstage view
  1. In the Import and Export Wizard, click Export to a file, and then click Next.
  2. Under Create a file of type, click the type of export that you want, and then click Next.
The most common is Comma Separated Values (Windows), also known as a CSV file.
  1. Under Select folder to export from, select the contact folder that you want to export, and then click Next.
 Note    Unless you chose to export to an Outlook Data File (.pst), you can only export one folder at a time.
  1. Under Save exported file as, click Browse, select a destination folder, and in the File name box, type a name for the file.
  2. Click OK.
  3. In the Export to a File dialog box, click Next.
  4. Click Finish.
Import from Hotmail
  • Select Contacts from the top Hotmail navigation bar.
  • Click Print View.
  • Highlight the contents of the table (including the headings Name, E-Mail and Phone as well as all your contacts) with the mouse.
  • Press Ctrl-C (Windows), Command-C (Mac) or Alt-C (Linux) to copy the table.
  • Create a new spreadsheet document in Excel or OpenOffice.org.
  • Select Edit | Paste from the menu.
  • Look for rows that have the E-Mail column empty. You can sort the data by the column to find and manipulate them en bloc.
  • If you have any email addresses in the first, the Name column, cut and paste them to the second, the E-Mail column.
  • In the E-Mail column, remove all whitespace characters.
    • In Excel, right-click in an email field and select Column | Trim from the menu.
    • In OpenOffice.org, you can search for "[:space:]+$" (excluding the quotation marks), making sure Regular expressions is checked under More Options, and replace it with nothing.
  • Select File | Save As... from the menu.
  • Make sure you use CSV (Comma delimited)(*.csv) or Text CSV (.csv) or a similar format involving "CSV" for saving the file.
Now you can import your contacts and their email addresses from the saved .csv file to your desired email program or service.If you want to sync your phone with your Gmail account, click this.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Media 4 Math: Math in the News

Math in the News looks through stories that make today's headlines, extract the mathematical story underlying it and provides its online visitors with up-to-date educational material all at the same time.

Each week, Math in the News brings a new fresh topic in a variety of formats which include PowerPoint Presentations, Slideshare presentations (that you can embed on your website), a YouTube Subscription Channel and the All-New Full-screen flash videos.

Check out M4M blog and their videos below.

No Bullying Zone

 Unfortunately some kids face serious bullying problems in schools. Bullying is when someone keeps doing or saying things to have power over another person.

Today I'd like to feature a special young lady, someone I personally know, that took an unfortunate bullying experience and turned it into a positive message in the form of a book. Callie Holley, a Houston-area student, has just published her first book No Bullying Zone at the young age of ten. This book is based on her personal experience with bullying and how she handled it with the help of God.

Callie wrote this book for young people who are being bullied and victimized and don't see a way out. Callie will be featured on Channel 39 on Tuesday, November 22 at 5 and 9. To learn more about Callie and find out where you can get your copy of her newly released book, click this!


And here is the No Bullting Zone Author:


Check out the PSA video some of my former students made on bullying. Also, check out these other great resources for teaching and learning about bullying/cyber bullying in schools.

Stop Bullying Now
Net Smart Kids
PBS Kids Webonauts
iKeep Safe - Faux Paw the Techno Cat

Introducing...Music

Google Music was unveiled this past Wednesday. This came days after Apple released iTunes Match. Which one will you choose? I suggest finding the one that best fits your needs.


What is Google Music? GMusic lets you store your entire collection for free and access it instantly on the web or your mobile device.


What is iTunes Match? Match lets you store your entire collection, including music you’ve imported from CDs or purchased somewhere other than iTunes. The cost is $24.99 a year. Check out one bloggers post on Match and the breakdown of the positive and negatives.

There are plenty of articles comparing the two that have popped up all over the web in the past couple of days. Being a Mac Girl, you would think I'd choose iTunes Match but when you compare free to a fee, it's hard to stick to my everything is better on a mac rule, especially with all the features GMusic is offering. Hmm, only time will tell!

Unplug Yourself...If Only for a Moment!

If this isn't the cutest little book that kindly reminds us to slow down and enjoy the simple things in life. My district assistant superintendent shared this with me over the weekend and I just wanted to share. When I noticed the authors name, I became so tickled!

Ann Droid (get it) whose real name is David Milgrim is the author of this NY Times Best Seller. Goodnight iPad is a "must get" item for this Christmas. I know there will be plenty of electronics on your list for the holidays but take a moment to enjoy a good book with your own kids and the kids in your class.



            

Friday, November 18, 2011

Freebie Friday - November 18, 2011

This Freebie Friday includes  an app, a K-12 web resource page, file converter, music, a printer friendly application and a quiz-survery-test-eportfoliio tool for teachers and students..

Storyit App - optimized for the iPhone/iPod but works on the iPad. Storyit is a multimedia storytelling tool.

Write. Illustrate. Layout the Elements. Share.


Your story is always saved on your iPhone. Carry it with you and work on it any time. Upload your story to the StoryKit web server and email a link to the story from within the app. No account is necessary. Stories are private.

Pretty cool, huh. Click This to get your copy now!


SAILon is a great web source for grades K-12.  
Subject Area Interactive Lessons On-line is a list of resources to help classroom teachers integrate technology into their curriculum by identifying and providing interactive Internet resources addressing specific objectives. 



Free Online Converter - This free online file converter lets you convert media easy and fast from one format to another. They support a lot of different source formats. Convert media free, fast and online. No software installation needed.



Soundz A Bound - offers the ONLY royalty free music library which meets all the licensing and technology requirements needed for education! Their library has a wide variety of music, audio themes and sound effects for grades K -12 and universities that ensures your copyright safety. Perfect for podcasts, PowerPoint™, videos, news shows, video yearbooks, digital storytelling, presentations, TV broadcasts, web design and more!


printfriendly - cleans and formats web pages for perfect print experience. PrintFriendly removes Ads, Navigation and web page junk so you save paper and ink when you print. It's free and easy to use. Perfect to use at home, at the office or whenever you need to a print a web page.



Yacapaca for Teachers - 

Create quizzes, surveys, tests, eportfolios and more
Discover modify and share assessments
Set work for the whole class with a few mouse clicks
Mark automatically
Analyse with tools that improve your teaching
Watch the video.
Video

Smart Apps for Kids

You're invited to an Open House from Smart Apps for Kids!

WHO: Parents, teachers, caregivers, developers, and business owners (There are many more to come, but to see the promo posts we've already done, please click here).
WHAT: Developers and businesses offer our readers a chance to learn about about their apps/products by offering promo codes and reduced prices!
WHERE: Our Facebook page. It's admin-posts only except for during the Open House!
WHEN: Nov. 19 from midnight EST (U.S.) to 11:59 p.m. EST 
HOW: Just load the page and start reading, commenting, getting free stuff, and buying some apps you like!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Get Wired about Technology!

Richard Byrne over at FT4T blogged about one of his advertisers, Wired to Learn, who is giving away free technology to schools. You're basically telling your story about why your school deserves a technology package. You have until December 4th to get your story in and get as many votes as you can from the community. The grand prize is 25K. The second grand prize is 10K. And the third grand prize is 5K. Any of the prizes would be awesome if you asked me.

 Here are the 7 rules:


So if you're interesting in gaining an opportunity for free technology, head on over to Wired to Learn.


Now on Facebook!

I love the fact that new technology allows us to communicate in so many ways. I love it even more that we write it and it can be synced automatically on social networking sites. "Click This" now has it's own Facebook Page so I don't have to click the share button to post on my personal Facebook page. Yay!


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

K12 Online Conference

K12 Online Conference 2011 will be November 28 through December 12. This is a FREE, online conference open to ANYONE organized by educators for educators around the world interested in integrating emerging technologies into classroom practice. Click This to get connected to K12 Online 2011 now!

Wiki Wonderland

Wikispaces...

What is it? 
Wikis are a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser.

What plan should I use?
I suggest the free K-12 plan. If your wiki will be used exclusively for primary and secondary education, you probably came here looking for a wiki on our K-12 plan. These wikis are free and ad-free, and you can make them private for extra security for your students. K-12 wikis also come with a User Creator tool that lets you open student accounts in bulk — without student email addresses. Create a free K-12 plan wiki. Here is also a great link to the Region IV Tech Apps Wiki. Great Stuff!



Example of a teacher wiki:

Social Bookmarking

How do you keep up with your favorites on the web? I bookmark and have been doing so for many years. I been using Delicious and I'm quite pleased with them but there are others out there as well.  For reference, here are my Delicious Education Bookmarks.

Diigo is also another recently popular social bookmarking site. It allows you to collect, highlight and then remember! Check out the FREE iPad app while you're at it!


There are plenty of them out there. It's best for you to research and choose one based on your needs. I loved Delicious for quite some time but may give diigo a try. It doesn't hurt to try, right? Especially when it's free!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Just Snip It!

In the midst of snipping a picture for my Discovery Education post, I paused and thought I should blog about the snipping tool that comes with Windows 7. If you have this version on your computer, this little tool could be very handy.

According to Microsoft: Snipping Tool captures a screen shot of anything on your desktop, like a picture or a section of webpage. Snip a whole window, a rectangular section of the screen, or draw a freehand outline with your mouse or tablet pen (or your finger, if you're using a PC with a touchscreen). Then you can annotate, save, or e-mail the image using buttons right in the Snipping Tool window. Snipping Tool is available only in the Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions of Windows 7.

Click this to see a video of it in action and then start using it. I use it daily!


Discover More with Discovery Ed!

Last month, I attended a great Technology Conference and one of the workshop sessions was on 50 Great Ways to Use Discovery Ed in the Classroom. If you'd like to view the presentation, click this! it's a large file (a little over 60 MB) but so worth it. Please note that you'll have to log in to your Discovery Education account.


Discovery Ed Free Teacher Resources - explore their programs and contest, interactive games, puzzles, lesson plans, videos and more.

10 Top Resources from Teachers - a list created by a techie blogger.

I'm looking for more resources, so look back soon for an update!

Have fun "Discovering"!




MagCloud...Go Digital!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Monkey Around with Math and More

Are you an elementary teacher looking for online math resources that are grade specific to your students? Math Chimp may be what you're looking for so click on over and check it out. It has each grade level from first to fifth, a description on the game and ratings that teachers have given the game.

Another favorite of mine is Interactive Websites by JC Schools which has tons of links for grades K-12 and it has.

My all-time favorite is Internet4Classrooms which I used for years with my classroom students and my lab students. I just can't say enough about this jewel which not only has math links by grade level, skill and topic area but it also has other subjects areas which include: arts, ESL/ELL, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies/History, Holidays and Apps for iPods/iPads.





Kathy Schrock Rocks!

Karhy Schrock is a well-known name in the education field. She's been sharing resources for many years. I first learned about her many, many years ago through Discovery Education. I recently ran across her re-designed blog and wanted to make others aware of it. On her site, you can expect to find slideshows, a schrock guide, top educational tech blogs and learn more about her extraordinary educational journey. I encourage you to make sure you visit her blog as much as possible which has tons and tons of captivating material in the area of educational technology. So what are you waiting for, click this now.




Thursday, November 10, 2011

Zoom, zoom!

Heard about zoom.it a while back but as I browsed the internet, I revisited the tool through FreeTechnology4Teachers, a blog by Richard Byrne who has created awesome documents to help educators incorporate more technology in the classroom.

With zoom.it, you can magnify any image on the web. You can embed it like I did below or you can grab the link to view full screen like the one here that I did for my 3rd embedded image on Discovery Green in Houston, Texas. http://zoom.it/4MFW

This would be great if you're teaching a subject like Science or Social Studies and you need to focus on part of an image. Check out my zoom.its below and get inspired to make your own!




What is HTML 5 and Why Should I know?

What is HTML?
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the predominant markup language for web pages. Developed by scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1990, HTML is the "hidden" code that helps us communicate with others on the world wide web.



After finding several neat tips to edit my tech blog, I am completely interested in learning HTML. Now I took a few classes on it many years ago but you know the saying, "If you don't use it, you'll loose it". I remember some of the very basic components but with HTML 5, there are so many aspects that I'd like to learn. This has inspired me to search for awesome sites to guide those of you who'd like to know HTML 5 as well.

This post (paragrph above) was actually drafted on yesterday and it is so ironic that when I got home, I opened up an email from a colleague entitled "USA TODAY: Adobe kills Flash on mobile devices". How crazy is that I thought to myself. Not because Adobe was killing Flash on mobile devices (something Steve Jobs so wanted) but that I had a strong urge to hit me yesterday to learn HTML. Back in early July of this year, that same colleague asked me why I'd design my professional photography site in Flash. My response was simply cause I liked the look of how flash worked. But really, I hated the fact that I couldn't show my site on my mobile devices (my iPad, iPhone and iPod). If I knew HTML, this wouldn't be an issue and I'd be ready to roll with the "big dogs" who now work with HTML 5.

Why Should I know?
To be able to design my own web page(s) and not have to pay someone to do so or to have a side business in web page design. So this post if directed to those of you who may want to design your own site and need direction on how to actually accomplish this goal. The following are some resources I searched for to get me started and hopefully it will help you as well.


W3Schools - http://www.w3schools.com/
You can go at your own pace. And it's free, free, free! You take your time, learn a language from their tutorials for free, and they get their money if you decide you want to get an actual certification in a language. You pay them about $60, and take 60 question exam in 60 minutes. (No essay questions!) If you pass, they send you your certification and you can put it on your resume.(per hubpages)

HTML You Tube Videos | HTML Wiki

Blogger Post - 20 Things

4 kids - GooDellGroup and IPL-Kids Web
I found these two be very helpful. It's targeted to teaching kids HTML. Maybe you have students who would like to know HTML or maybe you need a watered-down version to get started. 

Pay Lessons - 4 Free Lessons

When you get a handle on HTML and want advanced features, take a closer look at CSS and PHP., check out HTML.net and jQuery.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Salman Khan - Changing Education

Khan University -

A free world-class education for anyone anywhere.

If you haven't heard of Salman Khan then you need to google him. You will run across several important things. To sum him up...he's taking education to a whole new level with his phenomenal vision.

Educators must watch the video. It inspires, it educates, it sells the service and the service is completely FREE.

His story is amazing. He started out tutoring his cousins via video conferencing. He turned those lessons into You Tube videos and his journey took off from there. Kids all over the world are learning math the way they learn best...at their own pace while incorporating with technology. With over 1 million members, Khan University is the future of education. As an educator, you can track your students and work with those that are struggling or have their peers who have mastered that skill tutor. You can also become a coach and tutor kids yourself. There are tons of videos and new features have been added to enhance the learning experience and keep students motivated. To learn more about Khan and Khan University, click this!




Monday, November 7, 2011

How Many Words Do You Know?


Think you're smart? With Word Dynamo, you can test your Genius Skills. Play the Word Dynamo Challenge and turbo-charge your vocabulary! Sign up for your own homepage and start testing your skills today. Fun+Learning are always a perfect combo!

On top of Word Dynamo Fun, Dictionary.com has taken Flashcards to a whole new level. If you've previously created flashcards, your words are still there and ready to use in their games. If you haven't created any, no worries, this site has ready-made list or you can create your own.







Word Score
See how many words you know and receive study shortcuts.

Personalized Home Page
Watch your progress and decide what to do next.

Lists & Genius Kits
Choose and learn from thousands of lists, or make your own.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Smore

Design beautiful online flyers and publish instantly! Smore does the job and so much more! The two creators just started private beta so if you wanna get on the bandwagon, go to Smore and sign up.


  • Smore pages work flawlessly on your smartphone and tablet.
  • Choose from a list of themes and preview them in seconds with your content. No installations ever.
  • Not just text and images, but videos, tweets, products and reviews too.
  • Arrange your content with ease.

    Check out there video and website to learn more about Smore!


Get your Bootstrap On!

Bootstrap is a standards-based curriculum for middle-school students, which teaches them to program their own video games using purely algebraic and geometric concepts. I learned about Bootstrap at the Region IV Technology Conference I attended last week. There will a training on November 19th in the Houston area. The cost is only $20 and it includes lunch. Check it out and register soon, November 19th will be here b4 you know it!

Slide Shark

Need an app for presenting your PowerPoint presentations on the iPad? Introducing...Slideshark! Just go to Slideshark on the web, open a free account and upload your presentation. Now all you have to do is get the free app in the App Store and download the file to your iPad. Super easy and super awesome! It works beautifully. SlideShark is the one and only app used to reliably and professionally show or view your PowerPoints on your iPad.

Slideshark...
  • Preserve animations, fonts, graphics and colors*
  • Swipe to advance animations and slides
  • Connect to a TV or projector
Click this to check it out now!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Virtual Math Manipulatives...Yep, it's an App!

Virtual Manipulatives...MEET the iPad!  Check out this cool app when needing math manipulatives to work with your kids. Need fractions, decimals or percent manipulatives...this app has you covered! And yes, it's FREE, woohoo!



Connect with Twitter Teachers

Are you teacher on Twitter? Here's an awesome list to connect with other teachers that "twit" too. This site takes you to a Wiki called Twitter4Teachers. Due to spam, you will have to send in a request to admin to have your twitter name added but it's well worth the effort. Click this to connect now.