“The Fast Five” for November 2010
The Fast Five 4 November 2010
Submitted by michael.hakkarinen on Tue, 11/16/2010 - 21:32
It’s that time again… time to take a look at 5 new free resources available online to help you integrate technology into your curriculum and instruction.
Tool #1: Wordle.com
Words, words, words.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
But what about a picture made with words?
Upload any text, word document, or website into Wordle and get your own unique word cloud. It’s great for making posters, vocabulary lists, or anything that you need to grab someone’s attention.
Tool #2:StudyJams
Thank you Ms. Grossnickle for sharing this great site! Scholastic Study Jams provides students with over 200 “Jams”, online practice activities with cool graphics and engaging animation. Kids of all ages will love learning about everything from Math to Language Arts to Science to just about anything!
For more information on this new site, check out a recent post to the blog iLearn Technology
Tool #3: Livescribe Pen
Is it a pen? Is it a digital audio recorder? Is it a camera?
YES!
The LiveScribe “SmartPen” is a revolutionary new device that allows the user to not only digitalize all of their handwriting, but also record audio as they write, then upload it all to the computer in as a “pencast”
For more ideas on how to use the LiveScribe in your classroom check out their educational website at http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/education/
NOTE - this one isn’t free, but there are free “apps” for it once you have one.
Tool #4: DiscoveryEducation Stem Connect
Log in to www.discoveryeducation.com, then click link on bottom right side of page.
“In support of STEM initiatives, Discovery Education presents a unique collection of career video clips, learning activities, and related content for grades K-12. Organized by discipline, the resources found here highlight the connections among science, technology, engineering, and math. STEM Connect is designed to help educators take their first steps toward blending STEM disciplines in their instructional approach.”
Quote from the DE Stem Connect site available at http://teachers.discoveryeducation.com/STEM/
Tool #5: www.polleverywhere.com
No texting allowed in school! Unless…
CPS Systems are expensive, and we’re always telling kids to put away their cell phones, but what if we had them use their cell phones instead of the CPS remotes? That day may be a few years away, but this website is still a great way to create surveys that your particpants can take on their cell phones. With a free educator account you can put up questions, post them to your blog, and even send out via twitter. Users then text in their responses where they are posted on the websites’ live response wall.
Make your own poll voting question with Poll Everywhere
