Lesson Writer

Looking for a new tool to help you create lessons? Take a look at this feed from EduTecher:

Lesson Writer: "Lesson Writer is a fantastic free resource tool for teachers. Using this site, educators can automatically pull vocabulary words, create exercises, create questions using Blooms Taxonomy and then quiz students. The site lets teachers customize the lessons based and even allows scaffolding for students of different abilities. While no tool is able to automate lesson writing altogether, this comes in as a very handy helper to allow provide a lot of assistance."

Voki for Education is Now Available!

     Check out www.voki.com to sign up for your Voki for Education account today!   The best part of all is that it's free!  Students will love this great tool!

Math around the world

Take a look at this Post from Differentiation Daily by Paula Kluth Math around the world: "

World Maths Day is a unique opportunity to build community while also strengthening math skills. You can register your students for the March 1st event at worldmathsday.com. Students all over the world will participate in this online event (similar to a Math Olympics) in which students play one-minute long math games to earn points, prizes, and appear in the “Hall of Fame.” This is a great way for students to practice their mental math while connecting with peers from other countries. Your math students needing more challenge will love trying to set a new record for number of questions correctly answered in a day (479,732,613!)

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Valentines Day Ideas & Activities

Kb Connected has helped us out again!  Take a look at this Valentine's Day livebinder. It is filled with crafts, lessons plans, and some sweet ideas such as "guess the candy bar" activity.  You will have to check it out!   Valentines Day livebinder 

Doodle 4 Google is Back for 2011

Have a great artist in your class that would like to show off his/her skills? Have them enter the Doodle 4 Google contest! Take a look at this post by Mr.Byrne from Free Technology for Teachers-
Doodle 4 Google is Back for 2011: "

As announced earlier this week by Google, Doodle 4 Google is back again this year. Doodle 4 Google is a student drawing contest open to all K-12 students in the U.S. The contest asks students to create drawings, on 8.5' x 11' paper, that redesign the Google homepage logo while responding to the prompt 'what I'd like to do someday.'



This year Google is increasing the opportunities to participate in the contest by allowing parents to register their children if they're not registered through school. Students involved in The Boys & Girls Clubs of America and The Girl Scouts will also be able to register for Doodle 4 Google.



This year's winner will receive a $15,000 college scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for his or her school. Registration is open now and closes on March 2nd. All drawings must be submitted by March 16.

Applications for Education

Other than being an opportunity for students to win a scholarship, this year's contest prompt is a good one for getting students to think about and envision their futures.

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Glogs about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Take a look at this feed from KB Connected. This a creative way to learn about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr!

Several Glogs have been added to “Dr. Martin Luther King...: "Several Glogs have been added to “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr./Black History Month” LiveBinder. Why not have students create their own Glogs to Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day? Never used Glogster before? It’s a great way for you and your students...(read more)"

Free Resources!!!

Looking for some new resources to use in your classroom? You must look into livebinders!   Have you heard of livebinders? A livebinder is an eportfolio which binds links and documents together.  Karen B. has created one filled with links and printables to use in your classroom.   Take a look at http://livebinders.com/play/present?id=43387 for all of the wonderful resources she has pulled together.  The best thing is that it's free!  

Ready to Try Something New This Year??

Are you ready to start this year off by creating something new?  When I presented this blog at our staff meeting, many of you mentioned that you would like to create a blog.  What a great time to begin something new! As you set out to create your blog, remember to keep this is mind-- What is your purpose?    Will it be used for a home/school connection to extend your learning in the classroom?  Will it be used as a springboard for students to discuss what they are learning in the classroom?  Will it display student projects?   Will it be used to discuss your successes/experiences as an educator? Will you be using your blog to interact with another classroom?
      There are so many wonderful blogs that I follow for a variety of reasons. Pernille Ripp is a fourth grade teacher who has three blogs for different purposes.                   
                      The Adventures in Mrs. Ripp's Room - This blog is a great communication tool with parents and students to share what is going on in the classroom.
                      Blogging through the Fourth Dimension -This blog is used as a communication tool         among  educators.  She discusses her reflections/experiences as a teacher.
                      Lessons from the Fourth Dimension-  She just began this blog to show lessons, student feedback and videos that she is using in her classroom as a fourth grade teacher.
    These are only a few examples of blogs used for different reasons.   Want to look at more blogs?  100-seriously-cool-classroom-blogs-for-teaching-ideas-inspiration/ provides blogs for many grade levels and content areas. Once you find your purpose for your blog, I would be happy to recommend other blogs that follow along that same path.

   What will your blog represent?  I look forward to finding out more!