Larry Ferlazzo's Best of 2012 Blog Post Has Arrived!

Many educators and online blog readers anxiously await Larry's Best of 2012 blog post at the end of the year so they can bookmark it and take advantage of the many resources he has posted in one place. Well, the blog post is out and I have linked it to this blog post. I would suggest clicking on it and bookmarking it on your computer as you will find yourself looking at it throughout 2013 even as Larry starts his 2013 lists. Thank you Larry for this great list of resources, I know it helps many!

Best of 2012 resource list from Larry Ferlazzo click here!

PicMonkey for Art, Literacy, or Science Collages

Not sure where this might fit in the school curriculum, but maybe art, literacy, or even social studies. If you are looking for a project idea and are thinking of having students make a collage of what they have learned, PicMonkey might be a great site for students to try. No email registration needed and I got my collage started just seconds after getting to the website. Students could make a science collage of an animal or concept they are studying, make an art collage, or even a collage that shows what they learned about a book they recently read. Lots of uses, but play around with it first to see how you might use it. Also, you can use the collage feature to make your Facebook banner picture at the top of your profile page. Another fun feature of this site! Give it a try this summer!





PicMonkey click here!

Scibble Press for the IPad: My Kids and I love it!

I downloaded Scribble Press to my IPad last night for Free and my 7-year old son already wrote and illustrated his own short book! He had a blast and it was so easy to do. You can choose from several dozen "fill-in-the-blank" template stories that go from pretty basic to pretty fun and bizarre. Or your children or students can make up their own stories with their own words and pictures. More colors, markers, pens, stamps, etc. than you can ever imagine. Once the story is done, kids can even design the front and back cover. When they are completely finished, they can keep the story on the IPad, send it to their IBooks account, or share it with Scribble Press. They could also turn their pictures and illustrations and stories into greeting cards, puzzles, or even get their book professionally printed and sent to their house or classroom. Amazing stuff! It is a free app (suprisingly!) and definitely worth a summer tryout to see if you could use it with your own kids or even within your classroom. I think even middle school and high school kids would enjoy this.

Scribble Press: Click here for info on the app and to download

7 Sites for Art, 7 for Science, and 7 for Typing!

  Thank you much to Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers for 3 great lists of websites for our educators. I got caught up in blog reading this week and Mr. Byrne's award-winning blogsite is one of the best out there. From time to time, he will take about 7 of the best sites for practice, instruction, etc. in a certain subject area. As I caught up, I found he did this 3 times recently. Once for keyboarding practice, once for science teachers, and once for art teachers and students. I have placed links to each of his blog entries below. If you teach in these areas, you may want to check it out. And make sure to sign up to follow his blog or have it added to your own Google Reader, a great read for all educators. As a former science teacher, I really enjoyed some of the science Youtube channels he shared. I could see our middle school kids really liking these. Thanks again Mr. Byrne!

7 Youtube Channels for Science

7 Keyboarding Practice/Game Sites

7 Sites for Art Teachers and Students

Pinterest: All the Rage and Good for Educators Too?

I must admit, I have not joined Pinterest and have not yet figured out why everyone loves it, but I started to become interested last week when a school counseling blog I follow started hyping it as a place where she can post her counseling ideas visually and link other information to these pictures. Then I realized the power of Pinterest and how it really could be a good social network for educators. No friending, no 3rd party apps, no games....just posting images and information and following the educators who have great ideas. Sort of a visual twitter. If you need more reason to start thinking about Pinterest as a site for educators, take a look at Richard Byrne's Free Technology for Teacher blogpost this week about it. Great post and I love the comments even more. Check the comments for a few Pinterest boards to get you started!

Richard Byrne's review of Pinterest click here!

Lots of Online Drawing Sites, Great for Art Teachers

Just a quick share of a blog from Richard Byrne where he groups 11 great online drawing and artistic sites. If you teach art, like art, or like to draw or mess around online with art, this is a great blog to bookmark and to come to often to try the different recommended sites. I have tried some and enjoyed my time with them. Even my own little kids have tried them and liked them. Not sure if they would all be good for art class or even if they would work for art class, but it would not hurt to try. Give them a try and see what you think and thank you Richard Byrne and your Free Technology for Teachers!

11 Free Online Drawing Tools from Free Technology for Teachers click here!

Artsonia, a Chance to Showcase Our Artwork!

Another quick website for our Exploratory classes, this time it is art. Thanks to Richard Byrne and his blogsite Free Technology for Teachers, he has alerted me of a chance for our students to showcase their art online to the public. Our 8th graders are blogging and showcasing their writing, now there is a chance to showcase their artistic talent. Not only that, after publishing their artwork, they could order a variety of gifts (t-shirts, mugs, etc.) with their artwork displayed on them. Very cool! This might also be a way to view other student artwork and review and communicate as well. Give it a try!

Richard Byrne's Artsonia Blog entry...click here!

Deviant Art a Site to Play With....if You Like Art

Since I am not much of an artist, I have not tried this site very much, but any online art and drawing sites are worth posting to our collecting of websites. I am interested in seeing if our art students try this and what they think of it. Post any comments below as to what your thoughts are after trying it out.

Deviant Art

A Cube Can Describe You

Okay, I admit, I love this site and I WILL USE it in my Life Skills class. I made a cube about me in just a few minutes and I think I did a pretty good job. The basic idea is to pick 6 video clips, sound clips, pictures, works of arts, books, etc. that represent you best. Then the cube can rotate and play these videos or sounds. Very cool idea and amazes me how neat the final product is. I plan to use it in class and see what the students think. I think I will also have the students present their cube and describe it.

My cube

Website to make your own

Origami fun!

A great site for Origami. Not sure where it fits educationally, but a lot of students like to do these in their free time. It does take patience, is a great way to learn to follow directions, and takes precision. Any teacher could use this to teach some of those skills in a fun way. Enjoy!

http://en.origami-club.com//index.html