StoryToolz for Literacy Teachers....and Any Teachers or Students!

  Not sure if I did a blogpost before on Storytoolz, but even if I did, it is worth a repeat. This is a great site for our Literacy teachers and students to bookmark and use in class. You can use the site for simple idea generators and story starters, but you can also use it to evaluate your writing. Our students could put in their writing samples to see the reading level and the wording that they use and if they could improve their writing. They can also set word count goals and track their reading. Lots of possibilities currently and future updates could make it an even better site. And all of this for free....which is great! Give it a look-see over your summer break and see if your students could use it.

Storytoolz.com click here!

Google Drive/Docs Can Have Voice Comments Now

Just a quick update for those who use Google Drive and have students who use Google Docs for assignments, especially their papers and essays. You can now leave voice comments. I am not sure this is always the best way to leave comments as leaving written comments in the line can be more direct with students, but leaving them some verbal/voice feedback can also personalize the experience more. You might even assign them the task of leaving verbal comments back. Either way, kind of a neat feature to play around with. It does take some set up, so here is a blog post by Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers to with a video that explains how to do this process.

Richard Byrne's blog post on Google Drive/Docs voice comments click here!

Cube Creator and Other Great Activities for Reading and Writing

Thank you to Richard Byrne and his blog site Free Technology for Teachers, I now am able to share some great activities from Read Write Think when it comes to reading and writing. But I want to specifically mention Cube Creator as it is very simple to use and such a good book review tool. I was able to make a Book Cube in under 3 minutes and could have printed it and cut it out and folded it into my own cube. You can also choose create your own cube which means the possibilities are endless. I have had students make a "Me Cube" before in my Guidance class where each side of the cube needs to tell the class something about themselves or their life.

  Besides Cube Creator, there are 4 other great activities/tools that Mr. Byrne has blogged about. So give those a try to and see which ones might work in your curriculum the best. Good luck!

Cube Creator click here!

5 Read Write Think Tools by Richard Byrne click here!

Make Your Own Motivational Posters!

Automotivator has to be one of the coolest little tools/sites I have come across in awhile. I have to admit, I love motivational posters (and the demotivational ones too!). And now I have a site where I can quickly make and share my own. I could even print them. Or if I made a really nice, school-specific poster, I could get it printed on a large poster format. I might try some of those this summer as well. In the meantime, I quickly made some fun ones and some serious ones for my counseling office while I tested out the site today. I also have some ideas of quick posters I could make and email to students as ways to energize them or simply remind them about assignments that are due. Either way, the website is very easy to use to design your own poster. Have some fun!

Automotivator website click here!

Spelling Games/Sites for Students

For teachers looking for some good spelling games and sites, Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers has a great list of 5 sites for you. I use Spelling City with my own children and would highly recommend it to anyone. I have not used the other sites he lists, but I am sure they are good. I plan to have my own children test some of them this summer. My daughter really likes to spell things and play spelling games, so we will see which one she likes best. Currently, she loves Spelling City. Give some of the sites listed a look and test them out and see which one might work for your own students.

Richard Byrne's blog post on Spelling sites for students click here!

Room Recess: Good for Quick Skill Review and Interactive Whiteboards

Room Recess is a great game site to bookmark for teachers who want some basic math and word games for kids to play at the end of class or at the end of some computer lab time. I  tested out the snowball game and thought kids would love it. The math problems are basic math facts, but middle school students can still benefit from that type of skill practice. There was also a competitive flashcard game that can pit two teams against each other using an interactive whiteboard. I am not sure if you would need two Mimio pens or not, but still pretty fun for students. Give it a try!

Room Recess click here!

Wallwisher is Now Padlet and It Is Still Great!

First of all, Wallwisher has just recently been named Padlet. If you try going to Wallwisher via wallwisher.com, however, you will still get there for now. I used Wallwisher for 2 or 3 years with an 8th grade project, but it had some bugs to it and wasn't always perfect. Apparently this was the case for many. But over the last year, they have made several upgrades and now the site is being highly recommended again. I love the site for a way for students to post questions or comments. I also love it for students to make their own 'wall of learning' about a topic or subject. They can add videos, pictures, comments, etc. about their learning. They can then share their wall with a family member, a teacher, or other students. They can even comment on other students' walls. This could end up being a form of social learning. Lots of options. If you need help trying to use it in your class, let me know. I was once a "pro" at Wallwisher and could probably give you some tips. Have fun!

Wallwisher or Padlet, click here!


I took 3 minutes and made a quick sample wall about Bullying. Notice that I was able to add videos, upload a powerpoint that I had made previously, or simply comment. I could then share this wall with other students and parents and they could post their thoughts and questions to my wall and we could interact.

Created with Wallwisher

BrainyBox: Cube Review, Presentation, Whatever you Want it to Be!

  I used a site like BrainyBox a few years back and students loved it. But it didn't always work very well. I am hoping technology has improved and this site works much better. I made a basic cube and am going to attempt to embed it below and link to it, so you can see what you think. I did not try to add any images or video, but if it supports that pretty well, the possibilities of this site are endless. It is in Beta testing, so I can't guarantee the stableness of the site, but for now, it was pretty cool to use and could be used for review, new knowledge, note-taking, or just for students to show their true learning on a topic or book. Give it a try...I created the one you see below in 4 minutes!

BrainyBox homepage click here!

My BrainyBox attempt click here!

And I embedded it below and it looks pretty cool!

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!

Just a Reminder....Duolingo Continues to Improve!

Duolingo just added Italian to its list of languages it is helping people learn. I have had a couple of students interested in learning Italian, so this is great! It is a pretty fascinating site because you aren't just learning a new language, you are also helping in translating the web into other languages with the help of thousands or millions of other people around the world. While it is not a great stand alone site if you are trying to learn a language, it is a good supplement to a foreign language course you are taking or if you are currently doing Rosetta Stone. And it is FREE!!! That may be the best part. One of the things I noticed that might be good for students is how they can start making connections with certain words and groups of words because they sound alike. This could build on information they received in class or help them learn the future class information even faster. While it only has about 6 or 7 languages right now, it does have some of the main ones students may be learning in our American schools. It even has English which could be good for our English Language Learners as well. Give it a try to see if it is something you could use in 2013!

Duolingo click here!


   I just tested it out and it is pretty fun and educational. You can also compete against Facebook friends. So maybe you and a Facebook friend each want to learn a language in 2013, this could be your method!

Trading Cards for Historical or Fictional Characters

I love ideas like this! Next time you are studying something in history, social studies, or even reading a book in literacy, have the students make a trading card of one of the historical figures or book characters. To make the cards, you would have to know lots about your person and the student would have to research the person more to add details to the card. Similar to the fake Facebook page for a historical person, but a little simpler. Would be fun to see what the students come up with. Give it a try or have some students do it for an extra credit option. Good luck!

Trading Cards of historical figures click here!

(Oh, you could do it for famous scientists too!)

Tap to Learn Grammar (and Math vs. Zombies!)

I have not tried this app as it appears to be an Android App right now, but I am going to check to see if it is available for the IPad as well. But the concept seems good and is not something you see all the time for quick and easy apps for students to use. Usually, these apps are math skill based. But Tap to Learn Grammar has hundreds of grammar lessons and offers extensions to the learning by clicking on videos that support the concept practiced and learned.

After a little investigation, both Tap to Learn Grammar and Math vs. Zombies are available for the IPad, etc. as well. I downloaded Math vs. Zombies and my son approves. Good game for basic math facts. As for Tap to Learn Grammar, I did not download it as it was 99 cents but got some negative reviews. There were not many reviews yet, but the ones that were there were negative. I plan on checking on this often and seeing if the reviews get better and then possibly downloading it and testing it out. I will post more later if I test it out. For now, feel free to test either and leave your review below.

Tap to Learn Grammar click here!

Math vs. Zombies click here! (parent note....you are shooting scary looking zombies with guns, so use as you feel appropriate)

Speech to Text Tools

 I have used the Google Chrome speech to text tool before and it was pretty handy. Might be nice for some of our students who struggle with typing skills. And as the technology gets better, these tools will only improve making them even more useful. Another possible use is for students who are working on their speech. By talking and having it converted to text, they might be able to better see the parts where their speech is good and clear and the parts where it is not so clear. Check out this post by blogger Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers to read more about these speech to text tools

Click here to read more!

Some Neat "Make Your Own News" Sites to Try

 One of these sites I just heard about and haven't tried yet, but it sounds really easy and something that kids could really learn from. The other is one I heard about in the Spring, tried it, and loved it. Both could be very good tools to use in school, especially in social studies or science where you might be studying a topic in the news. Here are the sites:

Link TV: Know the News: This site has an interesting idea for students to try. Students can find a topic currently in the news and search for clips of it at various news services and see how similar or different the reports are. They can take each clip and cut/paste them back to back to play a string of news stories about the same idea. Or students can simply make their own newscast by cutting and pasting stories from all over the world by different news media. Either way, students will be working with the news and seeing how it gets reported. Might be a good way to talk about bias, sources, and the power of media in general.

Jack the News is a very cool and fun site. I have to admit that I have played around with it several times, one time even recreating the Des Moines Register online news to show only my family's latest news. I even added my family's picture to the front page picture! But, you can use it for education too by having students re-make a website about a topic, the current news, or their book they are reading. The possibilities are endless. And it is fairly easy to use as well. Give it a try!

Duolingo...A Site for Spanish Language Learners

Awhile back, I purchased Rosetta Stone software to learn Spanish. Then child #3 and #4 happened, as well as a career change and my life has gotten away from me. I still hope to learn Spanish and Rosetta Stone may be the way to go, but there are many online programs now, not to mention my need for basic Spanish is slowly diminishing with smart phones that translate your voice anyway. But learning a language is still important and still a great skill, so what tools can a school use besides Spanish class. Many apps and websites can help. Here is another one: "Duolingo". When you go to their main site, you can watch their video. I have embedded the video below as well. After watching the video, sounds like this might be a good site for a Spanish teacher to give out to students and families for extra practice. Not sure how the translating the web works, but it appears it uses the some of the same "immersion" theory that Rosetta Stone uses. A few other languages are also offered.

Duolingo click here!

Add Test Review to Your Class Blog...Amazing Ideas!

Wow, I love a couple of these ideas! Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers blog had a guest blogger, Dan Klumper, a 6th grade social studies teacher, post some wonderful ideas. I wish I taught high school science again and could do a couple reviews like his "Silent Video Review". At our middle school, I could see tons of courses/teachers take advantage of it. You don't have to have a class blog to do the idea, but it would be helpful as you could just embed the video to your blog. The 2nd idea is one that I have thought about doing for my counseling/life skills class sometime. Have a designated date/time for online chat/forum in the evening. Parents, students, whoever could join. I also think the Wallwisher idea (Especially since WallWisher has now been updated and many of the bugs from the past year or two fixed) would be super for any class/class review. Either way, please click on Richard Byrne's blog entry and click on the ideas, especially the first one. These are definitely ideas we could use and the students would really benefit from. (If you have an IPad....the first idea is even easier as you can video and upload in a matter of minutes!)

Ideas on how to Use Your Blog for Review Purposes by Richard Byrne (written by guest blogger Dan Klumper)

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!

Puppet Pals HD for the IPad: Good Story-telling App for kids....and Counseling?

   I got this app idea from the School Counselor Blog (also where I got the great idea for Scribble Press...thank you Danielle Shultz!) and my own kids have made their first puppet story/video already. Puppet Pals HD is a free app (you can pay to get a super-charged version of the app called a Director's Pass) where kids/students can choose a variety of characters and settings to put on a short play or puppet show. If you download this to your IPad, as you move the characters and change the settings, the IPad will record your voice so you can have dialogue for each character. Students could act out part of a story they read or extend a story that they read. As for me, a counselor, I could have students mess around with this as they talk to me and maybe their stories will tell me more. Or they could use this as role play by controlling the characters or letting me play a role. The possibilities for this app are endless. For my own kids, I even uploaded the video to Youtube when they were done and now I can share it with friends, family, or on Facebook. Neat stuff! I can't wait to see what my kids will create next! Give it a try this summer and see how you might use it.

Click here for more information on Puppet Pals HD for the IPad

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

FakeBook Adds Animate Feature and Even Easier to Use

 I'm a huge fan of the fun site called "FakeBook" as I think it would be a great way for students to show their knowledge of a historical figure or event or even their knowledge of a story or book that they have read. And now they have added an "animate" feature where a student could animate their entire creation and show how their page was created and how the events happened in order. Students knowledge of facebook should make proving their knowledge fun, easy, and applicable. And as students show off their learning, other students will enjoy their presentations. Not to mention the many already made Fakebook pages that you could browse and possibly use to better explain how an event or book unfolded. Give it a try this summer and see how you might be able to use it during the school year!

Fakebook Tool click here!