Carlisle HyperStream Students Create Carlisle Website!

Kim Flagor, Ben Barry, and Julie Thompson applied for and wrote a grant to bring Hyperstream to our middles school as a STEM initiative. We received that grant and now have our Hyperstream club up and running. While some students are building a LEGO robot, others are filming videos. And still others are making a powerpoint presentation. One group has created a website for Carlisle students and community to go to. Take a look around their site and post any feedback you have. They are in the beginning stages, but it looks pretty cool so far!

 Click on the link below:

 Carlisle 2 the World 

 Or here is the actuall web address:

 sites.google.com/site/carlisle2theworld

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!

Go Social Studies Go Website!

If you teach Middle School Social Studies, this site is for you. High school teachers could use it to, but this site is built for middle school teachers and kids. It gives you lots and lots of history topics in shorter bits than a huge textbook and adds in a few fun and goofy tidbits to keep the kids reading about these key events in history. You might read them to add to your knowledge and instruction or maybe just have the kids read and review them and report to other kids. Lots of possibilities!

Go Social Studies Go! click here!

Awesome Conversion Site for Documents!

Wow. I just tried CometDocs and it was soooooo easy and so quick! I love it! If you want to convert a PDF file into a Word document for students or just for yourself, this is the site to use. You can do several other types of conversions as well. Easy to use and so fast. Give it a try!

CometDocs click here!

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!

Got an IPad? Have IPads in the Classroom? You Need This Resource!

Thank you to Larry Ferlazzo and his blog Websites of the Day, this blog post may be short but it is FULL of IPad apps that you may want on your personal IPad or your student/class IPads. Each link has tons of good apps, many of which I either have on my IPad or have tried on student IPads. If you have a moment and are wondering what apps would be good for you or your classroom, this is the place to start!

IPad resources click here!