Category: Middle/High School

Simply the Best Free Fonts

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What it is: Sometimes all you need is a fresh new font to brighten your day. When they are fabulous and free the day gets even sunnier! Simply the Best Free Fonts is exactly what you would guess, free fonts on the web that are the best. There are fonts for every mood, season, flavor, grade, theme, etc., etc., etc. They are easily categorized and an easy download. I ask you, does it get any better than this?

How to integrate Simply the Best Free Fonts into your curriculum: Aside from making your newsletters, worksheets, and instructions more fun, Simply the Best Free Fonts can be a great motivator for students. Do you have a student who hates to write? Publishing their writing with a fun font may be just the motivation you need. Come on, admit it…don’t we all enjoy writing more when there are great fonts to pep up our words? Kids feel the same! Download a font a week for your kiddos and have them looking forward to typing everything from spelling words to reports.

Tips: Set up some time to explore…if you are like me you lose hours looking at new fonts without realizing that time is passing!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Simply the Best Free Fonts in your classroom.

Qlubb

Kelly Tenkely4 Comments on Qlubb15573 views

What it is: Qlubb will change the way you communicate and interact with parents and families. Qlubb includes features perfect for the classroom such as: event calendaring, sign-up sheets, to-do lists, automatic event and task reminders, photo sharing, member rosters, and bulletin boards. Everything on Qlubb is intuitive and extremely simple. Parents and teachers will have no problem jumping in and using Qlubb to enhance home/school communication. This is social networking at its finest for schools!

How to integrate Qlubb into your curriculum: Start off the 2008/2009 year off right by creating a Qlubb network for your classroom. There is plenty of time for you to try it out before then, I have to say that it is truly so intuitive that you won’t need that much time to get it up and going. Use Qlubb as a place to post class pictures, class information, daily homework, and as a place where parents can sign up to help in the classroom or for field trips. This is a great solution for parent/school communication. Qlubb would also be great for after school clubs or sports organization.

Tips: Sign up today and familiarize yourself with Qlubb…you and your parents are going to love it!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Qlubb in your classroom.

CurrClick

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What it is: CurrClick is a website that contains thousands of instantly downloadable education resources from some amazing publishers. CurrClick provides educators with access to full previews, a place to create wish lists, instant delivery, great customer service, prices that are about 30% below retail and very best of all…a new FREE book each week with no strings attached. I really did just say a FREE new book every week! Does it get any better than that?! I am so excited about this find, so worth exploring!

How to integrate CurrClick into your curriculum: The free books each week will help to keep your classroom library fresh and current for your students. But CurrClick also has really great curriculum resources like the Connect the Thoughts Spelling program (one of the freebies). It also has great audio books that can be loaded onto your class iPod reading buddies (if you are so lucky!) or just downloaded to iTunes for a computer reading/listening center. I downloaded the free Little is Big audio book about a fish who teaches students character education values. The book is so cute! CurrClick makes it simple to find what you are looking for by subject, age, publisher, or price.

Tips: To find all of the free titles available sort by price and then click on the Free option. Create a wish list at the beginning of the year and send to parents…they can fulfill you wish list whenever they are looking for a gift to give you.

Another huge thank you to my friend Jill from www.theapple.com for telling me about CurrClick!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using CurrClick in your classroom.

Planbook Software

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What it is: Planbook Software is a Mac only software created for teachers (sorry PC users, yet another reason that you should be on a Mac!) You no longer have to do the old school paper and pencil lesson plan book. Now you can keep your lessons in digital form easily with Planbook. Planbook makes it simple to enter information about your lessons, attach files directly to the lesson, print great looking reports, publish lessons to the web, and search your lessons easily.

How to integrate Planbook Software into your curriculum: Make your life easier with Planbook Software…this will save you so much time and makes planning simple! The interface is very easy to use and intuitive. Planbook Software also allows you to easily keep other teachers, administrators, students and parents aware of your teaching. You can choose which parts, if any, of your Planbook are viewable to others.

Tips: Check out the fun themes that you can use to make your Planbook personal!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Planbook in your classroom.

Virtual Author Series

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What it is: Simon and Schuster Publishing is offering a new unique experience to schools, a virtual author series. The electronic author visit brings bestselling and award-winning authors and makes them easily accessible to students and teachers. S&S creates a website specifically for each author visit that provides teachers with background information that will help prepare students for the author visit and provides interactive material that relates to the subject discussed in the author’s book. The program also includes a series of classroom activities and curriculum binders. The live web broadcast is the culmination of the virtual author experience. The 45 minute segment will include a presentation from the author, a reading from the book, and a question and answer session in which the author answers questions from the students.

How to integrate Virtual Author Series into the classroom: Bring popular author Andrew Clements (Frindle) into your classroom by signing up at the My Visit website http://www.bsu.edu/myvisit/ You need to sign up your class ASAP if you would like to participate in the first in the Virtual Author Series which takes place on March 18th. This is an outstanding opportunity for classrooms, libraries, and schools. Bring reading to life for your students with a virtual author visit. If you, like me, are on spring break during the first author in the Virtual Author Series be sure to check back for future Virtual Author events.

Tips: Check back for future Virtual Authors. The next Virtual Author will be D.J. MacHale (PENDRAGON) on April 29, 2008. This is an awesome way to bridge literacy and technology!

Please leave a comment and tell us how the Virtual Author Series went in your class. Specifically, I want to hear all about it since I won’t be able to participate!

Cyber Smart

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What it is: Cyber Smart is free technology curriculum for use in a technology classroom or as part of the regular classroom curriculum. The SMART in Cyber Smart stands for Safety and security, Manners bullying and ethics, Advertising and policy, Research and information fluency, and Technology. The curriculum is very complete and easy to follow. Best of all it is completely FREE! In addition to the comprehensive curriculum, Cyber Smart also offers a free tool bar (seriously handy) as well as professional development.

How to integrate Cyber Smart into your curriculum: The Cyber Smart curriculum is perfect for the technology classroom, media center, and even your regular classroom as part of other subjects such as character education or when teaching research.

Tips: Make sure the sites recommended by the Cyber Smart curriculum work in your classroom before working it into your day…some of the sites get blocked by filters.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Cyber Smart in your classroom.

Colorado Podcast Summit Revisted

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As promised the Colorado Podcast Summit that I participated in is now online. Be sure to listen to the Keynote speakers podcasts for truly inspiring ways to use podcasting in your classroom. If you are looking for my poster session, you can find it under the Poster Session section. Make sure to check out the Resources page where you can find downloads for podcating story boards, rubrics, research, copy right information, and more. You can get to the Colorado Podcast Summit online here: http://www2.bvsd.org/ipodsummit/Pages/default.aspx

PalBee

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on PalBee3809 views

 

What it is: PalBee is a free online video conferencing/recording tool. When you become a registered member of PalBee you have the ability to create an unlimited number of video conferencing sessions, each can be an hour long, with up to 5 attendees. PalBee also allows for visual collaboration on the online whiteboard. The Whiteboard allows you to upload images and write or draw on top of it.

How to integrate PalBee into your curriculum: PalBee could be useful in the classroom in several different ways. The first is for its intended purpose, video conferencing. If you have a pen pal or buddy classroom, set up times throughout the year for your students to video conference. All that you need is a web cam and Internet connection. Your students will really enjoy conferencing with students in another state or across the world. After you have conferenced with your buddy classroom, consider collaborating on a project together. PalBee provides a great workspace for students to share ideas. PalBee can also be used as a place to record tutorials for your students. You can individualize instruction and record several lessons that can be saved by PalBee and used from year to year. If you have students who are having trouble reading, extend their learning day and “go home” with them using PalBee. A struggle in many schools is getting parents to read with or help their child study at home. If a parent isn’t available or doesn’t make it a priority, students can get onto your saved PalBee recordings and learn with you at their own pace. This may have the added benefit of modeling reading and studying to parents. Have a parent who can’t make a parent teacher conference? Set up a PalBee meeting with them that better fits into the schedule.

Tips: Set up a classroom account for PalBee where all of your recordings can be saved for quick access.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using PalBee in your classroom.


World Math Day

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on World Math Day3575 views

 

What it is: March 5, 2008 (yes that is this Wed.) is World Math Day. Don’t feel bad if you missed this important date, I did to until my e-friend Kim Johnson tipped me off to it. (Thank you Kim!) World Math Day even has a dedicated site. The site is preparing for a celebration of numbers as children from around the world unite to set a world record in answering mental arithmetic questions. It is appropriate for all age and ability levels. More than 20,000 schools from around the world will be participating…make sure that yours is one of them! Register your school now for free.

How to integrate World Math Day into your curriculum: If you have access to a computer lab this is the day to take advantage! If not, set up your classroom computers to World Math Day so that students can participate throughout the day. Students will take part in a real time battle of speed and skill using the live Mathematics game engine. Students can participate from school or home. This would make for some fun math homework 🙂

Tips: Register now and be sure to participate on March 5th.

Please leave a comment and share how World Math Day worked in your classroom!

Read to Feed

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Read to Feed3747 views

 

What it is: Read to Feed is a worthy reading program to get your students involved in. Heifer International sponsors the reading project for kids. Students read book and in turn help other children around the world to be fed, proud, and learn to be self-reliant. The Read to Feed website provides students with the opportunity to take virtual journeys to other countries, play trivia games, learn about farm animals, select an animal gift that they want to earn through reading, read real stories about children around the world, do “cow-culations” with the cow calculator, and send e-postcards to family and friends. The teacher tools that Read to Feed provides are amazing. The goal of Read to Feed is global education, awareness, and action. The more books your students read, the more they help impoverished children around the world. Read to Feed provides teachers with the tools to teach about important issues like poverty and environmental degredation in a real life hands on way, challenge students to learn more about the world and its people, inspire students, promote team spirit and service learning, empower kids to be global citizens and make a real difference, and improve reading skills. The curriculum is extremely flexible and best of all, free! Resources for teachers include the Read to Feed website, leaders guide, DVD, poster, storybook, brochures, bookmarks, student rewards, and standards based curriculum based on the age group you teach.

How to integrate Read to Feed into your curriculum: Read to Feed is an absolutely amazing way to teach your students about being global citizens and helping them to become globally aware. It also makes an outstanding motivational reading program because students want to read to earn animals for other children around the world. Read to Feed curriculum is all you need to integrate Read to Feed into your reading, social studies, and even math curriculum. This is hands on learning that will make a difference in your students life as well as the lives of other children around the world.

Tips: Sign up to receive your free Read to Feed teacher resources today! You will be amazed with the quality of all of the Read to Feed materials…this makes a great tie into the Free Rice project!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Read to Feed in your classroom!