Usborne Books-Guest Blogger Sarah

Usborne Books is a website where you can purchase books. There are books for all ages and activities such as flashcards or puzzles. The flashcards are nice because they are heavy and can be wiped off in case they are spilled on. There are books for first learners that teach phonics. This site also has seasonal items along with products in foreign languages.
http://www.usbornebooks.com/

Students become authors at tikatok.com

tikatok.com assists kids ages 5-14 in writing, illustrating, and publishing their own stories. Multiple prompts and ideas are available to assist students in generating ideas, or kids can bypass the prompts and make their own original creations. It's free to log on and create a book. Ordering printed copies of the books will cost about $15. The neatest thing about this site is that it takes kids through the layout of a book; what a great tool for generating interest in writing and teaching text features. It's also great for student artists because kids can upload their own artwork to feature in the books or choose from existing illustrations. Teachers can also create a free class password, which will allow their students to log on and for the teacher to monitor their work from the teacher dashboard.

Book ideas by grade level, Guest Blogger Jennifer

Hedgehog books is a great tool when looking for a book to read to your class. It has the books listed according to grade level. It also has books listed by different type of book: example: science fiction, fiction, non-fiction. This is great when looking for a new variety of books. These books are all up to date and ones that students would love to read. You may also purchase books from here. Some teachers have also listed reviews on the books for you to read. There is also a section to ask a teacher, the top 10 books, series picks, and also a newsletter. Great site to look at. http://www.hedgehogbooks.com/

What's a Mimio?

A Mimio is similar to interactive whiteboard, but Mimio's technology is housed in a compact bar that attaches easily to any whiteboard, converting it into a vibrant teaching medium. The mimio Interactive Stylus acts like a mouse, so you can manipulate anything on your computer screen right from the whiteboard. Just turn on your computer and your LCD projector, install the mimio Studio Software, and you are ready to go! Weighing under three pounds, the entire mimio system is easily carried from classroom to classroom. A Mimio is about half the price of a traditional interactive whiteboard, and educator pricing is available.

Case Studies-What do I do when a student . . . .?

All Kinds of Minds is a site dedicated to providing information about various social, mental, physical, and behavioral conditions that can hinder effective classroom learning, with the goal of enabling parents and educators to identify and address these obstacles. The case studies outline a student's strengths, weaknesses, and affinities, but also provide ideas for management strategies for accommodating learning differences and providing interventions to assist students in achieving success. Case studies range from students with attention and communication issues, to reading, organization, math, and social behavior issues.

Stationery Studio-software to inspire and motivate young writers

Software Studio provides K-5 students with over 200 designs, templates, and activities to assist them in getting their ideas onto the printed page. This award-winning, flexible program supports writing stories, reports, letters and countless other writing projects by hand and at the computer.

With easy to use tools and colorful graphics, featuring motivating art by award-winning children’s book author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds (illustrator of Judy Moody series, author/illustrator of The Dot, Ish), this program will inspire even the most reluctant writer of any age.

For free demo and to view sample activities, go to http://www.fablevision.com/stationerystudio/index.php Cost is about $70 for a single-user.

Eye-Fi- Guest blogger Rachelle

http://www.eye.fi/ Eye-Fi with any camera that uses an SD memory card. Just insert the Eye-Fi card. Your camera is now wireless. Ready...to go take pictures. Later, when you arrive at home just turn on your computer and automatically save your photos to your computer. Effortlessly share your memories to your favorite photo website with Eye-Fi share and Eye-Fi Explore. No cables, cradles or hassles to save your pictures.

Scholastic "book" clubs

Scholastic Corp. has recently come under fire for using its "vast, venerable network of school-based book clubs to market toys and other non-educational items such as video games and lipgloss." The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which is a national coalition of educators, health care professionals, and parents have launched a protest against Scholastic for marketing items other than books in their book club flyers.

As a teacher, I regularly handed out Scholastic book orders and enjoyed assisting students in selecting books they might like and ordering to add to my own classroom collection. Back in my day, (yes, I'm that old;)there weren't a lot of non-book items included in the order forms. As a parent of a 6th grader, I have seen the orders become more and more commercial with items like necklaces, erasers, and make your own doorbell kits. It's especially frustrating when books are packaged with such items. Kids may or may not be interested in the book, but if it come with a "prize," they might be more likely to purchase it-or ask parents to make the purchase. What do you think? Go to http://www.scholastic.com/ to look at book club selections.

The Downsiders, Guest Blogger, Reagan

The Downsiders, by Neal Shusterman, is about a whole civilization that lives below New York City. All of their clothes and accessories are made from the garabage that makes it's way below the empiric NYC. You'll meet Talon, Gutta, and Railborn who are looking for "fallen Topsiders" to deliver to their superiors of the Downside. These "fallen Topsiders" are the poor and depressed of the city who feel like they have no other options but to die alone and without a fulfillment of life. The Downsiders believe that anyone above ground is corrupt and incompetent. But when Talon's younger sister becomes ill and he knows that Topsiders have advanced medicine, he must venture above ground to save his little sister's life. There he meets Lindsay, a victim of her parent's divorce who is also looking for a friend. Together they venture between worlds - both discovering something new. But when Lindsay's dad's construction business hits a snag that reveals part of the Downside, their blooming relationship (and all of the Downside) is in peril.

"Shusterman also uses their [Lindsay and Talon's] relationship to illustrate how much a particular culture both shapes our identity and affects how we view people from backgrounds other than our own. This call to look beneath the surface is cleverly and subtly woven through an original story with broad appeal." -- Jennifer Hubert from Amazon.com

Jing Project

http://www.jingproject.com Jing Project is a free software download for both Macs and PCs. With Jing, you can capture screen shots, images, and record video. Users may also share their captures via the web, email, or IM. Jing is similar to Snagit software, but Jing is free.

Poll Everywhere

http://www.polleverywhere.com/

Poll Everywhere is a site that can be used to take instant polls in classrooms. It's free, and all that's needed is the Internet and for every student to have a computer or cell phone for voting. It works without SMART boards or PROMETHEAN boards.

Why use Poll Everywhere?
Collect data while interacting with your audience
Poll Everywhere replaces expensive proprietary audience response hardware with standard web technology. It's the easiest way to gather live responses in any venue: conferences, presentations, classrooms, radio, tv, print — anywhere. It can help you to raise money by letting people pledge via text messaging. Its simplicity and flexibility are earning rave reviews.

Photo Gallery by Subject

You've heard of Flickr, and you've heard of Google Earth, but have you heard of http://www.taggalaxy.com ? Taggalaxy is a mash up of Flickr and Google Earth. Simply enter a "tag" or topic into the text box and watch as your topic is broken down into subtopics. For example, if you entered the tag castles, subtopics like French castles, English castles, etc. will appear on satellites floating around your original tag. Click on any of the satellites and any Flickr photo thumbnails that match your tag will automatically appear on your satellite. Click on any photo to enlarge it. Note that since Flickr photos are constantly being updated, it's important to save any photos you might like to use in class to a PowerPoint, slide show, or voice thread. Use the photos for journal prompts, time lines, story starters-great possibilities.

Do you Twiddle?

http://www.twiddla.com is a free, no set-up, web based meeting playground. Make America's most popular pastime - web surfing - a team sport. Browse websites in a shared, real-time whiteboard, while marking them up, sharing files, and chatting along. It's called co-browsing; all the cool kids are doing it. You can invite people to join by adding their email or simply giving them the URL of the twiddla site you get to by clicking "start a meeting."