Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 2/12/16

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my PLN. As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!

Note: Each resource is labeled with a level and subject area to make it easier to use.

Levels:  E: Elementary; M: Middle; H: High; G: General, all levels; SN: Special Needs; T: Teachers

Subject Areas: LA: Language Arts, English, Reading, Writing; M: Math; S: Science; Health; SS: Social Studies, Current Events; FA: Fine Arts; Music, Art, Drama; FL: Foreign Language; PE: Physical Ed; C: Career; A: All

Winter: Everything You Need – From Scholastic; “Online activities, lesson plans, discussion guides, and other teaching ideas for celebrating winter” (L:E,M; SA:S)

Buncee – “Our buncee.com web-based platform provides users with multiple easy-to use tools to add personal photos, text, drawings, and online content such as YouTube videos, Soundcloud audio, flickr, Google, or public Instagram images into a digital canvas called a ‘buncee’ that can be shared among all your social and private networks with just a few clicks. Our buncee mobile apps, ‘buncee bits’ for iPad and iPhone, and ‘buncee pro’ for iPad give users a quick and easy option to create fun buncees on-the-go! Visit our Mobile Apps page to learn more.” (L:G; SA:A)

Math Vocabulary Cards – free iPad app; Each card features three sections: a math term, a representative example or model, and a concise definition. Each section can be hidden or revealed providing multiple options for practice. Vocabulary cards can be selected individually or by category and switched seamlessly between English and Spanish. (L:E; SA:M)

Slide Hunter – “Download free PowerPoint templates and backgrounds with original slide designs for your presentations. Make awesome PowerPoint presentations with free illustrations or combine nice diagrams for PowerPoint with business characters and avatars to impress your audience. You can download free PowerPoint templates and themes compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, 2007, 2010 and the new Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 but also available to be used on Keynote presentations or Office for Mac.

Download free PowerPoint templates and backgrounds with original slide designs for your presentations. Make awesome PowerPoint presentations with free illustrations or combine nice diagrams for PowerPoint with business characters and avatars to impress your audience. You can download free PowerPoint temple “tes and themes compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, 2007, 2010 and the new Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 but also available to be used on Keynote presentations or Office for Mac.” (L:T; SA:A)

Choosito – “Give your students access to curated content and safe web searches. We have built a language savvy tool that can read through web pages and figure out if they are appropriate for your students’ varying reading abilities and topic of research. Choosito innovates in education by offering a technology solution to the problem of finding resources that are right for your students. (L:T; SA:A)

Original photo by Pat Hensley