Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 8/7/15

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

Every Trail – “EveryTrail is a global web2.0 platform for geo-tagged user-generated travel content that’s changing the way millions of people share travel experiences and plan trips. EveryTrail makes it easy to share travel experiences, through interactive maps that include photos plotted along your trip route. 

EveryTrail is free and useful for a wide variety of trips - including road trips, sight seeing tours, sailing trips, hiking, cycling, flying, hang gliding, geocaching, skiing, kayaking trips and more. EveryTrail has trips from over 80 countries in all corners of the world.

The rich and vibrant EveryTrail community is a great place to connect with others who share similar interests in travel and outdoor activities. When planning your next trip, use EveryTrail to discover where to go and what to do in some of the best places on earth.”  (L:G; SA:T)

EdPuzzle – “Creating a whole new digital environment in the class can be complicating some times. A lot of teachers never find the right tools to help them take the maximum advantage of their digitalized class. The tool EDPuzzle can help the teachers figure out the right solutions to the puzzling video world and create the best educational resource for their classes.” (L:G; SA:T)

Make Beliefs Comix – Make your own comic strips; “Increasingly, teachers, educational therapists and parents who work with special needs students are finding MakeBeliefsComix.com a useful resource in helping their youngsters express themselves and communicate.” (L:G; SA:T)

Disneynature Explore – free iPad and iPhone app; “Disneynature Explore combines an augmented reality experience with fun animal behavior game play that encourages children 4-8 and their caregivers to discover and play in nature. Search your own backyard with the lion to hunt a warthog, view your surroundings through a butterfly’s eyes, follow tracks along with the bear to find its cub, crack a nut like a chimpanzee, and much more!” (L:E; SA:S)

Shadow Puppet EDU - easily create videos in the classroom! Students as young as five can make videos to tell stories, explain ideas, or document their learning. 30+ lesson ideas supporting Common Core make it easy to get started! (L:E; SA:A)

Original photo by Pat Hensley