Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 8/5/16

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

Why the Metric System Matters – a TED-ed lesson; “Matt Anticole traces the wild history of the metric system.”  (L:G; SA:M)

ABCD Wordie – “Wordie is a free online tool for EFL teachers. It allows you to quickly check the level of vocabulary in an authentic text before you use it in class. It also gives you access to levelled vocab lists – perfect for compiling a weekly test for your class.” (L:E,M; SA:LA)

WordClouds.com – “Wordclouds.com is a free online word cloud generator and tag cloud creator. Wordclouds.com works on your PC, Tablet or smartphone. Paste text, upload a document or open an URL to automatically generate a word- or tag cloud. Customize your cloud with shapes, themes, colors and fonts. You can also edit the word list, cloud size and gap size. Wordclouds.com can also generate clickable word clouds with links (image map). When you are satisfied with the result, save the image and share it online.” (L:G; SA:A)

Share To Classroom – “Get your class on the same (web)page, instantly.

Google Classroom Teachers: Save time and create a more interactive class with the Share to Classroom extension.  The extension allows you to push webpages to your any of your Classroom classes, so they open instantly on your students' computers.  With this extension, you can get your students on the right page, quickly and reliably every time.  You can also post announcements, create assignments, or save webpages to post to Classroom later.

Students: The Share to Classroom extension gets you to webpages your teacher shares, without you having to type out the whole URL. You can also push web pages directly to your teacher.

Share to Classroom requires a Google Apps for Education account with Google Classroom." (L:G; SA:A)

Alphabetimals – “Alphabetimals are cartoon animals hidden in the shape of the letters of the alphabet, to help make learning the ABC's fun and easy. Letter naming is a strong predictor of later reading success. From letter recognition and uppercase/lowercase matching to alphabetical ordering, the Alphabetimals put a uniquely entertaining twist on traditional early literacy skill building.

Alphabetimals are cartoon animals hidden in the shape of the letters of the alphabet, to help make learning the ABC's fun and easy. Letter naming is a strong predictor of later reading success. From letter recognition and uppercase/lowercase matching to alphabetical ordering, the Alphabetimals put a uniquely entertaining twist on traditional early literacy skill building.”

Original photo by Pat Hensley