Discovery Ed- A great tool!

Discoveryeducation.com is a great tool for both teachers and students. It is a website that offers teachers tons of resources on planning  and managing lessons. Among these tools are also builder tools. This helps the teacher create assignments with diversity of learning to a class as a whole and individual students. There is also a writing prompt and quiz builder. For example, as a teacher preparing to teach the solar system, I was able to click on the age of my student's, subject matter pertaining to the solar system, and explore several tools available to my students. I would be able to download video for the student's to watch to gain better visual understanding. I have access to Blackline Masters, which has creative and age appropriate classroom worksheets for enrichment and learning.
Under the teacher's guide you are able to utilize Unitedstreaming.com for inclass viewing which also offers a program summary, objectives, review questions, activities, and additional resources to take the learning further. A great website tool that will allow the "new teacher" as well as the "experienced teacher" plenty of resources without having to spend a lot of research time preparing for your class lessons.

The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate "aparently ordinary" people to unusual effort. The tough proplem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people.

K. Patricia Cross

Glog, glog, glog...

Wow, what a mess. At first I thought this would be totally cool, however once I got started it seemed I needed to be a little more techie than I thought. If I used glogster.com's preset graphics or video all was well. Once I tried to import my own stuff not so easy. I was consistantly given a "not a compatable website" error message. I did however manage to provide one link, one video, and clip art. That said, even with few bells and whistles, my glog provides students with all the criteria set forth in the video evaluation rubric. My glog shares all of the information needed to understand "How to Properly Write a Friendly Letter".
A glog can be a great asset for students. Like a Webinar, it can be a great central place to go to learn about one subject matter. It allows the teacher to do some of the researching for the student and focus on what the teacher feels should be pertinent information related to the subject.
 Please, check it out at the following link...
http://momfitz.glogster.com/Glog-2030/
 http://momfitz.glogster.com/glogofabill/ (this one just for fun)

~ Blogging is an art, same as any other method of self-expression. Some are better at it than others. ~
 Hugh Macleod

There's an App for that!

www.apple.com/education is a great website offering technology tools and uses in the classroom. At first I thought, how is an elementary student going to utilize computer applications at home and at school? After exploring the website further, apple offers a tool called the iPod Touch. I know all about this great piece of technology because I own one and my 2 kids play on it all the time. I had no idea that they offered applications for learning from elementary all the way up through college. Things such as flashcards, math games, vocabulary, etc. Schools are starting to utilize these in the classrooms as well. It seems kids are aquiring phones accessible to the internet at an earlier age too. The website also offers podcasts, itunes-U and other creative software supported by their systems. Good place to start if you have Apple technology in your classroom.


Computers have lots of memory but no imagination.  ~Author Unknown

Put this one in your binder!

http://www.ibinder.wwf.edu/ is a website that offers great links and tools for the unexperienced teacher as well as the novice. It offers great weblinks that house a search engine for specific grade level, subject and keyword search. This is very helpful in planning out particular assignments and don't want to spend your time researching what all the different websites have to offer. For instance, when I searched K-2, Language Arts I received a vast amount of weblinks, each detailing what in particular their website has to offer. Huge saver on time for that busy teacher.
It also has a Best Practices link with the same search style to offer the teacher little words of wisdom and went wells...Why reinvent the wheel, right?
Finally, there is a Standards database search. You can still select grade and subject and it gives detailed tools and guidelines to help incorporate standards into your lesson. A great tool that I feel helps break it down for the newby such as myself.  (These standards are according to Florida)
Overall, a great site to put in my favorites!


"If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow"- John Dewey

Storytime help from technology

Harcourt offers a great website http://www.harcourtschool.com/storytown/teacher_resources_menu/menu.htmle

for parents, students and also teachers. It offers many ideas such as poster lessons, Word Wall- lists for primary and intermediate students in addition to how to's, set ups, and vocabulary lessons. There is a resource to help get a writer started, unit home letters, and a long list of other teacher resource links- they give more links, explanations of assessments and training sessions.


Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve.  ~Roger Lewin

Reading with Technology

Raz-kids.com is an awesome website for teachers and students to learn and reinforce their reading skills. Student's can log on in their classroom as well as at home to practice their reading at their own level and pace. The teacher can also track the student's progress through the website's software as well. It also builds confidence within the reader and a great motivator to continue to read.

"Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way."- George Evans

The New Education World

Upon surfing the net this week I discovered a great website for teachers, especially those that may need technology support or help. Educationworld.com/a_tech/ offers several technology tutorials focusing on a different subject each month. This month they are listing 7 tips for using Microsoft Word for classroom management and student instruction. It also offers technology lessons for teachers to gain additional technology support and information.

"Who dares to teach must never cease to learn"- John Cotton Dana