Website Wednesday

Vacation is the perfect opportunity to go through a number of sites I bookmarked as possible future Website Wednesday resources. Here are some that you can really use.

I’ve highlighted the Teachers Love SmartBoards blog before, but just in case you don’t follow it, there are two templates you’ll want to see. Bubble Reveal is the the first one. It’s programmed so that when a bubble is touched, it floats off the page, revealing the text underneath it. The second, Balloon Pop, is similar, only the balloon pops when touched, revealing what is underneath it.

Sight Words with Samson is a great sight word website that “speaks” to students. Games and activities are included for 224 sight words across 28 lists. It has different levels of activities for the words, and follows the method of “see the word, hear/say the word, spell the word.” A resource center is also included for teachers with lesson plans and worksheets.

Have you thought about using VoiceThread or Garage Band with your students to work on their fluency, but aren’t quite convinced it’s really worth it? Take a minute and read a blog entry by Rich Lambert, “Reading skills improved by digital storytelling & podcasting.” Of course VoiceThread isn’t just for reading. Take a look at the Math Problem Solving VoiceThread. If you want to know more about how to start using VoiceThread or Garage Band, email me or send me a meeting invite.

20+ Google Search Tips and Strategies goes far beyond the basic Boolean type search strategies, and includes some things that even most “techies” won’t know. This is definitely worth a look!

PicLits is a creative writing website that’s ridiculously easy to use. Students first select an image from the site. All images are school appropriate except maybe one bathing suit on a beach picture that someone might question. I’d just tell students to pick something else if they selected that picture. Once students select their picture all they have to do is drag and drop words on top of it. A free style option exists for students to use their own words rather than the ones from the site. Students can’t save the images, but they can screen shot them and then insert into a Page document. To take a screen shot hold down the shift key and the apple/command key, and press the number 4 key.  A cross hair will appear on your screen.  Draw a big box around what you want to keep.  As soon as you lift up off the mouse button, the picture will be placed on your desktop, named Picture 1.  If you make a mistake, just repeat the process.  It will now be named Picture 2.  You can insert the image into almost any application, including Pages.

Have you ever wished that you could turn an iPod into a listening center? I ran across a new product recently that can do that, the RockStar from Belkin ($19.99) can connect up to five headphones (or earbuds) to an iPhone or an iPod. FYI, I’m not promoting this product, only pointing it out to you. I have no idea whether or not it’s high quality or if it will really work, but it certainly looks interesting to me.

Finally, Google has a new way to search, the Wonder Wheel. Watch the video below for a good overview of it.

If you like these sites post a comment and share your thoughts with other teachers.  How do you think they helped you and/or your students?

If you find a resource that should be highlighted here, be sure to let me know!