Website Wednesday Returns!

Website Wednesday has returned!  Now that our year is well underway it’s time to share some of the best websites I’ve looked at, that you can really use.

ZooBurst is a digital storytelling site that lets you or your students create 3-D pop-up books online. After you sign up for a free account you can get started creating a book. ZooBurst even allows you to upload images you’ve created (in KidPix) to really customize your characters or background images. Other clipart is built into ZooBurst if you don’t want to create your own. The free account does not allow for student user names, and has a limit of ten books per account. However, if you login with your account, students can then create a book with you, or on their own. You could even create one together on the SmartBoard!  To setup accounts for each of your students, and/or create an unlimited number of books,  a premium membership is needed, which costs $49.99 per teacher, per year.

The Vocabulary Games and Resources website has a number of fun and engaging activities that cover topics such as antonyms, compound words, parts of speech, idioms, synonyms, contractions, and more. Activities are split by grade level groups, K-2, 3-5, and middle school.

Printable Handwriting Paper is a great resource if you find that you need a special line size or rule type of paper for your students.

The Google Basic Top Ten is a very brief article on the ten items every user should know when using Google search, which is something we all do. Check it out, you just might learn something new.

10 Ways to Get Free Money & Classroom Supplies is a blog entry written by Richard Byrne in his Free Technology for Teachers blog (one of my must-reads!). We all know that funds are tight, and Richard has put together a list of ten ways you can find free money and/or supplies (really nine now that the deadline passed for one grant).

Sumdog math games look like fun.  The site promotes itself as offering 100 numeracy topics at 10 different levels.  Students can play as a guest (no email needed this way), either against the computer or other students around the globe, to improve their numeracy skills. You’ll probably want to explore the games and levels first in order to determine what is most appropriate for your students.

If you want to check out all of the resources I’ve found since the end of last school year, you can easily explore my online bookmarks. They’re on the Delicious site, and available at:  http://www.delicious.com/annmarycarnevale. I keep all of my professional bookmarks online so I can access them no matter where I am, or what computer I’m using. It also gives you the chance to explore them or find what you want by viewing my tagged topics. If you’d like to keep your bookmarks online I’ll be glad to help you set up your account. You can either join me on January 27th from 4:00-5:00 at Toffolon for a scheduled Technology Potpourri PD session, or you can email me to set up another time. An added bonus about Delicious bookmarks is that I can add other educators around the globe to my network and see what they’ve bookmarked. It’s an amazing way to find new educational resources!

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? The first two PCS teachers from each elem. school to post a comment will find a little surprise in their mailbox soon!  :)

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