duoLingo ~learn a language for free!

https://www.duolingo.com/

Website:  duoLingo

App:  duoLingo

Cost:  FREE
Rating by Jules~ 5 Star

Difficulty Level:  Beginner

Device:  Across Platform

Rated:  Everyone

This is one of my favorite apps from the 2013-2014 school year.  DuoLingo is an across platform app/website.  You can use it on a pc, android, iPad and as a Google App.  It is very user friendly~simply create an account and choose a language (Spanish, French, German, I think there is more to come). DuoLingo creates a  tree that will guide you through different skills.  You will begin with basic word and various verb tenses and work your way to harder language development.  It also has the ability to socially engage with others that you may want to share or compete with for fun.  The cool/awesome thing about duoLingo is that it is FREE and it saves your activity- pick up where you left off.  This game may even hook you with the hearts it hands out.  

Digitally Scanned Newspapers dating back to the 1800's

 

http://news.google.com/newspapers

Website:  Google News- Super Sweet!

Cost:  FREE
Rating by Jules~ 5 Star

Difficulty Level:  Beginner

Device:  Across Platform

Rated:  Everyone

 

Oh my goodness!  This site is so cool!  First, I visited thinking I would only see big time newspapers (NY Times, etc) but I was pleasantly surprised when I did a search with my maiden name.  I grew up in a small town in northern Michigan and participated in many sporting events that were often in the small hometown newspaper.  To my surprise, most of the articles are all now digitally saved.  They came up and it was so much fun to re-read my successes from high school.  I scanned more of the papers on the page and found some of the papers are even digitally saved from the 1800's.  This is such a neat resource and can be used in so many ways~I just had to share! 

App Review- Handwriting without Tears Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st-2nd grade

App:  Handwriting without Tears
Cost:  6.99- Well worth the Money!
Rating by Jules~ 4.5 Star

Difficulty Level:  Beginner

Device:  iPad

Rated:  3-7 years

This is an app review for one of the favorite apps from our K-1 building.  Handwriting without tears is a favorite because it offers various options for "play".  The app shows the kids where to start each stroke and will give them hints for the second time they do the letter and on the third time they start without a hint.  There are voice, music and special effects options.  Downside of the app is it only offers uppercase letters, but overall it a great app!i

100 Incredibly Useful YouTube Channels for Teachers

Website Resource: Online Courses- 100 Incredibly Useful YouTube Channels for TeachersURL: http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2010/10/20/100-incredibly-useful-youtube-channels-for-teachers/ 

Cost:  FREE
Rating by Jules~ 4 Star

Difficulty Level:  Beginner

Device:  PC & Tablet 

Rated:  Everyone 

This is an oldy but goodie!  I have used this site for several years off and on for finding great educational/inspirational videos to share with classes and staff. This list comes off a Blog from Online Courses. Some of the sites on the page don't link up properly but for the most part most work.  This a definitely a great resource to have bookmarked on your computer.  

Watch this video to see how Video impact student learning:  

Get Kahoot!

Website: Kahoot 
Website URL:  http://getkahoot.com/ 
Cost: FREERating by Jules~ 4 Star

Difficulty Level: Easy 3rd-12th Grades

Device: PC, Tablet, Phone

Very cool website for teachers to gain quick access for understanding of material.  I love this website because Teachers can access the kahoot via the cloud.  That means they can create quizzes and/or surveys in the cloud no matter where they are located.  This website is a online Game Based Response system (comparable to Socrative).  It can be easily accessed by phones, tablets or pcs- all of which the student so badly want to use.  Once the quizzes/surveys are created the kids will receive instant feeback to the questions they answer.  They receive points for questions answered and more points for the student that answers with the correct answer the quickest.  Logging in is very simple, they can access the quizzes with a pin by visiting https://kahoot.it/#/ and/or they can also get a login to track their results. Check it out and let me know what you think!

 

Website: iCivics
URL:  http://www.icivics.org/ 
Cost: FREE Rating by Jules~ 4 Star

Difficulty Level: Rated for 7th-12th Grade

Device:  PC

I learned about this site from a 9th Grade High School Social Studies teacher.  He said the kids absolutely love playing the games on the site.  Kids can openly (without having to login) play fun games that involve Civics.  The site offers 19+ games that are easy to follow, fun and interactive.  I looked into the site further and signed up as a teacher.  I tried to download some resources but was unsuccessful.  At this point, I believe this is a great site for supplemental integration of ideas that you might be covering in class.  I don't see that the teacher side is fully accessible and easy to use.   

PicMonkey FREE Picture Editor- Love, Love, Love this site!

 

Website: PicMonkey
URL:  http://www.picmonkey.com/

Cost: FREE or Pay to upgrade for more options

Rating by Jules~

Difficulty Level:  Beginner

Device:  PC

Rated:  Everyone 

Do you have a photo that you want to edit but you don't have Photoshop.  No problem PicMonkey is an easy, outstanding site that is a free online picture editor (it also has paid features available for more advanced editing).  It is super duper user friendly.  It offers all kinds of free basic editing along with some intermediate editing.  I love this website because it is (1) user friendly, (2) easy to upload a picture , (3) easy to add text to a picture, (4) easy to quick fix a picture that might be too dark or light while offering other free color alternatives for your photo (5) easy to add borders and (6) last but not least easy to save directly to your computer (or socially share) in three different file format sizes!

Lessons Worth Sharing- TED Ed- Flipping your lessons!

Website:TedEd
URL:  http://ed.ted.com/

Cost: FREE

Rating by Jules~ 4 Stars (some technical difficulty with IE9- Chrome it works perfectly)

Difficulty Level:  Intermediate

Device:  PC

Browser recommendation:  Chrome

Rated:  For Upper Level Students 5th-12th

Check out this lesson I flipped on Sacajawea

When you hear Ted Ed most teachers think about the inspirational talk on Ted Talks. This website is somewhat related to the Ted Talks, but it is specially designed for the Teacher "Flipping the Classroom". During the Summer of 2013, I taught our High School teachers how to use this site.  You can virtually flip any video that is on Youtube, add questions for your students to answer and assuming your students have logins, you receive their results in your TED-Ed. teacher portal.  Students only need a login if you want to track their results.  I truly believe that this is a super resource for supplemental teaching. Check out the video that I flipped on Sacajawea.  This site is very user friendly and has recommendations for the best flips that have already been made (with questions already created) by other teachers that you can quickly use.  Have Fun! 

A favorite App...for everyone!

App: Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader 

Cost: FREE
Rating by Jules~ 5 Stars
Difficulty Level:  Beginner
Rated"  For Everyone!

This is a wonderful app for anyone who is looking to activate the mind.  Instead of the mindless apps that are out there and available for kids to waste hours playing, you can offer your child or student Are you Smarter Than a 5th grader.  This app offers reading, comprehension, deductive reasoning skills and offers a fun twist to the game.   My children "test" out a lot of apps that I downloaded for usefulness, usefulness of the app, and to see if it entertains them!  I like to know if there is advertising and future cost associated. I can say that this app is clean, fun, challenging and the love to play it.  I, as a parent, fell much better allowing them to play a game on our tablet when I know they are reading, comprehending and using reasoning to figure out answers.  Overall, this is a great game for any kid- even those older than a 5th grader!