Great site for Scholarship Information

Website: Student Scholarships.org

This is a great site for students searching for Scholarships for College.  After you read about the Scholarship of interest, a link at the bottom of the page provides a link to the actual Scholarship.  No gimmicks here- just real apps for scholarships.

Free Educational Games from a recognized company in language and reading development

Website: GameGOO  

Cost: FREE

Device: PC- Java Based

Rated:  PreK-4th

Stick with you Educational Games that help develop early reading skills.  This is a great resource for the wee ones just beginning in language and reading development.  The games are developed by Houghton Mifflin Company and associated with earobics (An award-winning software that provides individualized instruction in critical areas of reading).   I would download a shortcut to your desktop for easy access.

AirParrot2- Broadcast your devices to Apple TV and/or Chromecast

Website:  AirParrot2

Cost: $14.99 - Free 7 day trial

Broadcast your devices (laptop, tablet, desktop, etc) to Apple TV, Chromecast or share audio around the house to Air-Play-enabled speakers

Device: All

Rated:  Everyone

Personally, I think AirParrot is awesome!  It is an easy fix for the traveling presenter.  No more having to deal with hard-wiring into projectors.  Simply air-play your device screen to the Apple TV or Chromecast, easily type in the wireless code and you are off sharing your presentation.  The cast is very accurate with very little lag time. We have been overly impressed with this option.  Our school is using it to project chromebooks to apple tv for sharing.  I can also see uses as home to apple tv or chromecast to project on your TV. The possibilities are endless!

Prep information on the New SAT in the State of Michigan

UPDATED 9/25/2016  New PSAT Prep Tests released on KHAN

https://www.khanacademy.org/mission/sat/practice/mathWebsite:  Kahn Academy- SAT Prep

Cost: Free

Prep for the New SAT

Difficulty Level: All

Device: All

Rated:  Everyone

I am super impressed with the work the Kahn Academy has done on these videos. The videos are comprehensive and complete.  Kahn has created videos for each section of the test (reading, math, writing and essay).  They go through each question comprehensively and outline how the correct answer is reached.  I will be recommending this site to my high school principal and ask that teachers integrate these videos into their daily lessons!  I will also begin looking at these video with my own children.  Granted my children are only going into 6th grade, but I am already thinking about testing for them.  I will have 3 kids going through college at the same time therefore I need to start prepping them for doing well on these tests.  I will hope and pray for some scholarships!!  

Google Newspaper Archive - Great Resource for looking up historical events and/or historical people

Website:  https://news.google.com/newspapersCost:Free

Rating by Jules: 5 star

Difficulty Level: All

Device: All

Rated:  Everyone

I love this site.  It is a great way to search old newspapers online for historical information.   There are hundreds of resources and the search gives the user real scanned copies of original prints of newspapers when the story was printed.  I was even able to look up my high school career athletic highlights from my local paper!  Give it a try - you won't be disappointed.

Downloadable Contract for "being smart online" - for Kids, Teen, & Parents

 

 

What:  Family Contract for Online Safety

Website:  http://www.safekids.com/contract.htm
Cost:  Free Level:  All

 

There are pdf downloads for a contract for a Parent, Child and Teen about their pledge for being smart online.  I had my children read through the pledge and sign it.  It now hangs on our bulletin board as a reminder for the pledge they took with our family. 

Tired of those Ads popping up - Especially for Teachers! I ran some tests- it blocks ads about 90% of the Time!

Chrome App:  Adblock for Youtube
Cost:  Free -
Special Note: You need to be in the Chrome Browser and have a login for google

What:  Automatically filters Ads out

Level- All

Teachers- Do you want to able to show videos without those annoying ads popping up in the beginning of the videos?  Adblock will do the trick!  You need to make sure you are in Chrome and have a Chrome login.  Visit the Link above to add as an extension to your chrome browser and viola!  You don't need to do anything else.  When you visit youtube and open a video to view, you will notice a not at the bottom right saying "cleaned by Adblocker" . I ran a test on several videos with huge viewing numbers and the majority of the time the ads were blocked.  I came across 1 or 2 that didn't block.  Always look for the message on the bottom right for the "cleaned" message.    Also, don't forget about Quietube to get rid of all the junk on the screen.

YouTube Kids Great for Kids 10 and under- Free App

App:  You Tube Kids
Cost:  Free for iOS and Android

Age appropriate videos

Level- Pre K -3rd grade

Finally, youtube has created a safe place for kids to explore.  All videos are kid appropriate.  It has a link to tv shows for kids, a kids radio and an educational/learning link.  This will put parents minds at ease know their kids won't be coming across inappropriate videos.  This is also a great because it gives the parents the option to set a timer on how long children can use the app.  

Unroll Me - It has made my email manageable again!

Unroll.me from Unroll.me on Vimeo.


This is for those gmail, hotmail, yahoo, etc . accounts that get out of hand with subscriptions. I was very skeptical at first, but after about a week I realized I am able to see the emails that are important and I don't have to weed out all the "stuff" that I don't care about.  Give it a try, I don't think you will be disappointed.  It gives you the option to unsubscribe to the numerous emails that come to your account or you can create an unroll where it will take the subscriptions you choose and roll them all into one email for you to view!   Super cool!

Unite Literacy- Free online books with narration- any language!

Website:  Unite Literacy
Cost:  Free

Interactive Books that students can have narrated to them in any language!

Level- Pre K -2nd grade

This is a great Free resource site for students K-2nd grade.  There are several categories to choose from for types of books/reading they want to do.   They can even select various languages to listen to the reading.  The only downfall to the site is when the pages are read the words do not highlight as they are read.  

Waterford Institute Free Learning App K-2

 
iPad App: My Backpack
Designer:  Waterford
Cost: FREE
Level- Pre K -2nd grade

Great find of a free educational app made by the Waterford Institute.  We currently run the Waterford paid subscription for the PC in our K-2 building and the children really enjoy playing and learning on this software.  Features include:

• 4 Mental Math Games – Interactive addition and subtraction games with 25 progressive levels and 3D animation that encourages and challenges children, yet is so fun they don’t want to put it down.
• 5 Nursery Rhyme Read-Alongs – Creative nursery rhymes that encourage exploration and reading, in a board-book format with interactive features that appeal to pre-readers.
• 35 Songs – Catchy, original songs illustrate reading, math and science concepts in fun ways that make sense and stick with the child.
• 16 Traditional Tales books – Beautifully illustrated interactive read-along stories allow the child to choose if she wants to read on her own, be read to, or watch the story like a movie.

I just tested out this app and I am super excited to load it to our iPads in our K-2 Building.  Another perk to this app is "no in app purchase".  Love it!

Fantastic (Video) Resources for teaching Elementary Music Education- Treble & Bass

Listen and view - You won't forget about Treble and Bass, neither will the students!

YouTube Channel: AT8fingers louie
Cost: FREE - Platform: across
Level- Music Elementary K-8

Direct URL:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2TLtRu6Hqk 

Direct URL:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY-hJ9WZ6lk

Bookmark! 15 Chromebook Keyboard shortcuts

Website:  http://www.pcworld.com/article/2871246/the-15-best-chromebook-keyboard-shortcuts-for-faster-productivity.html

Cost:  FREE  -  

Platform:  Chromebook

Level- all

This is a great resource/guide for Chromebook users for quick/easy shortcuts on Chromebooks.  Shortcuts are a necessity for faster productivity.  Bookmark it today- even if you don't have a chromebook yet, I truly believe they are the future and you will need this shortcut someday soon!

Adopt an Olympic Athlete for your classroom!

Website:  http://classroomchampions.com 

Cost:  FREE  - Need to apply and be accepted to participateDevice: 

PC-iPad - Need a google account for Hangouts

Level- K-12

This is a very neat opportunity.  One of our 1st grade teachers was chosen to participate in this outstanding program.  Teacher opportunities throughout the nation are randomly posted on the site throughout the year.  Scroll to the bottom right of the webpage to see opportunities for your state.  The Classroom of Champions is organized to connect a classroom with an Olympic athlete.   It is very neat when they do a Google hangout to actually see and talk with the athlete.  The program will send the chosen teacher technology devices to aid in connecting with the athletes.  The athlete offers lessons for students to learn.  Even if you are not in the program, there are videos posted on the website for teaching moments in the classroom.  Well worth checking out!