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!   

M-Step Sample is available for online evaluation

Website:  https://wbte.drcedirect.com/MI/portals/mi/ott1 

The new M-Step sample questions are out for educators, parents and students to checkout.  This is a sophisticated online test that takes place of the age old MEAP assessment in Michigan.  Questions are designed in the "smarter balanced"  design.  Recently, I administered a similar math interim assessment for Kindergarten and 1st grade students.  Let me just say that the first day of administration was not as successful as the second day.   Students were somewhat clueless how answer each of the uniquely designed questions.  Day two of the assessment was completely different, they knew what to expect and how to answer the uniquely designed questions.

So, how are we going to prepare out students for these assessments?  Two recommendations I can offer #1. have teachers start prepping students now (add the URL to your school website for easy access) with the sample online test (or search for online assessments with smarter balanced questions) and #2. make sure the students (and teachers) have more than enough time allotted to slowly go through sample questions in the student tutorial.

TYPING!

Begin with a test here to create a baseline for your wpm: Typing Test
Click on Start Test.  The site will keep track of your WPM (words per minute) and errors. Document your score and move on to:  BBC Dancemat---this is great because it shows where fingers go on keys in a fun way

Here is a list of other fun games (I will continue to add to these games as I find them):

• ACBYA Typing
• Typing Games: Free Typing games but advertisements
• Z Type- fun Atari like game
• Fun Safari type game  Super sweet game with a character leaping from stepping stone to another stone.  Students can earn points based on speed and accuracy.  
• Typing Factory- Learn how to type slowly