Deb Norton Tech

There are so many resources for math on the Internet.  One of my favorites is You Tube ! You Tube has videos including songs, lessons and tutorials that students enjoy.  You can search You Tube for any math topic, and find videos that will supplement that topic. Here are some good ones: Multiplication square numbers (doubles) This video comes from Mathsongs for which there are 34 videos in the series.  I have used several of the Mathsongs videos. Mr. Duey Fractions I I have used this video in the past.  Students really like Mr. Duey.  I have also used Long Division by Mr. Duey . Math Rocks!  Perimeter and Area Another great series with 40 videos covering a huge variety of math concepts!  I subscribe to this one! Nature by Numbers This video was inspired by numbers, nature and geometry.  I want to show this to my students before we start our geometry unit. Sqool Tube has great video lessons for math (among other...

Lately I've been on a mission to incorporate more tools for my math students to use in our math lessons.  Here are a few that I'm thinking about. Click here for my favorite math manipulative site from McGraw Hill: I love that there are backgrounds for pretty much any math concept I'm teaching.  I really like that students can print their pages.  Choosing your grade level makes finding the right manipulative much easier. Here are two sites that are simple and easy to use for making your own graphs.   Grapher Even very young students can create a bar graph using the Grapher.  Every part of the graph is able to be changed to meet your data. Create a Graph Create a Graph allows for more options and has tabs to click to create your graph.  I like that students can preview their graph and go back and make changes if things don't look right.  I also like that students can download or email their graph when they are done. Click Here for Dice f...

Have you ever searched for just the right tool to use with your students?  Do you get tired of searching, and searching, and searching. . . . ? For example, I love using Wallwisher and Bubbl.us with my students, but I need something that offers easier collaboration.   I recently discovered a tool called Similar Sites.  This was super useful to me.   Similar Sites will find websites that are just like the one you enter into the search box.  It will then give you a list of similar sites.  Each results has a similarity rating to help you find a tool that closely matches the one you already use. Here is a screenshot of my search for sites similar to Bubbl.us. Here is what Similar Sites says about themselves: "Because it's all about choice, SimilarSites.com helps you find alternatives. Don't scroll through countless search results - SimilarSites makes finding content related to your current search absolutely effortless. Simply enter a web a...

Here is a fun site for introducing new words to students.  Font de Music will let you type in a word, choose a font, choose the color you want, and add animation and music.  Then you can submit your word and get a link to share the word with others. Click here to check out my creation.  

Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord has a site for sharing eight different ways to make books with children.  These are homemade books.  Sometimes I believe it's important for students to get creative with their paper, scissors and glue.  These patterns and directions are very nicely displayed.  I plan to have my reading group make some homemade books from Susan's site in the very near future!

Twiddla is a useful site that allows us to draw, write and upload images while collaborating with others.   Click here to markup this image with me. Twiddla also allows us to markup (write) on any website.  This can be very useful if you want to have students analyze a webpage or point out something specific on a site.   Here is an example of my blog being marked up using Twiddla .     To join me in marking up my webpage click here . I would like to use Twiddla with students to show them how easy it is to collaborate together.  We could upload an image or document.  Or analyze a webpage, or perhaps a piece of art work.  I am seeing a lot of possibilities for this tool.

National Geographic has some fun interactive games for older students. There are jigsaw puzzles that need to be put together. Slide puzzles to put back in order: A memory game where you get to study the order of the 9 photos for ten seconds.  And then put the photos back where they belong. A match game that plays like memory. Have fun!

Just recently I had my reading students use Bubbl.us to create a mindmap of a non-fiction text.  They did a really great job and totally enjoyed using Bubbl.us .  I had them set up their own account, which involved entering their email and creating a password (which I made for them).  There was no email verification needed. I was impressed with the newest features in Bubbl.us 2.0. My students were impressed with the ability to change bubble colors, as well as change text colors.  They also liked the easy click and drag options.  Connecting bubbles was also easy for them to get the hang of.  I explained parent, child and grandchild bubbles. Here is an example of a mindmap from one of my students.  To take a closer look, just click on the + and - .  Click on the background to move around. The only feature that we didn't use with Bubbl.us is the ability to collaborate and work together in real time.  In order for us to work with a pa...

A year ago, I shared how to create and use Google Forms.  Click here , and here to see the old posts. Today, I am sharing a site that offers Google Forms that have been created for you to copy and use with your students.  These come from Tom Barrett's Edtech blog.  Some forms may not be exactly what you want, but once you make a copy of the form, you can adjust the questions to suit your needs.  At the bottom of the blog is a Google Presentation on ways to use Google Forms in your classroom. Click here

Our Linky Party is going well.  Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to add an app.  The Linky Party will be open until November 24th.  Click here to view all of the apps so far.   Where do I find apps for our iPad? My favorite places are: APPitic is a great site to search for educational iPad/iPod apps.   I also use Kathy Schrock's Google Site .   IEAR.org  is awesome for finding apps as well.  Happy searching!   ☃

Once again, Pinterest has been good to me. Check out these resources:  (Click on a picture to view the resource on Pinterest) Source: choiceliteracy.com via Lauren on Pinterest Source: theeducationcenter.com via Emily on Pinterest Source: goinghometoroost.com via Rachel on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/102738435218973142/ Source: 4.bp.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest Source: itunes.apple.com via Laura on Pinterest Source: sockdreams.com via Kristin on Pinterest Source: first-grade-teachers.blogspot.com via Andrea on Pinterest

Veteran's Day is this Friday and we plan to do a few activities in our classroom to honor the men and women of our country that have bravely served over the years. Below is a collection of resources I've collected. Here are some resources that I have found on Pinterest which people shared freely.  Veteran's Day Word Bank ( Click here to download ) Veteran's Day Various Activities ( Click here to download )  Spelling City has Veteran's Day Vocabulary .  Students can play games, practice the words and test themselves on spelling the words. Read Write Think has a podcast for teachers discussing books that could be read aloud to students.  I've embedded the podcast below.  The first two books, The Wall and Patrol , I have used with students in the past, and are really great.  Military.com has a slideshow of Veterans for Veteran's Day.  Click here . Wonderopolis has a YouTube video that explains Veteran's Day....

Recently I showed how to update to the newest views in Gmail.  While sharing this, I was asked how to make the unread emails appear at the top of my emails.  I wasn't able to remember, since I had changed this a long time ago.   So, as promised, I have found how to make this change.  Follow the steps below. Step 1 Click on the settings wheel at the very top of your email.  Not the lower wheel.   Step 2 Step 3 Step 4   Don't forget to click on SAVE CHANGES!! That's it!  Now your unread emails will be at the top of your list.  My favorite part of my day is when my email says, " Woohoo! You've read all the messages in your inbox."  

Today we are having a Linky Party for iPad apps.  Please think of an iPad app that you find useful in your classroom.  Find the app either on the iTunes app site or do a Google search for your app.  Copy the link and join the Linky party below.  Then share the link with all of us.

One of the blogs I follow called In Tech Insights, by Karen Ogen, had a Glogster with Web 2.0 tools.  I love collecting Web 2.0 tools to use in the classroom.  I know most of these, but a few were new to me.  Check out the Glogster below or click here to see the entire Glogster.  Check out Karen's Blog here .

I am always looking for new tools to use with our Words Their Way word studies.  Lately we've been working a lot on synonyms, antonyms and word meanings.   Some of our favorite tools for working with our words have been: Dictionary.com Visuwords Spelling City Today I have two new tools to share with you! Recently I came across a new application called Easy Define . This site is great for looking up definitions for a lot of words all at once. See the screen captures below.    Here I copied and pasted three words.  You can paste as many as you wish.  When you click the List tab, your words show up with definitions.  Under the extras tab you can get synonyms for your words, quiz yourself, get flashcards in the form of a printable word document, or you can get worksheets.   Worksheets can be viewed online or downloaded.  Above are all of the choices.  I could see generating these for practice of reading or content ...