Deb Norton Tech

Here is the scoop on two new updates: #1 Chrome Browser Update Have you noticed a new look to the Chrome browser when you open a new tab?  Have you noticed a new Apps bookmark in your Chrome browser?  These are part of a new update.  When you open a new tab, things will now look a bit different. You can read about this new update on the PC World website .   Not sure why you haven't received the update yet?  Apparently the update was stopped shortly after it was released.  You can read more about this on the OMGChrome website . #2 Search on the new IOS7 Last week I wanted to search my iPad for an app.  So I swiped to the left and to my horror the search screen did not come up!  I briefly went into a panic mode, but quickly recovered knowing that this was most likely a part of the ios7 update.  So I did what anyone with a question would do.  I Googled it! Tech Crunch had the answer to my question.  Just sw...

E School Today has a nice interactive elesson on Energy called The Energy Story .   There are click and drag games as well as a quiz at the end of the lesson.  The Energy Story would be a great was to supplement a science lesson on energy.

Mathsbox.org has a nice collection of flash-based math resources for a range of ages and topics across the curriculum. There are also nice printables.  New content is always being added.   This week I am using the Bingo game for fractions.  I will project the problems on the board and students will mark the correct answers on their Bingo sheet.   Many of the activities are higher level and challenging, which is great for our students. I highly recommend checking out Mathsbox.org .  

My Garbology is a site to learn facts and interesting information about when to reuse, recycle, compost or landfill different items.  The site is interactive and has a lot of graphics.  I like that there is narration to explain what is happening. I highly recommend checking out My Garbology .

My Great Maps is a site for creating your own personalized map. Choose from maps such as states, regions, historical maps, world maps and countries.  You can add colors, a key, icons, text and so much more!  Use the site with or without a login.  If you create a log in you can save your maps and add notes to your map.   This would be a fantastic site for our 5th graders as we begin the year with map skills.  Once a teacher signs up for an account, they can make accounts for their students.  This will allow the teacher to view their students' maps. After you save a map, an embed code is available.  This makes it possible for students and teachers to put their personalized maps onto a blog or website. Here is a map I created and embedded: I highly recommend giving My Great Maps a try.

Recently I was asked by some of our grade level staff to share my spelling Google Site that I use with our students each week to assign different types of spelling activities. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to share the site, since I have turned on page permissions so that most of my pages are not visible at this time. (I make the pages available as the school year progresses.) So, today I will share some of the sites and resources that I use to find different types of activities for our students each week. Basically I just did a Google search for "activities for spelling words" and found many great ideas. I put the ideas that I liked into List.ly. (If you haven't used List.ly yet, you should give it a try.)  Here is my list: Spelling View more lists from Deb Norton In addition to these I use: Spelling City.com - I have a paid subscription and we use it every week on our laptops and on iPads.  We take our tests on Friday using Spelling City.  SMART Not...