Deb Norton Tech

Today I'm sharing some sites that can be used with your students when thinking about careers and Career Day.  Our career day is this Friday! #1   Careers at a zoo #2   Career Clusters #3   My first resume   #4   Aquarium Careers #5   Eco-Careers  #6  Career Videos All of the sites I'm sharing today can be found on KB Konnected's Livebinders site .  There are many more resources to use in this Livebinder.

Here are some St. Patrick's Day activities to share with your students: #1 Row Swap Puzzles #2 Shamrock Shatter #3 Spot the Difference #4 Collect the Coins #5 Shamrock Sudoku Other resources can be found at KB Konnected's Livebinder

Meograph looks like a useful site for digital story telling.   Meograph allows you to create a presentation which can include Google Maps, images, audio and video.  Therefore it is considered to be four-dimensional.  The presentation plays in a timeline format.  Take a look at this example: Check out this video explaining how to create a Meograph : I played around with Meograph and found it very simple to use.  This site could easily be used by lower elementary all the way through adults.  I highly recommend checking Meograph out.

The following is a list of sites that have been around for a while which you may have forgotten about.  These sites are still fantastic resources to use in your classrooms.  #1 Padlet Wallwisher is now called Padlet .   Padlet has so many options: #2 Voki Voki is a site for creating a talking avatar.  Did you know that there are lesson plans available for using Voki in the classroom?  There is also an option to get Voki Classroom for $29.99.  Here is a video about using Voki in the classroom: #3 Answer Garden Answer Garden in a minimalistic feedback tool.  You can use it as a tool for online brainstorming or embed it on your website or blog as a poll or guestbook.   Here is an example: at AnswerGarden.ch . #4 Vocaroo  easily record yourself and share the recording.   Click on my recording! Voice Recorder >> Look at all of the sharing options!  I love the QR code choice! ...

As I create more and more hybrid lessons and units, it is imperative that I have a way to host my content online.   This past year our district went with Course Director, which as you may know, is part of Google for Education.  Course Director uses Google Sites to display all of the course content.  The quizzes are made with Google Forms and discussions are done through Google Groups.  There is also a choice to have a grade book. This year I have created many, many Google Sites to host my math units, spelling content and others.  I also use Google Forms all the time for our quizzes.  For some reason, I haven't used the discussions or the grade book. Here is what some of my content looks like using Course Director: Math Unit Science Topic Spelling Content AND NOW INTRODUCING SCHOOLOGY!!!!! I first heard about Schoology two years ago at TIES.  I used it last year for the first time.  Thi...

The Smarter Balanced Assessment for Language Arts / Literacy requires students to read a passage and then type in a response in a text box.  Students also have to use details from the text to answer the questions. In order to get students used to this type of assessment, I created a Google Site with a Google Form embedded below the information on the site.  Take a look: Since this will be a little different than what my students are used to, I will model first, guide with practice and then gradually get students to feel comfortable doing this type of assessment independently.   Click here if you would like to view my entire Google Site on the story we are reading. In the future, I would hope to see these type of resources available from publishers.  

Here is a phenomenal K-5 site of interactives that work very well projected onto your SMART board.  This site was created by Karen Ogen , an IT Specialist in North Carolina. The site is organized by tabs across the top.  The topics cover a large variety of subjects. One thing I have done in the past, to use interactive sites like these, is to create QR codes for the sites.  I then place the QR code at the top of a piece of paper with a few questions that students could answer after viewing the site.  Students scan the QR code with the Quick Mark download and then answer the questions.   Take a look at some of the great opportunities from this site: I would like to thank Karen for putting this site together (notice it is made with Weebly!) Check back often since she adds new sites to the Weebly often.

This week my reading group will be diving into a fictional story with some very challenging vocabulary and text.  Throughout the week, I plan to use some vocabulary activities to aid in building background knowledge and understanding. The Common Core State Standards require students to work with vocabulary in many ways.  Take a look: To make sure my students are able to meet the standards, I am planning on using the following sites to help them develop the necessary skills: #1 Wordsift - This site will create a word cloud from text and then adds imagery to build knowledge.  It can also sort words by subject area and has a work area to create a "word poster".  I have made a video tutorial showing how I plan to use this site: #2 Clean Dictionary - This site has a simple interface for quick reference.  I like that if a definition includes a word that students don't know, they can click the word to see its definition. #3 Word...

Here are some Valentine's Day Activities for your enjoyment. Check out these 20 Valentine's Sites from Ask a Tech Teacher Here are some sites from old blog posts for you to check out. Check out this  Livebinder by KB Konnected  on Valentine's Day.   Click here  for some printable Valentine's Day Cards.  InTec InSights  has some great resources. Word Hearts   -make a heart filled with words. Text Layout  - make your text in a heart shape. Hearts Sudoku Heart Break Spot the Difference Valentine's Mazes Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!