Favorite New Tools
2013-2014
Board Builder with Discovery Education
Let your students create content on topics of their choice using the board builder. Second graders took to it in minutes!
Check it out when you login to your DE account.
Themeefy
Themeefy is a Web 2.0 application that allows you to curate the social web and personal experiences, customize, and publish learning.
FREE but there are premium features. This feature is a premium feature. It is possible to download Themeefy Mags in two formats - PDF and ePub.
All the Themeefy Mags published by you will be visible on your Themeefy profile. However you can restrict who accesses the Mags by protecting them with a password. Once you have set a password, only those who have the code will be able to view and read your Mags.
If you have a Themeefy Classrooms account and have added your students to your account, any content that the students publish and their information will only be visible to you..
http://www.themeefy.com/kdiffy/spiders
Actively Learn
Actively Learn is an online thinking platform that empowers educators to transform reading and writing so students understand and retain more knowledge, draw connections between texts, and build lasting skills. Educators can personalize instruction, provide real-time feedback, and facilitate student collaboration. They are provided with a robust data dashboard to monitor student progress along relevant standards. Students are motivated with information to fill gaps in background knowledge and interacting with peers, thus making reading and writing much more active and collaborative.
Actively Learn is a browser-based reading tool compatible with multiple devices. Teachers use Actively Learn with students who are using iPads, chromebooks, or laptops from a cart, or even using their phones to read at home.
Use any browser and also on multiple platforms (Edmodo and Google Chrome Store).
https://read.activelylearn.com/#account
See their blog for recent updates- esp. on monitoring and grading students.
http://www.activelylearn.com/blog/how_we_use_teacher_feedback
Actively Learn is a browser-based reading tool compatible with multiple devices. Teachers use Actively Learn with students who are using iPads, chromebooks, or laptops from a cart, or even using their phones to read at home.
Use any browser and also on multiple platforms (Edmodo and Google Chrome Store).
https://read.activelylearn.com/#account
See their blog for recent updates- esp. on monitoring and grading students.
http://www.activelylearn.com/blog/how_we_use_teacher_feedback
InstaGrok
InstaGrok is an innovative educational search engine that combines sophisticated semantic technology with an interactive user interface to make learning more engaging, personalized and fun for everyone. InstaGrok is used by hundreds of thousands of students, teachers and everyday people every month.
Works great through Edmodo if you want to monitor students.
http://www.edmodo.com
Works great through Edmodo if you want to monitor students.
http://www.edmodo.com
Newsela
Read closely.
Think critically.
Be worldly.
Newsela is an innovative way for students to build reading comprehension with nonfiction that's always relevant: daily news. It's easy and amazing.
http://newsela.com
A Reading Community for Kids
Get your K-6 students and teachers talking about books.
Starwalk Media
Seymour Simon's project. Prek-grade 8
Tightly curated for exceptional quality, the collection is about 60 percent highly illustrated nonfiction, and all titles are simultaneous-access licensed, making a subscription to StarWalk Kids a solid way to support Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for reading and writing.” - SLJ
Another important feature is the free, downloadable “Teaching Links” that we provide for educators to use with each eBook. This format, developed by nationally recognized literacy expert Linda Hoyt, ties each of our eBooks to applicable Common Core standards, and includes suggestions for activities to incorporate CCSS in the classroom. Here is a sample Teaching Link for the Seymour Simon book DANGER! EARTHQUAKES.
https://starwalkkids.com
Check out the catalog to see what is current and what is coming soon.
http://starwalkkids.com/catalogs
Tightly curated for exceptional quality, the collection is about 60 percent highly illustrated nonfiction, and all titles are simultaneous-access licensed, making a subscription to StarWalk Kids a solid way to support Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for reading and writing.” - SLJ
Another important feature is the free, downloadable “Teaching Links” that we provide for educators to use with each eBook. This format, developed by nationally recognized literacy expert Linda Hoyt, ties each of our eBooks to applicable Common Core standards, and includes suggestions for activities to incorporate CCSS in the classroom. Here is a sample Teaching Link for the Seymour Simon book DANGER! EARTHQUAKES.
https://starwalkkids.com
Check out the catalog to see what is current and what is coming soon.
http://starwalkkids.com/catalogs
Interactive Website Evaluator
I love this tool. Use it with grades 5 and up. FREE
Auto create and save your QR codes easily
CCSS
http://ccsselaapp.com/
A great web tool for $1.99 that allows you to analyze CCSS across grade levels in order to determine new skills at each grade level.
SHARE AND PROMOTE STUDENT WORK
Use this FREE site to turn PDF's into flip books. Super easy. Take the link and share on your website, blog, tweet, etc.