Windows Live Moviemaker

MovieMaker

With the update to operating system Windows 7, Microsoft no longer includes Moviemaker as a default program but it is still available from Windows live as a free download. It will only run on Vista or Windows XP, however. You will have to use Virtual PC to use it if you are running Windows 7.

Follow the link above to find out more about this digital photo/video editor that is free and very easy to use.

Photo Story 3

Photo Story 3

has been around for a while but it is still a great FREE resource for creating digital stories and slide shows for presentations or for use with students to create digital projects. It is very user friendly and has a small learning curve. This free software lets you create slideshows which can include music and voice narration. Click on the link above to visit the site and get the free download. If you have not used it before you will be happy with it's ease of use.

One note, however. Microsoft has not issued a version that will currently run on Windows 7, so you will need to use an XP machine to run the software.

Microsoft Security Essentials

One of the first things I want to share with you from the training class is a FREE Antivirus software to which our trainers gave high praise. According to our trainers, "Microsoft finally got it right!" They said they have it loaded on all their home machines.

It is called Microsoft Security Essentials.

By clicking on the link above you can download this free software to you PC. It will update automatically and does not require an annual renewal fee. So if you have a computer at home

that may be at risk, this might be a no expense viable option for you. The link above will take you to the website where you can get more information about this anti virus software from Microsoft.

Check it out!

The Astronauts Memorial Foundation

I had the opportunity to attend a technology specialist class through the Astronaut's Memorial Foundation which is set up through a grant to create affordable technology training classes for educators. I discovered many new resources during this three day course and I will be sharing some of these ideas here in the blog. Clicking on the link above will take you to the AMF website where you can gain information about the foundation and sign up for classes that may be of interest to you!

Aviary

Aviary is a complete free image editor on the fly. Kind of like a mini Photoshop editor with no hard drive space or buying of software required. Looks really cool and would be good for web pages and more!

Wordle

Wordle Site

This site is great for teaching a Poetry lesson with kids.

You can change the font, layout, colors, etc... There are

a lot of creative uses for this "word cloud" site.

Sketchcast

Sketchcast

The Sketchcast above shows the order of operations.

You can create your own sketchcast or let students

create their own during your lessons and use

them in the lesson or have them available for

students to review a concept.

There are all kinds of uses for this app. Some

other examples I saw were photosynthesis,the

area of a triangle, and exponents and square

roots.You will see more examples if you

visit the site!

Red Laser App for iPhone

At FETC I attended a short workshop all about iPhone Apps by Leslie Fisher. She showed all kinds of cool new apps for the iPhone. One that caught my attention was this Barcode scanner app called Red Laser App Here are some possible uses according to the site:

Scan a book and check for reviews

Scan the milk and add it to your grocery list

Scan movies and beam them to your TiVo

Check online prices for a DVD player.

Check out her site at lesliefisher.com (takes a minute to load) for more exciting apps such as:

VIPER Smart Start: Use your iPhone to start your car

Audioboo.fm: Will post audio files to your webpage

Ocarina: iPhone music creator: flutes/drums/keyboards/guitars

Star Walk: Stargazing in real time

This day in history: lists events of that day in history

iTranslate: translates different languages

RTM (remember the milk) iPhone app To Do lists

Evernote: uploads text and pics

Duck You: a Spelling App

Drop Box: for file syncing

iVideo Camera: can upload to FaceBook

Motion GPX: voice guidance/walking directions

Saisuki: calendar; sinks with Google calendar

NotePad: allows you to group your notes

...and many, many, more.

• 
  

Accelerated Reader Widget

Also at FETC I learned about the Accelerated Reader Widget available from the Enterprise addition.
What a cool way to communicate on your web page to parents and students in real time. You can
set it up monthly or for the whole year. Cool!

Math Facts In A Flash with Responders!

Math Facts using Responders

Teachers,

While I was attending FETC I stopped in at the Renaissance Learning booth to see what was new. We already have the Accelerated Reader, Accelerated Math, STAR Reader, and Math Facts in a Flash Software, as well as Accel Test, and 2Know! Software. The good news that I discovered is that now Math Facts in a Flash can be used on the student responders. We already have a set of 24 repsonders and two receivers on campus. We already have the software we need to run the programs. We can purchase extra responders for $39 each and extra receivers for $99 each. Essentially, for about $1000 we could have a set of responders with a receiver for a classroom.

They can be shared between classrooms becuase the software

can be used for ten or fifteen minutes a day. The amount of time you would normally give to practicing math facts. The cool thing about this is that because we have the software on the network, student data can be tracked automatically and you can see student progress immediately.

But math facts is not the only use for the responders. With the Accel Test software

which we already own, you can create tests that are scored automatically using the responders and run score reports immediately. The Accel Test is also used with scanners, which we already have six of that can be used to score with scan cards which we also already own. Follow the link above to find out more about using the RL responders in your classroom. Give me a shout if you have more questions about these products.

Grab on you MAC

While creating this blog I discovered there were some icons I could not drag and drop to include a graphic within a post. While doing a search for a screen copy I found a neat little tool in the MAC Applications folder that is nifty for "grabbing" images you find and can not use the traditional copy/paste in which to make a copy. Once you open the "Grab" application you can choose to copy the whole screen or just a selection. You can do this anywhere on the web or on your computer. To find it on your Mac, go to Applications > Utilities > Grab. Double click to open it and then from the menu above choose "Capture" and then your choice or window, screen, or selection. I am so happy with this tool I have dragged it into my Dock for frequent future use. The images are all saved as Tiffs but I found that if you open the Tiff image and do a "Save As" it will let you re-save as a jpeg, or whatever you choose.

Online Stopwatch

Online Stopwatch

This site has an online stop watch as well as all kinds of timers.

You can make the timer or stop watch full screen for all kinds

of lessons or activities where you need to time the event.

It is online and always available for free. When time runs

out on the stop watch a bell rings to let you know! Click the link

above to go to the site and check it out. Just bookmark it to have

it available for any lesson, any time!

Jam Studio

Jam Studio Link

Tired of the Garage Band choices for student projects? Say hello to Jam Studio. I would not have believed
it if I had not seen for myself just how easy this is. When you go to this site a 30 second tutorial begins
automatically and in less than a minute you are creating your own music including picking your own style
and instruments. The music can be saved and imported into any student project. And best of all...it's Free!
If you are into using Garage Band to create student projects or podcasts you need to check out this site!
Also, on the bottom left of the site page click on "In the Classroom" link to see how some elementary schools
are using Jam Studio.

NewsMaker Software

NewsMaker Free Trial


One of my favorite discoveries from FETC was this cool and easy to use software called NewsMaker.
You can download a free 30 day full version trial from the link above. Click on the PLAY button below to
see it in action!

Simply Box

Simply Box
Here is a site that will let students collaborate information gathered from research projects as well as for teachers to capture while surfing the web and share information that they can share during their lessons. This is definitely the wave of the future.

FETC 2010 Slideshow

Ed Begley Jr. was the guest speaker at FETC this year. He shared that it was possible to "Go Green" even in the areas of
technology and gave many examples of how going green had actually saved businesses money. There were many technology vendors on the floor and new hardware and software to discover. I also discovered lots of new and useful websites. In my next few posts I will be sharing some of these with you.

Storybird

Storybird is a collaborative storytelling site where students can create, read, and share stories based on artwork that exists at the site. When you get to the site click on "Take the Tour" to see all the opportunities for interacting with this site. Artwork for the stories can be chosen by tagged themes. Students can collaborate to create stories together, individually, or as a class. This is a cool site that incorporates lots of 21st century learning characteristics such as tagging, collaborating, and online sharing and viewing. I think this is the wave of the future for our students that are growing up as digital natives. Check it out!

Wishing Wall (Wall O' Stickies)

Wishing Wall

Here is a cool website for posting sticky messages that can be added by many. Here is the website. Check it out!

Spelling City

Spelling City

This site is the coolest site and kids will love it. You could use this for practicing vocabulary words in SFA. Just type in the words and spell city lets you teach the word spelling as well as providing a sentence to go with it. There are three modes: Test Me, Teach Me, or Play a Game.

There is also a printable parent letter to send home. You could have this site on your projector for learning together as a class. When you click on "Play a Game" a list of all kinds of games to practice the word are shown. Particularly fun is the Hangmouse game. Check it out!

Avatar Editor

Avatar Editor

This link will let your students create their own avatar to use for all kinds of things. Students actually create an avatar to their specifications such as size, eye color, hair style, etc... Think of the possibilities! Students can use this to stimulate writing activities such as an "all about me" or have them create a wild looking character and tell a story about it. They can then copy paste their avatar into their story. I would love to hear some suggestions from you about how students could use this avatar creator to spark creativity and engagement in a lesson. Students that have a Wii video game player will be familiar with these characters called Mii's. Feel free to go to this website and create one of your own. I named my avatar Media Mii. Have fun!!!

Interactive fruit_machine

Random Name/Word Picker

Here is a cool site to use when you are choosing students randomly like for Random Reporter in Success For All! Kids will love this!You can have their names typed in advance and just choose fruit picker and it will randomly choose a name for you. Have it up on your LCD projector. Let a student come up and click on it. Students will be immediately engaged! Click below for the full screen version. Have fun!

Click here for full screen version

FETC 2010

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Florida Educational Technology Conference again this year through the help of Marsha Cruce from Media Services for the Putnam County Webmasters. I will share some of the cool websites and information I gathered at the conference that might help you in the classroom. I also found some free trials of software I think you might be interested in previewing. Please post comments or suggestions to myself or other faculty members if you think of a good way some of these resources might be used. You are also welcome to add resources that you have found useful in your classroom. If you would like help setting up a blog of your own feel free to contact me to help you get started. I definitely don't have all the answers but together we can probably figure it out. After all, isn't that what learning through collaboration is all about? Let's get started!