1 Year Voki Bundle Giveaway

It has been a while since I have blogged, but I am coming back with a great giveaway! One of my favorite educational websites is Voki.com. I love creating my own customized speaking avatars that are sure to engage students and educators alike. It is an interactive learning tool that students enjoy creating to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. So how can Voki be utilized effectively in the classroom? The possibilities are endless! Students can create avatars to deliver speeches, present book reports, recite poems, discuss a topic, share a bio, retell a story or practice fluency. Voki can be advantageous for all ages and grades, whether it is kindergarten or high school.

Listen to this example of an early childhood student singing the Days of the Week. What a great way to share their learning! It's also an ideal way to show growth and progress throughout the year. Have students compare their avatars from the beginning of the year to the end.

Mother's Day is just around the corner, this would be a perfect way to deliver a talking greeting card! 

So how can you take complete advantage of using all of Voki's features? By winning a FREE 1 Year Bundle Subscription! This includes Voki Classroom and Voki Presenter ($49.95 value). Just enter the giveaway and share how #vokirocks!

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Once Upon a Digital Time

I had the opportunity to present at the ISTE conference last month and share my Once Upon a Digital Time symbaloo. It has several websites and apps bookmarked for digital storytelling and interactive writing. I will be presenting an overview of some of them this week at the Lone Star TIA conference. Some of the apps are paid but often go on sale or free; that's when I download them. However, most all the websites are free and have education versions. The symbaloo has something for all grade levels. If you get a chance, take a look and explore a few of them. Let me know your favorites!

https://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/onceuponadigitaltime2

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Poetry Interactives

April is National Poetry Month so I have been looking for some great poetry interactive activities to share with everyone. My favorite go-to book of poems is Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. To make reading fun, I would let my students choose a poem they liked and they would be encouraged to practice reading it with intonation, expression, inflection, and fluency throughout the week. At the end of the week students would take turns presenting their chosen poem to the rest of the class. Students fell in love with the poems and from then on would always be looking for poetry books during library time. Here are a few interactive resources that I found that would be wonderful to implement into some of your poetry lessons.

Shel Silverstein's Official Site -  you can download a Poetry Workshop Kit or browse for lessons, activities, and games.

I used the poem Hector the Collector by Shel Silverstein to create the word clouds below.

Tagxedo - this is an excellent way for students to create shape poems. You can select from their shape menu or upload your own. There is also the option to customize the font and color scheme.

Wordle - is another great website where students can create word clouds and customize the layout, font, and colors scheme.

ReadWriteThink - there are several fun poem interactive activities students can complete. You can click on the images below to be taken directly to them.

RIF Reading Planet - Poetry Splatter is fun for all ages. Just choose a poem from the list and start filling in the poem with words splattered on the screen.

 

Rhyme Zone - Perfect for helping you create your own poem. You can search for rhyming words, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, similar sounding words, and a lot more options! I wish I was using this website a long time ago.

 

Giggle Poetry - Who doesn't love funny poems? This site has lots of funny poems for children to giggle away! You can explore Poetry Theater, Poetry Class, Poetry Fun, or even play word games. There are many things to check out on here.

And last but not least... Kenn Nesbitt's Poetry4kids website that has a plethora of poetry fun and information.

April isn't over yet so there is still plenty of time to check out these great resources for National Poetry Month. If you are like me, you'll spend just as much time as the students do reading all the fun poems! Enjoy :)

Dr. Seuss Interactive Resources and Popular Quotes

It is that time of year again to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday! I thought this would be the perfect time to remind you of the entertaining online resources that your students can enjoy during computer time, centers, or free time. Many of you probably already have Seussville and PBS Kids' The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! bookmarked on your computer; however, if you haven't had a chance to check out all the fun activities and resources here is quick snapshot of them.

Seussville

You can learn all about Theodor Seuss Geisel from the "Author" section. It gives you a detailed timeline of both personal and professional events that happened in his life. I know in our third grade classes we have been really focusing on the characteristics of the biography genre, so this would be an excellent project for them to do. Important milestones could be passed out on strips of paper and they could arrange it in chronological order and recorded on their own timeline, or they could list major events for Dr. Seuss' life by pulling out the information independently. Another option would be to do an author study compiled from information gathered reading his biography, looking at the photo gallery, or watching the short videos from the website.

The "Games & Activities" are of course the most popular spot to be! Students have tons of choices to pick from such as rhymes, word searches, matching, shapes, same or different, and a lot more.

One of my favorite Seussville activities to recommend is the Storybook Maker. This activity allows students to create a three scene story similar to creating a comic strip.  It targets reading and writing skills in a fun, interactive way. Students first start out by picking their background (setting), characters, music, and type the text or dialogue they want the characters to say. The process is repeated for each scene. When they finish they can watch each scene unfold.

Other things to explore on Seussville are the short-clip videos, learning about every character from all of Dr. Seuss' books, and the educator section for printables and classroom resources.

PBS Kids also has oodles of educational interactives to play from The Cat in the Hat Know a Lot About That!

 

http://pbskids.org/catinthehat/

Check out Snap-O-Rama for categorizing games, puzzles, and memory match!

Students can also brush up on their math and science skills by playing a few of the games below. There are way too many to highlight!

Last but not least I want to leave you with 30 of Dr. Seuss' popular quotes. It was created by Mamiverse. My favorite is #16. What is your favorite Dr. Seuss quote?

 

Online Classroom Stopwatches and Countdown Timers

Everyone can enjoy another interactive tool that helps with classroom management and keeps you organized, right? I used to love using  my egg timer in the classroom but for some reason it always hid itself around the room! I learned about Online Stopwatch a few years back and it's great to use in the classroom. I'm a huge fan of using the Promethean board so the countdown timers are awesome to display while students are working on a task. I also deliver professional development to teachers so this is always a hit to model how they can use it in the classroom. I will pull one up in training while they are working or collaborating on a group activity. There are several different types for you to choose from so it's not the same old egg timer each time. I listed a few of my favorites, but as you can see from the screenshot there are quite a few to select. I highly recommend checking out the Classroom Timers; students love them!

The Bomb Countdown is....well the bomb! You can choose your time preference then click "Set."

  You will then see the spark get closer and closer to going off as the time nears.

The rocket is another popular one, as well.

 

The running timer is one of my favorites. If you like it, they also have a swimming timer you can check out too.

Just a few more I like....

The next time you start looking for your stopwatch or egg timer, remember to give Online Stopwatch a try. It's always around and available when you need it. 

Also, Technology Tailgate is starting a Techie Tuesday Link Up. So don't forget to stop by and check out the awesome blog posts and feel free to link up your own new or past post about technology in the classroom! 

Smore! Flyers

Smore is a website that allows you to build quick, easy flyers within minutes! It is a great alternative for Word or Publisher. You can design a flyer from a basic template or you may want to choose to create one from scratch and add your own content.

The super easy format gives you the option to change the design, background, colors, and font. You will also see navigation arrows next to each section as you hover to view the different layout options for that section. Below is an example of a personal layout flyer. However, you can drag and drop to rearrange the sections, delete sections, or add as many as you would like to customize it.

Students can have fun creating posters, flyers, or invitations for a topic being covered in class. They can make a personal flyer for a character in a story, a personal flyer to display at open house, or create a snapshot of a story they have read. For example, they could add pictures for the setting, add text for the summary,  bio to discuss the author, or even a video or link to to provide additional information. Smore can also be a great tool to create a classroom newsletter. I like to use it because it can be easily shared through Facebook, Twitter, email, or a direct link. If you get a chance, it's worth checking out.

 *I used the spelling flyer in the post because that is how it is referenced on the website.

Reading Bear

I hope everyone has gotten off to a great start of the year! It's been crazy busy for me lately so I'm a little behind on posting. I started my new position as a literacy specialist and so far I'm love it! I think what I like most is being able to observe so many different classrooms and grade levels. There are a lot of awesome teachers out there and I love picking up and discovering new tips & tricks while visiting their classrooms. One of the main focuses in the district's literacy block is finding time or activities to support our Word Work lessons. So, I thought I would post about a website that would support and be engaging for students to learn phonics and word work skills.

Reading Bear is a fun, interactive website that helps students learn to read. It reviews all the main phonics rules and guides students through hands-on practice. You could have students practice with Reading Bear during center time, or use it whole group with your interactive whiteboard. It doesn't replace your lesson but it can provide scaffolding, especially for your struggling readers or ELL's. The most important question...is it free? Yes, it is completely free to use. You may also choose to register for an account that will allow you to save quiz scores and track presentations, but it is not required. If you are looking for interactive phonics lessons, center activities, or just an alternative to Starfall, you might want to check out Reading Bear. Hope you find it beneficial :)

Get Your Voki On!

Voki is a fun way of introducing technology into your lessons. Teachers love it because it motivates students to present book reports, projects, read alouds, poems, speeches, or review comprehension of a lesson. Students love it because they can be creative and design their own avatar from lots of character and setting choices. The coolest thing about Voki is it allows you to record your own audio! However, you can also use the text-to-speech feature or use a phone to make your recording. Check out the Voki I just created...

If you want to get started on your own, go to www.voki.com and sign up for a free account. You can start out by browsing through character choices.

Have fun customizing your character with different hair styles, clothing, and bling! There are also options for you to customize the color and size of the character's mouth, eyes, hair, and skin. As well as, tweaking features such as body, height, and width.

Next, select a background for your character's setting. This may take a long time if your like me and browse through tons! And of course, choose how you are going to give your Voki a voice.

Don't forget to Publish your Voki when you are completely finished. You can then share your Voki through email, website link, or embed within your blog or website.

Want to check out some super cute ones? This link has student created examples from a kindergarten class. My favorite is second row down, third across :) Click HERE.

Have fun getting your Voki on!

Alphabetimals

This is a fun little website that has an interactive alphabet book, ABC song video, name typer, free printable resources, and even an app you can download to your iPad. Super cute for the primary grades.

www.alphabetimals.com

I have to be honest and say I absolutely love creating words and names with Name Typer! This can also be an engaging way for your students to practice spelling words and typing skills at the same time. You have the option to print it out or share by email. I also like creating cute names like this for myself and using it as my email signature. It is amazing how many more teachers read my emails when I have something cute on it!

 

You can also have students read the interactive alphabet book. There is an animal that is shaped like each letter of the alphabet. Students can click to hear an audio sound of what the animal sounds like or hear the word pronounced.

 

Remember to also check out the ABC video song, free printables, and iPad app. Also, if you are lucky enough to have an interactive whiteboard, this would be great to project and have students interact with it.

I took a little break from blogging this summer so check back often because I'll be posting a lot more fun, interactive websites for the beginning of school. I have so many I can't decide which ones to highlight first :)

Please Vote for my LiveBinder as Top 10!

My Math Interactive LiveBinder has been nominated for Top 10. Please go vote for it by clicking below! It is #27 listed last. Also, be sure to check out my other LiveBinders for additional subjects. They are really useful, especially if you are looking for ways to be more interactive with your students.

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=409361

If you are not familiar with LiveBinders, they are great resources to explore for classroom ideas for any subject and even professional development ideas. The site has thousands of binders for you to search from or you can even create one yourself to share. It's basically just a three-ring binder for the web. I love to use it to bookmark my favorite websites because I can access them from anywhere at anytime. Plus, I have the option to share it out or password protect it. When you get a chance, go explore the website. I always find lots of treasures there.