Last two for the end of the semester

Remind 101 

 What a great idea! It allows you to text students and parents. This is also a great tool for coaches. You don't even have to get the students or parents number. You give them a code to text and it signs thm up through that. It's totally free!! If you are giving a test in a week you can send the parents a text to let them know and also to remind the students to study. 

  Socrative 

 This is a great app/website for students to use that replace those expensive clickers. teachers can control everything. You can do everything from a simple quick exercise, exit ticket, games all the way to a full test. It works with any device which is great and very compatible.

New Technologies!

Great for anyone who has trouble with grammar and spelling errors. It helps you  avoid embarrassing mistakes. It can read text, emails, and documents to help you catch errors as well. Works like a private English tutor.

http://www.gingersoftware.com/

Board Maker

Great tool for teachers. It is simple and easy to make a worksheet using this software. A lot of teachers are using this with Autism students in their classroom. Only problem is the Cd is 400 dollars and it only runs with the CD. 

 http://www.mayer-johnson.com/boardmaker-v-6/

WatchMinder

This watch is an aid for people who have ADD/ADHD. It has a discreet vibrate to remind them of something. It's suppose to make people who have ADD/ADHD feel like they have a sense of control. Parents whose children have used it have seen improvement in the child's behavior. It's pretty cheap around 70 dollars for a watch. 

http://watchminder.com/

Amanda and Sam's Book!

Sam and Amanda's Book!


Check out our book!

3 New Ones!

Virtual Field Trip

This is a great website! Everyone loves going on field trips but some places it's just  impossible to go. I took the virtual field trip of Hawaii. It was a great teaching tool for the classroom. It is also interactive and explains  where you are and what you are viewing. Take a field trip today!

http://www.simplek12.com/virtualfieldtrips

Bailey's Book House

Great website for beginning readers. It has seven fun interactive tools to help the students with reading. Students can create their own stories or rhymes and share them with the classroom.  You can order it online or buy the CD its 50 dollars.

http://www.smartkidssoftware.com/ndedm6.htm

Sammy's Science House

Great for students who are just starting to learn science! It has instructions, questions, feedback which allows the students to work independently. I think this is great in the classroom and at home. It's super cheap if you order the CD it's just 5 bucks!

http://www.smartkidssoftware.com/ndedm7.htm

Three New Technologies!

Mastery Connect

This is a great PLC for teachers! It allows teachers to discuss and collaborate ideas. The site is mainly used for teachers to share formal assessments. The great part is the assessments are based of your state standards. Once the students have taken a formal assessment on the computer the site will assess the data and let you see who still needs help or who is fine in the subject. It also keeps the scores for you so its an additional grade book. It can be a bit pricey but well worth it!

Slide Rocket

Who needs power point when you can use Slide Rocket. Slide Rocket is a great website to use when creating presentations whether it be for the classroom or a meeting. It has great tools and templates that allow you to create interactive presentations. They presentations are also easy to share with others if you are working on it as a group. The best part is you don't need internet to work on it. I love Google docs but you need internet access and that doesn't always happen. Check it out today!

Learn Boost

Lets just say this is an amazing website for a teacher! You have everything in one place and who doesn't love that. Learn Boost is a great tool it has a grade book, lesson plan organizer, attendance, keeps reports, and allows you to share students progress with the parents. It does a great job keeping all your information organized. Best part it's FREE! Once I start teaching I will definitely be using this in my classroom. 

3 New Technologies!

Voice Thread

Voice thread is a great website to use for our digital story telling project in technology. The best part is its FREE and you don't have to install anything! You are able to put your slides together like a book and record your voice to go with it. You can share it with others and they are able to record their comments as well. The site also has a few great projects put together. Voice thread also has an app for the ipad and iphone so you are able to work on your project or record away on the go. 

Little Bird Tales

Awesome site for creating digital story books! It's so simple and easy it to use especially with younger students in the classroom. The can create a book in 3 easy steps. It's a great idea to use in the classroom for express their creativity. Even better its free all you have to do is sign up for an account. Also has an app for the ipad and iphone .

Zoo Burst

This is an awesome website to use to create a 3-D digital story book. This is great for using in the classroom with the younger age group. There are 3 options for memberships. The basic free you get 10 pages and then the other two you get 50 pages and you can have multiple accounts. They aren't really that expense $29 a year it totally worth it. You are able to capture the attention of the younger students when reading the book to them. 

Sam and Amanda's Book Ideas

We are making our book on storybird and then once it is complete we will be transferring it over to voicethread.

What should I do this summer?

The book will be full of ideas of what a little girl could do over the summer.

- Go to the beach
- Play with pets
- Sports (tennis)
- Play dress up
- Rainy days

- Crafting

- Gardening/ picking flowers
- Fly a kite

Change of Plans

So I was going to do my lesson on counting coins but I figured the skeletal system would be a lot more fun! Here is a little fun fact hope you enjoy!

Did you know that humans and giraffes have the same number of bones in their necks? Giraffe neck vertebrae are just much, much longer!

The MOO

The MOO: A virtual reality learning environment. MOO stands for multiuser, object-oriented environment. This is a great tool for teachers and students. It allows you to connect with classrooms around the world. You are able to work together on progjects and get to know each other. Teachers are able to meet with other teachers to discuss curriculum, future plans in the class and assessments. It's a great resource for teachers to use to bring culture into the classroom.

THE MOO

Kidspiration

Kidspirtation is a great visual tool for students. It allows children to explore and understand words, numbers and concepts. It helps with reading and writing skills and helps the children understand math. You can use this at home or even in the classroom with the smartboard. I think this is great because you can download the software on your ipad and your child can use it anywhere. It's kind of pricey but it has great lesson plans for teachers and learning activities for the students. You can use free trails to test it out before you buy it. Check it out!

Kidspiration

Khan Academy

I learned about Khan Academy in my ED 503 class. The website is awesome! Not only is it a great tool for students, its great for teachers and parents as well. Some teachers need a refresher before they teacher a subject. It's great for parents as well. Parents don't always remember how to do geometry they can use Khan to teacher themselves and then help their child. I know I use it for Macroeconomics class and for lesson plans. Check out the site! Khan Academy

Website

This is off topic from education but here is a site with a few of my favorite recipes hope you enjoy!

https://sites.google.com/site/amandaspage554/home

Lesson Plan

I plan on using the Virginia SOL standard

Time and Nonstandard Measurement

1.7 The student will

a) identify the number of pennies equivalent to a nickel, a dime, and a quarter; and

b) determine the value of a collection of pennies, nickels, and dimes whose total value is 100

cents or less.

Many people are using cards today. A lot of people can't count back change if they were handed a twenty and the price of an item was $11.17. There are many fun and creative ways you can teach a child how to count money.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/mathematics/2009/stds_math1.pdf

Skype

There are many pro's and con's with using Skype. It is a great to use if you want to talk to someone and not be charged. But both of you have to use Skype for it to be free. It can be challenging if one person doesn't have a great internet connection. The picture will go in and out. I use it to call family in England and it seems to work well and I don't have to pay anything for it which is great. Calling England can be quite expensive. Check out the site and see if it will work for you. 

http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home?intcmp=wlogo

YouTube

Need to share a video? Youtube is a great website for doing that. It's even free. You get to see other clips that people have created. That's not the only thing you can do with Youtube you can watch a music video. Watch short clips of a movie trailer. Need something to do on Saturday night? You can rent movies from youtube if you have an account.  Create an account today and get started!

The Cloud

I consider the Cloud one of the top technologies. All you need is the internet. It is amazing with apple products its every mac users dream! If I buy a song on my ipad it goes to my macbook and my iphone.  It's so simple and easy to use. Use the QR below to go to the cloud app!

Avatar

My Avatar and my cat

PLN

A PLN is a network that allows people to share and to gain knowledge. A great PLN for teachers in 2.0 classroom its a site that is mainly all teachers. It allows teachers to share their ideas and for you to share the ideas that you have as well. This also allows teachers to stay connected and up to date with current teaching methods and ideas. Anohter PNL is facebook or twitter something most people use everyday to see what others are posting or twitting about. When you really think about it most of us have already started creating a PLN. I use evernote to share ideas with others in class or to read notes from professors. I use facebook and twitter and I also have a blog that I post information on about education and new technologies. So everyday I am adding more to my PLN.

Flickr

Flickr is a great website for sharing photos with others. The great part about this website is the privacy. Flickr allows you to put privacy controls on all you photos. As soon as I upload new photos to my computer from my camera I put them on Flickr just in case my computer crashes I will still have all my pictures. Flickr also lets you put you photos in albums so you can keep them organized. Check out the website and start sharing your photos today!

Create Videos

Animoto is a great website that helps you create videos from your photos, words and music. Its a super easy way to create a video just choose the pictures from your computer, Facebook or twitter then choose music to go with it and then post it to Youtube, Facebook or email it to someone. You can download the Animoto app right to your phone and do the same things. The only down side is you can only create a 30 second video for free. You have to buy a plan if you need to make longer videos and the plans tend to be a little pricey. But if you don't need that long of a video then you good to go. Check out the QR code below.

QR for Education Week for Teachers

Here is an awesome QR code for information for teachers! Check it out!

Why continue to buy updated Microsoft?

Until I started my Technology class for ED 554 I had no idea about Google Docs. This is an amazing website! Every few years I was having to spend over a hundred dollars to update my Microsoft office. But now I don't have to anymore. Google docs is great and I can create my assignments right on it and it even saves them to my documents. Another great thing is I can go to any computer and login and to Google docs and my assignment is right there! Check out Google docs and stop wasting money!

Keyboard Shortcuts!

Here is a list of awesome keyboard shortcuts to try and use.

ALT+TAB:	Switch between open programs
ALT+F6:	Switch between multiple windows in the same program
Ctrl=Z	Undo the last operation
Alt+(D then ↵ Enter )	Open new browser window with same page as current
Alt+Print Screen	Copy screenshot of window to clipboard
Alt+C	Go to Browser's Address Bar
Ctrl+B	Bookmarks menu
Ctrl+D	Add bookmark for current page
Print Screen	Screenshot of entire screen to clipboard
F5 or Ctrl+R	Refresh a webpage
Ctrl +N	Open a new window
F11	Switch fullscreen/ normal size
Ctrl+W	Close current tab
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+T	Open a previously closed tab
Win+Tab ⇆	Show all open windows
Home	Move to beginning of line
Window+R	Shutdown computer

Here is the link for the shortcut keyboard tabs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_keyboard_shortcuts

Note taking applications

Most students don't take notes the old fashion way anymore. Computers have been the way of taking notes the last few years and now students are even using ipads in class to take notes. Evernote is an amazing note taking application. Not only can you type the notes you can record the lecture as well! How amazing is that! If you miss what the professor said you can go back and listen to it later and finish your notes. The best part about the app is everything you do on your phone, computer or ipad gets synchronized to your Evernote account on the Web. I have been using this app for notes the last two semesters in college and it has be great.  Evernote also has a few other apps like Evernote peek. Take you notes in Evernote and then send it to Evernote peek to make then study cards. Give Evernote a chance and check out the website!

Evernote Website

Why are more people not using this?

Nothing is worse than losing everything on your computer! Drop box is an amazing website that allows you to store documents, pictures and videos that you have on your computer. The best part is its FREE! Which is amazing especially when you are a college student.  You can use any computer or phone and go to the drop box website and pull your documents up anywhere.  If your on campus and forget your USB thumb drive you can save your paper to dropbox and then pull your paper up at home. It's an amazing website that everyone should use.

Dropbox check it out!

Welcome!

Welcome to my first ever blog! I am using this blog for my ED 554 Technology class and many more classes for graduate school. I hope you enjoy!