Catch of the Day - Hoot of Loot - 10/29/2010

Hoot of Loot is a website designed to enable everyone to buy and sell used or new school supplies, books, furniture, and anything else that is used in education.

Hoot of Loot is the first website to allow registered schools, teachers, and home school parents to place classified ads on a website that specializes in educational products.  School supply vendors can also sell their surplus educational items on the site as well.

Products are sorted in well-organized categories can be easily searched by buyers.

A normal account is for individuals, teachers, and schools that would like to place a classified ad on Hoot of Loot. The buyer contacts the seller to set payment and shipping details. Placing ads is free and there are no commission fees either.

A commercial account is available for companies that would like to place an ad on Hoot of Loot. The buyer places an order with credit card details which go directly to the seller. Hoot of Loot does all the advertising for their sellers with various marketing campaigns.

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Catch of the Day - Reframe It - 10/28/2010

Reframe It lets users highlight and comment on any website by creating a virtual margin beside the web page where users can post and share comments with other users.

Reframe It allows users to benefit from other users of who share their insights and reactions in context by highlighting text and commenting in the margin. It enables "stream-of-thought" commenting.

Reframe It can be a useful tool allowing teachers and students to interact around specific web content, looking at the same content and reacting to it. This lets them engage their students, teachers, and classmates more naturally in their process of learning and thinking about the world.

Reframe It can create a secure private space in which users can privately discuss web content of shared interest among themselves. It is a tool that teachers can use to encourage student engagement.

Watch a video demo of Reframe It

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Catch of the Day - Alice - 10/27/2010

Alice is a 3D programming platform whose intent is to make it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or making a video to share on the web.

Alice is a teaching tool for introductory computing. Students develop a program to animate the three-dimensional objects populating a virtual world. Alice implements 3D graphics and a drag-and-drop interface to enable students to have a more engaging, less frustrating programming experience. In the context of creating animated movies and simple video games, students learn fundamental programming concepts.

With Alice, students immediately see how their animation programs run, enabling them to understand the relationship between the programming statements and the behavior of objects in their animation.

The Alice software includes an on-line tutorial and documentation system. There are several textbooks supporting Alice currently available from a number of publishers.

Alice 2is designed for students in high school and above. For middle schoolers there is Storytelling Alice. Alice is free from Carnegie Mellon University.

Watch the video Alice: Programming for a New Generation

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Catch of the Day - Inkling - 10/26/2010

Inkling offers digital textbooks for the iPad that are interactive, flexible, and less costly than traditional paper textbooks.

Social collaboration and simple ease-of-use are key features of Inkling's eTextbooks. Other features of the Inkling textbooks are …

• Titles are less expensive than the paper versions, and you can buy them by the chapter.
• Content is specifically tailored for the iPad with high-res artwork and supplementary content not possible in a paper book.
• Search the text and even your own notes.
• Follow others' note streams and see their comments right in the text alongside your own.
• Key terms are tappable for related information. Copy and paste text. User highlights and notes are kept together in a notebook, and quizzes help you learn.

Once you've purchased a title, it will always be available to you to download from inside Inkling. You can even delete and then re-download the content, notes and highlights will be preserved.

Watch a video introduction to Inkling textbooks.

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Catch of the Day - EncycloMedia - 10/25/2010

EncycloMedia.com™ is a free streaming video encyclopedia designed to be an easy way to help users learn by letting them watch informative and relevant videos.

EncycloMedia covers everything: entertainment, fitness, health, history, nature, people, science, spirituality, religion, and travel.

The featured and popular video sections make it easy to discover new material that sparks your interest.

The information available on EncycloMedia's content comes from a variety of professional and user sources to promote a network of knowledge that continues to grow. This knowledge is readily available through quick reference fact sheets and in-depth timelines.

EncycloMedia has something for everyone with thousands of video clips on their site and more being constantly added, all free of charge.

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Catch of the Day - Wridea - 10/22/2010

 

Wridea is an online idea management and collaboration service which is for anyone who is interested in managing their ideas and sharing them with their friends and colleagues.

Wridea provides you with tools and services for organizing your ideas. With the help of Wridea, you can store and organize all of your ideas. Categorize ideas on different pages according to their topics or content.

Generate and develop better ideas with your friends. You can save unlimited ideas in your Wridea account and share them with your associates. Let others comment on your ideas. Easily create, share, discuss, and evolve better ideas.

Idea Rain is a unique Wridea tool in which your ideas randomly drop down the screen. Seeing related and non-related ideas side by side may help you find new and original ideas.

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Catch of the Day - JustPaste.it - 10/21/2010

Easily paste, edit, format, and share text with JustPaste.it.

JustPaste.it's easy to use text editor preserves the text formatting and images pasted from other webpages or word processors.

Other JustPaste.it features …

• Edit in rich text or HTML
• Add graphics to and embed videos in your notes
• Use LaTeX to add mathematical formulas to the notes
• Import files from Word, MS Works, or Open Office
• Every 3 minutes your current text is saved to a server
• Notes can be saved and downloaded as PDF files

JustPaste.it lets you share text with friends or colleagues by simply pasting it on their site and giving them a unique link.

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Catch of the Day - Gapminder - 10/20/2010

The intent of Gapminder is to be a "fact tank" promoting a fact-based world view.

Gapminder wants to make data more accessible and easier to use for quick visual analysis. It is their belief that education at almost all levels lacks adequate tools to do this.

The For Teachers section is for educators who want to use Gapminder in their classrooms. Here you'll find shortcuts to tools and guides for integrating Gapminder in your lessons.

Gapminder is currently working on ...

• Keeping their tools and statistical content up-to-date and making time series freely available in Gapminder World and Gapminder Countries.
• Producing videos, Flash presentations, and PDF charts showing major global development trends with animated statistics in colorful graphics.

Download and install the Gapminder Desktop application and you can use Gapminder World with all its indicators from your computer, even when you have no Internet access.



Watch the video "200 years that changed the world" with Hans Rosling, founder of Gapminder.

Gapminder is a non-profit Internet initiative that promotes sustainable global development and the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Gapminder was founded in Stockholm, Sweden, in February 2005.

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Catch of the Day - The Reading Corner - 10/19/2010

The Reading Corner was created for teachers and parents who are helping children become better readers, as well as the students themselves.

The Reading Corner has three sections: Teacher Pages, Parent Pages, and Kids Corner.

Teacher Pages includes …

• Instructional methods and approaches
• Literature lessons
• Reading and writing links
• Subject area links for math, science, and social studies
• Lesson ideas
• and more

In the Parent Pages are tips for helping children read and spell better. Games and online stories are found in Kids Corner.

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Catch of the Day - Top Banana - 10/18/2010

 

The Top Banana Education Foundation is dedicated to helping children develop a love of mathematics and to providing teachers with the tools to help their students reach their academic potential.

The Top Banana Education Foundation has developed a curriculum and program for teaching math that engages students and encourages them to become better learners. Their objective is to give every child the opportunity to experience the pride of success by bringing that math program to schools everywhere.

Top Banana has developed a curriculum and an instructional method singularly suited to accomplishing these goals. They provide after-school programs designed to bring academic success to students on a broad scale.

The Top Banana Education program is initially being offered at no cost to select schools that would like to serve as a pilot program. They will provide ...

• a comprehensive math curriculum for grades 1 through 5
• professional development and training
• a stipend for staff teaching the Top Banana curriculum
• all necessary materials for implementing the curriculum
• on-going assistance and guidance

The Top Banana Education Foundation is a non-profit organization supported by tax-deductible contributions.

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Catch of the Day - Quizlet - 10/15/2010

Quizlet is a free website where you can make, find, use, and share flashcards to study vocabulary, languages, and more.

Quizlet is one of the largest flashcards and study games websites with over 2.5 million free sets of flashcards covering a broad range of subjects.

With Quizlet you can…

• Make or find flashcards
• Use powerful study tools
• Share and study with your friends
• Play competitive study games
• Study on the go
• Use Quizlet in the classroom

Quizlet provides three different study modes: Flashcard Mode to familiarize yourself with the material, Learn Mode keeps track of your scores and retests incorrect answers, Test Mode generates customizable tests with short-answer, matching, multiple choice, and true/false options.

Students can create groups to share or discuss flashcards with friends and classmates and edit and improve sets created by other group members.

Teachers can use Quizlet to give students a powerful and fun study tool, share study materials online with classes, generate flashcards or tests for in-class distribution, host a group where students can create and discuss study materials, and email students when new study materials are posted.

Learners can study on the go using third-party Quizlet apps for, iOS, Android, and webOS mobile devices.

Watch a video showing how Quizlet works

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Catch of the Day - Shedd Aquarium - 10/14/2010

 

At Shedd Aquarium, your students can connect to the living world through aquatic animals.

Located in Chicago, IL, on the shore of Lake Michigan, the goal of Shedd Aquarium is to inspire you to make a difference as a result of learning about the aquatic world.

Shedd Aquarium furnishes a large number of teacher resources including …

• Free educator admission
• Teacher guides
• Learning lab guides
• Fun Finds maps
• Activity guides
• and more

Shedd Educational Adventures enrich learning with interactive online aquatic science resources for K-12. Interactive programs and animal facts connect your students to Shedd Aquarium’s diverse collection of animals. Grade-specific lesson plans supplement your curriculum. All content aligns with Illinois and national science, language arts, and math standards

The classroom experience is enhanced by using inquiry and problem-based learning in immersive environments. Students can explore the world of water, making discoveries in science, technology, engineering, and math.

For those in the Chicago area, the Shedd Aquarium offers in-house 50 minute classes and labs for grades K–5 and 90 minute programs for grades 6–12. All programs are held in the Aquatic Education Center. Shedd Aquarium can bring small- or large-group programs for grades K–5 to your school, too. Themed presentations may include animal encounters.

Watch a video about the Shedd Aquarium

John G. Shedd, a self-made millionaire, decided a world-class aquarium would be the most beneficial gift he could make to the city.

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The EDge21 Blog Book - Free Download

I've compiled a full year of EDge21 blog posts in a PDF eBook that you can download for free.

The First Edition of the EDge21 Blog Book collects all the posts from October 1, 2009, through September 30, 2010. All the hyperlinks are included.

And, it's FREE.

This eBook was made with BlogBooker.

Catch of the Day - Wordia - 10/13/2010

Wordia.com is an online dictionary with a difference.

Wordia, like a traditional dictionary, allows users to search for the spelling, meaning, and etymology of a word but what makes Wordia distinct is the ability to explore the personal nuances of a word using video.

Wordia takes the textual definition of a word and encourages people to explore the connotation through the familiar medium of video. Video helps a user to learn or recollect the meaning of a word much more easily than a textual definition alone. The incorporation of video gives the dictionary a new dimension.

Wordia is a collaborative community. Anyone can explore the meaning of a word and the meaning of the same word can be explored by more than one person. When words have multiple video definitions, the user community can vote on their relevance. Wordia also creates professional knowledge-based video with experts, authors, sports stars, etc.

Watch a user-made Wordiavideo definition

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