Catch of The Day - HP Teacher Experience Exchange - 10/31/2011

HP Teacher Experience Exchange is a community for teachers that offers lesson plans, discussion groups, professional development, and web tools.

You can browse the HP Teacher Experience Exchange library of lesson plans by subject, grade level, or by the amount of class time the lesson is expected to require, or search the lesson plans by keyword. You can also share you best lessons with your peers.

The discussion groups are organized into several categories such as Introduce yourself, Lesson ideas by grade levels, and open discussion. Recent discussion topics include "Social Bookmarking" and "The lesson you will never forget".

The professional development section includes articles to help you tackle some difficult issues like sexting and inappropriate online sites with your high school students or explore some of the latest tech and theories about Inclusive classrooms. You will also find courses where you can learn how to engage your students in the world of social media or create a digital classroom.

HP Teacher Experience Exchange is a part of the HP K-12 Education website.

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The Rearview Mirror 10/29/2011

For those of you who may have missed a Catch of the Day or who didn't have the opportunity to look at some of them during this past week, here's a second chance.

 

Monday

ClassConnect enables you to engage your students with interactive lectures, centrally organize all of your digital content, share with colleagues and students, and more.

Tuesday

Go Social Studies Go is a resource site for social studies teachers covering world history, world geography, American history, and world history.

Wednesday

Udemy is a platform that empowers anyone to build an online course to teach and share what they know. There are thousands of online courses offered at Udemy.

Thursday

Moglue allows publishers, amateur authors, and artists a way to create interactive ebooks and release them as apps for iOS and Android devices with no programming required.

Catch of The Day - Moglue - 10/27/2011

Moglue allows publishers, amateur authors, and artists a way to create interactive ebooks and release them as apps for iOS and Android devices with no programming required.

Moglue offers a desktop application for both Mac and Windows that enables anyone to quickly and easily create interactive ebooks for platforms such as the iOS devices and Android tablets and phones. The content is made once, with an easy to use interface employing simple drag-and-drop and one-click publishing.

The goal of Moglue is "to build an open community where media is shared, and any creative, imaginative person will be able to use the platform to build and share fun, engaging apps."

Watch a video about Moglue

You retain full rights to use your media in whatever way you wish. Moglue will not allow anyone to remix or use your artwork in any way without your permission.

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Catch of The Day - Udemy - 10/26/2011

Udemy is a platform that empowers anyone to build an online course to teach and share what they know. There are thousands of online courses offered at Udemy.

The goal of Udemy is “to disrupt and democratize the world of education by enabling anyone to teach and learn online.”

Teachers can use images, videos, presentations, PDFs, audio files, and even live classes to quickly build a course and share their knowledge and expertise. Each course is a curated collection of digital content put together into a series of "chapters" and "lectures". The Udemy interface enables you to quickly and easily title, organize, edit, and re-arrange your lessons with just a few clicks or a drag and a drop.

Creating courses on Udemy gives you access to tens of thousands of students and the opportunity to sell your course or give it away free.

Udemy does not claim any exclusivity rights from instructors for any course. Courses legally belong to the instructor.

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Catch of The Day - Go Social Studies Go - 10/25/2011

 

Go Social Studies Go is a resource site for social studies teachers covering world history, world geography, American history, and world history.

Go Social Studies Go is still in its early days and accepts ideas and materials from visitors to the site that they can add to their bank of free resources. Email them with the link to your submission, intended grade level, and your name.

Note: The site opens to a full Flash page and the entire site is Flash heavy.

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Catch of The Day - ClassConnect - 10/24/2011

ClassConnect enables you to engage your students with interactive lectures, centrally organize all of your digital content, share with colleagues and students, and more.

ClassConnect was built from the ground up to meet the needs of teachers. It can be used just to manage your files or to build a full online learning community.

ClassConnect features for teachers:

• Upload files with a single click, store them forever, and share them with one click.
• Create and deliver interactive lectures from scratch or import existing presentations.
• Post messages for a whole class, get student feedback, and encourage peer-to-peer collaboration in a secure forum.
• Organize in one integrated calendar that prioritizes tests, assignments, and projects from all classes.
• Your students can sign up for text message reminders.
• Short tutorials on the features help you quickly learn how things work.

Watch a video intro to ClassConnect

Search 400,000,000 pieces of educational content using the simple ClassConnect search engine. Find videos, documents, presenttions, e-books, websites, and images then save them into your FileBox with just a click.

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The Rearview Mirror 10/22/2011

For those of you who may have missed a Catch of the Day or who didn't have the opportunity to look at some of them during this past week, here's a second chance.

 

Monday

Kids' Science Challenge is a free national competition where students in grades 3-6 submit experiments and problems for real scientists and engineers to solve.

Tuesday

Sci2ools is a suite of free online productivity tools from SciWeavers that includes an international on-screen keyboard, image-to-text conversion, web page to pdf, a LaTeX editor, and more.

Wednesday

PDFaid provides a collection of free online tools to help you make a number of useful modifications to your PDF files.

Thursday

Maintain your anonymity and protect your privacy while accessing free wi-fi hotspots with the Internet connection protector Hotspot Shield.

MyTownTutors Adds "Tutor Location" Feature

 

MyTownTutors connects parents and students with qualified nearby teachers. It was featured in a post here last winter.

During the past few months, My Town Tutors has been working to add a “tutor location” feature to provide more flexibility in selecting an additional tutor location.

Originally, when a teacher registered, the only option was to select their “teaching school” as the tutoring location. Now, after selecting the “teaching school”, the teacher has the option of selecting a “tutoring location”.  The “tutor location” choice allows the teacher to select an additional location other than the work school.

Go to the earlier post about MyTownTutors

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Catch of The Day - Hotspot Shield - 10/20/2011

Maintain your anonymity and protect your privacy while accessing free wi-fi hotspots with the Internet connection protector Hotspot Shield.

Hotspot Shield, from AnchorFree, is a must-have utility for anybody who uses public wi-fi in cafes, hotels, airports, etc. By encrypting your traffic, it protects you from spying and other intrusions while your computer is connected to the Internet.

What Hotspot Shield does:

• Works with any browser.
• Ensures you are private, secure, and anonymous online.
• Secures your web session, data, online shopping, and personal information with HTTPS encryption.
• Protects you from online identity theft.
• Hides your IP address for your online privacy.
• Lets you access all content without censorship, bypass firewalls.
• Protects you from snoopers at wi-fi hotspots.

Hotspot Shield works on wireless and wired connections. Both Mac and Windows versions are available, both free and paid. The paid version runs faster, is ad free, and provides unlimited bandwidth.

Note: I have been using the free version on my MacBook with Safari for a week with no apparent speed or any other kinds of issues. The free version does always open a page from AnchorFree with links to several video sources, but this is the only minor inconvenience I've noticed.

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Catch of The Day - PDFaid - 10/19/2011

PDFaid provides a collection of free online tools to help you make a number of useful modifications to your PDF files.

Currently available PDFaid tools:

• PDF Watermark
• Image to PDF
• HTML to PDF
• PDF Joiner
• PDF Splitter
• PDF Rebrander
• Office to PDF/XPS
• Extract Images from PDF

PDFaid tools do not require you to download or install any software on your computer. The interface is simple and intuitive. PDFaid is free to use for files up to 20MB with a small PDFaid logo added to your documents. However, you can subscribe to PDFaid for a monthly fee of $10(US).

Located in Belgium, PDFaid was founded in 2006, and has grown from offering one application to the current 8 applications with more promised.

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Catch of The Day - Sci2ools - 10/18/2011

 

Sci2ools is a suite of free online productivity tools from SciWeavers* that includes an international on-screen keyboard, image-to-text conversion, web page to pdf, a LaTeX editor, and more.

i2Type is an international on-screen language keyboard that supports all world languages. Copy typed text to your clipboard or save it.

Copy symbols as text to paste into messages and documents with i2Symbol. Type accent marks and diacritics.

i2Style lets you control typeset attributes such as font size, color, etc and automatically generates CSS code.

Extract text from document images in 33 languages using i2ocr.

iTex2Img converts LaTeX equations into images to embed in documents and web pages.

iWeb2Print converts web pages to printer-friendly PDF documents that you can save, read, and print directly from your browser.

Converts a web page to a high resolution image snapshot with iWeb2Shot. A bookmarklet enables you to get images directly from your browser.

iPDF2Split and iPDF2Merge lets you break apart PDF files or combine multiple files into one.

Sci2ools offers unlimited usage without registration or email. A Google Chrome Extension and Firefox Add-On are also available.

*Sciweavers is an academic network that aggregates links to research paper preprints then categorizes them into proceedings.

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Catch of The Day - Kids' Science Challenge - 10/17/2011

 

Kids' Science Challenge is a free national competition where students in grades 3-6 submit experiments and problems for real scientists and engineers to solve.

Kids can play science games, watch videos, and enter to win prizes and trips at Kids' Science Challenge. Kids are encouraged to "use their creativity to make connections and innovate on our current conceptions of how things work."

The winners in each of three categories (Zero Waste, Animal Smarts, and Meals on Mars) test their ideas by working directly with scientists and engineers. Students learn about the innovation process and the foundation of scientific thinking.

How students compete in the Kids' Science Challenge:

1. Research the three topics
2. Brainstorm their ideas, experiments, or problems
3. Submit their ideas or experiments for scientists to solve

The first thousand entrants receive a free Science Activity Kit with hands-on projects related to the three topics. Winning students get to work on their ideas with real scientists. Other prizes include science kits, science equipment, and cool science toys. The deadline for entries is February 29, 2012.

For teachers, Kids’ Science Challenge includes lesson plans, online games, fun activities, science fair project ideas, science background on the three topics, and more. Kids' Science Challenge is made possible by the National Science Foundation.

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The Rearview Mirror 10/15/2011

For those of you who may have missed a Catch of the Day or who didn't have the opportunity to look at some of them during this past week, here's a second chance.

 

Monday

EducatorsResources.com strives to provide up-to-date, comprehensive information on educational, enrichment, recreational, and entertainment activities in an easy to use format for teachers, parents, and others who work with young people.

Tuesday

Mathopoly is a teaching tool disguised as a math game offering middle school students the opportunity to learn mathematical concepts and formulas in a fun, relaxed environment.

Wednesday

A Moment of Science is a daily audio podcast, public radio program, and video series telling the scientific story behind some of life's most curious mysteries.

Thursday

Vocabulary.com touts itself as "the quickest, most intelligent way to improve your vocabulary" by combining an adaptive learning system, The Challenge, with the world’s fastest dictionary so that you can learn words quickly and efficiently.

Catch of The Day - Vocabulary.com - 10/13/2011

 

Vocabulary.com touts itself as "the quickest, most intelligent way to improve your vocabulary" by combining an adaptive learning system, The Challenge, with the world’s fastest dictionary so that you can learn words quickly and efficiently.

Vocabulary.com first built a corpus containing over a billion and a half words by looking at books, periodicals, and other materials. From this, they then culled essential English vocabulary words needed for success in academics or business.

Vocabulary.com uses a proprietary technology called Adaptive Vocabulary Instruction. Everything a learner does on the site adds to the AVI model, thereby avoiding

wasting time learning words that are not appropriate to that learner's skills and knowledge. Previously learned words are reintroduced from time to time to help you retain the words originally learned.

Users can easily make and share word lists and can add descriptions to words, name the lists, make lists public, and share them with friends or classmates. Other users can comment on the lists, favorite them, or use them as templates for new lists.

A free Vocabulary.com account includes personalized vocabulary instruction, the world's fastest dictionary, the super-fast vocabulary list builder, and charts and graphs of your learning progress.

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Catch of The Day - A Moment of Science - 10/12/2011

A Moment of Science is a daily audio podcast, public radio program, and video series telling the scientific story behind some of life's most curious mysteries.

Thousands of questions about the world you live in are answered in the two-minute radio programs from A Moment of Science. They are for anyone even a little bit interested in how the world around you works – even those who don't know much about science.

A Moment of Science removes some of the mystery from science without diminishing the wonder. "A Moment of Science makes you think 'Wow, that’s neat!' and go tell somebody else about it." There are thousands of topics covered, and by sending in questions, listeners can add to this already vast repository of information.

Listen to an A Moment of Sciencepodcast

A Moment of Science is produced at Indiana University, Bloomington, in cooperation with IU’s scientific community.

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19Pencils Adds New Features

19Pencils is a website created by a team of Silicon Valley technology veterans where teachers can discover, manage, and share learning content. It was the subject of a post here earlier this summer.

19Pencils has just announced the addition of a number of new things:

• Multi-Question Quizzes for easy convenient class discussion or for simple student reviews
• Student Tracking of quizzes as well as websites they visit from your class page
• The Playground! is a live, real time student collaboration feature where your students can collaborate securely on website research and more
• Improved user interface on your class page, content separated by category to make it easier for you to share web sites with your students

Any new user now through the end of October will be considered an early adopter and will receive a free upgrade.

Go to the previous post about 19Pencils

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Catch of The Day - Mathopoly - 10/11/2011

Mathopoly is a teaching tool disguised as a math game offering middle school students the opportunity to learn mathematical concepts and formulas in a fun, relaxed environment.

Mathopoly integrates all the mathematical concepts necessary to help kids succeed in a modern curriculum.  Everything about the game is mathematical, from the dice toss to the curriculum-based* questions.

Calculators are not needed in Mathopoly. The players can do all the calculating themselves using a pencil and paper, their money tracking card, and their own math skills. However, you can you use calculators if you wish.

Kids acquire ownership of segments (property) and complete a unit (worksheet, quiz, and test). Once they own a segment and/or unit, a fee is assessed to other players who land on the given segment. Each fee is determined by a mathematical question in the given discipline. Kids will learn at their own pace choosing their own method of play.

Mathopoly sells for $29.95(Can) or about $28.50(US), £18.25(UK). The game includes a game board, 2 dice (6-sided, 10-sided), player tokens, 100 desks (houses), 30 group tables (hotels), mental math solving cards , problem solving cards, title deed cards, money tracking card, strand question cards, protractor, ruler, answer sheets, formula sheet, and graphs.

*See how Mathopoly connects to curriculum standards

🔔🔔🔔

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Catch of The Day - EducatorsResources.com - 10/10/2011

EducatorsResources.com strives to provide up-to-date, comprehensive information on educational, enrichment, recreational, and entertainment activities in an easy to use format for teachers, parents, and others who work with young people.

EducatorsResources.com is a directory of fundraising resources and ideas; school assembly  programs; supplies, equipment, and services vendors; and professional development resources for teachers, school staff, and PTA officers.

EducatorsResources.com has organized their information into categories such as Assembly & Outreach Programs, Fundraising, Instructional Materials, etc. Each of these categories is further organized into several sub-categories. You can browse by sub-category or you can do a full keyword site search. Organizations and companies are sorted by regions served and include contact information such as email and website and a description.

EducatorsResources.com is a website of Family Publications which has been providing information to parents, teachers, and others for over 30 years.

🔔🔔

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The Rearview Mirror 10/8/2011

For those of you who may have missed a Catch of the Day or who didn't have the opportunity to look at some of them during this past week, here's a second chance.

 

Monday

Toronto-based Dataport is a free web-based service offering an easy and accurate Scantron alternative for scoring and grading tests.

Tuesday

Showbeyond is a multimedia slidecast creator, online publishing platform, and story sharing community.

Wednesday

Sometimes it's useful or necessary to be able to edit the text in a PDF document in MS Office, OpenOffice, Pages, or whatever word processor you prefer. Here are a pair of free online tools, ABBYY FineReader Online and PDF to Word Free, that will make it possible for you to grab the text from that PDF (or other types of documents) and convert it into an editable format.

Thursday

Moneyville is an educational and fun website that was specially designed for school children 5-9 years old. With its entertaining games and various activities, your students can explore where money comes from, what money is worth, and how they can prioritize and save up.

Catch of The Day - Moneyville - 10/6/2011

Moneyville is an educational and fun website that was specially designed for school children 5-9 years old. With its entertaining games and various activities, your students can explore where money comes from, what money is worth, and how they can prioritize and save up.

Students are given their own house and room, as well as their own character. When a student leaves Moneyville, all of his or her money and belongings are automatically saved until the next visit.

In Moneyville, students can:

• Make money by gathering apples and selling apple juice in the Apple Booth.
• Sort packages at the Post Office and make money by helping out.
• Earn money by helping to paint the City Gate.
• Visit Karen's Shop, where they can purchase items for their personal rooms and clothing for their characters.
• Answer a sorcerer's questions correctly to reveal the location of hidden treasure.
• Use the Wish Jar to save up for things they would like to buy.
• Travel in the Time Machine, a sanctuary where the only objective is to have fun.

There is a special area of Moneyville for 8-9 year olds where they can learn about finances on a more abstract level, such as making decisions that can affect their finances for as long as a year.

Moneyville is part of a National Irish Bank program for financial understanding and investing in education.

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