There's No Place Like Homepage

Growing up in Kansas, I have always been a big fan of The Wizard Of Oz movie. I can remember watching it even as a little girl. The flying monkeys used to terrify me. However, being a Kansas native, tornadoes do not scare me. I love the thrill of hearing the sirens go off and stepping outside to look for funnel clouds. Of course I respect their power and know when it is time to seek shelter. When my husband and I were first married, we lived in a mobile home in south Wichita. We weathered a tornado or two in the storm shelter provided by the park. Luckily, our little trailer survived each twister event while we lived there.

As tornado season approaches once again in Kansas, (the sirens actually did go off a few weeks ago...you never know in Kansas!), I will look forward to the excitement, and hope for the best for myself, neighbors, family, and friends.



Schoolr

Schoolr is a one-page resource source that could certainly double as a very useful homepage for students and adults alike. Organized on this single page are search fields for:

Google

Wikipedia

Dictionary.com

Thesaurus.com

Acronym Finder

Urban Dictionary

Also, you can convert units of measure, translate text and create citations using Citation Builder. This very convenient packaging of many useful sites could leaving you saying, "There's no place like home(page)."

Cool Tool for Podcasting

I haven't really gotten into podcasting, at least the creation of podcasts. I always have good intentions of creating something in a podcast, but never do. I think it is because I don't like the sound of my voice when I hear it. It has that Midwestern twang to it. I can't imagine what my colleagues or students think of it!
Nevertheless, I think podcasting has a strong place in schools, especially student-created podcasts. I have seen, rather---HEARD---many wonderful examples of podcasts created by students. It takes on a whole new realm of learning for the student when not only do they speak, but they hear themselves speak. Volume, rate, inflection, not to mention the use of "like" and "ummm", all play a big role in podcasting. Most of these skills are taught when students are reading, but not taught for presentations.
A podcast really isn't any different than an oral presentation. Students still prepare in the same way. The podcast can be kept forever, where an oral speech is saved only in the audience's memeory. Today's resource will help students prepare for creating a podcast so that they can focus more on the skills necessary to make them sound professional.

CuePrompter
CuePrompter is a free online teleprompter that can help students when practicing for an oral presentation or speech, podcast or vodcast. The application is a snap to use and free for all commercial and noncommecial purposes. You can select the speed, screen size, text color, and even mirror the text. Check this out if you are delving into the world of podcasting with your students!

Something Cool - Close to Home!

I found a cool blog today, thanks to @hci, a fellow Tweeter from Wichita. The blog, which is highlighted below, was created by the Wichita Eagle's copy desk. The Eagle is Wichita's local newspaper. They have had an online presence for a long time now; a site that I regularly visit if I need to refer to an article that I had recently read, to get funeral information, or many other bits of information. I had missed this wonderful blog, called Grammar Monkeys, until today. Each blog entry features a grammar tip in the form of a podcast. I like that each episode gives a grammar tip in a short and concise way. This could make a wonderful intro for writing a paragraph based on the tip, to add to a teacher's class blog or web page, or as a bell ringer activity. Any other ideas?

Grammar Monkeys
Check out Grammar Monkeys blog that gives short and sweet grammar tips in the form of podcasts. The tips are suitable for upper elementary through high school students, as well as life long language learners and lovers. I would love to see a post on the use of lose/loose - a pet peeve of mine! Thanks @hci and Wichita Eagle for opening my eyes and ears to this blog!

The Art of Relaxation

Once when I was teaching fifth grade, a parent told me that I was ADHD. He told me this in the hallway. I think he was in marketing, but he sure thought he was medical practitioner of some sort. I really took offense to his statement, mostly because it is true. I prefer to say that I "don't relax well".
In about three minutes, or however long it takes me to finish this post, I will officially be on Spring Break. I hope that I can work on relaxing during the next 10 days off work. The sites I am sharing today are two that I find very stress-relieving. Hope you find them to be as well.

Auditorium
Auditorium is a flash game that combines light and sound. Players manipulate the sound waves to make the music play. While listening to soothing music, players can use problem solving skills to advance to new levels. What a unique experience!

Boomshine
Boomshine isn't new, but it is definitely like a favorite blanket for me. I play this game when I am stressed, and the relaxing music always melts my tension away. Click your mouse to hit as many of the floating bubbles as possible with your "boom". The bubbles burst creating a chain reaction. If you burst enough bubbles with one "boom", you advance to the next level. Many websites offer this game. Make sure you have your speakers on when you play.

Fiddlesticks

On this first Monday of Daylight Savings Time, I am sitting at my desk watching the sun rise in a painted sky. Usually DST affects me, but I was able to get out of bed before the crack of dawn this morning. I love to "spring forward" because it means longer days are coming and that Spring is just around the corner. I look forward to the budding leaves, the tulips' pop of color, toad stools, and even the lion's roar of the tornado sirens. Mostly I love Spring because after it slides right into summer!



Phrasr
Phrasr is a Flickr application that pairs words with Flickr photos to create short slideshows. You choose the words, then Phrasr suggests photos for each word. Once you have selected the pictures you want, a slideshow is created. Each show is saved and can also be emailed. Imagery, idioms, rebus stories, oxymoron are just a few ways to incorporate this fun app in your classroom. Check out the one I made here.

Everyone's an Artist

So I suck at art. I always have. When I taught 5th grade, once a week I was supposed to teach art. Ha! Once a week, I taught crafts. There is hope for me though. I might not ever learn about the elements of design and lines, shading and hue, but at least the Internet provides me with a way to create something that is somewhat artistic. Today's site came to me by way of @AaronPotsick, an educator and tech lover, that I follow on Twitter.

SUMO Paint
SUMO Paint is a free online image editing software that is incredibly easy to use. The environment is similar to other image editors and allows for you to create, share, and comment on other's work. This is so cool that even I can make something eye-catching. Check this one out!

Express Yourself

As teachers we often look for ways to make an assignment more appealing to students. We try to get into their world so they will perform well for us. The Jeopardy Labs site I shared in my last post is one such example of making a lesson more appealing to students. A few days ago, I ran across a site that allowed students to create a short newspaper article that generates an authentic looking picture of the article. I thought that would be a way to entice students to complete the task of writing a paragraph or two, which would otherwise seem boring. On further investigation, I found a blog that highlight such sites; so many, in fact, that you could practically make every single lesson of the year more appealing!

The Generator Blog
The Generator Blog is a blog that highlights generator sites. The list is long and distracting! I could spend a few good days looking at all the generators listed. Everything from a dog tag generator to a site that allows you to generate a virtual spatula are listed here. A virtual spatula???? Anyway, I won't spend any time telling you how these generators could be used in your lessons. If you are a teacher, your head will be swimming with ideas once you start looking at the list. Have fun with this one, folks!

Our Love's in Jeopardy

Where were you when I needed you?
Well, you could not be found
What can I do?
Oh, I believed in you
You're running me around

Remember this old song by the Greg Kihn Band? It came out in 1983, the year I graduated from high school. If you only knew the drama surrounding my boyfriend and me then, you would understand what the lyrics of that song meant to me.
Or perhaps you prefer the Weird Al Yankovic parody

Be honest, how many of you sing that version in your head when you catch Jeopardy the game show on TV? Or are you like millions of others who get the famous

Doo doo doo do

Doo doo do,

Doo doo doo do

Do...doo doo doo doo do

stuck in your brain? Either way, most of us have watched the game show hosted by Alex Trebek at least once in our lives. Some of us think we could be the next Ken Jennings, and others of us have miserably failed.

Interestingly enough, the Jeopardy format continues to be popular in classrooms as a way to review material. Today's site has an easy template to create your own Jeopardy game.

Jeopardy Labs

Jeopardy Labs is a super-easy site to play or build an online jeopardy game. No registration is required to create a game that has a game board that looks very much like the TV show. Simply create a password to be able to edit your game at a later date, and fill in the board with categories, answers and questions. Once finished, a unique URL is created for your game. You can go back and edit by going to the edit-version URL and typing in the password. There are over 2000 games already created on the site, but because of the super-simple nature of building, why not just create your own? I created this game for a 6th grade Science teacher in my school. With the science textbook in front of me, it only took about 20 minutes. This will be great for him to use with his classes on the Activboard in his classroom.
My Jeopardy Template