Sharing Online Resources

http://www.kidzone.ws/lw/bears/activities.htm

I love kidzone for ideas.  I especially like to print activities my students can do.  They seem to really enjoy these type of activities.  Sometimes, just putting the visuals on the activeboard for the entire class to see works well with my first graders.

http://members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/bear/Bearcoloring.shtml

This is a unit I do every year or every other year. I also like enchanted learning for my ELL students.  I have found some really fun activities to do on holidays.

http://members.enchantedlearning.com/sampletests/verbalanalogies/presidentsday/index.shtml
This is an analogies sheet we did for President's Day.  It gave us something fun to do and brought about a discussion on words they may not know.  So it was a fun way to talk about vocabulary words.

http://stepbystepcc.com/gingerbread3.html

Another theme I do in December is Gingerbread.  There are so many books, and activities that I can use that aren't necessarily Christmas. 

http://mrsjonesroom.com/teachers/minibooks.html#mini
I also love to print books my students can read and color. 

http://www.spellingcity.com

I have my weekly spelling words on this site.  My students love to play hang mouse.  Many play it at home to study their words.

http://prezi.com/

Prezi is almost like an animated power point presentation. Students will have fun with the numerous options for visual effects while learning information at the same time.

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/analyzing-purpose-meaning-political-794.html

This lesson plan involves analyzing political cartoons. The website includes standards, resources, preparation, an instructional plan, as well as related resources. Students learn to evaluate political cartoons for their meaning, message, and persuasiveness. After they have gone through and analyzes several examples, students can then create their own cartoon using the comic creator which requires no previous artistic ability!

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/

The comic creator can be used for just about any other lesson plan as well.

http://www.aviewoncities.com/washington.htm

This would be fantastic for a class planning on going on a close-up trip to Washington, D.C. Give students a list of questions dealing with famous landmarks in the nation's capital. Students will have to search through the website to find the answers. While looking they will read all sorts of interesting information about the history of the city as well as the nation.

http://farcebook.us/

This website allows students to create their own "farcebook" page. Students may create a fake facebook page for any person throughout history. I have used this project in my classroom before on presidents and the roaring '20s era. The site does cost money so I had students fill out a paper copy. On the website, George Washington is available to click on to see an example. Students are interested in facebook and they like how they can make up friends or conversations that may have happened back in time.

http://kidsvid.4teachers.org/

Kidsvid allows for students to use video production for project based learning. This website gives you advice on scripting, making the video, editing the clips and then presenting the final piece. Students can then send their videos to this website and anyone can then view it.

http://assignaday.4teachers.org/

This is an excellent way to keep the students more organized and accountable for their work and deadlines. It is a teacher managed calendar that the students can use to see assignments and other things associated with the class. This is a good way to promote online communication between the teacher and student and collaboration with the students.

http://www.pecentral.org/

I currently use this website for the physical education setting. I’ve used it since college and it includes many great lessons, activities and assessment tools.

http://www.njsca.org/col/colquest.htm

The following is a webquest that is easily walked through by the student, but also is comprehensive. As a Special Education teacher we need to assist students with transition needs, essentially what it takes to move into adulthood successfully.  Students often have a grandiose view of what their career path will be and going to college without any realistic information about what it takes to achieve their goals.  In the past I have had goals for students to do college and career exploration without good resources for them to do so.

http://www.themoneytrack.com/category/lesson-plans

Another area of transition that students have needs in is budgeting.  They are often unrealistic about how much money they will make and how that correlates with the lifestyle that they want to live.  Budgeting exercises are important to promote understanding of what it takes to live the desired lifestyle.  The following website has numerous lessons that work on this area of need.

http://schoolandmain.org/tools/txpackets/mapping1203.pdf

This website gives teachers and service providers an outstanding format for understanding mapping.  There are sections for the facilitator and the learner.  There are numerous organizational worksheets for the facilitators and the learners.  These can easily be used with students to help them identify resources and services they may have need of now or in the future.

http://cyd.aed.org/cym/tensteps.html

This site is for teachers to understand the framework of Community Assest (resource) Mapping.

http://practicalradical.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/asset-mapping-toolkit-draft-june-15-2010.pdf

Project based approach to mapping.

http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/personal/famplan/educators/SpecialEducation.aspx

Lesson plan on identifying community resources along with multiple other lessons designed specifically for special education needs.

www.quia.com

I create free accounts for all my students and they login throughout the semester to do pre-tests, post-tests, and formative activities such as quizzes, and games. It does cost $49.00 for a one-year subscription, but it is so worth it!!! I have been using this tool for many years and here is my personal Quia page:

http://www.quia.com/profiles/vcampos

PTSA, my foreign language department or even school district would pay for the subscription every year.

www.conjuguemos.com

An excellent tool that I use to assign homework and sometimes classwork. I can use the vocabulary that is already listed there for French and Spanish textbooks, or create my own lists. It is awesome tool for practicing verbs, vocabulary and grammar!!

http://edu.glogster.com

Here, you can create Curriculum Based Projects for Classes, Groups, Teams, or Individual students!! You can work with students in a classroom or through remote instruction using this multimedia platform – a community system for sharing is prepared where student‘s work is stored and available at any time. You can create projects with templates and instructional guidelines and assign them to the students. In addition, you can give feedback throughout the assignment, and assess their finished work.

http://quizlet.com/

If you want to provide millions of flashcards to your students, use this!! You can use the many that are already prepared, or create your own!!! Students love this and you will be amazed that Quizlet is the largest flash cards and study games website with over 12 million free sets of flashcards covering every possible subject. It's amazing to play educational games, memorize vocabulary and study online.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

I have used this in my Spanish and French classes for years! This site includes videos and activities to teach/reinforce foreign language study. My students in Spanish loved the “Mi Vida Loca” series which is like a mystery series which takes the students on a virtual tour of Spain!! I love this and my students would beg to do this after they took their quizzes on Fridays. I would give my students a headset with a microphone and they could “go” to Spain and practice activities from paying a cab driver or buying train or subway tickets by clicking and dragging the currency to “pay”.

http://www.voxopop.com/

This is a voice-based e-learning tool used by educators all over the world. The talk-groups help students develop their speaking skills and it’s like a message board, but with voice rather than text. Students and teachers can interact from home or opposite sides of the planet free of charge! It’s perfect for having students “voice” their comments in a foreign language.