Triptico...Awesome Technology Resource

Have you heard of Triptico? I love using this program with students and teachers. It has been very successful and to mention it is FREE, yes I said FREE!! You do have to download it, but it is well worth it.

Here is description of Triptico:

Triptico's desktop app contains over twenty interactive, fully-customisable resources for you to use in your classroom... and it's completely free!

Download Triptico

I  would say it is one of the Best Web 2.0 resources out there. It has a sleak and sophisticated look. When you see it, you won't even believe that this is FREE. I had spent so much time looking for free interactive activities to use to meet the needs of my students and teachers, with little luck. When I found Triptico, I was so excited and I had to show the class I was teaching at the time and they were so pumped. I had some teachers yelling out with excitement!!

I hope you enjoy it!

Fuel the Brain...Interactive Games and More

Hi everyone, it's Kristen Hernandez from the Teacher Playground. I wanted to share with you one of my favorite educational game sites. I really love www.fuelthebrain.com. Fuel the Brain has numerous games, interactive activities, as well as printables to help enhance and practice key skills in the Math, Science, and Language Arts classroom. This site is mainly for elementary, but middle school level students could benefit from the review. The printables are great and you can easily make them into interactive flipcharts. 

Also if you like to embed flash into flipcharts, Fuel the Brain games embed very nicely.

Have fun with it!

Spelling City App

Spelling City allows kids to play six different word games using 10 different word lists from colors (K-1) to SAT Words (grades 10-12). The games include a really cool hangman-like game which, instead of a man being hung, involves a mouse stealing cheese from a plate right next to a sleeping cat. Get too many letters wrong and the cat wakes up!

The word lists also include one called "Hunger Games" and parents may also add their kids' own vocabulary/spelling lists (to use in the games) by signing up for a free account at www.vocabularyspellingcity.com.

Good Free Language Lab App: Core Words

Good Free App of the Day - Language Lab: Core Words

PrcPRC Core Words helps special needs individuals build their expressive vocabulary to direct activities, make requests, and reject and label common objects. It introduces 13 common words

(more, eat, drink, sleep, don't, play, make, work, read, stop, go, no, help) through a series of cute animations and offers the ability to customize by adding your own categories and photos.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/language-lab-core-words/id474446989?mt=8&uo=4

Super Teacher Tools

As an educator it can be hard to find free technology resources to use in the classroom, so when I stumbled upon Super Teacher Tools a year ago, I quickly bookmarked it and I have been hooked ever since. It is definitely a keeper! I love everything about it especially the Random Facts Desk screen saver. You should check it out if you haven't.

SuperTeacherTools.us is dedicated to providing technology tools for teaching that are quick and easy to download, learn, and start using in your classroom.

In the site, you will find a variety of review games, classroom management software, and other miscellaneous tools for educators.

My Histro

Hey everyone! I wanted to tell you about My Histro (interactive timeline) as this was brought to my attention from a poster. I thought I would check it out and I am very impressed. I think it would be great to use with your students, so they can have an up close and personal connection with history which includes the use of technology and media. I also love the collaboration aspect of this tool. My Histro also has an App you can download.

http://www.myhistro.com/

From: http://www.myhistro.com/blog/interactive-timelines-for-teachers-and-students
In today's Web 2.0 world, user generated content and collaboration are what drives knowledge and knowledge sharing. The time of passivity and being subjected to what the web has to offer is long gone. Even "interactive" has been replaced by "social". -Enter myHistro- MyHistro focuses on content creation rather than content consumption. Teachers and the students alike can create free interactive timelines in a few easy steps. 

"Studying a timeline" vs "Creating a timeline"

Now teachers have two great ways of using our timelines to engage their students:

1. Teachers can create specific timelines, present them in the class using a projector like they would do with a slide deck or let the students navigate the timeline freely on their own in the computer room. Students will be able to find those same timelines later at home and use them as studying material.
2. Teachers can ask their students to create timelines on a particular subjects as homework. Timelines can also be created with the collaboration of other students. They are a great way of consolidating what has been learned in the class and with them teachers can evaluate the research and writing skills of the student. See this example of timeline created by a student:

eLections...Great Interactive Experience

I have been using eLECTIONS for many years now with students. The kids love it and the educational experience is great. With the elections coming up I thought this would be a wonderful site to blog about.

The grade levels are listed below, but don't be afraid to try it with your kids as I used this with 4th and 5th graders as well.

http://www.ciconline.org/Resource/elections-your-adventure-in-politics

eLECTIONS: Your Adventure in Politics

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Subjects: Civics, Social Studies, Technology
Grade Levels: 6-8, 9-12
Source: Cable in the Classroom

Inspired by the classic board game "The Game of Life," players will role-play their own virtual candidates running for President. The one or two-player game is both genuinely entertaining and genuinely educational - with emphasis on delivering a fun learning experience. Kids can play with parents, students with teachers, users of all ages with a friend, classmate, or with a computer-generated opponent. The latest edition of eLECTIONS also offers a computer-generated Third Party candidate.
eLECTIONS is:

• Accessible: Available for free to anyone with a high-speed internet connection.
• Multi-sensory: Players see, read, hear and interact with multimedia content from CNN Student News, C-SPAN and History™.
• Content Rich: Players explore independently how a presidential campaign works - through a fun and interactive experience.
• Self-directed: Players make the choices that influence the outcome of the game. They continue to learn and explore fundamental election concepts with the "LEARN MORE" content - all at their own pace.

Dippity...Interactive Timeline

Check out this really neat interactive free digital timeline website.  Users can create, share, embed and collaborate on interactive, visually engaging timelines that integrate video, audio, images, text, links, social media, location and timestamps.

Timelines can be an excellent way to add features to a multimedia story, as long as there’s an interesting time element. 

This site is are also good for multimedia journalism classes, as using them can force students to think chronologically about a story outside the narrative writing process

http://www.dipity.com

Teacher Page

When you get a chance, check out my Teacher Page site. You will find lots of wonderful resources there as well.

If you are looking for a free webpage builder site, this one is fantastic. It is user friendly and is great for the beginner and the advanced user.

www.teacherpage.com/mrshernandez

Featured Blogger

I am featuring a great blog this morning that I love. She also happens to be one of my best friends. She does an amazing job with her blog. Check her out!

http://enchantedwithtechnology.blogspot.com/

Here I Go!

Hi everyone! I have decided that I should start blogging as it seems to be pretty popular. I have been sucked in as I love going to and reading others blogs.

I want to begin by offering a freebie to everyone. On the link provided I have instructions on inserting the cube into ActivInspire, but please NOTE that you DO NOT have to have ActivInspire to use these on your computer. All you need is Adobe Flash =)

I hope you enjoy these and let me know if you have any questions.

http://tinyurl.com/vcubes

Make sure to stop by my Teachers Pay Teachers Store for some freebies. I will continue to add some goodies.