KidNuz

 KidNuz is an amazing way for students to learn about current news in the world that is non-partisan and age appropriate for them.  This is done through carefully curated podcasts that are fun and catered towards student learning.  Best of all, there are lots of free educational resources for educators looking for worksheets, quizzes, and more to use in the classroom.

I highly recommend checking out KidNuz by clicking here!!!

JellyBean Scoop

JellyBean Scoop is an interesting new site that I just found out about from Richard Byrne's excellent blog.  This is a great site/app for finding interesting "true" stories divided into 4 reading levels.  Each story contains audio files, comprehension tests, vocabulary/sentence building practice, and read aloud functions.

Also, there is a JellyBean Writer tool which helps students create picture or text books by providing templates.  These books are easy to create and a user can upload photos from their computer.  It can be used for any subject and ideal for El Ed students.

Finally, there are JellyBean Scoop Brain Games that focus on a wide variety of skills such as: Math, Language, Vocabulary, and more.

I highly recommend checking out JellyBean Scoop by clicking here!!!

News-O-Matic

News-O-Matic is a fantastic new free iOS app that I just found out about through a promotional email.  This is an app designed for kids 7-11 yrs old to bring them 5 daily news stories containing articles, videos, and photos.  These stories are on a number of different subjects such as: sports, science, world news, and more.  Also, these stories are aligned to 3rd/4th grade Common Core Standards, has a variety of fun activities for students to complete, as well as full audio support for challenged readers.  Best of all, there is a free daily teacher guide which helps educators assess students learning and comprehension of the articles.

I highly recommend checking out News-O-Matic by clicking here!!!

To find News-O-Matic on Edshelf click here.

For my Pinterest board on Educational iOS Apps click here.

Below is a brief video...

Youngzine

Youngzine is a site I just found out about from Free Technology 4 Teachers. This is an excellent site for kids/students to find out current information on the web. Here is a quote straight from their site, "Our goal is to help parents and educators create a vibrant community of globally aware young citizens in an increasingly connected world. Along with news stories written specifically with our young audience in mind, Youngzine strives to inform using fun trivia, compelling visuals and videos."

Also, there are some nice features educators get such as a classroom blog and an area to collaborate on w/ students. In this "area" a teacher can post assignments, comments, and use it for grading.

I highly recommend checking out Youngzine by clicking here!!!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a free iPhone app that shows the news of the future. This is built by the same people who brought us Zapaday, a new and cool news engine.

Dowonload Tomorrow by clicking here!!

Zapaday

Zapaday is a new (alpha) site for getting news on the web. What makes Zapaday so special is it tries to bring you news of the future rather then current news. Here is a quote straight from their founder...

Stefan Hoevenaar, founder of Zapaday: "The internet makes most news old news, instantly. Journalism is now finding new roles, focusing on background stories, opinions and news previews. An open news agenda supports that change. We believe news agendas should be open and free."

The way this is done is by Zapaday bots that scan the internet for news on over 4000 sites. Then the content is created by "us" the users. Actual, this is kinda like a giant wiki that people can edit and share by way of creating calendars and other type of news events.

I highly recommend checking out Zapaday by clicking here!!

Brikut

Brikut is an interesting site where people can view stories and then add comments to them. Also, a person can post links to them as well. This could be a good site to use to teach students the importance of collaborating via comments.

Give Brikut a try by clicking here.



For a much more detailed review check out Larry Ferlazzo's excellent blog.

Guzzle

Guzzle is a nice new site for creating your online newspaper that reminds me of the Mac app, Times. However, there is no filter w/ this site so I don't recommend using it w/ students. This would be a nice site to use if you want to customize how you search online and do it all in one place.



Give Guzzle a try by clicking here.

Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for the tip.