Puzzlin Pieces USA

Puzzlin' Pieces: USA is a new educational iOS app designed for kids 6-8 learning about the Geography of the United States.  The drag-n-drop puzzle game is designed in 3 levels helping the student learn about the states and their location by using the weather as a "hot/cold" indicator.  As the student progresses they receive fewer clues as their geographical knowledge is put to the test.  There is also a timer to measure progress and stars awarded for correct answers.

I highly recommend checking out Puzzlin' Pieces: USA by clicking here!!!
For more info on Puzzlin' check out Edshelf.

For my Pinterest board on Educational iOS Apps click here.

*Puzzlin' Pieces USA is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Biteslide

Biteslide is a wonderful web tool w/ educational portal that teachers are using to create beautiful looking slidebooks/presentations.  This is all done through a very easy to use drag-n-drop interface and web browser plugin (a.k.a "Nibbler") for adding images, clipart, text and more.  Educators are using this for Project Based Learning, creating dynamic digital stories/scrapbooks, and even "flipping their classroom.  Best of all, the educational portal allows educators to create and monitor student accounts and projects.

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

*Biteslide is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Bookopolis

Bookopolis is a wonderful site for students to rate and review books in a safe environment.  It kind of reminds me of Shelfari but w/ an educational portal for teachers where they can track and review student's work.  This a great way to assign book reports, track reading logs, and more.

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

Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo's excellent blog for the tip.

For my Pinterest board on Web 2.0 for Schools click here.

Chronicle

Chronicle is an unbelievable iPad app that educators are using for a wide variety of purposes to help w/ their best teaching strategies.  This is done by "chronicling" each student through Chronicle by a combination of audio/video notes, assessments, grade books, and much much more.  Also, Chronicle makes it easy to grade/assess students by color coded tracking, and innovative easy to use grade book, and provides a platform to effectively communicate w/ parents and other educators.

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

Below is a brief demo video...



*Chronicle is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Noteflight

Noteflight is an excellent site w/ educational portal (COPPA compliant) that allows users to create and share music right in their browser.  This is an excellent resource for Music teachers looking to teach music notation and create online assignments in a safe environment.

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

For a more detailed review check out Graphite.

Below is a brief demo video...



For my Pinterest board on Web 2.0 for Schools click here.

Answerables

Answerables is the innovative new platform that combines Game Based Learning w/ a Learning Management System to create a fun and safe platform into the virtual/digital world.  Answerables reminds me of a Second Life but geared more towards kids and more user friendly.  This is a great place for educators to assign digital lessons, and for students to learn through collaborating w/ others in a safe environment.  Also, this is a great place for educators to connect w/ others and even offer tutoring to students through this digital environment.

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

For Technology & Learning's review click here.

Below is a brief demo video...



*Answerables is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Holiday Resources from PBS

Here is a cross post for holiday resources from PBS Learning Media.

·         Data Sets: What A Typical Thanksgiving Meal Costs This Year l For grade 6

Students use data and infographics to explore the changes in costs of ingredients for a typical Thanksgiving meal from one year to the next.

·         Thanksgivukkah | For grades 6-12

According to many in the Jewish community, Hanukkah and Thanksgiving have much more in common this year than just a calendar date.

·         Thanksgiving l For grades 3-12

This set of primary resources provides a window into the history of Thanksgiving, as well as a Teacher's Guide with historical context and teaching suggestions.

There are also more videos, lesson plans and activities tied to the upcoming holiday season. If you’re working on any holidays articles, please let me know and we can send you more info on these (and many more!) from PBS LearningMedia:

Sid’s Holiday Adventure | For grades PreK-1 

Christmas | For grades 2-6

Hanukkah | For grades 2-6 

Kwanzaa | For grades 2-6  

New Year’s Eve | For grades 2-6

Why do we Cook? | For grades 6-12 

FluencyFinder

FluencyFinder is the amazing mobile (iOS/Android) app that every K-8/parent needs to assess their student's Reading fluency in real-time.  Not only does this app support multiple users ideal for class use, it stores data for easy use on multiple devices, as well as allow for Reading comprehension assessment.  Best of all, the latest update (v. 3.0) allows users to upload their very own Reading passages that they can use to assess students.  This is perfect to fit w/ any curriculum or Reading program.

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

*FluencyFinder is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Storyboard That

Storyboard That is one of my favorite new Web 2.0 sites for education.  This amazing site w/ educational portal allows educators to create/manage student accounts while creating fun and engaging assignments.  Educators around the world are using Storyboard That for project based learning, flipping a classroom, and much much more.  Students can easily create a storyboard and then convert it into a slideshow, find writing prompts, character maps, etc etc.  Best of all are all the Common Core aligned resources and lesson plans that teachers can look through and use to best figure out how to integrate Storyboard That into their classroom.

Finally, Storyboard That is a great place to create holiday cards.  All a user has to do is create a storyboard, save it, and upon printing select the option to print as that holiday (i.e, it only has the most recent holiday).  This would be a fantastic way to create Thanksgiving cards.

I highly recommend checking out Storytboard That by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Web 2.0 for Education click here.

*Storyboard That is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Kiddle

Kiddle is a new safe search engine for kids.  All results are done in large font and thumbnail based images making it easy for kids to read.  Best of all, it is filtered to remove any inappropriate content for kids/students.

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

For my Pinterest board on Search Engines for Education click here.

Buncee for the Holidays

Buncee is quickly becoming one of the most popular "web 2.0" tools in school and for good reason.  W/ their educational portal for student creation, tracking, and more, educators are using it for a variety of educational purposes such as: project based learning, presentations, digital storytelling, etc.  Also, this is a great place to find holiday based themes and clip art for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and much much more.

I highly recommend checking out Buncee for Education by clicking here!!!

Below is the new Holiday commercial from Buncee...



*Buncee is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Top 100 Sites/Apps of 2014

Well, it's that time of year again for my favorite and most robust list on the top 100 Sites/Apps of the year.  As w/ the previous year's list, more and more mobile apps are making the list as mobile learning continues to be the rising trend in education.  However, that's not to say that there isn't a good amount of websites and Learning Management Systems showing up as well.  Finally, any site/app that was in a previous years list will not be in this one.

* mobile app

Top 100 Sites/Apps of 2014

1. Been for Education - A innovative site for Social Learning that allows educators to surf and collaborate on the web w/ their students in a safe environment where educators create/manage student accounts.
2. * Otus - A fantastic and easy to use 1:1 learning solution for mobile classrooms (i.e iPads/Chromebooks).  Educators can manage/create student accounts, take attendance, grade, and assess students in real-time, and much much more.
3. * Pixel Press Floors - An amazing iOS app for Game Based Learning that allows students to create their own game by drawing.
4. Answerables - A super fun and innovative site that brings Game Based Learning together w/ a Learning Management System to provide a safe environment for students to learn any subject in a 3D virtual world.
5. * Stick Around - A great iPad app that can be used for Project Based Learning or Flipping a Lesson by creating puzzles/diagrams and having students label them.
6. * Rosetta Stone for Kids - A wonderful free iPad app for kids ages 3-7 learning how to read.
7. WordWriter - Is a new learning tool from the award winning collaborative writing site, BoomWriter.  Using BoomWriter's innovative collaborative process, student's can learn and develop their Reading/Writing skills as well as their Vocabulary.
8. geddit - A fantastic simple to use learning tool where students use their mobile device to answer questions w/ a tap of button in real-time.
9. Glean - A excellent site for finding educational videos/lesson on Math and Science.
10. * TowerStorm - An innovative free iOS game that takes place in a 3D virtual world designed for grades 2nd-10th in the subjects of Math and Literacy.
11. Tackk - A great site w/ educational portal that allows educators to create student accounts where they can create static pages filled w/ dynamic media.
12. ThingLink - Is a wonderful site/app for students to tag images w/ multimedia content such as: text, audio, or video files.
13. GoNoodle - My favorite site around for giving students "brain breaks" during class through educational and fun activities/videos.
14. Gooru - A great place for students to find study guides on a wide range of subjects that are aligned to Common Core Standards and ideal for personalized learning.
15. Booktrack Classroom - A excellent site/app for adding a soundtrack to student's writing.  Also, a nice place to find Common Core aligned lesson plans.
16. Pear Deck - A cool educational tool that interacts w/ Google Chrome/Drive to create interactive quizzes, slideshows, and presentations.
17. News-O-Matic - A terrific free mobile app designed to bring 5 Common Core aligned articles to students.
18. Prodigy - A fantastic free online Math game aligned to Common Core Standards grades 1-6th.  Best of all this game differentiates instruction and educators can track student's progress as well as generate detailed reports.
19. Citelighter - An online Writing platform for K-12 that helps students organize and research for papers and homework.  Also, educators can monitor, add assignments, and grade students.
20. * Plickers - A unique (free) mobile app that acts as a student response system that uses QR codes and mobile devices to answer/respond to questions.
21. * Math w/ Amigos - Healthy Heroes 1 - Two of my favorite educational iOS game that is ideal for Game Based Learning in the areas of basic Math and Health.
22. * Chronicle - A unbelievable iPad app for helping teachers w/ their best teaching strategies by "chronicling" each student through, notes, videos, assessments, and much much more.
23. * Voice Dream - The best text to speech app I have ever seen w/ an abundance of features such as: highlighting, definitions, bookmarking, and more.
24. * AR Flashcards Shapes & Colors - Space - Excellent iOS apps that uses Augmented Reality to bring interactive 3D objects to life to teach about: shapes, colors, and outer space.
25. * Teachley: Mt. Multiplis - Players build bridges in this computational Math game to help students build their multiplication skills.
26. * Book Writer One - A free and easy to use iOS app for creating digital books.  This is a great way to introduce digital storytelling to the classroom.
27. 30hands Learning Community - A ideal and easy to use cloud based LMS that lets educators assess, collaborate, and grade students in real-time.
28. * WeLearnedIt - An excellent free iPad for the mobile classroom, ePortfolios, and Project Based Learning.
29. NameCoach - An interesting free site for teachers wanting to learn student names and the proper way to pronounce them.
30. * Word Clouds by ABCYa - A terrific free iPad app for creating word clouds.
31. * Drawp for School - A wonderful free iPad app w/ educational portal and cloud storage for creating beautiful looking projects.
32. * Grid Lines: Ordered Pair Game - One of my favorite iOS apps for Game Based Learning that uses a familiar Battleship style game to practice plotting points on a graph.
33. RoomRecess - A excellent site for finding free educational games for El Ed students.
34. * Ask3 - One of my favorite free iPad apps for adding narration to an image to visually explain any topic.  This is ideal for creating a flipped classroom.
35. * GuidedVideo - A wonderful iPad app for Guided Learning where educators create questions w/ images as the answers that students tap on.
36. Kahoot - Is a fantastic free tool that combines Game Based Learning and a Student Response System to bring a fun and easy to use real-time assessment tool to the classroom.
37. Edventure Builder - An innovative new site that is perfect for sparking student's creativity by providing an online platform to create: scavenger hunts, interactive stories, or "choose-your-own-adventures".
38. * Write on Video - A great iPad app for digital storytelling that allows users to upload a video and then annotate, draw, or add images over it.
39. Photos for Class - The easiest way to find safe Creative Common licensed photos for the classroom that are cited appropriately.
40. Flashcard Monkey - A fun way to learn vocabulary w/ cartoon based flashcards.
41. * Magical Mental Math - A super fun iOS game designed for grades 2nd-6th working on their basic Math skills.
42. * TeleStory - An amazing new iOS app for digital storytelling that lets kids star in their very own TV show.
43. * Write to Read - A iPad app designed for kids 3-10 yrs old to help develop their Reading and Writing skills by creating a digital book.  Also, this app is ideal for introducing digital storytelling and aligned to Common Core Standards.
44. Modern Chalkboard - A wonderful free site for finding free interactive SMART board lessons for your digital whiteboard.
45. * Exam Elf - A fantastic free iOS app that helps students develop basic Math skills while developing test taking skills as well.
46. * Tell About This - A great iPad app for digital storytelling that lets students record their voice to visual prompts.
47. * Xnote - An innovative iOS app for geocaching that takes going on a scavenger hunt to a whole new level.
48. * Tocomail - A excellent site/app that provides a safe "filtered" email environment for kids.
49. * PICME - A nice free iPad app where kids "star" in their very own digital story by replacing their face w/ the main characters.
50. * Quiz Dungeon - A wonderful iOS game that helps students learn basic Math through an RPG style adventure.
51. * Hideout: Early Reading - A great iOS app for young readers looking to develop their Reading skills in such areas as: word recognition, sounding out words, finding the letter, and more.
52. * Zeus vs. Monsters / Math vs. Dinosaurs - Two excellent Android apps for learning basic Math skills by fighting off mythical creatures and dinosaurs.
53. * Tynker - A free iPad app that teaches students how to program/code by assembling blocks together (i.e Scratch).
54. * Letter Battle - A super fun iOS app for learning how to Spell in a RPG setting.
55. * Bluster - A free iPad app that helps students develop their Vocabulary by playing a multiplayer game.
56. * Chromville - A fantastic mobile app that uses augmented reality to have students complete a fun filled 3D adventure.
57. EverySlide - A great way to take a presentation and make it interactive by sharing a unique access code.
58. * Kid Screen Time - A excellent schedule/timer for an iOS device that alerts parents when their child's time is up.
59.  Ginkgotree - An innovative way to take any kind of print media (textbook, website, etc) and digitize it to make it their own.
60. Penzu Classroom - A wonderful safe site where educators and students can create an online journal and track/grade assignments and more.
61. * ZooKazam - Bring 3D animals to life is this beautiful interactive augmented reality iOS app.
62. Hooda Math - A great site w/ over 50 Math games for grades K-12th.
63. FlipSnack Edu - A new Web 2.0 site w/ educational portal that allows educators and students to create and deliver online content in a safe way.
64. Matific - A nice all-in-one site for Math for finding a wide variety of worksheets, videos, activities, and more.
65. FlashDecks - A cool and easy to use site for finding and creating digital flashcards.
66. * Imagistory - A wonderful free iPad app where students record/narrate their very own "wordless" picture book.
67. * Book Builder - A nice free iOS app that acts as a "choose-your-own" adventure where students select how they story is going to progress.
68. PortfolioGen Classroom - A excellent site w/ educational portal that allows students to create digital portfolios in a safe environment.
69. * Toonia Storymaker - One of my favorite iPad apps for digital storytelling where the more a student plays the more features they unlock.
70. * Math Monsters Bingo - A fun free iOS game for learning basic Math in a Bingo style game.
71. * Teachable - A very nice productivity iPad app that helps teachers plan, track, and organize their classroom.
72. ClassWallet - An interesting new site that allows educators to electronically manage and organize classroom funds.
73. * littleBIG History - One my favorite timeline apps for the iPad that covers areas from the Big Bang Theory to Current Events.
74. * Little Story Creator - A wonderful new iOS app for scrapbooking or digital storytelling.
75. Wizenworld - Uses Game Based Learning to teach Common Core Math skills in RPG/Action Adventure setting.
76. * Angle Asteroids - A fun iOS app that helps students learn how to measure angles in the old "Asteroid" style arcade game.
77. * Brainfeed - An excellent iPad app for finding safe and educational videos for students.
78. Classcraft - Using the mega-popular PC game World of Warcraft theme to the classroom to promote learning through Game Based Learning.
79. * Flipgrid - Kind of reminds me of an "adult" version of Voicethread where educators can ask a question via a video and students can respond.
80. Fishtree - A innovative new digital learning platform that allows educators to curate and create lessons for their students.
81. * Speaking Times Table - A fun iPad app for students wanting to learn and practice their multiplication tables.
82. * Math Hunter - A wonderful iOS game for basic Math skills that has lots of replay value in this adventure filled bow-n-arrow game.
83. Bouncy Balls - A great way to monitor classroom noise through balls bouncing on a screen.
84. * Common Core Quest - A excellent free Android app aligned to Common Core Standards for practicing Math and LA tests/problems.
85. * Reading Raving - A great iPad app for beginning readers where they progress from letters to phonics to reading full sentences.
86. * Speech Wizard - A terrific iPad app for ESL, parents, or teachers looking to help students w/ their articulation skills.
87. * Classkick - A interesting new iPad app that allows educators to gather, assess, and provide real-time feedback w/ students.
88. * Door 24 - A wonderful fee iPad app for basic Math skills aligned to Common Core Standards for grades 4th-8th.
89. ProcessOn - A great site for brainstorming or mind mapping in real-time.
90. ClassFlow - Is a cloud based learning platform that teachers can use to create digital lessons to be viewed on browser based devices.
91. * Sticker Story - A fun iPad app for digital storytelling through the use of stickers.
92. * Verso - A great way to flip your class by creating lessons students can view at home and then respond to.
93. * Slidebean - A nice site/app for creating beautiful looking presentations w/ lots of templates to choose from.
94. * Elevated Math - An excellent free iOS app for finding animated Math lessons on a wide variety of topics.
95. Poindle - A nice free tool for educators to schedule appointments.
96. * MarcoPolo Ocean - A wonderful iPad app for young learners wanting to interact and learn about the ocean.
97. Comment Bubble - A neat little site where a user uploads a video and then selects what type of feedback others can give (i.e. text, audio, video).
98. * Puzzlin Pieces USA - A fantastic iPad app designed for kids 6-8 yrs old for learning the geography of the United States.
99. * Piiig Labs - A iPad app that teaches young kids about Science by performing different scientific experiments.
100. TwistedWave - A nice online audio editor that integrates w/ Google Drive and SoundCloud.

AR Flashcards - Animal Alphabet

AR Flashcards - Animal Alphabet is an excellent free iOS app that uses augmented reality to help young students learn their alphabet.  This app is highly engaging and brings dinosaurs/animals to life in stunning 3D when view a AR Flashcard from an iOS device.  Also, a student can hear the letter and name of animal when tapping on the animal.

I highly recommend checking out AR Flashcards - Animal Alphabet by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Augmented Reality click here.

*AR Flashcards is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Photos for Class

Photos for Class is an excellent new site that is ideal for finding safe images for students.  This search engine uses Flickr safe search as well as some built in filtering to find Creative Common licensed images.  Best of all when a user clicks download the image gets cited automatically w/ the proper licensing terms.

I highly recommend checking out Photos for Class by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Educational Images click here.

WordWriter Thanksgiving Lesson

WordWriter the excellent learning tool for developing Vocabulary and Writing skills has just released their free Thanksgiving writing activity.  This activity that includes downloadable lesson plans (aligned to common core standards) and vocab worksheets uses the innovative BoomWriter collaborative writing process to help students develop their skills.  Also, everything is done in a safe secure environment where educators can monitor and assess students progress in real-time.

I highly recommend checking out WordWriter's Thanksgiving activities by clicking here!!!

*BoomWriter is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Sticker Story

Sticker Story is a fun iPad app for digital storytelling through the use of stickers.  There are abundance of stickers that one can choose from in a variety of different themes: person, object, letter, or background.  Once a story is finished it can then be exported into a digital book into iBooks.

I highly recommend checking out Sticker Story by clicking here!!!

For more info check out Edshelf.

For my Pinterest board on Digital Storytelling click here.

Skooville

Skooville is a nice social network for teaching children about cyber safety.  This is done in a controlled a safe environment where everything is moderated by trained professionals.  Also, this is a great place for students to collaborate w/ others, find educational games, and much much more.  Also, the educational portal allows educators to interact w/ their students in a safe environment as well.

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

For my Pinterest board on Social Networks in Education click here.

Rosetta Stone Kids Reading

Rosetta Stone Kids Reading is the free new iPad app from the award winning program, Rosetta Stone.  This is a fun easy to use app designed for kids 3-7 yrs old learning how to read.  This game tracks and monitors a student's progress and each lesson is tailored for a individual's Reading Level.  There are over 50 games and 600 activities the kids can play through as they focus on skills such as: phonics, vocabulary, rhyming, and much much more.

I highly recommend checking out Rosetta Stone Kids Reading by clicking here!!!

For more info check out Edshelf.

For my Pinterest board on Educational iOS Apps click here.

Thanks to Class Tech Tips for the heads up!!!

Buncee Class Organizer

Buncee, the wonderful free (one month trial) tool for creating stunning presentations, project based learning, and more, has just released a new update called Class Organizer, their new polished teacher dashboard.  Class Organizer is a super easy to use educational portal that allows educators to seamlessly create and manage student accounts.  Teachers will add the student and then create their username and password.  You can even batch upload a group of students through a CSV file.  All a educator has to do after that is create a class and then drag-n-drop the students to their appropriate class.  Also, a teacher can change the student's profile picture, create subgroups, and more.

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

Below is a brief demo...



*Buncee is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.