Night Zookeeper's International Writing Cup

Night Zookeeper is an excellent new site for students to help them w/ their Writing skills through fun interactive lessons/competition.  Also, it has an educational portal that allows educators to: assign lessons, track student progress, and assess their work in real-time.  This makes it easy for teachers to differentiate instruction and implement project based learning in their classroom.

Starting tomorrow on November 1st, Night Zookeeper is launching their latest International Writing Cup for 2018.  This Writing challenge/contest will have students writing in three different phases.

The Writing Triathlon

1. Stage 1: Instructions - The students will write a set of instructions how to write an excellent adventure story.
2. Stage 2: Report - The students will create a lead character for the adventure and write more words describing them w/ an abundance of adjectives.
3. Stage 3: Adventure Story - The students will then use their instructions and report to help them writing an amazing adventure story.

The competition will end Nov 30th and their will be one winner for each age/grade level 6-8, and over 9.  Finally, the prizes will range from team trophies, individual trophies, and badges and certificates.

For more information on Night Zookeeper's International Writing Cup 2018 click here!!!

Zap Zap Math

Zap Zap Math is an excellent new mobile (iOS/Android) app for Math grades K-6th.  ZZM focuses on a lot different topics such as: addition/subtraction, multiplication, geometry, and more.  All of this is done in a fun game based learning environment.  Best of all, the school version tracks student progress, generates detailed reports, and makes it easy to differentiate instruction.

I highly recommend checking out Zap Zap Math by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Educational iOS Apps click here.

Biteable

Biteable is an excellent site for creating stunning presentations/slideshows.  All a user has to do is select a template (or create one from scratch), select a color scheme, and add audio to create a beautiful product.  Best of all, a educator can publish/share a presentation via unique URL or embed it into a site or blog.  Also, a user can set their presentation to public or private to help abide by CIPA/COPPA compliance.  Best of all, teachers can use Biteable in a wide number of ways such as: project based learning, digital storytelling, introducing a topic, and much much more.

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

Below is my brief demo...

Testing on Biteable.

GameBuilder

GameBuilder is an excellent site for game based learning that I just found out about from Larry Ferlazzo's blog.  Not only can an educator find any number of games on a wide range of subjects they can also select a template and create their own game.  Once a game is created it can then be shared w/ others via a unique URL.

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

Unhangout

Unhangout is an interesting new site from MIT for creating events/backchannel chats, that I just found out about from Larry Ferlazzo's blog.  This is a great way for educators to host a backchannel that can be used in any number of ways in education, from assessing learning to professional development.  There are lots of options to like such as: nice user interface, hosting videos, private invites, breakout sessions, and more.

Below is a brief demo video...



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

Book Creator

Book Creator is a fantastic (iOS/Chrome) app that educators are everywhere to create and share eBooks.  This is done using a very user-friendly interface that makes it easy to creating stunning presentations, digital stories w/ the ability to record audio, projects, and more.  Teachers are using Book Creator for project based learning, digital storytelling, and much much more.  Book Creator can be used to teach any subject or grade level and can be published online, downloaded as an eBook, or
even printed.

Below is a brief demo...



I highly recommend checking out Book Creator by clicking here!!!

For a detailed review on how to use Book Creator for digital storytelling check out Monica Burn's excellent blog.

*Book Creator is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Hippo Video

Hippo Video is an excellent web tool for educators or students to use to create stunning digital videos.  This is all done via the web w/ a easy-to-use interface.  Educators are using Hippo to create explainer videos (screencasts), flip a lesson or classroom, assess student's understanding, and even differentiate instruction.  Finally, a finished video can be shared via Google Classroom, YouTube, and more and Hippo Videos can be used to teach any subject for any curriculum.

I highly recommend checking out Hippo Video by clicking here!!!

Thanks to Technology & Learning for the tip.

Elementari

Elementari is a wonderful new site for digital storytelling and project based learning that I just found out about from Larry Ferlarzzo's excellent blog.  Educators are using this easy-to-use tool to have students create interactive digital stories, digital portfolios, presentations, and even choose-your-own-adventures.  Stories can contain, custom made illustrations, sound effects, or even have a user record their very own audio.  Best of all, a teacher can customize an already created project as a template to help integrate into their own classroom.  Finally, a finished story can be embedded into a site/blog to help schools abide by COPPA/CIPA compliance.

Below is an example...



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

* An educational portal is in the works so educators can track, monitor, and assess student work.

Super Teacher Worksheets for Halloween

Be sure to check out STW for all their Halloween ideas such as: educational games, poems, activities, and more!!!

Super Teacher Worksheets is one of the best sites around for finding educational resources on a wide range of subjects.  Educators can find, worksheets, printables, puzzle generators and more.  Also, they are constantly updating their site w/ more resources all the time and recently released new crossword puzzle worksheet generator.

I highly recommend checking out Super Teacher Worksheets by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Educational Resources click here.

*Super Teacher Worksheets is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

TypeTastic School Edition

TypeTastic is an excellent K-12 site for students learning how to Type/Keyboard.  TypeTastic's School Edition has an educational portal that allows educators to track, monitor, and assess student progress.  This is a fun and great way to integrate technology into a classroom's curriculum.  TypeTastic uses over 400 innovative games, activities and drills to help teach and reinforce keyboarding/typing skills.

The expanded curriculum introduces students to more than 250 entertaining new keyboarding activities that move from locating letters to fluent typing in four fun steps:

1. Explore the Keyboard: Unique keyboard visualization splits the letters into nine color-coded groups so students see the keyboard like a map and can quickly find the correct letters. 

2. All Fingers Aboard: These games are designed to challenge kids to learn the fundamentals of typing. All sections are centered on finger movement, often first separated into either right- or left-hand activities, followed by more challenging games that use both hands.

3. Ready, Set, Type!: Keyboarding activities take kids on an adventure through underwater coral reefs, thick jungle vegetation, and serene beach vistas to collect words and letters, with the goal of typing simple words and sentences. 

4. Master Those Keys: In the final step, students dig into the secrets of fluent typing, challenging themselves with more complex words, building up their typing speed, and discovering numbers and symbols.

TypeTastic School Edition starts at $99 for 1 year for a class of 40 students.  TypeTastic is offering a special 60-day free trial to Technology Tidbits readers! To get started, click here.

Below is brief demo...



I highly recommend checking out TypeTastic!!!

*TypeTastic is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

SOLE

SOLE is a "self organized learning environment" that is a wonderful app for mobile learning and integrating technology into the classroom.  The way this works is by a simple process: asking a question or selecting one, investigating/collaborating w/ others, and review.  A SOLE session can last up to 45 min or one class period and is a great way to generate brainstorming and creative thinking.  Finally, SOLE has a wide range of educational resources such as: lesson plans, tutorials, rubrics, and more.

Below is a brief demo...



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

Spin Spell

Spin Spell is a fun iOS game for Spelling that reminds me a lot of Marble Madness.  This game has users trying to spelling words while controlling a ball to roll over the correct letters.  Spin Spell has over 25 levels and over 30 spelling lists for students to play through.  Best of all, educators can import their own spelling lists to help students practice their words from class.

I highly recommend checking out Spin Spell by clicking here!!!

Edthena

Edthena is a wonderful site/app for professional development that uses an innovative "video coaching" approach.  This is done through a very user-friendly browser based interface where educators can record themselves right from the web (i.e. they can upload recorded videos as well).  Once the video is recorded/uploaded they can share them w/ other educators for collaboration, tag them, add comments, and more.  This is ideal for professional development as it helps highlight best teaching practices, gives educators a safe/comfortable place to learn, and makes it easy for self reflection.  Finally, Edthena's coaching/learning platform tracks and monitors teachers activity and progress while generating detailed reports, making it a vital tool for tech directors, tech integration specialists, and directors of curriculum and instruction.

Below is an example of Edthena in action...



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

For another great review check out Class Tech Tips.

Projector Screen

ProjectorScreen.com is an excellent site for people or educators to find projectors and other type of equipment for their classrooms.  Not only can a person search through an immense amount of screens, but from other categories such as fixed or manual, multimedia carts, boards, chairs, and
more.

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

*ProjectorScreen is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Project Pals

Project Pals is a innovative all-in-one collaborative learning platform ideal for project based learning
that K-12 teachers are using for any subject or curriculum.  Through the Project Pals platform educators will track, monitor, and guide student progress while students work collaboratively.  This is all done through a easy-to-use visual interface that helps students organize and collaborate on their projects.  Project Pals is a great tool for educators to not only use for group projects but to asses student learning as well.

Finally, Project Pals has a wide range of resources for educators such as: lesson plans, eBooks, and more.  Teachers can find a vast array of common core aligned already created projects to help integrate Project Pals intro the classroom.  Educators can even use existing rubrics or create their own to use w/ detailed reports generated by Project Pals making it easy to differentiate instruction.

Below is a brief demo...



I highly recommend checking out Project Pals by clicking here!!!

Teachers can sign up for a free license by clicking here!!!

EDpuzzle

EDpuzzle the world's leading tool for "flipping" a classroom or lesson has been hard at work w/ new features and updates to make it easier and even better for teacher to integrate in their classroom.

Main improvements:

• Main My Classes section:
• Cleaner and simpler design.
• Notifications which alerts teachers teachers to which assignments/videos requires a teachers attention.
• Specific assignment page:
• Easier to preview video for teachers to double-check videos.
• Possibility to quickly edit the title of the assignments
• Easy to update/change due date
• Grading an assignment:
• Teachers will now be able to see formulas and images when grading an assignment.
• Teachers will be able to see the feedback they left in every question for easier grading
• Option to quickly grade all answers as correct (TIME SAVER!)
• Inclusion of time spent. This means that the teacher will know exactly how much time the students spent watching the video. This is ideal for 1:1 conversations with students to push them to work harder on their assignment to get better results.
• Gradebook:
• All teachers will now get access to this feature for free. It's not premium anymore. This means teachers will now be able to see the progress of their students across multiple videos with just one click. 
• On top of that, teachers will be able to select the range of dates they want to have this information (weekly, monthly, quarterly, or picking the dates). 
• Export all the grades to a CSV file.
• To make grading easier, we have included a Total score and Total time spent across all the videos assigned to the student.
• Ideal for formative or summative assessment.
• Main improvements coming up the end of July:
• Enable teachers to assign to individual students. This is something that we have worked really hard to build. Teachers will be able to truly differentiate their instruction. Instead of assigning to a "class" in Edpuzzle, they will be able to assign to a few students.
• Enable to create subgroups.

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

*EDpuzzle is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Writer Igniter

Writer Igniter is a nice little tool for writing prompts that I just found out about from Ozge Karaoglu's wonderful blog.  All a teacher has to do is click on the "shuffle" button and a random character, situation, prop, and setting, will appear and allow students to start writing.

I highly recommend checking out Writer Igniter by clicking here!!!

30hands Learning

30hands Learning is the excellent company for creating an innovative LMS (Learning Management System) as well as the popular mobile iOS app that is ideal for digital storytelling 30hands Pro.  The 30hands community is a perfect cloud based solution that allows educators to: manage/track students, hand in/out assignments, schedule events, and more.  While the mobile is being used in education for project based learning, digital storytelling, and more.

30hands has lots of exciting news on the horizon...

After upgrading to Pro, users will have access to existing advanced features and new features in the works:

• Video clips as slides

• Google Drive + Dropbox Integration

• Importing of Google Slides and PDFs as 30hands slides

• Backgrounds and scenes

• Higher quality videos

• Advanced drag-and-drop drawing with editing 

• Slide sharing with parents and students 

• Slide Transitions 

• Unlimited presentations

• Unlimited saves to Camera Roll

For more info on how your school can participate, email info@30hands.com.

Join our newsletter here: http://30hands.com/newsletter.

*30hands Learning is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

Fiskkit

Fiskkit is a new (beta) site for collaborating on news articles/sites that I found out about from Larry Ferlazzo's blog.  All a user has to do is copy/paste a URL into the Fiskkit system and then they can tag, rate, or comment on the information in the article.  This is a great way to facilitate discussion and have student's back up their arguments through comments.

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

Answerables

Answerables the innovative educational tool that combines the best features of game based learning w/ a learning management system has just released their free iPad app.  Answerables is being used by educators in a variety of ways from collaborating w/ other classes, to browsing the web, all in a secure 3D virtual environment.

Answerables is used as a:

• Virtual classroom 
• Lesson planner
• Learning manager 
• Quest creator
• Resource manager 
• Web browser (managed)
• Social Network
• Student portfolio
• Presentation space

Features include:

• Multiplayer game environment
• Learning management system
• Quests and badges
• Assessment tools
• Analytics
• Resource/Content management system
• Web browser
• Secure audio/video streaming

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

Below is a brief demo...

For another detailed review check out Monica Burn's excellent blog by clicking here!!!

*Answerables is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

PracTutor

PracTutor is an excellent all-in-one mobile (iOS/Google Play) app for Math grades K-8th.  PracTutor is aligned to Common Core Standards and each state curriculum.  However, an educator can customize their own curriculum and even create their own worksheets.  Also, students can take practice tests to find out their problem areas.  Finally, PracTutor generates detail reports making it easy for teachers to differentiate instruction.

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

Think Fluency

ThinkFluency is an oral reading fluency assessment app developed by a teacher for teachers.  ThinkFluency replaces the tedious paper, pencil and timer assessment with an app that enables teachers to quickly assess students’ Oral Reading Fluency Rate. ThinkFluency is easy to use, provides instant results with data that is easy to download and share, and is perfect for RTI and showing student growth. It comes with 6 passages each for grade levels 1-5, but users can add their own passages for the ultimate customized assessment tool. ThinkFluency gives users the option of going PAPERLESS. The student reads the passage from a second device as the teacher follows along in the app. When the student finishes reading, the results are displayed (only to the teacher) and saved so you are immediately ready to test the next student. ThinkFluency is FREE to try when you download the app.

Features included:

• Paperless assessments
• Smart diagnostics for developing individualized instruction plans
• Spreadsheet data for sharing and tracking
• Dashboard for quick view of student data

Saves valuable teacher time

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

*ThinkFluency is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

WeVideo Digital Storytelling Kit

WeVideo is an excellent site/app video editing platform for students.  Educators are using this for collaborative learning, project based learning, digital storytelling and much much more.  All of this is done in a safe/secure environment where educators can monitor student activity.

Recently, WeVideo developed a free digital storytelling kit that helps teachers integrate WeVideo into their classroom as well as supply: lesson plans, rubrics, graphic organizers, and more.

To download the WeVideo Digital Storytelling Kit click here.

I highly recommend checking out WeVideo for schools by clicking here!!!

Safe YouTube

Safe YouTube is an excellent way to share YouTube videos safely in a classroom.  Safe YouTube removes anything inappropriate for students and lets educators generate a "safe" link w/out distracting side videos or bad comments.

I highly recommend checking out Safe YouTube by clicking here!!!

For a more detailed review check out Ozge Karaoglu's excellent blog.

Wixie

Wixie is a wonderful site/app for educators that I just found out about from EdTech Digest.  Wixie gives students a digital platform to create digital art, presentations, and more.  It reminds of Kid Pix a bit but w/ the ability to record your voice.  Best of all is the educational portal that allows educators to track/manage student accounts, as well as assess student work/assignments.

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

Below is a demo video...



Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo's wonderful blog for the reminder on Wixie.