KD2_WEB2TOOLS

=Web 2.0 Tools Review = 1. [] This site allows you to construct a book online, much like you would a scrapbook. MixBook offers various templates from which you may choose, or you can create your own book using photos from popular Web 2.0 sites, such as: [|Picasa Web Albums], [|Photobucket], [|Facebook], [|Flickr], [|SmugMug], [|Yahoo], or you can also upload images from your own computer. There is an option to print your books for purchase as well, which is a nice feature if you’d like to make the book available for students. This service is also very user-friendly, which makes it appropriate for all age levels. And I could imagine many ways to use this tool in the classroom—celebrating certain milestones, (graduation, concerts, first day of school, etc.), documenting student learning for classroom use, travel books for geography lessons, etc. My only concern is that some images did not transfer with the same quality as others…I found that using images from [|Photobucket], rather than from [|morgueFile], helped with some of those issues…but overall, a great tool for classroom use.

2. [] I always wished we had something like this while I was in school. As an avid Jeopardy fan at home, I think this game generator would really provide an exciting learning experience for students in the classroom. Not only is it relatively easy to create, (for students and educators alike), it is also easy to set-up for playing. You can customize the categories, which makes this tool applicable for any subject. And although the template is somewhat dull in presentation, it is the game that is the exciting part, which I think students would really enjoy and appreciate.

3. [] There are such valuable resources at this site! Printables, Lesson Plans, Book Wizard, Class Homepage Builder, etc. I really like the “Student Activities” section, which allows you to select an interactive online game, based on a student’s grade level and subject focus. For emerging readers, there are interactive storybooks, (in both English and Spanish), that provide audio for each sentence, as well as a “Word Wizard” feature, to look-up unfamiliar/unknown words in the story. It would be so exciting for students to fill in words from popular stories and engage in those texts in a new way…I would love to use this in the classroom as an extension activity for literacy lessons, and I think it would extremely helpful for ELL students at the primary level, to use in and outside of the classroom.

4. [] This site is great for interacting with language through entertaining games, especially for beginning readers and other primary level students. In the “Fun Factory”, students may select from a variety of games that help develop spelling, rhyming, and other literacy skills, while using basic motor functions. The “Road Hog Racing” interactive for example, is very similar to Nintendo’s “Mario Cart” game, but it challenges students’ spelling aptitude as well. This site could be set up as a center during literacy, or as an option for differentiated instruction.

5. [] From this site, you are able to select a “kit” by grade level and subject area, from which students may research the topic and create a video or multimedia project. Each “kit” contains the materials to build a multimedia story, for students to demonstrate understanding of a topic; a “kit” may include: Photos, Illustrations, Animations, Video Clips, Audio Clips, and/or Documents. All kits list California state academic standards too, which might also correlate with other state standards. This site has kits for K-12 that could be used for individual research projects in upper grades and maybe as a class project for primary grades.

6. [] “Classtools.net allows you to create free educational games, activities and diagrams in a Flash!” There are really amazing interactive tools on this website; [|Fishbone (Ishikawa)], [|Hamburger], and [|Venn Diagram] graphic organizers assist students in preparing an outline for writing essays and the [|Arcade Game Generator], and [|Dustbin Game] provide quiz tool templates. There are also samples for each category, suggestions for classroom use, and you can easily save, embed, and post your creations to a wiki, blog, social networking site, etc. Applicable to all grades.

7. [] Create your own Newspaper Clippings on this image generator website. What a great tool to use for history assignments, reports, or presentations! There is also the option to create: ninja text, a clapper board, cigarette packet, talking cats, and other generator templates however, so instructors should use discretion when using this tool with students. But overall, I think this would be a valuable tool to use with upper primary and middle school students.

8. [] This website has several links that allow students to take virtual fieldtrips! With limited resources in the classroom, this really helps move learning beyond the school walls. One interactive that I thought was especially powerful, was the “Peace Corps Challenge” online game, which gives students the opportunity to experience what it would be like to work in the Peace Corps—travel the world and help build sustainable communities! There are links for all ages.

9. [] This website connects classrooms from over 200 countries across the globe, speaking 136 different languages, through collaborative learning projects. There are standards-based topics of global concern, from which educators may select, to help students gain perspective from around the world. Projects partnered with National Geographic for example, include topics such as: [|Digital Storytelling], [|The Way We Are], [|Global Warming], [|Habitats], [|Maps], Weather, [|Water], and [|Natural Disasters]. There are also teacher-created projects, and there are classroom collaboration forums, where educators can find another class to work with. This website is an invaluable tool for students, who are becoming increasingly global in their technological connectivity, and truly prepares students to act as global citizens in the future. I would use this in any K-12 classroom.

10. [] I like the interactive games for “Kids Only” on this website, which includes: Jammin’ Jigsaw, Online Coloring, Word Search, Crossword Puzzle, Leap Froggies, and Add Like Mad. There are also teacher resources, such as: webinars, “Weekly Reader” pdf files available to print, classroom kits, printable activities, and contests—all of which are free. This website is mainly targeted at primary grades, although there are resources for secondary grades as well.