QR Code Generator

Do you want a great use for smart phones in the classroom?  Try using a QR Generator to link great websites and resources to homework and other handouts.  A QR code can be read on a smart phone using one of the various free QR reader apps.  All you have to do is take a picture of the QR code and paste it onto your document.  When students are working they can take a picture of the code and then access the resources right on their phone.  This can be used for supplemental videos, tutorials, or any other sites that enhance your lesson.  The QR code generator is easy to use, just copy and paste the URL, pick the content type, and generate your code.  Then copy and paste just like below.

32 Resource Links on Cyber Bullying

Check out this post from Julie Greller, The Media Specialist.  It is never to early to teach children about cyber bullying and prevention!

Chat Rooms
Chat Danger- information on how to stay safe when you use chat rooms, IM and cell phones

*Video About Online Chatting

Cyber Bullying
Cyber bullying- this site is part of the TeensHealth web site, with information on cyber bullying, why people bully and what happens when someone is bullied.

Reporting Cyber Bullies- information on what to do if you are bullied

*Video on Cyberbullying- from SchoolTube

What is Cyber Bullying?- handout

General Internet Safety Sites
CyberAngels- world's oldest & largest Internet safety organization

Cyber Safety- this site is hosted by Rob Nickel, who is an expert on cyber safety. In addition to a listing of tips for teens, parents and educators, there are videos you can download. (PSAs, interviews)

CyberSmart!-how to deal with cyber bullies, a list of proper manners while online, and social networking sites.

Don't Believe the Type: Know the Dangers- rules are listed for surfing the web, chat rooms, IM, email, newsgroups, forums, bulletin boards, social networking and sharing personal information.

Google Family Safety Center- tools, advice, vide tips from Google parents

Internet Safety 101 Quiz- how much do you know about Internet safety?

Internet Safety: Keeping it Real-designed by six students under the age of 16, this website won second place in Thinkquest's 2007 Competition. Excellent!

Internet Safety and You- for younger kids; Professor Garfield does the teaching; links for parents and teachers

LMK Life Online- sponsored by the Girl Scouts and Microsoft; education for young girls

iSafeSurf- sections on social safety, netiquette, acronyms, emoticons, peer-to-peer file sharing
NetSmartz Teens- they have a section of videos, downloadable activity cards and free multimedia presentations for Windows and Mac computers.

OnGuard Online: Social Networking Sites-with links and quick facts, this site has a game called "Friend Finder", which tests your knowledge about safely using online social networking sites.

Own Your Space- eBook is 16 chapters and free to download; excellent information about protecting your stuff and yourself online

SafeTeens.com- learn about chat room safety, teen safety on the Internet, cell phone safety tips and more.

Safety Tips for Tweens and Teens- this is a government site, with information on staying safe while you are online, including: trusting your instinct, only divulging information you are comfortable with, a reminder that once something is posted it is always there.

Webonauts Internet Academy- for elementary school kids; interactive learning about being safe online; when missions are completed, the Webonauts graduate with a certificate.

Wired Safety- this site claims to be the "world's largest Internet safety, help and education resource." Sections include cyber crime, cyber stalking, Internet predators, social networking and privacy and security.

X-Block- you'll find chat rooms, learn about cyber safety and their iMentoring program.

Netiquette

Net Manners- proper behavior tips

A Thin Line- fact sheets cover spying online, sexting and when kids use text messaging too much.

Tips for Proper Online Behavior- from the Boston Public Library

Privacy Online
Children's Online Privacy Protection- known as COPPA, this explains how children are protected

Safety Tips for Teens- learn what you should and shouldn't reveal about yourself online

Secure Passwords Explained by Common Craft- video

Secure Websites in Plain English- video from Common Craft

*Video About Privacy

Great Icebreaker Sites

Thank you to Julie Greller, The Media Specialist for this list of great sites for teachers when looking for appropriate ice-breakers to use with students.

8 Great Icebreakers to Use With Your Students- from Simple K12

Back to School Icebreakers- 6 activities are listed here

The Big Book of Icebreakers- from Amazon.com

Education World- currently there are 12 volumes of icebreaking ideas on the site

Collaborative Learning/Substantive Learning with Some Icebreaker Activities- nice listing with detailed lessons

First Day of School Activities- elementary grades

First Day of School Icebreakers- for grades K-5

Fresh Ideas For Opening Day- 5 lessons

Icebreaker Ideas- list of teacher ideas

Icebreaker Tags- enter a name prompt, write a question, upload a logo if you have one

Icebreakers- from Dave's ESL Cafe

Icebreakers- from Teachervision; covers K-8

Icebreakers and Energizers-site says these are for any age group

Icebreakers for High School Students- check out the related articles at the bottom of the page

Icebreakers, Fun Games, Group Activities- by group size

Introductions and Icebreakers- from Janet Abruzzo's blog

Mapping Your Identity: A Back to School Icebreaker- cool idea uses the Visual Thesaurus

Resources for the First Day of School- from teachersfirst.com; grade levels are listed for each one

TeAchnology- for grades 5-8

TeAchnology- for high school

Teampedia- currently has 50 icebreakers and 100 team building activities

Ten Icebreakers for Teens

Thinkfinity- teachers share ideas for 8th graders

You can't just Google it...

Check out this post from Julie Greller, The Media Specialist

Many students seem to think that as long as they have Google, they don't need any other assistance with their research. Teachers need to show them how their results can change when they know what tools to use when on the Internet. Here is a video to use when presenting this idea to students. Created with the site Xtranormal, this video is called "You Can't Just Google It"

You Can't Just Google It!
by: SweetSearch

Brainstorming Online With Mind Maps

Check out this post from Julie Greller, The Media Specialist.
Looking to collaborate online? Whether you'd like to brainstorm with your students or colleagues, Mindomo offers you the ease to create great mind maps. Here's an example which uses Mindomo for problem solving and another one about e-Learning tools and resources for schools in education.

UPDATES:
Infographics Section- added to and divided into subject areas
Web Design Section- added long list of free website creation sites

New and Improved Kindles

Amazon has come out with a new Kindle that offers touch technology and 3G with not annual fee or contract.  You can still fit up to 3,000 books that can be downloaded in 60 seconds.  Watch the video to learn more.
Amazon has also created a color tablet called the Kindle Fire.  This device offers you a color touch screen and has a web browser which enables you to read, search, check email, listen to music, and much more.  The only downfall is it is only wi-fi enabled not 3G.  The Kindle Fire has limited space but your movies, music, books, and more can be archived on your Kindle account to retrieve later and enable you to free up space.  Watch the video to learn more.

Reading Apps

Check out these great Apps for the IPhone and Ipad...

1. Zoom Reader is an audio book player that uses the latests OCR and Picture technology to create an audio book.  
2. Learning Ally Version 2.0 Audiobook Player brings accessible books to Apple devices for people with disabilities.
3. Bookshare.org 

Wiki Summarizer

The wiki summarizer is a great place to get outlines of articles online.  There is no need to have to read lengthy articles and try and pull out the important information.  This site allows you to type in a keyword and pull up lists, outlines, or bullet points that narrow down your search for you right away.  This is a great site for all students especially those with print disabilities.

Khan Academy

A free world-class education for anyone anywhere.
The Khan Academy is an organization on a mission.  All of the site's resources are available to anyone. It doesn't matter if you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly biology. The Khan Academy's materials and resources are available to you completely free of charge.

Watch. Practice.

Learn almost anything for free.

With a library of over 2,400 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 150 practice exercises, we're on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace.

THERE IS EVEN AND IPHONE AND IPAD APP FOR KAHN ACADEMY AND IT IS FREE AS WELL!!!

Signed Number Review

Period 4: Signed Number Review
Please use this site to review for your quiz/test on signed numbers.  The game is similar to Jeopardy and can be played as 1-player or 2-player.  This will help you brush up on working with integers and practice for the assessment.  Good luck and have fun!!!

Integer Games and Tutorials

Need help with math at home?  This site is a great place to play games and practice working with Integers.  The site features games that involve ordering, adding/subtracting, multiplying/dividing, and order of operations for integers.  Try it out and let me know what you think!!!

The Awesome Library

The Awesome Highlighter!

We have been exploring the web to learn improved internet research practices. There will be time when doing research that you do not have a printer or you do not want to print a whole article. Awesome Highlighter lets you highlight text on web pages and then gives you a small link to the highlighted page. This way you can email the highlighted text to yourself to review later without forgetting what it was that stood out to you. It is easy, and user friendly. All you need to do it type (or copy and paste) the url into the Awesome Highlighter, highlight the text on the page, then click done! Once your highlights pop up you can print, email, or share. So your assignment is to access the website “How to Study” through the Awesome Highlighter. I want you to highlight the article with what you find helpful when trying to improve your study habits. 

Please take your time and do not rush, I am looking for a thorough outline with meaningful highlights that will help you improve your study habits! 

Meta-Search Engines

Now that you have had a chance to search through various search engines, you are now going to explore meta-search engines. A meta search engine is one that searches various search engines at one time. The benefit of a meta search engine is to enable the user to use various search engines to search the same topic from one place. There is no need to have multiple tabs open! Your assignment is to search through the various meta search engines below, pick one to explore in more depth. Complete a search and look through the results from the various websites. Comment on at least 2 strengths and at least 2 weaknesses of the meta search engine you chose to explore. Be sure to tell me which one you chose.

Dogpile

Browsys

Mr. Sapo

Search Engines

I am sure most people use Google when doing internet searches. Many do not even realize that there are so many other, and some even better, search engines out there. Every search engine has different features that could be useful to the user. For example, some engines provide visual search tools or related searches that enable the user to narrow down their search easier. Also, depending on the search one might find that some search engines will give results that are pertinent to what you are looking for while others do not. So, your challenge is to explore the search engines below, pick one to really look into. Do a search of your choice and post a comment explaining what you found that makes this search engine different than Google.

Bing

Yahoo

Ask

Hakia

Search Cube
Qwiki - (Be sure volume is on!!)

Google Art Project

Do you love art but never get the chance to visit galleries?  Visit Google's Art Gallery and take virtual tours of various museums around the world.  You can view hundreds of pieces of art and even create and share your own collection of masterpieces.  This site is sponsored by Google and is completely free to users.  Learn more and see behind the scenes at the Art Project by clicking here.

Check it out and let me know what you think by commenting below.

Guttenberg

Project Gutenberg is the place where you can download over 33,000 free ebooks to read on your PC, iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, Android or other portable device.

Create Video Games for Your Classroom!!!

Microsoft's Kodu is a free Windows-based program that anyone can use to create video games without writing code. The drag and drop interface relies on users being able to manage "if/ then" scenarios to design a rich gaming experience. Kodu users create the setting (trees, mountains, rivers, etc), specify the roles and place characters in their games, and program what players can and cannot do in their games. To encourage game development through Kodu, Microsoft is hosting the Kodu Cup. The Kodu Cup is a contest for kids between the ages of nine and seventeen. The contest asks entrants to design their best games and submit them for judging. There are two age groups and the winner in each will receive $5,000 cash and a trip to New York. Microsoft has published a selection of guides for teachers and trainers and a classroom kit for teachers who are interested in using Kodu in school. Click here to view the suggested math lessons associated with Kodu. There are a lot of you tube video tutorials for kudu, please click here to see a simple kudu game tutorial and part 1 of another tutorial.

ebooks

Do you have trouble reading books for English class?  Check out this list of sites to get access to free ebooks.  These books will enable you to listen and follow along while the text is being read to you.  Also, if you cannot find a book you are looking for and you have a print disability, register for a Bookshare account.  Bookshare will provide access copyrighted texts and provide you with text-to-speech software.

How to avoid plagiarism...

Have you ever used the internet as a resource for a paper?  I should think the answer is usually yes and many students have admitted to copying and pasting information to their document before paraphrasing content.  This can land you in a lot of trouble if your teacher chooses to check into your sources.  Don't let youself get caught up in plagiarism, before submitting your work visit plagiarisma.net.  This site allows users to copy and paste text or upload a whole document to check if there is evidence of plagiarism.

What is Kurelja's Korner for?

While working as a high school teacher it has become clear to me that students need a place where they can find resources that are pertinent to them and what they are learning.  The purpose of Kurelja's Korner is to provide my students with a resource page where they can get free online assistance while completing homework, writing papers, or studying for an important test.  While this blog is a work in progress I ask that you have patience and please share any resources you have found particularly helpful for you!