The Digital Scoop

25 Terrific Technology Treasures- NETA 2012

Thanks to everyone who attended our session at NETA!!!  Here are all the treasures we shared!!!

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Below are all the tech treasures shared by our fabulous audience members!

Don't Let The Pigeon Write This Post!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, the pigeon books by Mo Willems so much that I decided to have my first graders draw the pigeon in Kid Pix.  We used the line and shape tools to create our pigeons.  They turned out super cute!

I also found a font that is very close to the print in the pigeon books.  Download the Allycat font here.

We also watched the Scholastic dvd version of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

You can find other fun activities and ideas at Pigeon Presents!

The following videos showcase Mo Willems and would be a great addition to the lesson:

 

   

 

   

Want more Mo Willems inspired ideas...check out this great Pinterest Board from Happy Teacher.

Hope this inspires you!

Cool Way to Preview Fonts

Wordmark.it is a website where you can preview fonts installed on your computer.

 

Simply enter a small amount of text, say a title, and press Load Fonts. 

 

You can also preview just certain fonts by clicking on the fonts you like and then clicking filter selected.

I plan to use Wordmark.it to help myself and my students make font selections.

 

iPad Butterfly Book Goes Beyond the Basic

 

I recently discovered the My Book of Butterflies by Lori Ferguson in the iBooks store. I downloaded the free sample and was excited to find videos of butterflies within the book.

 

 

The videos are shown by a small icon on the screen and you can enlarge them to full screen. The book also contains rhyming text and good information on butterflies. I am sure my second graders will love it this fall. The book retails for $2.99.

Not looking for butterflies? They also have giraffes, monkeys, and elephants with more books to come.

 

Online Sticky Notes and More

 

Stixy is an online memo board. You can add notes, pictures, documents, and to do lists.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think Stixy would be a great way for teachers and students to brainstorm ideas for a topic. I added an image and then added facts the students shared about hatching chicks. I did not sign up for an account and I was able to create a board. I took a screen shot to save the completed board, but you could also sign up for a free account and save several boards.

 

 

Book Series with Free Digital Downloads

I recently began looking for resources on penguins to use with my Kindergarten students. I like to gather all types of resources to use in my lesson. I found myself at Barnes and Noble and stumbled upon a new Scholastic Book Series called Discover More.

 

 

I love the Penguins book and was excited to find out it also contains a link to a digital download. The download was a large pdf file which contained a digital book about Antartica. The pdf also contained related videos. I was delighted to find a fun video of penguins jumping out of the water.

 

The books contain great information and wonderful pictures. The books run between $10.00-$13.00 and I think they are a great value considering you get a paper book and an additional digital book.

 

 

Finding Great iPad Apps

I am always on the look out for new blogs, tweets and word of mouth recommendations for great iPad apps. Here are a few sources I come back to again and again.

 

Smart Apps For Kids is a wonderful blog packed with constantly updated information on free and/or new apps.

 

 

Best Kids Apps is a blog written by moms who know what a great app when they see one. The site contains ratings, prices, and apps sorted by age range.

 

 

Moms With Apps is a blog created by parents who have created apps designed to help children learn and grow.

Appitic is a wonderful resource created and curated by Apple Distinguished Educators. You can browse several categories and read great articles from educators around the country.

 

 

 

In fact, I rececently read an Appitic article by Vicki Davis on the FlipBoard app and began using it to read many of these blogs. FlipBoard lets you read blogs and other feeds in a magazine like format.

I hope you enjoy and benefit from these blogs as much as I do.

 

Get Creative wtih Free LogoType Maker

LogoType Maker is a fun, free way to create a logo or create stylish words. 

Start by typing in some text and click generate logo.

You will instantly see a variety of pre-made logo designs.  You can then either select one and keep or edit it or press generate logo again and get a new set of logos.

LogoType Maker would be a fun way for students to practice spellign words or design their own name for binders and other labeled items.

Free App Friday

Sight Words by Photo Touch is an excellent free app for helping kids practice those ever troublesome high frequency words.

Students begin with three sight words on the screen.  As they make correct choices the number of words increases.  My students love seeing the number of words increase!

The app can be customized to show only words you select.  You can also record your own words.

The this video demonstrates the many features of this app.

Great Blog for iPad Lessons

TechChef4U, by Lisa Johnson, is a blog packed with amazing ideas for utilizing an iPad for learning.

I actually first found many of the lessons from TechChef4U on Pinterest.

I really like the way many of Lisa's ideas contain more than one app working in concert to create a complete lesson.

 

Scan For Learning

Quick Response or QR codes are everywhere these days.  You can use a smart phone or tablet to scan the code and quickly receive information. 

I have been thinking it would be fun to have  students do a scavenger hunt with qr codes.  The only thing is my students are young and don't carry smart phones.  We also don't have very many iPods or iPads for student use.

I recently found QR Journal, a free download in the Mac app store, that uses the built in iSight camera on the MacBook to read qrcodes.  Scan the code in this post to go to the QR Journal page in the app store.

I used Kaywa Code Generator to create the code on this post.  You can create qr codes for URLs, plain text, and phone numbers.  I think it would be amazing to create qr codes for open house or other important school events.  Parents could scan the code and go directly to your web site or important information.

Check out this great presentation from Gwyneth Jones, The Daring Librarian, on qr codes:

QR Codes in the Elementary Classroom

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Look for more on qr codes in future posts!