A Google A Day

Students (and adults!) can sharpen their search skills using "a Google a Day" !  A new question is presented each day and you search for the answer by "Google-ing" it! Then you submit your answer to determine if you are right or you need to go search again. It may not be as easy as you are thinking!! 

This is the question for October 26!

  Click here for the current question of the day!!

Artsonia . . . the world's largest kids' art museum!

Artsonia...an online art museum. Showcasing art from students, this site offers free accounts for teachers to upload student art. They offer thousands of art project lesson plan starters submitted by other teachers.  Students will take a real interest in their work knowing it will be published on the web!

One of the greatest features is that it offers a "gift shop" where parents can order items such as:

• canvas art 
• coffee mugs
• tote bags
• mousepads
• keychains 
• tshirts
• and much more!

with their child's artwork on it! The participating school gets 15% of the proceeds.  What a great way for grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other family members to see the student's work of art and maybe help out the school by purchasing an item. Visit Artsonia and vote for the artist of the week!!

Amazing Daze in DC

This summer I was asked to go on the Teach America History trip to the DC area and blog our travels.  It was quite the trip to say the least. This is one of those trips where you need a few days of rest to recuperate from after it is over! We were up and running early each day and arriving at the hotel in time for bed. Being a History minor, this trip was extremely awesome for someone who has a love of history. I wanted to share the link so you could see just where we went and what we got to see!

Amazing Daze in DC

Handouts? Seriously?

Yes, handouts are nice, but very timely to create (especially a good one)! You know the old saying, "Why recreate the wheel?" That is how I feel about handouts, so I will have a section on various handouts available. Custom Guides creates great front/back handouts on various topics such as Windows, Office, Photoshop, etc., and they offer them in different versions like 2003, 2007, or the newest 2010 in Office. Check out the page on the right to access some of the newest handouts available!!

Join Me!

I would love for you to actually join me for lunch, or yogurt, or a movie, but that is not what this is about! This is just as good though! Join.me is one of the most helpful websites I use. It allows individuals to share your computer desktop or control of it with another. Simply going to the website and choosing share or join - depending on your need, will get you started.

It has been a time saver at work. A teacher can call and share their desktop with me where I can see the problem and talk them through. If necessary, they can give me control where I can fix the problem or show them how - fantastic!! Also, another great use has been with family. If you have parents, siblings, or other family who need help, what an awesome way to help from the comfort of your recliner! To make this deal even sweeter, it is now available on mobile devices as well!  Join.me gets two thumbs up from this techie!

Guess the Wordle!

Guess the Wordle, a great website that has daily wordles for your students to use their critical thinking skills to solve! There are varied levels - ranging from elementary to secondary! Here is the weekly schedule:

Monday & Wednesday Wordle
Monday's Wordle will be easy.
Wednesday's Wordle will be a bit more complex.

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday Wordles
Tuesday's Wordle will be the date of a famous event in world history.
Thursday's Wordle will be the title of a book, song, movie, etc..
Friday's Wordle will be a famous location.

Finding the answer:

Hover OVER the wordle to find out the answer!

Guessed the Wordle above? Answer is "Dead Sea"!

Help! My Students Can't Verify an Account!

Don’t you just cringe when you find a great site to use with your students and it requires them to verify their account with an email? Many great sites go unused, especially at elementary, because some students don’t have email accounts, or student email through the school is blocked from outside domains! With a Gmail account you can give all of your students an email that can be verified by you! This is how it works -

Original email account is:
Morelandclassroom@gmail.com (or whatever it happens to be)

For each student you add (+number or +name) to your email extension:
morelandclass+1@gmail.com
morelandclass+ronnie@gmail.com

The email comes to your account and you can verify it.
Another suggested use would be for a parent who is interested in getting their child started in email, such as with a grandparent or relative. This could be used by the parent in the same manner!