# 8 BookSource Classroom Organizer

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                 Image Source: http://vimeo.com/36670303

 

http://classroom.booksource.com/

 

Details

Book Source Classroom Organizer is a website and mobile app for both the Apple and Android markets that allows teachers to organize their classroom library.    

Educational Uses

Book Source Classroom Organizer is a great resource for teachers to use. Teachers can add the books that are in there library to the app in turn making them a spreadsheet of the books that they own. The teacher is then able to specify a classroom location for each book making them easier to find when they need them. The teacher is then able to have students check the books through use of the app. Overall, Book Source Classroom Organizer is an educational aid by easily organizing books in order for teachers to quickly find them later when they need them for a lesson.     

Content Standards/Assessment

There are no standards or assessment to be used with this tool because it is a site to support teachers. However, it is a teacher’s responsibility to provide meaningful reading instruction through the use of books that students are interested in. This site makes that task simpler for the teacher by helping him/her organize his/her books so they are more easily found. Also, the app can do a little assessing for the teacher by determining what types of books students are interested in based on the books that the students are checking out.

Value/Merit

Book Source Classroom Organizer is a FREE and very easy website and app to use. Teachers can simply scan the bar codes that are on their books to add them to their library. Then assign areas for the books to be placed in the classroom. The teacher can even use the website or app to have students check books out.

 

# 7 360 Cities

360-cities

                                Image Source: http://www.webtourisme.net/e-tourisme/360-cities

 

http://www.360cities.net/

 

Details

360 Cities is a website and mobile app (Apple products only) that has a collection of panoramic views created and shared by people. The panoramic views on the site are of place all over the word from light houses to museums to mountains.   

Educational Uses

360 Cities is an awesome site for all of the visual learners in the classroom. This site would be a great one to use in order to add an image to a lesson in order for students to see what is being taught. Teachers could find images of the places in the past and present then students could compare and contrast them. A teacher could even use these panoramic views as a way to provide a virtual field trip for students. Overall, there are plenty of ways that this site could be used in education as long as there are ways to incorporate images from all over the world into the lesson.  

Content Standards

There are many standards that one could use when using this site. Some of them include…

Ohio Social Studies:

–       Models and maps represent places. (Kindergarten)

–       Maps can be used to located and identify places. (First Grade)

–       Places are distinctive because of their physical characteristics and human characteristics. (First Grade)

–       The work that people do is impacted by the distinctive human and physical characteristics in the place where they live. (Second Grade)

–       Cultures develop in unique ways, in part through the influence of the physical environment. (Second Grade)

–       Daily life is influenced by the agriculture, industry and natural resources in different communities. (Third Grade)

Assessment

There are not any direct assessments on this site. The site is something that a teacher would use as a resource in their lessons to add real life picture for students to see. It would be up to the teacher to create assessments that related to the standards and purpose of the lesson that used the videos.

Value/Merit

360 Cities is a FREE and very easy sight to use due to the map. However, there is no way to search by name so you have to know where what you’re looking for is, geographically. It is also nice that more panoramic views are being added every day in order to give students and people views of places they have never seen and likely never will.

# 6 TeacherKit

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                      Image Source: http://www.slideshare.net/mallorynelson92/teacher-kit

 

http://www.teacherkit.net/

 

Details

Teacher Kit is an App that can be downloaded on both apple and windows products to aid teachers in the classroom. Some of the things that can be done using the app include logging attendance of students, taking class notes, recording grades, and creating/keeping student reports.  

Educational Uses

There are tons of ways that this app could be used in the classroom. However, none of them directly teach students. What I find to be most intriguing about the app is the class notes that a teacher can take and reflect on later. The notes would then directly affect the learning of students. The teacher could mark student behavior quickly during lessons in order to remember later. The teacher could also take notes about student performance on assessments or notes when conferencing with students during writing time. Teachers could even use the app to plan and take notes about students’ performance during Guided Reading. There are many ways that the app could be used for educational purposes but non greater than the luxury of having all your class data in one place that includes detailed on the spot notes about student behavior and performance, that could be used later to inform instruction.     

Content/Assessment

Since this is a tool for teachers to use as an aid there are no content standards that would be associated with the app. The app can also not directly assess student learning however depending on how the app is used teachers could use it it take notes about students understandings or to log and keep track of assessment data.   

Value/Merit

Teacher Kit is a FREE easy to use app that can be downloaded on both apple and windows devices. It offers many great features for teachers to use. However, some of the features differ depending on what device the user is on. Also, some of the more advanced features cost money to use.

# 5 NASA

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                      Image Source: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nasa-app/id334325516?mt=8

http://www.nasa.gov/

 

Details

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is a website that has a lot of useful information on it. It has the current space related science news, current and past space missions and spaces related media such as images. The site also offers teacher and student resources such as lesson plans and videos.

Educational Uses

This site has a ton to offer to education not only for students but teachers as well. As a teacher I would use this site first as a tool to educate myself. Science in general but especially space related science can really confuse me and I’m sure others as well. By using the site I could get accurate information about the material I’m teaching so I can be sure to teach it right. I would then use the site to find lessons and resources that I could use in conjunction with lessons to aid in student learning. I could even find videos for students to watch or games to play. Overall, there are lots of useful information on this site that is geared towards teachers of all grades and students of all ages to aid in their learning. Another feature about this site that I find to be extremely cool is the virtual field trips that it offers to places like the Moon and Mars. That would be extremely helpful to have in a classroom to show younger students to give them an image of something that is very hard to imagine.         

Content Standards

There are many standards that could be tied to materials found on this site. Some include…

Ohio Science:

–          The moon, sun and stars can be observed at different times of the day or night. (Kindergarten)

–          The sun is the principal source of energy. (First Grade)

–          The physical properties of water can change. (First Grade)

–          Properties of objects and materials can change. (First Grade)

–          The atmosphere is made up of air. (Second Grade)

–          Water is present in the air. (Second Grade)

–          Long- and short-term weather changes occur due to changes in energy. (Second Grade)

–          Earth’s nonliving resources have specific properties. (Third Grade)

–          Earth’s resources can be used for energy. (Third Grade)

–          Some of Earth’s resources or limited. (Third Grade)

Assessment

This site cannot really be used for assessment directly. However, a teacher could create an assessment that would be used to assess student learning based on the information found on this site

Value/Merit

The site is FREE and very simple to use. It has been orginized into teachers/student tabs and beyond that by grade levels   The hardest part is sifting through all of the valuable information that can be found and thinking of ways to use it in the classroom to aid in the learning of students.

 

# 4 Sign Up Genius

SignUpGenius-wide

  Image Source: http://www.thanksmailcarrier.com/2011/10/signupgenius-making-event-planning.html

 

http://www.signupgenius.com/

 

Details

Sign Up Genius is a website that allows people to create sign ups and then invite people to use them. There are a variety of sign up templates to use, from parent teacher conferences to organizing a classroom party. Once the sign up has been created and people have been invited to sign up they simply pick what works best for them and the site does the rest of the work as far as sending out emails and creating final printable reports for the person who created the sign up.  

Educational Uses

As a teacher I would use Sign Up Genius to organize parent teachers conferences and classroom parties. It would be extremely easy to have parents use this and choose their time for conferences. That way it would be first come first serve and once a time is chosen it is no longer an option. That would be extremely handy rather than sending home papers and having parents pick their top three and then the teacher having to organize all of the times and sending out other papers to inform parents of their times. I would even use this site to organize my classroom parent volunteers allowing them to pick times to come in and help when they are free and wouldlike to. Since Sign Up Genius is a tool for teachers to use to make their lives more simple when organizing different things there are no content standards or assessments to be associated with it.         

Value/Merit

Sign Up Genius is completely FREE and very easy to use. It is all done online so no one has to worry about losing papers or having duplicates. Sign Up Genius will even send a reminder to whoever signed up a day or two in advance. Overall, there are a lot of ways this site could be used especially in a school or classroom setting to make not only the lives of  teachers easier but the people signing up as well.    

 

# 3 TEACHERS pay TEACHERS

TeachersPayTeachers-560x270                                 Image Source: http://www.technapex.com/tag/teacherspayteachers/

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/

 

Details

Teachers Pay Teachers is a website that features many educational resources such as lesson plans and games. All of the resources were created by teachers and have been used in their classrooms. Those teachers have found that they have been successful and are now offering them to other teachers to use. Teachers Pay Teachers is FREE to join however most of the resources on the site cost a small fee.

Educational Uses

As a teacher I would use Teachers Pay Teachers to find great resources to use in my classroom. I can find games to put in math centers. I could also use it to find highly engaging lessons to teach to my students. I could find a supplement to add to a lesson. I could even find a homework paper to send home with my students. There are an immense amount of resources on Teachers Pay Teachers and many different ways that I could take those and use them in my classroom.

Content Standards & Assessment

Most of the resources that are found on this site could be tied to particular content standards that are being taught in your classroom. This site also offers assessments as a type of resource. Overall, it is all up to the teacher to decide what materials he/she wants. Then the teacher can decide how they are going to use that material in their classroom and how they would assess the learning that took place whether that assessment was found on Teachers Pay Teacher or not.

Value/Merit

Teachers Pay Teachers is a very easy site to use to find resources. Someone can easily search by subject, grade level, and price to narrow down the resources. There are even ways to see the top resources and daily sales along with free resources. Overall, Teachers Pay Teachers is an extremely easy website to use to find resources for your classroom that you are looking for.   

 

# 2 TeacherWeb

 

teacherweb                                  Image Source: http://boyetjunior.stpsb.org/teacher_web.htm    

 

http://teacherweb.com/

 

Details

TeacherWeb is a website that allows teachers to easily create a class webpage through the use of templates. It is extremely easy and helpful for those teachers that don’t know how to create their own webpages from scratch.     

Educational Uses

A  TeacherWeb website would be a great thing to have in the classroom. I would use it as a parent communication tool in this ever growing technological world. Parents could access the classroom website to find out what their children are doing in class, see homework, get general class information, and get links to other parent resources. What I like about TeacherWeb is it gives the teacher the flexibility to put what they want on their website including documents and pictures. Since TeacherWeb is more of a parent and student informational tool there are not content standards or assessment tools to use with it.  

Value/Merit

TeacherWeb is a get site to use in order to easily create a class website that could be used to communicate with parents and students more quickly and efficiently. There is a small yearly fee if you chose to join TeacherWeb. However, TeacherWeb does offer a thirty day trial but that thirty day trial does not give teachers access to use all of the tools the site can offer. It can still give teachers a great picture of how they could use the site for their class.

 

# 1 Edutopia

edutopia Image Source:  http://parentsnightoff.com

 

http://www.edutopia.org

 

Details

Edutopia is highly organized education related blog site.  As a user of Edutopia you can search by grade level , and beyond that you can search by their core strategies of Comprehensive  Assessment, Integrated Studies, Project-Based Learning, Social & Emotional Learning, Teacher Development, and Technology Integration. Edutopia also offers multiple blogs for teachers and other education professionals to find information and ideas at.

Educational Uses

I would use Edutopia as a teacher tool. I really like the information found in the Comprehensive Assessment, Integrated Studies, and Project-Based Learning sections. I find this be helpful because as an educator of younger students, I could use some inspiration and helpful advice on ways to integrate studies and then assess in different and exciting ways for them.

Also, I really like the project based learning because in my student teaching placement the school I was in did a lot of work with project based learning (PBL) and the students really enjoyed it and learned a lot while I was there. However, before my student teaching I had not done really any work with PBL, so I was learning as much of that process as I could in that time that I was doing my student teaching. I find that the videos, articles, and blogs in regard to PBL are very helpful and could teach me a lot and give me a lot of great ideas on how to better implement PBL in the classroom. Also, the blog can give me some advice on awesome common core standards to focus around. 

I also like the Game-Based Learning blog. The blog has a lot of ideas and games that can be used in the classroom. I have found that games are a fun way to engage students in learning that they enjoy.

Since Edutopia is a blog to support teachers and give those teachers ideas there are multiple standards and then assessments that could be used with those ideas. However, the blog is for teachers and students would not be using it directly.

Value/Merit

Edutopia is a FREE blog site that has a lot of great information to support teachers and education professionals. Edutopia even has a New- Teacher Support blog to aid teachers during the challenges of their first year.