TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Mar 26, 2017

Here are this week's features. Clicking the tags in the description area of each listing will present a list of other resources with this topic. | Click here to return to the Featured Sites Archive

 

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Asana - Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein

Grades
K to 12
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Asana is an easy to use tool for organizing projects and tasks as a team or group. Register with your work email address to be connected as a team. If ...more
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Asana is an easy to use tool for organizing projects and tasks as a team or group. Register with your work email address to be connected as a team. If you don't have a work email, no problem, use your regular email address. Once registered, create a project and divide into tasks. Assign tasks to team members and set due dates. Follow updates and progress in real time. Free accounts offer unlimited tasks and projects for up to 10 team members.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (143), organizational skills (90)

In the Classroom

Create an account to use with students as a tool for organizing and collaborating on group projects. Asana makes it easy for all users to view overall progress on each task. Use Asana to help students remain on track with project deadlines; encourage older students to create their own account and set up groups for projects. Use this tool to collaborate with colleagues for use with professional projects such as unit planning and long-term scheduling.

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Class123 - Choong Hee Lee

Grades
K to 6
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Class123 is a classroom management tool containing several features for organizing classrooms and communicating with students and parents. Tools include a timer, seating chart, attendance...more
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Class123 is a classroom management tool containing several features for organizing classrooms and communicating with students and parents. Tools include a timer, seating chart, attendance manager, random name picker, and more. Sign up for free to add your rosters and avatars. Parents and students sign up with a code provided. Once enrolled, members receive or send communications privately or within groups. Please be aware that Class123 falls under the FERPA laws for "directory information" and "educational records." Any school getting funds from the Department of Education (public schools) is required to disclose to parents and get written consent to use Class123 with their child.

tag(s): behavior (43), classroom management (128), communication (136), DAT device agnostic tool (143), parents (60), Teacher Utilities (146)

In the Classroom

Use this tool to communicate specific behaviors with parents - both positive and negative feedback. Share this site with students on the first day of school as you go over class expectations and your behavior plan for your classroom. Take advantage of the other tools to take attendance or rearrange your seating chart quickly and easily.

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Rambox - Ramiro Saenz

Grades
K to 12
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Rambox is a free download for organizing online messaging services into one convenient place. This service allows access to several services in one place and also offers the availability...more
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Rambox is a free download for organizing online messaging services into one convenient place. This service allows access to several services in one place and also offers the availability of the included mobile apps onto your desktop computer. Some of the services include Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Google Hangouts, Voxer, Linkedin, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, and much more. Not finding the service you need? Add it manually. Follow links to download Rambox onto your computer, then choose from provided services to enable them. Personalize each of the setting notifications to meet your needs.

tag(s): communication (136), organizational skills (90)

In the Classroom

Download Rambox to organize content into one location, and see everything at a glance. Rambox works well for busy people who receive communications from many different messaging applications.

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Animaker - Srinivasa Raghavan

Grades
6 to 12
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Animaker is an easy to use animated video creation tool. Create an account to begin your video and choose a template to customize. Be sure to watch the tutorials before ...more
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Animaker is an easy to use animated video creation tool. Create an account to begin your video and choose a template to customize. Be sure to watch the tutorials before starting to learn all of the features included with Animaker such as auto lip-sync, extensive facial expressions, smart move, and more . When complete, download the video to your computer or directly to YouTube or Facebook. Free accounts allow you to upload your own files with a size limit of 2Gb and five exports per month. The tutorials reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.
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tag(s): animation (62), creativity (92), movies (51), video (256)

In the Classroom

Animaker now allows 2 teachers to share 25 students, 3 groups, and has an in app messenger. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) or blended classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have, using the internet and their is no downloading apps. Students will need the basic understanding of how to create using this tool. Work together on your interactive whiteboard to create a class video before assigning to students. Use Animaker to extend student learning and technology use by making commercials, science fair previews, infographics, and animated shorts in any content area. Have students make "advertisements" for an organism or a literary character. Make a travel commercial for a country being studied or for cultural sites in a world language class. Be sure to share the presentations on your projector or interactive whiteboard.

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Web Whiteboard - Henrik Kniberg

Grades
K to 12
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Web Whiteboard is a free, collaborative, online whiteboard that doesn't require registration. All collaboration takes place in real-time, so there is no need to save work as you use...more
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Web Whiteboard is a free, collaborative, online whiteboard that doesn't require registration. All collaboration takes place in real-time, so there is no need to save work as you use the whiteboard. Just click the link to begin using the whiteboard tools. Share the URL with collaborators. Web Whiteboard also includes a direct link to create a whiteboard using Google Hangouts. Boards remain available for 21 days when using the free account. For more information, be sure to watch the one-minute demo for an overview of how to use this tool.

tag(s): collaboration (86), iwb (32)

In the Classroom

Allow students to create collaborative drawings as responses to literature. They can map out the plot or themes, add labels, create character studies, and more. Share the finished products on an interactive whiteboard, projector, or your class website. Have a group of students create a drawing that another group can use as a writing prompt. Use Web Whiteboard as a brainstorming or sketching space as groups or the class share ideas for a major project or to solve a real world problem. Use this site with students in a computer lab (or on laptops) to create a drawing of the setting in a story as it is read aloud. As a creative assessment idea, have students draw out a simple cartoon with stick figures to explain a more complex process such as how a democracy works. If you are lucky enough to teach in a BYOT setting, use Web Whiteboard to demonstrate and illustrate any concept while students use the chat and drawing tools to interact in real time. If you are studying weather, have students diagram the layers of the atmosphere and what happens during a thunderstorm, for example. Introduce this tool to students who are working on group projects. Alternatively, have students use this to work as partners or as a small team to complete complex math problems or equations. Give students a problem by typing it on their board. Then have them work through it together, noting all of their reasoning and steps of work along the way.

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Intergalactic Mobile Learning Center - Intergalactic Mobile Learning Center

Grades
K to 9
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Intergalactic Mobile Learning Center is a set of six mobile apps for use in elementary and middle school collaborative learning situations. The apps include a spreadsheet, word processor,...more
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Intergalactic Mobile Learning Center is a set of six mobile apps for use in elementary and middle school collaborative learning situations. The apps include a spreadsheet, word processor, KWL tool, PDF, Flipbook, and a mind mapping tool. Two or more students work together using their own devices to collaborate on any project either face to face or from a distance. In addition to the apps, the site also offers a few starter activities, called Roadmaps for download. Apps use Google logins and work best in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari browsers. The demonstration videos reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): collaboration (86), mind map (26), spreadsheets (23), Teacher Utilities (146)

In the Classroom

Be sure to watch the videos on the homepage for an overview of the apps in action. Download Intergalactic Mobile Learning Center for use in your class for any collaborative project. Ask students to work in small groups to draw landforms or the water cycle in science class, gather data and create a spreadsheet for math, work together to write a story summary or share information on a KWL before the start of a new unit.

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CoSpaces - Delightex GmbH

Grades
4 to 12
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Build your own 3D spaces using CoSpaces, then view in virtual reality. Choose from the large library of items to include in your creation including characters and objects. To get ...more
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Build your own 3D spaces using CoSpaces, then view in virtual reality. Choose from the large library of items to include in your creation including characters and objects. To get a sense of how this works, visit the gallery to view creations built by CoSpace users. Register to create your account to start building your own 3D space. Be sure to visit the section for educators with many lesson plans and ideas on how to use CoSpaces in the classroom. Tutorials for CoSpaces reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

tag(s): augmented reality (7), coding (87), creativity (92), DAT device agnostic tool (143), digital storytelling (141)

In the Classroom

Recreate scenes from books or use CoSpaces to retell any story with 3D images. Encourage creativity and ask students to develop virtual exhibitions of artwork, animal habitats, or landforms. Have older students create infographics featuring data collections, for example comparing availability of Internet in different American towns.

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Beyondpad - Arturs Girons

Grades
K to 12
3 Favorites 0  Comments
   
Beyondpad is an organizing tool on steroids! Use this tool to create templates to track time spent on any task, build checklists, take notes, and save online information. Add tags ...more
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Beyondpad is an organizing tool on steroids! Use this tool to create templates to track time spent on any task, build checklists, take notes, and save online information. Add tags to any item to unify and organize information. Upcoming features include images, calendars, and maps. Be sure to go into Beyondpad's Demo Mode for hands-on practice with all of the site's features. Beyondpad also includes apps for Chrome, Windows, and Firefox. The Demo Mode will not save your work unless you sign in with email and password or one of several social media accounts. At the time of this review, there was one introduction video and it resides on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the video may not be viewable.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): classroom management (128), note taking (34), organizational skills (90)

In the Classroom

Create a class account to organize information into one easy to access place. Spell out the use of the site and what is allowed and not allowed -- and the penalties. Even though all students have the same login, create different notebooks for different tasks that students can use to upload information to be shared by all. Create separate accounts for student groups who can then share their notebook with other groups. Use tags to easily find and identify specific information. Create checklists of steps in a project. Place all notes in one place, so you do not forget. Use this tool easily in a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have. It may take some time to learn all of Beyondpad's many features, start by adding basic information and find out more as you begin to use this tool.

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ClipGrab - ClipGrab.org

Grades
K to 12
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Does your school block YouTube and other video sites? Download and save online videos with ClipGrab. Download the app to your computer to save videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Metacafe,...more
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Does your school block YouTube and other video sites? Download and save online videos with ClipGrab. Download the app to your computer to save videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Metacafe, and more. When downloading, choose the original format for best quality or convert to MP3, WMV, MPEG4, or OGG file formats.

tag(s): conversions (36), movies (51), video (256)

In the Classroom

Use this service to backup your videos from YouTube and other sites. Use to download and save videos at home that you wish to show to students, especially if the school or district blocks them. Users must be able to find, copy, and paste the URL of the video to be downloaded. Once the program starts, you will be prompted to save it. If you want to use the video at school, you would save it to a USB stick. No registration or login is required. This should primarily be a teacher resource. If using with students, discuss appropriate and inappropriate uses of the technology as well as choosing necessary videos.

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ClassTag - Vlada Lotkina and Jason Olim

Grades
K to 12
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ClassTag is a cloud-based management system for teachers to engage parents in their classroom community. Instead of parents signing up, teachers add emails to send out invitations to...more
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ClassTag is a cloud-based management system for teachers to engage parents in their classroom community. Instead of parents signing up, teachers add emails to send out invitations to participate. All included emails receive notice of updates and information even without signing up. ClassTag allows teachers to view who has read announcements and other pertinent information. Another option allows teachers to send out a weekly newsletter including personal notes and updates.

tag(s): chat (42), classroom management (128), communication (136), DAT device agnostic tool (143), parent conferences (24), parents (60), Teacher Utilities (146)

In the Classroom

Create a free account to use for all your classes, and even your extracurricular activities. Use this tool to send homework, project, and supply reminders. Remind parents of upcoming events, practices, or items students need to bring to class or practice. Remind parents of big tests, report cards, field trips, deadlines, back to school night, sneaker days, conferences, and more. Set up a faculty reminder group within your school for emergency closures and more.

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