K-12 Technology Sites
by
Gina Otto

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KEYBOARDING
PHOTOSHARING
WIKIS
FILL IN OR WRITE ON PDF FORMS

TECHNOLOGY SITES FOR TEACHERS
 

APPLE LEARNING INTERCHANGE - http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/
Technology news, resources, curriculum, projects, units, chats, forums, staff development - known as ALI, this free site boasts close to 10,000 subscribers and it is updated daily; if you're a MAC fan check out this site for yourself. You need to create a free account to use.

APPLETSFORTEACHERS  - http://www.geocities.com/appletsforteachers
You might have heard of applets and youíve probably used them before.  These examples can be used in many elementary school classrooms, and in review work with older students.  Use your browser (Java enabled) to access this site for work with numbers (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and capitals of nations and US States.

<>BEMBO'S ZOO  - http://www.bemboszoo.com/
A flashy site (Flash plugin required) for artists and creative thinkers to just sit back and watch. Turn your high school computer lab students loose trying to figure out how they did it. Beginning animators may get some wonderful ideas, all surrounding the basic alphabet.  They are trying to sell a book so beware.
 
CABLE IN THE CLASSROOM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FAVORITE SITES
- http://www.ciconline.org/ Cable network, learn the internet, math science, sites for parents, search engines for kids

CARLOS' COLORING BOOK - http://www.coloring.com/
Activity: Choose a picture, color it, and then show your finished ART to the instructor. This is an example of an interactive coloring page. It redraws the picture with the new color added. You can save your finished picture to a disk or the hard drive as an image file. Import the image into your favorite paint program and print it on a color printer. Another use would be to include it in a project report.

THE CHALLENGE 2000 MULTIMEDIA PROJECT (Project-Based Learning with Multimedia)  - http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/
From California's San Mateo County Schools, this site is an excellent source for information about project-based learning with multimedia, "a method of teaching and learning in which students acquire new knowledge and skills in the course of  designing, planning, and producing a multimedia product." Find out how to plan and prepare a PBL project, how to  assess student work, and more.

CISCO EDUCATIONAL ARCHIVES - http://www.ibiblio.org/cisco/
The virtual schoolhouse, education network, and the new network operations center all combine to make this a vital teacher technology stop.  Although it is no longer being updated, the material is timeless.  Use it!

COMPLETE GUIDE TO DIGITAL CAMERAS - http://www.shortcourses.com/
Links to everything about Digital Cameras, from how to use them, how to buy one and how to take great pictures to how to edit them.

<>COMPUTER LABS - http://www.fi.edu/fellows/fellow4/may99/
Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Database and Multimedia are covered in this site. In the multimedia section, there are some graphical organizers that will prove most useful to the kids in organizing their topic and their supporting detail.

cCOOLTEXT.COM - http://www.cooltext.com/
By Bryan Livingston,  CoolText.com helps.  Trying to design a home page for your class or school? CoolText.com invites you to create colorful logos, buttons, and bullets for free. Select from various fonts, colors, and designs, and your design will be created and downloadable in minutes.  This button was created by CoolText in 20 seconds.

COPYRIGHT FOR EDUCATORS - http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/copy.htm
Want the skinny on the legalities of intellectual property usage online? Copyright for Educators will deliver! Excellent information on Fair Use policies and Copyright presented specifically for educators and our unique needs for students working with digital text and graphics.

CRASH COURSE IN COPYRIGHT - http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/cprtindx.htm
An information filled site on copyright from the University of Texas. Teachers can check out the online tutorial and test on copyright. Older students can look under online Presentations/Students for information regarding student use of copyrighted materials. This website is also a great resource if you or your students want to protect media you have created.

DIGITAL EDUCATION NETWORK - http://www.actden.com/
Wonderful ideas and approaches for using the Internet as part of your instruction - updated weekly! Includes Math, Writing, News, Graphics, Astronomy, the Internet and tutorials too.

DOWNLOAD.COM - http://download.cnet.com/
Education downloads on a variety of subjects - freeware and shareware as well as titles for purchase. Free newsletter.

DR. ALICE CHRISTIE'S TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION WORKSHOP FOR K-3 TEACHERS - http://www.west.asu.edu/achristie/DV/dvk3ng.html
This site has great links to real k-3 teachersí classrooms and their ideas.  Check it out!
 

EDWEB - http://www.edwebproject.org/
Hunt down on-line educational resources around the world, learn about trends in education policy and information infrastructure development, and examine success stories of computers in the classroom.

EXCEL IN THE CLASSROOM - http://www.internet4classrooms.com/on-line_excel.htm

FACEBOOK IN THE CLASSROOM - https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
Create a classroom page under Company/Organization/Institution - choose education and then share the link with your students and parents. You can post homework, show videos or pictures, give a lesson, all free.

FILL IN PDF FORMS - http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/19911/formulatepro
Download this free program on a Mac to fill in forms or overwrite on PDF files when you only have a pdf reader. Great!

FREE PDF EDITOR - http://www.pdfescape.com/
This is a free pdf editor. form filler, and form designer but it is used on line...no downloading. Be sure to save your form to your computer since it is not stored on the PDFescape server. Mac or PC.  There is a download for pdf also available called pdf Pro10

  FREE TUTORIAL BEACHES - http://www.middleschoolteacher.net
May be the best portal to free tutorials for teachers anywhere on the net. You can click on elementary sites too.

4TEACHERS - http://www.4teachers.org/
Links to technology-based learning and activities.  Check it out.

FROM NOW ON - http://www.fno.org/
The Educational Technology Journal written by Jamie McKenzie - You can subscribe for free.  Includes links to STAFF DEVELOPMENT,  how to use Graphic Organizers. Assessment, copyright information, how to write grants, Internet Use Policies, Technology Planning, Virtual Museums...You want it?  It's probably here.

GETTING STARTING - TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM - http://www.geocities.com/edtechteacher/Home.html
For the first time teacher, work, games, getting started, internet activities, research for the new teacher.  Interesting site by a grad student.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS - http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers/

GRAPHING IDEAS - http://www.fi.edu/qa98/me5/me5.html
Third Grade Students graph information using Microsoft WORKS in the computer lab.  The instant creation of graphs and charts from spreadsheets in various styles reduces the tedium of drawing and coloring and lets kids get right to the exercise of selecting, interpreting and querying data.

HEWLETT-PACKARD FREE ONLINE COURSES - http://www.hplearningcenter.com/
Free courses on Word, Excel, PageMaker, Web site building and more. Just sign up. It's free.

HOMESTEAD COM - http://homestead.com
Build a free webpage - step by step, start with a blank page and go. They will host for $4.99 month after a 30 day free trial.  But, you can see just what you want your page to look like and use it for 30 days.

HOW DO I INTEGRATE THE INTERNET INTO MY CLASSROOM CURRICULUM - http://www.cyberbee.com/
See Treasures on the Web: a Roadmap for Curriculum Opportunities, from the Currency Converter activity to Dinosaur Eggs activity, each one is easy to follow and something you can do in your class without changing the lesson at all.

HOW STUFF WORKS: DIGITAL CAMERAS - http://www.howstuffworks.com/digital-camera.htm
How Stuff Works explains how a digital camera works and includes plenty of practical buying tips along the way. Top click is the Feature section which will help you better understand digital camera jargon.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE AND SEARCH E-MAIL LISTS - http://www3.niu.edu/newsplace/netlists3.html
BOOKMARK THIS! Exactly what the title suggests; think you know all the differences in kinds of listservs? This is a good thorough overview.

INTERNET 101 - http://www.internet101.org/
Still learning the ropes or are you an expert?  This may be the site for you. Simple to navigate and easy to understand - from the origins of the 'Net' all the way up to programming and marketing

KATHY SCHROCK'S GUIDE FOR EDUCATORS - http://discoveryschool.com/schrockguide -
THIS is a categorized list of sites on the Internet which are useful for enhancing curriculum and teacher professional growth. It is updated daily to keep up with the tremendous number of new World Wide Web sites.

KEYBOARDING see below:

BBC - DANCE MAT TYPING - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
Four levels of typing - Dance Mat Typing is a fun musical introduction to touch typing for kids seven and older. Practice is divided into twelve lessons, and led by animated characters.
FREE TYPING GAME - http://www.freetypinggame.net/
There are six arcade-style typing games, thirty keyboarding lessons and thirty timed typing tests, featuring a keyboard that is color coded for our ten fingers. Check it out.
GOOD TYPING - http://www.goodtyping.com/
27 guided lessons with 18 different keyboard layouts - you need to sign in but it is free.
LEARN TO TYPE - http://kids.learn2type.com/
A free web site that helps kids master the skills of touch typing. the exercises automatically adjust to the students' skill level. The better they get the more challenging the t yping exercises become. Come and go as  you please and pick up where you left off.
POWER TYPING - http://www.powertyping.com/
Lots of keyboard practice set to radio music.

KIDBIBS LEARNING TIPS - http://www.kidbibs.com/learningtips/lt48.htm
Writing Web Pages?  What should you put on them?  This site will help. Learning Tip #48? Web Page Creation Supports Student Reading, Writing, and Learning in a Variety of Ways.

KODAK DIGITAL LEARNING CENTER - http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/dlc/
Although written specifically for Kodak digital cameras, this site offers plenty for anyone interested in learning
about digital photography.  The site is divided into five books: How To (with step-by-step instructions); Technology; Courses;  Reference (with FAQ's and a glossary); and DLC Plus (a collection of projects for home and classroom) like Digital Color Theory and Printing Digital Images (which delves into the confusing issue of input and output resolution.)

LISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL - HTML HELP FOR KIDS - http://www.lissaexplains.com/
Want to make a Web page? You've come to the right place. Lissa is13 years old nd in the 8th grade. She wrote this site.explaining and graphics (she makes all of her graphics herself), and has even made some commercial Web sites!! She  started this page when she was 11 because had a lot of kids ask her questions about how to make their own Web page, and there were no other pages especially for kids to learn HTML. She figured, why not make a page just for kids about how to make their own Web page? She has covered the questions asked the most, and if there is anything you would like to see added, she'll consider it!

MAC HELP FOR MOMS - http://www.machelpformom.com/
What a site! Videos and links for all things Mac, not just for Moms. There is a search function so you can search for something or some help you need.  You can sign up for your free subscription here too.You get free weekly emails describing new videos.

MINUTES FROM ME - http://www.fi.edu/qa99/me6/me6.html
Word processing activities for 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders, with how-tos and whys. ALSO SEE THE Spreadsheet (baseball) activity  at http://www.fi.edu/qa98/me4/me4.html     Check out other lessons about building web sites from Margaret Ennis at http://www.fi.edu/qa96/meindex.html

MULTIMEDIA - http://www.oswego.org/staff/cchamber/webdesign/multimedia.htm
This page is filled with links to help quickly locate sound clips that can be used in web page creation. Music can often add an inviting quality to your webs. You can find music that fits the theme of your page. If you find a clip that you want to use make sure you review the page to see if the clips are public domain.

<>PHOTOSHARING
FLICKR -
http://www.flickr.com/
An online photo management and sharing site that uses tags, contacts, groups, and geo-mapping to organize photos. Users can also set their search preferences to SafeSearch. As with most photo sites, policing is a public duty, so photos that are incorrectly flagged are usually reported. The free version of Flickr limits the size of each photo to 5 MB, your monthly upload to 100MB, and only provides access to resized images.
MYPHOTOALBUM - http://www.myphotoalbum.com/
Create stunning online albums. You get a personal web address, hundreds of personalized designs and layouts, unlimited online photo sharing and albums, free video storage and sharing, and personalized photo gifts and quality digital photo printing--all free. Share easily with tags, comments, email invites, IM-ing, and more.
PHOTOBUCKET - http://photobucket.com/
With one-click posting to MySpace and Facebook (and a handful of blogging platforms), Photobucket calls itself a "creative hub".  Each photo page displays a variety of HTML codes needed to post it elsewhere. Free accounts provide 1 GB of space for images and video clips, 25MG of monthly bandwidth, and a 1MB file size limit on uploaded photos.  There is a no porn policy, but...
PICASA - http://picasa.google.com/
Picasa is both a tool for organizing photos on your computer, and a website for sharing and publishing photo albums. To begin, download the free Windows application, and let Picasa automatically find all your local photos and movies. The online component, Picasa Web ( http://picasaweb.google.com ), has a ginormous 20MG limit per photo, but your total free online storage is limited to 1GB. Additional storage, up to 250GB, is available for purchase. Although inappropriate images can be flagged, there is no formal mechanism for filtering your Picasa search results.
SHUTTERFLY - http://www.shutterfly.com/
Photo books, prints, designer cards, calendars, posters, gift certificates, and FREE, unlimited picture storage.
SMILEBOX - http://www.smilebox.com/
Email, blog or print it…Unlike other photo sharing sites that focus on organizing photos, Smilebox is a creative tool for creating personalized multimedia scrapbooks, e-greetings, slide shows, postcards, and photo albums with music, words and themes. Basic designs are free, (ads when shared with friends and family). Upgrades are available for individual designs, or by joining Club Smilebox. There is no public sharing of photos, nor an onsite search function, so safety concerns are not applicable.
TABBLO - http://www.tabblo.com/studio
"Tabblos are your photos and your words combined into your story." Merging photos and captions into a template of your choosing, Tabblo creates printable photo albums (no animation or music) that can be viewed online and shared with a circle of friends. Creating, sharing and storing tabloos are free, and printed photo albums can be purchased. Offensive content is policed by users, and the search function ignores many objectionable keywords.

PICS4LEARNING - http://pics.tech4learning.com/
Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly image library for teachers and students. The Pics4Learning collection consists of thousands of images that have been donated by students, teachers, and amateur photographers. This is a great site for images for your classes to use legally in class projects and reports? There is a clear use policy for images. Teachers can get ideas for groups projects or reports using technology in the lesson area.

POWER POINT IN THE CLASSROOM - http://www.actden.com/pp
An eight-unit tutorial for K-12 teachers on how to use PowerPoint98. You'll learn about toolbars; laying out, saving, and moving  information; text; animation; transitions; as well as ways to teach your students to use it. This tutorial is part of a larger site created by actDEN which currrently offers seven software tutorials, produced in conjunction with Microsoft K-12 Education.

POWER  POINT 97 - http://aitt.acadiau.ca/tutorials/PowerPoint97/index.htm
A twelve point lesson from bullets to scanning and converting to HTML--nice on-screen demos. Also Power Point 2000 info at http://aitt.acadiau.ca/nstpd/ppt00.htm  and writing web pages at http://aitt.acadiau.ca/nstpd/webbasics.htm

POWERFUL PRESENTATION TECHNIQUES - http://www.slideshare.net/theWebChef/ppt-powerful-presentation-techniques
These are slideshow presentations telling how to write a slideshow presentation.  Good stuff.

POWERPOINT TUTORIALS - http://cybersleuth-kids.com/sleuth/Computer/Tutorials/Power_Point_Tutorials/index.htm
For kids, K-12. I guess teachers can use this too.

SCHOOLNOTES.COM - http://schoolnotes.com/
Allows you to set up your own page for parents, students and colleagues to access, and keep up to date with homework assignments, event scheduling and professional opportunities. (Use it for students' nightly homework assignments); the service is free and it can be updated as often as you want to keep your audience informed.

SHORT COURSES - http://www.shortcourses.com/
Short Courses is my digital photography pick of day for its encyclopedic collection of online tutorials. Topics include Batteries, Choosing a Digital Camera, and Editing Digital Photographs.  There is also a great links page with pointers to seven fabulous digital photo galleries.

SOFTWARE, MAC AND PChttp://www.mm-soft.com
Click on the site then the appropriate software.

TECHLEARNING - http://www.techlearning.com/
Produced by the Technology & Learning Magazine The Well Connected Educator and School Tech Expo and Conference, this site contains reviews and recommendations for what's best for using technology in K-12 education, as well as job listings, discussion boards, resources and contests.

TECHNOLOGY ADVANCING STUDENT KNOWLEDGE - http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/task/
A new site written by the technology integration team of the Greece, New York, School District, all the technology integration activities and ideas are grouped by subject area and grade level.

TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHERS - http://eduscapes.com/web/teacher.html

TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHERS - http://www.pampetty.com/techtraining.htm
Technology for teachers by Pam Petty includes a scavenger hunt for the site. 

TECHNOLOGY IDEAS FOR TEACHERS - http://www.wacona.com/technology/tech4teacher.html

TECHNOLOGY HORIZONS IN EDUCATION - http://www.thejournal.com/
T.H.E. presents the online version of its journal here, covering news, features, editorials, products, services and more, all aimed at K-12 education.

TECHNOLOGY LESSON PLANS K-6 - http://k-6educators.about.com/cs/lessonplanstec/
Bring the virtual world into the classroom through the wonders of technology!  This site has links to all types of technology lessons.

TECHNOLOGY MAGIC AND WORLDS TO EXPLORE - http://ada.lesley.edu/faculty/flescher/team1.htm
Includes 20 plus ways to use the Internet for Teaching, learning and Education and virtual field trips and research links.

  TECHNOLOGY PLANNING - http://www.tcet.unt.edu/tek-plan.htm
Great links for K-12 schools planning the implementation of technology in the big picture of their vision - a must for anyone in charge of coordinating technology hardware and software for their school division

TECHNOLOGY TEACHING CONCEPTS, LTD. - http://www.techteachconcepts.com/interest.htm
Bring Technology into the Classroom - links to teacher sites and student sites.  Interesting concept.

TEK MOM'S CITATION PAGE - http://www.tekmom.com/cite/index.html
How to Cite Web Resources.  Be a team player and give credit where credit is due by creating a reference for every online resource you use.  Check this page out, it is color coded for ease of use.

TIME LINE MAKER - http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/timelines/
This generator can be used to make time lines of up to 9 events of your choice.

TOTALLY DRIVERS  - http://www.totallydrivers.com/
Help is here. For all you tech coordinators that are always looking for the right drivers, Totallydrivers.com is for you! In just two clicks, you can be on the website for the brand of driver you need. This is valuable for the driver sites that aren't just "www.brandname.com"  Includes browser update links, plugin links, and more.

UMAC-BELL ATLANTIC VIRTURAL RESOURCE SITE FOR TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY - http://www.umuc.edu/virtualteaching/
Two modules developed to give all the basics of online learning. Module One is a good place to acquaint yourself with Teaching/Learning Activities (with great examples) from university classes where all the assignments and even the slides to be shown in class are online, and the Technologies needed for learning. This really helps educators answer the question "What do you want to use technology for?"  Check this out!

WEBHOUND'S HOME - http://www.maricopa.edu/webhound/index.html
THIS IS THE SITE YOU NEED IF YOU ARE DOING TRAINING, OR ARE JUST NEW ON THE WEB!  Have no fear, the webhound is here to show you how to use different types of web search tools. You will be able to identify key elements of a topic search, decide the most appropriate approach, and then... do it! Just because it's old doesn't make it obsolete.

WIKIS - A type of collaborative website with tools for adding and editing material. Wikipedia.org is one popular example which gives public editorial rights. A wiki can also be created for a classroom or club. The administrator decides what pages can be edited, who can edit, etc. Check out the article at http://computer.howstuffworks.com/wiki.htm. The following are some wiki sites.

GOOGLE DOCS - https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=writely&passive=true&nui=1&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F&followup=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F&ltmpl=homepage&rm=false
Create and share your work online. Upload,edit, share, all FREE. Google Docs provides a powerful set of collaboration tools, a familiar interface, and meets most of the usual wiki criteria. With a free Google account, you can post and share documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. You control who can view and edit each document. The documents are stored remotely and are accessible from anywhere; and changes made by anyone, are immediately available to everyone.
 
PIKIWIKI - http://www.pikiwiki.com/ews/index.jsp
 
Don’t just send a picture, tell the story! Instantly create and share web pages. Have friends add content. All with drag and drop freedom and ease. With drag-and-drop simplicity, PikiWiki is the easiest wiki to learn, and a great one for elementary-age kids. Not only is it free, but you can even build your first page without signing up. Check out the ten things you can now do with PikiWiki.

WIKIPEDIA - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
An online encyclopedia which is free, and anyone can edit.  There are over 2,700,000 articles in English.




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Last Updated August, 2011

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