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Week of November 9th, 2009

Now this is cool! SAM Animation has been selected as a "Cool UDL Tool" - Universal Design for Learning - which means SAM Animation has been designed to give students (even really young ones) the power of making stop-action animations to share their ideas and understanding. The environment provides a unique experience for students to grapple with challenging problems in mathematics, science, engineering, and more as they engage in the process of generating animations.

NEW! Sam Animation
http://www.samanimation.com
SAM Animation is software designed to give students the power of making stop-action movies to share their ideas and understanding. The software is easy to use and provides a unique experience for students to explore challenging problems in any subject through creating animations. SAM Animation is free for MACs and PCs, as long as individuals are willing to register so that they can keep you updated with new beta versions, news, and classroom activities.
*This site is listed under Tools for Learning in the Homework tab

Week of November 2nd, 2009

NEW! BuilD YouR WiLD SeLF
http://www.buildyourwildself.com
Ever wonder what kind of character you might be if could be part of the "Where the Wild Things Are"? Enjoy this creative web site and construct your own wild self! Made possible by New York Zoos and Aquarium.
*This site is listed under Recess Div 1 and Recess Div 2

Week of October 26th, 2009

NEW! Citizen Voices - Breaking Down Solitudes
http://www.citizenvoices.gg.ca
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, connects to students through online chats, forums, and blogs discussing various topics of interest belonging to the Governor General's mandate - culture, belonging, youth, women, etc. This site offers a great way for students to dialogue with others around the country. For those who register with the site, there will occasionally be special chats with the Governor General.
*This site is listed under Grade 6 in Social Studies Div 2

Week of October 19th, 2009

Studying India, Tunisia, the Ukraine or Peru? Create a First Class ticket on the airline of your choice and let your imagination take you away!

NEW! Ticket-O-Matic
http://omatic.musicairport.com
Planning on creating a virtual travel experience for your students? Ticket-O-Matic is a small automatic generator-machine: it gives you the ability to generate First Class Airline Tickets in 3 simple steps. Choose airline, choose details to create and then download your ticket or send it to someone!
*This site is listed under Other in Social Studies Div 1

Week of October 12th, 2009

Okay. Now this is exciting... Storybird is a social media service that believes collaborative storytelling can be social, fun, and easy. It encourages literary exploration by encouraging students to make short, visual stories using illustrations created by artists for use on Storybird. To get inspired, explore some art or a theme and then start creating! Make sure you watch the Tour and read the FAQ. Storybird is free.

NEW! Storybird
http://storybird.com
Storybird promotes imagination, literacy, and self-confidence.Storybirds are short, visual stories that you make with family and friends to share and (soon) print. Users choose artwork from a specific artist and then add text to create a storybook.
*This site is listed under Writing in Lang Arts Div 1 and Lang Arts Div 2

Week of October 5th, 2009

This is a site that I had some fun with and can see students having fun as well as learning to let those ideas flow!

NEW! oneword
http://oneword.com
simple. you'll see one word at the top of the following page. you have sixty seconds to write about it. as soon as you click 'go' the page will load with the cursor in place. don't think. just write.
*This site is listed under Writing in Lang Arts Div 2

Week of September 28th, 2009

My friend and colleague, Tammy Fulton, found a link to a series of Crawford the Cat videos and books for the younger crowd. Timely information on washing hands and proper sneezing techniques!  

NEW! Crawford's Corner
http://www.crawfordthecat.com
Crawford's Corner provides videos and books for the young learner promoting positive values while implementing simple lessons on personal, practical and social skills! There are some worthwhile videos and books on washing hands and covering when sneezing.
*This site is listed under Wellness Choices in Div 1 Health

Week of September 21st, 2009

NEW! Poster Razor
http://sourceforge.net/projects/posterazor
Want to print a poster? PosteRazor cuts an image file into pieces and you can print then on your printer and glue them together to a poster. Easy FLTK based user interface. Uses FreeImage for image loading. Creates PDFs as output. Poster Razor will allow teachers to print SMART slides, or any other image, to a poster format.
*This site is listed under Homework and then Tools for Learning

Week of September 14th, 2009

NEW! PBS KIDS Interactive Whiteboard Games
http://pbskids.org/whiteboard
The PBS KIDS Interactive Whiteboard Games collection is an outstanding collection of activities to support Language Arts, Math, Social Sciences, and the Arts. When you go to the site, you can click on the subject area and it will scroll to that particular subject area. In addition, you can also sort on title, description, level, topic, and audio by clicking on the corresponding word in the header for each subject. This PBS site offers a fun way to reinforce concepts with young learners at home as well as an excellent resource for teachers to use with their interactive whiteboards.
*This site is listed under Other in Lang Arts Div 1, Math Div 1, Social Studies Div 1, and Science Div 1

Week of September 7th, 2009

More and more I am coming across excellent web applications that can be used in the classroom (or at home) to support learning and engage students. Why couldn't these tools have been available when I was a student in school??? What a great time to be a student AND a teacher!

NEW! Tar Heel Reader
http://tarheelreader.org
Tar Heel Reader is a great resource for beginning or struggling readers and English language learners. This collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books has the option to be read silently or read aloud. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces (i.e. switches, alternative keyboards, touch screens, and dedicated AAC devices). The finished books may be downloaded as slide shows in PowerPoint, Impress, or Flash format and can be opened in Apple’s Keynote and put on an iPod (Nano, Classic, or Touch) for mobile reading.

Besides reading a book, students also have the option of creating their own books. Ideas for using Tar Heel Reader might include having teachers, parents, or students create custom stories with meaningful photos (field trip, social stories, personal, or retelling another story), make a student a main character in the story, have older students create books for younger students around curriculum topics, or use created stories with an interactive white board (SMART Board) for whole group instruction.

To create a book of your own you will need to register for free. For a fun read and to see patterning using The Very Hungry Caterpillar, check out The Hungry Bear under Fairy and Folk Tales. 
*This site is listed under Homework and then Tools for Learning

Week of August 31st, 2009

Welcome back!!! There is a huge collection of web sites and tools to share this school year and we're going to start with an awesome tool created by a very creative fellow named Matt Johnson, an undergraduate at Washington State University. What a great way to engage kids in their learning, review content, and create 'fun' educational activities for their classmates!

NEW! JeopardyLabs
http://jeopardylabs.com
JeopardyLabs allows you to create a customized jeopardy template without PowerPoint. The games you make can be played online from anywhere in the world. Building your own jeopardy template is a piece of cake. Just use the site's simple editor to get your game up and running.
*This site is listed under Homework and then Tools for Learning.

Previous Sites of the Week can be accessed here.

Div.1 or Div.2	Div.1 or Div.2	Div.1 or Div.2	Under Construction!
Div.1 or Div.2	Div.1 or Div.2 Div. 1 and 2	WWL has moved to http://www.wwlearning.ca