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Allows access to online resources

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Free App to schedule volunteers/conferences

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SignUpGenius - Free Online Sign Up Forms

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SignUpGenius is an online sign up software to simplify volunteer management and event planning. Customize online sign up sheets and schedules for schools, nonprofits, business events and more.

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Evaluating credibility

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EQs, progression for google search

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Download The Google Search App and get the best answers and assistance using voice search. Available on Android and iPhone. Get the mobile app today.

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Google Search

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On this page, you'll find Search Literacy lessons and A Google A Day classroom challenges. Our search literacy lessons help you meet the new Common Core State Standards and are broken down based on level of expertise in search: Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced.

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free website

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13 Free Web Tools Students and Teachers Should Know About | MindShift | KQED News

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Web-based tools continue to proliferate, giving teachers more to add to their arsenal, but it can be hard to determine which resources are worth spending t

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You may know Joan Young from her prolific tweets as @flourishingkids on Twitter. Did you know she is also quite a technology impresario in her 4th grade classroom and once won an education hackathon for Best Mobile App for the project Schoolhouse Beats?

If you have ever wondered what software Joan uses in her classroom, here it is! It's quite a diverse collection, from the free audio creator Audacity to the creativity platform Glogster EDU to the research engine instaGrok. She shares more details on how she uses this technology her blog. Too bad she doesn't share how in the world she finds time for all of this. We suspect she must have built a secret time machine at another hackathon somewhere...

What tools do you use in your classroom?
41 Apps for Teaching 4th Grade From edshelf Image attribution flickr user Barrett.Discovery

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41 Apps One 4th Grade Teacher Depends On

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You may know Joan Young from her prolific tweets as @flourishingkids on Twitter. Did you know she is also quite a technology impresario in her 4th grade classroom and once won an education hackathon for Best Mobile App for the project Schoolhouse Beats?

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Librarians, educators, and friends of libraries gathered over the past four days for the 2013 American Library Association Annual Conference. Bright and early on Saturday morning, the Best Websites for Teaching and Learning committee revealed this year's top 25 sites. As a member of the committee, I hope you find the list useful and instantly see ways to use the websites in your library, classroom, and personal life.

The 2013 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.

The apps recognized as Best Apps for Teaching & Learning are of exceptional value to inquiry-based teaching and learning as embodied in the AASL's Standards for the 21st-Century Learner . The apps foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration and are user friendly to encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.

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The 2013 Best Websites and Apps for Teaching and Learning

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Librarians, educators, and friends of libraries gathered over the past four days for the 2013 American Library Association Annual Conference. Bright and early on Saturday morning, the Best Websites for Teaching and Learning committee revealed this year's top 25 sites.

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from National Geographic

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National Geographic: Stories of Animals, Nature, and Culture

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Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.

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Apps for classroom

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Teachers With Apps - Because Not All Apps Are Created Equal

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www.threering.com

Three Ring is a powerful tool that allows teachers to create, and share digital portfolios of the students in their classroom. This application has transformed the way we interact and communicate with the parents of our students.

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Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard tool that lets you annotate, animate, narrate, import, and export almost

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When you can't go there...

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Yesterday we returned from a five-day field trip to Washington, D.C and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. For California kids, this trip provides an opportunity to learn first-hand about the heroes and events that shaped our country. To see and hear the stories from the sources intrigued the students the most. Being in D.C. and Gettysburg allowed them to literally touch their past in a way no book can.

When trips like this are not an option, virtual field trips can be an invaluable resource. Most are cross-curricular and offer strategies for differentiation. Check out these options, you may find something fun for your classroom!

California Learning Resource Network: Search for 'virtual field trip'. You will find a collection that includes science, history and ELA.

Google Lit Trips: Jerome Burg's site takes students on a Google Earth adventure as they travel along with the characters in a number of well-known books.

One Survivor Remembers: From Teaching Tolerance, this is a first-hand account of a young girl determined to survive the horrors of the Holocaust. I use this kit to both prepare my students for their visit to the U.S. Holocaust Museum, but also to teach about the costs of bigotry, injustice and hatred in their world.

The Jason Project: Connects students to real science and exploration with the goal of inspiring students to study and pursue careers in STEM fields.

Reach the World: Students can connect with world travelers to develop face-to-face interaction and build world geography knowledge.

The Smithsonian's Museum of American History: Their Decoding History tour takes us along with Lewis and Clark, Lincoln and the Star-Spangled Banner.

Immigration: Use Scholastic's tour of Ellis Island as part of your lessons on immigration.

7 - 9; Writing: CC Connection: Virtual trips can help students attain 21 st century skills as well as meet CCSS - Reading: Research to Build and Present Knowledge Integration of Knowledge and Ideas anchor standards 7 - 9; as well as other curriculum standards.

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Virtual Field Trips - Bring the World to Your Classroom

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Yesterday we returned from a five-day field trip to Washington, D.C and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. For California kids, this trip provides an opportunity to learn first-hand about the heroes and events that shaped our country. To see and hear the stories from the sources intrigued the students the most. Being in D.C.

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website with teacher reviews

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Common Sense Education | Digital Citizenship Curriculum & EdTech Reviews

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find a free K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum, reviews of popular EdTech apps, and resources for protecting student privacy.

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Texts for parents

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Reach students and families where they are

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blog with links

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Cybrary Man's Educational Web Sites The internet catalogue for students, teachers, administrators & parents. Over 20,000 relevant links personally selected by an educator/author with over 30 years of experience.

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3 big questions

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While planning with literacy coach Elizabeth Lacy we got to talking about the development of teachers across time. She supports both new and experienced teachers and we noticed that there is often a shift from novice teachers who plan with themselves in mind (Did I follow the template my school has designed?

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Matching systems with learning styles #mootau13 pic.twitter.com/QVnLktmcQH

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to check out

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The school year is over! Yeah!

But as you know, teachers' minds immediately turn to what we can do differently next year. Considering the fact that classroom management is one of the biggest challenges teachers face, we are always searching for something that will work.

This year I started using ClassDojo, a classroom management system that has consistently helped me with the behaviors in my classroom. It's very easy to set up whether you're using an Apple or Android device -- there's an app available for both. With this tool, I was able to accomplish the following three goals.

1. Improving Behavior

ClassDojo is simple to use. You set up a class, or classes. Each class has avatars assigned for each of your students. Once your class is set up, you have the ability to award points, affectionately known as "dojos" in my classroom, for positive or negative behavior. You can award individual or multiple students.

The app comes with a list of behaviors, but you can create your own list. That's what I did as the school year wore on (i.e. homework, contest winner, etc.). ClassDojo can be used with your interactive whiteboard, laptops, desktops or smart phones. Students get immediate feedback to their behavior by the distinctive sound made when their avatar is clicked.

I rarely assign negative behavior points. My students know that if they earned a negative, it had to be a big deal. I found that positive points motivate my students and have a greater impact on their behavior. Students love getting "dojo" points! They love hearing the sound of a positive dojo, and dread the sound of a negative one. A positive or negative sound has everyone looking at the board and then getting back to work.

Teachers are a creative bunch and have found a variety of ways to use those points. I buy a prize at a five-dollar store to award the student with the most points at the end of every quarter, and then I reset their bubbles. You choose what's best for you and your students. But even without prizes, I know students enjoy accumulating points.

I introduced ClassDojo to other teachers in my school, and even those who are not tech-savvy use it. When students come to me for Book Club or Math Intervention, I have separate "dojo" classes for each of them. The students respond to ClassDojo.

2. Sharing Data

ClassDojo automatically keeps track of the behavior in your classroom by tracking the behaviors that were clicked. You can set it up to create reports that are emailed to the parents. Parents can connect through printed or emailed invites. Once they connect, they receive an email every Friday reminding them to view their child's reports. The parents of my students enjoy receiving the reports because it keeps them in the loop.

The reports are easy to read. You are able to set the range, daily or weekly, that you want to view. The information is provided in a donut that shows the percentage of clicked behaviors and underneath a written version of the data for each day. This data can all be accumulated into end-of-year reports.

ClassDojo recently added Trendspotter, which allows the teacher to look for trends in student behavior. This is a great way to reflect on what is or is not working in your classrooms. For example, you may notice that on Fridays you have the greatest amount of negative points. You can use this data to reflect on why Fridays seem to be difficult, what you can do to change it, and use data from Trendspotter to see if your strategies worked.

Students also have access to their data if you provide them with accounts. Print their login codes, and let them sign in. They can customize their avatars, which they love, and keep track of their dojo points even when they're not in school.

3. Saving Time

ClassDojo saves time by recording behaviors and accomplishments in the class with just one click. I don't know about you, but I remember a time when I would put checkmarks on the board. Usually I ran out of room, and even worse, it was completely ineffective.

I leave ClassDojo on the Smartboard all day. It's not always visible, but the sound can be heard. Whether I'm working with small groups or greeting students at the door, I have my iPhone in my hand. I'm ready to give out positives or negatives without leaving my seat or entering the classroom. A definite time saver!

ClassDojo recently added some great new features: attendance, a timer, and my favorite: Random. I created a behavior called "deserving random" which I use during our transitions.

You can connect with ClassDojo and its users on Twitter, Facebook, Edmodo and Pinterest. Seeing what others have shared will help you decide whether to make this your go-to classroom management tool for the new school year.

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Classroom Behavior? There's an App for That | Edutopia

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The school year is over! Yeah! But as you know, teachers' minds immediately turn to what we can do differently next year. Considering the fact that classroom management is one of the biggest challenges teachers face, we are always searching for something that will work.

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to check out

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You don't need a class set of netbooks or iPads to integrate technology into your daily instruction. There are some fantastic, free iPhone apps that are perfect for teachers who are looking to change up their daily routine. These apps can make everyday tasks easier, simplify what you're already doing, and maybe just inspire others to make an investment in technology at your school.

Common Core

MasteryConnect has designed a wonderful app to keep the Common Core State Standards at your fingertips. Navigate the app by choosing your students' grade and subject area to access detailed information about each standard. There are even extra resources to support educators working with English-Language Learners and students with special needs. The clean and simple interface will have you abandoning gritty photocopies and referring to the app every time you're planning a lesson or unit of study.

Pick a Student

It's important that all students are held accountable during class discussions and everyone has a chance to speak his or her mind. Replace that old coffee-can-with-popsicle-sticks method and choose which student to call on using the Pick a Student app. Type in the names of the students in your class -- use multiple class lists if you work with many groups of students -- and the app does the rest. Press a button on the screen each time you want to randomly call on a student, and a name will pop up. I love placing my phone under the ELMO document camera in my classroom so everyone can see who I'll be calling on next.

Timer, Sand Timer and Traffic Light

Whether you're preparing your students for state exams or feel that they need to practice their pacing and stamina, use the timer on your iPhone to keep them on task. Two alternatives to the timer included on your iPhone's clock app are Sand Timer and Traffic Light. Both offer timers that are a little less threatening if you think a countdown clock might be too much for your students. The Sand Timer app is just like it sounds -- decide on a time, and the sand will run out of the hourglass when time is up. Traffic Light gives users the option to decide on how long a traffic light will be green and yellow before it turns red and your activity has stopped.

BookLeveler

If you're organizing a classroom library or helping a student find a "just right" book, the BookLeveler app will definitely come in handy. Scan the barcode of the book to find the level of the text, or type in the name and author to search. This is a great tool to have in your pocket!

Groovy Grader

Make on-the-go grading quick and easy with your iPhone. The Groovy Grader app helps users figure out the percentage of questions a student answered correctly by simply inputting the total number of questions on an exam. Turn 17/20 into 85% or round 20/23 to 87% with a quick glance at your iPhone screen.

WordPress

If you manage a classroom or school blog, the Wordpress iPhone app is a must-have. As quick and easy as sending a text or email, you can update homework assignments, upload a picture from a field trip, or reply to comments left by parents and students. It's great for teachers managing more than one Wordpress blog or with limited access to a computer during the schoolday.

DocScan HD

Like most teachers, I'm constantly trying to keep track of paperwork. DocScan HD makes it easy to stay organized. Snap a picture of a meeting agenda, handouts from a professional development, or student work you want to refer to later. DocScan HD turns your pictures into PDF and JPG files. With an upgrade, you can share these files to your Dropbox to make accessing them even easier.

MyScript Calculator

You may have already downloaded a calculator on your iPhone, but MyScript Calculator is in a category of its own! If you want to check the work of a student who you're meeting with in a small group, pull out your iPhone to write the operations on your screen. This app will "magically" turn your writing into numbers and solve the problem in a flash. Not only will it wow your audience, but it's a practical tool to have at your fingertips.

These apps also work great on an iPod Touch or iPad. What are some of your favorite iPhone apps to use in your classroom?

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Teach With Your iPhone: Apps to Use in the Classroom | Edutopia

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You don't need a class set of netbooks or iPads to integrate technology into your daily instruction. There are some fantastic, free iPhone apps that are perfect for teachers who are looking to change up their daily routine.

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Blogging platform for kids

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Top 10 Blog posts and resources

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It's the end of the school year here in Indiana. Students cleaned out their desks, lockers, and boarded the school bus for their final ride of the year. I know some of you are still walking school hallways each morning, however, the end is in sight for you, too.

There are always many recaps that proliferate at the end of the year; and I'll add one more. Today I'm recapping our top posts and resources for this school year. If you've missed any or find a topic that interests you, feel free to check them out.

Top 10 Most Popular Blog Posts

1. 21 Digital Tools to Build Vocabulary: This post is still going strong. With the importance of vocabulary and its relationship to overall achievement, no wonder it's still read many times a day. I've also created an infographic with links directly to the websites. You can check that out here.

2. Marzano's 6-Step Vocabulary Process: Looking for a complete explanation of the 6-Step Process for building vocabulary and word learning, then check out this post which also includes a downloadable summary of steps.

3. A Literacy-Rich Classroom Supports the Common Core: This post, which includes an infographic, summarizes the top 10 characteristics of a literacy-rich classroom and why that's so important to support the Common Core State Standards.

4. Top Tips for Word Walls: Based on ongoing work at Garden City Elementary School, this post with a downloadable summary sheets includes tips, ideas, and 7 pictures.

5. 15 Digital Tools that Support Project-Based Learning: A guest post by Terry Heick of Teach Thought. If you're using project-based learning or thinking about it, check out these tools that will support your efforts.

6. 10 Characteristics of a Highly Effective Learning Environment: Another guest post by my friend Terry Heick, check out these 10 characteristics that can help make your classroom a more intellectually active place for students to learn.

7. Concept Circles - Concept Circles, a highly adaptable K-12 vocabulary strategy, is a must-have piece for your vocabulary toolkit. This post includes a template download, too.

8. 13 Ideas for How Parents Can Support Summer Reading: Provide your parents ideas with this timely post. Includes a Ready2Go downloadable ready for distribution.

9. 11 Great Ways Schools Can Keep Students Reading (and Stop the Summer Reading Slide): These 11 ideas will show you how to keep your students reading all summer long.

10. No Tears for Tiers: The CCSS Tiered Vocabulary Made Simple: The Common Core includes 3 Tiers of vocabulary (Isabel Beck). Find simple explanations and examples of each tier in this post.

Top Resources of the Year

Common Core Toolkit: While not a post, the must-have Common Core Toolkit continues to be downloaded many times each day and I continue to receive positive feedback in regard to the rich resources. The Toolkit includes 3 tools & 1 additional tool if you register for Learning Unlimited's Literacy eNews.

Twitter Cheat Sheet: Still popular, still valuable. Download the Twitter Cheat Sheet and pass it on to newbies.

Common Core Cheat Sheet: Many teachers and principals have shared that they've made this part of their school's go-to Common Core materials and resources.

Teacher Toolkit: With 13 categories and over 200+ free resources, you can see why this jam-packed resource gets visited many times each day.

Ready2Go Resources: Perfect for coaches, staff developers, and principals, this resource includes Ready2Go downloadable resources and article for staff development. (It's growing, so bookmark it and check back often.

What's been your favorite post or resource you've used over and over? Please post and let us know in the comments below.

Are you interested in having us write about a specific topic? Let us know that, too.

Want to write a guest post? Our topics include: literacy, instructional strategies, technology, and leadership. If interested, email me at ktyson@learningunlimitedllc.com.

What are our plans for the summer? Connecting and collaborating with other groups, presenting at summer conferences, finalizing and publishing 25 Great Ways to Prepare for the Common Core, adding new resources to Ready2Go Resources, and posting, too. Oh, and enjoying time with family. Definitely not an afterthought.

Be safe. Keep on learning, growing, and sharing.
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Recap: Top 10 Most Popular Blog Posts & Resources l Dr. Kimberly's Literacy Blog

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It's the end of the school year here in Indiana. Students cleaned out their desks, lockers, and boarded the school bus for their final ride of the year. I know some of you are still walking school hallways each morning, however, the end is in sight for you, too.