I know that! Interactive Website

I know that!

is a free, interactive website that covers science, social studies, language arts, and critical thinking skills.  It also has resources for parents and teachers. Caveat: there are quite a few ads but the activities are worth overlooking those.

Free, Web-based Text-to-Speech Services

ReadTheWords.com is a free, web-based service that allows you to quickly create an audio version of many types of electronic print on your Macintosh computer. After you create a free account, you can upload text files (Word, etc), website addresses, or PDF files and receive a clear audio file within minutes. You and your students can then download the audio file and listen to it on a computer or iPod. For example, I uploaded the text from a CNN.com article and had an excellent audio file within 5 minutes. Using this, my students had visual and audio access to age-appropriate current events.

ReadPlease is a similar program for classrooms that use Windows.

RubiStar

If the rubrics available on teAchnology do not meet your needs, you can create your own rubrics for free at RubiStar. There is a basic free membership that entitles you to create your own rubrics or view rubrics created by other teachers and modify them for your specific use. This is another resources that will save you time and make it easier to track your students’ projects and progress.

teAchnology

teAchnology is a free online resource that provides teachers with quick and easy access to 1000’s of lesson plans, webquests, worksheets, and rubrics. I think the pre-formatted rubrics are priceless. Within minutes, you can have a rubric with your customized project name ready to go. Your students’ progress will be much easier for you to track and the data will be easier for you to organize.

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

 The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (NLVM) is a library of  interactive, web-based virtual manipulatives  for mathematics instruction (K-12 emphasis).  The website is organized by grade level and concepts.  The activities are not only fun, but require student participation.   The website is also available in Spanish. Click here to go the National Library of Virtual Mainpulatives.

ArtRage 2.5

ArtRage is a free, easy to use, paint package that you download to your computer and be painting in minutes! Students can experiment with oil paints, glitter, markers, pencils and other very cool tools. The skills learned and practiced with ArtRage 2 are not only fun but also give your students practice with tools they will see in other computer applications. Click here to go to the website and download the program.

teachertube.com

Ever wanted to enhance your lessons with videos but couldn’t find one? Teachertube.com is an excellent resource for you to get FREE educational videos to use in your class. You can trust that the content is appropriate for your classroom because every member has the responsibility to flag inappropriate content. Similar to the popular youtube website, teachertube is a place to view 1000’s of videos. You can also upload videos to share with other educators. For more information and to sign up go to www.teachertube.com.