Category: Links

Posted in Blogs and Blogging, Links, RSS, Salem City Schools, Tech Tools, Video, Web 2.0

What is RSS?

Posted on by Tina Coffey

This past year I’ve noticed that a bunch of educators in our system have started blogging. One of the easiest ways to keep up with all these new blogs (in one place) is to use RSS. Here’s a simple explanation created by commoncraft:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/AwtmOPdrEL8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

I use Google Reader, but there are other feed readers out there like Pageflakes or Netvibes. If you want one already set up for you, check out this one on Pageflakes–it’s all set up for Salem City Schools, complete with RSS feeds for the blogs I know about (let me know if I’ve missed yours), local weather, and local news. You can bookmark it and use it like it is or create your own account so you can add your own things.

SCS Feeds Page on PageFlakes

Download Video: Posted by tcoffey at TeacherTube.com.

Update (1/7/08)

I’ve noticed that Pageflakes sometimes runs really slow at school. If you are having trouble, you can use Netvibes instead. I’ve set up the same feeds there too. Netvibes does take awhile to load initially, but if you login and save the page, the next time you visit, it will load a lot quicker. Click here to try: Add to Netvibes After you click on this button, make sure to choose “yes” to preview the page and “yes” to add it to your page, even if you do not have a Netvibes account yet.

Posted in Ideas, Links, Salem City Schools

Color Coded Maps

Posted on by Tina Coffey

I thought this site (which lets you custom create a map of states) is pretty fun. Here are the places I traveled in 2007. I’ve have to do some research back into vacations during my childhood to figure out where I’ve been in my lifetime…we did a lot of driving when I was little.
create your own visited states map

There is also a site that will create a custom map of countries…here’s my very limited map of my lifetime…
create your own visited countries map

I could see uses for these sites in the classroom (beyond where you’ve traveled) like stories the class has read from around the world or correspondence with other classrooms or a Flat Stanley project. Do you have any ideas?

Posted in Ideas, Links, Salem City Schools

Tracking Santa and Other Fun Holiday Sites

Posted on by Tina Coffey

I’ve had a few requests for some fun sites to use with your students during the holiday time. Here’s some I’ve run across lately!

Norad Tracks Santa Want to track Santa as he makes his trip around the world? This site has games to play until Christmas Eve, when you can track Santa’s route on Google Earth.

Place the Penguins (Place Value)

Virtual Snowman (Practice click and drag–great for younger kids on the laptops!)

Christmas Music (Thanks Karen Travitz!)

Northpole.com (This site does promote some items from Amazon.com, but there are a lot of fun, free activities too!)

Make-a-Flake (Make a snow flake by clicking and dragging–another great site to practice laptop skills!)

For SCS teachers, I’ve posted these sites on the main Links for Kids Page. On the first page, they need to click “December Holiday Sites.”

If anyone has anymore great sites they are using with their students, please leave a comment. I’ll do my best to add the sites you suggest to the Links for Kids Page so that you can use them easily in your classrooms!

Posted in Links, Salem City Schools

Fight Hunger and Practice your Vocab!

Posted on by Tina Coffey

freerice.jpgHave you heard of FreeRice.com? This site let’s you play a vocabulary game..and for every word you get right, it donates rice to the United Nations to help end world hunger.

Free Rice adjusts the vocabulary it gives according to your level…so it’s appropriate for all ages. I’ll post a link on the SCS Links for Kids area, in case you’d like to have your students try it out. A word of caution though….it’s addictive. I found myself playing for quite awhile last night!

Posted in Links, Salem City Schools

Virtual Tour Site

Posted on by Tina Coffey

Wow…I just ran across this link, Panoramas.dk, and it’s worth it’s own post. I have to give Brian (TRT from Williamsburg) credit for finding the site since I found the link it in his blogroll on his blog. The site contains Panoramas (306 degree views) of various places around the world including the Giza Pyramids, the Colosseum, the Apollo Missions, the Great Wall, the Yulong River, and many, many more very cool places! My favorite was a gorgeous Panorama of the Krakow Military Cemetery on All Saints Day. There are some ads in the sidebar and at the bottom of the site, but nothing to obtrusive. I did notice that some of the panoramas had links to show the place in Google Earth. I have not had a chance to try it out in the lab or on the laptops, so you’ll want to test the site on them before trying to use it with a group of kids. Also, if there is a specific panorama that you would like linked on “Links for Kids” for your grade level, let me know.  Since the site contains ads and links to other sites, this would be the safest way to use it with your class.