Wolfram Alphra

Here is an awesome research tool I found called Wolfram Alpha.  http://www.wolframalpha.com/   It is a search engine, but not quite.  They call it a computational knowledge engine.  You can ask  a question and the info that comes up is pretty amazing.   It will give you the answer to your questions, plus other pertainent info.  The site does give you a few links to other sites, but not like google.  For math, it's pretty cool.  You can type in an equation, and it graphs it for you and shows the steps to solve.  (alternative to the graphing calculator)  They have an educators site which is worth looking at too.  http://www.wolframalpha.com/educators/  The educator's site has lesson plans, a video gallery with ideas on how to use it in the classroom, as well as other resources.  Watch the video from Stephen Wolfram on the homepage.  It's pretty amazing.  It's a very "smart" interface.  Check it out.

Thinkfinity and Earth Day

I've written about Thinkfinity before, but wanted to share some more.  They have an Earth Day page, with many lessons that pertain to the topic.  Ecosystems, Energy, What can you do to save the planet?, Polar regions, Earth Day and the Arts, Earth Day and poetry are just some of the lesson plans.
BTW, I will be attending a workshop on the ins and outs of Thinkfinity next week.  So I'll bring back lots of "how tos".
http://www.thinkfinity.org/EarthDayResources.aspx   

Graphic Organizers

I have come across a couple of great sites for online graphic organizers.  These sites are very similar to Kidspiration or Inspiration, if you have used that software.  This is online, though, so you don't have to load any software onto your computer.  The sites are collaborative, which means that you can invite others to work with you on your project.  They can be saved, printed, imported, exported, and embedded.  Bubbl,  Webspiration,  and Mind Meister are the three sites that I have found.  They do  require you to register as a user, but they are free.  Check them out.
Bubbl   http://bubbl.us/
Webspiration  http://www.mywebspiration.com/
Mind Meister  http://www.mindmeister.com/

Wordle

Okay, just one more post today.  In the last posting I said I loved the word disaggregate .  To prove it, I used it over and over in the post.  Well, now, to show you another way, here is a link to a Wordle of that posting.  http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1871258/Disaggregate_your_Data 
A wordle is a picture of words, with the word used most often showing up larger and bolder.  The next most often used words are just a little smaller and so on.  It's a great way to see the main idea of a paragraph or piece of writing.  Try it yourself.  http://www.wordle.net/

Disaggregating Data

Did you know that you have the tools to disaggregate your own data that you have been collecting on your students?  And it's not that hard.  RTI requires that data be collected on students to determine what their needs are and whether or not they move into another tier.  The benchmark and progress monitoring tests are given by the reading lab folks, but you have more data than that at your disposal.  Before students are sent to the lab for higher level interventions you can collect your own data to help establish the need for intervention.  Your gradebook is chock full of data.  To help you determine what areas of weakness need addressing, you can, with just a little tweaking, use your gradebook and Excel to disaggregate that information.  By using the 5 areas of reading instruction in the title of your activities you can easily reorganize a student's comprehensive progress report to easily see where his/her weaknesses are.  If you are interested in learning how to work with your gradebook in Excel to disaggregate data, come to the training sessions this week and next and we can streamline the disaggregation process.  (I love that word!)

Collaborative Learning

If you are looking to drop the walls of your classroom and expand your students' learning experience, think about collaborating with another classroom across the state, country, or even around the world.  There are a number of sites that promote connecting classrooms around the world and expanding students' horizons.  Two that I have come across are http://www.epals.com/  and www.flatclassroomproject.org/  
     The first one is like a penpal program, the feature teacher this month is an English teacher in Japan looking for English language experiences for her students.  Her project is called "Hot Pot Party".  The students are sharing a part of their Japanese culture and practicing their English through the production of a video.  With Epals, you can use snail mail, email, video, or even Skype to connect with other classrooms. 
     The other site is The Flat Classroom Project which is geared more towards middle and highschool students, but they are striving to include younger students in some of their projects.  The projects are quite organized and global.  Learning is collaborative, creative, and constructivist; they are very engaging.  The projects use Web 2.0 tools to make communication and interaction between classrooms easier.  Ideas for  projects come from Thomas Friedman's book The World is Flat and are based on real-world scenarios. 
     If anyone is interested in doing this now or in the future, let me know and I will work with you to get you connected.