Want to make your flipchart sparkle?

     Just came across some fun sites that allow you to create some great graphics for your flipcharts (or any other project you're working on), thanks to Lisa Dubernard of Promethean Planet.
     Sometimes you find a really cool font, but it is not universal and doesn't show up the way you expect if that font is not available on the computer you're working on. Here are some fun sites that allow you to create your own graphics to be added to your flipchart.  You can create these and then put them in your resource library for use in future flipcharts as well.  They do take a little time, so you probably want to use them for titles, headings, and the like.  I wouldn't create an entire page of text this way.
     You can animate your text at the Create Glitter Text site or create 3-D text at Background City. There is also a site called Cool Text that has some pretty interesting options.  Don't forget about Word Art, too. 

I'll present a coaching session in the coming weeks on how to create these to add to your flipchart.

Spelling City and new handwriting and writing activities

     Looking for a way to get some handwriting lessons into your curriculum?  Use your spelling or vocabulary words and www.Spellingcity.com . Spelling City has a handwriting worksheet that you can create. Start with a list, then choose handwriting and print worksheet. There are options for type size and style.  Two birds with one stone, handwriting and spelling.
     There are also new writing features on Spelling City.  You can have your students write sentences using a list of words.  Or, you can require that they write a paragraph using all the words from a list.  You can also write your own directions; ie: have students write definitions for each word in the list.  These can be printed out or emailed to the teacher.  If you have the premium ($) version you can save and score student work online.  Here are links to two short videos demonstrating the possibilities. 

	Handwriting Worksheets for younger students
	Writing Practice Activities for older students

Brain Bashers

Where have you been, you may ask.  Well..... I don't have a good excuse, except I'm busy?????

     Anyway.... I've found another good site.  Since we're all about differentiating instruction this year, I thought I'd share a fun website and classroom tip.  We're all about differentiating instruction for those students who struggle and lag behind, but what about those who "get it" and finish classroom work quickly.  You can create what I call sponge activities. They don't have to be graded, but they should be engaging (absorbing) so that students will want to do them. It also "soaks up" some of that down time when students finish early.
     I have found a website that you can use as a sponge activity.  There are lots of puzzles, games, and logic activities that are good for stimulating their little brains and promoting problem solving and higher order thinking.  The site is BrainBashers .  You could easily add one or more of the puzzle links to your webpage or link the homepage and let students choose their challenge.  You could also print out some of the puzzles and have a sponge folder for students to turn to.
(And yes, I know I have to get more student computers into the classrooms for this to work. It's the reason that I am so busy and don't have time to add to this blog.  I am working on it.)

Spelling City

Everyone ready to start back up? One week and counting. Here is a helpful link to get you started this year.
If you teach spelling, you'll want to check out Spelling City. It is a free (there is a premium version for minimal cost) site that lets you post your spelling words and allows your students to test themselves, play games, and more. I have posted a link to some short "how to" videos that will help you get started. Even if you used Spelling City last year, check out the videos, as they have added some new features.

http://www.spellingcity.com/how-to-videos.html?utm_source=SpellingCity&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=SC%20NL%2009Aug10

National Archives search

Here is an interesting site that allows you to search the National Archives in a cool format.  It is a flash program that allows you to see a thumbnails of many documents that are collected together depending on your search.  If you search the Supreme  Court, you could go the route of D.C. buildings, the court itself, individual cases, justices, the nomination process, etc.  There are primary documents and photos from the archives, all digitized, at your service.  The flash format makes it fun to search and the fact that you can see thumbnails of each document makes searching easier, or at least easier to dig deeper.  Try it out.

Mitt and Minn's Illinois Adventure

Our classes have been busy learning about Illinois as they read Mitt and Minn's Illinois Adventure.  Our One School, One Book adventure has been a real learning experience.  Check out some of the additions to our wiki at http://www.whiteside115.wikispaces.com/  Please comment if you'd like.

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.