Have you tried Second Life yet? Are you afraid to do so? This link with a auto vide on the home page may either entice you to try it or scare the heck out of you.
I am revising Second Life for my new role in ISTE. I ceated an avatar about a year ago (I am Maureen Mocha, they give you a list of sur name options and because of my coffee habit, well you get it...). Look me up if you try second life.
I have been lurking around on the ISTE island. You should check that out too. There is a lot of free virtual professional development going on there.
To participate in Second Life, you will need to download the viewer onto your computer. it is free. Go ahead and give it a try. I dare you :-).
It is the responsibilIty of all educators to model good digItal cItizenship for their students. Especially when It comes to copyright, plagiarism and intellectual property. The waters are murky. Great resource from Silvia Tolisano AKA @langwItches
tool that allows for quickly and easily designing posters, signs, fliers and more, allowing for a variety of customizations with backgrounds, clipart, and text, while also allowing users to upload and use their own pictures. My own high school kids have used it to complete one page posters referred to as visual book reports. Their end products were printed for display purposes in the library, and used for visuals for book-talks done by both the librarians and the students. We even use them in digital frames that loop through pictures at our circulation desk, and students have responded to the "book-reports" created in Poster My Wall by checking out those titles.
The site does not require an account though that is an option, and those opting to use the free version can create professional looking posters and download for printing in minutes. My school secretary was so impressed with the site she has even used it to create fliers for events and activities at school. The site is easy enough for even elementary school students. Like Wordle, my collaborating teachers are finding some very interesting uses for Poster My Wall. Cons? it is not a replacement to Glogster by any means, but a poster app none the less. (Rec by Cathy Jo Nelson)
Readings with free activities that are lexile-leveled. it is designed for grades K-6, but there are many readings with lexiles scores of 800-1020. Also, it provides lesson plans aligned with various children's books.
You can create a free account. Rec by Karen Ault
Texas Library Assocation page. Although this is the entire library assocation, it could easily be done with an association. Includes links to their pinterest and twitter pages. it also can be a place to search for "cool stuff"
"incredibly versatile participation tool. Spiral is a free suite of four powerful apps that promote classroom engagement and collaboration. it makes so much of what we already do so much easier and it is a must-have tool for 1:1 settings. Students may login to lessons using Google, Facebook, Clever or Edmodo."
Huge repository of videos and ideas for use in primary classrooms. From the UK. Here's the description: "The Literacy Shed is home to a wealth of visual resources that I have collected over my 10 year career as a primary school teacher. I trawl youtube, vimeo and other sites looking for suitable resources to use in the sheds. The sheds are broadly thematic but sometimes a resource could go in 2 or more sheds, I slot it in where I think it works best.
Most of the resources can be used in KS1 and KS2 but some do lend themselves to the upper age group and above. The aim is to provide high quality resources that can be used in stand alone literacy lessons, can form the basis for a whole literacy unit or can support literacy units that you already have in place. With the many book based activities I would advocate using the book alongside the digital resource. "
I have found a new favorite podcast "how to" site. I learned about this a few weeks ago and have been going through a lot of their videos. Common Craft take the old fashioned "paper doll" or puppet theater methodology and basically creates a podcast out of it. Instead of a children's story, they try to explain more difficult concepts. \n\nThe one on Twitter is still their most hit podcast, and it is really great too.\n\nI liked to the podcast on RSS feeds because of my webinar. I was looking for quick ways to get across the concept of RSS feeds and personal learning portals. This podcast helped me to do that. Enjoy!
Kathy's Picks includes the link to sign up for her weekly newsletter. If you're not familiar with it, it has a wealth of websites and resources for every discipline.
Actively Learn lets you use their vast library of resources, at different levels, use their questions, insert your own, have it grade it for you, allow you to comment, and more.