I just used this site/download with an iPod project in my classroom. It is probably the most important site I have found in years. The primes is simple and there are probably pleanty of other sites like it but.... WOW.
You can drop your files into the dropbox and they are saved to the "cloud". Then amazingly they are on every computer ( or iPod) you have linked to the account. I entered my account info on the student iPods and made a folder for each student, when they were done with a project, they saved it to the folder. The great thing about this was i could access their assigment from anywhere, my home computer, my iPhone, another iPod in the class, the smart board...it was limitless, I could share it with anyone, no matter where I was...how powerful. I also made a folder of "mrs. Kondrick's resources" where I put videos, audios, assignments, rubrics etc, and then they could watch them/use them at their own pace ( so ethnic that works well with our individualized daily 5 reading block.
Voki-classroom--new features. but avatar creation with voice remains the same. Teachers can manages students (no longer have to join individually). Just announced (5/31/11), though I am unable to determine the cost. Keep an eye on this.
This app ($1.99) will pronounce any word that is typed in on a qwerty keyboard (color coded qwerty available for younger children). Assuming kids can type in a word accurately, this could be very helpful. For iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Think of it as an e-reader for unknown words...would be very helpful to ELLs and students with word recognition difficulties because it pronounces the word.
Youngzine is a great online magazine for students in elementary classroom--much news and other interesting information. Ties in nicely with Common Core.
Article discusses the importance of good teaching and how technology enhances students' learning, but teaching kids to think deeply or critically has to be encouraged. Worth a read.
Free version allows 15 minutes (10 PPts narrated and turned into videos/month)...some adds, however, and no animation. Great potential for student presentations
Qrcodes (really just bar codes) will make it easy to make sure our students (and others) connect immediately with the item we want--no more searching through a class website. Looks interesting.
K-12 tech tools with lots of helpful information (e.g., media release form). Many many tools categorized by content areas with search engine within. Looks like a very helpful tool for teachers and families. Recommended to me by a grad student.
VocabGrabber is word cloud resource that allow you to enter text and then it automatically generates a thesaurus of word meanings. Looks interesting for helping students with difficult vocabulary.