Thing 22: Our Turn

I chose to do Option B since my cat seems not interested in getting a technology lesson today.  I first looked at http://www.kidthing.com/ .  I downloaded it and reviewed it. It's purpose is to be a safe place for kids.  It gives the opportunity to have books read aloud, play games, see videos, and email and chat with friends.  I didn't like that once you downloaded it, you had to pay for most of the functions.  They seemed reasonably priced but I would feel guilty recommending it to a parent for this reason. 

Next I went to http://www.kidthing.com/ . The purpose of this site it provide math games for kids.  However, this too asked for a payment if you wanted anything more than addition facts.  Interesting...  I guess you have to be very careful about which sites are free and which are not!

I decided to branch out and check for other sites teachers use for Web 2.0 tools.  I found this one. http://www.protopage.com/web2point0forteachers#Web_2.0_For_Teachers/Welcome I liked the layout and organization.  I didn't have to guess the function of the tool either!

Okay, I know there are others out there like me!Have you ever found an activity online that someone else created in a PDF but you want to alter a bit of it so it fits perfectly in your curriulum?  Well I have a solution now!  There is a site http://www.pdfescape.com/.  You can white things out, add text, add post-its, manipulate pages within the doc, ect. Then you save it back to your dektop.  And NO DOWNLOAD!  Adding text was a bit tricky though.

I also found a site http://www.grammarly.com/.  You simply cut and paste the text and then it checks it for you!  However, there is a cost.  Bummer!  I also checked out Flickr Visual Stories http://www.flickr.com/groups/visualstory/ .  The authors have to use only five images to tell a story.  This would be an AWESOME lesson.  You could view some samples from Flickr and then have the kids either take pictures or draw their own. 

I have a feeling I could find a lot more sites. It is amazing what is out there, and more is being developed each day!  I guess I'll do my best to stay on top of it all.