_How to create your own website:
If you do not want your own domain name, please go to step three. All hosting services listed here are free.
1.    Choose a domain name (e.g. your name--www.shielalee.com, etc.)
2.    Go to www.godaddy.com and type in your domain name in the DOMAIN SEARCH

• If your domain name is not taken, you can purchase a .com. Skip all the offers (you do not really need them). Just get the basic package, which should come out to about $22 for two years.

3.     Select your free hosting service:

• www.weebly.com (my favorite) : Simply drag and drop, it also has password control for who can access the site
• www.wordpress.com
• www.tumblr.com
• www.blogspot.com : A google product
• www.freewebs.com
• www.wix.com : This is a flash based website building tool

4.    Setup your domain name by linking up to the hosting service. If you chose weebly, follow these instructions here: http://kb.weebly.com/godaddy-domain.html
5.    Begin editing your own website and publishing it!

In this digital age, there are so many website / blog sites that can help you communicate and express yourself more creatively. Why not reach out to students using what they know best? Computers. Now, go be innovative!

Usually, they cost about $100. It will save you so much money and time when you realize what you can do with creating a digital database of what books you have in you classroom and who has checked out what book from you. Mr. Dunbar and Mr. Sweeney suggested this barcode scanner + software: http://barcodereaders.com/Phoenix/default.html

Do you want to organize it by genre? Series? Title? Author? Difficulty? Book bins? Once you create several lists of how you want to organize your library, use the Quick Track Start software to begin creating your database.

To input books into your library, simply scan the barcodes into your computer. The software will automatically put in the Title, Author, Publisher, Year, etc.  For duplicate books, create new barcodes for them using the software.

You can use the software to generate barcodes for your students. You can either create library cards forthem, or you can keep a class list of barcodes to quickly scan their name and what book they are checking out. For students to take library cards out of their wallets or pockets takes time and sometimes they lose them, which takes even more of your time.

I highly recommend this for teachers because it is useful to create collages and print things very easily. Plus, it's free.

Create your own library, especially once you have set up your own labeling, scanning, and categorization system (see above, scroll to the top). You can set up your own search able library for students to use. Click on "My Library"

Get a label maker from Amazon.com so that you can quickly and easily label everything. Label stickers and felt pens also work. I like to encourage my students to know where everything is in the classroom so everything must be labeled. Students should know how to navigate the classroom to find their own materials.

Easily share files between colleagues on multiple computers. This saves your email from being burdened my tons of attachments and saves you time from attaching and sending files. Watch the video; it's good.

An online gradebook that helps you keep track of your students' grades from any computer. It also has a feature where you can let your students and parents keep track of their grades. It's a very organized, efficient way to keep organized and it's free! See this tutorial for more information.

Helps with categorizing quickly and efficiently your student's work. Make folders online to store student's works. They have a free and pro version of the site.

A math program based on step-by-step breakdown of problems is highlighted in these two New York Times articles (The data is pretty interesting):
A Better Way to Teach Math
and
When Math Makes Sense (To Everyone)
"The key to Jump is a balance between step-by-step guidance and encouraging inquiry and problem solving"

Math textbooks and workbooks from Singapore, a country who consistently does very well on math exams. See the NY Times Article on this type of math here.

For K-3, this program emphasizes sensory and sound stimulation. The Wilson Program teaches beginning and emergent readers phonemic awareness (the ability to blend sounds together to form spoken words and the ability to break spoken words into sounds) and phonological awareness (general term to describe awareness about sounds of language--rhyme, syllable, etc.)

The Saturday Reunions are great and they are free! They happen twice annually and I would definitely recommend going, even if your schools do not implement the TCRWP.

A language arts website with lots and lots of resources for reading and writing. Also has games students can play. If you have time, definitely check out their links.

Teacher tool kits from the National Watermelon Promotion Board. You'll find an array of worksheets available for download that focus on math, language arts, health, science, sing-a-long, etc. Your mouth may be savoring for watermelons after looking at this site!

Online resources, lessons, and lesson plans where teachers can bounce ideas off of each other.

Record your student's voices as they narrate images you upload, either of their work or of other images you want to include their commentary on. This service is free. Kids can comment by phoning it in, recording their voice onto the computer, writing it on text, or uploading the pre-written text. Once all students have commented, you can share your class piece(s) with parents and families as a web link. Teachers have used this media source to compare archetypes, compare character development, and to allow students to comment on differences in perspectives of an image. Furthermore, juxtaposing different paintings of different perspectives can generate discussion about, for example, how Thanksgiving is presented. Student commenting gives the teacher an idea about what they know and moves away from a teacher led approach to something that taps into a student's funds of knowledge.

Computer games that you can use in the classroom to make a lesson more interactive and fun. You can download the games and then customize it to fit your needs. Games include Who wants to be a millionaire?, Jeopardy, etc.

I came across this in a bookstore. While there are obvious drawbacks like the cost and the disadvantages of limiting responses to multiple choice answers (if used for assessment), I can see this being used creatively for probability and statistics lessons. That is, a teacher can use this to quickly gather class data to teach how to make a graph from the data. I see potential with this device, but it is pretty expensive.

Get a class digital camera that you can use to snap pictures and then use Google Picasa (Free, scroll above) to help you edit. This will become very useful for learners who are primarily visual learners. It helps students to see themselves doing the action you want them to do (when you ask to snap a picture of them) and quickly make a poster out of it, or have it hanging in the classroom somewhere. There's no need to get a new digital camera; an old digital camera with at least 7 mega pixels will do. As teachers, we've got to scrimp and save.

I also think a digital camera is better for you to use for your classroom because older students can then learn how to snap their own pictures. It certainly is better than using your iPhone, Android, or other Smart Phone because it keeps your personal devices and files separate from work related uses. Also, for those who are interested, here's a good article on tech consolidation for your own personal use.

USES:
    - Good for students to use to make projects / visual & audio representations
    - Make videos of student's work very easily
    - Document what is happening in your class with a quick touch of the record button
    - Small and efficient
    - Make mini yearbook for your students (use in corroboration with either iMovie or Windows Movie Maker)
    - Beware of breaking it though because the case is not that sturdy (It's a cloth case)
There are discounts for teachers and schools through the website (The Flip Video)
**UPDATE: Flip is now being shutdown due to market projections that SmartPhones will run it out of business. While I believe SmartPhones are good for keeping tech devices in one unit, I do not believe that SmartPhones are a good idea for students who do not need a multi-functional gadget to do a simple video recording. Perhaps get the Flip while you can?

Example: This is what it looks like
These are super expensive, but so useful. I would highly recommend trying to get your school to purchase one for your classroom or for your grade / subject.

These are also very expensive, but very very useful. It comes with it's own interactive software and once you know how to fiddle with it, it becomes very useful for whole-class demonstration, whole-class interactive games and lessons, and even small group work and individual work. There are programs already designed on Smart Board for your use, or you can create your own programs, specific to a lesson / task you want the students to perform.