1. The Hat... Put away your popsicle sticks, cards, whatever you use to select students at random. The Hat is a simple but VERY effective Windows program available for FREE from Harmony Hollow Software that allows teachers to randomly select individual names or pairs of students to the accompaniment of cool sound effects. You can input multiple lists then edit them as needed. 2. Google Websites is part of the suite of tools offered by Google. Similar to Blogger and just as easy to use, Google Sites allows you to create and maintain a FREE website. For years I had hosted The Teacher's Desk website, which I paid for... Silly me! Two years ago I discovered Google Sites, closed my paid site and opened The Teachers' Desk 6, a site for my sixth graders and their parents... my blog is an offshoot of this site.
3. Pinterest... What in the world did I do before Pinterest? I drowned in browser bookmarks is what I did! I would find a great idea, bookmark it, and move on to another idea and another and another. When I would try to find that one perfect idea I had saved it would be a monumental task. With Pinterest it is easy to sort and store, pin and find any idea! Have a go through my Education Ideas board, my Language Arts board, and my Writing Prompts board... pin away!
4. Google Chrome... I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this Internet web browser. I use it on all my computers. What I bookmark at school is found on my computer at home. No matter where I surf the web my history is maintained and I can track where I've visited. I have a TON of apps installed that allow me to play games, read my RSS feed, create photo collages, access my Kindle, et al., AND it's all synced with every device on which I use Chrome! It has made my techie life so much more simple!
Happy Monday,
Happy Teaching,
Angela
The Teacher's Desk 6
love all of your must haves!
ReplyDeleteI just started using Google Chrome, I am way under using it!!!
I loathe Popsicle sticks, definitely looking into The Hat!
Thanks for sharing
Elizabeth
Hodges Herald
And I just realized your a 6th grade site! YEA!!! Now, I am your newest follower too!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Hodges Herald
And I am yours! LOL! Thanks for following!
DeleteA.
I completely agree about Pinterest. I say it all the time. I have no idea what I did before it.
ReplyDeleteKrystyn
Ms Richards's Musings
There's a pretty cool iphone app for $2 called Pick Me! that randomly picks a kid, like The Hat. Then you have the option of marking whether they answered the question correctly or not. It keeps stats on the kids, which is pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI'm your newest follower!
Sweet Rhyme – Pure Reason
Welcome, Nick! I LOVE the idea about keeping stats on a student. How cool!
DeleteA.
I LOVE THE HAT! We call it the Magic Hat and it knows all, lol. The kids are so funny about it. It picks the kids in that order for a mystical reason and they never complain, its amazing! I totally agree, what did I do before Pinterest?! Thanks for linking up and sharing!
ReplyDeleteSabra
Teaching with a Touch of Twang
I have never heard of The Hat! How neat! I will definitely have to try that one!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what we did without Pinterest...it's an obsession of mine!!
Amanda
Collaboration Cuties