This week's sites

Here are some more interesting sites I have found this week on the wire.

1. Amazing space - http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/ This is a good resource site for science and astronomy. Lots of interactive materials.

2. Google for educators - http://www.google.com/educators/index.html Google is every where, and while it might seem like its trying to take over the world , google is offering a wide selection of tools designed for education. This is the home page for “Google for Educators”. Check out this page while you are at it – lesson plans – http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/lesson_plans.html

3. Popling - http://www.popling.net/ This is a flash card website that will help you to learn foreign languages. Languages include

It also has resources for chemistry, geography and more.

4. Foreign Language Flashcards - http://www.foreignlanguageflashcards.com/ Another Language resource and as the name suggests this one use flash cards to help you learn.

5. Lingolook http://www.lingolook.net/home.html – this is another language site with a slightly more real word twist. Flash cards for travel.

and finally more flashcards. These are not only for learning languages but also for a wide variety of other subjects –

http://edufire.com/games/flashcards Edufire

Doc Stoc

Another great site is called Docstoc. This is a free database of items that have been uploaded by other users that you can search for.

You create a free account and then start searching. I searched for items related to the novel Animal Farm and found all sorts of assignments, powerpoints and other documents that I then downloaded and can now use with my class. You can narrow the search results or you can search the entire database.

It takes a little digging but once you get the search results you're likely to find something that is worthwhile. Most documents are in either word or pdf format so they're ready to go. Another site worth checking out.

Quia.com

This week's entry looks at an interactive site where you can post online quizzes for students to complete. The site is called Quia.com and you can sign up for a free trial version to see what it can do. When you click on the above link, you then want to access the Quia web link which is in the middle of your screen. There is a $50/year subscription fee but that drops to around $40 if ten or more teachers are interested. This fee may be covered by the school.

What's so great about Quia, is that it allows students to log in, complete an online quiz, and then get immediate feedback as to how well they did. Not only do they get the number correct, but they also get shown which answers were correct and which one's were not.

You can create a variety of quizzes including multiple choice, matching, t/f, fill in the blank and even open ended questions. My socials 10 students used it to review material for their final exam and they loved it.

As well, if you want to use the results for marks, you can create a class, and then when the exams are finished, the results of the students automatically get put into a mark book for you to use. It also shows you how many times they attempted the exam, who completed it, and who did not. You can then decide what to do with the marks. If you use a test bank of questions, the exams take very little time to complete. As well, there are already dozens of tests already created that you can access. In others words, most of the work is done for you and includes dozens of subject areas for you to access. Find a quiz, copy it to your classroom and you're ready to go. Students can also access them at any time so if they are away, they can log in at home an complete the assignment.

As well, there are other activities students can complete such as interactive matching games, hangman, jeopardy, etc. They can all be tailored to what you want to have them do. I will be demonstrating this at the next staff meeting so you can get a better look at it. Definitely a site worth checking out.