How to... make & take technology

Teaching Pre K-8, Aug/Sep 2001 by Lindroth, Linda

Don't spend your year reinventing the wheel. Here are web tools for teachers that will shorten your preparation time and enhance the activities you're able to offer your students. Harness the power of technology with this collection of online tools for creating exciting, individualized "Make & Take" materials.

WEB TOOLS

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Online web tools. Many websites for educators provide tools to simplify the task of individualizing student instruction. Most of the tools available on the Internet provide simple forms which allow teachers (and parents) to input their own curricular content to generate or create activity pages, practice drills or assessment tools. Here are just a few of the many resources available on the Internet for use in the classroom.

RUBRIC GENERATOR - Create your own assessment rubrics for each of the content areas. Each rubric generator personalizes a form for you which you can print out and save. Rubrics include behavior, projects, oral presentations, writing, lab reports, homework, listening, teamwork, math and a general rubric which can be customized for specific needs. wwv. teach-nology.com/web tools /rubrics/

EDHELPER.COM - Here are dozens of worksheet generators (answers are emailed to the teacher), puzzle makers and links to webquests, categorized by content area. There's also a link to free Teacher Toolbox software at www.classbuilder.com/ www.ed helper.com/

WEB TOOLS FOR EDUCATORS - These free tools include Calendar Maker, Graphic Organizer Generator, Good News/Bad News Report, Worksheet Generators, Classroom Material Generators such as Bingo cards, award certificates, weekly planner, bookmark maker, bus passes, student learning contracts and a weekly progress report. http://teachers. teach-nology.com/ web_tools/

PERSONAL EDUCATIONAL PRESS Here's a database of word lists for a variety of education topics; the focus is on beginning reading. Create flashcards, game boards, bingo cards and more. Put a link on your browser and turn any word list on the Internet into a Personal Press topic. www.educa tionalpress.org/educationalpress/ RONA'S TEACHER TOOLS - This extensive resource is a part of The Educators Network. Use the detailed How To to create your own rubric or select a ready-made rubric. Free puzzles, puzzle makers and crossword software for use in the classroom. The comprehensive links to lessons, webquests and teacher preparation tools make this a perfect starting point for back-to-school planning. www.thee ducatorsnetwork.com/

DISCOVERYSCHOOL TEACHING TOOLS Customize classroom materials with this collection of tools. Puzzlemaker uses your own word lists to make word searches, crosswords and math puzzles. Worksheet Generator, Quiz Center, Vocabulary QuizWhiz and Instant Glossary Builder help you customize class materials. Register for Custom Classroom to save your creations in a free personal account. http://school.discovery.con/teach ingtools/teachingtools.html

Include one or more of these websites in your Back to School parent newsletter. Parents will love learning about these free tools for creating flashcards, bingo cards and puzzles that will make home study time more fun.

ONLINE CURRICULUM

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Download curriculum lessons and thematic units. Many education websites offer free lesson plans and curricular units that can be downloaded. For most of these, you just need a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer and an idea of which curriculum topics you plan to use in the upcoming school year. Many of these resources let you register to receive downloadable thematic units via e-mail.

THE TEACHER S CORNER -A site with excellent teacher resources and seasonal ideas. Don t miss the thematic units - a new unit each month, with all units archived. Each unit has dozens of websites related to the theme, lesson plans to help with K-8 curriculum and books to use as resources. Check out the Classroom Management links, www.theteach erscorner.net/

THE LEARNING PAGE -Register to download worksheets, clip art, 16page Sunshine books from the Wright Group and more. The website, sponsored by Amazon.com, is supported by an honor system for voluntary payment. The honor system is $0.50 per download; just $15 will get you unlimited downloads until December 2001. www.learningpage.com/

SCHOOLEXPRESS.COM -Sign up for a free downloadable thematic unit each week via e-mail. Create online math games or generate math worksheets. There are more than 200 free worksheets in all curricular areas. Dont miss the excellent links to more web resources. www.schoolexpress.com/

IDEAS FOR CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

This website is rich with ideas for the first day of school, resources for new teachers, organization tips, bulletin board ideas and icebreakers to use as students get to know each other. www.an pelf re.com/ks/teachme/cla ssmanagement.html

QUIA -Create your own web pages, web activities and quizzes with this free website. Make a hangman game, create a Web Scavenger Hunt, build a puzzle. There are dozens of games and activities created by others that you can use in your classroom. www. quia.com/