The Teachers' Tech Lounge Exploring the wise use of tech to increase student achievement 

Classbrain.com features several learning games for students including several very good math games.

DLTK Kids Crafts

DLTK’s Crafts for Kids features a variety of fun, printable children’s crafts, coloring pages and more including projects for holidays, educational themes and some of our children’s favorite cartoon characters. 

Fold School.Com lets you print out templates to make children’s furniture from cardboard.

FlauntR free digital photo editing site

Education Web Sites from UK has a wide variety of literacy and numeracy games and Promethean flip charts.

Five Tools for Art Teachers is posted on the Instructify blog.

Tangram House 

This online version of the Chinese puzzle lets students select a puzzle to complete and work with 7 tans (shapes) to fill the puzzle.  The tans can be rotated, flipped, and dragged into place.  The puzzles can be completed online or downloaded for free as an offline game.

45 Websites for Online Art is a great list of Art resources on the Making Teachers Nerdy blog.

Bulletin Board Displays

Playful Learning.com web site

This web site is an excellent resource for primary/preschool learning.  The activities have been developed by a teacher who is staying home with her daughters.  She includes resources, a blog, and great insight into early learning.  If not for your own classroom, I’m sure many of you can incorporate these activities at home with your children.

For more applications, check out Kevin Jarrett\’s blog.

National Gallery of Art Activities for Kids

Check out these interactive art activities for elementary students. 

Whyzz web site that answers kids questions…

This web site allows students to ask questions and receive an answer.  It also allows contributions from the participants. 

whyzz is the place where parents with curious young children can find and contribute kid-ready information about how the world works!  You can use whyzz on your mobile device or on your desktop in any one of the three following ways:

Use the whyzz Search Bar to look for the article that answers your curious child’s question! whyzz articles are designed to be concise, creative, reliable, and written in terms that your kids can understand.

Browse whyzz to see the broad range of what we have to offer! Children’s questions can be endless, so whyzz covers a large variety of topics and categories.

You can also use your mobile device to explore whyzz Fun Stuff when you’re stuck in line at the DMV or end up in congested traffic. There are games, stories, and activities to help further your child’s learning when you suddenly find yourself stuck in a jam!

http://pbskids.org/smartboard/

I just found out on Twitter that PBS has launched a web link to dozens of active board friendly lessons/games/videos.  The activities are sorted by subject and grade level.  All lessons have games, printables, and teacher resources.  You can also click on the VIDEO tab to watch videos on a variety of subjects.  The best part is…it’s all free. Primary teachers will find many great math activities here. 

45 Websites for Creating Art on the Computer

From the blog, “Making Teachers Nerdy,” is this great list of links to 45 web sites to use when creating student art on the computer.

Thinkfinity Training Opportunities Web Site

Thinkfinity Web Site

Thinkfinity had a wonderful session at NECC with actor Eric Close and blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer demonstrated how bringing adventure into the classroom stimulates learning.  I have talked about this site before, but you have to see it now.  The amount of resources for classroom teachers is vast and well laid out, and the best part is it is all free!  Share in the comments session how you are using these resouces in your classrooms.

I Know That Web Site

I know That is a web site with learning activities for students PreK-Grade 6.  There are hundreds of standards based topics in all subject areas.  There’s even a teachers’ guide.  Check it out and comment if you discover a unique idea for the site.

Learning in Hand Web Site

If you have an iPhone or an iPod touch, this is the web site for you.  It is amazing all the information available, and Tony Vincent, the author of the site, has provided an extraordinary resouces of education applications for using touch iPods in the classroom.

Pixton Comic Creator Web Site

“A comic has all the grammar and spelling elements of a regular writing assignment. It reinforces all of the State Learning Standards at every single level of your child’s education, so it’s a really important tool.” — Amy James, Education Expert

Endorsed by Promethean Planet…check out this writing and publishing tool for students.

Voki Web Site

Avatars, second life, and virtual worlds were all the rage at NECC 2009.  If you want students to create an avatar for web publishing projects, this site makes it easy.

Toy Theater Web Site

If you can overlook the ads on the sidebar, this site has learning games in the areas of Music, Art, Math, Reading, and Puzzles. 

Craftster Web Site

Looking for a new craft or art project.  Check out this web site for inspiration and ideas. 

Sparkle Box Web Site

This site has 1000s of free downloads for teachers by categorized by subject and theme.  There are also dozens of theme related bulletin board ideas. 

Edsitement Lesson Plans

The National Endowment for the Arts has a web site with a vast number of lesson plans on art, literature, and history.  Many are geared toward older learners, but there are a several that will correlate with elementary standards.  Check them out and then share with our staff the best resources. 

Public Domain Photos at Photos8

This is a place for free public domain photos and desktop wallpapers. Large collection of High Resolution photos and wallpapers, Thousands of high quality public domain pictures, easy to search, All photos on Photos8.com are public domain. You may use these images for any purpose, including commercial.

from About.com

Assign Impromptu Speeches – Think of 20 quick speech topics and have the kids choose them from a jar. Give them just a few minutes to prepare mentally and then call them up for spur-of-the-moment speeches. Fun topics include “Convince us to buy the shirt you are wearing now” or “How would the school be different if you were principal?” Click here for a complete list of topics. The audience loves to watch and the speakers will love getting creative in front of the class.

You can either give your students a few minutes to prepare what they will say, or keep it truly impromptu and have the children present without any written notes.

• You are an ant. Convince an anteater to not eat you. 
• Explain three different ways to eat an Oreo cookie. 
• Tell us about a nickname you have and how you got it. 
• Convince us to vote for you as president of the USA. 
• Explain three uses for a pencil besides for writing. 
• Read us a letter you might write home when you are staying at a circus training summer camp. 
• Tell us about your summer plans. 
• Convince us that homework is harmful to your health. 
• Tell us about your favorite pet and why it should win the Greatest Pet Ever award. 
• If you were an animal, what would you be? 
• You are a salesperson trying to sell us the shirt you have on. 
• Explain how a smart person might not be wise. 
• If you were the teacher, how would our class be different? 
• Tell us about the hardest thing you have ever done. 
• You are a mad scientist. Tell us about your latest invention. 
• You are a famous sports player. Describe your best moment of a game. 
• You are a famous rock star. Explain what the lyrics of your latest hit song mean. 
• Tell us about the best job. 
• Explain the benefits of drinking milk. 
• Tell us how to become a millionaire. 
• Tell us about the best dream you’ve ever had. 
• Create a myth that explains why pelicans have large beaks. 
• Tell us how to make a new friend. 
• Tell us about the most fun recess activity. 
• Tell us about your favorite holiday. 
• Tell us how to make your favorite meal. 
• Explain which came first: the chicken or the egg. 
• Explain the rules to your favorite game. 
• If everything in the world had to change to the same color, what color would you choose and why? 
• Explain how you would use a hat to catch butterflies. Be sure to
• identify the type of hat that is required. 
• You are a piece of paper. Describe how we should use you before you get recycled. 
• Explain how to make a pizza. 
• Explain four uses for a drinking glass other than for holding a liquid. 
• Convince our principal to give students their birthdays off of school. 
• Describe how you would modify a snail so it can go faster. 
• Explain the best way to teach an old dog a new trick. 
• Describe the life cycle of a frog or butterfly.

Play Outdoor Games – Dust off that outdoor games book that you never had time to use this year and pick a few activities for the last day of school. A great choice is Guy Bailey’s The Ultimate Playground and Recess Game Book. The kids will be antsy anyways so you might as well put their energy and excitement to good use.