Flashcards in a snap!!

It's that time of year again, when teachers are madly reviewing content hoping their students can recall and apply what they have been taught. Flashcards were always something that helped me as a student get a handle on large amounts of information. With the combination of writing down the important facts pulled out of class notes and text, along with the repetition of reading each card, I found that I retained the information.

As with everything else these days, students can turn to the Internet for help when preparing flashcards. Quizlet is a handy little website that allows our cyber loving students or teachers to quickly generate flashcards that can be printed out or viewed online. The cards can be shared via email or embedded on class websites, blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc. Users can also browse through and use the large collection of flashcards already made by other students and teachers. The cards are sorted into four main categories making it easy to find what you are looking for out of the hundreds of topics covered: Languages & Vocabulary, Standardized Tests, Math & Science, History & Social Studies, Arts & Literature. The site also provides useful information, such as the most frequently missed word or question, specific to each flashcard set.

Use Quizlet with an interactive whiteboard (i.e, SMARTBoard or Mimio), to keep everyone engaged by taking turns coming to the board to respond to the questions. For your real competitive students, divide the class into teams and make the review a competition.

Other features of Quizlet include the ability to:

• Create flashcard sets (no limit on questions/answers)
• Create groups so friends or classmates can study together
• Study the cards using one of the 5 different study modes: Familiarize, Learn, Test, Scatter, Space Race.
• Monitor studying progress

Quizlet is a free website that requires users to create an account and provide an email address. The site does a nice job of helping users along the way by providing an easy to follow "How & Features" page. For all your visual learners, they also provide a short and to the point demo video. Check it out: http://quizlet.com/demo/

This is one of the best sites ever. My science teacher told me about it and now I use it for every subject. It is the best source for flash cards ever! Thanks Quizlet!". (user testimonial, 2008).

Enjoy!!

Comics Create Readers, Writers, Thinkers!!

Growing up, I was one of those kids that just groaned with agony when I would complain to my mother about being bored and her automatic programmed response was, "Read a book!!". Reading a chapter book was just not my thing, but give me a comic book or the Sunday comics, and I was good to go. My son Jack is the same way. He just loves the Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, both of which are written in the comic book style. Why is that?

Comics are a great device to use in your classroom to keep even the most reluctant readers engaged and motivated. "Comprehension, for some children, means that they have to be able to visualize what they're reading, and using comic strips can habituate them, or get them to think about that." Other educators are finding comics are a great tool to teach writing skills. By introducing and discussing comics, students become familiar with the characters and may feel a stronger connection to the story. They often feel because of the connection they make with comic characters, these "old friends" are often guiding them through the writing process. http://www.uiowa.edu/~amreads/teaching_resources/writing/garfieldwritingprompt.pdf, 2009). Another great thing about comics, are that they can be used with any grade level and integrated into any subject, in a multitude of ways.

OK, so enough of this background research information. How does technology play a role in all this....easy....FREE online comic generators!! Below are links to just a few of the many comic strip makers available on line. I have not used all of them, but at a quick look, they all seem to work the same way. Once users log in, they can pick from galleries of backgrounds, layouts, images, and conversation bubbles. Many offer options to upload your own graphics. Using storyboards, the order of each frame can be done with a simple drag and drop process. Each site varies with features and options ranging from very streamlined and somewhat restrictive to "over the top", endless features and options. The comics can be printed, embedded into blogs, websites, and shared online via email, etc.

Check out the links below that include example comics, and lesson plans.

Enjoy!

Comic Strip Generators:

Comiqs: http://comiqs.com/
Comic Strip Generator: http://stripgenerator.com/
Howtoons: http://www.instructables.com/group/howtoons/
Make Belief Comics: http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/comix.php
Pixton Interactive Web Comics: http://pixton.com/for-fun
Pikikids: http://www.pikikids.com/home
Quicktoons: http://www.quicktoons.com/create
ReadWriteThink's Comic Creators: http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=21
Toondoo: http://www.toondoo.com/

Example Comics by Kids for School:

Korean War: http://pixton.com/comic/62qivejx
Earth, Engergy, and the Environment: http://pixton.com/comic/o6223551
Give a Hoot...Don't Pollute: http://pixton.com/comic/qqn35jqy
Our Planet (in spanish...Nuestro planet): http://www.pikikids.com/ps/gallery/view_image/31721858?pos=16&order=date&dir=d&ts=1&page=2
Gulliver's Travel: (new take on book reports): http://pixton.com/comic/u2t5wjr5

Lesson Plans:

Comics in the Classroom: K-4 ELA, Social Studies, and Science lesson plans with a comic theme (can easily be adapted for higher grade levels). http://comicsintheclassroom.net/oolessonplans.htm

Read-Write-Think.com: Lesson plans for all grade levels that incorporate comic strips or squares covering reading comprehension, literacy engagement, writing genres, and other ELA activies.
http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=21

Language Arts Writing Practice: http://www.teachchildrenesl.com/filez8932/lesson%20plans/comic_strip.pdf

Education World: Super Hero Comic Strip Lesson Plan for Language and Visual Arts:
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/00-2/lp2289.shtml

Lesson Planet: 1, 140 teacher approved comic lesson plans sorted by grade or rating.
http://www.lessonplanet.com/search?keywords=Comics&media=lesson

Turning Off the Auto Correct Feature in MS Word

How many of you have been typing away in Word, and all of a sudden the program seems to take on a life of its’ own. If it’s not the annoying paperclip guy, it’s the automatic numbering or automatic bullets. ARGHHHHHH!! Word is actually trying to be helpful, but it often can slow down even the simplest of task and get quite annoying. Well, be annoyed no more!! Below are the steps to turn of the paper clip helper and how to turn of some of the auto correct features

How to "Hide" the Annoying Paper Clip Guy

1. Using your mouse, right click on his picture and choose “Hide” from the options window, or
   
   
2. From the menu bar, choose “Help” and then choose “Hide Office Assistant” from the options window.ps to turn of the paper clip helper and how to turn of some of the auto correct features.

How to Turn-Off the Auto Correct Features

1. From the menu bar choose Tools, and then choose AutoCorrect. You may need to expand the menu to display all options by clicking the double headed down arrow, or, double click on the menu headings to display full menus.
2. Click on the various tabs across the top to display the different features you can turn on and off. For example, under the AutoCorrect tab, you can turn of the feature to automatically capitalize the first letter of every sentence. Click on the “AutoFormat as you Type” tab to deselect the automatic bullets and numbering feature.
3. After choosing all your preferences, click the OK button.

Converting Audio Files Using iTunes

Have you ever been in the middle of creating a PowerPoint presentation and want to insert a sound file for a great added effect, just to find out that PowerPoint cannot read the sound file!! Now what?!! Like PowerPoint, many software applications can only read audio files of certain formats. For example, Windows Movie Maker only likes MP3 and .wma files. So, you need to know what your options are for converting sound files to a more standardized format as an MP3. Using iTunes is one of those options and since it is loaded on all school computers, it is easily accessible.

To see the step-by-step directions of how to use iTunes to convert files, click the play button.

Get Your Photo's Talking with Blabberize!!

Blabberize me!!! What an awesome site and oh so much fun!! Don't we want learning to be fun? Your students will love using this site so much, that they won't even realize that learning is taking place. Blabberize projects reinforce content knowledge and develop research skills, as well as, reading, writing, and speaking skills. Soooo, without further adieu, check out my blabber about blabberize by clicking the link below. Don't forget to hit the play button in the upper left corner of the video once you are at the site. Enjoy!!

Becky's Blabber
http://blabberize.com/view?id=79368

Other great examples from Blabberize.....

Abe Speaks: Abraham Lincoln Biography
http://blabberize.com/view?id=26438

Anne Frank tells her story!!
http://blabberize.com/view?id=72095

Shakespeare
http://blabberize.com/view?id=29303