All of the tools that we have been using in Library lessons can be found here. Some are just links and others are screencast "How To's".
Research ready website evaluator
I was recently introduced to this amazing online website evaluation tool called Research Ready. What an amazing resource for critical evaluation exercises for information literacy in the Library or for classroom teachers to teach critical evaluation. Simply enter the website address that you want to evaluate and Research Ready guides you through a series of questions about the language used, the structure of the website, pictures and so on to produce an overall evaluation of the website for your purpose. Give it a try!
Posteroven - online poster creator
PosterOven is similar to Smore but can be used without creating an account, so it's great for whole class use or just when you need to quickly create a sign for a school event or the classroom. It also has lots of social codes built in using Q Codes which is great for directing your readers to more detailed information.
It is limited because it doesn't yet have the ability to upload your own images (although you can upload a logo), so hopefully they will work on adding graphics to expand its use in the classroom.
It is limited because it doesn't yet have the ability to upload your own images (although you can upload a logo), so hopefully they will work on adding graphics to expand its use in the classroom.
smore - online flyer creator
Smore is an online flyer creator. Using a variety of templates, students can create professional-looking flyers. The free version of smore gives you 5 posters so if you are planning on using it with a whole class then your should investigate the Education Plan which provides unlimited flyers with enhanced privacy at just $59.99 annually, at the time of writing.
What can we use it for? I have used Smore with Grade 5 and 6 students as a culminating project for a unit on advertising and persuasion. I have also used it with these students for creating posters to promote products that are sourced from sustainable forests. This term (Term 2, 2014) Grades 3 and 4 students will also be using Smore to create Disaster Prevention posters. It could also be used to:
What can we use it for? I have used Smore with Grade 5 and 6 students as a culminating project for a unit on advertising and persuasion. I have also used it with these students for creating posters to promote products that are sourced from sustainable forests. This term (Term 2, 2014) Grades 3 and 4 students will also be using Smore to create Disaster Prevention posters. It could also be used to:
- Promote school events
- Examine visual elements of persuasion
- Create class/School rules
- Create Wanted posters for characters
- Design Book Covers or Film Advertisements
Newspaper Creator
The Newspaper Clipping Generator creates an authentic looking folded newspaper snippet.
Students generate the day and date of the clipping and then create their story Headline and story content.
I have used this tool with students to present their research into Australian Bushranger's as newspaper stories and to describe the effects of Natural Disasters. It could also be used to:
Note: Once generated, the clipping must be saved as an image for future use or records as they are removed from the site after a short while.
Students generate the day and date of the clipping and then create their story Headline and story content.
I have used this tool with students to present their research into Australian Bushranger's as newspaper stories and to describe the effects of Natural Disasters. It could also be used to:
- Review an excursion visit (eg. the Art Gallery)
- Write about famous people or events
- Promote school events
Note: Once generated, the clipping must be saved as an image for future use or records as they are removed from the site after a short while.
ifaketext
ifaketext is an online fake text screen shot creator that can be used by students to create a conversation between characters in a book or characters in history. It only has a limited character amount so it teaches students to summarise details so that they can be sure to include only the most important facts in the dialogue they create. The screenshot can be shared on various social media or, if your students are young, like mine, they can copy and paste the link for the screen shot into an email so that you can view it.
Although the text is only brief, you can see from my example to the left that students need to do their research to be able to create an "authentic" message with facts.
Although the text is only brief, you can see from my example to the left that students need to do their research to be able to create an "authentic" message with facts.
Art Pad
Artpad is a digital canvas that allows you to create an online artwork using the mouse as your paintbrush. You can choose a variety of colours, different sized brushes and vary the opacity of the colours. This could be used for visual arts lessons on different techniques or art periods where students emulated the techniques of great artists to produce their own works. On a simpler level, students could the digital canvas to draw an image and then label it using the text feature. It could also be used to support visual literacy where students create their own artwork drawing on specific elements of visual literacy such as focal point, gaze, vector, for example.
My abstratc tree below was created in less than 2 minutes. Incredible, I know!
My abstratc tree below was created in less than 2 minutes. Incredible, I know!
tackk - content creator
venn diagram creator
word clouds
Tagxedo: Create word clouds similar to Wordle but in a variety of shapes. This has been used for pre-unit knowledge assessments and post-unit knowledge assessments to compare the difference and depth of key concept understanding, as well as for general word bank development as a unit progresses.
mindmap tool - bubbl.us
Stage One and Stage Three have used bubbl.us to create mind maps about Workers in our School Community and how coffee production affects rainforests. It is a great mind map tool to organise thoughts and ideas.
digital book creator
Stage Two are using little bird tales to create a digital book for Kindergarten/Year One. Their story is "factional", a mix of fiction and fact. They have researched a natural disaster using books from our collection and the internet, used atlases to learn about the countries that the disaster may occur in, identified and indigenous animal and incorporated each of these elements into a narrative.
Little bird tales allows the students to illustrate their story using the built in illustrator. They add text and can also record their own voice to read the story.
Little bird tales also has lesson plans, organised by grades for teachers to use.
Little bird tales allows the students to illustrate their story using the built in illustrator. They add text and can also record their own voice to read the story.
Little bird tales also has lesson plans, organised by grades for teachers to use.
interactive posters - glogster
A glog is an interactive poster maker. Students can use Glogster's backgrounds and graphics, add text, upload their own images, video and audio to record learning about any topic you can think of. We have used glogs to demonstrate Kindergarten activities to parents, record research findings about dinosaurs with Special Language Classes.
Stage Three students use Glogster to create advertisements to persuade their parents to purchase rainforest friendly products.
Stage Three students use Glogster to create advertisements to persuade their parents to purchase rainforest friendly products.