Thing 11: Web 2.0 Tools

GoAnimate.com: Yay for fall time! by langerudkp

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

I had so much fun creating my animation at GoAnimate.com. I first watched the very helpful and informative tutorial. GoAnimate made it so simple to create a short video. It was as easy as choosing a scene, clicking on characters, and typing in text to create a conversation! I will definitely use this in my classroom. Students could use it to create a short story for Language Arts. It would even be fun to divide students into pairs and have them create a short informative animated report about a specific topic to share with the class. I would love to post the students' stories on a classroom blog to share with parents.

As I looked over the Web 2.0 Awards, I stumbled across several that I really thought sounded neat. One that stood out to me was Lulu. I became interested in the website because they have a special section for educators of all levels. Lulu allows teachers to publish a book with needed classroom materials. I thought about how great this would be for lesson plans. I know that it can become expensive publishing books, but I thought about how neat it would be to publish an end of the year book created by students to keep in the school library. Really the only downfall I see is the price.

I found an incredible Web 2.0 website from the larger list for teachers and students called Sweet Search: A Search Engine for Students. This website is great because it only provides the most effective and safe websites that students and teachers can use in the classroom. As I explored the website I saw that they provide an online tutorial for students and teachers that provides helpful information for how to appropriately navigate the internet when researching. There is also a special search engine set up for students to use that narrows down their search to only safe and appropriate websites.
One of my favorite parts of the website is the section that provides information about news that happened on "this day" in history. This would be great for a current events lesson each week for students to do or for the teacher to share each day during Social Studies. This section also includes word of the day, poem of the day, and a question of the day! I love that they even have helpful tips for how to write a biography and provide links to several websites with information about famous historical figures for students to explore. I am using this in my classroom because it has so many great resources and I feel safe putting it at a center for students to work individually in the classroom. CHECK IT OUT!