wiki+group+3


 * Group 3 **

**Website 1: Penzu** Penzu is an online journal website where anyone can go in and create a private or public journal entry. It is definitely lacking in "special" effects; you can't customize at all really unless you upgrade. However, we did find that it would be a great tool for a teacher to use in the classroom because he/she can manage all the students' online journals without students being able to see each others' work. It would be a great alternative to the ordinary 'pencil and paper' journal writing. Kids may be able to express ideas more in depth since they don't have to write them out. It would also be a great way for parents to check up on what their kids are doing in the classroom. The grade level that this online journal would best serve would probably be the older grades like fourth grade and up because younger kids tend to like to share their work and receive the praise in person rather than doing private journal entries that only the teacher sees.



This tool would be an awesome way to get students to know each other...much moreso than those first-day-of school introductions. They could create these as an assignment within the first week of school so that they can tell all about themselves with the ever-popular use of technology. This is also a good way to create other classroom projects that would normally be done on poster boards, avoiding the mess, cost, and having to carry around a huge poster board. The graphics on the free-version are great and pretty much all someone would need. This allows the kids to be artistic and creative while learning to use technology. Glogster would appeal to all grade levels from Kindergarten all the way to high school with the appropriate training of how to use it. The graphics are great, and kids of all ages would really enjoy customizing an "about me" glog or a fun project, and showing it off for the class to see!
 * Website 2: Glogster **



**Website 3: Bitstrips**
I really enjoyed exploring the Bitstrips website. It is a website used to create comic strips; there are two types of comics you can perform - a classroom based or one starring you. The classroom based comic strip is a good feature because teachers can manage student’s accounts while allowing them to view and work on comics. This website can be used in elementary or middle grades; younger students would need guidance using the features on the site. This website could be used in any subject. For example, you could create a comic using math problems, the seasons, or weather. A comic strip can be used for multiple purposes. This would be a creative way to get students involved in school or in group projects. This website allows students to use their imagination while learning a new concept with technology.



The setup for the website, Warning Sign Generator, would be easy for students to read and understand. I enjoyed being able to create my own warning sign. This is a fun creative way to get students involved in activities. In four easy steps a student of any age or grade level could create a sign. First, choose a warning sign. Second, pick a warning symbol. Third, type your warning message and fourth, click the generate button. Then ta da your sign appears on the screen. This website would be good to utilize any type of science class. For example, if you wanted to demonstrate or have the students demonstrate a science experiment you would need to teach the students about safety. This would be a good way to have students complete a warning sign they may see when demonstrating an experiment. This is a non-expensive project you could complete while being environmentally friendly.
 * Website 4: Warning Sign Generator **



**Website 5: EasyBib**
This site is a free bibloigraphy maker! It is an awesome tool for students who have to write research papers. It prompts you to choose whether you are citing a website, newspaper, book, journal, database, and 58 other options! Depending on the paper format the teacher says to do, you can either choose MLA or APA. It will generate the correct style bibliography for you based on that. It gives you the option of "autociting" too, where you type in either the website, the ISBN of the book that you are citing, the journal DOI number, etc. and EasyBib, automatically gives you the entire citation based on that one little peice of information. It also gives you the option of typing in the whole citation manually as well. This web tool would probably only be used for much older grades. 5th grade would probably be the youngest grade level that this would service because usually grades younger than that don't write papers where they are required to cite their sources. As a teacher, this site would be extremely useful if I required my students to do a research paper because I would make them use this site so that there is no question that their bibliography is correct; therefore, the possibility of plagerism is lessened.



**Website 6: Wordle**
This site is really cool! It allows you to type lots of text into a box and then you hit "Go" and it generates a random order and design of the text. I (Beth) created one all about me using everything I could think of that is important in my life and about me. This tool would be very useful for a classroom website where kids type all about them selves and post it on the site for the rest of the class to see. It's not just a boring list for everyone to read, but instead, it's an exciting and random thing to read about people. This tool could be used in any grade. It could be used for projects where the students are to research something and tell all about it in simple one word answers. The Wordle can also be printed out, so after they are created, they can be hung in the hallway for everyone to see. Another great use for this would be to buy cheap picture frames (or make them) and instruct students to make a Mother's/Father's/Grandparent's Day Wordle about all their Mother/Father/Grandparent that shows hoe much they mean to them. The site was Extremely user-friendly and not hard to operate in the least. I really enjoyed creating a Wordle!

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Website # 7: DoInk
I thought this was a really neat website and I really enjoyed playing around on it. One of the best things about it is that it is free! Unlike a few of the others that we have seen where you have to pay to really be able to do anything, you can access this whole site for free. It allows you to use a paint-type program to create all kinds of different animations. It would be great to use to display any kind of process like the water cycle or the four seasons. It could be adapted for any grade level and it would present an interesting cartoon-like illustrations instead of standard textbook pictures. It would also be a great resource for students to use for a presentation. For example, instead of testing them on the water cycle, they use DoInk to create an illustration. This is also great because when they are doing presentations, it keeps the other kids more interested than something like a poster probably would. It could be used in all kinds of different subject areas. For english and social studies it could be used to make different kinds of charts or timelines. It could even be used in a math class. Having a smartboard would be a great tool to use this with because kids could come up and demonstrate a math problem in a more fun way!

Website # 8: Kerpoof
This was by far my favorite website that I reviewed and I was very glad that I picked this one. It is run by the Disney Company. When you first get to the site, it gives you options to create a drawing, a movie, a card, tell a story, spell a picture, make a picture. With each activity that you can do/create it gives you a range of grade levels, which I found to be extremely helpful. The best thing about this website was that it is really geared towards teachers. It has where you can click on 'educator tools', 'teacher tools' and 'lesson plans'. If you sign up for the site as a teacher, you can actually print and download lesson plans for various subjects and grades.On the teacher account you can also register your students so that they can chat with you, chat with their classmates and post creations on a class message board. It also has a page of classroom ideas and "brainstorms" to help you with your own lesson plans. The educational standards page shows where they have cross-referenced Kerpoof activities with national and state standards that they can be used to meet. They also publish a free electronic newsletter that highlights different new lesson plans and features on the website. Another great thing is that it is free!

**Website #9: Smart Kiddies**
I thought that this website was a really useful tool, and it was very neat. Smart kiddies is an online tool that presents students with multiple games and activities in numerous subject areas and grade levels. As seen in the screen below this website has an activity in math, spelling, health, music, and many more. You can log in as a student to play the games and do the activities, or as a teacher to pull resources for their class. As you log in you can choose the subject area in which you would like to practice. From there you can search different topics of the subject, the type of activity you would like to do, a specific grade level, and extras. The only part of this process that may be confusing is the grade level. The grade levels are set up as colors and as you move down the list of colors the work becomes more challenging. This is such an easy website to use and seems to be one that students would really enjoy using.



Website #10: Story Jumper
This was an awesome website. It was one of my favorite ones that I did. Story Jumper allows for students to use their creativity to produce their own stories, treasure maps, photo books, calendars and more. To create these items there are many different backgrounds and props to use. You can buy an extended version with more backgrounds, props, and other tools to construct books and other works. There is also a classroom edition that teachers can use by entering in their class id. This is a great tool to use to enhance writing journals and expand student’s imaginations.

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