Digital+Sandbox

Fabulous Freebies: Playing in a digital sandbox

What’s a digital sandbox?
A sandbox is a safe place to experiment, play, and learn as you figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. A digital sandbox is a place where you can do this with various digital tools to figure out what might or might not work in your classroom.

My Favs:
1. [|Diigo] – Social Bookmarking, lists & more (plus it has a back door to [|Delicious]) 2. [|Twitter]- Great tool to build a professional learning network 3. [|Firefox]- My browser of choice – use w/ [|IE Tab], [|Zoom Toolbar], [|Smart Bookmarks Toolbar], [|Embedded Objects Toolbar] 4. [|Open Office] – Cheap way to have a basic version of Office on any machine 5. [|EtherPad]- Multiple authors can work on the same document simultaneously – example [] 6. [|Picasa]- Basic image organization and editing 7. [|Audacity]- Audio recording 8.[| iTunes] – Music organization, weekly freebies, iTunesU (check out Continuity of Learning), Podcasts 9. [|Ning]- Imagine self-contained Facebook accounts on lots of different topics. Try: [|Classroom 2.0], [|Fireside Learning], 10. [|Pandora Radio] – Online radio station you create

**General interest to explore**
[|WallWisher] – Think of it as an electronic sticky note wall. //Task: Navigate to the Digital Sandbox WallWisher and share what you’d like to gain from today.//
 * [|Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009] (Add to list for 2010 [|here])
 * [|Web 2.0 Resources for Teachers]
 * [|FreeTech4Teachers]
 * [|Free Educational Software and Games]
 * [|Free and Open Source Resources] (my list)
 * Online whiteboards**…
 * [|Flockdraw] – Online whiteboard Try this one
 * Scribblar- Like Flockdraw, but many, many more options [|Try this board]
 * Speaking of illustrations and image editing…**
 * [|Wordle] – Cool tool for visualization of concepts [|Yearbook cover]
 * [|Sumo Paint] – Online Painting Application
 * [|Think Draw] – Collage drawing tool online
 * [|PhotoFunia]- Transform your images -[| totally Tami]
 * [|LunaPic]- Online Photo Editor w/transformation
 * [|Picnik]- Online image editing
 * [|PicLits] – Online Inspired Picture Writing
 * [|Picasa]- Free, cross-platform, image sorting, editing, and sharing
 * [|Paint.net] – Great substitute application for Photoshop
 * [|ArtRage]- If you have an IWB, you need this
 * Touch Tools – If you have a touchscreen, Smartboard, or other IWB, these tools are worth exploring**
 * Engaging Online**
 * [|thisissand]- Sandpainting online (C for Colors, E to Erase, arrow keys to navigate, click/touch to pour)
 * [|Mrs. P] – Storytelling – remember Mimi from the Drew Cary Show?
 * [|Winged Sandals] – Mythology
 * [|CSI Web Adventures] – Science games
 * [|Nobel Prize Games] – Games related to literature, science, and more
 * [|FreeRice] Vocabulary challenge that feeds the hungry
 * [|FreePoverty] World knowledge challenge that provides water to the needy
 * [|Physics Games] – Very addictive
 * Classroom Tools…**
 * [|TimeGlider] – Timeline creation [|See example]
 * [|Screencast-o-Matic] – Online tool for screen recording
 * [|eThemes/eMints] – Hot lists for tons of topics
 * [|CalmCounter] – Visualize classroom noise level
 * [|Super Teacher Tools] – Make interactive classroom games and activities
 * [|MapMaker]- Make elementary maps
 * [|ScribbleMaps]- Google maps you can write on, save, and share
 * [|4Teachers]- Rubrics, checklists, quizzes & more
 * [|SweetSearch] – Kind of like [|Nettrekker], only free. All resources are evaluated for student use. Also [|browseable].
 * Productivity**
 * [|Convert PDF to Word] -
 * [|Easy Define] – Online – Define lists of words quickly
 * Tools for Search – Great wiki w/specialized search tools
 * [|Wolfram Alfa] – Try entering a math problem and see what happens; see [|examples page]
 * More Interactives and Student Tools**
 * [|Scratch]- Intro programming
 * [|Timelines]- Create, share, explore
 * [|Toy Theater] – Dozens of fun, engaging interactives for exploring
 * [|Edheads]- Science and math explorations
 * [|Comic Strip Generator] – You add the words to the images
 * [|Sketchup]- Google 3D drawing tool
 * [|GoogleEarth]- Map, explore, interact with the world
 * Content Areas** **& More (These are on a separate wikispace page)**
 * MathLinks
 * ScienceLinks
 * EnglishLanguageArtsLinks
 * SocialStudiesLinks
 * LanguageLinks
 * Elementary
 * Interactive
 * TouchScreen
 * InteractiveWhiteBoardTools
 * Software

Before you go…
[|WallWisher] //Task: Navigate to the// //Digital Sandbox WallWisher////and share your favorite sites from today.// [|Future Me] – Write letters to yourself in the future (at least 30 days) Task: Write yourself an email about a goal you have for the this conference.