Free Web Tools for the Classroom

1. Free Web Tools for the Classroom FISD Instructional Technology Department

2. Disclaimer Please use these sites at your own discretion. It is important to check out any website before using it in class with your students.

3. Voki for Education • http://www.voki.com/Voki_for_education.php • Voki is a free service that allows you to create personalized speaking avatars.

4. Google Docs • docs.google.com • Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation, Forms • Edit anytime from anywhere • Upload your files • Choose who can access your documents • Collaborate online

5. Edmodo • web 2.0 environment where teachers can safely share ideas, files, and assignments with their students and other teachers • http://www.edmodo.com

6. Glogster Edu • http://edu.glogster.com/ • A glog is an easy to use drag and drop interface containing multimedia elements including text, audio, video, images, graphics, drawings, animations and data. • free for up to 50 students, free version has limited features--drawing tool not available, contains advertisements

7. Sweetsearch     • http://www.sweetsearch.com/ • Search engine for students • Every Web site in SweetSearch has been evaluated by  research experts.

8. SweetSearch 2day • http://2day.sweetsearch.com/ • a daily curated assortment of the best content on the Web for history, language arts, science, news, culture and other topics.

9. Easy Bib • http://easybib.com/ • free automatic bibliography and citation maker • ads

10. Bib Me • http://www.bibme.org/ • Can put in ISBN for books

11. PDF to Word • http://www.pdftoword.com/ • quickly and easily create editable DOC/RTF files • re-use PDF content in applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, OpenOffice, and WordPerfect

12. Google Alerts • http://www.google.com/alerts • receive  email updates on your favorite topics • don't use a generic term like math • can be used to keep a check on when someone mentions you on a website or blog • good for research topics or current events

13. Egg Timer • http://e.ggtimer.com/ • countdown timer for you and your students • Type in any unit of time (days, weeks, hours, etc.) and Egg Timer will create a simple countdown • links to specialty timers • Pomodoro technique timer • Wake up timer

14. Skype • Call, video chat, instant message • http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home

15. Animoto for Education • http://animoto.com/education •  create videos in minutes with images and music

16. Wallwisher • http://www.wallwisher.com/ • Create a digital wall where you can placeand rearrange notes, photos, videos, andmore.

17. Dropbox • https://www.dropbox.com/ • easy way to store, sync, and share files online (in the cloud)

18. Goodreads   • http://www.goodreads.com/ • “facebook for readers”

19. Classic Cat • http://www.classiccat.net/ • index to some 6000 free classical music performances

20. Arkive • http://www.arkive.org/ • images of life on earth

21. Starry Night Sky Chart • http://www.starrynighteducation.com/skychart

22. Using the Web and Technology in Social Studies Class • http://www.sweetsearch.com/socialstudies • http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/

23. Sites for Teachers of Students with Learning Disabilities • http://www.greatschools.org/special-education.topic?content=1541 • http://www.ncld.org/

24. Video Sharing Sites • TeacherTube • http://www1.teachertube.com/ • SchoolTube • http://www.schooltube.com/ • Kideos: • http://www.kideos.com/ • Videos for Kids--A site where kids cansafely watch videos online - all videos havebeen screened before being published.

25. Library of Congress Teacher Site • http://www.loc.gov/teachers/

26. Photo Editing Sites • Pixlr • http://pixlr.com/ • Picnik • Be Funky • http://befunky.com/ • easy to use image editor  • don't need to register or log in to use the features  •  Aviary: Edit images, design logos, find colors, collaborate, and more • http://www.aviary.com/

27. Simply Noise • Free white noise generator • http://www.simplynoise.com/ • provides white background noise to help you concentrate if other noises are distracting.