Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip #13: What Should I Read Next?

Hello Colleagues,

Happy Tuesday!

Today's tip is partly for your students and partly for you.  It is a site called appropriately, What Should I Read Next?

This website is super simple to navigate.  Simply type in the title of a book.  Click on the title that you are thinking of...patiently wait about 10 seconds and POW!

The site delivers 'read alike' titles that you might be interested in reading.  

I tried this by putting in Beverly Cleary, my favorite children's author.  It then gave me a selection of her books to begin drilling down.  I chose The Mouse and the Motorcycle.  When I clicked on it, it gave me a huge list of books that are at a similar reading level and general topic.  This site works best with more confident readers.
















However a resource that seems to work better with the younger readers is Scholastic's Book Wizard.  It is also not perfect, but I think it does a decent job of meeting the needs of the younger reader.  

Here is a video of how to use Scholastic's Book Wizard.


So, how do you think these two tools could be helpful for you as a teacher and also just you as a reader?  I would love to hear your thoughts over on the T4 website.  

Thanks,
Todd

Todd's Tuesday Technology Tips #12: This Day In History

Hello Colleagues,

Happy Tuesday!

This week's T4 is all about "This Day in History."

The website: "On this day in history" allows you to choose any date and find out what was happening in the world on that day.  When you put in a day, you will get headlines, top songs, prices of everyday objects and much more.

Here's how to do it:

1.  Go to the website.

2.  Put in any date.

3.  Click the Quick Page option.

4.  At the top of the page you will find a link for a printable version of the page.



5.  If you choose the advanced tab, you can choose specific types of data from the day you chose.  You can even add your own information.

6.  Here are a few ways students could use this website:



How do you think you might use this tool?  Be sure to leave a comment on the T4 website!

Thanks,
Todd

Todd's Tuesday Tech Tip #11: Block Posters

Hello Colleagues,

Happy Tuesday!  Happy Election Day!

Do you like BIG posters?  I don't mean 24" by 36" posters from our fine poster printer.  Those are delightful, but I'm talking about big, like 5' by 10'!  Now that's a big poster.

Are you looking for a way to make a huge visual impact?  Look no further.  This week's tip is all about Big, Bold and Beautiful posters made simple.

Block Posters has been around for a long time.  I've used it to create a graphic that filled a whole bulletin board.  The only drawback to this program is that it prints your poster in sheets.  You have to 'assemble' the poster when you are done, but trust me, it's worth it.  Here's a sample of what's possible:



Pretty awesome huh?

Here you go:

1.  Go to Block Posters website.

2.  You can upload any graphic type image (photos, clip art, scanned drawings, etc.)  Simply click on the START here tab.

3.  Click on step one: Upload your image.

4.  Step two: Slice up your image.  (This gives you a chance to decide how many 'sheets' your poster will be wide and tall.)

5.  Step three:  Download your image.  (It downloads your image as a PDF file to your computer.)

6.  Step four:  Assemble your poster!

That's it for you T4 this week.

Be sure to leave a comment on the website about how you will use this week's T4!

Thanks,
Todd