The good news is that, with the technology available today, there is a plethora of tools available to provide numerous options for every learner. Because most of the emerging tools are free of monetary cost, because they are readily available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection, and because they are easy to use, there is no excuse for teachers who do not use these tools or make them available to the learners they support.

Flypaper is a versatile presentation tool with an infinite range of potential uses by learners and teachers–to engage, represent, and express. Flypaper is easy to learn and use. It is a downloadable program for the PC, so it can be used off line when an internet connection is unavailable. Still, you can easily share your work online in the Flypaper “community”, or embed it wherever else you want to. Flypaper has made it easy to turn your presentation into a flash file, and you can even upload it directly to Youtube from within the application.

In a Flypaper presentation, you can include virtually anything you choose–text, graphics, audio, video, action buttons, hyperlinks, etc. I particularly like the fact that it is convenient for the presenter to add voice narration. A presentation may be a single page, or it may contain multiple “chapters” with as many pages as you want.

Flypaper encourages you to download “models” created by other users, and to use these models as templates for your own work. Flypaper offers tutorials for new users, as well as user forums. There is also a well organized 114 page user manual in pdf format.

I’ve embedded an example of a Flypaper presentation here that merely hints at the potential of the application.

SEN Teacher “…provides cost-free teaching & learning resources for students with special needs and learning disabilities.” That’s how this major repository of special ed resources sums itself up. (SEN is the acronym from the UK that stands for Special Education Needs.)

SEN Teacher offers a substantial collection of “printable” downloads. There are links to websites that provide information about a wide range of disabilities. There is also significant list of websites that offer free online resources. Jane especially appreciated finding links to Tinsnips and Ispeek here.

Finally, there are numerous links to freeware download sites. The free software listed here includes programs to help develop basic mouse and other computer skills, programs to practice switch use, programs that support curriculum, and much more. There are even a few programs by SEN Teacher itself (eg. 1-5 Counting, 3D Shape Venn, Buried 3D Shape, Girl Face Matching)

The screenshots below show the free programs listed by SEN Teacher and the helpful way in which these are organized on the site.

Childtopia is a website from Spain that offers a collection of online early learning and primary activities that can be accessed in English, French, Spanish, Catalan and Basque. Chiltopia accurately claims to be a “safe place to play and learn”, with countless online activities and printable worksheets. The screenshot below shows the range of available activities. Helpfully, the name of each category is spoken as you mouse over its button.

I believe that the “Listen and Reading Comprehension” section is especially impressive. Beautifully illustrated stories are read aloud, with each word highlighted as it is read. Each story is accompanied by a set of comprehension questions that are also read aloud. Independent readers, however, have the option of reading the stories and questions to themselves. The “Tales” section offers 7 traditional fairy tales. These are illustrated and read aloud with the text onscreen, but text is not highlighted as it is read.

Apart from having the opportunity to purchase Childtopia’s activities on CD for use when you cannot be online, there is no advertising on this site.  All activities on the CD’s can be used free of charge online.

do2Learn is a website that offers an extensive set of resources designed specifically to support the learning of fundamental skills by individuals with special needs. This site offers products for sale, but it also provides a significant number of helpful teaching and learning resources that can be downloaded free of charge. There are also some free online activities that support learning.

Resources available for download include symbol sets to help learn and communicate about daily living skills, pictures and symbols for creating social stories, visual maps, practice guides for learning to print and write, a variety of step-by-step art activities, as well as sing-along songs and interactive games to help learn basic skills.

Do2Learn provides resources about disabilities for teachers and families. Of special note is the “FASD Toolbox for Teachers”. This is a collection of effective classroom strategies for supporting learners with fetal alcohol syndrome disorder.

FREE online resources and downloadable programs for learners.

I’m highlighting another online resource that has been around since before the advent of the Read/Write Web. According to the copyright date, it looks as though this site has been facilitating user-generated content since 2002. This is a site where teachers or parents can create interactive online learning activities, with an individual URL for each activity. Kudos to Kathleen J. Chamberlain and Mark Cogan of the Oswego City School District for being in the Vanguard of the Web 2.0 movement!

OSCD Ineractive Games offers a platform for creating and sharing a variety of interactive online learning activities. The user interface for creating the activities is straightforward and user-friendly, with very clear instructions. Each activity is saved and assigned a unique URL. This means the activity is available for multiple users, and can be used again for review or re-enforcement at a later date.

OSCD Interactive Games is perfect for tailor-making classroom activities with specific content. It is ideal for differentiated instruction where content needs to be varied. It is probably best suited for learners at the elementary level, with most activities being some variation on matching. A multiple choice quiz builder is also available.

Here’s the link to a simple matching activity that I created in just a couple of minutes. The screen shot below shows the user interface for creating this activity.

As a bonus, this site contains about 60 pre-made math drill activities. These may be used as-is, or they can be used as templates for creating your own activities.

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

FREE online resources and downloadable programs for learners and their teachers.

Today I’m featuring a remarkable resource that has been made available to the world by a school in Courtenay, British Columbia. This online library is a tribute to the vision, talent and effort of Stewart Savard, the school’s librarian. It so happens that Courtenay is where I live, and it’s an honour to know Stew, and to get to work with him on occasion.

Courtenay Middle School Library (online resource) The growing collection of digital resources housed on this Vancouver Island middle school’s website is truly remarkable. In addition to some resources that you can download, there’s an extensive and well organized catalogue of links to some of the very best online resources available anywhere.

There is much of value here to middle school learners and their teachers everywhere. By virtue of the multiple ways that users can access material on the site, and because of way the library identifies the reading level of the material, the library is built firmly on UDL principles. (UDL= Universal Design for Learning)

Downhill skiing has provided the model for rating the degree of reading challenge for each catelogued item, as illustrated below:

Material is organized by unit under main subject headings and sub-headings. For example, under Social Studies, there are four main sub-headings: History; Current Events; Geography; Research Topics. Under History, you then find the following units: Ancient China; Ancient Egypt; Ancient Greece; Early Humans; Indian Empires; Mesopotamia; Middle Ages; Mongol Empire; Renaissance; Roman Empire. For each of these units, resources are organized under a helpful Table of Contents.

There’s a terrific Free Audio Book collection, with links to audio files of recorded human readers. There’s also a collection of novels available for “Assisted Reading“. The latter includes text files that can be downloaded for use with e-text reading software, as well as some KESI files that open in Kurzweil 3000. KESI files are available to download for some of the material catalogued under other subject headings as well.

There is much more at Courtenay Middle School’s online library, but no description I offer would do it justice. It needs to be explored and used to be fully appreciated.

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

FREE online resources and downloadable programs for learners and their teachers.

Today’s resource helps make the point that our students need access to the internet. This is but one of countless free resources that can benefit all learners in every classroom. It is unfortunate that too many schools are still restricting access to the internet instead of focusing on teaching safe and appropriate internet use.

Math’s Dictionary for Kids 2007 (online resource) This is a powerful online resource for young maths students. As the names says, it is a maths dictionary. The name doesn’t adequately indicate how well organized and how well illustrated it is.

The straightforward user interface also makes this dictionary easy to use. Simply click on the letter, then find the term you’re looking for and click on that. Here’s what you get when you click on C and then select “chance”. As you can see, there are even interactive illustrations for some of the terms.  There are also practice exercises for some.

(If you click on the image, you should be able to see the entire screenshot.)

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

I’m featuring another great math website today. There are many very good math sites out there, and this one ranks right up there with the best of them.

Math Playground (online resource) This “playground” is really a portal to a whole world of high quality math activities and resources. Most of these resources are geared for elementary students, but there is also a significant section of the site, called SAT Math Pro, dedicated to grades 7+. It is evident that the activities at the Math Playground have been put together by experienced math teachers.

The interactive activities for students are straightforward, easy to learn and engaging. There are also numerous excellent video tutorials that do a great job of explaining and demonstrating math skills and concepts. Both the videos and the practice exercises can be used to great effect by teachers who have an internet connection and multi-media projector in their classrooms.

The Math Playground places a strong emphasis on word problems, with a focus on helping students develop visual strategies for solving them. The section called “Thinking Blocks” is especially impressive in this regard.

There are two other areas of the math playground–Math Games and Logic Games. These games stand head and shoulders above most math games available on the internet. The screenshots below show some of what is available in these two areas. (Click on thumbnail to enlarge, and use your browser’s back button to return to this page.)

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

Today I’m featuring another website that is exceptional in terms of both the quality and the scope of what it has to offer. It is also an inspiring example of what an individual school can do. To be fair, they haven’t done it overnight. Woodlands Junior School has been online since 1999. There has clearly been visionary leadership here with an ongoing commitment to excellence.

Woodlands Web (online resource) Woodlands Junior School in the UK has created a very special and incredibly useful website. It is a repository of well organized and easily accessed interactive learning activities and games. Although Woodlands Junior students are aged 7 to 11, many of the activities housed on the website are appropriate for children both younger and older.

There are numerous features of this site that set it apart. First, there is the simple uncluttered interface that is completely ad-free and easy to navigate. Then there is the exceptional quality of the activities that are housed or linked on the site. There are both activities that have been created at Woodlands as well as links to some of the best that other sites have to offer. Activities are straightforward and engaging. Also notable is the extensive range of offerings.

In support of curriculum, activities are organized into four main areas: Literacy Zone; Maths Zone; Science Zone; Homework Help. As well, there is information about the UK in a special section entitled British Life and Festivals. Other subjects featured include playground games, safe internet surfing, jokes and brain teasers.

Finally, this site offers an extensive collection of games. By my count, there are currently 115 games in the collection. Titles range from Maniac Racers to Word Meisters. The top five games games of the moment are: Jet Slalom; Basketball; Tank Game; Harry Potter; 3D Driver. The site says these games are for the students, “…to enjoy during free time and when they are at home.”

The screenshot below shows only the top half of the starting interface for the Woodlands Web, but it gives an idea of how well the site is organized and of how clearly it is presented.

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

Here’s another terrific “find” shared by Kevin Jarrett of NCS-Tech! If you haven’t been to Kevin’s site, I highly recommend a visit. Kevin puts up a new post almost every day, and if you are interested in using technology in education, those posts are well worth reading. I’ve learned a great deal and found numerous priceless treasures on Kevin’s site.

School Time Games (online resource) This site is a veritable vault of quality online games and activities that re-enforce curriculum content while providing a great deal of engaging fun. There are currently nearly 100 flash and shockwave activities housed on the site, as well as an impressive library of online videos. The site has targeted students aged 8 and older.

School Time Games has been created by a teacher named Jason Miller. All activities are chosen by his students. The students also test each one to ensure that it is completely appropriate in a school setting, that it is easy to learn, that it provides a reasonable degree of challenge, and that it is fun to play.

The games are helpfully organized by subject area: Social Studies (not unduly focused on the US); Language Arts; Science; Math; Sports; Logic; Art & Music; Arcade. The games require Shockwave and Flash players that can be easily downloaded and installed. The site is ad-supported, but exclusively with text-only Google adsense. Some of the games can be downloaded and played offline. In a few instances, the developoers of the games want you to purchase an offline version.

As a significant bonus, School Time Games also offers a collection of links to short online videos. The videos, too, are categorized by subject area: science; math; language arts; social studies; music & art; entertainment. I checked out several of the videos and found all to be of goood quality and from three to five minutes in length. The video content was invariably well worthwhile.

The screenshots below demonstrate the manner in which activities are organized and presented on School Time Games.