The Web Catcher » Customizable

RIF Reading Planet

K. Haugen — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:46:46 +0000

From RIF (Reading is Fundamental) comes the Reading Planet, a place to explore, create and… read! Choose from the Activity Lab, Games Station, Book Zone or Express Yourself. Explore and have fun, or ‘join the club’ to be able to create your own ‘bookshelf’ and save your activities.

Favorites: The activity lab includes links to kids contests, and in Writer’s Blocks you can collaborate with other kids online to write a story together. The super sorter helps kids get a recommended reading list after answering a few questions.

Pros: Bright, no ads, many options. Membership is free and gives some nice additional features.

Cons: Animated stories simply play or pause and the animation, while simple, distracts from paying attention to the text. More reading is required to navigate this site than one would expect from a site for kids learning to read

Leo Reynold’s Letter Collection

K. Haugen — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 02:51:35 +0000

Today we take you to a Flickr page of photo collections by photographer Leo Reynolds. What’s unique about Leo’s photos is he takes close-ups of letters in all kinds of wonderful, whimsical locations, often more than 100 examples of each letter. He invites visitors to use the letters (and many, many other photos) in any non-profit activities, under a Creative Commons license. You’ll want to visit Leo’s other collections as well, including signs, nuts and bolts, mosaics, cemetaries and churches, and more. This site invites you to consider letters and literacy in a whole new light!

Wordsmyth GlossaryMaker

K. Haugen — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 05:24:33 +0000

The Wordsmyth GlossaryMaker allows you to generate a “miniature dictionary”. You can type or paste a list of vocabulary words in Step 1, and customize your dictionary’s level of detail in Step 2.

GhostReader from ConvenienceWare

K. Haugen — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:00:24 +0000

GhostReader (formerly TextParrot) reads text aloud with high quality voices and optional word-by-word highlighting. From ConvenienceWare, a part of AssistiveWare, which makes more fully featured accessibility software and utilities for people with disabilities

VoiceThread

K. Haugen — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:23:02 +0000

VoiceThread is an awesome tool for creating and sharing annotated online slideshows that you have to experience for yourself. Make your own slideshows or browse what others have done.

You can interact by recording or typing comments directly in others’ slide shows and then listen or read what others have said, which creates a non-linear conversation in which anyone can participate.

It’s also possible to doodle on your slideshows, and the doodles fade away (or stick, if you tell them to).

There are numerous examples of how one could use VoiceThread in the classroom.

Aunty Math

K. Haugen — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:19:36 +0000

Aunty Math
gives kids in K-5 a different math challenge each week, with three levels (regular, ‘a wee bit harder,’ and ‘a wee bit easier’). Kids can try the challenge and submit their answers. Teachers and parents can view tips on how to use the challenges with kids, what math is involved and how to modify or extend the challenges for different learners.