Day 4: ISU Mesonet

Boy, I'm sure glad I didn't promise 30 sequential days, as I have been sick.  I'm better now after a round of antibiotics!

I love this site.   Teachers of earth science can see the progression of weather in real-time across the state by looking at the webcams from Sioux Falls, KCCI, KCRG, and the Iowa DOT.  Compare with the results of the current radar from the national weather service, or let kids see and critique the 'cool lapses' videos cloud types, precipitation types, and landscape changes across the state.   After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, especially in the world of earth science.

What would you  use this site for in terms of classroom resources?

Toondoo.com

This is another tool that my students really like, and it's great for telling stories.  If the kids are artists, they can make transparent gifs of their work and put it into the cartoon shot.  There are educational versions that can load to your school, as well as the freeware version that I use.

Toondoo is definitely worth a look for people in all content area.

Vocaroo

Is anyone out there using Vocaroo for student oral work?  I find that many of my students do better when they have an option to respond to essay questions orally.  Vocaroo provides an easy way to do this, as they don't even have to sign in.   They simple hit record, and then when they are done, there's a button at the bottom that allows them to download the .wav file so I can listen to it.

Pretty easy to use!