You Oughta Know About Classroom Websites

I'm linking up with Buzzing With Mrs. McClain for another You Oughta Know Blog hop!

This month, You Oughta Know about Classroom Websites!

I am so excited to tell you all about the classroom website I created. It was originally for a grad class assignment but I've kept it going and it's been a big hit with the parents & students this year!

First, sign up for a Weebly Education site. A normal free Weebly site will limit the number of "pages" your site can have, but free education sites are not limited.

Once you sign up, you'll have to pick a "theme" (there are LOADS to choose from!)

Then you should think about what you'd like to include on your site. These are the pages I have...

Some of the pages have "sub pages" that open a drop down menu...

Once you have an idea of what you'd like to have on your classroom website, you can start to create pages...

An important component on this page for me is if you click advanced... you then have the option to make the page "unsearchable" I select this for EVERY page of my classroom website. This makes it impossible for someone to search my name and find the site. It makes me and my students' parents a lot more comfortable about having their children's pictures online. You can also change the visibility (above) but that means you have to give your website a password.

After you have your page set up, and set to your preferred privacy, click save & edit (bottom right) and you'll be headed to this page...

From this page, you "drag and drop" components onto your page, whether it be text or a document or photos. Some of the features can only be used if you pay for your site, but this hasn't been an issue for me yet.

The only drag and drop that I wish I could use is the HD Video, however, you can upload to Youtube and set your video as "unlisted" and then it cannot be searched on Youtube.

Once you have your site set up, you can add sites for you students too. I haven't experimented with this yet, but I hope to (and will certainly post about it!). Right now, I have a few "blog" pages set up on the site and log in and let students post about our day or post their published writing. I've only had the site for a few months and have LOVED it as a connection between school & home. I don't print out newsletters anymore, I just post them on our website. I no longer email photos home, I post them on our website!

I would love to share the link to my website, I'm really proud of it, but I'm uncomfortable posting the site link for the whole world to access. If you'd like to see my class website, email me and I'd be happy to give you the link on  a more personal basis. Weebly is SUPER user friendly, and I think you'll find yourself able to catch on to the tools very quickly!

Be sure to check out other blog posts on today's Blog Hop...

An InLinkz Link-up

Mentoring Minds - A website review

Hello teachers...

Today I'd like to share a new (to me) educational resource website called Mentoring Minds. Although the biggest purpose of the site is to promote their Common Core Aligned ELA and Math products, as well as various other educational resources... I was drawn in by their blog posts.

 You can find their blog most easily by going to their homepage, and scrolling to the bottom of the page and on the bottom right, under About Us, you will find a link to their blog posts.

 The blog is very teacher-friendly in that it is organized so you can find what you want quickly and efficiently by using their Categories list at the top right of the blog. Each category is specific and allows teachers (who all have limited time) go directly to what they need and are interested in.

I spent some time reading their blog posts and here were my 3 biggest take-aways:

1. The posts are a reasonable length - Let's be honest, as teachers we don't always have time to sit down and read lengthy articles, blog posts, etc.
2. Although many of their posts are promoting their products, employees, etc. most posts focus on day-to-day helpful ideas and tips for any teacher.
3. There is a big focus on technology in many of their posts. If you're interested technology in your classroom you'll find lots of information on their blog under blended learning.


Finally, here are the top 3 Mentoring Minds blog posts you should check out:

1. Student Infographics - this post talks about a website that makes great (and free) infographics you can use in your classroom. I learned about the excitement infographics can create in your classroom in one of my grad classes and seeing Mentoring Minds encourage the use of infographics in the classroom was wonderful to see!

2. Keeping Up With Tech - this post offers 3 quick and easy ways you can best keep up with technology to use in the classroom. There are constantly new apps, new websites, new resources and although it is impossible to keep up with them all, these 3 tips make "keeping up" feel manageable.

3. The Age of Digital Storytelling - This post was of extra interest to me because of the grad class I am currently in. We have a project in which we will use digital storytelling, so I imagine I will be posting again about digital storytelling. This post talks about the value of using digital storytelling within the classroom.

There are MANY other posts with lots of great information on Mentoring Minds' blog. I'd also love to hear from anyone who has used their products as the company seems to be very current on the needs of classrooms in a technology-age! If this is the first time you're hearing about Mentoring Minds, go check them out!




*All images/screenshots were taken from Mentoring Minds website*

2 Fantastic Websites for Teachers

I am SO excited about the 2 websites I just found...

How often have you wanted to make a worksheet or anything else to sell on TPT and struggled to find clip art that was free to fit your needs? Yes of course mycutegraphics is wonderful (& free), but of course as any site, it's limited. In google searching I came across openclipart.org

This amazing website is for ANYONE to use and download clip art FOR FREE and there isn't even any "credit" that needs to be given within a product that you sell. Trust me, I looked through terms of use and FAQ's... here's what I found... How Can Clips be Used?

If you haven't checked out mycutegraphics before, this post officially will be giving you 3 great resources ;)

Okay and finally... when I was all done with each month's calendar sets for my TPT Store, I was freaking out at the thought of how long it would take for me to put all the files together in Mac Pages. Then I thought, hmmm there has to be a way to combine PDF files... so if I take off the credits page for all months except December and put all the credits onto December then merge the PDF files it'll be wayyyy less time & work... so a google search ensued and I found this gem...

All you have to do is upload the PDF files you want merged and in seconds you have one big merged PDF file. This is SO useful for TPT sellers who like to offer products both separately and in bundles. Hooray for some precious time saved!

I hope some of these resources can help you out as you either sell on TPT or simply make worksheets for your classroom (which if you do, you should totally open a TPT store and share with the rest of us out there!)