Google Docs is a very cool online Office suite of apps. It includes a word processor, a spreadsheet, presentation software (like PowerPoint), and a online form creator. The form creator will allow you to create an online survey or even an online quiz for students to take. And that’s not all that Google Docs can do. As a bonus, it is all free! There are several video tutorials on how to create...

Another frequently asked question is how to get PowerPoint files into SMART Notebook. The easy answer is to do a Smart Print Capture. First open your PowerPoint file and go to File and then choose Print. In the drop down menu tha allows you to choose which printer you want to use, select Smart Print Capture. Choose your other options for example do you want a note taking page with three slides or each...

Two websites that I like to use for storytelling/story writing are Kerpoof and Big Universe. The first, Kerpoof, will allow students to choose a scene and then add characters to the scene. You can add motions and effects to the characters making for a really cool little “movie making” lite experience. The other allows students to create online books. Students can write story and then add...

The Ninja’s favorite new video sharing site is edublogs.tv. Created by the same people who created edublogs, this is a site similar to TeacherTube or YouTube that allows teacher share their educationally related videos with the Internets. Bonus, there is no advertising on the site and if you embed the video into a blog, when the video is played, there isn’t a selection of other videos you...

Today (April 22) is Earth Day! May the Tech Ninja humbly suggest the website Meet the Greens: A site for kids about looking after the planet. The Greens are a family who are looking for ways to help out planet Earth. Different “Green” topics are covered in “episodes” that is a collection of links from Flash cartoons about the Greens (very humorous) to links to online quizzes...

In an age of multiple formats for different types of media, it can get confusing even for a Tech Ninja. There’s .wma, .wmv, .mp3, .mp4, .flv, .mov, .doc, .txt, .htm, and the list goes on. It always seems to be the case that the format that you need in isn’t around. That is why it is nice to have some bookmarks to some media conversions sites. The Ninja has two for you. The first has a pay...

Spelling City is a website that the Ninja’s class has been using for quite a few months. Teachers can add their spelling lists and then students can play games or even take tests online. There are a few things that the Ninja would like to see, like the ability to link to a specific spelling list, but the Ninja likes it as do the ‘Lil Ninjas.

Another education focused website for sharing video is SchoolTube.com. SchoolTube seems to be geared more to student produced information and videos rather than the teacher. In the Ninja’s humble opinion, SchoolTube is much more difficult to navigate and isn’t as user friendly at TeacherTube.

YouTube could be used as a resource to find movies and drop into SmartBoard Notebook. However many school districts block the website because of inappropriate material that has been posted there. Enter TeacherTube (http://www.teachertube.com) the YouTube for teachers. Teachers with a knack for making videos have posted all kinds of great, curriculum-rich resources just waiting for you to find them...

M&M Data Survey is a website that allows students to gather and share data about the color of M&Ms. Students can then take and manipulate the data, put it into graphs. The site also includes a downloads page in which you can get letter to send home to parents informing them of the project and worksheets that guide students through the data gathering and to graphing their own data. Download...