Web Based Tools Part 2

After last week, I was excited to find even more web based tools that I could use in my classroom. I liked how this list was organized by activities. This will be helpful for future reference when there is a specific activity I am interested in doing with my class, I can come back to this site and find a tool easily.
The first activity I found interesting was the time lines. This section had multiple web based tools that would be very helpful in the classroom. I found the website, Timetoast timeline, to be the best. I liked this website the best because it was very user friendly. It was really easy to make a timeline using this site. The free account only allows one user to work on the timeline but the more advanced accounts allow multiple users to work on it. This would be great for working in groups on a project. The tool allows the user to add events which includes pictures and description, great for making time lines for historical events.
The web tool Chatzy was another that I found intriguing. Students always have questions at home about homework or projects and they do not always have a way of asking the teacher. Chatzy is a private chat room that can be created by the teacher. It would be a great way for students to talk about projects together after school hours. The great thing is that it is private and a teacher could easily monitor it.
I think my favorite web tool on the whole list is ePals Global Community. Teachers from all around the world can look for other classrooms to connect with virtually or even to become pen pals with. A Spanish teacher in the US could search for classes from Spanish speaking countries and even by age so that the students can be communicating with peers. It is a simple way to become connected with people from all over. They have some great resources for teachers as well.
The last tool I found to be really great is Sweet Search. This is a search engine designed for students. It searches websites and articles for the words you searched for and yields many more results than google seems to do. I searched a simple statement like "animals" and found a great assortment of information that involved animals in some way.
I think it is great that people have created these lists of resources on the web because without it, many people would never find these tools. So many of them can easily be used in the classroom, making it more effective or more interactive. I know that I will be bookmarking these lists to come back to in the future!