Greetings all!

August is here - so you know what that means - THE CLOCK IS TICKING! Soon you'll be back in school! Better get crackin' on your fun technology projects!

I came across this site a while ago - http://www.freshbrain.org/ - ridiculously awesome - it's not just a website (*cough* like this *cough*) - it's a COMMUNITY where you sign up, interact with people, share ideas, etc.

So, yeah, FOR THIS ONE YOU'RE GONNA NEED THE 'RENTS TO SIGN YOU UP. Yep, the dreaded "13 or over" applies, it's right here in the fine print.

Ok, so why would you want an account on FreshBrain? Well, other than meeting up with like-minded future entrepreneur brainiacs, how about FREE MONEY? Can you say "SCHOLARSHIPS?" Sure, I knew you could. Check it: http://www.freshbrain.org/scholarships.

Anyway, there is a LOT MORE to FreshBrain - check it out, then tell your parents, and let them know you want to sign up, mmmmmmmkay?

Mr. Jarrett

(Image credit: SheKnowsParenting)

It's been a little hot lately. Ya think!?!?

Figured everyone might like to cool down a bit with some insanely great websites for making music. I've put together a few of my favorites, and several others I was able to dig up with a little help from "The Google." Enjoy!

JamStudio.com

Let's head right to the good stuff, shall we? JamStudio.com is deceptively simple. It LOOKS complicated but all you need to do is fill in the empty boxes with notes and instrument types. It's ridiculously easy! You can make ACTUAL MUSIC with this site. I am NOT KIDDING! Check out this YouTube video: "I Have You." Crazy, eh?

Next up: ToneMatrix.

ToneMatrix is one my students will recognize since we play with it regularly at school. It's super easy. Just click some boxes to fill them in and listen to the result!

Ok, how about the Tony-b  Machine?

The Tony-b  Machine is one of the few in this collection that lets you RECORD your work. Press start and see what you can come up with!

On the other extreme, Incredibox is ... well, you just have to see it:

I have no idea what those symbols mean. I just know it's cool as heck to combine them into various patterns!

This last one is gonna cost me some cool points, but it's okay ... I can take the heat.

It's Dora's Music Maker!

Yes kids, it's THAT Dora, but listen up - this app rocks! I dare you to crank out some music with Dora's Music Maker and NOT start dancing. Go on! I TRIPLE-DOG-DARE you!

Have some fun and stay cool!

Mr. Jarrett

Hi everyone,

We've had quite a bit of rain in the last week or so - but I bet you've taken lots of pics already this summer!

Ready to have some serious fun with them? And I don't mean just tweaking with BeFunky. :)

I have two crazy mad awesome sites to share with you today that will be good for HOURS of fun ... and let your creativity run wild!

The first is Big Huge Labs. There are many great effects to choose from. Here's a quick example I put together using the "Motivator" module (image credit: cameramanron):

It's pretty easy to use. Choose the effect you want, upload a pic and start playing! One tip: use the EDIT button to make changes - DON'T PRESS "BACK" or you will lose your work!

The next site is called DumpR. It works the same way. Choose an effect, upload a pic and see what happens! Here's one I just made:

One tip: don't use the "Save" feature - it will ask you to log in. Just right-click the picture and choose "Save file as" or "Save picture as." You'll be good to go.

What do you think?

Tons of possibilities here, that's what I think!

Have fun!

Mr. Jarrett

I recently came across a nifty blog called Imagination Soup, run by a mom and former elementary teacher with two young girls. It is LOADED with excellent learning activities, fun mommy & me project ideas, technology tips and more.

Imagination Soup reminds me of Playful Learning, a similarly wonderful blog I've been following for years written by Maria Bruehl, a similarly wonderful former educator mom with two young daughters:

Both of these blogs are absolutely chock full of enjoyable, inexpensive, memorable project ideas you and your kids can enjoy all year - not just all summer!

Hope this helps!

Mr. Jarrett

Hoodamath.com's collection of brain teasers, logic games and puzzles is a treasure trove of learning activities, but consider yourself warned! These games can be as addictive as they are frustrating! Factory Balls 3 (the latest version, shown above) is a terrific example. It challenges you to find the combinaton of colors and shapes necessary to "produce" the ball shown at the beginning. It's pretty easy to start out with but quickly becomes ... IMPOSSIBLE! Unless you're a second grader, of course.

Another favorite is Rotate & Roll:

The goal here is to roll your ball to the objective (in this case, the large sphere) while avoiding the 'bad guy' (black spiky dude). At level one, this is pretty simple, but it too gets crazy challenging very quickly!

There are way, way, waaaaaay too many of these games to review here - if you're a kid, you already know about them - if you're a parent or teacher, just show this site to a kid, then get out of the way!

Main site: http://hoodamath.com/

Logic games: http://hoodamath.com/games/

Have fun!

Mr. Jarrett

 

 

Well, we woke up this morning to powerful thunderstorms that moved through our area ... followed by more clouds ... and judging by the weather forecast ... more clouds and rain are in store today and tonight. :(

So, are you looking for something to do? This is a PERFECT day to begin experimenting with Animoto ... assuming you have pictures already ... though it might be too early for that! Summer has just gotten underway.

Days like this are also PERFECT for working on KEYBOARDING skills ... using my ALL TIME FAVORITE keyboarding website ... Super Hyper Spider Typer!

Perfect for typists of ANY AGE (kids - challenge your parents to a couple of rounds - show them what you're made of!) - this is one of my absolute favorite keyboarding games.

Another favorite - Keyboard Climber! This is for the littlest kids but can be effective as a "race to the top" (sorry kids, bad pun, you wouldn't understand.)

If for some reason these aren't enough - check out my complete collection of the best free keyboarding sites here.

Have fun and don't worry - the sun will be out soon!

Mr. Jarrett

Hi everyone!

Just got an email from the good folks at Animoto entitled "Your Guide to Hot Summer Photos & Videos." <= click that link to see what's in the guide!

Hope you are having a great summer! I'm spending most of this week at a cool technology conference in Philadelphia called ISTE 2011. Talking to tons of technology-savvy teachers, getting great ideas for computer lab (and other) projects (even clubs) for next year!

See you around!

Mr. Jarrett

 

Ok, let's take a look at a terrific FREE (mostly) site you can use to make your photos into huge piles of digital AWESOME.

BeFunky.com has been one of our favorites at NCS for years. You don't need to sign up and many of the effects can be applied with a few clicks. (You can grab a the "Plus" plan for a few $ a month (your parents will need to pay) but it's not necessary.)

Let's start with this photo:

photo credit: wsilver

BTW, notice the little "cc" up above? That means this photo is what is called "Creative Commons" licensed and we are free to share and remix the image - as long as we give the author credit (which we did) and don't do it commercially (charge money for it.)

So let's get busy...

First, we upload the pic to BeFunky, then start pushing buttons to apply effects you want. Press Save and your're done. Some examples:

So what do you think? Give it a try! Head over to BeFunky.com right now!

Mr. Jarrett