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Compare and Contrast map – Free Graphic Organizer

Compare and Contrast map is a great interactive graphic organizer. It is offered for free from Read Write Think to whom i channel my deep gratitude for their fantastic resources. Compare and Contrast  Map, as its name suggests, is a tool that allows students to draw their differences and similarities about anything they want , be it characters in a text , political system of countries , or simply state what they like and dislike about a lesson plan. What i like the most about this tool is that it lets you share the finalized work with your students or friends using email options which was not the case with some of the graphic tools i talked about here earlier and that offer just the printing options.





How can i get started using Compare and Contrast ?

Head over to Compare and Contrast main page
Click on get started and a pop up window will be displayed

Fill in the info requested
and click on continue
Keep filling in the boxes provided for you when you click on continue till you are done



Then click on share and select email option

Applications of Compare and Contrast in education

As i have already mentioned earlier ; this tool is really a great helper for educators. It will allow them to draw character sketches including similarities and differences within a certain passage or novel. It can also be used to develop an outline for one of three types of comparison essays: whole-to-whole, similarities-to-differences, or point-to-point
That’s it about Compare and Contrast Map – Free Graphic Organizer.

Character Trading Cards – Explore and Create Characters Easily

Character Trading Cards is another great education tool that educators can use with their students for free. It is thanks to Read Write Think that we have these awesome collection of creative tools at our hands. Character Trading Cards is a tool that allows students to explore a character in a book and organize info around it into a beautiful outline. Students will love it so much i am sure for it is very easy to use and offers some already premade backgrounds for you to fill in.





How can i get started using Character Trading Card ?

Head over to Character Trading Card main page
Click on Get Started and a pop up window will be displayed where you will have to fill in your name , the character’s name and story title just like i did in this screenshot and then click ok



Now fill in the info about :
1 – description :
  • setting
  • physical features
  • personality
2 – Insights :
  • thoughts
  • feelings
3 – development :
  • the character’s problem
  • The character’s goal
  • Outcome
4 – Statements and Actions :
  • what is the most important things the character says ?
  • What is the character’s most important action ?
  • How does the character get along with other characters ?
5 – My Impressions
  • What do you like most about this character ?
  • What do you dislike most about this Character ?
  • Who does this character remind you of and why ?



After you have answered and filled all the requested forms then you can press on print to get your printout .

Applications of Character Trading Cards in education

Character Trading Cards is a very important tool in education. It can be used for reading activities, students read a short passage then they try to fill in the characters info using this handy tool to demonstrate their literacy knowledge and skills . It can also be used as a prewriting activity or with narrative stories. Students hold out their character cards and prompt others to write a story about them or they can use it to play guessing games. It is so much fun for students .
That’s it about Character Trading Cards – Explore and Create Characters Easily.

Bio Cube: Summarize a person’s biography easily

Bio Cube is another educational tool that is offered for free by Read Write Think. It allows students to summarize a person’s biography into a neat and well organized sort of outline. It has an intuitive interface where info are organized into different categories. The final printout you get after you are done with customization can be folded into a fun cube shape that can be used for future reference.




How can i get started using Bio Cube ?

Head over to Bio Cube main page
Click Get started, a popup window will be displayed

Now fill in the requested information , click on any number to rotate the cube

  1. person’s name , time and place
  2. Personal background
  3. Personality traits
  4. Significance
  5. Biggest obstacle
  6. Important quotation
Just don’t forget to print out your cube for it will not be save online

Applications of Bio Cube in education

Bio Cube is extremely important in education. It can have several uses and the first one of them is to allow students to make interesting autobiographies about persons they study. They can also use it as a pre-reading or pre-writing activity to brainstorm ideas about a certain figure. Students can also use it to write their own autobiography  and share cubes with each other. With Bio Cube students will be able to effectively synthesize what they have learnt.
That’s it about Bio Cube: Summarize a person’s biography easily.

Cross Word Puzzles – create puzzles easily

Cross Word Puzzles is a great tool for educators that is again offered for free by Read Write Think. I really love this tool for it allows you to make interesting puzzles very easily and at the instance of a click. Hey !!! you do not need to be a technology or math wizard to start using it. It is very simple to use and all it takes is filling up the boxes. I still remember years ago when i wanted to create a synonyms puzzle it took me almost five hours to come up with the columns, grids, clues and words and now i can do the same work in 15 mints , you see how technology is changing our life for the BEST.



How can i get started using Cross Word Puzzles

Head over to Cross Word Puzzles main page
Click on get started
Fill in your name and select the grade

Click on create your own or you can choose of theirs
Give a name to your puzzle
add words to it then click on create puzzle
Now you can click on add clues to clue your words
click on finish and you will have your finalized crossword at your hand for printing.
Please read this little note from Cross Word Puzzles :
The tool also includes a Play mode with crossword puzzles for students in grades K–12. Included with each puzzle are a For Teachers page with troubleshooting help and ideas for use as well as a Tips & Hints page designed to scaffold students' learning and help them do the research necessary to solve the puzzle.

Applications of Cross Word Puzzles in education

Crossword puzzles is a great tool for educators. It will help them improve their students’ thinking powers. Students can use it to revise their content area like vocabulary and grammar. I would really recommend it for you if you are a language teacher , students will benefit a lot from it and by the end of the year they will have memorized a huge number of vocabulary items just by playing Crossword puzzle.If you are teaching elementary or higher students then you can let them use it to create their own puzzles and share it with their colleagues. It can be so much fun while learning is taking place smoothly.
That’s it about Cross Word Puzzles – create puzzles easily.

Alphabet Organizer – Organize and Summarize Alphabetically

Alphabet Organizer is a great tool offered for free by Read Write Think website. It allows its users to sort out words or list of terms using the alphabetical order. You can organize items under a specific letter or even go further than that to create an alphabet book with words for each letter of the alphabet. This interactive tool enables students to print an alphabet chart or pages for an alphabet book.


How can i get started using Alphabet Organizer ?

Head over to Alphabet Organizer main page
Click on Get Started

A pop up window will be displayed

now enter your name and title and click on ok
now select from the options you have on this new window ,

remember if you want to disable the sound that clicks make just click on the mic icon on the top of the page
Now select letter to add words to your alphabet organizer and click continue

When you are done then choose your printing options



Applications of Alphabet Organizer in education

Alphabet Organizer is a great educational tool. It has several applications for classroom teaching. Learners can use it to learn about new words , they can also use it to create sort of little dictionary like notebook where to gather all the new words they have seen during the school year and then share them with each other. Elementary and higher students can use it for brainstorming and discussion of background knowledge about a topic.
That’s it about Alphabet Organize – Organize and Summarize Alphabetically.

Print What You Like – Control what you Print

Print What You Like is a free online editor that lets you format any web page for printing. You can now control what you want to print and avoid printouts that are  full of ads and empty space. How many times we want to print an article but we end up having so many printouts that have nothing else but junk ? . As educators, we can use this handy tool to crop what we want from a webpage or even merge two pages into one before printing and sharing with students. Print What You Like is browser based and does not require any installation or download. It is really one of the great  PDF tools educators should be aware of.



Some features of Print What You Like

Here is a list of the main features that Print What You Like  offers to its users:
  • It is free (up to this moment )
  • It is very easy to use
  • It requires a sign up which is very quick
  • It allows you to modify WebPages and select what you want to print
  • It lets you combine multiple web pages - edit & print them as one document
  • You can customize the webpage by changing the size and type of the fonts and also removing the background
  • You can save your modified page as a PDF or HTML document
  • It removes ads and other junk you don't want.

How can i get started using Print What You Like ?

Head over to Print What You Like main page and sign up for a free account
Enter the URL in the box and hit start
You can play with the commands on the left
watch this video to learn more


That’s it about Print What You Like – Control what you Print.