A Smilebox Card for Christmas?

This year (for the 3rd year in a row), we are going green and emailing our Christmas card to our friends and family. You may ask Why? Well, several reasons...first, most Christmas cards are hung up for the holiday season, then thrown out. So, we're helping the environment. Second, saving on money. Rather than pay for the cost of printing a card and postage, we are sending it by email or Facebook to everyone we want to share it with, rather than limiting it to a number of friends and family due to budgeting costs.
So, help the environment, save some $$, and send your Christmas (or any other season for that matter) using Smilebox. If you are an educator, you can request a free premium account that will remove any ads. It's good for one year and you just have to renew it for free each year.
Smilebox also has invitations, scrapbook pages, thank yous, announcements, newsletters, calendars, and more!!!
Here is our card for this year if you are wondering what Smilebox is all about...

Create your own free digital ecard

Christmas Activities Including Technology

I've been collecting ideas over Twitter and saving them to my Diigo account for the Christmas holiday. Today's blog post is to share just a few of those sites to you to use with your students this holiday season. Click the word Diigo above to see more than what is listed below.

The first is Pleasant Grove's Christmas Around the World site. This site has Scavenger Hunts for students to complete with their computers. It really is a great way for kids to learn more about the holiday season in different parts of the world. 


Another site is an Interactive Christmas card that students may enjoy on the SmartBoard.  Thanks to @ambercoggin for sharing this site!!! Amber also has a post on Rudolph is Missing that is great for the SmartBoard.

Here is a blog post from Lauren Grossberg showcasing 4 sites for kids with holiday cheer! 


Here's a blog post on Great Websites for Christmas Activities by Kevin Cummins.


Those should be a great start! Have fun and I know your students will love the interaction and holiday cheer!!

Spelling and Vocabulary Site

This FREE site by Houghton Mifflin is a great one even if you use another resource for Spelling and Vocabulary. Students can choose their grade level ranging from 1st-6th grades. There are various activities for students to participate in to review spelling, proof-reading, and vocabulary.

The activities use Flash and allow students to play online. Activities include a crossword game, word find, word builder, word sort, proofreading, web tales, and more.

Students choose their grade level then select a unit for most activities. There are a ton to choose from so your students can visit this site often and still have new information to study and review!

I would add this bookmark to your site or student laptops/computers and also send it home to inform parents of a great site to help their child review spelling and vocabulary. Your students will have fun and won't even realize how much they are learning! :)