Instructify has a link to e-Learning for Kids. It is pitched as online courses for kids. Basically they are short video tutorials and games on math, science, health, reading and keyboarding. Some interesting things that cover a variety of topics. Maybe worth checking out as an extra resource to help solidify taught concepts.

Free Technology 4 Teachers have two interesting posts worth mentioning. The first is US Government Studies Games, form a subsidiary of the State Bar of Texas. Some are Texas specific, but most are not. The other post is for Masher. You create videos by 'mashing' together various audio, video and music tracks from a large library. The free video library archive features thousands of high quality clips, including footage from CBS News, BBC Motion Gallery, China Central Television, NHK Japan, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Rip Curl, Huntley Archives and many more.

EdGalaxy reviews the latest version of Windows Live Movie Maker for PC. The latest version needs at least Vista to run it, (no XP I am afraid), but they rate it very highly for ease of use and features. It is all drag and drop so could easily be used in an educational setting.

Slightly offbeat post from MakeUseOf.com, but you may want to check it out. How to find a book without knowing the title or author, gives you the lowdown on how to use the web to track down that elusive title that is locked away in your brain.

It is not quite as nice as MiddleSpot in my opinion, but Larry Ferlazzo has alink to a new search engine, WebKruz. With WebKruz, you get thumbnail versions of the sites in your search results, and also related category searches.

Finally, there is Kids Ed Websites, which has"free high quality learning activities and games". Sorted by categories, it is a blog of educational games for kids. "Most of the activities are appropriate for kids ages 8 to 14, but some of them are fun for kids of all ages.  These activities are great for a SmartBoard or interactive whiteboard!"

Today I joined up with the folks over at Classroom 2.0. There are lots of great ideas there for using technology in education, so if you haven't already joined up, then I would definitely recommend it. Today's review contains some new material I dug up while going through the forum at Classroom 2.0.

No PowerPoint? No problem. Check out 280slides.com where you can create and share presentations for free, or download as a PowerPoint file.

Yet more mind mapping can be done over at bubbl.us. If the sites DropMind and Webspiration are not enough for you, then you might as well try bubbl.us. There seems to be no shortage of mind mapping tools just now. Everybody is doing it...

Now here is something for everyone, Commoncraft. At Commoncraft, they take a variety of subjects in technology, money, society and the environment, and explain them in plain English via a nicely animated video. Want to explain to your kids what insurance is? This will do it. Want to tell another teacher what Twitter is? This will also do that.

Finally, I know it has been around for a while, but I wanted to mention it to anyone that has not seen it. Glogster EDU lets you create interactive online posters with your students. They can be private or shared. Initially there were a few loopholes with the education accounts in terms of monitoring and privacy, but that seems to have been sorted out with some recent updates.

MakeUseOf.com has the Top 3 Sites to Make Flashcards for your Kids. Included in their review are ESL Flashcards, the Flashcard Exchange and ProProfs. You may also want to check out ProProfs selection of online learning games.

Dangerously Irrelevant are working on THE PUSH, which is a great attempt to collect a variety of education blogs together in one place. They are almost finished. Check out the Education Blogs, or Subject Specific Blogs. There are a lot of great sources here and some that I will no doubt end up adding to my Blog List.

DE Tools Tools of the Trade links to Tiny Designer. It's a free web based drawing and design program. No registration required, just click through to get started.

12 History and Social Studies sites are handily included by Free Tech 4 Teachers. Visually, they are not all the most exciting websites to navigate or use, but there is plenty of good information there. I have used 50states.com with my class in previous years and found it to be worth using.

The new PBS schedule is available via Tech&Learning. Also worth taking some time to explore is the PBS Teachers site. They are building up resources as they go, and have nice extras like the PBS Activity Packs that you can add to your own class website or blog.

The Apple has a great post on how to use a new search engine called Middle Spot. This innovative tool splits your search results window in two with text on one side and thumbnail previews of the sites on the other side. Scroll in and out of the thumbnails and save the sites you like best on the included workpad. Search the web, news, Amazon, images or Twitter.

An alternative to the mind mapping tool DropMind, (mentioned below), is myWebspiration. I first learned about this at a school in-service training day. It is in public beta, but certainly has lots of potential.

iLearn, via Larry Ferlazzo, has a review of My English Images. It is an ELL/ESL/EFL site that has pictures and worksheets that can be used in the classroom. It even has some downloadable games to play.

Finally for today, FreeTech4Teachers have reviewed AbcYa. This educational games site has been around for a little while now, but if you are a K-5 teacher who has not tried it, then it is well worth checking out. Math Man is a personal favorite of mine...

TechCrunch celebrate Animoto's addition of videos to its already impressive slide show abilities. If you didn't already know, Animoto has an educator's account that gives full and free access to what is normally a subscription account.

Discovery Channel, Siemens, and The National Science Teachers Association are teaming up to encourage environmental change at a local level, and share the results nationwide. It is a K-8 program just now, but students and teachers are eligible for prizes of up to $100,000 in grants and prizes if they can prove themselves eco-heroes!

DE Tools of the Trade has two web based screen capture programs under review just now. Screenr and the equally easy to use Screenjelly both have good potential for classroom use.

Want to know more about how to use Google effectively? Free Tech 4 Teachers has a link to Google Tutor. It is not affiliated to the search giant but has plenty to offer with tips, tricks and tutorials. Maybe even too much?

Free Technology for Teachers has 5 Ways to Get Free Stuff for Your Classroom. It includes everything from freebie sites to grant and donation websites. Worth having a look if you are looking to fund a new project or restock the class library.

MakeUseOf.com reviews Notely.net. It is an online student organizer. "It takes all the tools that a student needs to be organized and get stuff done and brings it together in a shrink wrapped package for anyone to use." May be worth sharing with older students.

Larry Ferlazzo has found More Ways to Find Other Classes for Joint Online Projects. Anyone wanting to link up with other schools should check this out.

Finally, iLearn has uncovered a succinct and visual FAQ on copyright issues in school. Cyberbee Copyright is a good resource that is easy to understand, and could provide good discussion in the classroom.

DE Tools of the Trade is touting Classtools.net and Arcademic Skill Builders today. Both are probably known to most, but are worth checking out if they are new to you. Arcademic is particularly good for Elementary students and shows how good educational games can be. My students love it!

Head over to MakeUseOf to check out DropMind, an online and offline mind mapping tool. Educators with an edu address get a free premium account for a year!

Hot on the heels of ZuiTube is Kideos, (see what they did there?), another kid friendly YouTube alternative. It seems aimed very much at a younger audience, so good for Elementary students. iLearn has a full review. Also at iLearn today is SignApp, where you can create online sign up sheets.

Christopher Dawson over at ZDNet Education reports a kid-friendly version of You Tube has been developed. ZuiTube is a safe and filtered You Tube that goes along with the KidZui browser and ZuiGames.

Toobla and Live Binders are touring a few educational blogs just now. Both let you store a variety of media together online. Toobla is more visual with a great GUI, but Live Binders would allow teachers to put folders on the desktop so kids don’t have to type addresses or get lost searching on the web. And teachers don't have to add a bookmark to every computer everytime they have a new link to share - they can just update the livebinder.

Here are a couple of useful articles from The Apple. The Top 10 Technology Tips for New Teachers, contains useful hints and tips for new teachers, but may also surprise a few veterans with some new ideas. 3 Interactive Activities for Engligh & Language Arts shows how to integrate Language Arts and Technology in the classroom.

And finally, Clif's Notes has a great slideshow on using Wordle in the classroom. What's Wordle? Click here for more info.