Symbaloo

I recently completed a webinar on useful websites for teachers.  One of the most useful I thought was called symbaloo.com.  This is a website that you can bookmark websites you frequent and you can categorize them.  It makes it really easy to have all of your websites in one location.  It's also super easy to set up.  I put on all the websites I use frequently, also websites I want to explore further.  For esample, my ELA webmix looks like this:

The tutorial is super quick and super easy.  You can either take a look at my pages (they call them webmixes) and if you want my whole webmix you can add it and it will appear in your symbaloo page.  Or creating your own is easy.  Adding a tile is simple, you just click in the middle of the tile, then choose create a tile.  I find it most easy to open the website I want in another window, copy the address and then paste it into the box asking for the website address.  Most of the time an image will automatically pop up on your tile.  One thing I didn't catch on right away, is if the image doesn't include the name of the website you might want to include that, so in the next box "name on the tile" type the name you want and check the box "show text".  When you do this anything you want to name it, will appear.  If a picture doesn't automatically appear you can then design your own, with a color background and choices of icons.  You can also lock webmixes, so if you were to share your link people couldn't see any of the locked ones.  Here are my symbaloo links if you'd like to take a look at mine:
Math          English Language Arts       Science       History and Social Studies      Art     
Thinking Maps        
I have mine categorized by subject.  Of course many of the sites are geared to primary, but I do know I have some that I haven't played with yet which might also be upper grade appropriate. 

I've also created a page of my own personal favorites, like pinterest, TPT, I won't share that one with you.  I've only been playing with it for a few months, so I don't have a whole lot.   I'm sure mine will be growing.  You can continue to use my links, but if you were planning on building your own symbaloo, it might save you time seeing what I have and copying my links.  Have fun!

You might also want to visit my TeachersPayTeachers store.  If you like what you see, don't forget to follow me.

Also, did you know if you leave feedback for items that you purchase on TPT you earn credits?  You earn 1 credit for each dollar spent.  Every 100 credits is equivalent to $5.  Then when you go to check out you can apply your credits and it deducts that amount from your total.  Before you leave negative feedback to any seller you should contact the seller first, they may not be aware of your concerns.  For instance type-o's can be fixed and then re-uploaded, you get the fixed version and any updates the seller makes.