Free tools. Free resources. Free.

Donna Murray's Delicious Links tagged with the word "free"

(Note: Just about everything I have bookmarked in delicious is FREE. I like free. So don't limit your search to my "free" tag.)

For a list of interactive websites, visit the interactive page.

3D modeling

Blender - 3D modeling http://www.blender.org/
Google Sketchup - Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create, modify and share 3D models. http://www.google.com/sketchup/index.html

CAD

FreeCAD - General purpose 3D CAD modeler http://juergen-riegel.net/FreeCAD/Docu/index.php?title=Main_Page
LeoCAD - LeoCAD is a CAD program that uses bricks similar to those found in many toys (ie Legos). http://leocad.org/

Drawing and Vector Graphics

Dia - Technical Drawing program, similar to Visio http://live.gnome.org/Dia
Inkscape - Vector Graphics similar to Illustrator http://www.inkscape.org/
Pencil - It lets you create traditional hand-drawn animation (cartoon) using both bitmap and vector graphics. http://www.les-stooges.org/pascal/pencil/
Kerpoof- like KidPix- free (though there is a pay version) http://kerpoof.com/

eLearning (online courses and textbooks)

Engineering Courses from Stanford - http://see.stanford.edu/default.aspx
The Habitable Planet: Environmental Science http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/envsci/index.html
University Learning - list of links from Zaid Learning - http://zaidlearn.blogspot.com/2008/06/university-learning-ocw-oer-free.html
Motion Mountain - physics textbook http://motionmountain.com/index.html
NC History Digital Textbook - from LearnNC - http://learnnc.org/lp/projects/history
HippoCampus - http://www.hippocampus.org/
Algebasics - http://www.algebasics.com/index.html

Elementary Education

ChildsPlay - Free Educational Software http://childsplay.sourceforge.net/install-windows.php
GCompris - Free Educational Software ages 2-10 http://gcompris.net/
Tux Paint - Tux Paint is a free, award-winning drawing program for children ages 3 to 12. It combines an easy-to-use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who guides children as they use the program. http://www.tuxpaint.org/
Tux Typing - Tux Typing is an educational typing tutor for children. It features several different types of gameplay, at a variety of difficulty levels. http://tuxtype.sourceforge.net/

Graphic Organizers

Exploratree - thinking guides http://www.exploratree.org.uk/
Gliffy- http://www.gliffy.com/ create and share Flow Charts, Diagrams, and More
Bubbl.us- http://bubbl.us/ -brainstorm online with colorful mind maps
Mind42- http://www.mind42.com/ collaborative mind mapping
Freeology - http://freeology.com/graphicorgs/
Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers - http://my.hrw.com/nsmedia/intgos/html/igo.htm
Graphic Organizers - Houghton Mifflin - http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/index.jsp

Graphics and Photo Manipulation

ArtRage - the easy to use, stylish painting package that lets you get painting from the moment you open it up. http://artrage.com/artragedown.html
Gimp - Image Editor similar to Photoshop http://www.gimp.org/
Paint.net - Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. http://www.getpaint.net/
Picasa - Photo organization and simple fixes. http://picasa.google.com/

Language Arts/Literacy

Student Materials from ReadWriteThink- interactive tools to support literacy learning: http://readwritethink.org/student_mat/index.asp
Spelling City - http://www.spellingcity.com/
Maggie Tales - picture ebooks http://www.maggietales.com/
The International Children's Digital Library - http://www.childrenslibrary.org/
BookShare.org - digital books for people with disabilities http://www.bookshare.org/web/Welcome.html
Lookybook - http://www.lookybook.com/index.php
Planet eBook - http://www.planetebook.com/
The Florida Center for Reading Research - http://www.fcrr.org/
FreeReading - http://www.free-reading.net/index.php?title=Main_Page
Lesson Writer - http://www.lessonwriter.com/default.aspx
Big Universe - read pictures books or create your own - http://www.biguniverse.com/
Writing Repeater - http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/earlyict/writingRepeater_v5.html

Math

GeoGebra - GeoGebra is a free and multi-platform dynamic mathematics software for schools that joins geometry, algebra and calculus. http://www.geogebra.org/cms/
Gnuplot - Gnuplot is a portable command-line driven interactive data and function plotting utility http://www.gnuplot.info/
GraphCalc - 2D and 3D Graphing Calculator http://www.graphcalc.com/
Create a Graph http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/
Graphing Calculator - http://www.gcalc.net/
eCalc - online calculator http://www.ecalc.com/
Mathwire - http://mathwire.com/

Movie creation

Photostory - Easy story/movie creation software from Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx
Windows Movie Maker - Movie creation software from Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/default.mspx
Voicethread - record audio for slideshow presentations http://voicethread.com/#home
Animoto - create http://biz.animoto.com/education/overview.html

Music

Finale Notepad - Music notation software http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/
Psycle - Music creation studio http://psycle.wikia.com/wiki/Psycle
Virtual Metronome - Give Me Tac Virtual Metronome http://givemetac.free.fr/index_en.php
Visual Music – Let’s you play 128 instruments http://www.shitalshah.com/vmusic/

Game Templates

Professional Development

Stenhouse Publishers - Free PD books and videos to view online (new releases) http://www.stenhouse.com/html/booksvideo.htm
Learner.org - http://www.learner.org/
LearnNC Courses (some are free) - http://learnnc.org/courses/
CAST Professional Development Resources - http://www.cast.org/pd/resources/index.html
SmartTeaching videos http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/100-awesome-classroom-videos-to-learn-new-teaching-techniques/
ReadingRockets videos - http://www.readingrockets.org/shows/watch#chance

Printables

Personal Education Press - Create your own flashcards http://www.educationalpress.org/
SEN teacher - Free Printables http://www.senteacher.org/Print/
Free Printables for Teachers of Young Learners - http://mes-english.com/
Homeschool Forms (many would work for public school educators, too) http://www.donnayoung.org/forms/index.htm
Do2Learn http://www.do2learn.com/disabilities/FASDtoolbox/education_resources/resource_center/view_all_forms.htm
Super Teacher Worksheets - http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/
Tools for Educators - free worksheets http://www.toolsforeducators.com/
Free Flashcards (great for primary, ESL, and SpEd) http://www.eslflashcards.com/
Education World: Teacher Tools and Templates http://www.education-world.com/tools_templates/index.shtml
Free Worksheets http://www.beginningreading.com/Free%20Workshe.htm

Project Management

Gantt Project - Free project management. http://ganttproject.biz/
Planner - A project management application http://live.gnome.org/Planner
Wiggio- http://wiggio.com/
Teamness - http://www.teamness.com/
Task2Gather - http://task2gather.com/

Science/Health

Celestia - The free space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions. http://www.shatters.net/celestia/
Earth's Core - Earth's Core provides a wealth of information for those people interested in Rocks, Gems and Minerals. http://www.freshney.org/education/ec/index.htm
ESBUnitConv – Freeware Unit Converter http://www.esbconsult.com/esbcalc/esbunitconv.htm
Google Earth - Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings and even explore galaxies in the Sky. http://earth.google.com/
Periodic Table Explorer - The PTE is a brand new way of exploring the periodic table. http://www.freshney.org/education/pte/
Stellarium - Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. http://www.stellarium.org/
Learn to Be Healthy - http://www.learntobehealthy.org/parents-teachers/
Make a Difference Campaign for Middle School Students - http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/education/mad.htm

Social Studies

CircaVie- Create your own timeline http://www.circavie.com/
Dipity - make and share interactive timelines http://www.dipity.com/
Mnemograph - web-based timeline software for creating and sharing history and project planning http://mnemograph.com
Feed the Pig for Tweens - Help students make money-smart decisions http://www.nea.org/takenote/feedthepig.htm

Sound and Audio

Audacity - Audio Editor and Recorder http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
DSpeech - Text to Speech http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/ scroll down for dspeech
SpokenText - http://www.spokentext.net/
Read The Words - http://readthewords.com/

Special Education

The Iris Center - http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/
Boardmaker downloads - http://prekese.dadeschools.net/BMD/activityspecific.html
Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs fabulous freebies - http://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com/2008/07/dynavox-announces-eye-gaze-control.html
Learning Through Listening - requires registration by sped teacher - http://www.learningthroughlistening.org/
BookShare.org - requires registration by sped teacher - http://www.bookshare.org/web/Welcome.html

Videos

Teacher Tube - http://www.teachertube.com/index.php
The Open Video Project - http://open-video.org/index.php
SnagFilms - free full-length documentaries - http://www.snagfilms.com/
NOVA Teachers online videos http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/video/
Instructables - The World's Biggest Show and Tell - http://www.instructables.com/
Mathtrain.tv - http://www.mathtrain.tv/
Teachers.tv (UK site) - http://www.teachers.tv/
Sesame Street videos - http://www.sesamestreet.org/videos/

Video Conferencing

DimDim - free online meeting service http://dimdim.com/
Skype http://skype.com/

Website Design

ColorPic - Ever wondered what the web color was of something on the screen. This little tool will tell you! http://www.iconico.com/colorpic/
PMeter - PMeter is a very handy pixel meter. http://www.pegtop.net/pmeter/

Other Free Resources for Teachers

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence - http://www.free.ed.gov/index.cfm
Save Our History - free teacher manuals http://www.history.com/classroom/flag_form.html
Tolerance - free video and resources- The Legacy of Rosa Parks http://www.tolerance.org/teach/resources/mighty_times.jsp
Federal Reserve Economic Comic Books - http://app.ny.frb.org/publications/result.cfm?comics=1
4Teachers - Includes tools and resources for integrating technology http://www.4teachers.org/
Teacher's Domain - http://www.teachersdomain.org/
Scienceinquirer - http://scienceinquirer.wikispaces.com/freestuff

Royalty-free and Creative Commons Audio, Sounds, Images and Primary Sources

Creative Commons

What is Creative Commons? http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/getcreative/

Flickr Creative Commons Search - http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/

General Creative Commons Search - http://search.creativecommons.org/

Royalty Free Resources

Photos and Images

Flickr Creative Commons – Searches flickr for images you can use!

Free Photos Bank – You can download as JPG or a Zip file

FreeDigitalPhotos.net – Thousands of Royalty Free images ready for instant download.

MorgueFile - The purpose of this site is to provide free image reference material for use in all creative pursuits.

PD Photo – Free photos and pictures, especially of locations.

Stock.xchng – Free stock images – must have a free account to download.

ClipArt

Discovery Education Clipart

Picts4Learning

Microsoft Clip Art for Schools

Microsoft Clip Art for Holidays

Unitedstreaming.com

Open Clip Art Library

Primary Sources

CDC – Public Health Image Library (PHIL)- Photographs, Illustrations, Multimedia Files

Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth - The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth hosts the best and most complete online collection of astronaut photographs of the Earth.

Library of Congress American Memory Site - American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.

Library of Congress Geography and Map Reading Room - The Geography and Map Division (G&M) has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5 million maps, 72,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, and numerous plastic relief models, and a large number of cartographic materials in other formats, including electronic.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Reading Room - Unique in their scope and richness, the prints and photographs collections today number more than 13.7 million images. These include photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings.

NASA Image Exchange – Search for NASA Multimedia

NASA Visible Earth – A collection of NASA images and animations of our home planet.

National Atlas – Check out the Map Maker, Map Layers, Printable Maps and the Dynamic Maps.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Photo Galleries – Start page with access to individual institutes photo galleries.

National Park Service Digital Image Archives - This site provides links to public domain digital images of many of those sites, including national parks, monuments, historic sites and related areas.

NOAA Photo Library - The NOAA collection includes thousands of weather and space images, hundreds of images of our shores and coastal seas, and thousands of marine species images ranging from the great whales to the most minute plankton.

Smithsonian Images - Browse or search through selected images from the Collections of the Office of Imaging and Photographic Services. Included are images from current exhibits, Smithsonian events and historic collections.

University of California Calisphere – especially great are the collections for educators where the primary sources are grouped by collection and then you can drill down by topic.

US Antarctic Program - Welcome to the U.S. Antarctic Program Photo Library. Hundreds of photos are available for you to view and use.

US Army Corps of Engineers’ Digital Visual Library - The US Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Digital Visual Library is an evolving collection of visual products covering every major USACE program, project, and activity.

US Department of State Photo Gallery – State Department photos

US Environmental Protection Agency Resources for Waste Education – Links to free clipart and photo resources for teaching about recycling, pollution prevention, waste reduction, and environmental issues.

US Fish and Wildlife Services’ Online Digital Media - Welcome to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's online digital media library. Presently, the library system contains the National Image Library--the Service's collection of public domain still photos.

US Government Photos and Graphics – Images and graphics available from government agencies.

USDA Image Gallery - The Image Gallery is provided as a complimentary source of high quality digital photographs available from the Agricultural Research Service Information Staff.

Sounds and Audio

FindSounds - a free site where you can search the Web for sound effects and musical instrument samples.

Free Play Music – Free music and sound effects.

Incompetech - Royalty free music

Movie Wavs Sounds - Over 100 movies online, and more are added daily.

PodSafe Audio – “We invite you to browse through the songs and artists on this site and download anything that strikes your fancy. The artists on this site have released their music under the Creative Commons license and agreed to allow their music to be used by you in any way and form for webcasting, as long as you don't take credit for the original work.”

Sound Dogs – Free sound effects

Special thanks to Katie Christo for her collaboration.

When the Best is Free!