I must forewarn all non US teachers that FREE is very focussed on catering to the US curriculum but none the less it is definitely full of relevant content to international teachers.  FREE makes it easier to find teaching and learning resources from a number of federal government departments.

More than 1,500 federally supported teaching and learning resources are included from dozens of federal agencies. New sites are added regularly.

FREE was conceived in 1997 by a federal working group in response to a memo from the President. The site was launched a year later. It was redesigned and relaunched for the first time in November 2006.

FREE is among the most popular K-12 websites maintained by the U.S. Department of Education because of the many great resources being offered by contributing federal agencies.

FREE is very easy to naviagate and contains a wealth of great resources.  Check it out here.

Awesome Stories contains a great deal of educational content related to all areas of the curriculum and is definitely worth a browse to find something that floats your boat. 

What impressed me about Awesome Stories was the lesson plan section which had detailed and insightful lesson plans on hundreds of films.  These are great resources for those interested in visual literacies and films are added frequently for all age groups and audiences.  Here is a look at Inglorious Basterds.

Next tme you intend to watch a film with your students be sure to check out awesome stories.

Finally I have got round to setting up a proper forum area.  It contains a range of discussion topics and does not need any registration to participate.  I am hoping that you the audience will set up some new discussion topics and feedback. 

To get the ball rolling in the discussion throughout the remainder of February I am offering a month of free advertising in March for the best discussion post in the forum area.  You can either advertise, yourself, your blog or whatever you like right here at Edgalaxy. 

So come on get involved in the forum and remember to check back regularly to see how your comments are being received. Check it out here.

With all of the great freeware available today you could set up a useful software image on your school network for students and teachers to use without spending a dollar. After recently updating our software licensing at my school we rationalised the thousands of dollars being spent on software and looked at the alternatives in the freeware market and saved a few dollars without compromising quality.  A great site for finding freeware that compares with retail software is alternative.to

However; As Mick Jagger says "You can't always get what you want" and sometimes you will have to spend a few dollars to get what you need.  Below are three products I use regularly with teachers and students which are clear winners in their field.  Best of all they are all at the cheaper end of the pricing scale.

1:  Kahootz:  Kahootz is a brilliant 3D animation tool that allows students to create either reality or fantasy based environments.  It has thousands of highly detailed and multi animated worlds and objects that are an absolute snap to manipulate and animate.  you can add text, voice, music, photos and I have used this with students from prep to year 9 with great success.  Kahootz will not be a huge surprise to our Australian audience but to anyone overseas who may have missed it be sure to get your hands on it.  It is very cheap and is a brilliant tool for students to express their creativity and link to all areas of the curriculum.

Check out the video below to see what Kahootz can do.

2:  Inspiration

There are a multitude of mindmapping software options available.  But for mine Inspiration is the one to beat.  For visual mapping, outlining, writing and making presentations. Brainstorm ideas, structure your thoughts and visually communicate concepts to strengthen understanding with the Diagram and Map Views. To take notes, organize information, and structure writing for plans, papers and reports, use the integrated Outline View to focus on main and supporting ideas and to clarify thinking in written form. You can also  transform your diagrams, mind maps and outlines into polished presentations that communicate ideas clearly and demonstrate understanding and knowledge.  The great thing is when you purchase Inspiration as a school you will generally get Kidspiration and Inspire Data which are also great products for next to nothing as a package deal.

A video below shows you what Inspiration can do.

3:  Microsoft Office

I hate to be blatantly obvious here, but this has got to be the number  one productivity package available to anyone who owns a computer.  You can do SO Much with it.  Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher are the cornerstone of education and business.  Yes Open Office and Google Docs' and Mac have products that may do some part of Office's functions just as well but nothing comes remotely close to it as a complete package.  The great news is that MS Office 2010 is even better than it's predecessor I have been using it daily for three months now and even better news is that most educational departments don't even have to pay for it.

Below is a teaser of what you can do in Office 2010

What software would you part with your hard earned cash for, and why?

A real quick one today but a goody none the less.  Super Teacher Tools is collection of games, classroom management tools and software that every single one of us could find a use for in a hurry.  If you need a digital class seating list, random student generator or group organiser plus plenty more then this is for you.  All of it is flash based and works really effectively on your IWB.  Enjoy it here.