0 Composing Songs: Helping and Linking Verbs

3rd grade students, at one of my elementary schools, worked collaboratively to create a song to assist in memorizing various helping and linking verbs. The students created slides in Keynote, composed and recorded a song to the tune of a holiday carol. (This could also be created in PhotoStory or PowerPoint.)

What a clever idea from an innovated teacher, M. Duke!

0 What do you want to CREATE today?

This site was past on to me by a fellow colleague and I thought it was definitely worth sharing. What do you want to CREATE today? is a fabulous student/teacher resource which simplistically identifies the various types of projects/products student may create.

This website, “Mapping Media to the Curriculum” by Wesley Fryer was created to accompany and support his eBook, “Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing.”  This book was written primarily for educators who are interested in learning more about digital communication.

The site provides the below menu for students to choose from and within each product, you may find the workflow, various tools to create the product, links to tutorials as well as lesson ideas and samples of each product.   What a fabulous site for both educators and students to refer too. Check it out~

1 Love Infographics!

Infographics....I am so into these and have been dying to create one. I came across the site Piktochart on Pinterest and thought I would give it a whirl.

I signed up for the free account which is pretty limited. Only 3 basic themes to choose from and 5 slots for image upload. As I was checking out the prices, I came across the cost for educators - Only $39.99 a year compared to $29.00 a month for the Pro account. Needless to say, I jumped all over this and purchased the Pro Educator's account. (To me, this was worth the cost and I plan on using it a lot throughout the year.)

The interface is very easy with its drag and drop capabilities and with 80 themes to choose from...you cannot go wrong. Check out the below YouTube video on How to Create Infographics with Piktochart.

 I created this infographic for Bloom's Digital Taxonomy utilizing one of their themes:

Click to Enlarge Graphic

I am so excited to use this program that I recruited a few teachers to let me work with their kids on creating infographics for one of their units of study, I am currently working with a few 3rd grade students and will begin a project with 5th graders after the Thanksgiving holidays. Once they are complete -  I will post them. 

If you get a chance check out Piktochart.com.

0 Inferencing with Strip Design and FlipSnack

Third grade students at Ashley and Sem Elementary utilized the app, Strip Design to make inferences based on a picture. Students selected a picture and wrote a sentence on what they inferred happened before the picture was taken and what they inferred happened after the picture was taken. Products were then saved as a pdf and uploaded to FlipSnack, a Free (with limitations) interactive book. 

(Direct link to Inferencing flipbook for Ashley/ Direct link to Inferencing flipbook for Sem).)

Note: If you do not have access to an idevice, you could always use Pages, Publisher or Word to create the document/product.

 Animoto:

0 WOW! And Double WOW!

HOLY COW!   

Teacher Guides for Technology

This has to be one of the most useful resource sites ever! I pinned this on my Pinterest board but it definitely deserves more than just that!

This site, developed by Iowa ACSD, created 34 guides to assist educators in integrating technology into the curricula. 

I was/am flabbergasted with the wealth of information this site has to offer. The guides are simple, well developed step by step instructions, illustrated with pictures, diagrams, video tutorials, examples and conclude with a webliography (that's a new word for me!) of related, relevant web links to a variety of other sites.

Below you may see the extensive list of Teacher Guides they  offer:

• Teacher's Guide on The Use of Blogs in Teaching
• Teacher's Guide on The Use of Facebook in Education
• Teacher's Guide on The Use of Wikis in Education
• Teacher's Guide on The Use of Skype in Education
• Teacher's Guide on The Use of iPad in Education
• Teacher's Guide on The Use of Personal Learning Networks in Education
• Educators Guide on The Use of Pinterest in Education
• Teacher's Guide on The Use of Graphic Organizers in The Classroom
• Teacher's Guide on The Use of Evernote in Education
• Teacher's Guide on The Use of QR Codes in The Classroom
• Teacher's Comprehensive Guide on The Use of Social Networking in Education
• A Simple Guide to All That Teachers Need to Know about Digital Citizenship
• Teachers' Easy Guide to Social Learning
• Teacher's Guide to Creativity
• A Quick Guide to Teaching with iPad
• Teachers Guide to Create eBooks on iPad Using iBook Author
• Teacher's Guide on The Use of Google Docs in The iPad
• Teachers Easy Guide to Google Best Services
• Teacher's Guide to Flipped Classroom
• A Free Comprehensive Guide to iPad Apps Evaluation
• Teacher's Definitive Guide to Google Search Skills
• Teacher's Guide on The Use of Games in Education
• Teacher's Guide to The Most Important Web Tools in Education
• Teacher's Simple Guide on The Use of Google Forms in The Classroom
• Teacher's Guide to All Google Tips in Education
• Teacher's Guide to Blended Learning
• Teacher's Guide on how To Evaluate Web Content for Classroom Inclusion
• The Ultimate Guide to The 21st Century Critical Thinking Skills for Teachers and Students
• A Quick Guide on Bloom's Taxonomy iPad Apps
• Teacher's Guide to The Importance of Learning from Mistakes and Errors
• The Entire Guide to Google Search Features for Teachers
• The Entire Guide to Google Free Tools for Teachers and Students
• Great Guide to Summer Learning Activities
• Teacher's Guide to Chat Acronyms and Text Message Short hands

The guides are free for you to use and all they ask is that you pay credit to Educational Technology and Mobile Learning if you want to reuse them somewhere else. Well Educational
Technology and Mobile Learning, here is your shout out! You are one awesome site!

You may follow them via RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Goolge+ and Pinterest. Check them out!

 

 

Peace,

0 Fall 2012: Online Book Study

PLEASE NOTE:
Due to Parent Conferences, the face to face meeting and start date of this book study will be on Tuesday, 09Oct @ 4:30 - 5:15 PM.

It's More Than Just Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts by Dovewhisper on GoAnimate

0 What Not To Say To A Teacher

I came across this in one my RSS feeds and just had to reshare it! Welcome Back Teachers!

1 LoxiaStudio: A FREE Flash Photo Slideshow Maker

LoxiaStudio.What a cool way to create and publish FREE FLASH photo slideshow animations.  According to the site:

• LoxiaStudio specializes in the creation of creative content development tools.
• There aim is to provide everyone with an easy and quick way of making high-quality animations, without the need for the technical know-how typically associated with this sort of task.
• Manual editing of XML files isn’t required, nor is a working knowledge of Flash or Photoshop (or, for that matter Actionscript, Javascript or HTML).

it is VERY user friendly. You can:

• Crop and resize your pictures, add titles ,descriptions and links, customize size, layout and color, all of this is done online and in less than 1 minute.

They offer 52 (as of Sept 2012) different components (styles) ranging from a 3D rotating cube gallery to a sliding panels CSS3 animation.Below are some of them in action!






Click here to view the other styles! 

What a neat way to showcase your students work! Check it out!

1 Insects: A Collaboration Between Technology and Library

Working collaboratively with my librarian, 5 stations (for Kindergarten) were created around an Insect theme. The educational goal was for the students to discover various facts about insects.

• Parts of an Insect
• Why they are important
• Difference between an insect and not an insect
  

Numerous devices were utilized (i.e. iPads, Macbooks, PhotoBooth) as well as online resources.

 Both students and teachers seem to enjoy the joint efforts of this collaborative project. Please view the below Animoto of the results:

0 Teachers Pay Teachers....What a Phenominal Site!

I came across this site a while ago but like so many sites, I made a quick lap and moved on. This time, I took the time to check it out! So what is this site all about?

TeachersPayTeachers® is the world's first open marketplace where teachers buy and sell original teaching materials. It was founded in 2006 by Paul Edelman, a former NYC public school teacher. Its mission is to make teachers lives easier by bringing together those who create curricula with those who are seeking fresh new approaches in the classroom.

This site offers FREE or very low cost original teaching resources. It has over 26,000 FREE items categories by subject, type (Lesson Plans, Activities, Worksheets, PowerPoint, etc), grade level and price. I inserted a search for QR Codes and found a bunch of free and low cost teaching ideas! Here are some of the products found:

• QR Code Math Problem Fun - FREE- Have some fun, technology-based learning with this QR code activity. Students write their own math story problem in a mini book and create a QR code for the answer. Then, they can solve each other's problems and scan the QR codes to check their answers.
  
• Two-Digit Addition QR Code Fun (With and Without Regrouping)- $2.00 - QR codes are all the rage, and they will have your students wanting to do addition problems! This title contains 12 self-checking center/task QR code cards, one recording sheet, and one 10-problem worksheet. Problems are with and without regrouping. One of my teachers purchased this and it is worth the money!
  
• Money QR Code Fun - $2.00 - QR codes are all the rage, and they will have your students excited about counting coins and solving money word problems! Based on the 2nd grade CCSS 2.MD.8, this title contains 12 self-checking center/task QR code cards, one recording sheet, and one 10-problem worksheet.
  

I also saw some ideas for Animoto, Blabberize, Wordle, Glogster, Wallwisher, Voki and a bunch more. (Please know, I did not purchase any of these products so I am not sure of the quality of them. However, the previews look very interesting!) So, if you get a chance check out Teachers Pay Teachers!

0 Check Out Our Summer 2012 Technology Staff Development

GoAnimate.com: Summer Tech Staff Devlopment 2012 by Dovewhisper

1 Word Clouds for Kids at ABCya!

Yay! A kid-friendly, word cloud generator by ABCya! Because ABCya was developed for primary grade students, there is no objectionable content to contend with. Yay again!

Like the other word generators, students may copy/paste from a document or type right into the box.

Here are some of the functionalities of the program:

• One may delete a word in the cloud by right clicking and clicking "Delete"
• It will omit many common words from the cloud (i.e. a, the, etc)
• It keeps words together by using the tilde symbol (~) between the words. Ex: All~About~Me
• You can adjust the number of words used
• You may print or save your word cloud

I do like the simplicity and ease of the interface to customize the font style, color and layout. Sometimes.... there is just too many choices for our kiddos! And if you just cannot make up your mind, there is an option to "Randomize"! So have your students, check out: ABCya Word Cloud Generator!

0 Sumdog Math Games! The Hottest Web 2.0 Site! Kids are Loving This!

Students at both my school (and other schools in our district) are wild about Sumdog!

Sumdog has free math games which may be played at both home and school.  Sumdog's math games cover over 120 numeracy topics (grades 1st - 8th) which are spread across 10 levels of increasing difficulty. Click here to view the various topics and levels.. Not only are students finding these games very engaging, they are also developing their mental math skills.

To make the most of Sumdog, sign up for a free teacher login. Once logged in you:

• Set up your school: Sumdog's free logins are permanent, with as many classes as you want.
• Create free logins for all of your students: Just enter their names and class - Sumdog hides the surnames for display online.
• Set a minimum level for your classes: Focus your class on the topics they need to practice by setting their minimum training level.
• Track your classes' effort: See how many students in each class have been active recently.
• Set up activities for your students: Sumdog's competitions and challenges let you set goals for your students, and focus them on specific topics. Students may also choose which topics to practice when starting a game and becasue most of the games are multiplayer, students have the opportunity play against thousands of students worldwide.

Sumdog also has a free teacher portal where educators may find lesson plans, teacher reference documents as well as student handouts. Additionally, it has step by step tutorials for common task to assist you...How cool is that! 

Our kids are so jazzed about this site that on 22Feb12, our district will hold a contest for our schools.  The contest takes account of school size, so everyone has a fair chance of winning. The first prize is a Certificate of Merit and a full site license for "Yenka Mathematics" software (worth $750). There are also daily school prizes and student prizes.

Game On!

View the below YouTube video to learn more about Sumdog:

0 NEWSFLASH: Cool Apps for Schools in its Development!

If you are not familiar with the site, Web 2.0: Cool Tools for Schools, you have to check it out! It has copious amounts of Educational Technology and Web 2.0 tools for both educators and students to utilize in the classroom.  

BUT WAIT......

This great site is in the development stage of creating a wiki for apps for mobile devices called Cool Apps for Schools. If this is anything like the Cool Tools for Schools wiki…we are in for a treat!

The wiki is arranged very similar to its sister wiki; Cool Tool for Schools.  It is broken into categories with each category showing the app icon, blurb, whether it is a free or paid app, as well as the approximate grade level. Keep this in the back burner, because when it is completed, I am sure it will be a valuable resource!

1 Heroes in History and Literature: A Technology and Library Collaboration

Working collaboratively with my librarian, 10 stations (for 3rd Graders) were created around Heroes in History and Literature. The educational goal was for the students to discover what the person/character did and why they were famous.  Below are the heroes the students researched. The final project will result in students creating Taboo cards with their information.

State and National

• Daniel Boone
• Davy Crockett
• Molly Pitcher

Folktales and Legends

• Pecos Bill
• Paul Bunyan

Mythology

• Hercules
• Perseus and Medusa
• Theseus and the Minotaur
• Menelaus and the Trojan Horse
• Zeus 

Various idevices were utilized (i.e. iTouches, iPads, and Nanos) as well as online resources. Both students and teachers seem to enjoy the joint efforts of this collaborative project. Please view the below Animoto of the results:

0 Need Images? Check Out Photo Pin

Photo Pin

Photo Pin is a newly developed website offering images which may assist students in locating photos for various projects. The site utilizes Flickr, API for Creative Commons search and Fotolia's image library to provide royalty-free images.  With Photo Pin, you type your topic in the search box and preview the photo. The site provides two options for you:

• Pay for Photo ($costs$)
• Creative Commons Photos via Flickr (free to use, link required)

Should you use the Creative Commons Photos option, a dialog box appears providing you with a nice array of image sizes to download, a HTML code to add to a blog post, as well as, a link citing the source of that image. A necessary component many of us and our student forget to do! If you get a chance, check out Photo Pin!

0 Robert Munsch: A Technology and Library Collaboration

Working collaboratively with my librarian, 5 stations (for 2nd Graders) were created around the author; Robert Munsch. The educational goal was for the students to discover at least 2 facts about the author. Various idevices were utilized (i.e. iTouches, iPads, and Nanos) as well as online resources.

Both students and teachers seem to enjoy the joint efforts of this collaborative project. Please view the below Animoto of the results: