Tech Tip Tuesday

Happy Tuesday! A couple tech ideas for you this week:

Class Dojo + Growth Mindset

NPR had an article recently of how Class Dojo can tie in with Growth Mindset - they've created a series of videos to help kids understand the topic. A little cheesy, but cute!

75 Google Apps Tutorials

As we use Google Apps for Education more and more in our day, there is always something new to learn! (growth mindset ;-) These tutorial videos range from 1-5 minutes on a variety of topics, from searching in Google, to YouTube and Google Drive. 

Reading List

With the blogging world a buzz with back to school, I have found so many awesome links and articles I want to share with you!

First, I found this awesome blog of Genius Hour ideas, called 20% Genius. It was very timely after taking Julie C. & Teresa A's Creativity in the Classroom Academy 39 class. They are currently doing a "20 Day Challenge" with tips for getting started with Genius Hour in the classroom. If you hope to do a Genius Hour this year in your classroom, I think its a must read!

Our school, like many others, is reading the book Mindset by Carol Dweck, and are going to focus in on Growth Mindset this year. Meghan Zigmond did a blog post #pb10for10 with picture books to go along with it! Love it Meghan!!

I've also been reading up on various MakerSpace ideas, and found this guide that doesn't even need a true "MakerSpace" to be a Maker! Just need an iPad :-)

There's a Maker Fair in that iPad! 10 Ways to Create Student Makers with Apps

I'm teaching an Academy 39 Class next week called "Extreme Makeover: Classroom Edition", so I've also been reading (& Pinteresting) a lot about creating brain friendly learning spaces. Erin Klein has been a big inspiration! 

I'm excited I joined in on tonight's Twitter chat with Scholastic and Erin Klein, discussing learning environments. It was an AWESOME discussion! Check out the #topteaching hashtag to find more amazing resources on classroom redesign!

Have you found (or even written!) any great posts or articles I should share too? Comment below!

#HourOfCode

If you ever need a reminder of why we do what we do each day, take a look at this:

I captured this amazing moment as students were doing the Hour of Code to celebrate Computer Science Education Week. We have been having SO much fun in the computer lab! :-)

There are many, many resources out there to get kids interested in programming. From apps to games and robotic kits, anyone really can learn! 

We started each day with a special message from President Obama:

And then, various grade levels did different programming activities. 

1st grade used an app called Kodable last week to get ready for the Hour of Code, and this week transferred that knowledge to Google's Code Lab in Santa's Village. (If you check out Santa's Village, Google posts a new game or activity each day for kids! Today's is a map puzzle if you need a geography idea to use!)

2nd grade used a couple different sites: Tynker's Candy Quest and last year's version of the Hour of Code, which has students program Angry Birds to get to the pig.

3rd and 4th graders did the activities for this year's Hour of Code - with Anna and Elsa from Frozen! Students programmed Anna and Elsa to make snowflakes by moving a certain number of pixels and angles of different degrees to create the patterns. 

If you have students who are interested in computer science, like I said, there are SO many awesome resources to help them learn more. 

These are all FREE apps (some of which we have on our iPads at school):

This Google Doc has several resources for Coding with Elementary Students (thanks to my friends on the #ElemTechCoach Twitter chat!)

One of my favorites is MadeWithCode.com, which is intended to inspire more females to get interested in Computer Science. 

One of the projects they have right now is to "code the holidays" - each tree that is coded will actually light up one of the trees on the White House lawn! 4th graders have been making them as they finish the Hour of Code - maybe make one together with your class on the SmartBoard!

Happy Coding!!

Tech Talk Blog Hop

I'm excited to be joining the Tech Talk blog hop, hosted by Tasia at Great Minds Teach Alike! 

DoInk GreenScreen App

With our students, using the green screen is so fun and has so much potential, but in the past it has been a challenge. Using iMovie was hard for students (and teachers!) and took lots of time and patience. So I was oh-so-happy when I found out that there was, in fact, an app for that! {I usually just want to share free apps - this one is $2.99 but worth every penny! There is a discount for those of you using the VPP. It is perfect for a one iPad classroom too!}

First off, for the Green Screen backdrop we just use a sheet that we bought on Amazon for ~$17. It is easy to bring anywhere in the school a teacher needs it, and can be stapled up to a tack strip or draped over something for the background. Just make sure your students aren't wearing green! 

{Students using the Green Screen last year to make yoga tutorial videos for Brain Breaks}

DoInk GreenScreen app has made making the videos SO EASY! 

Film with the green screen all in one app!

1. Choose background

{Can be a still image or a pre-recorded video}

2. Film right over it!

3. Publish and share!

I found this easy to follow tutorial on YouTube to explain a little more:

If you want just a quick visual rundown, here is a guide from My Paperless Classroom.

After you create your green screen movie with DoInk, you can do some App Smashing as well by adding in titles and sound effects in iMovie or any other app you can import video into! Then, share your video with Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. 

Making a video with the green screen has endless possibilities - from weather reports to book talks, travel commercials, and newscasts. 

Thanks for hopping over! Leave a comment if you've used DoInk or have an idea you plan to use in your own classroom. Don't forget to check out the other amazing bloggers and their ideas through Great Minds Teach Alike! 

Poetry Apps

Poetry Month is here! Some new apps are on our iPads, all of which are by Read Write Think.

First up is Word Mover, which is magnetic poetry for the iPads. Students can choose words from a word bank or write their own, and save, share, or print their poems.

Theme Poems introduces students to theme or shape poems, and has various images for students to choose from to brainstorm and write their poem.

Acrostic Poems has students brainstorm and write acrostic poems using any word of their choice. It also gives "hint" words for each letter to help students write their poems.

Finally, the Haiku app teaches students how to write a haiku, and includes brainstorming with syllable counts to help students get familiar with counting the syllables when writing their haiku.

Drawing Pad App

A new app was just installed on our iPads: Drawing Pad.

It's actually a pretty impressive drawing app! I decided to get a new drawing app after experiencing a lot of trouble with Doodle Buddy lately. (So, for those of you who used Doodle Buddy before, Drawing Pad is its replacement.) 

Check out this video to see it in action:

There's a drawer full of art supplies, including paintbrushes of different sizes, crayons, markers, roller pens, paper choices, stickers, stencils, charcoal pencils, chalk, text tools, erasers and more! Once you are finished drawing, pictures can easily be saved to the Camera Roll (just like with Doodle Buddy) to integrate with other apps, or it can be printed or emailed right from Drawing Pad.

Let me know how you like it!

PicLab HD

One of my favorite FUN apps is FREE... TODAY ONLY!!

PicLab HD creates beautiful, funky, and creative text overlays on your photos. They have a free version, but PicLab HD has more free fonts and editing features than regular old PicLab.

Here are some examples of what it looks like:

So why am I sharing a photo editing app? Well, I think that 3rd and 4th graders especially would love it. It makes me cringe when they ask me if I am on Instagram, but this is their digital world and what is "cool" in it. 

Some of the ideas I had were:

- Create a New Year's Resolution image

- Create a picture of a quote from a book 

- After reading, design an image for the moral of a story

Look for it on our iPads after the New Year.. but download it today if you're interested!

Oh, the world we live in!

You guys, the world we live in is AMAZING sometimes, don't you agree?!

Two things today caught my attention that I am dying to share with you!

First of all, have you heard of a website called Upworthy? Each day they share a variety of videos. They describe themselves by saying, "at best, things online are usually either awesome or meaningful, but everything on Upworthy.com has a little of both. Sensational and substantial. Entertaining and enlightening. Shocking and significant."

One that I loved today had the caption "If 3 little girls did this to my house, I'd do everything I could to get them full rides to Stanford":

So while Upworthy is a fun site for personal use, many of the videos that I've seen have the potential for CSL, Second Step, classroom meeting, and writing activities. Of course preview the videos first, but I hope you find something nice to share with your class! To search for videos, you can choose from a variety of categories, including Inspirational. 

Next up is an idea that I found awhile back called Augmented Reality. When I first saw the video, I was like OMG! How cool! I want to be able to do that in our Learning Commons! Here's what it looks like:

Well my friends, today I discovered that it is totally possible for us to do this! It's an app called Aurasma. The app is free, and to create your own you can create a free account. 

Here's an example of how kindergarten teacher Matt Gomez uses it in his classroom, which I found through the Technology Tailgate:

I've had a little bit of time to play with it, and I can't wait to use it! If anyone wants to explore it with me, let me know and we can learn together. 

Sushi Monster

A new app that was just put onto our iPads is Sushi Monster! 

Sushi Monster by Scholastic is a fun way to practice addition or multiplication facts with your students. It has multiple levels that are unlocked as the player moves on, so it is easy to differentiate with your class working on different levels!

Students feed their Sushi Monsters by correctly choosing two numbers that when added or multiplied result in the number that the monster wants to eat. When the monster has been fully fed, students move onto feeding a new monster.

Check out an iPad and give it a try!

Back to School

After a nice long summer and a break from blogging, I'm so excited to share the fun things I've been finding and stockpiling all summer long!

Photo from Matt Gomez

First up, I found a blog post written by Matt Gomez, a teacher on the Technology Tailgate, entitled My Focus for Technology. I thought it was a great way to think about ideas for the upcoming school year, as some of you may have a goal to "use technology more in the classroom". He says we should be thinking about the learning first. 

"I love technology and strive to incorporate it in my classroom daily but my goals are never about the technology themselves. When I see a new tool I don't try to incorporate it simply because it is new and cool. It is important that I see an opportunity to encourage, foster or enhance learning with that tool. So I came up with the top reasons I think I use technology in the class."

Check out his blog post, where he also has linked examples for the top reasons he uses technology in the classroom. He has some really great and easy ideas for integrating technology into the classroom!

McGraw Hill Reading & Math Apps

Until April 26, McGraw-Hill has made some of their apps available for free, so they are now on our iPads! Here's what they're all about:

Grammar Wonderland (Primary K-2)

Practice using and identifying nouns, verbs, adjectives with fun games. There are several options and levels to choose from to differentiate with your students.

 

Grammar Wonderland (Elementary 3-6)

Practice using and identifying nouns, verbs, adjectives with fun games, with more advanced levels for the upper grades. There are several options and levels to choose from to differentiate with your students.

Word Wonderland

 Primary K-2 and Elementary 3-6

   

Practice word sorting with the wide variety of levels in these games, from short and long vowels up to Greek/Latin roots. Again, there are so many options to differentiate!

Sail Through Math

This app has levels that can be used with all grade levels! It has four math categories: math facts (+, -, x, /), algebra (solving simple equations), number sense (naming, comparing, factors, and multiples), and rational numbers (decimals, fractions, and integers). There are 3 levels for each subject as well. Did I mention differentiation?!

Don't forget we also have several of the McGraw-Hill Everyday Math apps on our iPads already also. Check them out when you get the chance!