SafeShare.TV + QR Code Smash!

I stopped by the Kindergarten wing yesterday, and here's what I saw!

Emily found a QR Code listening center on Teachers Pay Teachers for Thanksgiving stories, and the QR codes linked to videos of the stories. The students scanned the QR code and listened to the story as the video followed the pages and words. They were loving it!

One thing I noticed is that the videos were actually from YouTube, but were on a site called SafeShare.TV. On this site, you can put in a link to a YouTube video, and it will block out everything else around the video on a unique link.. even the ad that plays before it! Pretty nifty!

To test it out, I found the video on YouTube for Duck for President. 

Then, I pasted the link into SafeShare.TV and clicked the Generate Safe Link button.

You can also click on Customize Video to choose just a portion or clip from the video to share on your link:

And voila! Your video is complete!

So the next step would be to create the QR Code that links to the video. That's easy, we can do that on QRstuff.com. Just copy/paste the SafeShare.TV link that you made into the link box:

Then click on Download QR Code and you can put it onto any worksheet, poster, or even just your SmartBoard for students to scan and watch! 

Try testing this QR Code by using a QR Reader app, like Scan. Enjoy!

BiblioNasium

BiblioNasium is a community for parents, teachers, and students ages 6-12 to connect with each other and share their favorite books. It allows you to give your students a "guide" as they independently read. 

Click below to take a "tour" of BiblioNasium:

Some of the things you can do using BiblioNasium are:

- Monitor what students are reading and help them expand their genre choices

- Track what level books students are reading based on the Lexile scores of the books

- Create virtual bookshelves of what students are reading and want to read

- Students are encouraged to write book recommendations, which fosters peer-to-peer connections with reading

While I haven't gotten to try out BiblioNasium myself, it looks like a fun way to get students excited about independent reading!

It was also featured in The Journal this summer; check out the article here:

Fun with Web 2.0

Looking for a little bit of fun amidst all of the testing? Check out some of these fabulous websites and give your kids a brain break while still learning!

Teach Hub posts weekly video writing prompts. Each week they post a video and then offer suggestions for writing prompts based on grade level, K-2, 3-5, etc. What a fun way to get your students writing! Some video examples include ones for Leap Year, Groundhog Day, the Lorax, and yes, even Angry Birds. You could have it be a writing activity that you do once a week as they post them or once in awhile. 

As an example, here is a Muppets video writing prompt:

Wordia is a new website that you can play the games they have, or create your own (it is very easy to create your own vocab or spelling game!) There are spelling, geography, science, and other subject areas to choose from. For one "Spell it Right" game, they used children from around the world to say the words. I thought that was very unique and would provide another opportunity to bring cultural awareness into your classroom.

I also really like WeGiveBooks.org. While the site does require teacher signup (and then you could post your login for students to use), I think it is well worth it. Created by the Pearson Foundation, We Give Books has several leveled books that students can read on the computer. Every time they complete a book, a book is donated to under privileged children. You could read the books whole-class on the SmartBoard or use it as a center. And, to tie some math in, you could create a chart to show how many books your class has donated to a great cause!

   

If you're looking for a way to perk up your students before testing, I found this cute printable note, and others here.