Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Who did it?



Looking for hands-on science inquiry unit? Want to make learning scientific practices painless? Need short lectures and labs (along with grading suggestions)?  Check out TeachersFirst Who did it? And turn your students into CSI scientists.  What a fun way to have the students practice scientific steps and reasoning.  Could do it as a closing until or hold on to it for next September!

Monday, May 30, 2016

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Could you survive Plymouth?




So how is your faith?  Food? Supplies?  These are all questions to those trying to survive Plymouth.  Take the role of a Pilgrim and begin your quest.  Each decision will impact your over health.  Explore Saints and Strangers.

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Explore the dust bowl


Want your students to experience the dust bowl?  Check out this PBS site- Interactive Dust bowl. Start by building your  homestead and meet your neighbors.  Keep playing and make more choices.  See the influence of the great depression as well as the weather.

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Interactive whiteboard games for the young




PBS Kids has a nice site with interactive whiteboard activities divided by content area.Within each area, you will find a brief description of each game as well as suggested grades and audio requirements.

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Bioman!




Here’s a site with interactive labs and quizzes for science topics.  From cells to ecology to photosynthesis and more.  This site is geared for grades 5 and up.

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Memorial Day



Looking for resources for your students for Memorial Day?  Check out this blog post from Discovery Education and explore their content collection.  It includes several activities for your students.
Please click here for the link.

Need a civics game?




Visit Sunnylands!  You might recognize some of the activities from iCivics.  This would work well students working on the constitution or branches of government.

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Let’s Compare



So is it whole to whole?  Or maybe point to point?  Or similarities to differences?  Don’t worry- Read-Write-Think has you covered with their online writing organizer Compare and Contrast Map.  Make a selection and start the write.  The finished organizer can be printed or saved (including to your Google Drive).

Want to learn more?  See the blog post from Richard Byrne  (from Free Technology for Teachers) here.

Monday, May 23, 2016

Get a jump on PD!



South Brunswick is hosting their second Summer Technology and Learning Conference on Thursday, June 23.  Please click here for registration information.  I will be presenting (and I attended last year as well).  There were a variety of speakers, a nice lunch, and plenty of door prizes. The price is right- only $40 for the day! Here is their website for additional information.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Put yourself on the money (or wanted poster)!


Festisite is an image editing site that will allow you to put your image on the money (and from various countries). You can also add your face to a playing cards, posters, or logos. This is similar to PhotoFunia (but with fewer choices).

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Learning about money on the farm






Using farming as a game, visit Farm Blitz to learn how money works.  Take out a loan to purchase seed , see the debt accumulate and then how to see your crops and make money. Geared for middle-high school level students.

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Friday, May 20, 2016

Everything you need to know about the economy (and money)


Here’s a series of short films that cover 5 major monetary topics. This site is geared to high school students and includes support material.


For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Welcome to Moneyville!



Visit Moneyville! Here’s a chance for elementary students to earn and manage their own money!  While you need to create a username and password, there is no need for an email.  Create your avatar, complete your first job and you are off!

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

SPENT!




Do you students wonder where the money goes?  Have them play this free game that simulates the financial decisions faced by most adults.  From finding a job, housing, food, and other expenses, it is easy to see how many people don’t have the funds to support the necessities of life. At certain points in the game, it will like to Facebook (but you can just close it and move on).  This is geared toward high school students.


You could do this independently or perhaps on an interactive whiteboard.

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Have tea with the Queen



Well, not with her personally- but join the Livestream with Discovery Education as they host a virtual tea party to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s  90th birthday.  They will provide the footage of her life- you need to provide the scones!  This event is Friday, June 10 from 9:30-10.   You can register here and on that Friday, you will be connected with schools in the UK!

Monday, May 16, 2016

Inspired Picture Writing



Pic-Lits would be a creative activity for your students.  You can create a free account and then let the photos inspire you!  You can select from their “drag and drop” list of words or go free-form and write your own.  Perhaps students could create in pairs/teams by alternating the word choice? There are several ways to share.

Sunday, May 15, 2016

What’s your passion?




Here’s the link to a recent edweb webinar- Bring Joy to the Classroom with Passion Projects. Perhaps you can start to think how you might implement in your classroom.  You can watch the webinar (and when you join the community) you can take the brief quiz to get your PD cert.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

edWeb and SPED

I’ve been a big fan of edWeb for all types of webinars.  Yesterday I attended Building an Inclusive Classroom Environment (and Shannon Holden is one of my favorite presenters).  Everything you ever wanted to know about IEPs, 504s, accommodations, and modifications.  And from the comfort of your own home!

You can watch the recorded webinar here.  Join the New Teacher Help community and you will be able to take a short quiz and get a PD certificate.  To join, go to edweb.net.

Friday, May 13, 2016

Free Summer PD



Capella University is offering a variety of free online classes for educators this summer.  Please see the information here.  There are offerings for a variety of skill and interest levels.  You had 60 days to complete the class.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Drive Search Tips



Locating files in your Google Drive can be much easier if you use the filters in the search bar.  I often use document type or key words.  For a complete description of the process, please see this blog post  from Alice Keeler.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Learn how to code


Here’s another site for elementary school students - Bee a Coder.  There are several levels(for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.) in the site and it might make a great June project .

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Another quiz review game- but with a twist




When I first saw Triventy, it reminded me of Kahoot! The students join with a game pin, the questions and answers are displayed, and it will generate a leaderboard.  But then it reminded me of Quizizz since the questions and answers also appear on the student device and you can share Triventy via Google Classroom.


It does not seem to have the tracking ability (found both in Kahoot! And Quizizz)- I could only find a leaderboard at the end of the game. So if you are looking for data on a question by question basis- this is not the game for you.


But what is does have is the ability to have your students collaborate with you in creating the questions.  You can share the link a variety of ways (including Google Classroom) and you moderator all questions before they go live.
Rather than use this as a formative assessment, Triventy would be good as a review.

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Monday, May 9, 2016

Coming this fall to Google Classroom



In yesterday’s announcement about the ability to schedule posts, Google announced there will be a type of parent/guardian access available for classroom in the fall.  I’ve heard several teachers looking for this access to keep the folks at home updated on student assignments.

Sunday, May 8, 2016

And the water goes round and round


Not the last few days of rain have me thinking of water- I think it’s the science classrooms I have visited lately.  Here’s a nice review of the water cycle (posted by Richard Byrne in Free Technology for Teachers) that will allow to view the cycle.

Saturday, May 7, 2016

No matter what type of paper you need




One Inch graph paper? ½ inch graph paper? Octagon graph paper?  Yes to all three- and many more paper types.  Visit Printable Paper and print away!

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Built in Laser Pointer




Left your laser pointer at home?  No problem- now there is a built in one in Google Slides.  Just start to present and then look at the navigation bar at the bottom ( where you can go to either advance the slides or exit the presentation).  Just click the lightning bolt and point away!

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Trading Card Maker




This is a great (and maybe  familiar) resource from ReadWriteThink.  Select your type of card (real person, idea, or more) and get started.  If you are working on a Chromebook (without access to print), just save it to your drive.  If you open the PDF as a Google Doc, you will get all the content but not the fancy graphic design.  If you really want it to resemble a trading card, install the chrome app XODO and you will be able to open it (and then print) with the background.

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

The Renaissance



Teacher or student-led?  Take your choice in this TeachersFirst unit on the Renaissance (for grades 6-10).  Maybe this is the time to stretch your comfort zone and try a student led project- everything you need is here! For all the directions, please click here.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Storybird




It’s been awhile since I’ve used Storybird- but with the end of the year in site, this might be the perfect time to provide a creative writing project for your K-8 students.  Explore this delightful gallery of artists then make a selection and let the writing begin!  You can create a picture or chapter book or a poetry layout.  Sign up for their free educator account and you can create accounts for your students.

For the complete post from TeachersFirst, please click here.

Peardeck and Flubaroo- Perfect Together!



Here’s an interesting blog post from the Peardeck folks with suggestions on how to use multiple choice questions in your classroom to both check for understanding as well as initiate conversation.  At the end of the post, there is a link on reminding you had to link Flubaroo with Peardeck.  How much better could it get?  You can present in class, collect responses from your students and then run the grading software for more data!

This is my Teacher's Week Gift!




Now you can schedule anything (questions, announcements, and assignments) in Google Classroom!  In addition to the Ask/Post feature (as well as the draft option), you can schedule your posts.  How much easier could classroom get?

For more information, please see this post from Alice Keeler.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Free Reading Site



Here’s a free reading site with leveled texts.  Sign up for free, create a class and have your students start with the pretest.  They will then get reading passages with comprehension questions.  You can then see their results.  Check out Reading Theory (thanks to Brad Fountain for posting this on Facebook).