Want to make your videos play automatically?

One of the advantages of using videos in Google Slides is how easy it is to import videos.  Now you can make your video play as soon you open the slide. Please see Richard Byrne’s blog post here. With just a few adjustments, you can set the video to autoplay.

Make those spreadsheets work for you!

Ever used a form to collect data?  Do You get frustrated when you need to

keep adding formatting (wider columns or text wrapping)?  In her blog post,

Alice Keeler has easy directions to create your own Macro and have the

lines adjusted automatically!  I just tried it and it worked flawlessly!

Working with Discovery Education Studio

Last week, I shared some images of third graders using Studio.  What you didn’t

see were the steps leading up to their first Studio creation.  Here’s what we did:

For their first exposure to Studio, the teacher created a studio board for the
students to access. It was shared without editing rights (so the students
could only view it).  It included videos, interactives, and images. The
students viewed the material and responded to questions on paper.

For their second Studio time, the teacher created a template and shared it this

time with editing rights.  The students each worked on their own copy adding

images and videos.

For the third time, the teacher had the students create a board.  She walked

them through some of the basics and then the students created their own.

Looking for newspapers?

If you are looking for newspapers, forget the recycle bin.  Head to the Google Online Archive newspaper site.  For complete directions on the site, please see the blog post from Richard Byrne’s Free Technology for Teachers.  Special thanks to Dr. Aguiles for the suggestion.

Looking for math lessons

Richard Byrne shared a blog post with NASA space lessons.  Space Math is the site

he shared.  You can make the lessons out of this world.

Copying questions into a form

Ever wish you could copy questions from one Google form to another?  

(Yes, I know you can copy the entire form, but how about single questions?).  

Now before you get all excited, this only works with text (so if there are

photos in the question/answer, they will need to be added back in).

But you can use text and recycle a question from one form into another.  The
Form add-on you want is Form Recycler.  It’s been out for a while (and I’m
sorry I cannot remember where I saw it or I would give credit).  For additional
information, please visit Richard Byrne’s blog post here.

Google Sites as Portfolios

On Kasey Bell’s Shake Up Learning site. I found this guest blog post from Mike Mohammed.  Not only does he share student samples, he also provides step by step for creating portfolios with your students. While Mike’s students are able to publish to the world, our Google arrangement will keep the sites within the Sayrevillek12 world.

More Top Ten!

Discovery Education has done it again- more top ten Spotlight on Strategies

(SOS).  This time they are focused on college and career readiness. They

are geared to :

    Developing key cognitive strategies
    Mastering core content
    Taking ownership of their learning
    Becoming proficient with a range of learning strategies

Click here for the post.

Editing photos

Kasey Bell (from Shake Up Learning) recently shared shortcuts to editing images in Google.
Please see her blog post here.  This might be a fun (and useful) activity for your students.

Let it snow, let it snow,..

.

Well, not really- it is way too early for a snow day.  But you can make it snow at anytime in Storyboardthat.  Here’s a link to lesson suggestions for the winter.

Take a holiday trip around the world!

Discovery Education is hosting a virtual field trip- Holidays around the world.  
Get information and register here.  The trip is Thursday, December 20 at 1 pm.

What’s in a choice?

Heard the term choice boards but not sure what they are or how to use them?  Here’s a blog post from Better Lesson  that will walk you through the process.

Have you seen Studio?

For a long time, Discovery Education hosted the Board Builder platform that

allowed teachers and students to create an online poster complete with text,

files, images, and video. You will find Studio on the menu represented as a

light bulb.

Now the entire district has access to Studio.  This is an upgraded platform

and includes pages, templates, and more! Special thanks to Kristin Banks,

DE Senior Specialist, for quickly providing access for our district.

If you would like an overview, please sign into your DE account and then
click the light bulb.  At the top of the screen you will see a Learn More link.

The image above it from Karen Swierczek's third-grade class.

Google, Santa, and the Elves

During this month, you can code at Santa’s Google Workshop.

Design an elf, all by yourself! Create, code, and play in Santa's Village

Filling in the gaps

This strategy (from Better Lesson) begins with a student self assessment (both from test results and self reflection).  Then over a two day period, students work to “fill in the blanks”.

Looking for Genius Help?

Have you heard about a Genius Hour and are thinking of it for your class?  Need suggestions to get started? Check out this lesson from Better Lessons- you will find step by step directions.

Free ONLINE PD in December

The Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit is a FREE virtual event from December 14-31.

It brings together some of the brightest minds in education to discuss technology,

pedagogy and more.

You’ll get one new inspiring, practical presentation each day for nine days. Videos will

be available until the summit closes on Dec. 31. You can automatically generate a

FREE certificate for professional development credits that's emailed to you for each

video you watch.

This is where I first learned about HyperDocs and much more- the sessions are

less than an hour.

Want to learn more?  Check out Alice Keeler’s blog post here.

Empathy and Design- perfect together

Can your students put themselves in someone’s shoes and try to solve a problem?  Design Thinking is a combination of Social-emotional learning and problem-solving.  This post from Discovery Education has a host of ideas and resources for any grade level.

Growth Mindset- Implementation Ideas

This post from EdSurge shares information on Growth mindset implementation. Clearly, one shot lessons are not the solution.

Wire Maker Space Idea

Image from https://babbledabbledo.com/easy-art-kids-wire-sculpture/

This looked like an interesting project- blocks of wood, wire, and beads!  What could your students create?

New viewing tool

There is a new tool you might have noticed in your Google account.  Using

this upward arrow, you can quickly see the sharing settings as well as who

has view the object.

Here’s the news clip from Google:

Now your Activity Dashboard is one click away in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides,

and Drawings  11/16 not yet We’ve made it easier for you to open the Activity

dashboard directly from Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings.

You’ll now see the Activity dashboard icon (a jagged arrow pointing

upward) next to the comments button in the upper right-hand corner

of the page.

Drawings + Google Keep

Google Keep literally helps me organize my workload.  Now you can do more by using Keep to store images and then importing them into Slides!  Please see Alice Keeler’s post here.

Social Studies in the Elementary Classrooms

Newsela recently posted a brief article with suggestions on implementation of Social Studies in the elementary classroom.  Maybe one of their suggestions will work for you!

Writing prompts to inspire

So what does Darth Vader do on his day off?  How about Superman’s brother? John Spence has assigned a playlist of interesting writing prompts to help your students create!  You can see his YouTube channel here.

MORE SOS Top Ten

Many folks attended Discovery Education Spotlight on Strategies (SOS) top ten sessions at the staff development day last month.  Here’s a new one- Change it Up- Stem completion (no sorry, this is not STEM). Please click here to see their suggestions.

The best way to study is to…

Draw.  According to this article by Jessica Stillman.  Since drawing

involves so many layers of the brain, the information will stick better.  Perhaps

sketchnoting is something for your students to practice as they study?

Sometimes you want to make a copy

Did you realize you can make a copy through Version History?  Check out this blog post from Alice Keeler for all the details.

You might want to name your versions

By using the name your version feature, you can eliminate the need to make copies of documents when there are changes.  Please see Alice Keeler’s blog post here. This would be a useful tool for your students as well.

The new Class Dojo

I have to admit- I wasn’t a big Class Dojo fan.  As a former 5th grade teacher, I

thought they were a little old for a visit to the dojo.  But Megan Velardi (Arleth)
reached out to me about their new portfolios and I was impressed. What a simple
way to have students create digital portfolios!

Here is what Megan had to say:

“Class Dojo has added Portfolios to their program! This addition gives students a

voice (literally) as they share their learning by adding photos and videos to their own

portfolio and parents are absolutely LOVING it! They are currently using their portfolios

during independent centers. It’s been so engaging for the students and it’s exciting to

see them on task for a longer period of time!”

The photo above shows the first day we implemented it in her first-grade classroom.
Her students were a pleasure to work with and the process was painless.

The student above is recording his reading. Megan can then approve it and share
with the parent.

Holidays and Economics

Nothing like the coming of the new year to get your finances in order.  Here from Discovery Education are three interactives to help your students budget and plan.

Sticky notes on a slide

Matt Miller ( from Ditch the Textbook fame) recently shared a blog post on using

sticky notes in a Google Slide.  And better than just the step by step directions-

he also share the template (with premade notes, background, and arrows).  

I created a flowchart for my upcoming Digital Escape Room class. (I’m going

to include it in presentation.)

Think of what your students could do- timelines, processes, organizing written

work?  Please share your samples with me!

Book Creator

While reading this blog post from Richard Byrne on Book Creator- it reminded me how much I like this application.  The video in Byrne’s video will walk you through the process. Want to do it with your class? I would love to join you!

Copy a class

Do you teach a quarter or semester class?  Then the ability to copy a Google classroom (classwork and topics from one class to another) might be extremely useful.  Kasey Bell (From Shake Up learning) has great step by step directions here.  If you are considering copying a class, be sure you read her lists of what will (and what will not ) copy.

SEL in Discovery Education

Please click here for Discovery Education resources on Social Emotional Learning.

Get SketchNoteFever!

In this guest post, Sylvia Duckworth shares sketch strategies for your class.  You can also find a host of short videos you can use (by yourself or with your class) here.

SAMR, TPACK, and now TIMs

There are many frameworks to help educators implement technology in the classroom.  At a recent EdCamp, I became acquainted with the TIMs (Technology Integration Matrix) model. I like the matrix format and you can find it here (along with many other resources).

Looking for a new way to use slides?

Check out the suggestions in this EDU on 90 on easy ways to modify Google Slides.

Do you know this pathway?

This is something from my days teaching science- Curriculum Pathways has many options for your students.  This post concentrates on the upcoming Computer Science Week.

It's almost Computer Science Education Week. This annual program, which lands Dec. 3-9, is dedicated to inspiring K-12 students' interest in computer science. There's no better time to experiment with hands-on, collaborative coding across the curriculum using CodeSnaps, which requires only one robot and one app.

Coding in math class adds up to fun

Try our popular Show With Code: 24 Game, in which students use restricted combinations of mathematical operations to navigate a grid of numbers, finding only paths where the result is 24. Teams can also collaborate to code a program that successfully maneuvers a robot in Navigating an Obstacle Course, as featured inCode.org's Robotics and Circuits activities.

Can you code with ELA content? Yes!

Grid-based activities are the perfect fit for integrating ELA content into coding. For example, Show With Code: Finding Word Families requires students to write a program that moves a robot through a grid of familiar words. To solve the grid, only land on squares containing words in the same family. This lesson is easily modified to suit any age or grade level.

Why code is music to our ears

Similarities between music and coding make music a natural instructional tool for computational thinking. Try dissecting the Itsy Bitsy Spider song. Students can break down the story into individual components and translate the song into a program a connected robot "spider" can follow. Watch this quick video to see how it works.

Create and share CS lessons and more

Transform your lessons into interactive, online resources withCrio™, our free drag-and-drop editor. Create a new approach to computer science or any subject. Remix and build on the best work of your peers. Then share your lessons with other educators around the world – our library features more than 2,000 lessons, and it's growing! – and consolidate your lesson plans online.Learn more and try Crio.

No-cost professional development

Remember to check out our no-fee professional development opportunities.  We offer self-paced online learning, customizable on-site workshops, live webinars with Curriculum Pathways®experts and video tutorials on YouTube.

Explore our website

Visit the Curriculum Pathways website to explore more than 1,700 interactive, standards-based resources in the core disciplines. To receive the most relevant resources and news, update your profile by logging in to your Curriculum Pathways account, clicking on settings under the welcome button, and selecting the user profile tab.

Contact us Questions or comments? Please send an email to curriculumpathways@sas.com.