While I am far from an art expert, I do enjoy it and this article spoke to me. Larry Ferlazzo suggests several ways to integrate art in the content areas (I always remember that Boston Massacre woodcut and having my students compare perspectives). Please check out his ideas here.
Sunday, October 31, 2021
Art in the content areas
While I am far from an art expert, I do enjoy it and this article spoke to me. Larry Ferlazzo suggests several ways to integrate art in the content areas (I always remember that Boston Massacre woodcut and having my students compare perspectives). Please check out his ideas here.
Saturday, October 30, 2021
Old MacDonald had a farm
(image from Teachersusingtech.com)
Are you learners learning about Farm LIfe? You might want to explore the resources om Farm Fun (developed from TeachersUsingTech). You can make a copy of the Google Slide presentation and use it with your students. While they suggest publishing it, I’m not sure that will work within our school domain. You can just use it in present mode for the same result.Friday, October 29, 2021
Immersive Reader
Immersive Reader is a Microsoft product that you will see popping up in other applications (Discovery Education, BrainPOP, and Wakelet to name a few). I’ve worked with a few classrooms and students love the reading function as well as the dictionary. For my ELL friends, there are many translation options. To see the review from TeachersFirst, please click here.
Thursday, October 28, 2021
Looking for ADHD and LD information?
This site has a variety of resources Visit LD online. For a complete review from Teachers First, click here. Here are the highlights:
When you bill yourself as the world's leading website on Learning Disabilities and ADHD, you'd better prove it. LD OnLine does that and more. LD OnLine provides in-depth professional and parent articles, expert advice columns, forums, and disability/differences resources for parents and educators within this easily-navigated site.
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Want to help inspire your kids?
While Discovery Education has a series of motivational videos, you might want to investigate Inspire my Kids. Here is the review from Teachers First:
Find inspiring, age-appropriate, real-life stories, videos, and projects to share with children and teens. The site hopes to help these students take positive actions and become the best people they can be. Stories offer great examples of values like courage, determination, honesty, humility, kindness, responsibility, and tolerance. The stories range from incredible kids inspiring other kids, to amazing animals demonstrating admirable qualities, to the invention of inspirational social causes. Stories are searchable in several ways - by values, topics, age range, and format. Formats include articles, podcasts, reference, and videos. You can also sign up for the site's newsletter including updates and new article information.
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Who doesn’t like a good map?
Monday, October 25, 2021
The Changing Seasons
Sunday, October 24, 2021
Word clouds for all
Saturday, October 23, 2021
Adding watermarks to Google Docs
Tom Larsen (one of my fellow Google Educate Trainers) recently shared this quick video on how to add (an dedit) watermarks in Google Docs. I think this will be useful to me when working with draft documents- and then you can remove the watermark when you are done!
Friday, October 22, 2021
Tech Tips for Teachers
Thursday, October 21, 2021
Helping students remember
I was in a class yesterday teaching Kami and the teacher had shared a math PDF for us to practice using the tools. The students had recently learned division and they wanted to divide in every problem (even though it was a mix of word problems that required either division or multiplication). That brings me to the post from Matt Miller (Ditch That Textbook) (while it was posted in April, he just updated some of the content). Here is a collection of strategies to help students recall their learning. Want to get a copy of the Google Slides Now, then, and, way back? Click here.
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Too much of a good thing
Sometimes too much choice can be overwhelming (I think of my recent experience in trying to decide on flooring for my laundry room!). The same can be said for choice boards- students can have trouble making selections. Matt Miller (Ditch that Textbook) has a brilliant idea- make it progressive and build choices as you complete different classroom assignments. Please see his blog post here.
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Presentation ideas (and even for younger learners)
In this article from Edutopia, the authors suggest a simple framework to help their students explore research and projects (so you don’t get powerpoints from all!). Check out Expanding Students’ Ideas About How to Give Presentations (by Michael Glasheen, Tiffany Perry) here.
Monday, October 18, 2021
A look at the earth
TeachersFirst recently shared a series of Earth Science resources including Dynamic Interactive Earth. It is geared for grades 4-9. Here’s a brief review from TeachersFirst:
Learn the powerful forces that shape and change the Earth. Dynamic Earth explores the Earth's Structures, Investigating Plate Tectonics, learning about Plates and Boundaries, and how the plates Slip, Slide, and Collide. Read the information provided, click on the Interactive pictures for more details, and test your knowledge in each section with interactive activities. In the end, test your skills using an online assessment.
Sunday, October 17, 2021
Be a Globe Tracker
This is a yearly project sponsored by TeachersFirst- what a great way to talk about geography. Here’s their description (and the link):
Globetracker's Mission
Take your students on a virtual choose-your-own-adventure geography journey around the regions of the United States. Engage your students with stories about main characters Meri and Geo. Learn geography terms, see landmarks, and practice map skills.
Saturday, October 16, 2021
Discovery Education Activities for K-8
There are many daily activities offered by Discovery Education ( and you don’t need to be a subscriber!). Please go here to view these resources.
Friday, October 15, 2021
Templates and Halloween Art!
Teaching Media Literacy
This article from Julia Boudreau provided some straightforward suggestions to help students unbundle and evaluate media in all forms.
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
More than just comics
Storyboardthat has a wide range of poster and infographic templates. For access to an account, please see your media specialist.
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Templates for all
Matt Miller is the king of Google Slides templates. Here is his latest post filled with a variety of social media options (I think the Amazon samples could be fun!). Please see his blog post here.
Monday, October 11, 2021
New Storyboardthat Resources
Check with your Media Specialist for access information to Storyboardthat or click this link to learn more about their resources.. There is also additional information on my wakelet as wakelet.com/@bsdtechtips.
Sunday, October 10, 2021
Lesson ideas for fall
Saturday, October 9, 2021
Why there is no view in Forms
Like many Google tools ( Docs, Sheets, Slides) you can share the viewing rights. But not in Google Forms. If you add collaborators, they will be in edit mode- and since there is no comment feature, they may change your content. There is also no revision feature in forms. Please read her blog post for additional information and be careful.
Friday, October 8, 2021
Reusing a Google Form
Alice Keeler shares a brief video on reusing Google forms. This could be helpful when you are giving last year’s quiz or want to separate the data between your classes this year. Basically, you open the form and
Delete all responses (from the form)
Unlink the form (I liked her reference to a divorce)
Create a new spreadsheet.
Her message is not to copy the form.
Jamboard Ideas
From my Google trainer resources, here are two slide presentations (PayitForward and Jamboard resources and ideas) with Google Jamboard suggestions.
Wednesday, October 6, 2021
Adobe Spark and Google Classroom
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
BrainPOP celebrates Digital Citizenship Week
Search for these titles to celebrate Digital Citizenship Week with BrainPOP (10/18-22).
Monday, October 4, 2021
Chrome shortcuts
I can always count on Alice Keeler with short-cut ideas. While I’ve used the resize feature- I can see how CTRL + L and Ctrl + R can be very useful (how many times have I copied a link?). Please see her brief blog post here.
Sunday, October 3, 2021
Top 10 Google Docs Tips
Alice Keeler shared her top suggestions for working with Google Docs. This is something to think of while you are introducing Docs to your students.
Saturday, October 2, 2021
Inventiveness in the Classroom
This afternoon, I attended an EdWeb seminar with Kathy Schrock on inventiveness in the classroom. You can go to EdWeb to see the recording. Kathy shared her website which includes a wide variety of resources (processes, tools, and apps),
Friday, October 1, 2021
Google Jamboard Templates
Here are some reflection Jamboard templates (from Holly at Infused Learning). Just use the 3 dots to create a copy- here’s her description:
Resource 2: Copy-and-Use Templates - See the 20 Jamboard Templates
Once you have the research in hand, what do you do with it?
That's where these pre-made templates come in handy. They help you put theory into practice.
This is a pack of 20 Jamboard templates on reflection that you can start using right away with students. Make a copy. Adjust. Then assign. They include:
Stop Start Continue: A way for students to evaluate their work
Struggle / Work at / Good at: A three-part self-evaluation
Reflection questions: Including "Where can I improve my learning?" and "What are my learning strengths?"