Need a quick update on Discovery Education tools?

Just log into your Discovery Education account and then click here.  You will find a DE Board Builder that highlights changes and updates in the product.  Trouble accessing your account?  Just remember to access via google.discoveryeducation.com.

Sharks vs Knights- a student story

Click here to read the book!

Storybird is one of my favorite sites- students can write their own story, publish it online (can only be accessed by the teacher and other students in the class) and if they if they want, they can purchase a hard copy of the book.  Maria Vella shared some photos of a student purchased book (she said it was great).  When you click on the link under the book to read it , you will see some of his peer’s comments. Talk about an authentic  audience! And it is limited to his classmates- no issues about it being out on the web.

Below is a picture from the purchased book.

Pick a name- any name!

While there are other name pickers out there, here’s a new one- Name PIcker Ninja (from Richard Byrne’s blog post on Free Technology for Teachers). Just enter the names and let the process begin. You can even have the name deleted once it has been selected. (You can tell what I was watching while writing this post!)

Need comic ideas?

I know I’ve had several recent posts on Storyboardthat- and when I saw this post from Richard Byrne about comics, I was excited.  In his post, he lists 10 ways to use comics in the classroom. From book reports, to vocabulary words, to summarizing events-  there is something for everyone!

The revolution begins via Storyoardthat!

Michelle Leonard shared these two examples of Storyboardthat spider map projects from her 5th grade social studies class.  She says “Storyboard is an excellent learning tool to reinforce vocabulary, themes in history, and story elements...best of all is that students truly enjoy it!“  I was in her class for one of the session and it was easy for the students to create accounts and they loved exploring all the features - I only teach them the basics and let them discover what they can do! Remember we have district school accounts- email me or your media specialists.

6 ways to gamify your lessons

This recent post in Edutopia by John Mc Carthy provides some practical suggestions to incorporate gaming strategies in your class. And many of the ideas are not all technology related (for example, Game Replay could be the same as retaking assessments).  Please click here to read the entire post to see how you could better serve all your learners.

NATO (the map!)

For all my geography friends, here’s an interactive map from NATO.  And you can switch from a 2D to 3D version.  This would be good on a projector or in stations.  Click on the country to get additional information.  For the complete description, please see the post from Richard Byrne on Free Technology for Teachers.

Everything you always wanted to know about Google Classroom

Rich Kiker (a Google expert who will be presenting at the 11/8 Staff Professional Development Day) recently shared several Google Classroom cheat sheets.  To view the sheets, please click here.

Who doesn’t want to visit Plymouth? (or the Plimoth Plantation)

Please check out the calendar from  Learn Around the World for a week of free trips to Plymouth. If you apply early, you might even get an on camera spot (see their FAQs here for more details). The trips air at different times each time so you can select the one that best fits your needs.

Talk to a real Astrophysicist

No, this is not the Big Bang Theory- this is JASON Learning and they are hosting Mark Devlin  who is an Astrophysicist at the University of Pennsylvania next Thursday at 1.  While you can submit questions now, you can also just join the video call. This is a great way to introduce STEM careers in your classroom.