Holiday Games for PreK-5: Plugged and Unplugged

I created a poster for teachers to print and share with students. It includes QR Codes for students to scan with their iPads. The games are pulled from the Santa Tracker website hosted by Google and are great activities for when you want to let students have a little fun while building on STEAM skills. Some of the games involve design thinking and coding as an added bonus. Click Here for the  printable poster.






Looking for some UNPLUGGED fun? Click Here to find a printable decorating a Christmas Tree coding activities, an unplugged stacking cups project Click Here, or a drawing a Nutcracker unplugged coding project. Click Here

You can find more of these wonderful activities at https://jdaniel4smom.com/ She has a great coloring page for The Polar Express.

 





Visit my website for some more great online Holiday activities and games that includes Hanukah and Kwanza. Click Here Students can also Google Search Mrs Gleason and the link to my website is usually the top link suggested. Find the Holiday Fun page under the student tab.


 

Fun Digital Holiday Projects

***Scroll down for a variety of projects students can do to create digital Holiday Greetings for their parents. Have students use Seesaw or Class Dojo to easily share their project with their parents. As an alternative you can have students airdrop their project to you and then email the projects to the parents. All video Tutorials below are student friendly. Merry Creating!!!    

 

Create an Ugly Sweater, Decorate a Christmas Tree, 

and Reindeer Yourself Using PicEDU

Student Examples:

Tutorial Video: (Use the same process for the other two projects.)

Make a Greeting Card with Green Screen

Student Examples:

Tutorial Video: (Take a green screen photo with the iPad camera and save images from safari before using the green screen app.)

Or Make a Green Screen Video: (This example is for Valentine's Day. Just switch it up for Christmas.)

 

Create and Print 3D Ornaments

Student Examples:

Teacher Example:

Tutorial Video: (This project is one that you will probably want to have me help you with, but if you want to do part of it on your own... have students create their ornaments in Google Slides using shapes or in Book Creator using the Magic Pen, I can help with the rest. Of course I'm willing to help with the whole process as well.)

Tell a Story Using ChatterPix and Student Art

Student Example:

Tutorial Video:

 

Decorate a Snowman in Google Slides and Make it Talk Using ChatterPix Kids

Student Examples:

Link to the Project: Click Here (Have students make a copy in Google Drive and then they can decorate their own snowman.)


Tutorial Video: (On an iPad students will hold down on an image with a finger, click copy, and then go to the snowman slide and hold down their finger. Click paste.)

Create a Holiday Poem with Adobe Spark Video

Student Examples:

Tutorial Video:

Hour of Code Resources 2019

The Hour of Code event that takes place during Computer Science Education Week (December 9-15 this year) is worth setting aside some classroom time for students to explore coding via apps or websites. Learning to code will help students in a variety of skills including, reading, writing, math, and design thinking. This article will host a variety of resources for you to enjoy a successful Hour of Code in your classroom. For a printable flyer for your classroom click the pic below. The QR Code will direct students to my Hour of Code page on my website that hosts a variety of Hour of Code activities. You can have students download any of the suggested apps from the flyer or use any of the code.org coding games linked on my website.

 

It is not necessary to participate in the Hour of Code all in one day. Feel free to break the hour up throughout the week. Also, because students love learning to code you can use the apps and website coding games as incentives throughout the rest of the school year. I have yet to walk into a classroom of students learning to code who are not completely engaged. My schools have participated in this event since the very first year of Hour of Code. 

Debugging is one of the most important lessons of coding and students who can debug can solve a variety of problems they come across in any subject. Below are some resources for teaching debugging.

Beebots in the Elementary Classroom

Beebots were created with the intention to teach early coding skills to lower elementary school age students/children. However, Beebots have grown into much more of a learning tool. Students are extremely engaged while using Beebots so educators can take advantage! Teachers can have the bees help reinforce what students are learning by creating customizable mats, question cards, and answer cards.

I have created transparent mats so that any type of flash cards can be used with the clear mats. You will just need answer cards to be placed under the transparent mat, like in the photo.

In the sight word game from the photo to the right, one student would direct/code the Beebot to travel to a sight word and then another student would read the sight word. Students would take turns continuing to code the bee to a word for their classmate to read. I created answer cards for 24 of the toughest Frye words in the first 100 and then another 24 from the second 100. The answer cards shown can be turned over to be used with math flash cards that have answers from 0-23.

Thanks to the generous donation from David and Sandy Perloff of The Perloff Family Foundation we have several sets of Beebots. At Edna Libby Mrs. Cutter and Miss Magnuson have 4-6 Beebots and mats in their classrooms plus there are 2 Bees and mats in the STEAM Lab. At HBE Miss Nappi will have 5 Beebots and mats plus there will be 4 Bees and several mats in the STEAM Lab. I plan to make more mats including some for story retell. Krista Poulin, our curriculum coordinator, is going to make some customizable mats using a poster maker they have at Central Office. Teachers will be able to write on those mats with a dry erase marker so that they can be changed up regularly. Beebots make a GREAT center activity! Please let me know if you want to try them out with your students. (SF - We can work something out if you are interested.)

Below is another generic mat I created that can be used with any flash cards.

 

For the Rules PDF Click Here

Resources for More Ideas:

(Click Photos Below to go to the Sites)

 

Making STEAM Doable: STEM Challenges and Digital Interactive Workbooks

Do you want a 30 minute or less lesson that you don't have to plan and takes very little prep? Do you want to get in some STEAM in a very heavy literacy focused classroom? Well, I have the solution for you. STEM Challenges!!! Through STEM Challenges students can work on all kinds of skills that we need students to have. 

For example the video Team Building STEM Challenges I have created focus on skills to help students to work well with others. All of the Challenges have a video about working as a team for the classroom teacher to show before the STEM Challenge video. Then teachers show the STEM Challenge video to their students so that the classroom teacher does not have to present the challenge. All of the STEM Challenges have an instruction sheet like the one pictured. Each sheet includes three more videos that can extend the lesson. There are also STEM Challenges that don't involve videos. You can also find them in the instruction sheet link. They are listed as PDFs in the STEM Challenge folder.

Beyond team building I have also created STEM Challenges that go along with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Again there is very little prep work for teachers and most of the supplies, if you work with me, are in our STEAM Labs. I am working on more challenges and will align those with NGSS. The first ones I created are not aligned, but are still great for design thinking and touch upon skills that will help students think. Some include math, science, and technology skills in the design or as part of the video. Some also integrate literacy because they accompany a story book, like The Runaway Pumpkin or Marshmallows Galore. To get to the play list for STEM Challenge videos CLICK HERE.

Another awesome tool that other tech coaches and I have been creating is Science and Math Book Creator templates that are aligned with NGSS or math standards. This allows a classroom teacher to have students work through a digital interactive workbook when they get 5-15 minutes here or there throughout the school week. Then there is no pressure of time. When you have a little extra time you can fit a little science or math in. CLICK HERE to find the downloadable workbooks that work in Book Creator on an iPad. 

 

 Example STEM Challenge Lessons 

Kindergarten

1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

 

For more information about the STEAM Labs visit my Website.

Educandy for Creating On-Line Games

Educandy is a great tool for educators and students! Create activities for students by adding words or questions with answers and students will have a variety of game options to choose from. The games are really cute and perfect for word work as part of independent centers. There is also a quiz feature to use for formative assessments, exit slips, or pre/post tests. The learning games can be played on any device. Accessing the games is quite easy for students and there are a few different options for teachers to choose. Educandy is very well designed and user friendly. I highly recommend you give it a try!

Below is a great tutorial video by Richard Byrne showing how to create and share games using Educandy.

Try out some games I created with words from 
Literacy Dictations. (Use code 3c71)

Green Screen Bee Project

Kuddos to Mrs. Sparks for having her students research what is happening to our bee population and letting students show their creaivity! Mrs. Sparks students did a ridiculously fabulous job with this project. After students researched bees they wrote a script with their partner, performed the skit in front of a green screen, and then used the Green Screen App by Doink to add cool backgrounds. Below are a few students examples. I truly was blown away with how fantastic these students did with their projects!

This article is meant as a shout out to fabulous work by Mrs. Sparks third grade class. However, if you would like to learn more about using DoInk with your students check out my article on, Green Screens Rock and What I Have Learned the Last Two Years or Smashing Zookazam with Green Screen by Doink.

Flippity for Building Educational Games and Other Classroom Tools

Wicked AWESOME tool/interactive game building site including spelling games, bingo cards, matching games and much more! That about sums it up, but I will go on to share more information. All of the options can be customized to the content you are using with your students. Lindsey Cawood and I presented a session on Flippity at MassCUE recently, a technology focused educational conference. Lindsay made some really good examples for a couple of the options. Click Here for pre-made bingo cards and spelling games. Click Here to go to the presentation Slide Deck to check out what we presented. Also I recently made a connection with Kevin Spencer via Twitter and check out his superb resources for Flippity!


Wowser! Scroll down to be amazed with all of the things you can make and many of them are interactive for students on their own device. Bonus: Flippity works on any device! I personally love the Bingo Cards, Matching Game, Snowman (Hangman), and Spelling Games.

 

Pics of the fun we had! I highly recommend attending MassCUE!

 

Read With Me Blogs for Literacy Centers

Before summer break I had created a Read With Me blog for each school for summer reading. Miss Drew and I were chatting recently because she was looking for safe places to send students for more reading material beyond Epic! and Vooks on iPads. We decided the blog that is already created for each school would be a great resource. Students can scan a QR code (printable QR flyer below) and then have access to all of the on-line stories that have been posted/vetted without having to actually go to YouTube. More stories can be added at any time. Just let me know what you want on your school's blog. [Read with Me HBE - Read with me Edna - Read with Me Steep Falls]

Here is a video of students sharing how to use the blog...

Print out these QR posters for students to easily access the blog from their iPads.
(Click your school flyer below to print.)

 

ChatterPix Kids for Literacy

ChatterPix Kids is an extremely engaging, adding voice to a pic, App that can be used in any grade level (K-5). It is an especially useful tool for literacy because students can record themselves reading their work or someone else's work. Students can listen to their recording and evaluate their fluency. It is also an awesome tool to bring photographs of projects to life. ChatterPix projects can be downloaded to the iPad Photo Library and then uploaded to other Apps like Seesaw to share with family and classmates. I hope that you unlock the power of ChatterPix Kids with your students! Below are examples of students projects.



K students in Mrs. Turgeon's class created snowmen using Google Slides, wrote stories about their snowmen, and then recorded themselves reading their story in ChatterPix Kids.

1st Grade students during a Digital Citizenship lesson by Common Sense Media followed up with summarizing what they learned in the lesson using ChatterPix Kids.

3rd Grade students in Ms. Nason's class drew Christmas art characters and then wrote a quick character voice story.

4th Grade students during a Digital Citizenship lesson with me wrote a pledge to conclude our lesson and used ChatterPix Kids to record themselves reading the pledge and bring a social media icon to life.

3rd Grade students in Mr. Hulit and Ms. Nason's classes created area/perimeter robots. They finished their project by recording themselves in ChatterPix Kids. This activity gives you an idea how any student project can be brought to life.

Printer Settings for Using Our New Printer System

Directions for Printer Settings for Using Our New Printer System 

Go to the Apple on the upper left of your laptop screen and choose System Preferences. Then choose Printers and Scanners. Check to make sure that your Default printer is either Last Printer Used or MSAD6 Printers. Also make sure that your Default paper size is US Letter. If you get a pop up when you print asking for a user name and password, use your email address for the user name and your email password is the password to use.Once you have set the defaults you should be good unless Paul E runs an update. In this instance your defaults may reset. If they do, just go back into system preferences and adjust your defaults again.

Apple Classroom for Monitoring Student iPads

  

Adding students to Apple Classroom is done by the classroom teacher this year. This will allow you to add students that are in your flex groups from other grade levels. Having teachers add students themselves, rather than Ryan making the groups, is the only way to make this flexibility happen. Good news is... you can also monitor/control student iPads from your laptop this year.

Here is a link to instructions created by Apple and another article for using the app on a teacher iPad. You will need to download the Apple Classroom app from the Apple App Store on your iPad, not Self Service. If you need a user name and password, shoot me an email. The App is already loaded on your laptop. Guide for Laptop Use See below for a tutorial video for using it on an iPad and your Mac.

Skip Step #1

Duplicate Yourself: Independent Dictation Centers

Our school district, MSAD6, has been focusing on flex grouping our students for literacy (Students are grouped based on their learning needs and their groups are fluid as student needs change). During the flex time, the classroom teacher meets with small groups to customize learning to meet student needs. While a small group of students are meeting with the classroom teacher, we aim to create centers for the rest of the students that will engage and push students to learn, discover, and grow independently. So if a teacher can duplicate themselves using technology by the means of video recording a part of the lesson, they can customize the independent centers as well. This also saves valuable whole group time for mini lessons and skill reviews and guided reading time with the classroom teacher for more focused skill work. Dictation is just one example of how teachers can duplicate themselves via technology.


I have been making some dictation videos for Mrs. Emery at HBE so that I can be a helper in her class without actually being physically there. Mrs. Foley has been making her own dictation videos at Edna Libby, plus I helped the principal, Mr. Vacchiano, create one as a guest video visitor for Mrs. Foley's students. We have been putting these videos into Seesaw as an Activity so that students can access the videos quickly for independent work. I even heard a couple 1st graders say that it was fun. I'd say that if a kiddo thinks dictation is fun, we must be doing something right! Another plan, once all of the videos are created, is to have the dictations in a Book Creator book. The reason we might go this route is so that students are not able to click on other videos in YouTube.

Here is the YouTube Dictation Playlist for Review of A to E Skills: Dictation Playlist
Here is the Activity link to the 1st activity I put on Seesaw: Dictation Levels A-E Skill 1 
Here is the Activity link to Mrs. Foley's Day 7 on Seesaw: Day 7

You can also search for the activities in Seesaw because we have contributed them to the Community.

Dictation Books Created by Carrie Thurston

Google Expeditions: More Than a Fun Tool

Virtual field trips are an awesome way to help students visualize what they are learning about or making connections to their learning. Since we already have a kit... Expeditions are very inexpensive field trips.

For example I had a third grade class that was reading a book that took place in Egypt and that classroom teacher took her students, using Google Expeditions, to Egypt to see the Pyramids. Another class, 2nd grade, was reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and they virtually visited a chocolate factory. There are a lot of Expeditions that can be used with science or social studies standards. You could use an Expedition as a writing prompt. If you think outside of the box, any of the Expeditions that include numbers in the information for each slide can be used to create math problems. See video below.

I created a Google Expedition for the Tour of Standish so that 3rd grade classes at Edna Libby and Steep Falls don't have to take the tour via a bus ride. Link Here Also below is a tutorial video on how to search for Expeditions on your iPad. On your laptop search here or check out this Doc. When you make an appointment with me please let me know which tour you would like to do.

Using Google Expeditions for Math

Google Expeditions AR: Great for when you don't have a kit!

How to Search for Google Expedition Tours on an iPad

Book Creator Ideas for All Subjects

Book Creator is one of my favorite tools for elementary students. In my school district we use it on iPads, however it can be used with any device. Tech Coaches in MSAD6 have created several digital interactive workbooks for educators to share with students. Click here for access. Some of the digital interactive workbooks include Next Generation Science Standards books for most grades. The interactive science workbooks have links to interactive games and videos that open up within Book Creator so that students don't get lost searching around Safari or YouTube. Students add to the workbooks as they learn. Lastly at the end of most of the science workbooks there is a document that shows what standards were covered and resources for educators. Many grades have more than one science digital workbook available and there is more in the works. Also there are a variety of literacy books like Vocabulary Journal, B or D?, Hunks and Chunks, My Alphabet Book, and My Scrabble Word Book plus the books you see in the image below right.


The Book Creator team is constantly making it an even more awesome tool for students. For example this summer they added an auto draw feature where the user starts drawing an object and the App will give the user picture choices to choose from. Students just need to make sure to choose the auto draw pen before drawing.

Below you will find resources to get you started with how you can use Book Creator in the classroom with your students, tutorial videos to follow along as you work with Book Creator, and videos of students using Book Creator to learn.

Resources

Visit Book Creator Resource Site for Tons of Ideas
Click an Image Below to Learn More

 

Tutorial Videos

Students Using Digital Workbooks in Book Creator

Word Cloud App to Enhance a Google Doc Writing Piece

The Word Cloud App by ABCYa is a wonderful creation App that makes writing fun. Students are motivated to know that they are going to do something special with the words they type.

A couple fun projects for the beginning of the school year...









Ms. Nappi had her students write Bio Poems in Google Docs. Then when I visited the classroom we had students copy their poem and paste the words into the word cloud app. From there students had fun adjusting the word cloud until it looked how they wanted it to display. After students saved their project they made a black and white version that will be 3D printed to serve as classroom avatars.

Mrs. Gervais' class recently did a project with word cloud as well. Her students wrote their thoughts and ideas about being kind to one another in Google Docs. Then her students copied and pasted their words from docs into the word cloud app.

*Students could also place the image they create with Word Cloud into their Google Doc for a nice visual.




Video Tutorial...
How to use the Word Cloud App: