Below you will find a bunch of tips and tutorials that will make teaching and LIFE with technology so much easier. Please let me know if you want to set up a time for me to help you get organized.
1. How to find your saved passwords in Chrome...
2. Take a screenshot or a screen recording on your laptop with...command + shift + 5
3. How to Airplay from a Mac or an iPad...
Mac
iPad
4. Taking Advantage of Shared Photo Albums on your iPad (to make room for updates and new pics)...
5. Finding Google Drive docs, sheets, etc...
Create folders and add docs to them. Put the docs that you will need to find most often in the starred folder.
6. Have a pointer on your iPad to show what you are talking about when you are projecting your iPad during instruction...
Tony Vincent created this awesome graphic covering how to use green screen in iMovie on an iPad. I was tickled pink when I saw that the option is there and then kicking myself for never discovering it. Even though we have access to the Green Screen app by Doink, iMovie is another fabulous option. iMovie is especially awesome if you want students to add other things to jazz their video up with things like a title, credits, voice recordings, and music. Below you will find a video tutorial on how to use the green screen effect on an iPad.
I recently had one of my teachers mention that it is sometimes overwhelming to see all of the Apps available to teachers and to know which ones to use. My response is to pick two Apps and get really good at using them and have students master them. It will make teaching easier to know that you have a tool available to students that is independent for them. If you are going to pick two Apps you will want ones that can be used with all subjects, engage students, and allow students to create and use their imagination to go beyond regurgitation. With that being said, I would recommend Seesaw and Book Creator. You can use these Apps whole group for teaching moments along with having them available for independent student work. Educators can create activities, in Seesaw and digital workbooks, in Book Creator that are based on the specifics that you need students to engage in. Even better, Seesaw has tons and tons of activities already created for you to assign students plus Coaches at MSAD6 have created severalBook Creator digital workbooks customized to standards that we teach. I am always happy to make a Seesaw activity or a Book Creator digital workbook if you let me know what you need.
Here is a Quick Video to get you Started with Seesaw Activities
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.
***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 studentswill hold down on an image with a finger, click copy, and then go to the snowman slide and hold down their finger. Click paste.)
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 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 ThePerloff 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.
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 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)
