Celebrate Dot Day!

September 15 is International Dot Day with FableVision. 

Register at International Dot Day, to join in on all the fun! Once you have registered your class, make sure to download the free handbook on how to celebrate Dot Day with your class. There are lots of great ideas in the handbook.

Something that I think would be a lot of fun to do in the classroom is to download the colAR App (for both iOS and Android). Then, download the Free Mix Pack that has the colAR Dot Day coloring page. Have students decorate or color that coloring page. Once they are finished, open up the colAR app that you downloaded and show on the screen. You can show it as a 3D image, or flat image that turns in a circle. Below is the one that I did.

What do you think? 

Camp Inspire 2014

Camp Inspire is less than a month away!

Created in Pic Monkey

We have been very busy working on creating some fun sessions for you. These sessions (session titles and descriptions) will be located in the Promethean Users group in Edmodo soon. 

If you haven't yet registered for Camp Inspire 2014, there is still time. Once you register, you will be sent an invite to join Edmodo (if you don't already have an account); and you will be invited to join the Promethean users group. 

A couple of things to remember:

• Bring your charged laptop to Camp Inspire 2014 (both July 15 and July 16)
• Make sure ActiveInspire is installed (we will be at Smith Farm ES on Monday, July 14 between 9 and 3 to install the software if it is not already on your laptop)
• Come ready to have fun!

SMARTCon 2014

 SMARTCon 2014 is less than a month away!

Created in PicMonkey

We have been very busy working on creating some fun sessions for you. These sessions (session titles and descriptions) will be located in the SMART Users group in Edmodo soon. 

If you haven't yet registered for SMARTCon 2014, there is still time. Once you register, you will be sent an invite to join Edmodo (if you don't already have an account); and you will be invited to join the SMART users group. 

A couple of things to remember:

• Bring your charged laptop to SMARTCon 2014 (both July 22 and July 23)
• Make sure SMART Notebook 10.8 is installed (we will be at Moore Magnet on Monday, July 21 between 8 and 3 to install the software if it is not already on your laptop)
• Come ready to have fun!

Editing Your Profile in Edmodo

Brand new from Edmodo! Edit your profile. This is just awesome. You can now choose to say you are a Principal, Librarian, or Teacher on your profile. Also, you can choose age ranges you teach and specific subjects. 

Watch the screencast below for how to edit your profile.

You can also view this video from YouTube: Edmodo Profile 2014.

What should I do with my Edmodo groups at the end of the year?

Here it is close to the end of another school year. Many of you have been using Edmodo and might be wondering what you should do with the groups you created. Here is a great help topic from Edmodo on Archive or Delete Your Groups. 

Another thing that would might be a good idea is to create a spreadsheet of your student's user names and passwords in Edmodo. This will be especially helpful next year when the student doesn't remember their login information. You could then give it to the next grade level for their use.

At the beginning of this past school year there were so many students that did not remember how to log into Edmodo so they created a new account. Then they forgot they created a new account and logged into their old one. You can see that that would cause problems.

Students do not need to create new accounts every single year. In fact, it is better if they only create 1 account and just use it from year to year. This way they keep everything (almost like an e-portfolio) for themselves. 

Here is a link to End of Year FAQ's. Some good information on clearing up the gradebook in Edmodo for next year and how to reuse quizzes and tests.

Get Verified!

Edmodo has a new campaign that starts today. They want to make sure that all teachers are verified on Edmodo. Starting after June 30 teachers that teach 8th grade and below are going to be required to be verified.

How do you know if you are verified in Edmodo? Go to your profile in Edmodo and check for the "Get Verified" badge. The badge looks like this:

Why should you make sure you are verified? It is so that you can post in publisher and subject communities. The most important reason is to keep Edmodo safe as a community. Here is a link to the help file on Get Verified.  

There are several ways for you to be verified; one is to add teacher connections. I would love to connect with all of you, so just send me a connection request. Just search for me at the top of Edmodo and then click Add Connection. Check out Get Verified FAQ's from the link listed above for other ways for you to verify your account. 

Please make sure that you fill out your profile completely. This helps you to be verified and helps other teachers to connect with you.

Digital Storytelling With Edmodo

Please come and learn with me!

Join me for a different type of learning opportunity. I will be offering a blending learning workshop. There will be 1 face to face meeting at the Education Building in the IRC computer lab on Tuesday, May 20 from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m and the rest of the meetings will take place on-line through Edmodo. 

In the face to face meeting, I will have you log into Edmodo and join my Digital Storytelling group. I will also talk about what we will be doing online in Edmodo and when the final project is due. 

In the on-line portion of the workshop, I will have you explore some Edmodo apps and non-Edmodo apps for our digital storytelling. You will choose an app to learn and then create a story using with that app. Please think of an objective that you would like to create a digital story with and bring that with you on Tuesday, May 20.

You will receive .2 hours of reading credit and .3 hours of tech credit for a total of .5 hours as long as everything plus the final project is completed and turned in.

You can register for this workshop through workshop registration. The name of the workshop is Digital Storytelling with Edmodo and the location is EB: IRC Computer Lab. 

I hope you will join me for this blended learning opportunity!

The invitation was done in PicMonkey using the Design feature.

You are also invited!!!!

No User Name Required ...

... in Art.

On Monday Richard Byrne posted "Seven Registration-Free Drawing Tools for Students" in his blog Free Technology for Teachers. Make sure to read his blog post, the drawing tools are really cool. Best of all these are web-based and students do not have to have a log-in to start drawing.

The one that I liked the most was Bomomo. When you go to that web site, you have a blank screen with circles moving around. Your mouse controls the circles. At the bottom of the screen are all sorts of patterns that you can use to create art. As you choose different patterns, different colors are chosen also. 

Below is my art from Bomomo. I think it turned out pretty well.

One of the really cool things is that after creating your art work, you can then save it. I uploaded this art into PicMonkey and added my name to the artwork. (By the way, PicMonkey is another website that you don't have to register for and parts of it is free!)

Go and find your inner artist!

It Started With a Tweet ...

One day on Twitter I came across this Tweet:

I thought this was interesting and I wanted to see what I could do to help find out some information about the feather.

Did you know that you can search by images in Google? 

I saved a copy of the feather picture to my computer. Then I went to Google Images and clicked on the camera in the search box. Then I dragged a copy of the picture into the search box (I could also upload the image). The first things that were related to the image search was Mrs. Yollis blogpost's about this feather. Her blogpost is located here: Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog.  

Then I typed "what bird is this feather from?" in the search box next to the image of the feather. The first thing to come up on my search page was The Feather Atlas. 

Score! 

I clicked on Identify Feather; clicked on Get Started; and then choose the pattern and color. As I scrolled through, there were several feathers that looked like the picture above. I am still not exactly sure what bird this feather belongs to, but it could be of an owl or hawk. 

So, I tweeted back to Mrs. Yollis (@lindayollis) the link to The Feather Atlas so her class could continue their detective work.

What bird do you think the feather comes from?

Do You Have a PLN?

The last couple of weeks I have had some technology issues that I had either forgotten about or had never heard of before. I started to think of what my resources were to try and find the answers to these issues. My first issue was with flash items no longer working on a SMART Board. In the past, I would call SMART tech support and I could be on hold for a long time. So, I just kept thinking about how I could find out how to fix this problem. Then it hit me, ask my PLN (Personal Learning Network). One of my favorite PLN's is Twitter. I posted the question about flash not working anymore in SMART Notebook and asked how to fix it. I then remembered that I was following @SMART_Tech (SMART Technologies), so I went to their twitter feed. What do you think I found? That's right! I found the answer to my question. In less than 10 minutes, I had a solution to the issue. Here is a link to the solution: http://knowledgebase.force.com/articles/Troubleshooting/You-re-unable-to-interact-with-Adobe-Flash-Player-objects-in-SMART-Notebook-software-after-updating-to-Adobe-Flash-Player-11-9-X?utm_content=Active+X+issue+in+11.9&utm_campaign=Software+Updates+EDU&utm_source=Twitter%3A+SMART_Tech&utm_medium=post&WT.mc_id=Twitter%3A+SMART_Tech_Software+Updates+EDU_Active+X+issue+in+11.9.

My next technology issue was how to import a document into SMART Notebook. This time I went straight to Twitter and posted the question directly to @SMART_Tech. I also am a member of a SMART Notebook Users Group in Edmodo, so I posted the question there. Within 5 minutes I had the answer to my question. As soon as I saw what the solution was, it was a head-smack moment. I remember that from when I first learned how to use SMART Notebook but I had forgotten about it. The answer was open your document (pdf, word, etc.), click on File, click on Print, and print to SMART Notebook. Simple, right! 

My point in sharing all of this is how awesome having a PLN is. My main go-to's for learning is Twitter and Edmodo (after my awesome co-workers and boss of course). If you are not a member of either, I encourage you to join. They are both free and have great educators that are willing to help.

Image was created using Wordle. 

Collaboration in the Digital Classroom

Want to learn more about collaborating in a digital classroom? I am going to offer an online facilitated professional development course called Collaboration in the Digital Classroom. This is from Intel® Teach Elements. Below is a QR code that links to a flyer and video explaining more about the course.

Here is a description from Intel® on Collaboration in the Digital Classroom: 

"Provides an in-depth look at collaboration with a focus on online collaborative tools. In this course, you will see how collaboration helps students develop 21st century thinking skills, deepen content understanding, and prepare them for the global world. You’ll learn how to plan and manage collaboration activities that integrate online collaborative tools—increasingly part of our globally connected workplaces.

• Learn how to find and choose the best Web-based tools to support collaboration
• Learn how to manage and support collaborators
• Understand and promote ethical, appropriate, and safe online behavior.

The course offers opportunities to apply the collaboration concepts with action planning exercises."

The start date of this workshop will be September 23, 2013 and we will end on Friday, November 15, 2013. We will have an optional face to face meeting to cover how to navigate this moodle. The optional face to face meeting will be on Tuesday, September 24, 2013 at 4801 Bethania Station Road in the IRC computer lab from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. This workshop is limited to 15 participants.

Inspiring Curiosity with Cloud Shapes

Several weeks ago on Twitter someone posted a TED Talk. This TED Talk was by Gavin Pretor-Pinney: Cloudy with a Chance of Joy. Now why would I blog about that? Watch the TED Talk below and see what comes to your mind!


 

A couple of things that I really liked was when Gavin was talking about unplugging from everything and just laying back and watching the clouds. He talked about several cloud formations and that got me to thinking about different science standards and how they have to do with cloud shapes. Wouldn't showing this video be a good idea for introducing a unit on clouds? I think so!

The grade levels and the content standards are listed below:

7th Grade: 7.E.1.4 Predict weather conditions and patterns based on information obtained from:

• Weather data collected from direct observations and measurement (wind speed and direction, air temperature, humidity and air pressure)


• Weather maps, satellites and radar


• Cloud shapes and types and associated elevation

5th Grade: 5.E.1 Understand weather patterns and phenomena, making connections to the weather in a particular place and time.

•  5.E.1.3 Explain how global patterns such as the jet stream and water currents
  influence local weather in measurable terms such as temperature, wind
  direction and speed, and precipitation. 

Another great idea is using Wonderopolis. They have a great wonder of the day #591: What is a Lenticular Cloud?

One idea of how this could be used in the classroom would be as an introduction to your unit. Watch Gavin's TED Talk at the beginning of the unit, then give students an assignment to just look at the clouds they see (maybe over a weekend). They could also take pictures of these clouds to identify later. Another idea is after taking these pictures and identifying the different types of clouds, they could blog about the cloud and maybe mention what type of shape they saw in the clouds.

How will you see joy in the shapes of clouds?

Nonfiction LIteracy and Current Events

I heard of a great web site on Edmodo this morning. The website is Newsela. This has informational text and current events in several different subjects. This web site is free, has leveled reading passages, and built in quizzes (for some of the articles). 

Teachers need to register for this site, but they can then create a classroom for their students to join. The terms of service state that you must be 18 to create your own account, but teachers can create accounts for students under 18 with parental permission.

On several articles there is an anchor with a number beside it. This is the ELA Common Core Anchor Standards. When you choose an article to read (teachers who create a class can assign articles to students; read about it in the FAQ section), on the right hand side is a blue bar. This allows you to differentiate between Lexile Levels for your students. Not all articles have quizzes attached to them, but those that do give you the grade level and standard that it meets. These articles would be good for grades 3 - 12.

If you would like to know more about Newsela, they have a wonderful FAQ section.

image created by Dorene Bates at wordle.net

Reading is Great!

Here are some great reading resources. These resources can be a great resource to share with parents also.

Remember Reading is Fundamental? The website reads books to students. There are reading logs, activities, games, and lesson plans. Parents will have to help students under 13 to join the RIF club.

We Give Books is a resource that teachers can use to read books on IWB (interactive white boards). Teachers will have to join (it is free) in order to read all the books. Here are some activities that go with this web site: http://www.wegivebooks.org/resources.The activity that I liked the best is an Information Text Scavenger Hunt.

Two websites you might be interested in looking at are ReadWorks and LearnZillion. These websites are correlated to common core. Teachers will have to register for both of these, but they are free. Find reading passages for the holidays this month: Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving.

My very favorite online reading resource is Mrs. P Magic Library. When you first click on a story to have read to you, Mrs. P introduces the story and then makes a connection to it. I love listening to the way she reads the stories.

There are many more online reading resources that are free for teachers and students.

image created in Wordle 

More Election Connections!

This morning Melissa wrote a blog post about Let's help students make connections with elections! This reminded me of some more election resources, but through Edmodo. When you are in Edmodo, there are several election communities that you can follow. (Remember you can follow any of these publisher communities in Edmodo by click on the Browse button next to the word Community). In these communities, you can connect with other teachers teaching about the election or find resources on the election. Here are a couple of communities that you might be interested in.

photo credit: Vaguely Artistic via photopin cc

Bill of Rights Institute: There is a video on the history of voting, and teaching with current events. You can sign up for lessons to be mailed to you on current events, voting, free press, the constitution, etc.


Election Insights: Activities for the debates, election, etc. Click on the button Collections for more resources.

iCivics: Constitution resources, branches of government resources, etc. Click on the button Collections for more resources and games.

Edmodo has some ideas for teaching the election: 3 Ways to Engage Students through Edmodo.


Image from PhotoPin: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vaguelyartistic/61275039/

Back to School with Edmodo

photo credit: Avolore via photo pin cc

What do you do with last year's groups? You want to keep the group name and all the information, but you want to clean the group up to start fresh. 

Your first step would be to rename that group. For instance if you have Social Studies per 1 group, you might want to rename it SSper1. To rename a group, click on the group, then click on Group Settings and change the name. One of the reasons to rename your group is that you cannot create groups with the same name. Then after renaming the group, you should archive the group.

To archive the group, click on the group you are going to archive. On the right hand side, click on Group Settings. You will notice a button at the bottom of the box that says Archive Group. By archiving that group, no one else will be able to join the group but the teacher can access the group if it is necessary. Then the teacher can create a new group (with the original name) and all the files and links the teacher had in the original group will still be available in that group.

For more information from the Edmodo blog, click here: "Your Back to School Checklist". Make sure to read the teacher rollout resources and review the best practices. There is some great information located here.

Image from Photo Pin: http://www.flickr.com/photos/52636849@N00/204934333/

Help! I Changed Schools ...

... How do I get all of my information from my old school in Edmodo and be connected to my new school?

Never fear, this is very easy for you to do and without losing any of your information!

The first thing you will need to do is to log into Edmodo. Once there, follow the directions below.

You will be asked for the new school code. Talk with your Tech Facilitator or email Dorene Bates  for your school code. Please make sure you put what school you need the code for.

Thinkfinity in the Classroom

Last week I had the pleasure of presenting one of my favorite workshops - Thinkfinity in the Classroom. One of the reasons that I like this workshop so much is because there is something for everyone in Thinkfinity. Several of us have written blog posts on what you can find in Thinkfinity and what some of our favorite partner sites are. Below is my Symbaloo from the workshop.

Because It's Fluffy!

This morning I was scanning my Twitter feed and came across this tweet from @eol (Encyclopedia of Life):

I checked out the website http://www.flickr.com/groups/encyclopedia_of_life/discuss/72157630109103478/ in order to find out what it was about. The Encyclopedia of Life has a contest for people to send in pictures of fluffy things. This got me to thinking about how this would be a fun activity to do in the classroom!

Here are some ideas that I thought of:

• The idea above for something fluffy, something furry, something smooth, something sharp would reinforce those words with images.  
• Have students take pictures of things that look like the alphabet, shapes, numbers, specific colors, etc.
   
• Take several images to reinforce the concept of beginning, middle, end; for example, taking a picture of a piece of wrapped candy as the beginning, starting to unwrap the candy as the middle, the unwrapped candy as the end.


• Taking pictures and then showing to the class and have students write what they think happened right before the image was taken or what happened next.


• Take pictures of angles or other math concepts.

What are some ideas that you come up with?

I must admit the first thing that came to my mind about a fluffy contest was a line from one of my favorite movies, "Despicable Me". Do you remember it?

http://youtu.be/SNLJDR-XbVY 
From Despicable Me: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1323594/