What Day is It?

I attended my first ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference last week!

And there are so many ideas, resources, and experiences bouncing around in my head!!!

I am not even sure what to write about first …

So I am going to start by writing about a resource that was not new to me …

Not new? Why start there?

I am going to share some of the pieces of that resource that are new to me!

In the past, I have shared the ReadWriteThink site as a content partner of Wonderopolis and a few things I have found on the site.  

I had the chance to attend a session at ISTE on using ReadWriteThink throughout the day in the classroom (which is an awesome way to structure a session) … and found some really neat things that I want to use and share!

One of those is the Calendar Activies that can be viewed by day, week, and even month!

What a treasure chest full of ideas!!!!

Have you ever had one of those days where you seem to be all out of ideas? Or a day where nothing seems to be going right no matter how much you planned? What if you just need an informative time filler, conversation starter, or even a journal prompt?

The ReadWriteThink Calendar Activities can help in all of those situations and more!!!!

Let’s start by looking at the listings for this week:

Just from a quick glance at the first page, do you have some ideas?

And it doesn't even matter if you don’t use it on that date!!! :)

You can use as much or as little as works for what you need!

The July 7th teaser caught my attention, so I clicked to see what I would find …

So one of the first things I noticed is that this information and activity can be adapted to meet student needs at any grade level!

I like the navigation helpers at the top of the screen (reminds me a bit of a table of contents) so you can go straight to what you need or want! What do you think the leader said in his return letter?

Here are just a few of my initial ideas:

• The event description would make a great into or fuel for a brainstorming session … or even for a journal topic
• Think about the questions that could stem from that … What was going on in the world at that time to prompt her to write that letter? If you could write a letter to a world leader, who would it be and what would it say?

Then you have the Classroom Activities which include links to resources and even another list of resources below (not pictured). Remember you can use as much or as little as you want …

You can use what you find as a jumping off point …

You can use it as a springboard for student learning …

You can use the information to connect to something else you are learning …

There is no telling how many ways you could use this!

And guess what?!?!?!!

At the bottom of the Calendar Activity page, you can find even more!!!

Look at the wide variety of resources and audiences!

Do you have a certain day (like a birthday or a special day in your classroom) that you want to look for? Then you are in luck since the calendars for all 12 months are always available!

The RWT Calendar Activities would be great to use even if you don’t have a calendar time … when you search RWT Resources, the Calendar Activities are included in the results, so you never know what you might find!

Go see what you can find and do!

Pinterest Learning Network

The second meeting of the WSFCS Pinterest Learning Network was yesterday afternoon …

And although it was very different from the first meeting, it went very well …

This time we were in the computer lab …

But we did not sit at computers …

We gathered around at the table at the back of the room with a computer and large monitor close if needed.

Some guests also had out their phones/ipads/laptops …

I had a piece of paper ….

Orange paper

And a black marker

I know that does not sound very tech savvy for a person leading a technology session, but I wanted to stay focused on what was important …

Here are some pieces of our conversation:

After introductions, where we made many connections, we started off talking about why we (or people in general … since 2 guests did not have Pinterest Accounts yet) use Pinterest.

From our discussion, we decided it was mostly to find and share things/ideas …

Thinking question:

Where do you look to find and share ideas? Online or offline …

You probably know who to ask if you need some help with determining what food to fix …

Who comes to mind when you have a need for information about an upcoming vacation?

If you have a question about your classroom, do you know who to ask?

In Pinterest, the user creates boards or groups to connect like information … so it will be easier to find later …

If I find an idea I like in a book, I may underline it, fold the corner of the page, or even draw a star in the margin so I can go back to that later ….

If you find an idea you like on Pinterest, you pin it …

Thinking Question:

How do you keep up with the ideas and resources you would like to access again?

When my husband finds an article or image in a magazine that he likes, he tears out that page …

Then he just has to keep a page and not the whole magazine.

He has decided he finds enough value on the page to tear it out.

That page or piece of information is what he wants to keep … not the whole magazine.

How does he decide what to keep and what can be thrown out?

How do Pinterest users decide what to pin or repin?

Do you pin everything you look at?

What criteria do you use to help you decide what you are going to keep and where it should go?

Thinking Question:

How often do we look at things and have to decide what to do with them? A lot! How do we make those choices? Do we analyze and evaluate … even if we don’t always realize what we are doing?

When on Pinterest, how limited would your options be if you could only see things from and share things with the people you know?

How does your knowledgebase grow from being able to see things that others find valuable … or pin-worthy?

I think about all the things I have found and learned from people I have not ever met in person …

Consider the ways people search, find, sort, and share on Pinterest …

Do you see similarities with the ways people research, discover, evaluate, and express information?

Who knows what meeting three will bring?

I know I am looking forward to it!

And it is not too late to join!

Even if you have not come before!

Or even if you have not used Pinterest before ...

It is a time of learning and sharing for all!

Ways netTrekker Can Help!

I found this in the KnowNewIdeas community which is associated with netTrekker (in Learning Village):

Ten Ways the Right Digital Content Can Enhance Instruction in Your District 1. Save time with a one-stop shop for over 360,000 high quality, educator-curated, relevant learning resources 2. Enhance standards-based instruction with digital resources aligned to Common Core and state standards 3. Meet individual learning needs, from remediation to enrichment, and everything else in between 4. Engage all students with a wealth of content in different formats  5. Keep struggling readers and ELL students on track with literacy support tools such as Read Aloud and the dictionary/translation tool 6. Support cross-curricular instruction with access to resources across all K-12 grades and subjects 7. Add depth to learning with unique combinations of content 8. Keep students safe online with access only to accurate, relevant resources 9. Increase teacher collaboration in lesson development  10. Extend learning and support the school/home connection with 24/7 access from anywhere

Need some positive ideas?

Hmmm ...

We are quickly approaching that time of year ...

I have been reading  If You Can't Fail, It Doesn't Count by Dave Guymon and thought I would share a few things from this book that I found interesting and they just might help you out!

I used the design feature on picmonkey.com to create this. You can use that site with images too!

Resources from Melissa

Happy Friday!

I wanted to share three learning opportunities with you!

Please let me know if you have any questions! 

(Don't forget you can access netTrekker and Learn360 through Learning Village!)

Melissa Edwards

______________________________________________________________________________

netTrekker Literacy: Raising Reading Scores (elementary and middle schools)

Using netTrekker’s comprehension support tools, you can impact mastery in all subjects and increase the amount of information your learners can process through reading. Raise scores AND the love of reading! 

• Read Aloud – Text to Speech Functions
• Dictionary Hot Key - Definitions and Translations in World Languages
• Readability – Difficulty Ratings for Reading Text

Learn more about how using netTrekker can impact mastery in all subjects!

Learn360

When you log into Learn360, in the top left corner, you can find an events calendar for the month. This calendar has video and activity links related to that day in history!

Pinterest Learning Network

You are invited to join our Pinterest Learning Network! Even if you are not able to attend either of these day, if you RSVP for one of them, I will send you the information to contribute an idea/resource in our online forum. Then you will still be able to get all of the resources shared and credit for the workshop!

It is raining resources!

Since it is raining outside today, I decided to go to one of my favorite resource sites to do a search for “rain” to see what I could find!

The resources and ideas just flooded in …

A few of them were the ones I expected …

But some were so much more …

Here are just a few of the many resources found when I searchedThinkfinity:

• It’s Raining Cats and Dogs! Make a Children’s Book about the Weather (from ReadWriteThink)
• Making Rain: How do cultures around the world “make” and celebrate rain? (from ArtsEdge)
• Mountain Rain (from AAAS ScienceNetLinks)
• Rain, Ice, Steam: Using reading to support inquiry about the water cycle (from ReadWriteThink)
• Strange Rains: When animals get swept up in clouds, look out below! (from National Geographic Education)
• What does a Barometer Measure? (Wonder #213 fromWonderopolis)
• What is a Hurricane? (Wonder #334 from Wonderopolis)
• What’s the Difference Between Snow, Sleet, and Freezing Rain? (Wonder #97 from Wonderopolis)
• Rain resource collection (from National Geographic Education)
• Rain Forest resource collection (from National Geographic Education)
• Rain Shadow (from National Geographic Education)

 I guess you never know what you will find when you search for a term ...

photo credit: ecstaticist via photopin cc

Poetry!!!!!!!!!

Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events.

(From Poets.org)

In case you were not aware … April is National Poetry Month.

Since we are celebrating the poetry genre this month, I thought I would share some poetry resources that I have used in the past or recently discovered to share with other educators.

• Thinkfinity Resources for National Poetry Month
• Classic Poetry Pages share poems and analysis of them. For example, on the page that goes along with Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” you can find the poem and information about the meaning of the poem, the poetic devices, and how personification is used in that poem.
• Famous Poets and Poems is a free poetry site dedicated to people who write and read poetry.
• Scholastic’s Writing with Writers: Poetry page allows you to study the genre of poetry by taking part in step-by-step workshops with favorite authors like Jack Prelutsky, Karla Kuskin, and Jean Marzallo.
• Poetry Pathfinders is a LiveBinder sharing resources for elementary school classroom divided by grade levels.
• Poetry Resources can also be found in this LiveBinder
• ReadWriteThink Resources for Poetry Month (check out WordMover along with the other great resources listed)
• Favorite Poem Project
• Playful Poetry Books to Share Podcast
• Poetry Across the Sciences from Science NetLinks
• National Poetry Month from Poets.org (What is national poetry month? 30 ways to celebrate, Celebration Highlights, A Poem in your Pocket Day, 30 poems 30 days, Poetry and the Creative Mind, Poem-A-Day, Spring Booklist …)

Happy Digital Learning Day!

Do you know what today is?

Along with it being a WONDER Wednesday, it is also Digital Learning Day!

(But don’t worry you can still learn tomorrow and all the other days too!)

In celebration of both of these things, I am going to share 12 Digital Wonders I found on Wonderopolis!

1. Do Photographers Still Use Darkrooms? (#547)
2. How Do You Listen to Music? (#1008)
3. How Are Sound Effects Made? (#950)
4. How Do You Capture Memories? (#1127)
5. When is Technology Old? (#883)
6. What Does It Mean to Go Viral? (#754)
7. What Can You Discover at the Library? (#924)
8. How Do Touch Screens Work? (#420)
9. What is High Definition? (#446)
10. What is the Smallest Computer? (#292)
11. What is a Mouse? (#206)
12. How Does a Camera Work? (#91)

There are so many more learning opportunities on Wonderopolis and all around us!

I challenge you to go wonder, learn, and share!

How can assessment help?

I write a lot about learning …

And the many ways things are connected to learning …

As well as so many inspirations for learning …

Assessment is connected to learning …

But it tends to have a negative connotation to it …

So I mostly stay away from writing about it

But assessment does not have to be a bad thing

It is just showing what you know and where you could use a little more help

While helping some teachers a few weeks ago with some features of ActivInspire, I decided that it would help me if I had a way to get a quick temperature check on things they did and did not know.

So I pulled out the ActiVotes (voting devices) and used the quick response method to ask yes/no questions.

I know you are probably saying that I was not able to collect much data using this method and asking this type of question …

But I was able to get the information I was looking for!

Before meeting with this group, administration has asked me to teach about creating ActivInspire flipcharts.

I found a flipchart on Promethean Planet that would help introduce many of the features available in ActivInspire for creating flipcharts.

So I had the content I needed

But there was a problem

I did not know much about the knowledge and skills of the teachers …

How many of us have sat in trainings where we already knew what was being covered or were so far behind that we did not understand anything that was being covered?

I consider those a waste of time

And I did not want to waste the time of the teachers I was working with!

This is where the assessment comes in … and the ActiVotes!

Using an ActiVote each teacher responded to one question at a time …

And then we continued based on their responses

For example, I asked, “Do you know how to add text to a flipchart?”

Three out of four teachers responded YES, so I asked one to come to the board and show the group how she added text. Then after a quick example and discussion, we moved on

When I asked about adding images to a flipchart, I got some puzzled looks and only got one YES response.

That teacher said that she saved images to her desktop and then inserted them. I agreed with her that was one way to add images, but then I showed the group the images in the resource browser. They had a great time exploring and discovering thing they did not know about before.

Think about how much more I was able to cover for these teachers by not spending the ame amount of time on every feature … whether they knew how to do it already or not

These quick assessments helped me see the areas where I should focus and spend time

I also used these quick assessments to let me know when teachers were overloaded and it was time to quit …

Sure, I may not have covered everything on my list …

But I felt THEIR learning was more important than MY list …

Each group of teachers may not have had the same ActivInspire features covered that day …

But the teachers came to me with different backgrounds and different levels of knowledge, so they did not all need the same things covered …

Analyzing the results of quick assessments helped me to realize those things! 

Each of these teachers not only explored some features in ActvInspire that day but also saw possibilities for a way to use these voting devices in their classrooms.

If you are interested, here is a Symbaloo Webmix containing links to ActivInspire tips and helpful hints as well as instructions for ActiVotes and ActivExpressions.

10 Things I Found This Week ...

1. STEM Apps: The following educational apps were chosen as they relate to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Some are free some are not. These links are for iOS, some of these are also available on Android.
2. Mobile Learning Meets Common Core: Thinkfinity and its Content Partners have developed more than a dozen great mobile apps that put standards-aligned activities in the palm of your hand through mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones. Discover how your students can improve their content skills in a mobile environment that engages their interest and helps them meet specific curriculum goals.
3. Smithsonian EdLab: The Smithsonian EdLab connects learning in schools and museums to the community through digital technology. EdLab’s project-based approach inspires learners to investigate relevant issues grounded in curriculum, conduct research, develop products, and broadcast results, all while building critical 21st century skills.
4. Adventures of the Agronauts: We welcome you to Adventures of the Agronauts, a free, online science curriculum with a space biology theme for elementary grade level students. This curriculum was created to meet the NC Standard Course of Study for 3rd Grade Science: My name is Rosy. My good friends and I will be training with you to become Agronauts. Our goal is to determine how to grow plants on the Moon. We will need to work together to learn about the relationship between the Sun, Moon and Earth, about plants, soil, and heat and light. (growing from seeds on the International Space Station)
5. Kids Health: Your Bones: If you’re looking for information you can trust about kids and teens that’s free of “doctor speak,” you’ve come to the right place. KidsHealth is the most-visited site on the Web for information about health, behavior, and development from before birth through the teen years. KidsHealth is more than just the facts about health. As part of The Nemours Foundation’s Center for Children’s Health Media, KidsHealth also provides families with perspective, advice, and comfort about a wide range of physical, emotional, and behavioral issues that affect children and teens.
6. ASCD Educational Leadership: Tackling Informational Text: Still, there are challenges associated with tackling informational texts, not the least the one that Bryson describes: Some informative texts are hard-going, poorly written, or just plain dull. A second challenge is motivating students to read. As Mary Ehrenworth, threatening students with state tests or future tasks is not an effective teaching methodology. “Our job is to instill in students a deep sense of engagement with the intricacies of text … to rouse them to see more in the text they read—and to do this in a way that makes them want to read more.”
7. This Awsome Ad, Set to the Beastie Boys, Is How to Get Girls to Become Engineers: This is a stupendously awesome commercial from a toy company called GoldieBlox, which has developed a set of interactive books and games to “disrupt the pink aisle and inspire the future generation of female engineers.” The CEO, Debbie Sterling, studied engineering at Stanford, where she was dismayed by the lack of women in her program. (For a long look at the Gordian knot that is women’s underrepresentation in STEM fields, check out this New York Times article from October.) As the GoldieBlox website attests, only 11 percent of the world’s engineers are female. Sterling wants to light girls’ inventive spark early, supplementing the usual diet of glittery princess products with construction toys “from a female perspective.”
8. Moving From Lesson Seeds to Lesson Plans: We are proud to be able to offer you excellent lesson seeds here at EducationCloset that focus on authentic Arts Integration and STEAM concepts.  We have over 40 to choose from and the list keeps growing!  But one of the common questions I receive each week is about why we call these lesson seeds.
9. Personalization for All: From the Diary of Venture Academy: Venture Academy is a personalized, blended learning middle school whose goal is to create a new model of education that empowers the most struggling students and closes the opportunity gap. Winner of a Next Generation Learning Challenges award, Venture’s central mission since its 2011 founding is to make learning student-directed.
10. Corkboard Connections: Teaching Informational Text with Magazines: With the Common Core emphasis on teaching informational text, you might be wondering where to find appropriate texts for reading instruction. Most classrooms are overflowing with great children’s literature and novels, but many schools lack a good selection of interesting nonfiction texts.

Why can't I turn down the pages?

If you find something you like on a page in a book, what do you do?

Turn down page corners ...

Underline ...

Highlight ...

Jot in the margins ...

Circle ..

Draw stars ...

Use sticky notes ...

So what do you do when you find a webpage that you like?

It can be kinda hard to do the same things ...

But some of the Diigo tools can help!

Here are some other resources that might help with Diigo too:

• Diigo in the Classroom

• Getting Started with Diigo Educator Account

• An Introduction to Diigo for Educators

• Using Diigo in the Classroom  

• 12 Reasons Teachers Should Use Diigo

photo credit: quinn.anya via photopin cc

Symbaloo!!!!!!

When I met with Kindergarten teachers yesterday, one of the teachers said she had seen someone using Symbaloo and would like to learn more about it ...

I use Symbaloo EDU many times each day so I was glad to share!

We started by looking at one I had created with the sites that I visit often. I explained that having all these sites in one place was a time saver for me! And the fact that I could make it look pretty and colorful only made it better!

Then I showed some other symbaloos that I have made that are smaller and might be easier for teachers and/or students to handle ...

For me it is a way of organizing resources that makes them accessible ...

Since it was getting close to time for them to get students, I said I would send some instructions and videos for them to refer to.

When I got a chance to work on that this morning, I was planning on typing out a list and taking some screenshots to make a video ...

Then I decided to see what was already out there since I did not need to recreate the wheel ...

So I started searching ...

And finding things!!!

As I was discovering more and more resources, I began thinking about a way to share these resources with the teachers ...

So I decided to create a Symbaloo about using Symbaloo in Edu!

   

I have not added much yet, but will continue to add resources as I find them!

The great thing is that I won't have to send the teachers something each time I update the symbaloo since it updates automatically!

If you have or know of any great examples/resources on how to use Symbaloo in the Classroom, please send them my way!

Rockin' In My School Shoes ....

What was the last song you had stuck in your head?

Well, I know what the next song stuck in your head will be ...



While visiting Smith Farm Elementary School media center on the first day, I overheard a read-aloud and the song to go with it!

You probably guessed that it was a Pete the Cat book!

I have had "rockin' in my school shoes" stuck in my head for three days!

(Wonderopolis today calls things that get stuck in your head Earworms!)

My coworkers smiled at first when I sang those words and hummed the tune and then added their names ....

Then I think it became a bit much ...

But I just kept going because it was stuck in my head ...

I think I have decided that needs to be a theme song ...

I think all the things we (I) do each day should be worthy of

Can you think of things you have done that would qualify you to rock in your school shoes?

Can you think of things you can do?

That is my challenge!

Go rock those school shoes! :)

STEM: Strategies That Engage Minds

When you hear or think about STEM, what comes to mind?

Is it just Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math?

Or is it something more?

What are the connections between those topics?

Is there anything that you do that does not involve one of those areas?

I heard a new meaning for the letters in STEM yesterday from Cindy Moss:

Strategies That Engage Minds

Here are 5 STEM Resources to explore:

• Engineering is Elementary
• Connect A Million Minds
• Edible Schoolyard Project
• Academy of Achievement
• Gooru: A Search Engine for Learning

What resources and ideas did you learn about and/or share yesterday? 

photo credit: @Doug88888 via photopin cc

Wonderopolis has a new look!

And new features ...

You can search by Common Core Standards ...

There are even some questions to go along with the text passage ...
 

Let's Celebrate Children's Book Week!

Did you know it is Children's Book Week?




In celebration of Children's Book Week, Here is a list of 10 sites which offer children's books online )most of the offer a read aloud option too):

• Online Storytime from Barnes and Noble
• Online ReadAlouds for Kindergarten
• Read To Me
• Speakaboos
• Online Picture Books Read Aloud
• Between the Lions from PBS Kids
• SillyBooks
• Mighty Book
• Online Read Aloud Stories
• Mem Reads Aloud

Taking It to the Next Step Along With TPACK

• 
  

The reading teacher in me has been quiet and is ready to come back out ….

While reading is a great way to help a child grow in vocabulary and imagination, it is what you DO with what is read that really encourages and supports critical and creative thinking skills!

Technology can be used in many ways to support and encourage the many things that can be done with reading ....

Here are a few ideas of activities that can be used to support higher order thinking skills:Make a collage which might be found hanging in the bedroom of one of the characters and write a brief explanation of each item selected.

• Write diary entries that one of the characters might have written during the course of the story.
• Write a poem or a song that expresses one or more of the characters’ feelings.
• Create a piece of original artwork that interprets one of the themes in the book.
• Write and perform an original skit based on the book.
• Write letters that two of the characters might have written to one another about what was happening in their lives.
• Create an original board game based on the book.
• Write and record an original news broadcast about the events in the book.
• Draw a timeline of the book, complete with illustrations and commentaries about each event on the timeline.
• Create a cause-and-effect continuum of how and why the main character changes as a result of the events and situations that occur.

Did you notice the differentiation embedded in these activities? 

Children would be able to utilize their strengths to demonstrate their learning …

Choice could even be involved if you gave an assignment similar to this one:

• Choose a book (online or from the bookcase)
• Read the story
• Select and complete the activity that most appeals to you and/or best fits the story you read
• Explain why you chose the activity and how you completed it 

With the added explanation part, you are jumping into that metacognition area … asking children to really think about their thinking!

That is taking it to the next step!

You can look at the WSFCS TPACK Activity Guides to see possible technology tools that can be used for activities like this!

Click on a area and then you can find possible activities in the table along with suggested resources to use!

What is Going on with Weather?

The weather has been quite a popular topic on the news recently!

And I think it is one of the topics coming soon on some pacing guides …

In attempt to answer the questions my daughter has been asking as well as the ones I hear students ask at school, I decided to search around and see what I resources I could find!

When I first did a search for weather, air pressure, predictions, and weather instruments, I was a bit overwhelmed by the results that came back …

As I looked closer at the results, I saw that many of them were not exactly things I would want to share with my daughter or students in the classroom …

Here are a few of the ones that met my standards for sharing:

General

• What is the weather? Dress the bear activity  

• Weather Whiz Kids  

• Sid the Science Kid from PBS.org 

• Franklin Institute Educational Hotlists  

• Weather Whiz Kids 

• Wild Weather Adventure from NASA

Weather Instruments/Measuring Weather

• Air Pressure and Wind from the Weather Dude (there is written information, you can hear a clip of the song, and see the lyrics to the song to help explain high and how pressure)

• Winds from WeatherWhizKids (prevailing, westerlies, easterlies, jet stream, global pattern …)

• Weather Instruments from Weather Whiz Kids 

• Weather Instruments Slideshow from StudyJams 

• Measuring Weather with Tools from National Geographic Education 

• Weather Instruments Video from youtube 

Clouds

• Cloud Types from NASA (also look at some of the related resources on this page)

• Cloud Types from Windows to the Universe 

• Science up Close: Clouds from Harcourt (interactive)

• Cloud Images from National Geographic Kids 

Weather Forecasts

• Predicting the Weather from EdHeads.org 

• Weather Forecasting from WeatherWhizKids 

• Tips for Predicting from WebWeather for Kids 

• Weather Forecasting from The Weather Channel Kids!

• Forecasting Under Pressure from Tree House Weather Kids 

Do you have some other great resources I can add to my list?

Please let me know!