March 4

Website Worth Sharing: Bad News and BBC iReporter

With the election year amping up, it might be good time to develop your students’ information literacy skills.

These two sites are set up for students to experience on a computer, so you’ll want the Chromebook cart for these. They are both fast paced and engaging, and hopefully students will come away with some skills about how to be better consumers of media. If you choose the BBC iReporter one, be sure students use headphones or ear buds.

 

  • Bad News: Modern, minimalist fake news game has players be the villains. Allow 20 minutes for your students complete this activity. This was designed for ages 14 and up.
    • For more information on how/why this game was developed and more instructional resources, check out their Information Sheet
  • BBC iReporter: Spot real stories, dodge fake news in cheeky media literacy sim.
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February 26

Website Worth Sharing: lalilo

I had a couple of primary teachers highly recommend an early reading skills (phonics, word families, sight words, comprehension) interactive website: https://www.lalilo.com/ When students start out on the site, they complete a placement test which then determines their path, so it’s a nice site for differentiation. After they complete a certain number of activities successfully, they are rewarded with a story.

This would be a great option for your students during your stations or small group activities. Some of the reviews I read mentioned that the initial interface could use more directions, so it might be good to walk the whole class through it using your laptop/projector prior to having them do it on their own. There are a lot of audio supports, so you’ll want headphones available. There are also opportunities for students to speak, but the Chromebook microphones should work fine for that part.

This site is free for teachers (there is a fee for school or districtwide use). If you want to take a look from a student point of view, you can check out my class to give it a try.

Start at https://www.lalilo.com/
Click on the Log In Option,
Choose “Student” and enter school code BVINQC
Start with the Mrs. Sargent Class and choose a student (it doesn’t matter which one.)

If you like it, it’s pretty quick to set up a class. Just go back to the start and Login as a teacher and follow the prompts. Once logged in as a teacher, you have a “Student View” option that allows you to demonstrate it without logging in as a student.

Here is an intro video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1_jdpg_LqU
And more in depth “how-to” if you want to get started with it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XxFZDuwBxc

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December 18

Storytime with Ryan and Craig

 

If you’re looking for a fun read-aloud site, you might want to visit https://www.ryanandcraig.com/read-alouds . There are currently several Christmas stories available on their site, but they have a lot of other options. Ryan and Craig give a fun introduction and then read the book aloud, showing the actual images. This site is not storing their videos on YouTube, so that means students are able to view the videos independently on their Chromebooks. Thanks goes to Sheryl Forsman for sharing this and testing out the Chromebook option.

If you’re using Google Classroom you can add a link as an assignment or use the “Material” option making it easy for students to find it.  If you’d like some accountability, post a Question asking your students which book they listened to and what they liked about it, then post a link to the site or a particular read aloud story to the Question by using the “link” option.

Using SeeSaw? Create an activity that includes the link to the site, and ask them to use the Drawing tool to draw a picture from the story.

Want to keep it simple? Just bookmark the site in your Class Google account or post it to your eBoard so students can access it anytime.

Do the teachers in your school love this so much that they want to add it to the Chromebook Launch Page? (The page the comes up when students click on the Home icon on their Chrome Browser) Just email me and let me know and I can add it.

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November 26

Website Worth Sharing: 826Digital

If you are looking for writing activities or student samples to supplement your current curriculum, you might want to look into https://826digital.com/ .

There are 4 components on the site:

Sparks- Short, skill based writing sessions (would work well as a Google Classroom assignment)

Lessons- Longer lesson plans with included materials (perfect for a sub)

Projects- Lessons collections built around a unit or theme

Writing- Actual student samples you can use as models

The Lessons and Projects come with teaching materials including Slideshows and student handouts. There is a filter on the side of each section that allows you to filter by grade level (1-12) and Writing type. In addition to the standard forms (informative, narrative, etc) they also have SEL topics and performative and media arts.

The site is free to use but requires that you create an account (there is a step during registration where you can donate, but it is not required.) Materials can be downloaded or saved directly to Google Drive.

There is some sponsorship by Cartoon Network, but it isn’t too heavy handed.

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January 17

Website Worth Sharing: Google Mystery Animal

Google has taken the 20 questions game virtual with their Mystery Animal site: https://mysteryanimal.withgoogle.com/  You have 20 questions that you can ask in order to discover what animal Google is thinking of. The website looks like it can only work with Google Home, but if you click on the “Preview it Here” link on the lower right, you can use your laptop to verbally ask the questions. This would be a great activity to reinforce characteristics or animals (Does it have fur? Does it have feathers?) after an animal unit. Secondary science students could see if they can come up with the best list of questions for early success. It would also be a good activity when you have 5-10 minutes at the end of the day or during lunch to keep the noise down.

Annoyance warning!!! The artificial intelligence here is a work in progress- when I tested it out, sometimes it heard me wrong- (kept hearing “in” instead of “inches”). Prepare kids for this possibility so they don’t get too frustrated. Tell them the technology is still learning too. (Here’s a video about how they developed it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE982gjjHEU ) They’ll also need to be quiet when it is in “listening” mode (click on the microphone to turn it red) or it might hear the wrong question.

Speech teachers, this might be a nice way to have kids practice speaking clearly.

As kids practice this, they’ll soon figure out what types of questions are good and which ones are too specific. You may want to keep track of good questions. Here is a table from Sarah Keifer (tech blogger) that you can copy and start adding to: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19dqHAtksKMV0Q6ne3Mj3QNON2fXT4GfXVvyBTbzKia8/copy

 

 

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December 12

App Worth Investigatin: Khan Academy Kids

If you have access to an iPad to use with your students, you might want to download the Khan Academy Kids app. Khan Academy Kids includes thousands of interactive activities for toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners that are aligned with the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework and Common Core Standards.

It has received high ratings and has won several awards. It has games, books and videos, and if you have a VGA adapter for your iPad, you can display these for all of your students.  The app is free, so it might be worth a look. Want to learn more? Check out Common Sense Media’s Review: https://www.commonsense.org/education/app/khan-academy-kids

ROBUST CURRICULUM
• Reading and literacy—phonics, the alphabet, spelling, and early writing.
• Language—vocabulary, opposites, prepositions, and verbs.
• Math—counting, numbers, addition, subtraction, shapes, and measuring.
• Executive function and logic—focus, memory, and problem-solving.

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November 29

Website Worth Sharing: PBS Learning Media

PBS and KCTS9 have paired up to create a curated collection of standards aligned videos, interactives and lesson plans. When you go to the site https://kcts9.pbslearningmedia.org/  you can use their search field to find specific topics, or browse the collections by clicking on the subject area tiles at the bottom of the page. The menu at the top allows you to search by subject and grade AND if you create an account (login with Google for the easiest method) you can search by Washington State Common Core standards. How awesome is that?

When you find a resource that you want to use, you can automatically share it with your students with a Google Classroom button they provide to the left of the resource. If you teach primary students you can project the videos or activities or bookmark the activities on your Chromebook bookmarks bar.

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November 27

Website Worth Sharing: This I Believe

I found a nice website that has a collection of short essays about people’s core values. The “This I Believe” site https://thisibelieve.org/ allows you to choose from thousands of personal essays, many in audio format (most under 5 minutes) in addition to being presented in text. If you click on the Explore menu, you can search by theme (many social studies topics are represented including the Holocaust), browse the featured essays, or even access essays and recordings from the 50’s including an audio recording of Helen Keller reading her own essay.

The Educator’s link at the top of the page will provide access to curriculum resources and a framework you can use to have students write their own essays. Here’s a delightful example: https://thisibelieve.org/essay/101469/

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April 24

Website Worth Sharing: Seesaw

If you’d like to explore an easy tool for students to use to post/share online multimedia projects, you might want to look into Seesaw: https://web.seesaw.me/ . Teachers create accounts in Seesaw and add student folders. Students who are using the same Google account login with a code that teachers generate for each session (no usernames/passwords to remember!). Students with individual Google accounts login with their Google accounts. Once students enter the Seesaw site, there is a big green plus sign they can click on to create a project. The projects can be pictures (which can have audio, labels, drawings, etc. attached), video,  drawing, Google Drive Files, Notes, and links. You are able to approve the projects before they are posted, which is a good idea. This could be used for small projects, or to create a year long student portfolio of digital work.

 

Seesaw even had ready-made projects that you can assign to the students. The projects walk the students through the steps needed to create the activities.

I was able to watch Seesaw in action with a group of 3rd graders (thank you to Mackenzie McCabe!) The all used the same Google login (their classroom one) to logon to the Chromebooks, and after the first student entered the class code, they all were able to get in to create their project by just navigating to the Seesaw site using the bookmark. The students easily followed the directions to create the project (audio recording of a reading passage attached to an image.)

There is an option to invite families to join (they only see their child’s folder).

Here is a quick video with the basic setup instructions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSxciQ7S3rw&t=3s

They also have an entire YouTube Channel full of training videos and implementation ideas: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYUfnb7MIsGald-Xtig9Umw

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March 20

Website Worth Sharing: Instructables

You may already be familiar with the Instructables site http://www.instructables.com/teachers/ but I’m sharing just in case you aren’t as it’s an amazing repository of instructions for a huge variety of projects. Teachers and Students can access premium memberships for free: http://www.instructables.com/teachers/#free-premium  (kids can login with their Google accounts.)

You can use this as an instructional reading exercise and have students create something using the directions (paper crafts work well- perfect activity for right before spring break). The incorporation of images and videos along with the text make it a perfect multimedia resource. Some of the instructions include YouTube videos, which will be blocked for students, but many house their videos on Vimeo which can be viewed with the Chromebooks and most have step by step illustrated instructions in addition to or instead of videos, so most instructions are fine without them. It’s a great way to address this standard .

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.7
Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

Kids can even make and submit their own instructables or enter one of the contests http://www.instructables.com/contest/ . There is even an instructable on how to make an instructable. https://www.instructables.com/class/How-to-Write-an-Instructable-Class/ This is a great technical writing activity and if they submit it to the website, they are satisfying the standard that mentions publishing with technology.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.2
Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.6
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently.

*I found a cool example of a teacher using this site in conjuction with the book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind if any of you read that book with your students.

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