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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December 12

Editing Student Work in Docs- A couple of shortcuts

Are you grading student work in Google Docs? If you are, you might find that you are typing the same comments over and over again.

One of my favorite Ed Tech experts, Eric Curts, has a shortcut that you might want to utilize. It takes advantage of the new integration of Google Keep with Google Docs. If you’re familiar with these tools, you can skim the article and get the idea. If you want more detailed instructions, the video embedded in the blog article is very helpful. http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2017/03/keep-grading-comments.html

If you like the idea of having a set of comments that you can easily copy/paste, but you don’t want something as complex as Eric’s suggestion, you might want to try installing the Permanent Clipboard extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/permanent-clipboard/hilkjcfodmbdgpadbpehimibheopoccb?hl=en

I have this and use it quite often to copy and paste frequently used text. Here is a video that shows how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHlfbhsbQqI The Permanent Clipboard icon has changed to a white link on a blue background.

 

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October 23

Extensions worth Exploring: Checkmark

I wish it took me more time to grade student essays…..said no language arts teacher ever. For those of you who use Google Classroom to provide feedback on student writing, you might want to download and play with the CheckMark Extension. You can download it here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/checkmark/kfddponboekcbjlhhjinkefjollhhidp

This Chrome extension makes it easy to add common comments that teachers make when editing assignments. Once the extension is installed and you open student writing in Google Docs, you can highlight over an area of concern and choose from several “canned comments” that are in the app. The canned comments show up in the margin of the student work.

Watch this video so see it in action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4ddR2x3aXo

Below are the options

The CheckMark Abbreviations

C = Check capitalization
F = Check for fragment
P = Check punctuation
S = Check spelling
T = Tense
CS = Check for comma splice
RO = Check for run-on sentence
SV = Subject/Verb agreement
¶ = New paragraph needed
Bottom row:
cla = Clarify your idea/meaning
det = Detail needed
dis = Discussion needed
evi = Evidence needed
rep = Repetitive
phr = Rephrase
spa = Spacing
​cit = Check Citation

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October 23

Website Worth Sharing: ifaketextmessage

Text messaging is how our students communicate, so a great way to make historical or literature conversations relevant to them might be to have them create them in text message format. At https://ifaketextmessage.com/ Students can use the message editor to create text exchanges between historical figures or book characters. Once created, students can use a screen capture tool (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWRtnw3YIsw  for how to do it on a Chromebook) to turn their project in using Google Classroom, or a Google Doc. Here’s a sample:

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October 19

Tool Worth Trying: Google Docs Named Versions

Even though your students might think they can write the perfect paper in one try, we all know that good writing is usually a result of multiple drafts. In the old days, when students turned in paper/pencil essays we could require them to also turn in their “rough drafts” so we could look for evidence of the changes and edits that they made. With digital documents, this is still possible.

Google added a new feature to Docs called Named Versions that allows students to save their documents at key revision stages so that anyone with access to the document can view the editing process. This feature is available in the Google Docs  File Menu in the Version History Section. One of the options is “Name Current Version.” Students can name their 1st draft, 2nd draft, Final Draft etc. and then once they share the document with you, giving you editing rights, (or turn it in using Google Classroom) you can go to File>Version History>View Version History to view and compare the different versions. This is a great way to see how students are applying the writing process. Revision history has always been available, but by requiring students to name the different stages of their writing, you’re asking them to be aware of the steps of their writing process and deliberate in identifying the various stages.

If the student forgets to name the versions during the course of writing/editing the paper, it’s not too late. They can open up the Version History panel and click on the three dots next to any “saved point” and name that version.

For more information/ideas on how to use this tool, check our Eric Curts blog post on this:: //www.controlaltachieve.com/2017/08/named-versions.html

To see an example, you can check out my Google Docs version of this post and go to File>Version History>See Version History

https://docs.google.com/a/kelso.wednet.edu/document/d/16V_lOBBOUdpoYnnLITVGUVkEqiHaask_tAiMpBh5DOU/edit?usp=sharing

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September 18

Website Worth Sharing: Quill

I’ve been looking at a new writing tool that shows promise, so I thought I’d share. https://www.quill.org/ was created by a non-profit group committed to providing writing tools that will help students improve their composition skills. Created from the Common Core, Quill provides exercises and assessments to help students improve their writing. The activities are brief and can be used as bell-ringers, or extensions. Teachers have dashboard access that will help them monitor student progress. Here is a brief introduction video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-clKDhqrqQ (check out their channel for more activities: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG9mgvktG6vxp7XoYEJTiaw )

 

Quill allows you to create classrooms, add students, and assign activities. It integrates with Google Classroom, so you if you are using Classroom, you can just connect the two. While they do have a “Premium” (paid)  version that provides greater in-depth reporting, the free version allows access to all of the tools.

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