Building Community – Week 02

CN Area Elementary Teaching Team:

Week 02 (Aug 24 – Aug 28)

Weekly Giggles:           Q: How do we know that the ocean is friendly?

                                         A: It waves!

YouTube Content. If you want instant notifications about videos that post to my YouTube channel, feel free to subscribe and click the bell. Those two together will notify YouTube that you want email updates when new content comes out. I posted five videos last week. I spent all of Saturday working on those. That will not be my norm. You can find those videos HERE.

Need kids to upload content to Google Classroom (PDF, picture, handwritten work, video, whatever), use the three different Google Classroom videos below. They are directed to kids. Need a digital whiteboard of sorts or a document camera? Use the pink videos below. I show you the drawing features in Microsoft Word. You can add pictures, coins, maps, math ideas, tables, PDF’s, images of your textbook or consumables right into Microsoft Word. And, the drawing tools let you highlight, write, draw, or annotate right on those bits. It’s perfect for Zoom!!

Not everyone reads these emails. Sometimes I solve problems by saying: “In my email this week…,” “In my most recent YouTube video…,” “In my blog post from last week….” If you ever see anything that you think is awesome, please let your team or another grade level on sight know. They might not read this. Your insight will give them courage to try something new.

Building Community Online. You have been granted the task of building community online. How does one do such a thing? Pocketful of Primary had some great ideas. You can find those HERE.

Piper Movie. Shout out to Ludie Olenchalk (Copper Hills) for this sweet video. It’s short. It’s worth your time. Share it with your students. Use it as a conversation starter. Let it build community with your team in a Zoom (it might not be whitelisted). You’ll be glad you watched it. Thanks, Ludie! LINK HERE

Classroomscreen.com. This tool recently went through some HUGE updates. Shout out to Kelli Muirheid (Riverview) for noticing those updates. Check it out to see if this works for you. You can create an account with Google and save your hard work.  You can now save screens. If you need a tool to record your thoughts, show a clock, choose a random number, or post talking ideas, then feel free to use a tool like this. I would share this in my Zoom session if needed. Both image captures came from HERE.

Zoom How To. Are you stuck? Need more help? Try the CIA website for additional help. They have an entire page designed to help you with Zoom questions. LINK HERE

Documents to share. Here are some PDF’s you can share with your classes if needed. If they need help with email, iReady, Benchmark, Clever Badges, Google Classroom, or any other online tools, these may help them navigate the road in. CLICK HERE 

Free video software. Because we have Adobe Creative Cloud on our computers, we have access to free video software. The EASIEST video production software might be Adobe Rush. Check out this tutorial to see if you think this would be helpful for you. Only explore this if you think it is delightful for you. You will never use all of the software out there; I don’t. Use what blesses you. VIDEO LINK HERE.

Kindly,
Melissa Culver