Gift Cards, Professional Development, Student Computers, Minecraft for Teachers, and YouTube – Week 21

CN Area Elementary Teaching Team:

Week 21 (January 25 – 29)

Weekly Giggles:               What has ears but cannot hear?
                                            A cornfield.

Digital Citizenship. If you are not done yet, please reach out if you need support.  I am here to help you.

Feedback. Team, I have not asked you for a survey about me in some time. The last thing you want to do is fill out a survey. Here’s the great thing: gift cards. TWO winners will be selected. Take a few minutes please. Tick some boxes, write a few sentences. It’s quick. Deadline is Friday, February 12 @ 2:45 pm.  Use the LINK HERE to share that feedback.

Hour of Code. Did you code with your students the last few weeks? If so, let me KNOW HERE. I’ll give away one $25 Amazon gift card to ONE lucky winner. Form closes on Friday, February 5, at 2:45 pm. Did everyone in your PLC code? Encourage a colleague to try it. These jobs are in high demand. As we encourage students to try things at an early age, it provides them ample room to explore things like this as they navigate their future trajectory.

Student Computers. Do your students tell you that things are going haywire on their end? Software isn’t working? Connectivity issues? Here are a few good reminders for everyone:

     1) Restart your computer each week. This will allow for software updates.
     2) Clear the cache. Head to Advanced. Be sure that you select All Time. Do this at least once per month.
     3) On a personal computer, make sure that Google Chrome is up to date. If not, be sure to update that software.
     4) On a personal computer, make sure that Zoom is up to date. If not, be sure to update that software.

Professional Development. When live professional development is finished, Sherri Johnston adds it to the CI&A Online Learning Resources page. You can find that link HERE. Please use the Technology drop-down menu to find the topic/s that interest you. If you find something you like, feel free to share it with a colleague. The Adobe Spark session will load by Friday (from Tuesday). In February, I will host a training on Grant Writing Strategies. In March, I will host a session on 3D Print Technology in the K-6 Environment. If you would like me to present a topic (in these district-wide trainings), please let me know. I can add more topics in the coming months.

YouTube. Most of my recent content has been focused on 3D Printing and Design Engineering. As I teach GATE students about 3D Printing and as I print some of their designs, I have no textbook. Therefore, I design that content for them. If you are interested in learning about 3D printing, or if you have bored students, (or if you want your own children to learn about 3D printing), feel free to use or share this content with them. LINK HERE

Tax Documents. If you plan to download your tax documents. The link to head to the Employee Portal is HERE (on the CUSD website under Employee Quicklinks). Your employee ID is your username. You’re in charge of the password. Email HR if you need help.

Kindly,
Melissa Culver

More Gift Cards, Student Council, and Language Translation – Week 20

CN Area Elementary Teaching Team:

Week 20 (January 19 – 22)

Weekly Giggles:               What is bigger than an elephant but weighs nothing?
                                          His shadow!

Digital Citizenship. If you are not done yet, please reach out if you need support.  I am here to help you.

Calendar. Please book a time with me. I would love to teach your class. If my timeslots on Wednesday are not perfect for you, I am flexible. Email me. Let’s talk.

Feedback. Team, I have not asked you for a survey about me in some time. The last thing you want to do is fill out a survey. Here’s the great thing: gift cards. TWO winners will be selected. Take a few minutes please. Tick some boxes, write a few sentences. It’s quick. Deadline is Friday, February 12 @ 2:45 pm.  Use the LINK HERE to share that feedback.

Hour of Code. Did you code with your students the last few weeks? If so, let me KNOW HERE. I’ll give away one $25 Amazon gift card to ONE lucky winner. Form closes on Friday, February 5, at 2:45 pm. Did everyone in your PLC code? Encourage a colleague to try it. These jobs are in high demand. As we encourage students to try things at an early age, it provides them ample room to explore things like this as they navigate their future trajectory.

Lesson construction. Do you want me to design resources for you? Just let me know. I had a teacher from Bud Rank reach out and ask for something specific. I designed those tools and taught that first bit. Now they’re doing research based on tools I supplied. Do you need help locating resources? Britannica Online. Wonderopolis. YouTube. Point me in some direction. Give me some guiding feedback. I will help you out.

Student Council. Do you have mid-point elections happening soon? Are you using Flipgrid to make that happen? Aren’t sure how that works? Please feel free to ask. You can use Google Forms to have the students vote. It can be blocked to our organization alone and just one form collection per user. Safe. Easy. 

Loom. Loom is the screen recording tool I use for all my YouTube content. If you need help learning how to use this tool, let me know. It’s free for teachers and students. Head HERE to access that site directly.

(Image credits HERE.)

Language translation. Are you working with parents? Do you sometimes wish you had a translator? Google Meet can translate for you. If the child in the home can click the first few buttons, both you and the parents have access to transcribed translations into the home language at the bottom of the screen. Here is a small tutorial (helpful for families). And here is another one: THIS LINK (very helpful for the teacher).

Kindly,
Melissa Culver

Amazon Gift Card, Dig Cit, Jamboards, and Clever Badges – Week 19

CN Area Elementary Teaching Team:

Week 19 (January 11 – 15)

Weekly Giggles:               Which bus crossed the sea?
                                           Columbus

Digital Citizenship. If you are not done yet, please reach out if you need support.  I am here to help you.

Hour of Code. Did you code with your students the last few weeks? If so, let me KNOW HERE. I’ll give away one $25 Amazon gift card to ONE lucky winner. Form closes on Friday, February 5, at 2:45 pm. Did everyone in your PLC code? Encourage a colleague to try it. Computer Science jobs are in high demand. As we encourage students to try things at an early age, it provides them ample room to explore things like this as they navigate their future trajectory.

Jamboards. Be selective if you use this, there is limited accountability for who does what on a Jamboard. To find out more about Jamboards, see THIS ARTICLE and look at THESE TEMPLATES.

(Image credit HERE.) 

Clever Badges. On the blog, I posted how this works. Are your littles having difficulties getting into Clever? See if this tutorial will help them.  LINK HERE.

Kindly,
Melissa Culver

Clever Badges [Teacher Tutorial]

Teaching Team,

Are you using Clever? Do you have little learners who have difficulties navigating a keyboard?  You are in luck. Clever has badges! To find out more, use the video below to see how badges work.

Kindly,
Melissa Culver

[Tech Highlights] Hour of Code, Online PD & MakeCode.org – Week 18

CN Area Elementary Teaching Team:

Week 18 (January 4 –8)

Weekly Giggles:               How do you make a lemon drop?
                                           Just let it fall.

CUSD Technology Recordings. If you were not able to attend previous CUSD PD, please note that all of those trainings are available online. LINK HERE.

SeeSaw Training – LINK HERE
Flipgrid Training LINK HERE
CUSD Technology Trainings – LINK HERE

Upcoming CUSD Trainings. Click these links if you wish to register for any of these trainings. More to come in the months that follow.
EdPuzzle and the Flipped Classroom Model – LINK HERE
      Thursday, January 21, 2021
Adobe Spark as an Assessment Tool – LINK HERE
      Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Hour of Code. Right now, the Robotics division of Amazon has 90 job openings. That number has hovered there or higher for the last 18 months. Engineers. Programmers. Curriculum developers. Trainers. This is just one organization. Thousands of jobs sit vacant for long periods of time because we do not have enough skilled workers to fill these jobs.

Image credit HERE.

You can inspire students to engage in advanced technology. It starts with one hour of coding each winter. You don’t have to be an expert. It’s okay if you know nothing about Computer Programming. Point them toward a software program that will teach them how.

Invite me into your classroom. Just give me 30 minutes and access to your Google Classroom space. I can drop the links in there. Or, use the set-up video for Code.org. It’s that easy.

Our students will change the future. And you will always be a part of that journey.

MakeCode.com. Some recent upgrades happened to MakeCode.com. Now, students can share their work. When they finish and publish, they can share. You can easily see their work, if you want to provide feedback. Aren’t sure how to do this? Book me for a session and I can show your kids how to do this (grades 4-6). Teaching video HERE.

Kindly,
Melissa Culver