[Tech Highlights] State Testing and STEM Integration – Week 24

CN Area Elementary Teaching Team:

Week 24 (February 15 - 19)

Weekly Giggles:               What musical instrument is found in the bathroom?
                                          A tuba toothpaste.

ELPAC & State Assessment. For children who have personal devices, families will need to head here in order to download the Secure Browser in order to test. Feel free to share this with parents in your weekly newsletters. Again, this is for personal devices only. For personal Chromebooks…this will not work. Children would need to use a CUSD device if they have a personal Chromebook.

(Image credit: link above.)

State Student ID. We cannot email State ID information to students. Here is a video that helps families discover their child’s SSID. VIDEO LINK

STEM Integration. Want to bring more STEM into your classroom? HERE’s A LINK to a growing document where I drop in artifacts. Feel free to use this video content or text-rich content for classroom purposes. You can use this in math, engineering, science, computer programming, art, creative writing, opinion writing, or reading. Explore vocabulary, writing strategies, and communication strategies using these items. When possible, I try to make kid-friendly versions of the original links so it’s easier to share in Google Classroom—and so the language is easier to explore from a child’s perspective.

3D Printed Houses. It sounds like a Si-Fi movie, right? Nope. It’s for real. In New York, there is a house for sale that was constructed using a 3D Printer. Real house. Cement walls. VIDEO LINK HERE. Any budding engineers in your room? This would be a great journal topic, classroom discussion, or quick write. Or tun it into a math discussion: perimeter, size, estimate, time, area, cost per square foot.

Image credit here.

Kindly,
Melissa Culver

Gift Cards and Six Great Learning Tools – Week 23

CN Area Elementary Teaching Team:

Week 23 (February 9 - 12)

Weekly Giggles:               Two pickles fell out of the jar onto the floor. What did one say to the other?
                                             Dill with it.

Feedback. Team, please feel free to provide me with guiding feedback to shape how I serve you. How can I do better? Where am I missing the mark? TWO winners will be selected. Take a few minutes please. Tick some boxes, write a few sentences. It’s quick. The deadline is Friday, February 12 @ 2:45 pm. Link housed in email only.

Hour of Code. Heather Rice! Congratulations. Wahoooo!!! Enjoy that Amazon gift card. Thank you for introducing your first grade students to Hour of Code. They did a great job. And, they loved it. Feel free to use that Teacher Dashboard to monitor progress all year long.

New & Different. Are some of your technology tools feeling stale? The same thing again and again? Are you looking for something different? Maybe you have used these before but you forgot about them. See if any of these are helpful.

Legends of Learning. Fugman has shared over 3,800 questions with their site with a strong accuracy rate. These teachers used Physical Science and Earth Science standards in their game-rich learning experiences. This tool is free for this school year. It’s gamified learning with Math and Science standards built in. If you need help getting started or figuring this out, please let me know I am here to help you.

Flipgrid. This video-rich learning tool is great for the classroom. My own children are submitting their science and engineering homework using this tool. Rube Goldberg machine, Paper Roller Coaster, and Simple Machine. Are students designing things at home? Building Native American structures with spaghetti noodles? How do those oral presentations work? Use Flipgrid. What about a biographical sketch of Amerigo Vespucci? Use Flipgrid. How about Student Counsel announcements? Flipgrid. What about staff challenges? You can engage the team with fun challenges. Send them to Flipgirid. Build community. Need more ideas? Head HERE.

Image credits: HERE.

EdPuzzle. Did you miss that EdPuzzle PD? It’s up on the CI&A website. You can find it HERE. Middle School and High School teachers use this a lot. They record their lecture, then distribute it for homework. The students watch the lecture for homework and then receive in-class instruction for any additional help they need. Don’t have video skills? No worries. You can grab online content and share that out. What’s more amazing? You know who watched it, and you know if they understood it with the embedded questions.

Adobe Spark. Need art on your wall from students, and you want to hit learning standards at the same time? Here you go. The Adobe Spark presentation is also on the CI&A website. You can find that direct video link HERE. Students can explore idioms, celestial bodies (planets), habitat, heredity, parts of speech, westward expansion, math vocabulary, Positivity Project, Newton’s Laws of Motion, and more using this free art tool. Schedule a teaching session with me if you would like me to help. I can teach in-class sessions or I can teach Zoom sessions. Use the calendar link below (email only).

Freckle. Do you need supplemental tools for ELA or Math? Freckle is a great learning tool that can support academic gaps, spiral review, on-target practice, and advanced learning for students who have met recent standards. It is adaptive in nature and will target gaps for each learner. Additionally, it has teaching videos that support students who are struggling with a concept. I am here to support you. Please reach out and let me know if you need help with this. (Image credits here.)

No Red Ink. I try to avoid price-oriented teaching tools; most of what I bring is free. No Red Ink will come with a fee at some point, but you can sign up for free. This extraordinary resource can revolutionize the way you grade papers. Peer feedback is wildly simple. Students get writing support easily. Assessments and teaching tools are built in. Dashboard data stores writing gaps for you so you can plan instruction to meet those needs. Curious? Click here to find out more. (Image credits here.)

Kindly,
Melissa Culver

Gift Cards, SBAC Prep, Zoom & Sharing Screen, Digital Valentines, and PD – Week 22

CN Area Elementary Teaching Team:

Week 22 (February 1 - 5)

Weekly Giggles:               What do you call young love in an aquarium?
                                             Guppy love.

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.

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.

SBAC. HERE is the Practice Testing Portal for the end-of-year assessment. I highly recommend that you scaffold these tools and strategies with the students. I don’t believe in over testing. I do believe in training. Secondly, I have two videos that model how these buttons work. Please reach out and ask for help if you need more support with this.
MATH VIDEO
ELA VIDEO

Zoom. Do you struggle in Zoom with your first graders? Do you wish you could see what they see? They can share their screens with you.  And, if they don’t know how to stop sharing, you can take that away from them easily. In that shared screen area, you can draw on the screen to show them exactly what you are talking about. Aren’t sure how to do this? Book a session with me and I can model this for you. Here’s a PowerPoint with some teaching slides—some for you and a few for them. LINK HERE

Digital Valentines. Google Drawing is one option for digital valentines. You can construct an assignment in Google Classroom.  Then when done, share that folder with your students. This video is a teacher overview, it’s not really a teaching video. LINK HERE It’s not the only option out there, but it would work.

Professional Development Opportunities. See links below to sign up for these trainings.

Key Strategies for Successful Grant Writing Click this link to sign up! Thursday, February 11, 2021 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM PST Presenter – Melissa Culver Click sign up link to learn more Reservations end 2/9 @ Noon

Intro to TeacherMade – Convert Paper to Digital Activities Click this link to sign up! Tuesday, February 25, 2021 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM PST Presenter – Erin Roberts Click sign up link to learn more Reservations end 2/23 @ Noon

3D Printing in K-8: Just the Basics Click this link to sign up! Thursday, March 4, 2021 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM PST Presenter – Melissa Culver Click sign up link to learn more Reservations end 3/2 @ Noon

*Links removed from blog. Available in email.

Kindly,
Melissa Culver