Week 20

Here are some highlights from Technology this week:

Week 20 (January 22 – 26, 2018)

Thursday Giggles:            How does the Man in the Moon get his haircut?
                                                Eclipse it.

Pick and choose your favorites.  Don’t use every tool. 
Chefs don’t use every ingredient.  Gardeners don’t plant every type of plant.

OPTIONAL PD for February:

February 21 Eventbrite LINK HERE
February 28 Eventbrite LINK HERE

Mid-Point Feedback.  Team, I welcome your feedback.  Let me know how things are going.  The close date for this survey will be Thursday, February 1 at 3:25pm.  Email is necessary so I can select a winner.  One winner will receive a $25 gift card (movie theater, Starbucks, Chipotle, something local).

There’s an app for that!  Clever has an app.  If your children/parents are asking for more ways to get in (or you need more devices for reading/assessment), look no further than your iPads.  The Clever app looks like this:

Not all of the tools work in the Clever app.  It will notify you if some of the tools do not work (note the muted color and black band).  Benchmark even has a Reading Library that you can access on the iPads.  The tiny app launcher will direct you to the Library App.

The Library App looks like this (image below).  Each text can be downloaded to the iPad for easy access offline.

If you are unable to get beyond this screen (image below), just verify that you are logged into Clever as an active CUSD user, then you should have access to the Library. 

Email images. There are many times where I receive an email and I would like to see all parts of the email.  Our system protects us from unwanted images by blocking those upon entry.  You can change those settings for particular senders.  Here’s how:
What the email looks like in the blocked form.

Right-click on that message bit at the top (next to the blue circle with the “i” inside) to reveal these options:

If I trust the sender and want to receive emails from that industry/person, I choose Add Sender to Safe Senders List.  All future emails from that sender will reveal any images that have been embedded in their emails.

Kindly,

Week 19

CN Elementary Teaching Team,

Here are some highlights from Technology this week:

Week 19 (January 15 – 19, 2018)

Thursday Giggles:            What do Alexander the Great and Winnie the Pooh have in common?
                                    They both have the same middle name.

Pick and choose your favorites.  Don’t use every tool. 
Chefs don’t use every ingredient.  Gardeners don’t plant every type of plant.

Optional PD for January:

January 24 Eventbrite sign-up HERE.

Mid-Point Feedback.  Team, I welcome your feedback.  Let me know how things are going.  The close date for this survey will be Thursday, February 1 at 3:25pm.  Email is necessary so that I can select a winner.  One winner will receive a $25 gift card (movie theater, Starbucks, Chipotle, something local).  LINK HERE

Green Screen Technology.  Can you bring green screen technology to the classroom?  Can it be affordable?  Can children do this?  Yes, yes, and yes!!!  DoInk (an app) has brought affordable and kid-friendly green screen technology to the classroom.  Are you a fourth/fifth/sixth grade teacher?  No problem.  Ask one of your Kinder or first grade teachers if you can borrow their iPads for a few hours.  Talk to your controller (the person in charge of your apps) if this fits into your budget ($2.99) and take off!  If you have questions along the way, check out THIS BLOG, many of your questions will be answered there.  DoInk has a Twitter page.  One of their followers posted a how-to video so you can see what it looks like in-app to make this happen.  Not sure how this will help you teach standards?  Head to their Twitter page.  Tons of examples are updated every day.  Real kids exploring technology and content standards.  What about the actual green screen?  Get a disposable table cloth in a non-traditional color (It actually doesn’t have to be green at all.  However, a lime-ish green is helpful).  You can borrow mine on a day that I’m on your site.  Ask in advance so I have it with me, please.  Sample video HERE.  Additional sample video HERE.  Kids are smart, they can figure it out on their own.  Give them time and space and see what happens. Link for VIDEO below.

Grants. Need money for something awesome in your room?  At your school?  HERE is a LINK that will take you to a host of grants.  All kids of grants.  Various reasons.  Varying amounts.  Over seventy grants (70+), awards, and money opportunities.  Check it out.  See if any of these will work for your project.  Reach out and ask for help.  Don’t feel like you have to go this road alone.  Let’s make it happen.

IMAGE CREDIT

Approved Technology List.  Are you considering a grant?  Are you writing a grant for technology?  As you explore that process, here are two things to consider: 1) connect with Robb Christopherson and 2) review the approved device list.  You want to make sure that whatever you purchase will be supported by our school district and the technology upgrades that are scheduled for our district.

Special Needs Extensions.  Do you serve special needs students?  Accommodations?  504 Plan?  Are you looking for tools that will help your students access websites and tools?  Check out THIS BLOG to see if any of these tools will help you and your students.

Some of the resources that are showcased in this blog (below).  There are 31 tools showcased in this blog.
                1) Read&Write for Google Chrome
                2) Read Aloud
                3) Voice Instead
                4) Announcify
                5) VoiceIn Voice Typing
                6) Mercury Reader
                7) OpenDyslexic
                8) Dyxlexia Friendly
                9) BeeLine Reader
                10) ATbar

Free Video Editing Software.  Are you looking for free video editing software?  Here is one tool that I use: OpenShot Video Editor.  It’s not iMovie, but you can get several things done on this software smoothly.  I like it better than Movie Maker.  I can detach the audio from a file more smoothly.  The storyboard is user-friendly.  Try it out; see if it will meet your video editing needs.

Kindly,