Mathematics Resources

I have been researching different Mathematics resources and found some great resources that I wanted to share. At Illustrative Mathematics you can find PDF illustrations, drop down/ color coded illustrations and also videos of standards K-12. I think that the best part is the example problems, especially as I am a non-math teacher, it is important for me to get a chance to see how the math standards are layered.

Khan Academy has changed and developed a lot over the past few years. So, instead of just thinking, "oh, yeah... I've heard of Khan Academy." I'd suggest giving it another try. You can now create your own learning account or coach students through a program and see how they are working through their problems and moving from level to level. The coaching aspect that Khan Academy has now is much more exciting than just the videos. So, you have to go back and revisit Khan Academy... you can teach yourself coding, all levels of mathematics, chemistry, biology, organic chemistry even world history and finance! It is definitely a way that you can personalize your teaching/ learning for students as you can see where the student is struggling or advancing.

Desmos is another web app that I think has developed a lot as well. Make your graphs dynamic with interactive sliders, data tables and even challenge your students to replicate or create their own student art! You can do a lot with graphing calculators, plat circles and quadratic formulas, but how do you have them explain what they just did? Here's how: 1) Have students install Chrome Extension "Awesome Screenshot" to take a screen shot of their graphing, 2) Students can save the screenshot on their Google Drive, 3) Import the image they took of their drawing on a Google Doc, and 4) Have students explain on the doc the steps that it took for each of them to work through their problem and solve it with the graph. Students can go back to their Desmos problems to change them if they are incorrect, but it is a good way to have them do the explanation of their work and also integrate writing into the classroom.

Geogebra and it's supplementary video site, Geogebratube, are both great resources. Geogrebra is a construction piece to create three-dimensional or plane shapes. Geogebratube has tutorial videos that could be used just to be a bell-ringer activity, flipped classroom activity or even more!

Socrative is something I have used before, but I recently read a new way to use it in your classroom. First off, create your Socrative account and start creating your quizzes. The quizzes are self-graded and you can use this with iPads or Chromebooks. I have read some teachers use Socrative and have students log in with their device, choose about 5 different problems and have students just answer the problems with their final answer. Socrative self-grades and then you have just a good "check" on how students are progressing. I could see this being used easily for vocab quizzes, quick "check" for reading quizzes or even surveys. It will work well for exit tickets or there is even a feature for "space rocket races" where you could project the results on the board as the students are randomly put in groups and race to the finish.

Here are just a few ideas... for the math classroom. Hope you get a chance to try them out!

Google Updates for October

Tomorrow for Professional Development, I will be updating the Middle School and High School on some of the Google updates that are coming down the line for us. We are on a "scheduled release" not "rapid release" so we will have time to update staff prior to changes coming out. If you can think of some others that I haven't mentioned, please let me know by commenting below!

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Log in Updates:

• Still Red Sign in Box still in upper right hand corner

• Before Sign in:

• After Sign in:

• Google Plus (Google’s Social Media Equivalent)
• Gmail - This will take you to your Deuel GMail account
• Images - This will take you to a Google Image Search
• App Launcher icon (similar to what the students see on their chromebooks in lower left hand side- similar to windows start menu)
• Here is where the main apps are located and you can go to “more” to find the others
• You can also put shortcuts on your Chrome bookmarks bar to make this work as well
• Notifications
• “Share” (works with Google Plus) and Your Profile Image

A new place for Settings and Advanced Search in the lower right hand side of your screen.

• Search Settings can help you with filtering, voice search (the microphone icon in the search bar on the right side of box), and results opening in a new window, if you prefer.
• You can also save your search history, if you prefer.

• Advanced Search will allow you to add in search parameters, if desired.
• Search History will help refine your searching- Think of it like personalized searching… for example, the suggested results you see on Amazon.

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Google Drive Updates:

• Docs/ Sheets/ Slides/ Drawing/ Forms all changed the document header to make more compact and with a new icon in the upper left hand corner
• Icon also is an active link that takes you back to Google Drive in a new window

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Other Updates:

• If you are a mobile device user, you can see that the new login interface is very much positioned to be for the mobile device user.
• The new update to the Google Search Algorithm (now called Hummingbird) is more question-driven and mobile based. They are really pushing the ability for voice integration. Social integration, location and previous search activity will help to build your search query now, instead of just key words, like previously.
• This will make it all the more important to choose a search engine, stick with it and be signed in at all times. For example, my searches probably have a lot about technology, google, curriculum, geography, babies… and Google will start to anticipate exactly what I may be looking for.
• Previously, the more words that you add into the search bar, the more difficult it was to get what you really wanted, now, they are moving away from that.
• Learn more about the Search Changes in the video below
  
  

  
  

• When in Chrome, right click on an image on the web and search the image.
• For Chrome 30 users, update this by opening chrome, going to the three lines in upper right hand corner of browser, selecting “About Google Chrome” and updating to Chrome 30.

• How can I use this?
• For finding what website the image was taken from if embedded into a project/ document.
• Finding the image in another size/ color
• Finding similar images

• These updates slowly roll out to students.

Google Apps for Edu Great Plains Summit #gpsummit

I had been looking forward to this all summer long and the #Google #AppsforEduSummit in Lincoln, NE lived up to the hype. In 100+ degree heat, five teachers and I travelled six hours by minivan to Lincoln and, somehow, everybody had fun and learned something! 

I had personal goals of exciting everybody else on the trip, but not overwhelming them at the same time. I will be the first to admit, Google Apps for Edu and going Chromebooks can be overwhelming. But, like almost everything else, I liken it to running. As a marathoner, I'm often asked, "How in the world do you run 26.2 miles?" My reply is easy... one step at a time. When I started running, I never set out to run marathons, half marathons or even a 10k. I was going to run one local 5k that was raising money for a young family with a son in the NICU, but as I crossed that first finish line my mind was immediately changed. I didn't win and I wasn't last, but I knew I could do better. It wasn't a race against anybody else, it was to be the best I could be each day. 

So after that first race, the educator in me set out to learn everything I could about running. I read every issue of Runner's World (old and new), asked questions to every runner I could find, and found blogs of runners that were just like me. To make a three-year story short, about fifty 5ks, twelve half marathons, a fifteen mile road race and thousands of training runs later, I became a marathoner two months shy of my 30th birthday. 

Google Apps for Edu can be a lot like running a marathon for teachers new to cloud computing or online collaboration. If you try to run 26.2 miles just after getting off the couch, you WILL NOT make it. You will not be hydrated or fueled properly for your run and half way through will cramp and give up. So, don't let your Google Apps for Edu colleagues give up, find a training plan. Run a 5k, a 10k and a couple half marathons before you hit your stride for a full marathon. 

If you are ready to start with Google Apps for Edu, head over to the Great Plains Summit page and check out some of the resource materials. There were awesome presenters that can bring you from Couch to 5k or send you out on your first full marathon. 

Finally, here are the intro slidedecks from our Deuel trainings on Drive last spring. Check them out to refresh your memory. If you need help with your username/password for our Apps for Edu account, just email me. 

Apps, Story Starters, and an Inexpensive Document Camera

Here are a few items for today! I hope that the week is going well for you.

Storylines for Schools:  Looking at a new way to learn vocabulary terms? How about Spelling words? Check this out. Tell stories using your spelling words drawing pictures... even have the students sit in pods and rotate devices to get a really crazy story going!

Pic Collage: Want the students to create a collage on a topic? How about a collage to describe vocab terms? This is quick, easy and fun. Have the students create a collage, take a snap shot by clicking on the home button and the power button. Send the students to the "Photos" app and email you their collage!

ThingLink: I think I showed you this before, as I was using it in my high school classroom for students to create interactive maps. I just visited with teachers today using thinglink in 3rd grade classrooms with students in the computer lab. Each student chose an image of a place they would want to visit and put in 5 facts to remember and 3 links for more information about the place they would want to visit. Another teacher talked about students creating word doc with a paragraph, saved it as a jpeg, uploaded it to Thinglink and had the students label each part of speech on the jpeg. They were also required to find the wikipedia page that defined each part of speech as well. Great new ideas! If you are interested in trying out Thinglink with the devices you have access to in a lab or in your classroom, please let me know and I'll be glad to come be your aid in your classroom for a day.

iPEVO Camera :
I know that Document Cameras were something a lot of people wanted and I just got to play with one today and heard great reviews! I know requisitions are already in, but maybe something to check out/ see if you can go back and change. It doesn't have a light, but will go full screen and looks easy to use. It hooks up using a USB port and requires you to download some software, but the price will hook you! For those that are interested in a document camera, this is inexpensive for only $69! 

Scholastic Story Starters: Want a good way to start a story for students? This will give you a story starter for your classroom. You can choose ADVENTURE (think pirates), FANTASY (think princesses and princes), SCIFI (think aliens) or SCRAMBLER. Then choose K-1, 2nd, 3rd, or 4-6th for grade level and SPIN THE WHEEL for your story information. Choose your format for the writing: newspaper, postcard, notebook and download to email or print when complete. Very fun! 

Flubaroo Teaser: I have used Flubaroo for awhile, but until today (when somebody asked what in the world I was doing) I kinda forgot how cool it really is. Flubaroo is a script you can run in Google Drive's Forms application after you have the students complete a Multiple Choice, T/F, short answer, choose from list with multiple answers or ranking questions. It will self-correct and if you remember to have an item on the Form with their email address, email them their score report with the questions and answers (if you choose). Click on the link for a youtube video that explains it and if you are interested, please let me know and I will be glad to help! This is such a great time saver!  

Have a great Easter!! 

10 Apps for Tuesday

I found some great free apps that I had to share! 1) Click on the link below 2) Click on View in iTunes and iTunes will open for you 3) Click on Purchase and put in your password. If you have any questions about downloading, please let me know and I will stop down and help.

1) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/endless-alphabet/id591626572?mt=8 The Endless Alphabet App is an interactive 'monster app' that has almost like alphabet flashcards and upon selecting a flashcard a word starting with that letter comes up. Students have to plug in the letter and as they drag the letter it makes it's sound. So cute! It is updated on a regular basis with new words. 

2) https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/hudsonalpha-icell/id364882015?mt=8 HudsonAlpha iCell App is an interactive app to travel through plant, bacteria, and animal cells. It is color coded and I wish I would have had this when I was in science classes! 

3) https://itunes.apple.com/app/powers-of-minus-ten-bone/id591722396?mt=8 Power of Minus Ten- Bones is an app to show you the inside of bones, a broken hand bone and how it heals. You can zoom in both ways and has scientific names with explanations. 

4) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/disney-fish-hooks/id550005327?mt=8 Disney Fish Hooks App looks a lot like just a game, but it cleverly disguises critical thinking and process skills as learners have to get the fish out of the bubble at the top of the screen to the aquarium tube by carefully angling series after series of logs with the correct angle. I thought it looked easy until we got to the higher levels and then, it got really fun. It reminded me of a Rube Goldberg machine. 

5) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gesundheit!/id591696651?mt=8 Gesundheit! is the app of the week on iTunes and, again, at first looks like a game, but to get your "guy" from place to place, you have step on levers, get fruit, and... okay, fine. It's more of a game, but fun to learn how to use the multitasking gestures on the iPad with short tutorials coming up when needed. Not to mention, it has fun flute music. 

6) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wheels-on-bus-all-in-one-educational/id543545550?l=es&mt=8 The Wheels on the Bus Activity Center has counting, racing games with spelling, puzzles, and other fun activities centered around transportation. The full version has more, but this is free and has quite a lot. 

7) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toontastic-free/id404693282?mt=8 Toontastic was mentioned in a past email, but it keeps getting better with updates. You can have students create their own cartoon based on many fun characters, backgrounds, record their own narration, and it even coincides with the traditional plot diagram with a story arc. I can see a lot of possibilities for Elementary all the way up to Middle School. Even if you do not have an iPad right now, stop in and use one for a day or so to check it out and use them in class. The iPad checkout is located here: http://tinyurl.com/deuelipad

8) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/language-development-preschool/id554622105?mt=8 iLearn with Boing has multiple apps, but you can only do the "words" portion of each app for free. The words portion allows you to take the seals (in the ocean app) and move the letters in the order of the word. There are many other iLearn with Boing apps too.

9) https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/geodash-wild-animal-adventure/id573679651?mt=8 GeoDash combines a Mario World type game with learning animal characteristics and specific animals in different biomes. As it is a National Geographic sponsored app, it has a lot of great information read aloud to the students as they go through the game. 

10) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/where-do-i-go-group-match-words/id499190609?mt=8 The Where Do I Go? App is a fun way for students to learn how to group and classify animals, food, geography, climate, and home. It is fun to watch as they are given a theme and have to choose all of the applicable items in that category. 

I'll stop at 10 for today, but had to share some of the latest. Also, a new update is available for iPads as of yesterday. Go to your Systems App, General, Software update and tap install. You cannot install software using the school's wireless, but you can at home. I can also do this install when I hook iPads up to the MacBook Pro in my office that does not use the wireless. If you need help with this process, let me know. 

Have a great day! 

Thanksgiving Ham

Fun tools for this week and a story about Ham:  

1) Primary Wall (http://primarywall.com/) and PiratePad (http://piratepad.net/) are two places that students can collaborate online for journal prompts, writing openers, opinion questions, and reviews of recent information. Check them out!

2) Perfect Pitch (http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/interactives/perfectpitch/) teaches the 'player' about either Modern, Romantic, Baroque or Classical instruments through a baseball game. It's a really fun way to combine music and baseball.

3) XtraMath (https://www.xtramath.org ) is a free place to sign up teachers, parents and students to your class to learn math through short videos and tutorials. You can go to the 'About Us' to learn how to sign up and sign up as a teacher, set up a class and assign lessons. There is a place to print out a parent flyer so that parents can follow along to see how their student is doing as well. 

4) In a Nutshell (http://www.planetnutshell.com/videos) is an idiom we have probably all heard and these on the page linked above are some In a Nutshell videos for you to use in the classroom to teach about Internet Safety. They are on the lower right hand column of the page. A range of topics from Distracted Driving and Say no to Sexting for teens and What is the Internet? for elementary students are covered "in a nutshell." These would be great Write to Win starters, if you want to integrate it at the start or end of a unit.

5) SkoolBo (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skoolbo-core-skills-hd/id534555129?mt=8) is an app for the iPad that targets map and reading skills with a lot of games for students up to age 10. I will have this on the 25 iPads you can check out next week, but if you have an iPad and are reading this email from the iPad, Click on the link in this summary which will take you to the AppStore so you can download it on your iPad. 

6) Postcards then and Now Blog ( http://postcardsthenandnow.blogspot.com) is just a fun blog that shows you old postcards and then goes to Google Street view using Google Maps to see what it looks like now. I'm a big fan of anything comparing history to modern day, so this is just for fun to show you what Google Maps can do. 

7) One last thing to check out: Google Drive (https://www.google.com/intl/en_US/drive/start/index.html?authuser=0 ) or Google Docs is something that many of you have heard me refer to over the past few emails. Check this video out and explore this site. Google Drive can change the way you store files and will allow you access from any computer or mobile computing device anywhere in the world. Seriously, cool stuff. Let me know if you have any questions about integrating Google Drive (Docs, Spreadsheets, Draw, Forms, Presentations) into your classroom or ask your colleagues that are already using it. 

8) How to Cook a Ham 

My brother-in-law, Gary, told my family a story a few Thanksgivings ago that seems applicable this semester. He said that his niece was hosting Thanksgiving for the first time so his sister went over to help cook the meal. His sister proceeded to cut the ends of of the ham to put it in the oven to bake. His niece inquired, "Mom, why do you cut the ends off the ham before we bake it? Wouldn't it make more sense to keep the ends on the ham so it stays moist? Then I wouldn't have to cook gravy. I'm trying to go low carb, you know." 

Gary's sister replied, "My Mother always did it this way, so it must be the way to get her famous honey glaze to soak through the ham, but let's ask Grandma when she gets here." 

That evening at Thanksgiving supper, Gary's niece and sister asked his Mother why she cut the ends off the ham. She explained that was the way that her Mom showed her how to do it. After a few questions, Gary's Grandmother adjusted her hearing aid and said, rather disgusted, "I cut the ends of the ham off because I never had a pan big enough to cook a whole ham at once and Grandpa worked for the elevator in town and always got a big ham for a Thanksgiving bonus. I cut the ends off to make soup otherwise I would have never been able to cook the ham whole." 

So, for three generations, everybody cut the ends off the ham and either ate dry ham or adapted the recipe with a glaze or gravy. One generation was making due with what they had to fit the ham in the pan. The next generation concocted a famous honey glaze and the next just cut the ends off, made a dry ham and learned how to make good gravy and finally somebody asked why. They all cooked ham, but amended the recipe to fit their cooking style, family's taste or cooking tools available. 

Moral of the story: My brother-in-law Gary embellishes stories to fit our conversation at dinner... yes, I mean, No. Not the point...err... Anyways... Did they all still get ham at Thanksgiving? Yes. Did they have to use the same recipe? No. 

My attempt at an analogy is to remember no matter what we are doing to "re" map our curriculum to the Common Core vernacular, that it is still your classroom. Adapt it the way that works for you. We do not all have to get there the exact same way with identical lesson plans, but we all still have to get there. And, this year more than ever, I've learned that everything we need to know about curriculum and teaching strategies to help our students get to the "Common Core Standards" is in this building, all we need to do is share and have those conversations. Overall, I just encourage you to have an open mind and share what you know with the rest of us that are still learning to be better teachers.

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Have a great week and let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Except if it's cooking ham... It's best you consult Pinterest or your most recent Thanksgiving hosts. 

Samantha Walder
Deuel School District
Career Counselor
Technology Integrationist
https://sites.google.com/site/samanthawalder/ 

Sites, Apps, Ideas and A Message from Santa

Good morning! This Friday I will be meeting with the HS in the morning and going through some testing data, but I will be available afterwards. Please let me know how I can help! 

For those that are interested, the iPad Applications (for the classroom set) will be reviewed again on January 3rd. If you are planning on applying, make sure these are turned in prior to January 3rd. I have reattached the application form for you. 

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1) https://www.zooniverse.org/projects Zoo Universe is a really great place to explore the surface of the moon through pictures, check out historical cyclones, and even classify wildlife on the Serengeti! Check out this page of projects to see what else is there. You can also Experiment in the laboratory to see if there is life on another planet or help libraries identify digitized music! 

2) http://www.youtube.com/user/CGPGrey?feature=watch CGP Grey is a YouTube Channel with a lot of short explanations that would be great to integrate into class or put together to create your own Performance Task. You can listen to a short video on the difference between the UK and Englad to another about Is Pluto a Planet? 

3) https://sites.google.com/site/kernkelley/forms Google Forms Template by Kern Kelly gives links to great self-grading quizzes you can embed on your website or email out, word find maker, miscellaneous documents and also administrative docs you can use. Click on the link, click on the 'make a copy' link and (you may need to sign into your Google Account at this time, if you haven't already today) the template will be saved for you in your Google Docs account. To reuse the document multiple times, make sure to go to "file" --> "make a copy" each time you need to use the document again. 

4) 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-mover/id572997152?mt=8 Word Mover is a new app from ReadWriteThink that I have on the check out iPads that will acts a lot like the "magnet words" you can get and create poetry from. The reason that I like this app is that you can choose famous speeches or texts (like MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech) and only use those words to create a speech. It is a fun way to teach literary devices like diction and even syntax. 

5) http://mp3cut.net/ Online Audio Cutter is a place to upload audio files from your computer, SoundCloud or YouTube and cut the audio and save it. It also links to an Audio Joiner and Audio Converter at the top of the page that I haven't got to check out yet, but sound promising. 

6) https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/spacecraft-3d/id541089908?mt=8 Spacecraft 3D is a cool new NASA app that will allow students to explore 3D models of spacecraft. So cool!

7) http://www.portablenorthpole.com/home The Portable North Pole is the COOLEST place to send a message from Santa to your children, students (as a class even, it would be cool) or even another adult that needs a message from Santa to brighten their day! (Here is the example I made for Leah: http://www.portablenorthpole.com/watch/gQVvQZhcPP3pRRbS4NZ9vuA/p) I made one last year and it was not nearly as fun, so I was excited to see how it had changed. Can you tell? I just love Christmas!

8) https://bingobaker.com/ Bingo Baker is a place to create your own BINGO cards! I think this may be a fun way to review during the last few days before Christmas. You can create an account to save your cards, get a 'full screen' bingo card (which is easier to print) and also peruse other bingo cards people have created via the ink in the upper right hand corner of the screen. 

Have a great week!

MS/ HS Tech Tools Presentation

Here is the copy of the MS/ HS Tech Tools Presentation. We went through some great ways to integrate video in the classroom, ways to store useful classroom videos on playlists, as well as many great FREE video resources.

Mind Mapping, Pin-It Bookmark, MyOER

Good morning! Thank you to those who came down for a review on some Google Advanced Search Tools! They are simple techniques that will save you time. We will meet next Wednesday in Mrs. Konold's Room for our last 15 minute session. 

1) Mind Mapping via http://www.text2mindmap.com will allow you to put your outline into the left side text box and it will create a mind map for you. I think this could be an activity for students organizing papers, speeches and presentations. After completing the outline, have the students copy it into this page. Once it creates the mind map, students may need to reevaluate the placement of the topics. 

2) Mind Mapping via the iPad app Inkflow: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inkflow-think-visually!/id519524685?mt=8 The free version of this app only allows writers to use black writing and only 20 pages at a time, but Inkflow free is still a great "word processor" for drawings.

3) Visual Bookmarking via Pinterest http://pinterest.com This is nothing new to many of you, and if you haven't signed up yet, ask some of your colleagues about Pinterest. Everything from educational websites to crockpot recipes can be found on Pinterest. If you are interested in adding a "Pin-it" button to your browser or getting the "Pin-it" App, here is some more information: http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/ (This information will be based on the browser you are using at the time.) I can help you with this as well, just stop by my table during Conferences next week and I'll help you out. 

4) Google Sites for the Classroom www.google.com --> Select More from top toolbar--> Even More --> Scroll down and select Sites. Creating a Google Site is a great way to keep students and parents informed of what is going on in the classroom. It could be a place to for you to create a list of links or upload student assignments. You can integrate it with Calendar and Docs to display information. Students can create their own sites for portfolios or you can create a Site for a particular unit and share it with colleagues. Check out a couple examples below and let me know if you are interested in this for your classroom: 

https://sites.google.com/site/teacher16/ 

https://sites.google.com/site/teacher26/ 

5) Common Core Resources via myOER http://www.myoer.org I know many of you have already looked at this, but it is a good reminder of the resources available. MyOER is a repository of resources reviewed by South Dakota educators. Thinkfinity also pushes out new resources to their servers every month. I just want to remind you that you can do multiple tags as you put resources into your locker, this will help you to find the resources more easily in the future. Just like those Pinterest boards I had that said "food" and had to go back though make more specific... start out with multiple tags so that it is easier to find the resource when you go back to it in the future. 

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Up to 25 iPads at a time are available for checkout from my office. When you check them out, let me know if you have specific apps you want on them, otherwise there are multiple apps that I have put on them already you can come and check out. If you have any questions or I can help in any way, please let me know. 

Here is the link to the iPad checkout: http://tinyurl.com/deuelipad

If you are still working on an app to keep the 15 in your classroom for up to 9 weeks at a time, please let us know and we can start making that decision as well. 

Have an awesome weekend! 

Crash Course YouTube Channel for Biology or World History

There are 73 videos on this channel that are quick-paced and have interesting graphics. They are between 12- 15 minutes long and may be interesting to show in class. There are topics in both World History and Biology. Take a peak and see if any may be relevant for your classroom. There are some that are better than others, but worth a look to help reinforce an idea learned in class. 

Crash Course YouTube Channel

Unsuccessful Narrowing Down

Friday is pretty packed with Common Core, but please let me know if I can help with anything at all. All morning I've been unsuccessfully narrowing down all the great ideas I have for you to just five, so I decided to just sort them instead...

Something about Google... 

http://www.google.com/webfonts Check out all of the awesome fonts that you can add to your Google Docs account! 

http://goo.gl/kg2lw Here is a place for you to try out Google Docs WITHOUT logging in! Test the waters, see how it works and play with it. You will find that it is very similar to PowerPoint.  

Something about Common Core... 

Friday morning seems pretty packed with Common Core follow-up, so I am going to remind iPad users of the 

app at: http://goo.gl/I5f76 so that you do not have to print out the Common Core standards. 

Something to make you think... 

http://goo.gl/y8dA7 Despite being blocked in China by the Chinese Government, the most active Tweeters are from China. I experienced firsthand social media being blocked by a government entity when travelling in Turkey, but ironically enough the concierge at the hotel gladly provided me with a route around that he said "works for today, let me know if problem tomorrow." So, I pose the unanswerable question, is a social media site the most active website during school hours (regardless of device) across America, despite being blocked? 

Something to help you collaborate... 

http://pinsi.de Pinside is a quick way to create an online board to share information: http://pinsi.de/board.php?id=419 This example shows a way that we could post different iPad apps that we like to this site. It might be a great way for 1:1 students to study as well. 

Something to download... 

https://www.dropbox.com Dropbox is a great way to share documents from one computer or device to another. You can download it on your computer at school, your home computer, your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or Android Device and access the documents. I know I have talked a little about this previously when you can hook it up with http://dropitto.me so students or parents can "drop" something right into your Dropbox. 

Something with videos... 

http://www.youtube.com/teachers boasts over 300+ curated YouTube playlists of videos that align with the Common Core. Might be worth checking out if you are interested in flipping or just some videos to integrate into your classroom. 

Something about Nature (for kids)... 

http://www.maine.gov/doc/foliage/kids/movie.html has a great video by the Maine State Parks about why the leaves change color. http://www.usatoday.com/weather/environment/2007-10-08-fall-colors_N.htm?csp=34weather Has a great infographic by the USA Today about fall with interactive graphics as well. 

Something about writing... 

http://oneword.com will give students one word as a prompt and they have 60 seconds to write about it. Student can submit themselves to the website and then email a copy to their teacher. 

http://www.plinky.com gives quick writing prompts and would be a good bell ringer activity. 

Something for iPad users..

Sync your iCal to your Webmail Calendar by going to your iCal app, tapping the 'Calendars' button in the upper left-hand corner and selecting Exchange to make sure that your Webmail calendar is synced with your iPad. You can do the same with your other email addresses and your other iDevices as well. 

Something about Google... again.. 

http://www.google.com/edu/collegetips/#tab=prospective This site has video tutorials about using Google Apps for College Students. I know we aren't all college students anymore, but these are well done tutorials. The 'Current College Students' talks about using Google Calendar as well as how to create groups. 

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Week Three- Wednesday Tidings

Thank goodness for air conditioning this week! Whew! By request, I am going to send this out earlier to give you time to plan your Friday. This week I have stopped into a few classrooms and dropped off some technology for you to try and let me know what you think. Don't feel bad if you aren't comfortable with it or if you aren't sure which direction you want to take. I will do my best to accommodate your ideas for classroom use and will share some ideas that I have too. 

I have a set of 'clickers' for the Promethean Boards that you can try, a document camera, a digital camera, a microphone and two digital video cameras you can use at any time. Stop in if you want them or I can bring them to your classroom and help you with set up. 

Friday, August 31 Schedule: (btw- you are all too kind for not correcting me last week...)

• No Staff

Friday, September 7 Schedule: 

• School in session.

Friday, September 14 Schedule: 

• Need to work into schedule: Review Write to Learn software and changes with Mrs. Boyd, Mrs. Lessman, Ms. Eggers, and Ms. Weinrich for 2012- 13 School Year
• Blogger follow-up (There are teachers using this in their classrooms- if you are interested in trying it too, let me know!) 
• Open

Please review the sheet I handed to you at the first in-service meeting and let me know what you are interested in. I would like to do a follow up for Blogger and Sites, but there is a lot more Search tools that I would like to share with you too. 

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1) Interactive Timeline Builder via http://www.myhistro.com (there's an iPad app too!) By signing up for free, you can create your own timeline or have students create an interactive timeline. There are a lot of options beyond just social studies for this too. Historical fiction or non-fiction timelines could also be created. After signing up, you will be asked to create your first even. Each event works alone and you need to create a "story" to make the actual timeline. This also has collaborative aspects and sharing possibilities. It is probably best for MS and up. 

2) Math Dictionary via http://www.webquest.hawaii.edu/kahihi/mathdictionary/ This is just what it says it is... a math dictionary. It may be good for Math-related vocabulary terms as there are pictures for each term. You can also use this during a webquest to give students background information. 

3) Video Talks/ Lectures via http://keentalks.com Somewhat like Khan academy, Keen talks has more of a thought-provoking intention. One of their tag lines is "food for thought" and I think this may be something to show upper elementary/ MS/ HS students (depending on content) to get them to think critically about may perspectives. This one on Women's Intuition is rather interesting: http://keentalks.com/womens-intuition-other-fairy-tales/ 

4) App Friday via http://www.facebook.com/AppFriday If you are one of those on Facebook, here is a place to 'like' so that you can see what some of the free apps are on Friday. Check it out! 

5) Play the Election via http://education.randmcnally.com I won't give you a political opinion (yet), but there are a great ideas to teach the upcoming Presidential Election, ways for students to compete in essay contests, and other resources to explore.

6) Common Core Sample Questions As you know, grades 3-8 and 11 will participate in the Benchmark/ Growth Model Pilot testing four times this year. Each test for each grade will consist of 32 Reading and 40 Math questions. Although SD has not released sample questions, some other states have and I wanted to share those online resources with you.

http://www.parcconline.org/samples/item-task-prototypes#6 

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/assessment/common-core-sample-questions/ (bottom of page)

South Dakota is part of the Smarter Balanced Consortium and there are some examples and other information on the assessment:  http://www.smarterbalanced.org/smarter-balanced-assessments/  

Also, if you are an iPad user, I'd recommend downloading the Common Core App as an easy to read/ find/ manage the somewhat cumbersome inch-think printout of your Math or Reading standards. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/common-core-standards/id439424555?mt=8 

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

This year will be great!

After visiting with each group and getting some ideas from you, I know that this year will be great! As promised, I will attempt to only send one mass email to everybody each week. Below is my Tech PD Schedule for next Friday. If you would like to join one of these meetings, but it is not your level or content area, feel free to let me know. 

Tech PD Schedule for Friday, August 24:

9:00 Meet with Elementary about email basics

9:30 to 10:30 Meet with HS English about Blogger in Mr. Gudmundson's Room

Here are some places to go check out this week: 

1) http://noredink.com/ No Red Ink is a site to improve grammar and writing skills and is aimed more MS/ HS. It is still very new right now, but you create a FREE account and have your students create a FREE account as well. The student selects their favorite hobbies and interests and creates practice grammar sentences based on their interests. If they get to higher levels, they can even link it with Facebook and put their friends' names in the sentences. If you are interested in trying this out, let me know and I will be glad to help!

2) http://www.sharemylesson.com/ I recently found this and although you have to create an account, and subsequently get emails from the site, it is full of resources for every level and every content area! You can download Common Core, Standards-based lessons in pdf form and some have supplemental materials and video links as well. 

3) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inkflow-think-visually!/id519524685?mt=8 Inkflow: Think Visually! is an app that allows you to draw and write with your fingers on the iPad and save a Snapshot, email, export to a jpeg or pdf, and save! I think this may have applications for you as a teacher trying to illustrate a concept or if you allow students to use it as well. 

4) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/math-kid/id465213584?mt=8 Math Kid  is a great app for quick math facts! It is more for lower elementary with just addition and subtraction problems. 

5) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/type-on-pdf-free/id468064548?mt=8 Type on PDF FREE is an app for when you receive a PDF on your iPad email and want to write on it. You will hold on the PDF icon in the email and select to 'Type on PDF'. You can then email that back to yourself. 

Below is a link to my first attempt at a tutorial. As I said, I have helped refresh a few people's memory on setting up group contact lists in webmail. This is a short video to help you out, but if you would like more help, let me know. 

http://screencast.com/t/k2G9HKZ5 

If you like the above tutorial's format, you can use this screen capture option too! Go to www.jingproject.com and download the program. You can do snapshots/ screen capture still frames or short (under 5 minute)  movies with this program. It is for Mac or Windows users. 

Have a great first week! 

Samantha

Welcome back! Week One

The summer ended quickly and soon we will be back to the classroom. I have been given a wonderful opportunity to be able to come into your classroom to help with technology integration. Next week at in-service I will have some time to visit with each group (Elem, MS, and HS) about what you would like me to do for you this year and I am excited to hear about your ideas. 

So, to start of the year, here are a few technology ideas for you: 

Every email I send out or handout I give out at any in-service will be archived at my blog. Here is the link: http://teachertechweekly.blogspot.com/ 

http://www.math.hmc.edu/funfacts/ 

The fun math facts listed here and each fact has a problem, diagram or short explanation of a fun math fact. This may be a good opener for class and most can be adapted for upper elementary through high school. 

http://www.mathlanding.org/
Math landing is a great K-6 database of math lesson plans and most of these plans you could find through other places on the internet, but this site has them all stored for you to search.
http://visual.ly/
If you like Pinterest, you will like this website. Almost all of the great graphics you pin are cataloged here and you can even make your own! You could find a great graph or chart to display population, election coverage or current events information in visual format is a great way to target visual learners. You could also take your own to teach many graphic concepts.

http://scistarter.com/
Sci Starter is a database of science projects/ lessons that are categorized by topic, but you can search by key terms as well. You can also search by topics that are free/ low cost, have teaching materials available or feature projects.
http://freemusicarchive.org/
Napster and Limewire are long gone and it is hard to justify spending money on music to narrate a school project. This archive will give you a great place to download a genre-searchable database of music.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/studyblue-flashcards/id323887414?mt=8 

"STUDYBLUE Flashcards" iPad/ iPod Touch app is a FREE flashcard app that requires an account, but it can be created after you download the app. Always on the lookout for great flashcard apps, this one heads to to the top of the list because of the collaboration element. For lower grades, it might be teachers creating the flashcards and sharing or upper grades, the students split the material and collaborate for a great review tool. 

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/using-i-and-me/id493067783?mt=8 

"Using I and Me" is a great app for iPad/ iPod Touch users with pre-made flashcards with pictures of situations using I and Me properly. As a former High School English teacher, I will attest to the need for this app for just about every student, even me sometimes!

Quick Tip: 

Have you ever shortened a URL to make it easier for students to type in? You can do this with ANY web address. There are many options, but I like to Google route because it will save all of your past shortened URLs for you when you are signed in with your Google ID. Here are the steps: 

1) Copy the URL you want to shorten. 

2) Open up this link in a new window or tab: http://goo.gl/

3) Paste the URL you want to shorten in the box. 

4) Click on the blue button, shorten URL. 

5) Your new URL will appear in the box and look something like this: http://goo.gl/3w5qc 

Please let me know if you have any questions and I will do the best I can to help you. Have a great weekend!