From last week!

A few ideas for the evening before conferences: 

1) A presentation with ideas on implementing iPads for productivity and individual app use: Creative Uses for iPads in the Classroom: http://www.slideshare.net/mamante/creative-uses-for-ipad-in-the-classroom 

2) What do you get when you combine Polar Bears, Discovery Education and webcasts? An cool opportunity for students grades 4- 8! Check this out for more information: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2012/09/28/tundra-connections-join-us-live-from-the-tundra/ 

3) Teach your monster to Read by uploading a CSV file of your students and sign up for this fun opportunity for lower elementary students at: http://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com 

4) Something to overwhelm anybody. I know you may have a few minutes during conferences so go to http://www.google.com/edu/teachers/educator-resources.html and check out all the cool apps and tools that you can use from Google. Let me know if you would like to know anything about these. I use a lot of them and many on a daily basis. 

Have a great weekend and let me know if I can help in any way.

Samantha

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iPad Apps for Free (this is an email from a listserv I am part of, feel free to join too) 

This is something new - a heads up on an app that will be free tomorrow! The app Shapes Touch and Write will be free all day tomorrow (Friday, Oct 26) It is from a company called FizzBrain. Currently it is $2.99 but at 12am (PST) it will go free until midnight PST. It is Shapes Touch and Write - http://itun.es/i6DM39y

There are a lot of other interesting apps today. Quiet please is an app that measures sound levels and when the sound gets too loud is does a Shhh sound and it looks like you could record your own message as well. This could be a good tool for those kids who get loud the ability to self regulate themselves.

Quiet Please - http://itun.es/i6DG4jy

This is a tracing app.'

Trace & Share - http://itun.es/i6DG4jZ

Padstar Publishing has released several of their math apps for free - 

AppTutor IR - Introduction to Rounding - http://itun.es/i6DG4D9

AppTutor LA - Introduction to Long Addition - http://itun.es/i6Dm7tC

AppTutor AWP - Addition Word Problems - http://itun.es/i6Dm24C

AppTutor MT - Multiplication Tables - http://itun.es/i6Dm24Z

AppTutor LM - Introduction to Long Multiplication - http://itun.es/i6DG4Dq

And Talking Rex for the iPad is free for a day -

Talking Rex the Dinosaur for iPad - http://itun.es/i6DM39Q

Presentation from Systems Change Conference

Personalizing the Senior Experience 

Personalizing the Senior Experience on Prezi

Happy Rainy Morning in South Dakota

Happy Rainy Morning! 

The 15 iPads are about ready to go. If anybody wants to submit an application and has not done so or is in the process of writing one, please let me know. Applications are accepted on a cyclical basis, so whichever is the best in the lot will get the iPads for up to 9 weeks at a time. Once they are given to a teacher, we will let you know how long the application was approved for so you know. 

The 25 iPads are about ready to go too. There are a set of apps I have on them now that include some interactive books, science apps and basic program apps. You can check them out to just see how they work OR let me know what apps you want on them and I can help put them on if they are free. We do not have a PD session anytime soon, but I will gladly help anybody that wants some help to work with them after school, during your study hall or planning period. Once we have time on a Friday, I will use it to review some of the options during a session time. 

Here is the link to the iPad checkout cart: 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsEay089cnsBdExSY0tORS1naTlSOTBDTVFwVU9qOFE 

Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can help in any way. 

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Reminder: 

Google Search Session on Site Specific Searches from 3:45- 4:00 in Ms. Eggers' Room. 

Bring your computer.

Hope to see you there!

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

October is Search Month at Deuel

It is already October and we have some busy weeks ahead of us. As our Fridays are full, I want to still bring some new technology ideas to you. The following schedule will all be in regard to Google Advanced Search Options. Most of these options I have briefly introduced to you on the opening in-service days, so you can bring your yellow card for reference. 

Each meeting will be 10 minutes of instruction and examples and 5 minutes of questions. I will also stick around after to help with any other questions, but feel free to leave right after the first 10 minutes. 

Wednesday, October 10th at 3:45 in Mrs. Boyd's Room:  

Advanced Image Search

Ever want only a picture of a green apple or do you ever want to know where a picture came from? This quick session will help.

Wednesday, October 17th at 3:45 in Ms. Egger's Room: 

Site Specific Searches

Use Google site specific searches to query only searches on a specific site or domain. 

Wednesday, October 24 at 3:45 in Mrs. Konold's Room:

File Type Specific Searches

Looking to find a PPT or PDF on a specific topic quickly? This search parameter will help you!

Make sure to bring your computer!

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1) http://www.conflicthistory.com/ Conflict History will allow you to choose a any year or span of years and it will show you on a Google Map above where all the conflicts were taking place during that span of years. There is a very brief description as well. I think this has particularly interesting applications when thinking globally... "What was happening during the American Revolution in China?"

2) http://www.algebralab.org/ Algebra Lab has lists of lesson, activities, study aids, career connections and word problems for teachers to assign and are categorized by topic. There are comprehension passages that also would be applicable for reinforcing the reading for information common core standards as well. Off of this site there was also a http://dev.physicslab.org/ that had many story problems for Physics as well. The "Amusing Problems" was really interesting and had extra documents along with the answers for you. 

3) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibrainstorm/id382252825?mt=8 iBrainstorm is an app for brainstorming together and 'flicking' the brainstorm all on to one iPad. It is originally made for iPhones and iPod Touches to collaborate with an iPad. You can have up to 4 people on the same pad. I think this could be fun for the iPads and useful for collaborative brainstorming too! And... I would really like to try it out some more. 

4) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/haiku-deck/id536328724?mt=8 Haiku Deck is not about Japanese Poetry, rather it is a great way to create multimedia presentations on your iPad. This may be a way to integrate an iPad into your classroom with students in pairs creating presentations and learning how to manipulate all the apps of the iPad successfully. 

5) http://scootpad.com/ along with the ScootPad App http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scootpad/id557056479?mt=8 This is so cool, for grades K-5, but this will take time to set up. Start by signing up and creating a teacher account. Then, you have to create student accounts, but you are able to choose their username and password! Computer time would be Math Time or Reading Time. For teachers who do not have a "computer curriculum" this may be an answer. It would just be an extension of Math or Reading time and it is aligned to the Common Core Standards. I kept working with this and just thought, "No, it's going to ask for a Purchase Order Number soon. This can't be free."  It is paid for by Google in Education (you knew Google was coming somewhere- didn't you?), Edmodo, Schoology and the Common Core Standards Group. Seriously, this is so cool.

6) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/common-core-conceptbank/id556647873?mt=8 ScootPad App ConceptBANK with practice questions set to the common core standards for grades K- 5. This is great stuff! Check it out! For someone who is just learning about elementary standards and what level everything is at, I like this a lot. There are not practice questions for every standard (more math standards had the sample questions than reading) and it says they are still being developed, so make sure to update this app when it needs it. 

Elementary Teachers: If ScootPad sounds good to you, let me know and I will help you set it up for your classroom. We could even talk to Chad and use some Friday time to do this. With our Common Core push, I think this may be a good option. And, when we get the iPad going, this may be your reason to check out the iPads too. 

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Many of you have talked to me about iPads and I had a great recommendation to have an online iPad checkout. Here is the link to the Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsEay089cnsBdExSY0tORS1naTlSOTBDTVFwVU9qOFE 

Nothing is set in stone with this, but please give me some feedback to let me know your thoughts. It is just like an excel spreadsheet and each week is available to toggle on the botom. Each week will have a new page to the spreadsheet. You do not need to sign in to view or write on the document to reserve your time and up to 50 people at once can view the document. If you do not like this, please give me some idea for a viable alternative. Thank you for your input. 

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Have a great week everyone! 

Archived Weekly Updates at: teachertechweekly.blogspot.com 

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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