Innovative Teaching and Learning Showcase

For the 7^th Year, Talladega County Schools have showcased PBL and Technology.  There are 55 tables to show their student’s hard work.   Here are just a few of the tools that were shared during this amazing showcase. Our theme this year was ENDLESS DISCOVERY.  Through PBL and Educational Technology your students also have ENDLESS POSSIBILITES.

1.    Discovery Education:  Discovery Ed was a huge focus this year during Innovative Teaching PBL throughout the year.  Board Builder from Discovery Ed was seen across the arena last night.  Board Builder is an exciting tool from Discovery Ed that allows you to create multimedia posters.  You can create posters and projects that include text, photos, and video.  To access Board Builder from your Discovery Education account, just click on the Builder Tools drop down menu and select Board Builder. It is a great way to house activities to assign to students or have students show knowledge that they have mastered.

2.     Story Kit: This is a free multimedia storytelling app. Students can create stories with text, drawing, and pictures.  There is room for one sentence of writing on each page.  This is a simple way to publish writing.  It gives you enough options without having to many bells and whistles to confuse a younger student.

3.    Green Screen App:  Green Screen let’s you travel to far away places without ever leaving your classroom.  Green Screen is used in the movies to make it look like the actors have landed on the moon, and it's used on TV to make it look like your local meteorologist is standing in front of an animated weather map. This app works by combining images from multiple sources into a single video. This app makes it easy to create incredible green screen videos right on your iPad. Classroom-tested by kids and teachers, this app emphasizes ease-of-use and simplicity while still enabling you to get fantastic results. With this you can tell a story, explain an idea, and share an idea in a creative way.

4.    Videolicious:  This app lets students make a video in just a few minutes.  Choose your pictures and let videolicious do the rest.  It is a fun way to tell a story in a great video without having to do a lot of work.

5.     iMovie:  This puts everything you need to make a video at your fingertips.  You can combine Videolicious videos, pictures, or almost any other video into a longer video or a Hollywood style trailer.  Students can share their videos on your cameral roll, you tube, or any number of other video services.  The possibilities are endless!

Have a great weekend!

Break Time

Spring Fever has hit.  Little minds are thinking about the beautiful weather, baseball and softball games, and dance recitals.  School is the last thing on their minds.  Here are some fun things to reel them back in and finish the year with a bang!

1.                     Chromville:  This free app is similar to ColAR App.  You print off pictures from the Chromville website.  Students color them and use the app to make them come alive.  The pictures are all based on lands in the world of Chromville. Choose your land and download the page.  After Student’s color the picture they become great writing prompts. 

2.                     GoNoodle:  Go Noodle is a free program with brain breaks that channel classroom energy for good.  There are different brain breaks for every part if the day.  There are activities to calm, focus, and energize.  There is everything from breathing exercises to Zumba. 

3.                     TooNoisy:  This is an alternative to a Yacker Tracker or other noise regulator.  It is a noise level regulator for the classroom.  The lite version of the app is free.  After you set the sensitivity, the app rewards the class for each time interval that they remain within the acceptable noise level.  I use this app in conjunction with the Go Noodle Website.  When my students earn a specified number of stars, we choose one of the Go Noodle brain breaks.  It really helps with the antsy noise in my room.

4.                      Kahoot:  This is a game based student response program. This is a web-based response system.  Make it easy and create an icon on the screen of each iPad.  Students input a code and let the games begin.  You can create your own quizzes or use one that is already on the site. Look at the screen and choose the correct color.  You get points for the correct and answer and the speed in which you answer.  The top five highest scores are displayed after each question.

5.                     QLovi:  This is an ebook platform.  You can borrow books for up to 6 weeks.  You can give students assignments based on the books they read.  It becomes a personalized reading and writing for each student.  You can add books to the bookbag and assignments such as essays, warm-ups, and exit tickets. On April 4, 2014, QLovi offers free author read alouds in Google Hangouts and live on You Tube.   

Have a great weekend!

Learning is Out of This World!

Space is such a fun topic to teach.  No matter what grade you teach or what standard you are covering, there is always a way to make this topic exciting and engaging.  Here are a few things I plan on teaching to cover the space standards this year.

1.    SolAR-System App:  This is an Augmented Reality app.  Print the Solar System Markers from the solAR-system website.  Focus on the marker and watch planets come alive. Travel in this wonderful 3D simulation of the solar system and fully interactive with the Augmented Reality technology. This app costs $0.99.

2.    Space and Writing:  This was one of my favorite activities last year. My students completed a writing activity entitled “Leaders are Out of this World.”  They wrote about qualities of a good leader.  After they completed their writing, they used the Photo Booth or Cam Wow app on the ipad.  They took a picture of themselves in a distorted, alien way.  They emailed me the pictures and I had them printed.  These pictures became the faces in an old-fashioned construction paper alien.  Second Graders make frightening aliens but they sure had a ball being out of this world!

3.    Space Place:  This website is operated by NASA.  It offers students the opportunity to play, do and, explore.  There are games and puzzles to play.  There are several PDF pages to print that give directions for hands on learning.  There are videos, pictures, and fun facts to learn as students explore. 

4.    Make a Scene-Outer Space:  I am a fan of other Make a Scene apps.  I love the creative freedom that these apps give students to just dream.  I’ve used the Make a Scene Farm many times to have students create a math problem.  They create their scene and import their picture into Screen Chomp or Educreations to mark up their picture and record them as they explain their thinking.  Outer Space costs $2.99.  If you want to try out this app idea, the Make a Scene Farm is free.

5.    Interactive Minds: Solar System- The perfect way for kids to experience the Solar System in a hands-on way! This interactive science book contains 58 pages and is filled with images, videos, and interactive simulations. This kid friendly apply lets you compare sizes of objects in the Solar System, see planetary revolutions, planetary rotations and tilt, see Solar System scale, and compare gravity on Earth with other objects.  The full version is $2.99 but a Lite version is available for free.

I’m sure you are as ready for Spring Break as I am.  I’ll return with the next Elementary Friday Five after Spring Break on April 4.  I hope you enjoy your break and return refreshed ready to go for the last few weeks of the school year.

"Reading, Writing, 'Rithemtic..."

            This week I spent time searching for some fun apps for station time.  Here are a few of my favorites.

1.    Little Zebra Shopper:  This was a fun accidental find.  This is a virtual cash register.  You print free products from the website. Each product has a bar code on it.  Can the barcode and the app shows a cash register receipt.  Scan several products and it gives the total.  Put in the amount of cash paid and it shows the change.  I’ve had students playing with this app all week.  They hand the cashier an amount greater than the total and the cashier has to give back the correct change in play money.  It has been a very popular math center. 

2.    Front Row Adaptive Math: Differentiated Math, Common Core Aligned, designed by a teacher app. Students are given a placement test.  They will then complete activities based on their level.  Students work at their own pace. Advancement and remediation are given as needed. The more students practice the more coins they earn.  Students can then turn in coins for game time.  You can generate printables for extra practice for each standard.  It will suggest classmates to go to for help based on the performance of others.  All of the lessons and videos are common core based. Don’t be frightened by the high price.  I have five referrals to allow you to unlock all of the content for free.  Just download and register.  When you are asked for a referral, use my email: kbroadhead@att.net.

3.    Subtext:  This app is for collaborative reading.  It allows student to participate in close reading of online text.  It is also available as an Edmodo app.  How to use this app is best explained in article by Margo Tripsa in an article on her blog “Techie Teacher’s Tricks.”

4.    Edshelf:  This is not an app but it is a phenomenal list of apps and web tools.  Edshelf is a directory of websites, mobile apps, and desktop programs that are rated & reviewed by parents & educators, for parents & educators. They help you find the right educational tools for your specific needs. You can search the database by subject, category, platform, or age.

5.    Noteledge for Kids:  NoteLedge for Kids is a note-taking app dedicated for kids to showcase their creativity and record every inspiring moment, hands on. With the kid-friendly tools, a super cute interface, and sound effects, kids can draw, doodle, type, insert images, record audios and video clips, and share their masterpieces with friends and family. Just think about the idea of letting students come up with their own storybook and show how they see the world from their perspective. This app is available in the App Store for $2.99.

Have a great weekend!