Prodigy Math Game (Grades 1-8)

Do your kids love gaming?  Of course they do!
Do they love math?  Ok, maybe 50/50 on that one. So, lets even it out and explore Prodigy Math Game!  This is a really fun way to practice math skills in a gaming environment.  Students love it and teacher love it too as they can assign topics, gather reports and monitor the student progress.  And, best of all, it's FREE!

Check it out: https://prodigygame.com/referral.

Techie Holidays

We are in the countdown window for sure!  If you're like me, you might just be scrambling to get those last minute things all wrapped up.  I thought I'd take a moment to share a few things to help you make it through.

Late on Christmas cards? 
Try Sendoutcards.com or shutterfly.com.  You can even create a customized card with a picture of your family....to make it look like you really had your stuff together and it can be done quickly!

Need a last minute techie gift? 
Try Tile.  This is great for anyone that has a hard time keeping track of things....especially your phone or your keys.  Phone on silent and have no clue where you left it?  Just press the tile on your key ring and it will make your phone ring!  Lost your keys? Use tileapp.com to make them ring from the couch cusions or use the map locator to learn that you left them at your sister's house!

Need a last minute personalized gift? 
Shutterfly.com offers economy shipping for anything purchased by December 17th.  They don't only do cards.  They also offer personalized mugs, calendars, photo books, blankets, candles and more!

Shipping Internationally and not interested at all in the high prices to ship?
Try Amazon Global for international shipping.  Find something you love and ship at a more reasonable rate!

Moby Tablet

If you're a MobyMax user, at the bottom of your dashboard window, you'll see a button to enter the daily tablet giveaway.  It's easy to do and you could win a free tablet!  Click here to learn more about how to enter: Tablet Giveaway

Hour of Code

I tried out the Hour of Code myself last week and had a great time.  I'd love to see some classes try this one out.  It only takes about an hour.  It is likely a great activity for 3rd grade and up.  This site gives more information about it and Code.org is a great place to get started with your Hour of Code activities. With Ana and Elsa, Minecraft, Angry Birds and even Flappy Bird as characters to help you, the kids can find something to make this fun!

Google Text To Speech

Google Text-to-Speech allows your stuents to highlight words, sentences or paragraphs and reads it to them.  This can be great for read alouds and providing general help with reading.  Check it out and learn more here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.tts&hl=en

Virtual Field Trips

If you're looking for great ways to show your students nature, science, farming, etc without actually taking them on a trip, check out these great resources from Discovery Education!

Glacier National Park

North America

Animals of North America

Live from the Farm

Fun Google Slides Backgrounds

Do you ever wish your Google Slides had more pizazz?  Now there is an answer!  Check out Slides Carnival!  When you find a template you like, just click the "Use this Presentation Template" button.
Check it out: http://www.slidescarnival.com/category/free-templates

Crayola Fun

This might be a great gift for your favorite kid, a way to designate that your crayons are YOUR crayons or just a fun way to play around on the Crayola site.  Personalize your crown box with your own picture!
http://www.crayola.com/splash/product/personalizationSplash

Cyber Telephone Museum

I found a book from "way back" in 2000 that shares things to do on the internet.  As I was looking through some of the suggestions, I stumbled upon the Cyber Telephone Museum-it's a bit year-2000-cheesy, but for those kids that don't understand the days of a phone being tied to a wall, this could be fun for them to see!

Then, I figured there might just be some other sites out there dedicated to the telephone and I found this: Telephony Museum.  And finally, if you want to know the history of hold music, check out this site.  If that's not a boredom buster, I don't know what is!

Biblionasium

Biblionasium is a classroom based tool used to help excite students about reading. It has many great features including:

• Allows the teacher to create reading challenges to  focus your students on an appropriate pathway
• Allows the students to proudly display what books they have read or are reading
• Has options to allow the students to create  review of the books they have read.
• Students can share book recommendations to their friends.
• Rewards can be given to students for accomplishing tasks.  

This is just another fun way to track and motivate your students.  And, it's free!  Try it out!

https://www.biblionasium.com

A MUST HAVE for Google Classroom Users

Share to Classroom is an extension that allows you, as the teacher, to send out a link to all of your students.  When you "push" it to them, it forces their screens to open with the link that you want them to visit.  It's so easy!!  Get the extension for Google Chrome today: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/share-to-classroom/adokjfanaflbkibffcbhihgihpgijcei

Video Notes made easy!

Video Notes allows your students to watch their own video and take notes at the same time.  It even timestamps notes to the timestamp in the video so they can easily go back (or for teachers, it is a great way to make sure the students actually watched the video and went along with it).  
Check it out now: http://www.videonot.es/
See my sample:https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0f7-MTxsakzdHB4cVJLVmlLWU0/view?usp=sharing 

Google Slides: Fancy Templates

If you feel like getting extra fancy with your Google Slides, be sure to check out Slides Carnival!  Lots of fun themes and one click of a button will open the them so you can save it (file....make a copy) to your drive!  

Check it out:  http://www.slidescarnival.com/

FREE! Epic Books

Epic! has unlimited books for FREE for educators!  You as a teacher are able to create 30 student accounts which will allow you to track your students' reading too!  Check it out today! https://www.getepic.com/app/

Veterans Day Activities

From The Mailbox (includes freebies and prize drawings too!)

From Scholastic

From Kahoot:
Beginning to High and ESL or Citizenship students
Fifth grade and up

Discovery Education Veteran's Day Program (K-12)

Biology, Medical and Engineering Interactives

EdHeads interactive games is a neat resource for high school biology, Engineering or medical classes.  Take a peek at some of the games included in this FREE resource:

Simple Machines	2-6	Identification of simple and compound machines.
The Compound Machine	2-6	Compound machines, understanding/predicting forces.
Weather	4-9	Weather symbols, predict the weather.
Design a Cell Phone	5-8	Engineering design, charts and graphs, careers.
Trauma	7-12+	Anatomy, critical thinking, prescription drug abuse, consequences
Deep Brain Stimulation	7-12+	Anatomy of the brain, Parkinson's, careers.
Virtual Knee Surgery	7-12+	Anatomy of the knee, bones, careers.
Choose the Prosthetic	7-12+	Critical thinking, anatomy of the knee.
Virtual Hip Replacement	7-12+	Anatomy of the hip, careers.
Virtual Hip Resurfacing	7-12+	Anatomy of the hip, careers.
Aortic Aneurysm Surgery	7-12+	Anatomy of the torso, circulatory system, careers.
Sickle Cell DNA	9-12+	DNA, genetic diseases, protein folding, family history, Punnett square
Crash Scene	9-12+	Forensics, physics, trigonometry, critical thinking, careers.
Create a Stem Cell Line	10-12+	Stem cell basics, vocabulary.
Stem Cell Transplant	10-12+	Current application of stem cells, new research.
Stem Cell Heart Repair	10-12+	New research with stem cells, evaluating research.
Nanoparticles and Brain Tumors	10-12+	Chemistry, engineering, careers.

Researching Fun with Instagrok

I've mentioned this one before way back in 2013 but I think it is time to bring it back up again.  This site is great for research either as an individual or as a whole class together on the board.  Just plug in your search term and it will create a visual map of the data you need.  
You can even change the difficulty level so this resource is great for all age levels!  

Visit Instagrok and give it a try!

Get Ready for Turkey!!

I wanted to take a few moments now that it's November (Can you believe it??!!) and share some fun activities for Thanksgiving.  There will be more to come but I know some of you are making your plans now!

Middle/High

What Really Happened? Lesson Plan comparing stories of the first Thanksgiving

Black Friday Financial Literacy Unit

An 1895 Article about Thanksgiving

A Kahoot Quiz about Thanksgiving

Elementary

Math Drills for Thanksgiving (all levels) Printables!!

The First Thanksgiving: A site by scholastic

Kids History: Kids tell the story of Thanksgiving

Go Noodle's Maraca Turkey: Get moving and shake your turkey! And maracas!  

A Kahoot Quiz about Thanksgiving: Always fun in the classroom!

ABCYa's Thanksgiving Word Search: Just a fun way to introduce some Thanksgiving Terms

ABCYa's Thanksgiving Challenge: Best for 4th grade and higher!

ABCYa's Thanksgiving Crossword Puzzle: Can you guess all of the words! This one might be better for grades three and up.

Google Frightgeist

A little Halloween Fun, Google's Frightgeist will help you figure out what the most popular costumes are in your area!  Super fun 5 minute time waster :)

https://frightgeist.withgoogle.com/

Google's Cultural Institute

Google's Cultural Institute is an amazing site dedicated to discovering exhibits and collections from museums around the world.  

• Looking for information and photos about The Women at the Revolution of 32? They have it.  
• Looking for copies of the art of Vincent Van Gogh? They have it!
• Can't take your kids to Mongolia, but you want to show them what Mongolia looks like?  They have that too!

Sally Ride EarthKAM

The Sally Ride Earth Kam is an online learning adventure that allow students to capture and view their own photos of the earth.  There are tons of activities surrounding the project that will allow your students to learn more about earth....from space!  Sign up now if you're interested as you must be in the system prior to 11/10 to participate fully.  Click here to get started: https://www.earthkam.org/home

Farming Spotlight: Where does our Food Come from?

Discovery Education is featuring a learning area on farming from Together Counts.  It claims it is relevant only to K-8 but I believe a lot of it could reach to the high school level quite well.  If you are teaching any of the following, this might be worth looking into:

• Farming
• Chickens
• Genetics
• Soil
• Photosynthesis
• Sustainability
• Eggs

Go to the Farming Spotlight site now!

GoNoodle Halloween Week

A great K-5 Resource for making movement in the classroom AND getting ready for Halloween!  Check out these resources I am sharing directly from the GoNoodle Newsletter!

Bones! Bones! Bones! by Awesome Sauce Go Bananas by Moose Tube Cat Party by Koo Koo Kanga Roo Make Some Noise by The KIDZ BOP Kids 400M Sprint with Run With US

60 Ways to Use the Chromebook in the Classrom

Over at Alice Keeler's Blog, she has shared "60 Ways Math Teachers Can Use Google Classroom", although I think most of the suggestions here can be used with ANY teacher.  Go over and check it out: Alice Keeler's Blog

Kahoot!

Have you tried Kahoot lately?  This resource allows you to do quizzes, surveys and discussions in a fun way, using chromebooks, phones or other devices!  Like a game show, students can see questions being posed on the projected screen and follow along on their own device.  This is a great tool, be sure to check it out!  
For Teachers: Getkahoot.com
For student access: kahoot.it

GoNoodle! Learn with movement!!

A great resource for K-5, GoNoodle has great dancing, singing and other motion based activities and videos to get your class learning while moving.  Free sign up, easy to use and fun to play!  Students can also have their own logins but for the time being, will be blocked on some videos due to youtube. 
Visit GoNoodle 

Halloween Math Activities for K-5

Have you seen Gynzy?  Gynzy is a great tool that shares lots of fun interactive lessons for the whiteboard.  In this post, I'm sharing great Math Activities that are themed for Halloween!  

Click on the links or images below to see the lessons.  (You will need to create a gynzy account but don't worry, it's Free and Simple!)

K-2 Counting and Sorting

3-5  Halloween Candy Math Lesson

Candy Count and Sort

Discovery Ed Board Builder

When you or your students login to Discovery Education (In Stanly County, use google.discoveryeducation.com), across the top in the grey button bar, you will see an option for builder tools.  On selecting that menu, then click on Board Builder.

Think of Board Builder as an online, interactive poster.  You or your students can add videos, pictures, text or even documents to demonstrate a topic.  Teachers can use it as a teaching tool to organize all of the items you might use in a lesson.  Students can use it to create boards demonstrating what they have learned (or will learn) on a classroom topic!

K-12 Classroom Discipline Tools

Many Elementary teachers are already using Classroom Dojo as a discipline tool, but for those that haven't explored it yet, take a peek today.  With fun characters and positive as well as negative reinforcement, students and teachers both will love it!  Try Classroom Dojo

Same idea, but for Middle and High School, Classcraft brings gaming into the classroom and helps monitor student behavior at the same time.   

Try Classcraft

K-2 Learn Letters, Numbers and the Keyboard!!

Literacy Center is a great place to take your K-2 students to in the lab to practice their letters, numbers and even learn the keyboard!  Just click on any button to get started and note at the top of each tool, there are levels you can click on depending on where the students are in their learning journey!

Get started! Click here!

Read Alouds Made Easy!

Do you have students that need their tests to be read aloud or students that are struggling with their reading and need a little help?  There is a great extension called "Select and Speak" that can be found in the Google Chrome Store.  It allows students to highlight words that they need help reading and it will read to them!  Check it out! 

Learn to Type!

An Education World article on Keyboarding Education details that 4th grade is about the best time to start teaching students proper keyboarding skills.  Being in a 1:1 environment really allows us to spend a little time each day practicing these skills.

I have several teachers at various levels using Typing Club.  I just revisited it again for the first time in a while and I have to say that I was pretty impressed with the structure of the lessons.  This program teaches you how to sit and allows a lot of practice in a game-type atmosphere.  Check it out!

Go to Typing Club now

Read, Write, Think

Read, Write, Think is an awesome resource that typically gets overlooked.  There are many things available for teachers and students on this site but the one that I want to point out today is the student interactives section.  For those of you with Chromebooks, these tools can be a great accompaniment to projects, a fun way to introduce a lesson, or a fun activity to enhance any lesson!  They're almost all customizable to what you are teaching and there is something here for everyone!!! 

Click here to get started at readwritethink.org

A few interactives I'd like to point out:
BioCube: 
This works for just about any lesson.  There are Biography Cubes, Mystery Cubes, Story Cubes and Create Your Own Cubes.  This is a printable so when the students are finished, they'll have a cube to assemble with information about their topic.  

The Letter Generator: 
This resource walks students through writing a friendly or business letter.  For all ages, this is an important skill and a great way to practice writing too!

Literary Graffiti: 
Literary Graffiti allows students to explore comprehension through drawing and writing.  This is built for high school students, but there is a lower grade version of the same called Doodle Splash: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/doodle-splash-30022.html

Trading Card Creator: 
A great tool for creating cards of Authors, Historical figures, Heroes, Classmates, and more!  This is just a really fun way to share information in a quick way.  

Google Classroom: Adding a Second Teacher

Are you working with another teacher on a project?  Consider creating a separate "Google Classroom" just for that project, especially if it is a long term project.  Then, you can also invite that teacher so that both of you can create assignments, answer student questions and participate in project discussions as needed.  It's super easy to do so!  View the video below for help
Can't see the video, Click Here

Google Classroom Assignments: Make a copy for all students

Google Classroom is an amazing tool!  You can create an assignment in Google Docs complete with instructions, then assign a copy to each student.  This is great when you need answers/information from each student rather than allowing them to just "view" the assignment.
In this scenerio, the students each get a copy of the document you created with their name already in the title of the document.  This is great when you're assigning written papers, journals, open ended questions, labs, etc.
The video below will help you find out how to set an assignment and create a copy for each student.
Can't see the video? Click Here

Math Links for K-5 Students

A friend of mine sent me her blog this week to ask "Is this good enough to start sharing".  I read the first post and said "YES YES YES!!"  She has done a great job with this but one post really stood out to me today and I wanted to take a moment to share it.
Thank you Elana for sharing your knowledge with us!  Click here to see Elana's Blog

The post I am sharing today is about math links.  I have had several requests in the past for help with number lines, base tens, etc.  These apps (that work on your computer and would be a great addition to your interactive whiteboard) deliver these tools and are super easy to use!  Check out Elana's post to learn more: My Favorite Math Links for K-5 Students

Gynzy

Gynzy is a great friend to your interactive whiteboard.  Gynzy has it's own toolbar full of great shapes, pens and images, but it also has a full resource library of lessons for each grade level and subject area.  It is very easy to use too so you can be up and running before the first bell rings!

Check out Gynzy here: http://www.gynzy.com/

A picture of the resource library in Gynzy:

Google: What you need to know.

Google sends out updates constantly and shares a ton of information that impacts educators!   That being said, there have been several updates and information sent out recently that may impact you, so I wanted to take a moment to share!  

Teaching teams: New ways to work together in Google Classroom

Multiple teachers can now work together in a single class!  In addition, teachers can prep for classes by creating drafts of announcements, etc.

Education On Air

A totally online conference on May 8th and 9th, hosted by Google specifically for educators!  Check it out!

The Skills Agenda: Preparing students for the future

This is a great article on skills students need to succeed in the future.  It also links to the upcoming Education On Air presentation that relates to it.  

And just for fun....The "Which Animal Are You" Earth Day Quiz! 

Little Alchemy

I've talked about Little Alchemy before but it was recently brought back to my attention as my 2nd grade daughter has gotten quite excited about it lately.  I showed it to her last week and she danced all over the place in excitement as she figured out what combinations she could make to create new objects.  It was exciting to me to play along with her and listen as she discussed possible options and what each pair could create.

The Game Area

The game starts you out with three things: Air, Earth, Fire and Water.  According to my Google Searches, I have found that you can create 556 total combinations from those 4 items.  You begin by taking each one and dragging it out to the playing surface and pairing them together.  So, for example, you could put fire and water together and that creates.....steam!! 

The game continues until, if you're good, you discover all of the possible combinations.  Some we have made include a car, a chicken and even a zombie!  Some are silly and some are educational but all in all it is a really fun game! 

Little Alchemy is available online, in the App Store and the Play Store.  Be sure to login with an email address to save your work!  

Are you playing the game?

Recently I was challenged with a free/cheap and easy way to do game based PD (Professional Development). 

There are many ways online to do game based PD, but I wanted to create something offline.  My reasons for that are three fold:
1.  Our internet is horribly slow around here.
2.  A majority of my teachers still like paper.  
3.  I didn't want multiple logins for my teachers as they are sick of remembering logins.
4.  It needed to be cheap....free, really.

With those things in mind, I started with a pdf gameboard that could be linkable and a list of rules.  So, while the whole game playing experience isn't online as many tend to be, some of it is.  The links, separated out by "levels" take the learner to various tutorials on how to create a slideshow in Picasa.  As the participants work through the levels, they can earn points and badges.  The badges are placed on their playing card, which I have asked everyone to place on their doors.  

This was a very basic option just to see what kind of interest I could get.  I can see this being a bigger project next year and quite possibly a way to keep track of CEU's and workshops throughout the year.  My mind is now rumbling with all sorts of fun ways to add to this and make tech workshops more fun for everyone!  

In Stanly County Schools and want to participate?  Email me!

Kids Photography

Do you have students or children of your own that are interested in photography?  It can be a great hobby and a wonderfully creative way to explore their surroundings!  Here are some great resources to help them get started and have a little fun with it!

National Geographic International Photography Contest
While there is a contest available here for those that are already used to taking photos and might want to jump into some contests, there are also several videos to help them learn things about lighting, trick photography, etc.  When you get to this page, you'll see the videos, but if you want to find more, search for photography in the search bar! 

Ranger Rick's Photo Contest for Kids
This is an ongoing contest where they pick winners each month.  Some winners have the opportunity to have their pictures featured in the magazine and will get free copies of the magazine as well.  Could be a fun thing to do each month!

Udemy Online Course for Kids
For 49.00 you can sign up your child for this great online course for kids.  There are several video lessons that teach your child what they need to know to be a great photographer! 

Teach Them Yourself
This is a great site dedicated to how to teach children up to age 10 how to use a camera.  Included are some project ideas and terminology to help you along the way!  Also, if you look at their free ebook, you can learn 8 ways to improve your photography in just one week! 

There are a ton of resources online and in book form that can help you or your child use a camera to take amazing photographs.  Hopefully these few resources will be a great way to get you started.  Keep in mind that many local fairs and festivals have photo contests that include a children's category.  These competitions are great for boosting a child's excitement about their hobby!  

Nutrition Resources

Many different courses/grade levels discuss different types of Vitamins and Minerals.  Here are a couple links that are great resources for teaching this topic!

Nourish Interactive
Select what vitamin or mineral you are discussing and this interactive tool will pull up cards with foods associated with that item.  Also includes amounts to be consumed of each by age level. 



Fit 4 The Classroom
There are several lesson plans, videos and activities on this site for use in the classroom.  And, they're giving away some money!  Perhaps you can win!

Bioman: Biology in the Classroom

I stumbled across the Bioman logo in a google search and thought it was cool, so I checked out the site.  Turns out it is pretty cool!  There are several games, virtual labs and other activities to help teach biology!  I played a game where I learned about organelles that was kind of fun but there are also activities to help learn about germs, cells, photosynthesis and ecology!  

Biomanbio.com

Biographies in the Classroom

In the course of doing some research for some 4th grade teachers working on a biography project, I discovered some activities and website that I wanted to share.  Take a look at these and see if you can use them in your next project!  

Turtle Diary Biographies
www.turtlediary.com/biographies
This is a great site for easy to read biographies to get the kids started!  There are even word helpers with sound and definitions!

  
NEO K12
www.neok12.com/Biographies.htm
This site has video biographies that are mostly for grades 4-12


Powerpoint Facebook
Click here to go to Facebook Template
This is an activity that you can download.  Each student creates a facebook page for their chosen author, historical figure, etc. 


Cube Creator
Click here to go to Cube Creator
A fun way to display information about the person they're studying!  This is a step by step guide that ends in a printable that is folded into a cube.  

SEE Turtles

I know a lot of classrooms talk about sea turtles throughout the year so when I stumbled across this site, I felt it was worth a share.  SEETurtles.org is a neat site that has lots of Classroom Resources for learning about sea turtles.  I think the fact sheets would be a great tool for doing a mini research project with younger kids and the videos/skype calls would be great for anyone.  If you have a group looking for an organization to help, they also have a donation plan for schools/groups!  Check it out!

Elementary Math Activities

I really enjoy finding websites/games that relate to the curriculum.  Today I am bringing you a bunch of games for Elementary Math, specifically from macmillanmh.com.  Enjoy! I hope you can use them!  They would all be great on your interactive boards.  


Place Value Game

Math Manipulatives
Could be great with your promethean board (for all grade levels)

Similarities and Differences

Fact Dash

Tens and Ones

Counting

Making a Graph (Intro)

Get Ready for Digital Learning Day!

Digital Learning Day is this Friday, March 13th!  Are you ready?  Check out the activities page on the DLD website to learn about great games and activities to use with your students this day or any day of the year!  I've checked out a few of these resources and they seem to be great tools to use in your classroom!
Are you planning something great for Digital Learning Day?  I'd love to hear more about it!