Weekly Tech-y News

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Weekly Tech-y News

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Technology for Little Learners

Allowing our youngest learners access to technology is so important in today's classrooms. These students are digital natives, and many are using tablets and other devices each day in their homes. Teaching them how to use these devices as tools to create, make and do (rather than just play and watch) can be important part of their day. I loved providing my kindergartners with access to iPads as a way to document their learning, take pictures of their creations, and share their voices as they told me stories or read books aloud. Publishing this work to an authentic audience and sharing with parents was a beloved and essential part of our routine in kindergarten.

Teachers often ask me what some of my favorite apps to use with young learners (K-2) are. Here is a list of my Top 5 Favorites. You can see a more extensive list in this Participate Learning Collection.

Seesaw

This digital learning journal has embedded tools and allows students to publish both digital and physical work to an authentic audience. I love that parents can connect and see their students' work. Projects that students make in all of the other apps below can be published to Seesaw and shared with classmates and parents. FREE!

Classkick

Classkick allows teachers to create assignments, then watch students complete the assignments and give feedback in REAL TIME. This is awesome! Easy to create assignments from scratch or from PDF files teachers already have, as well as provide differentiated work to students. FREE!

 

Book Creator

One of the first apps I started using with my kindergartners is still one of my favorites. Can be used across all subject areas and grade levels. Allows students to create their own books including text, voice, images, drawings and other embedded items, plus publish to an audience. $4.99 (WORTH IT!)

PicCollage Edu

This kids version of PicCollage allows students to create collages using text, drawing, photos, and web search. Students use their creativity to share what they know. $1.99

Apple Clips

Students are able to make videos to share their learning using easy-to-use video editing tools, voice text, stickers, posters and music. Excellent for how-to videos or to publish research. FREE

Weekly Tech-y News November 19th-23rd

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Weekly Tech-y News November 12th-16th

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ISTE 2018

Wahoo! Heather Marrs & I have arrived at ISTE 2018!

Thanks to generous grants from Montana MCCE and the Education Foundation for BPS, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the 2018 ISTE Conference in Chicago this past summer. Attending ISTE was such an incredible time to connect with edtech teacher leaders from across our country, and learn from the best of the best. 

I especially enjoyed being a part of the first ever Seesaw Connect event, where I was able to learn about gamified classrooms from Heather Marrs, explore innovative PD options with Andy Lesier, and delve deeper into #BookSnaps with Tara Martin. It was amazing to meet so many teachers I had connected with via Twitter, and be able to share and learn one with one another in person. The Seesaw Connect Amazing Race was super fun, and I loved leading a job alike session with other tech integration specialists and coaches who use Seesaw. This event and helping out in the Seesaw booth at the ISTE Expo Hall were two definite highlights of my time in Chicago! I love that you can access the website to view resources from this amazing event, even if you couldn't attend in person! Such great stuff can be found at web.seesaw.me/connect/. Check it out!

 Michelle Flicek, Sara Malchow, Kristen Brooks, Eric Robinson & me

 Our Seesaw Amazing Race crew

Me & my buddy Sara Malchow

Me with the amazing Sara Malchow & Bobbi Hopkins

I also really loved the educational playgrounds offered at ISTE. The playgrounds provided a chance to explore digital tools in a hands-on way, with teacher experts available to share ideas and answer questions. I explored at the digital storytelling playground, early learning network playground and Apple ADE playground. Some highlights were learning more (and meeting the creators of!) DoInk and Book Creator apps, as well as exploring amazing creativity tools with Apple Distinguished Educators. 

 My ADE squad!

Dan Kemp, me & Heather Marrs

Some presentations I really enjoyed were Goog-Smacked, with tons of ideas for using Google tools in your classrooms, and Who Wants to be an EduInnovator. This session was conducted in a fun game-show like format that was super engaging! Tony Vincent's emojis in education session was full (I ran late because ... pizza), but you can click here to see his awesome ideas!

Yum!!

Tony Vincent, me & Shaundel Krumheuer

It's also so amazing to have the chance to meet with edu-innovators that have created the awesome tools we use and love in our classrooms! Spending time chatting with Seesaw creators and staff over pizza at Giordano's was amazing. We loved attending events hosted by Nearpod, Adobe, Quizlet, and EdPuzzle - all some of our favorite tools! It's inspiring to hear their stories, and how they made their dreams into a product now used by thousands of teachers & students to make learning better! I also loved meeting some friends in real life that I have been sharing ideas and learning from on Twitter and Instagram. So fun to meet you in person!

 Anita Goodwin, Julie Smith & me

 Me, Sarah Rainey & Ann Brucker

Me at the EdPuzzle event with CHAMPION Sarah Rainey, Shaundel Krumheuer & Shelly Stanton

If you have an opportunity to attend a conference like ISTE, I encourage you to take it! And if the opportunities aren't falling into your lap, seek them out! Ask your administrator, look for grants like the ones I received through MCCE and the Education Foundation, or post a request on sites like Donors Choose! Connecting with other educators to share ideas and learn from one another is so powerful and rejuvenating! I am excited and ready for the 2018-19 school year to begin! (Now, please enjoy these pictures of the Best Doughnuts I Have Ever Eaten.)

Best Freaking Jelly Doughnut on the Face of the Planet

Peanut Butter Cup Doughnut

Biscoff pocket a.k.a. COOKIE BUTTER DOUGHNUT!

Weekly Tech-y News April 2-6th

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Weekly Tech-y News

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Weekly Tech-y News December 18-22

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Christmas Books with Green Screen Awesomeness

This project was so much fun! Inspired by Brigitte Hollohan, we used the DoInk Green Screen app ($2.99) to take photos of each student in Mrs. Parisien's first grade in front of an image of Santa in the night sky. We used this image, but you could use any you like. It would be really fun to let students make their own using the Make a Scene: Christmas app ($2.99).

Once the pictures were taken, we could have done any number of things with them! Print them for cute Christmas cards or gifts, add to Seesaw and type or tell their story, create a collage in PicCollage Kids ... really the possibilities are endless! We decided to have each student write a Dear Santa letter using this cute FREE template, then load all the photos into Book Creator app, and have students read their "Dear Santa" letters onto each page. It easily shared to Seesaw, and turned out absolutely adorable!

PLTW Books Using Book Creator

Broadwater teachers Mrs. Bishop & Mrs. Romei had this AWESOME idea to digitize the Project Lead the Way activities using the app Book Creator. This allowed students to complete the books digitally, then upload finished books to Seesaw to share with one another and their families. Check out the example below, and continue reading to access the templates to share with your students.

The following activities from the 1st grade Project Lead the Way light & sound unit have been digitized into Book Creator book templates by Mrs. Bishop. You can access the templates to use with your own students by clicking the links below.

Activity 1.2 Sound

Activity 1.3 Light & Sound

Project 4 Light Investigation

For instructions on opening these epub files in Book Creator, click the image below. These instructions were adapted from Sara Malchow! 

Weekly Tech-y News

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