Hello EB!
I hope everyone had a wonderful summer! I had a great time with my three guys over the summer, swimming in the new pool and enjoying our family time. This time is always bittersweet, as I am excited to come back but sad to leave my little ones. Luckily, they are in great hands….including one of my guys at the wonderful Central School with the sweetest staff <3
For your viewing pleasure, and so I stop sending you so many emails every time I find or see something great, I created a blog. Winner Winner Chris Traynor and Laura McPhee for naming the blog and the domain, respectively. If you WANT to receive a weekly email from me (like last year) focusing on technology integration and tech tips, you can subscribe to the blog. Once subscribed you will get a weekly email on Fridays. I can post as many times as I want, but you will only see an email on Friday! Win-win for everyone!
NEW (purchased) TECHNOLOGY for EB 2017-2018
**THE PROGRAMS LISTED BELOW ALL IMPORT VIA GOOGLE CLASSROOM. IF YOU ARE GRADES 3-12, SETTING UP GOOGLE CLASSROOM FIRST WOULD BE THE EASIEST WAY TO INTEGRATE THESE PROGRAMS. (See previous blog post on Google Classroom here)
KAMI
If you are new to a 1:1 classroom, this is a GREAT way to start. Basically, KAMI will take any document (PDF, WORD, DOC, ETC) you have and allow the kids to write on it digitally. They can annotate, highlight, write text etc. You simply push it out via Classroom by choosing the K (for KAMI) button. First, you will need to sign up for KAMI via your Google account and students will also need to add the extension. You can find the extension to add here. You can read more about this AWESOME program here. I also included its highlights below:
PDF and Document Viewer
Highlight
Add Notes
Strikethrough
Underline
Voice Annotation
Text-to-Speech
Add Text
Draw Shapes
Freehand Drawing
Insert Images
OCR Text Detection for Scanned Files and Images
Split and Merge Pages
Google:
Auto-save to Google Drive
Google Classroom Integration
NEWSELA
Our district has purchased a district license for NEWSELA. This is an amazing program that has nonfiction articles in all subject areas grades 2-12. It also contains quizzes for the articles that auto grade. You can annotate the article as well if you’d like specific items to stand out for your students to see. You can also have writing prompts within the articles for students to respond to. It integrates with Google Classroom for easy use! The program also provides great student data as well.
Click here to sign up (choose the JRSRHS as your school. Although we have a district license it only shows the JRSRHS as the PRO account)
Teacher shout out: Conor Pedro, our new 6th grade hire, told me that this program pairs really well with Common Lit, another great (free) program. You can assign an article in NEWSELA and find common content in Common Lit to really maximize the information in the NEWSELA article!
PEAR DECK
Login with your Google Account to activate your premium Pear Deck account. We have many teachers in the district who have used this program and love it! Reach out if you would like a personal training, or check out the program (and orchard with pre-made decks) here! Pear Deck is a LIVE teaching tool, or student paced. It’s extremely versatile and can do so much!
Go Guardian
We have purchased Go Guardian this year for many of our 1:1 classrooms. If you are not familiar with Go Guardian, this program is incredible. Once running, it “records” the online activity taking place during your instruction, whether you’re there or not! It will send you a report each day, for each session so you don’t even need to monitor the program. You can shut down a student’s device from your own, or shut down a window you do not want them on. You can even “set a scene” and have preloaded sites you want students to visit and it will block out all other sites.
As of right now, we can guarantee all students in 7-12 classrooms will have the Go Guardian. Due to the large influx of children over the summer (Everyone knows it’s GREAT to be a viking), seats will need to be evaluated and the program needs to be set up. The tech department will roll this out soon and appreciate your patience.
REMINDER Go Guardian syncs with Google Classroom, so setting up Google Classroom is the easiest way to integrate Go Guardian in your 1:1 room.
BIG UPDATES TO OLD FAVORITES THIS SUMMER:
*Click the links below to see how each program has updated
Google Classroom
Google Forms
PEAR DECK VOCABULARY (If you sign up again, they send you activation right away)
Quizizz Updates (Big)
FLIPGRID Updates (SO COOL!)
Google Earth for CHROMEBOOKS
If you have any updates to share of NEW TECH or any FISH PUNS for me, please comment below! As always, if you would like to work together this year on your techy needs and wishes click here to book me.
It’s GREAT to be back and it’s GREAT to be a Viking
oFISHally yours,
Erin Fisher