The fish in MY school 😁 🐟 🏫

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I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again #togetherwearebetter!  Monday, 2/26, was our annual technology PD day here at the East Bridgewater Public Schools and so many of our own SHINED 🌞 ! Many teachers had the chance to show off what they’re doing with technology and share with colleagues. We had 32 sessions offered throughout the day with 21 of our own staff presenting!  It was a great day and so many ideas are already being put into practice.  If you check out our Twitter hashtag #greattobeaviking you can see many of the highlights of our technology integration.  Spreading the love, and best practices, is what it’s all about!  Check out just a few of the many great presentations below:

Google Classroom 📎 

Seriously, who doesn’t LOVE Google Classroom?! After out tech PD day, even administrators were inspired to use this GREAT tech tool! Principal Andrew Gentile has now started a Google Classroom for his staff where he is posting all sorts of great, important information! What a great use of Classroom and also modeling taking risks!  Bill Silva did an awesome job showing off Google Classroom and all it can do!   Check out Bill’s presentation below, he touches upon all of the great features of Classroom and how he uses it.

 

1:1 Chromebooks in Grades 1 & 2    💻

Have you wondered how our 1st and 2nd graders are using their 1:1 Chromebooks? Well Sarah Beberman and Kim Hardiman have a great presentation below that shows how they use 1:1 technology in their classrooms.  It is AMAZING and so impressive that some of our youngest students are doing so much with Chromebooks! Imagine what these kiddos will be able to do as they progress through our school system!

 

SeeSaw – A Digital Portfolio   🖼️

SeeSaw is a pretty awesome Digital Portfolio where students can post pictures, activities, videos and much, much more! Tori Cameron did a wonderful job presenting SeeSaw to many of our staff.  The next day, Joan McLaughlin was already using it and her students LOVED it! Way to go Tori, and way to go Joan!

iPads   📱

Have you wondered how our early grades are using iPads? Preschool, Kindergarten and half of first grade are 1:1 with iPads. Walk into Sandi Telless‘s room and you can easily see her students are pretty tech saavy on the iPads! Check our her slides below where she shares some of her favorite iPad apps she uses in her Kindergarten classroom:

Differentiating with Tech  🚀

Have you thought about how to differentiate with technology? Beth Barra does a great job running small groups and having activities at different levels for her students. The very next day I saw collaboration with the same Flipgrid topic in both Beth‘s room and Kim Hardiman‘s room. Nice job ladies! Check it out below:

These are only JUST A FEW of many great presentations.  If you would like to see them all be sure to visit our East Bridgewater Smart PD Site or reach out to me at Efisher@ebps.net. I cannot express enough how much I enjoyed planning, engaging, presenting, networking, and reflecting on this day! Thank you to all of those who were a part of it! It is truly GREAT to be a Viking!

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

“Reel” it in with Student Video Projects! 📽️🎞️ 🎣

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HAVE A GREAT FEBRUARY BREAK!

I send you off with some REELY good ideas for video projects!  A teacher reached out this week and asked for a good program to make book trailers. What a fantastic project for students! There are so many fun ways to do this!  Check it out below:

Animoto 📸 😁 

Animoto is a great, free, website and app that allows you to make videos with premade templates.  It has themes and music, premade video or you can use your own.  It’s very easy and fun! See my how-to video below and check out Animoto here!

This is an example video I made with Animoto for Little Vikings Summer Program!

 

iMovie  😮

iMovie is also a great option for those students using their iPhones or home devices (iPads and Mac books). Like Animoto, it has premade templates and music to create pretty cool short videos.  See the how-to and video example below! iMovie

 

Screencastify 📹 

Screencastify is my favorite go-to for all things video. There’s just so much you can do with it! It works well on the Chromebooks and has a webcam option! You can pause and resume and the videos save directly to Google Drive, making it easy for students to add to Classroom.

Video Project Ideas from Others  🎥

This is a great post (click here) by Richard Byrne from Practical Ed Tech showcasing his lesson plan with video options for students. He goes into many of the free tools and how to use them. He even provides a link to example lessons.

This post (click here) by Eric Curts features video mashing using Google Slides and Youtube. Basically you insert two videos onto the same slide and have them play simultaneously. Why do that, you ask? Well, take a look at his post. He has a great explanation!

This post (click here) by Matt Miller is about how to take Google Slides and create stop motion videos. It’s pretty neat, and not too challenging! Students who like to design may enjoy this one!

Lastly, Eric Curts (click here) also suggests video dubbing using Screencastify. This is a neat idea! Essentially, you mute a video (either that you made or borrow from YouTube and you provide voice-over and narrate it.  This would be great to do over a Google Slide presentation as well to provide audio explanation.

Have a wonderful, restful break! You deserve it!

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

What’s Up Dock? 🥕 📋 🌊

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HAPPY 100 DAYS EVERYONE! Like my fish pun 🐟 this week, get it Dock and Google Docs….lol….I couldn’t help it 😜. Thanks Jen McPartland for that one! When I look at our GoGuardian statistics, Google Docs is the most used application in our district. We are doing so much collaboration with Docs in our classrooms, I thought a great focus this week would be Google Docs.  Below you will see some of my favorite things you can do with Docs as well as some hidden features. For instance, did you know you can insert Word Art or even animated GIFs into your Docs??!! How about a great add-on that allows you to leave voice comment feedback for students in a doc? Google Docs is a powerful tool for collaborative writing among students. It is also a great tool because nothing is ever really lost, EVER. Read below to check this out!

 

New to Docs? Still a “Word” girl (or boy)? ✍️  

Are you having a hard time moving away from Word because Docs just isn’t the same? Maybe all of your work is in Word, so it’s just easier to use it. Does this sound familiar? Well, take a look here at the cheat sheet from G-suite themselves.  This training center resource will help you move away from Word and move towards Docs.  Change is hard, but this is the app students are using and the more comfortable we can become with this application, the better we are able to assist our students!

Feedback Tools 📣 

I posted a little while ago about feedback (Fishy Feedback), but since that post, there have been even more GREAT tools that have come out for a teacher to leave authentic feedback for students in Google Docs. Check out WriQ and Kaizena, both add-ons for Docs.

 <– This is an image from WriQ, it will score the work (for you) and allow you to give feedback in a student comment.  Check out the video below on WriQ. It is pretty awesome!

How about AUDIO FEEDBACK that you can just pull out anytime??!! Or canned text comments as well that you write yourself? Kaizena has really hit the mark when it comes to feedback! Check out my video below showcasing this amazing add-on!

Want more? This is a great post from Eric Curts that has even more feedback tools, including video and audio options!

Nothing is ever really gone in Docs!  💡

One of the best features of Google Docs is the VERSION HISTORY found under the File Menu.  With the version history, you can see the progress a student makes with writing over time. You can also see, in a group writing, who has contributed and to what degree.  You can also restore a version of a Doc in the event you accidentally delete something important.  Check it out below:

For Fun  🕺

Something really fun, that differentiates Docs from Word, is the ability to install add-ons.  Add-ons for Docs are items that “add on” or enhance the Doc itself.   There are so many different add-ons available including music notation, clipart, rubric builders and many more! I personally love Magic Rainbow Unicorn! See my short video below for some of my favorite add-ons!

For More Docs Awesomeness  🎉

Looking for more hidden features of Docs? Check out these posts below by some great tech bloggers on some hidden features within Google Docs like voice typing or the research tool!

Click Here

Click Here

As always, reach out if you’d like any help! I hope these tips and tricks make your experience with Docs that much better!

oFISHally Yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

 

Fish food for thought… 🤔 🐟 🥫

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Happy February! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

I am so happy January is over! It is such a long, cold and sometimes snowy month! Now we’re on to longer sunshine filled days, less days in the month, and hopefully less snow! ❄️ ❄️ ❄️

Are you having the winter doldrums? A little stuck in a rut? How about trying something new! I get so excited when teachers reach out and tell me the NEW things they’re doing. especially those teachers piloting Chromebooks and trying new things here in EB! A little “fish food” for ya this week…to try something new.  Are you getting a little tired of your same go-to apps/sites/activities? Check out some different ideas below! Who knows, maybe trying one new thing will spark that student who you just can’t get to come around…

Try a new tech tool 🆕  

Is KaHoot, Peardeck, Quizlet, Quizzizz, and others becoming a little dull? Well, check out this great list of other formative tools. The list is a long and there are a lot of great ones on here! Many of which you’ve probably used! If you want help using any, I’m here! 😀

The Ultimate List – 65 Digital Tools and Apps to Support Formative Assessment Practices

Cool Tools 🛠️ 

Word clouds are so much fun, but popular sites like Wordle don’t run on a Chromebook. Check out this post from Eric Curts on some great word cloud tools! You could make a super cute Valentines Heart word cloud using the Chromebooks!

http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2016/04/chromebook-word-cloud-tools.html

Did Steve McGuire get you thinking about what you could use for a Random Name Picker (the way he uses Alexa for student raffles)? Well here’s a good one from Classtools.net.  I created a video below to show how it works – but it’s pretty easy to figure out on your own!

Use Emojis! 🌮 🐸 

Sometimes it’s the little things that students really enjoy – like emojis in your posts on Classroom or in your email title.  Have you wondered how the little fish show up on my Name in my email display?  Check out this video below on the extension Emoji for Chrome.  It’s a fun little tool! *Note: when this extension runs it can cause interference with slides. I disable this extension when I’m creating a Google Slide deck.

Check out the video below: https://youtu.be/PMEVT2TG9uI

Embed your Twitter feed (or other items now) on the New Google Sites 🐦 

A great update from Google, if you wanted to add or embed any widgets on your New Google Site – now you can! See how to do it below! Twitter is just one widget that will embed, other sites that have embed codes or widgets will also work!

I hope some of this “fish food for thought” gives you some ideas to start something new with your students! Have a great weekend everyone!

GO PATS!  Image result for patriots 🏈

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

 

Fishing for Forms 🎣 📋

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Hello FISHY Friends!

Seriously, is there anyone out there who HASN’T used forms in one way or another?  Google Forms is an amazing G-Suite tool that can be used in a variety of ways, and like anything Google, it is always improving!  In fact, did you know you can suggest improvements to Google on their products (click here)?  They take into consideration every suggestion made.  Google Forms is a great online survey and/or assessment tool.  Many of us have either taken a Google form, administered a Google Form, or both!  I make roughly 2-3 Google Forms a week for various tasks – so reach out! I’d be more than happy to make one for you!

 Reuse Google Form questions ♻️ 

Have you ever made a new test and you want to take some questions (but not all) from another? Well, this is a great post for you! Richard Byrne posted recently about the add-on for Forms called Form Recycler. What this allows you to do is pull in questions from other Forms you’ve made, without having to duplicate or copy and paste!

This would be great if you wanted to create your final from all of your yearly tests or a REVIEW for MCAS from all other tests! 

Check it out here: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2018/01/how-to-quickly-copy-questions-from-one.html#.Wl-wj65KuM8

Response Validation (set rules in forms) ☑️ 

If you are a frequent giver of assessments using Forms, and you want to set some parameters around answers for various questions, response validation is a great tool.  Let’s say you have a checkbox question and students need to choose 2, you can set the validation to not let them continue the quiz until they pick two. If you have a short answer or paragraph response, you can set a validation to not let them continue until their response contains a certain word or words. If you’re giving a math assessment, and the number should be within a certain range, you can set this in response validation and the assessment will not let the student pass in the test if they do not have their response validated. This would be a great modification for certain students on an exam.  Giving a range may assist the student in trying the problem again if he or she is way off the mark.  It is EXTREMELY easy to set response validation within forms and it is one of the best-hidden tools that many are unaware of.

How to set rules for your Google Form: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3378864?hl=en

This is a great post with video how-to’s and ideas for response validation in Forms: http://www.i-heart-edu.com/response-validation-with-google-forms/

You can even REQUIRE certain information and not allow a student to turn in an assignment unless it contains that particular item.  Check out Alice Keeler’s example of how she forces email: http://www.alicekeeler.com/2018/01/17/google-forms-require-valid-email-address/

Send certificates EASILY with Google Forms 🏆 

Would you like to send certificates once a Google Form is completed? This add-on for forms does just that, quite easily!  If you already have assessments in place in Forms, you can enable this add-on and it will automatically send a certificate to the taker of the form if they receive a certain score. Students could get a cute certificate reward for getting a certain score on a test!

Check out this add-on here: https://www.certifyem.com/try-it-now

This is a great video how-to by Meagan Kelly of this awesome tool!

Score WRITING in Google Forms 📝 

Google Forms used to only score multiple choice and short answer back in the days of Flubaroo (I wonder how they’re doing now). However, now you can even give large writings by choosing long paragraph.  This is a great option to have a variety of question types on a test.  You will need to go through each long response and manually grade, however, it’s pretty quick to give a score and copy and paste some feedback in the comment box.

Check out some detailed directions here about extended responses: http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2016/10/extended-response-forms.html

 

Eliminate Choices in Forms 🚫 

If you want to use a Google Form as a sign-up for a party or even for appointments, the add-on Choice Eliminator is a great tool.  This add-on allows you to choose when an option disappears from a form.  If you had “popcorn” as a food item for a party and you only want two students bringing it, once 2 people choose it, it disappears from the form.  Check out more on this great add-on for Forms here:

We’ve only just scratched the surface with these tips! I hope to talk with you more about FORMS, reach out anytime!

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

Fishy Feedback 📝 🐟

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Hello hello!

I hope this post finds you well. It has been a tremendous week here in EB. It was a pleasure to pass out the Chromebooks to our first 25 teachers willing to pilot 1:1 teacher devices!  Already, we have teachers using Screencastify with students and this is due to having a Chromebook – Amazing! It was great to get to interact, even for a short time, with some faces I don’t usually see. I hope to work with you further. Remember, I am here for your benefit – so please reach out! There is no task too small!

Shout out to a whole SLEW of teachers this week – EB and OTHERS:

CHROMEBOOK PILOT TEACHERS way to step outside the comfort zone for some of you and take a Chromebook! I know you’re doing to do great things! PLEASE use me as a resource! I’m here for you!

Julie Sunderland and Kathy Pittsley are high school math teachers at Fairhaven High School.  Julie also happens to be a very dear friend of mine for over 20 years! Julie happened to text me on a Saturday night “Hey have you heard of Pear Deck?”  Have I heard of Pear Deck?!!! 🍐 OMG! Well – next thing you know, I basically force her to come to my house on MLK day for a 2 hour tutorial of how to use Screencastify, the Pear-Deck add-on in Slides, Quickshare Screenshot extension, and Equatio.  THESE TWO TEACHERS ARE AMAZING! Julie – right off the bat – told me “treat me like I’m dumb” which she is NOT. However, often I think that’s what we fear others will think when we don’t know about a certain concept – which can be anything, not just technology. Let me tell you, this is NOT the case with me. Never, ever, do I think anyone is dumb. In fact, I LOVE showing a new piece of technology you may have never seen before.  Needless to say, these two amazing math teachers left with some great stuff – and they emailed this week to let me know it! Math teachers – these four tools make for a great combination in HS math – give me a shout out if you want to see!

Matt Savage I loved walking into your room and hearing Disney Music and seeing Pear Deck Vocabulary running! Woohoo! Boy did your students look engaged! Way to integrate Steve McGuire’s Disney Day!

Speaking of Steve McGuire, I heard Central School Preschool had a pretty awesome dance party this week! The kids loved it!

So much fun podcasting with Tori Cameron! Did you know she has her OWN podcast?! I was honored she asked me to be on it, thanks Tori! Check our her Podcast site: Steam Up The Classroom.  A certain Ross Clayton has been featured on the podcast as well!

Sarah Beberman Thank you for allowing me to start digital portfolios with a group of your second graders! Imagine what their portfolios will look like when they graduate? So cool!

Let’s see what tips and tricks I have this week that may help you out:

Technology in Central School Preschool 👦🏻🖥️👧🏾 

I’m so very lucky that my own children have been able to attend the Central School Preschool.  If you are a staff member in this district, you may want to look into this FANTASTIC preschool program. All three of my sons have been through, and this year we were lucky enough to have the amazing Mrs. Gorham for the third (and final 😥) year. I am also lucky enough that Mrs. Gorham and I have built a great relationship, so much so, that I can say to her “How about I come in and try Flipgrid with your students!”  This week I had the most wonderful opportunity to run the iPad center during center time AND use Flipgrid with PreK E.  Flipgrid was very successful, we asked each student “What is a farm?” and the responses were precious.  PreK E then watched every response on their smartboard and had a great time seeing one another on screen. I would love to share this with you, but due to the blog being public, I will not post it here. If you are interested in seeing this cute example of Flipgrid please reach out! However, here’s a cute slideshow of PreK E using their iPads this week! If you are a teacher who would like me to come in and run a technology center for you, I would be more than happy to do so! I can even create you a CUTE slideshow after the fact to share with parents.

 

Feedback in Writing 📝 

Providing meaningful feedback for student writing is a hot topic everywhere you turn! As educators, we want to provide feedback that will both engage and assist our students with the writing process, but it can be so very time-consuming.  Below are some great posts regarding digital feedback that may make it easier, engaging and more productive for you and your students!

This is a great post from Catlin Tucker (yes that is how you spell her name) regarding shortcuts in Docs. 😺 Catlin is a HUGE proponent of not bringing home grading! She was the keynote speaker at MASSCUE a few years ago…and let me tell you…AMAZING! Her post is worth a look.

http://catlintucker.com/2017/07/shortcuts-in-google-docs/

Anyone who knows me, knows I just LOVE the extension Screencastify! This great post from blogger Jake Miller highlights how he uses Screencastify to provide feedback on writing for students in his class. Imagine giving a student audio feedback while you correct a paper, so effective! We have many teachers here already using this great tool, check out another awesome way to use it!

Click here for Jake’s post: http://jakemiller.net/screencastify-for-feedback/

See the video below about how to use Screencastify:

Special Characters in Docs 😀 

Speaking of feedback – how about using some smiley faces or even a taco in your feedback?! Have you ever needed a certain character in a Doc? Well, thank you Ginny McCarthy for asking me this question – it will help so many.  Take a look below to see how to get certain characters easily and efficiently!  Examples include checkmarks, happy face, dogs, frogs, – pretty much anything! ✅😀🐶🐸🌮

 

I hope to see you soon! Imagine what we can do! 

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

AnyFIN is Possible 😅 🦈

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What a great week in tech! GoGuardian, Hyperdocs, Pear Deck, and Google Doodle are all featured below as well as a great blog post from Matt Miller of Ditch that Textbook!  Enjoy, and remember….AnyFIN is possible.

Some great tech + you  = AWESOME

GoGuardian Overview  🔒

One of the many benefits of being a Google Certified Trainer is access to a wealth of resources from other trainers.  In searching for a resource for a mini-training on GoGuardian this week, I came across this great presentation by Frank Franzese. If you are a teacher in grades 4-12, you may want to take a look at this GoGuardian Overview.  Some of the hidden features we covered in various trainings were setting scenes, enabling chat, and taking a screenshot of student online activity.  You can limit tabs that students are allowed to have open when using GoGuardian, you can also set GoGuardian to open exactly what you want students to be on when entering a class.  This is so much more than just a monitoring tool!

Caption This! ✍️ 

This is a GREAT idea to use in ANY class.  Matt Miller posted “Caption This!” on his blog this week.  Basically you push out a picture to students, any picture whether it be a science concept, a picture from a story, a historical picture etc and students “caption” it using tools within Google Slides or Google Draw. How awesome would this be to see if students really understand a concept?!

See the full post here:http://ditchthattextbook.com/2018/01/03/caption-this-a-fun-deep-thinking-google-drawings-activity/

See a video of my example below:

Google Doodle Contest ✏️ 

Thanks Tori Cameron, Middle School Teacher, for sending this my way…

From Google:

Does art inspire you? Clouds that look like faces? Sugar? Discovering new galaxies? Artists have looked to the world around them for centuries to gain inspiration. This year’s 10th anniversary of Doodle 4 Google asks students to do the same. The winner’s artwork will be made into an interactive doodle on Google.com as well as loads of scholarships and prizes.

Win a $30,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 tech package for your school/non-profit organization, and a behind-the-scenes experience with the Doodle team to transform your Doodle into an interactive experience on Google.com!

Click here for the contest!

HyperDoc 📎 

This week, Lisa Grinkis asked if I would make her a HyperDoc. She knew what she wanted to do, and what skills she wanted to have, she just needed a little assistance bringing it all together!  I had SO MUCH FUN making this Hyperdoc (check out the full version by clicking the link below). What’s even better….the kids enjoyed doing it!  Having choice and options, while still reviewing the skill is a great combination! If you want a tech activity created – let me know! It can be on anything – assessments, activities, fun projects etc.  I have no problem making you something you can use and I can also help you implement it if needed!

Click Here to see the interactive Hyperdoc!

 To learn more about HyperDocs in general, click here.

Pear Deck Add-on Update 🍐 

Pear Deck had another AMAZING update, making their great program even easier to use! If you want me to make you a Pear Deck so you can see how it works, let me know! This is a great program and students really enjoy it. It provides great data as well for you, the teacher!

 

It is a pleasure bringing you some great weekly tech!

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

HAPPY FISH Year! 🎊 🐟 🎊 🐟 🎊 🐟

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                      🐟 🐟 🐟  🐟 🐟 🐟

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone is having a great start to 2018! My resolution is to see more of you and your students in 2018! So far so good, we’ve started Digital Portfolios in a number of classrooms from grades 2-11, tech trainings are starting at the JRSRHS after school next week as well as a pilot of teacher devices, and PLCs continue at both GWMMS and Central. Wow – it is GREAT to be a Viking! Let’s try something new this year with technology! How about using some video inside Google Classroom?! Let’s make that happen! Book me to come in by clicking here.

Let’s look at some FISH FOOD below:

Quick Key – Give the same assessment digital OR paper! 🔑 

This site/app is pretty cool! You can give an assessment digitally or on paper and it will score it for you. Simply, scan the paper bubble sheet with your phone! This would work well if you wanted to give students a choice in how they take a multiple-choice assessment.  The paper grade and digital grade are both released to students digitally. The only downfall is the free version is limited in how many paper scans you get per month.  Click Here to check out Quick Key!

Desmos 🔢 

This great resource has been mentioned in the past, but it’s worth a second mention (as are many tech sites)!  Why, you ask? The answer is because John Orr, a math teacher, has put together a Google Sheet of resources for grades 7-12 full of Desmos Activities for grades 7-12! Desmos is a great online graphing calculator. There is so much you can do with this FREE site!

https://teacher.desmos.com/

30 Free Desmos Activities

Cool Templates for Slides 📺

Do you like to have students create Google Slide Decks for projects or class activities? Do you like to create them yourself for your classes?  If you’re looking for some different backgrounds to use on Slides, you can find FREE Instagram and Time Magazine templates to use in Google Slides. There are other (paid) templates as well, but I really enjoyed the free ones!

http://creativeedtech.weebly.com/templates.html

Library Extension 📚  📚

This is really cool! This extension allows you to see books and e-books that are available at your local library. You simply set all of the libraries you access, and when you’re in GoodReads or Amazon the Library Extension will show you if your libraries of choice have the book. See my search below:

 

Read more about this great tool here:  https://www.libraryextension.com/

MAPS  🌎    🌎

From Richard Bryne’s blog: Outline Maps

Outline Maps is a simple set of games that you could use in an elementary school or middle school setting to help students learn the names and locations of countries and states. The site is a little short on decorative graphics that you will find on other game sites, but I kind of like the minimalist style of Outline Maps.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2017/11/outline-maps-simple-geography-games-for.html#.WhwJpVVKuM8

I hope to see you soon!

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

I FISH you a Merry Christmas and SEA you next year 🎊 🎅🏻 🌊

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I simply cannot believe we are upon another New Year! Looking back, 2017 was quite the year in terms of technology and all that we have achieved as a district. That is all a credit to YOU! It is amazing to look around and see ALL that teachers are doing to implement technology into their classrooms in some way.  Below I would just like to showcase some of what is going on in our buildings, as it is AMAZING! Check it out….you may just see your name. 😉

Google Sheets Timeline 

I taught a course this semester through PCEA/Worcester State, titled Teaching and Learning with Google Tools.  One of the assignments was creating Timelines with Google Sheets.  Lisa Grinkis, a middle school teacher, created a textbook-worthy timeline. Check it out below (or click this link for the actual Sheet), it is INCREDIBLE! She will now use this with students as an example and have them create their own. How cool is that?! This Timeline she created went above and beyond the expectation, and really shows off the versatility of Google Sheets!

Online Learning 

8th Grade Science is doing something SUPER AWESOMELY COOL right now! Kelly Hansen started using Schoology and set up an online, 3-week course, for her students that runs parallel to her current science curriculum. Megan Krugger is also using it!  In the transition from the old standards to the New Massachusetts Science Standards, Kelly’s 8th-grade group missed out on Cells. So how is she bridging the gap? Through an online module! In class, face-to-face, she’s covering the current 8th grade standards. BOOM! 2 for the price of one and BONUS – students don’t miss out on important concepts! The content and assignments are self-paced, and the students are interacting on the discussion board. The kids LOVE it and it’s a great way to cover content in a way that may reach other learning styles!

Padlet 

Padlet is an amazing tool. It is basically an online bulletin board that can house a collection of resources for a specific topic.  If you like posting links in Google Classroom, and find that you have many links around a certain topic, you may want to think about creating a PADLET to house the links, docs, videos and other items. This way, you can just link out to your PADLET in the future.  Check out these GREAT Padlets created by Laura McPhee and Tori Cameron on Plate Tectonics and a Snowflake Padlet by Beth Barra.  Jamie Hulke also uses Padlet to have students post BookSnaps, a great way to showcase student connections to literature!

2nd Grade Selfies! 

Is there anything better than a text from 2nd grade showing me how they’re changing their profile pictures to selfies of themselves? I love it! Thanks, Sarah Beberman!

 Math Songs – NumberRock

Thank you, Melissa Leonard, 3rd-grade teacher, for this cool YouTube channel NumberRock!  It has so many great math songs!  Check out the one below, and also check out the entire YouTube channel here!

I’m very much looking forward to the break, but even more, I look forward to working with you after the break! Book me here and I’d be happy to come chat about tech integration. Think of what we can do…Google Classroom, Making Video, Creating Video playlists, GoGuardian settings, Digital Portfolios, NEWSELA, Pear Deck…the list is endless!

Enjoy the break everyone!

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

Let’s Get Reel….📽️ 🎣 🎥

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WOOOOHOOOO!

The Chromebooks are back at the JRSRHS! What a great week to be a Viking! There was a lot of excitement this week (and a lot of unboxing and configuring too, lol)! What an awesome, crazy time of year!  Speaking of crazy, it’s important we remember to take care of ourselves at this time too. We’re so busy taking care of everyone around us, we often neglect ourselves.  George Couros had a great blog post this week, which you can read here, titled 3 Ideas For Taking Care of Yourself Before the Break. He reminds us: It’s okay to need a break. Learn to say no. Take care of yourself.  So, I hope you’re finding time for you…remember, I’m here to help if you want it.  💻 💻 💻

The POWER of Video 📽️ 

Video is a powerful tool for learning.  Take FlipGrid for instance, it has hit the Twittersphere by storm! Why….because video is powerful!  As a teacher, creating video is so easy, and your students will LOVE it!  Picture having small groups, and rather than students needing to ask you or each other what to do, they can just refer to video inside Google Classroom. You can create videos privately and share them privately – and students love listening to you much more than say Kahn Academy. Video is a great tool for online teaching or a flipped classroom! Videos are also great for parents to refer to as well to help their children with certain skills.  VIDEO does NOT replace the personal interaction or connection of a teacher and student, but can work really well for reinforcement, practice, an introduction of a topic, or when a student may be absent.   Check out the tutorial below about creating video – it’s easy and FUN and best of all – students LOVE IT…because they love you!

Screencastify:

Your phone:

 

View YouTube Videos  – Clean and Safe 🎞️ 

Once you have videos you enjoy using in the classroom, it’s great to have a way to watch them safely.  Viewpure does just that. Take a look at the GIF below for a brief showing of Viewpure.

 

 Ideas for Video Creation with Students 🎥 

Who doesn’t love to see a video of their own child learning?  Screencastify is a great Chrome extension for students to use on their own Chromebooks to create video. The video will go right into a student’s drive and then he or she can share it with the teacher or embed it on a Google Slide. Imagine doing book reviews with video and hearing a child or young adult describe a great read?! Take all of those videos and embed them on a slide deck to share with the class or parents? What a great project! Read this article here for even more ideas of how we can have students create videos for the classroom!

Creative Alternatives to Movies before Break 🍿 

This is a GREAT article by John Spencer that features some creative activities to use with students before the break. Many of them are upper level, like Genius Hour, History Mystery, or Wonder Weeks. If you’re looking for something to do with students before the break, that will engage, this is a great read.

Holiday Tech (updated) 🎄 🕎 

To make sure we get the latest HOLIDAY activities ….

My favorite Blogger – Eric Curts – put out another post this week on winter activities in general which had a great link for MORE PIXEL ART as well as EMOJI WRITING IN DOCS!  Click here for  his awesome post!

You can also click here for my Google Doc of Holiday Tech that spans PreK-12. I’ve added a few items to it this week, like Rainbow Maker in Docs! (see GIF below)

 

“When children create for the world they make it good. When children create only for their teacher they make it good enough.” – Rushton Hurley @rushtonh

Have a great weekend everyone, and enjoy the Chromebooks JRSRHS!

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟