February Tech Tip - Unsplash Photos

Unsplash Photos Add-on

Unsplash Photos is a website that has “creative commons” images, which means they are free for anyone to use - no copyright issues.  I know that many of our students are used to just using Google Images when they need an image for an assignment, however, when they do this they are most often taking copyright laws into consideration.  Unsplash (along with other sites) offers image that are free for anyone to use.

Unsplash Photos are not the standard clipart style photos or stock google images we are used to seeing. These are much more creative images from photographers around the world.  

This is an example of an image from Unsplash. 

Easily Accessible:

The Unsplash Add-On is a great tool that allows students (and teachers) to add images quickly and easily into their powerpoint presentation as well as ensure that they are no copyright violations.  

This video will how you how to get the add-on within your Google Drive and what it looks like once you have added the add-on.

Learning to Code in the Elementary!

Coding is a fun and interactive way to teach kids the basic concepts behind computer programming. There are numerous apps, websites and types of software that students can engage in to learn some of these early and simple skills behind programming. In the month of January, all Kindergarten through 6th grade classes began their first coding lessons using a website called Code.org. This website exposes students to problem solving and computational-thinking throughout each scaffolding lesson. The students greatly enjoyed these first coding lessons and are looking forward to incorporating more coding into their future instruction.

A couple of other great coding resources are included below.

www.tynker.com 

www.scratchjr.org

Breakout EDU

Breakout EDU

A Breakout EDU is similar an escape room.  Participants use clues to solve puzzles and “breakout” of the situation they have been given.  The goal of a Breakout EDU is to have student gain content knowledge through student-led exploration, problem-solving and teamwork.

Through the past two years, I have been hearing a lot about Breakout EDU. However, I didn’t really understand what it was until I was able to participate in an actual Breakout EDU.

Due to this experience, Shelley (our instructional coach) and I developed a Christmas themed digital Breakout to introduce Breakout EDUs to our staff. This Christmas Breakout didn’t focus on the teachers learning new content, but instead exploring how a Breakout is set up. Feel free to click on the link and explore this breakout.

A screenshot of our Christmas Breakout EDU

Since this experience with a digital Breakout EDU, several teachers have begun to explore them even more.  If you are interested in using a Breakout EDU in your classroom, there are several different options for both the physical Breakout as well as the digital ones. You can build your own activity or you can use/modify one that has already been created.

Here are a few resources:

Sample Breakout EDU

Pinterest - This is where I have found the majority of the Breakouts I have explored.  Some of them are on teachers pay teachers and there is a cost, but there are also free ones available as well.

Breakout EDU - This link will show you how to sign up for free access to several Breakout EDUs (physical ones, which require a kit)

Free Digital Breakouts

TEMPLATE - This site provide a template if you are interested in creating your own digital Breakout EDU.

Teachers - There are several teachers at the Jr./Sr. High Staff who have either created, played or used Breakouts in their classrooms this school year (or they are about to).  Please feel free to contact myself, Mrs. Mitzelfelt or Mrs. Cooper if you have any questions about Breakout EDU.

Breakout EDU at SEW:

Mrs. Cooper's Jr. High TAG students recently completed a Minecraft themed breakout called "Back to Reality." It was great to watch them work together as a team to problem-solve and figure out the clues to breakout!

This group was able to break out the fastest!

Working hard to figure out the clues.

I recently had my English 9 students complete a digital breakout entitled "Escape from Plot Mountain," and they really enjoyed it.  

This group was the first to Breakout.  Their excellent communication and teamwork definitely helped them to succeed in this challenge.

This is a screenshot of a poll I gave to my students after they completed the Breakout.

MakerSpace Demo Day in the Primary Building

In December, Jeff Glade (Technology Integrationist from Heartland AEA) came to demonstrate different MakerSpace and STEM resources that can be used and incorporated into Science, Technology and Math instruction.  The students and teachers had the opportunity to learn about and try out Ozobots, Osmos, Spheros, SnapCircuits and more! It was so much fun finding out more about these resources, and we are looking forward to having more MakerSpace items available to our classrooms in the future!

Strategy Spotlight: Review Strategies

This weeks spotlight is review strategies for quizzes/exams. The two highlighted strategies could be used in any content area.

Spotlight Strategy: Surviving the holidays

This week's Spotlight Strategy has some tips for getting through the last few weeks of the semester and surviving the holiday madness. Hope you find something useful, or at the very least get a chuckle for the day.

December Tech Tip - FLIPGRID

Flipgrid:

Flipgrid is a video discussion platform.  Teachers can post topics to their grid and students respond by recording a short video.

There are many ways that teachers can use Flipgrid in the classroom. One great way it could be used in all content areas is as a discussion board, similar to posting a question on Google Classroom and asking the students to respond through text.  Students can post their responses as well as video the other videos.

(With the free version, videos cannot be more than 90 seconds, so keep that in mind when creating the task/question for students to complete.)

Set up tutorial

Example lesson - Miss Sealock used Flipgrid to jigsaw new vocabulary words from the story the students were reading. Each student was responsible for learning their word and teaching it to their classmates through the video*. They then had to watch the other videos to learn ALL of the vocabulary words on their own. Here are the videos they created.

*The teacher moderated the posts, so she viewed them for accuracy before posting them to the grid for all the students to see.

Here are some ideas for possible ways to use Flipgrid in various content areas:

ELA:

• Book talks: students can talk about a recent book they read and their thoughts on the book. This could be shared with other students as a way to introduce them to other book choices.
• 5 Ways to use Flipgrid for literacy

Science:

• Students explain the process of cellular respiration step by step, showcasing drawings they make of each aspect as they explain.

Math:

• Students record themselves explaining an important rule or walking someone through an example problem to explain how they got the answer.

PE:

• Students explain how to effectively execute a certain exercise or how to use a piece of equipment and then they watch each other’s videos to learn about all of them.

Social Studies:

• Students give mini reports on important people or events during the time period being studied.

Spanish:

• Students record themselves pronouncing vocabulary words
• They could also respond to a question in Spanish, and the teacher could check it for accuracy and pronunciation.

Art:

• Students show a piece of their artwork and discuss why they created it, how they created it, etc.

Band/Vocal:

• Student record themselves singing or playing for the teacher to provide feedback to the students.