Kahoot Quiz Builder -Played By the Whole Class in Real-Time and Answered On Own Device

Kahoot is a platform that allows you to create a quiz or survey, which consists of multiple choice questions. It’s projected at the front of the classroom, & played by the whole class together in real-time, and answered on their own personal device (Chromebook, laptop, phone, LearnPad – any device that has Internet access).
Teachers use https://getkahoot.com/
It has some very good pre-written quizzes that are applicable to the elementary curriculum that you can use and you can also create your own. Some of the features that make it a great tool are that students get immediate feedback, teachers can download results for the class (by student name, question and answer), making it a great way to know what needs to be retaught.  Also, the quicker a student answers a question, the more points they get …. for some friendly competition.
After the quiz has been created by the teacher, the students use a launch code that is generated. Student use the website https://kahoot.it/#/ by typing in the URL “kahoot.it”.
Some of the prewritten quizzes that you can use are: Ancient Greece, Capital Cities, Hard and Fast Rules for Grammer. Fun with Factoring, I love the HEART, etc.
Teachers register for a free account…. students don’t need an account. I have a help guide if you would like some step-by-step directions for this. I'd also be glad to come to a collab meeting and show you how to create your own quizzes. 

My Father's Garden Video

I think your students will like this video! It is about 4 min. long, and shows close up pictures of insect bodies and faces, and other animals found in a garden, (grasshopper, praying mantis, bee, wasp, snail, snake, dragonfly, etc.). The music is peaceful too!

My Father's Garden Video

https://vimeo.com/9519939 

Penguin Webquest

I have created a webquest for your students while they study about penguins. It covers the Emperor, Adelie, African and King Penguins. Students are asked to research, write and draw for this webquest. It is based on a subscription program called Pebble Go. Without this subscription, you won't be able to use it. 

Here is the webpage that it is created on. 
http://tushwebsites.pbworks.com/w/page/92811141/Grade%202%20Penguin%20Webquest

Sensory Room

Sensory Room

http://www.sensoryworld.org/


This website is a lot of fun for grade K and other students that need additional mouse or track pad practice. Students can create rooms, explore the seasons, design, and explore rooms of a house while expanding their vocabulary. After each page, students click on the door handle to go back to the main screen. 

Grade 5 Revolutionary War Letter

Here is a project idea that integrates technology and transfers a student’s keyboarding skills (learned last year) into the writing of a friendly letter. Students would compose a letter to a friend or relative as a colonist describing why they would support the Patriots, the Loyalists, or the Neutralists using the Friendly Letter Generator as an online tool.
This letter would be written after your students have studied and understand what the each group stood for with the British (Patriots, Loyalists, Neutralists) and be fairly knowledgeable in the events that led up to the Revolutionary War. What a great way to assess higher-order thinking - (defend and support a position, make judgments in regards to strengths and weaknesses of the position, construct a quality letter, evaluate viewpoints, etc.).
If you would like any assistance with a project like this, or would like for me to post this website on the Mrs. Tush website (in student’s corner), just let me know.
Attached is a sample Revolutionary War letter, using the Friendly Letter Generator.

Grade 5 Digital Storytelling – Honoring the memories of someone special

Digital Storytelling – Honoring the memories of someone special
Students will write a personal narrative about honoring the memories of someone special to them.  What did this individual do to leave/have an impact on your life?  They will use the writing process of prewriting, writing, revising, editing and publishing to create the narrative story.  While writing, students will apply the 6-traits of writing to create their project: ideas/content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency & conventions.  The final product of digital storytelling will be published through Photo Story 3.  
I think that original art work would really make this great - and with each image the students could use voice-over to narrate the story. 

Grade 6 Ancient Greece Visual Ranking Project

For this project, you will use the Intel - Visual Ranking Tool (free!) http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/education/k12/thinking-tools/visual-ranking.html
Student Prompt:
Which contributions of Ancient Greece are most important in today's world? Discuss and evaluate each contribution with your partner/s and rank from the most important to the least important. Add comments to each listed item that defend, explain and support your choices. 

The ranking list could look like this:
architecture: columns, theaters, temples
art: sculptures, pottery
drama: theaters and actors
Greek alphabet
Greek mythology, epics and fables
Idea about citizenship
Limited, direct democracy
Philosophy: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
Science and Technology: astronomy, mathematics, physics
Sports: the Olympics and marathons
Written History: Herodotus and Thucydides

Grade 5 Explorer Trading Card Technology Project

Explorer Trading Cards ….. using bighugelabs.com

1.      Log in to Novell (only if you plan to screenshot the finished project, put it on a Word doc and then type an informative essay under the screenshot)
2.      Go to Google Chrome - our school website – student corner – Mrs. Tush – and under Grade 5 (in the middle section), locate Explorer Trading Cards
3.      Click on Explorer Trading Cards
4.      Make a new tab (ctrl + t)
5.      Type in the name of your explorer and locate images of him/her
6.      Right click to save image as… save picture as… and save it to the desktop or to your H drive (desktop is the quickest)
Big Huge Labs
7.      Return to the bighugelabs tab .  Directions:
a)      Scroll down and open “Trading Card”
b)      Click – choose file
c)      Navigate to where you saved your image – then select it and click open
d)      For the title – type your explorers name
e)      For the sub-title, type in the sponsoring country
f)       In the description, type: (only about 7 lines of text will fit)
--- year of birth and death
--- 1 major accomplishment
--- 3 interesting facts
--- by: your name
8.      Choose a style
9.      Choose a few icons that represent your explorer (just click on a circle and then choose an icon – IT MUST HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH YOUR EXPLORER) ---- then repeat for other icons
10.  Crop – leave it on “center”
11.  Click Create
(If your image cuts off part of the head, click Edit. Locate a new image. Click upload and locate your new image).

When you are finished creating the trading card:
12.  Click Download
13.  Locate the downloaded image. Select it and then click open.
14.  Click Print
15.  Click Next
16.   Your image should be the defaulted selection (has a check mark)
17.  Click Next
18.   Choose a printer
19.  Click Next
20.  Choose whatever size your teachers asks you to choose (5 X 7 or 4 to a page)
21.  Click Next
22.  Click Finish


Scribble Maps

The idea is to create a map of places that students like to go (for fun) and map out a route from their house to those places. Then they create labels on the map with business names, followed with cardinal direction labels and an informative essay about where they enjoy going and why.
Just click "create map" - http://www.scribblemaps.com/

Email Santa and have Santa email you Back

I have a fun site called emailsanta.com. Students write letters to Santa online, using a partially filled template, and then Santa writes back to them within a minute. The letters can be printed when the letter is finished (and there is no saving). 

Grade 5 Science/Language Arts Tech Integration Idea - "5 Senses"

A cross-curricular Science/Language arts activity called the sensory poem. Your students may choose their themes, but they must involve all the senses. Holidays, seasons, and other broad concepts make nice topics. List the five senses -- sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch -- for the students. Tell them that they must address one sense in each line of the poem. The first line should include a color, and the last may include touch or emotion. You may allow students to put the other lines in any order they choose. This could be done on Google docs, and then shared with the teacher.
Here is an example:
Spring
[Color] Spring is green with bright yellow buds,
[Sight] New shoots emerge from the dark brown earth,
[Smell] The scent of rain mixes with blossoms in the air,
[Hearing] Birds chirp with newfound vibrato in the trees,
[Taste] Succulent strawberries ripen in the sun,
[Emotion] All is fresh, warm, and beautiful in the world.

12 Days to Fitness Challenge - (1 minutes) student fitness activites

Here is a fun link for a 12 Days of Fitness Challenge.  It has very short little holiday themed activities you could have your kids just stand and do for a minute in class. 

Certificate Street

This is a fabulous site. The site has a variety of fillable certificate categories - just choose what you want, click download and you will have a fillable form to use. You can even build your own.


Free Certificate Maker

Here is a great site that lets you choose a certificate, click download and provides fillable fields. 

Freedom Rider Videos (Civil Rights)

Here are several videos about the Freedom Riders that may be a good introduction to Civil Rights. 
Freedom Riders Challenge Segregation Video: Learn about a courageous band of civil rights activists called Freedom Riders who in 1961 challenged segregation in the American South.
Freedom Riders  Create Change Video
This video segment adapted from American Experience: "Freedom Riders" highlights the impact of the 1961 Freedom Rides on the efforts to end racial segregation an
Fresh Troops Video: This video segment from American Experience: "Freedom Riders" describes how the Nashville student movement trained future 

Common Core Video Resources

Common Core Video Resources
Common Core Videos - The Teaching Channel

Inside Mathematics Common Core Videos

Khan Acadamy common core

Go Math Academy Videos

Here are some great videos from Houghton Mifflin, put out by the Go Math Academy, teaching key concepts and skills. You have to register, but they are free. I just looked a few really good ones.

http://www.hmhco.com/gomathacademy/.

GregTangMath -

GregTangMath - A website with strategies, skills and activities in Math. It includes games, handouts, books and other great resources for struggling students.

http://www.gregtangmath.com/

Studyladder

Here are a couple of resources that you may be able to use. The resource is called Studyladder and has activities for Math, English, Art, Science, Health, and a few others. It is a free sign up for educators.
https://www.studyladder.com/teacher/home

Studyladder -  Halloween activities
http://www.studyladder.com/guides/halloween

Chibi Machine

Here is a cute website that you could use with students. They choose a template  and upload their photo from the student picture folder (common drive/last years photos). From their they can tweak the poses, head, head accessories, hair, face, skin color, trousers, shirt, skirt, shoes and background. When finished, they would take a screen shot and paste it into a Word document. 

Next students would type a five sentence paragraph to entertain, inform or create a 3-step "how to" project. 

This may take more than one session.


Chibi Machine

PBS Learning Media

PBS Learning Media
This site has 30,000 free resources on the site to use, videos and lesson plans that go with them. It is free! You will need to sign up for a free account.
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/

ReadWorks


ReadWorks
http://www.readworks.org/  - This site is aligned to common core and includes lesson and unit plans. Some categories include: skill and strategy units, author’s purpose, cause & effect, character, classify & categorize, compare and contrast, figurative language, main idea, and more…
Items are divided by age, lexile levels, skill, etc…
The site also provides reading passages that correlate with skill categories.

Infographics

Infographics 
If you don’t know what an infographic is, it’s the fusion of graphic design, with data. An infographic takes some data and turns it into an informational poster which uses a variety of data representation techniques to communicate the message that emerges from the data. It doesn’t necessarily have to be done on a computer; paper/pencil works well too. I’d be happy to show you some paper/pencil samples. I also have some nice templates for creating digitally.  In the meantime, here is a quick tutorial on the infographic concept. http://www.asmallbrightidea.com/pages/tutorial.html

QR Codes


QR Codes
What is a QR Code? QR stands for Quick Response. It is a bar code that can be generated and then decoded with a QR Code scanner on a mobile device, to take you to a digital destination. When scanned, the QR Code can open a web page, bring up a text message, or read a recorded message. QR Codes are commonly found on posters, signs, menus, signs and even student work.

Step 1) RecordMP3

To record an audio QR Code go to: (no sign up or registration):
http://www.recordmp3.org/
Then go to QRHacker (see above) to create the QR code.

Step 2) grhacker 

Create QR Codes for a text message, phone numbers or open a URL - (no sign up or registration - very easy to use)
http://www.qrhacker.com/

Audacity

Use Audacity to record and save file as a .wav file. Then add to DropBox (you must have DropBox downloaded to your computer). Once in Drop Box, right click the file (within Drop Box). Choose the DropBox option from the pop up menu. Select "Copy Public Link".
Now you can use QRHacker to create the QR code.

Step 3) If you need an embed code for your wiki or webpage:

Use this QR Code generator to get the html embed code
http://www.mobile-barcodes.com/qr-code-generator/

Other QR Code Creators that I haven't used: Kaywa - http://quikqr.com
QuickQR - http://quikqr.com
GoQR - http://goqr.me/
Delivr - http://delivr.com/qr-code-generator
Goo.gl - http://goo.gl

What do I do with the code?

Once the code has been generated, simply download it, copy and paste it into a document or webpage, or use the mobile-barcodes website to obtain an embedding code for your wiki or website.

Where to get a QR Code Scanner for your Phone or Mobile Device

Some come with barcode readers that are already installed. If not, just go to the app store and search. You can also Google search "QR reader for Nokia", "QR reader for Droid", "QR reader for iPhone". I use the "free QR Code Reader" for my iPhone".

Educational Uses: {for students with iPod touches (with cameras) or smart phones

* Display student artwork in the hallway. Add a QR code that provides additional info about the student or artist.
* Display student reports. Add a QR code so that parents/others can listen to a child read the report.
* Add a QR code to the back/inside of a book with a student recorded synopsis of the book/book review/info about the author.
* Create a QR code scavenger hunt in or around the school. Each new QR code provides a new clue.
* Create a QR code to take student directly to a website or video.
* Have students create a QR code to provide additional information to their resumes (for a 21st century resume). Not only will this help engage them in technical writing, but also their work will be innovative.
* Students can create the QR codes that link to content they create. If students helped create awareness around bullying or digital citizenship, for example, they might put the codes around the school or in a parent newsletter. They can take it a step further by creating codes for a local business or organization.

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Big Huge Labs - fun stuff with digital photos

Big Huge Labs
BigHugeLabs is one of my favorite sites where students can make cool stuff with digital photos. For example, using the Motivator, students can make their own inspirational/famous person or inventor motivational posters. With the Trading Card, students can feature people of honor with researched facts and a photo. The Movie Poster can feature a book and include characters, setting, plot and climax, author info, copyright, etc. or feature an explorer. If you would like to know more about BigHugeLabs, just contact me.  
http://bighugelabs.com/deck.php

Clonezilla

Clonezilla

http://clonezilla.org/ 

A free software disaster recovery, disk cloning and deployment solution. Allows a user to clone an individual machine or many computers

50 Common Core Resources for Teachers

50 Common Core Resources for Teachers
http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/50-common-core-resources-for-teachers/

ScootPad

ScootPad is free and offers mathematics and reading practice activities to elementary school students and their teachers. ScootPad activities can be played on just about any device including iPads, Android tablets, and Chromebooks. ScootPad offers a lot of features, but at it's core is practice activities aligned to Common Core standards. Teachers can create classroom accounts in which they can manage all aspects of their students' accounts including password resets. The best part is ScootPad allows teachers to monitor how their students are doing on each concept in the practice activities.
http://www.scootpad.com/

Image Burn

 Image Burn
ImgBurn is a CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should know about! It is a free download and our teacher laptops and lab computers already have the program downloaded. I have used it for copying audio CDs from disc to disc and for burning computer files to a CD. I have a help guide ready if you would like to learn how.

Podcasting

Podcast
What is Podcasting? A podcast is like an audio broadcast. Here are a few reasons to for students to create podcasts:
*  Literacy skills - although each podcast lasts only  typically, anywhere from 1-7 minutes, preparation time is needed. The children have to research their topic, music and anything else they add to liven it up (jokes, sounds).They also have to think of questions to ask their interviewees, as well as writing the scripts for the podcast.
* Speaking and listening skills - presenting a podcast requires the development of clear speaking skills.
* Team work skills - Collaborative podcasts require a considerable team effort.
 Here are a few  tools that can be used for Podcasting.
Audacity: Your teacher computer and cart 1 computers already have Audacity on them.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/.
Vocaroo: http://vocaroo.com/
This is a very basic way to record a podcast (grades K-3). After the podcast has been recorded, it can be downloaded as an MP3.
 Smartboard: Use your Smartboard to record a podcast  
~Let me know if you would like for me to help you with Podcasting!

Learning Lab

Learning Lab is a great resource to use when teaching about digital citizenship. The website has short videos to watch on a topic, followed by skills learned, and finally activities for applying what you have learned. Although it is cartoon based, it is appropriate for upper grades too.  

Worksheet Works


Worksheet Works
Create and print customized skill sheets, maps, and more!
http://www.worksheetworks.com
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