Friday, December 31, 2021

Four Easy Steps to use EduProtocol Cyber Sandwich!

Sandwich with white bread and stars
Collaborate and Communicate with the

EduProtocol Cyber Sandwich! 

EduProtocols were created by Jon Corippo and Marlena Heburn to make a teacher's life easier! What is better than easy protocols with ready-made templates to use immediately? The best part is that there is no fear of failure because each time your students use them they will get better and better!  

The premise of Cyber Sandwich is that students will be able to deepen their comprehension, in any subject, with structured pair sharing with accountability. The example below was used in a math class that was reading about fractions. 

Cyber Sandwich template page link
Step 1: Share your Google slide template with students.
*Options: Teacher shares slide deck to all students and one student will share with group or the Teacher shares template with each group


teacher working with students on iPads
Step 2: Students work in pairs of 2 or 3 using the same text or different texts. They have 10 minutes to read the text(s) and make notes on their assigned slide. The teacher has time to work the room with questions.
(K-2 complete notes together or 3-12 work independently to complete their slides) 

EduProtocol venn diagram slide
Step 3: Students have 10 minutes to work with their assigned group to compare their findings and complete the slide. (K-2 skip this step.) 





Two students typing on iPad ad
Step 4: Each student will use the data from the comparison slide to create their own summary slide of their findings. (K-2 write a summary from the collaborative notes) 






One of the most important things to remember when you are doing a protocol is that you need to stick to the time frame. Even if students don't finish the first few times, they will get better each time this protocol is used. Click the image below to get the how-to slides for Cyber Sandwich.




 

Promethean Panel Tips

Save & Export Your Promethean Whiteboard Files to Share with Students

You teach a fabulous lesson and your notes are amazing!

How are you going to share them with your students who are absent? 

You can download your fabulous lesson notes, and upload it to your Google Classroom. This will ensure all of your students receive the same notes for your lesson.

It's working smarter not harder!


Freeze Button

Say students are taking notes, but you need to check your email- Freeze Button to the rescue! When you want to freeze your screen for any number of reasons, you can either hit the freeze button on the board or the remote control. This allows the students to view the frozen screen while the teacher works on something else. Press the Freeze Button again when you are ready to share new content. 











Thursday, December 30, 2021

New Year, New Goals!

 New Year, New Goals!


It's a new year and a great time to set some new goals! Below are some goal-setting templates for scholars and for teachers to help with the goal-setting process.


For Scholars


Here is a Future Goals snow globe template that was created from SlidesMania's Happy Winter template. If you need to edit anything, just click Slide>Edit Theme.




Here is a blog post from Meredith Akers for setting one-word goals. It is set up as a collaborative slide deck, but you can make it individual scholars by assigning each scholar their own copy in Google Classroom. This would also work great for the Mayerson Academy Character Traits. Here is a direct link to the One-Word Goal-Setting Template.



Meredith Akers also has a blog post about another goal-setting template for Making My Best Year Ever. You can use the template as is, or edit it to better reflect the specific goal areas of your scholars. Here is a direct link to the Making My Best Year Ever goal-setting template.




Emma Cottier and Sandy Kendall made this great 2022 Goal Setting template where scholars add text boxes to add their goals. For primary students, or scholars who may struggle to add Text boxes, here is a 2022 Goal Setting template with text box placeholders added for ease of use. 


Here is a Goal Setting Choice Board template that asks scholars to complete at least 5 activities. I am not sure who the original creator is but they have some great ideas. Obviously, you need to edit the template to add your own Flipgrid link so you can see your scholars' responses. You will probably want to change the school mascot image as well. 


This is a 40-page printable goal-setting template that would be great for teachers (or maybe even for high school scholars) from 101 Planners



101 Planners also has some editable goal-setting pages here. Just Select Planner Template, edit it as you like, then download and/or print. 




Hope these goal-setting templates help you and your scholars set goals to help make 2022 a successful year!






Friday, December 17, 2021

Discovery Education Interactives

 Discovery Education Interactives


Are you a Math, Science, or Social Studies Teacher? If so, Discovery Education has some awesome Interactive resources for you!


Check below to see if the DE Interactives work for your grade level. Then click here and subscribe to the DE Best of Interactives channel.


Subject

Grade Levels

Spanish?

Math

6-12

No

Science

K-12

Yes (for K-8)

Social Studies

3-8

No

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Holiday Advent Calendar of Digital Activities

 Holiday Advent Calendar of Digital Activities

We know how busy December gets for teachers and we wanted to make sure you had resources to last you through the holiday season.  We rounded up resources from amazing tech gurus such as Eric Curts and Matt Miller. We also included some much-needed teacher self-care resources. We hope you enjoy this collection of resources!




Our template was inspired by the
SlidesMania Advent Calendar

Sunday, November 28, 2021

Hour of Code December 6-12, 2021

 Hour of Code Week December 6-12, 2021:

A movement to introduce students to Coding and Computer Science.

It's teacher-friendly with free resources on how to introduce, explore activities and tutorials, create your plan that is totally customizable. You can easily get your students motivated with a diverse group of celebrities. Join 180 other countries and in 45 different languages.

Sign up for the FREE resources today !

Manage your Teacher Dashboard: here to create an account in code.org using                                                                   Google Login.


Once you have created an account go to CLASSROROM SECTIONS and create sections for each of your classes and add an assignment. You can still share and should share the links on your Google Classroom page.


Select the Course on your page to create a new section slide.


Resources for Hour of Code:

Have fun!


*If you need help, feel free to reach out to one of us.













Thursday, October 21, 2021

Discover the Discovery Education Activity Center!

 Discover the Discovery Education 

Activity Center!


Discovery Education has an awesome new channel called the Activity Center. Each month DE will curate a monthly activity center full of learning activities for grade bands spanning K-8. Check out pictures of the K-2, 3-5, and 6-8 October Activity Centers.


Better yet, click HERE to see them for yourself and to SUBSCRIBE to the DE Activity Channel!


DE even made a video showing how you can customize the monthly Activity Center to meet your scholars' specific learning needs. Click HERE to learn how.







Monday, October 18, 2021

More Chromebook Tips


It seems like there is a never-ending list of shortcuts for Google Chromebooks.

Here are a few of the most frequently requested:

Flipped Screen: Hold down the CTRL, SHIFT, at the same time.

Zoomed in or Zoomed out too far: Press CTRL+0 to reset back to normal.

Split window:  Press ALT + ] for the screen to go on the left or Press ALT + [ go to the right.

Pin and Unpin a tab: Right-click on Tab & select PIN or UNPIN. Click your choice and you are all set!







Pin and Unpin Chrome Extensions:  Click the puzzle piece next to your Chrome Icon .

The menu will come down menu will appear. Click on the pushpin to color it blue. This will pin it to your extension toolbar. Reverse the steps to unpin.



Thursday, October 14, 2021

Celebrate National STEM/STEAM Day!

 Celebrate National STEM/STEAM Day on November 8th!


National STEM/STEAM Day is dedicated to all things science, technology, engineering, art, and math. STEM (and STEAM) represent some of the fastest-growing and in-demand fields in the world today. Read on for a few ideas of how you can celebrate!



Visit a Virtual Museum 

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Virtual Tours (including narrated tours of the Sant Ocean Hall & the Hall of Human Origins)
Boston Museum of Science At Home- check the Daily Live Stream schedule or watch curated videos
COSI Virtual 360° View Tour- includes PhET simulations to allow scholars to experience the exhibits
Metropolitan Museum of Art #metkids Virtual Tour- click the red or yellow circles to explore the museum
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art- Meet 22 Picture Book artists and see examples of their work
The Louvre for Kids- tour the kid's gallery, watch videos on exhibits, or check out seasonal art
Van Gogh Museum Virtual Tour via Google Arts & Culture- click the yellow Street View person icon to begin
Museo Frida Kahlo Tour via Google Arts & Culture- click the yellow Street View person icon to begin a tour of Frida Kahlo's house & view her artworks
The British Museum's History of the World- view art through the lens of history & geography
National Inventors Hall of Fame Virtual Tour via Google Arts & Culture- click the yellow Street View person icon to begin
National Women's History Museum Online Exhibits- learn about Women in STEM & the Women of NASA along with other great exhibits




Research a STEAM Career





Scholars as Inventors, Explorers & Problem Solvers

Discovery Education STEM Unplugged- videos showing fun science explorations
Discovery Education STEM Camp Activities for Grades 3-8
Northern Kentucky University STEM2U- free live or recorded STEM lessons/activities
Glazer Children's Museum At Home- explore & experiment
Great Lakes Science Center Early Childhood Resources- video lessons on Science for Early Learners
OK GO Sandbox- OK GO is a band that uses STEAM to make their music & to make their music videos, watch the videos & explore with lessons
National Museum of African American Music Banjo & Spoons Project- scholars can explore & learn the history of the Banjo and of performing with Spoons, create their own songs, & take a quiz


Watch a STEAM Movie or Video

America's Musical Journey- watch the 40-minute movie & check out the Educator Guide that has K-8 lessons with ELA & S.S. standards if you wish to provide extended learning
10 Great Movies for the STEM Classroom- with grade-level recommendations and teacher tips
20 Movie Inspired STEM Activities- lists the movie then STEM ideas to follow after
Nye Labs- Bill Nye the Science Guy
Magic School Bus (Seasons 1-4)- fun science videos
Earth to Luna- Luna is a 6-year-old who is passionate about science- great for Early Learners
SciGirls- tween girls go on STEM adventures
Numberphile- a channel dedicated to numbers & math
SciShow, SciShow Space, and SciShow Kids- shows all about science, obviously, SciShow Kids is geared at younger scholars
It's Okay To Be Smart-  explore science topics
Sick Science!- science experiments that are fun to watch
Lab 360- Easy Science Experiments- more fun science experiments
Lesics- engineering videos
Minute Physics- short videos that explain physics concepts
Vihart- incorporates science, art, and math to explore math concepts
Babble Dabble Do- incorporates art with science and engineering 
 
*NOTE: all YouTube videos have been unblocked*

Get your students engaged in 5 minutes or less!

 

EDUPROTOCOL THIN SLIDES

How can you get your students engaged and learn how to use technology with little to no prep?  Try and use THIN SLIDES!  It is an amazing EduProtocol from the amazing Jon Corippo & Marlena Hebern. They describe it as "a strategy that is easy enough to be used frequently but open-ended enough to be creative!" The idea is to have students create a slide with a word or phrase then add an image to represent the concept. 

The teacher will give the directions on what topic, vocabulary word, or idea they would like students to use to create an engaging slide. They get 5 minutes in a shared Google Slide deck to add one word or phrase and one image. The students can write a quick sentence in the speaker note section at the bottom of the slide for their 8-10 seconds of presenting.

Teachers can spend more time on what the students have created rather than having the teachers be the "Sage on the Stage." It gives you more of a coaching role in students' learning and allows you to guide them in the right direction. 








PROS:
Kid Centered
It helps SPED &  ELs learn visually
Collaborative
Creative
Critical Thinking
Used across the curriculum
Immediate Feedback
Everyone Answers
Repetition
Integrates Technology
Loved by Kids!!





Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Asynchronous Activity Ideas

 Asynchronous Activity Ideas


Need asynchronous activity ideas for homework or an Asynchronous school day? If so, read on.

Examples of asynchronous learning activities:

  • Watching pre-recorded lecture videos or lessons
  • Viewing video demonstrations
  • Reading and writing assignments
  • Student presentations 
  • Learning activities such as quizzes, problem-solving, and/or games

Some great asynchronous activity options in our district are:
If you would like help getting started on any of these platforms, or help creating asynchronous activities, email Tiffaney Trella, Rachel Carter, or Andrea Lewinsky from YCSD Tech Integration and we will be happy to help!

Do you have any other great asynchronous activity ideas? Please share them in the comments below.