Krisp

 Krisp: A Noise-Canceling App for Online Calls

What does Krisp do? Watch below to find out!

Krisp is an amazing AI-powered app that magically makes the background noise in online calls disappear. Krisp works on Mac and Windows. Each Krisp user gets 120 minutes of use free per month. But when you sign up at Krisp, you will get 1 month free. If you refer a friend and they sign up, you get 3 additional months free. So it is probably best to chain referrals to spread the Krisp love. 

Krisp allows you to block background noise around you through your microphone. I can personally attest to how great this is as I have had multiple dogs barking loudly during an online call and folks on the receiving end did not hear it. 

You can also block the background noises of others through your speakers with Krisp. This probably works great during online meetings, but not as well during online synchronous instruction. I have noticed that scholars who may have an internet lag or lots of background noise become nearly unintelligible as Krisp is doing its job too well. But your mileage may vary, so please do test it out for yourself. 

Watch below to see how to turn on Krisp in Zoom. 

 Resource Roundup: Women's History Resources

Can You Guess Who It Is? Google Slides Template by SlidesMania

SlidesMania has two "Can You Guess Who It Is?" templates that would work great for younger scholars creating a collaborative Women's History Slides deck. Here is the pink version and here is the blue/green version.

Women's History Resources from BrainPOP

Women's History videos, activities, and quizzes you can assign in BrainPOP. YCSD teachers, please remember to sign in through Clever. 

25 Women's History Month Ideas for School

A list of 25 ideas for celebrating Women's History Month. Bulletin board ideas may not work for remote learning- but you could make an appropriate virtual background. 

Honor Women's History Month on Flipgrid

Women's History topics from the Discovery Library and Virtual Field Trip activities. Or you can have scholars use Flipgrid to report out on an individual or an event from women's history.

Out-of-This-World Women by Pear Deck 

Pear Deck has Elementary, Middle School, and High School Slides on women that influenced space exploration and include videos and interactive Pear Deck activities. 

Pear Deck Women's History Resources

Pear Deck has six decks about women of note including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Cicely Tyson, Kamala Harris and others. 

Women's History Activities on Seesaw

Women's History activities from the Seesaw Community Activity Library. Or you can create your own Seesaw activity using other resources from this post. 

Discovery Education: Women in History

Discovery Education has curated this channel filled with videos and instructional activities about women in history. Videos/activities are divided by grade levels. 

National Women's History Museum Digital Classroom Resources

Digital classroom resources including videos, posters, infographics, lesson plans, timelines, quizzes, and primary sources for grades K-12+. There are more resources as grades increase, but the "Who do I admire?" lesson seems like it would adapt well to remote learning. 

Women's History Resources from the ADL

The Anti-Defamation League provides lesson plans on Women's History topics with an anti-bias emphasis. Lessons may need to be adjusted for remote learning. For example, the Mo'Ne Davis lesson has scholars sharing ideas with Post-it notes. Google Jamboard or a collaborative Google Slides deck would be a great substitution. If you would like help with tech substitutions, please reach out to the YCSD Technology Integration team- we would love to help.

Women's History Month Lessons from the Center for Civic Education

Lesson plans and resources about Women's History. Remote teaching will require some activities to be adapted to digital formats. Note: Even though there is a "Share to Google Classroom" button, it will only share the lesson plan. 

NEH EDSITEment's Women's History Resources

The National Endowment for the Humanities provides a Teacher's Guide with media resources, lesson plans, and student activities. Although the literary lesson plans seem to be geared towards high school, the student activities would adapt well to most grade levels. For example, creating a digital timeline of women in history or creating a film or presentation about a woman in history. Apple Clips would be great for this. 

ReadWriteThink Lessons on Women's History

ReadWriteThink has Women's History lesson plans for grades 3-12.

Women's History Month Resources from ScienceNetLink

Women's History Month resources with a scientific focus. Although there are some resources for K-5, there are many more for grades 6-12.

Women's History Teaching Materials from the Zinn Education Project

Women's History teaching materials and activities for grades 3-12 although they may need to be adapted for remote learning. 

Do you have any great Women's History resources? If so, please share in the comments below.

Have Some Fun: GIF Dance Party Chrome Extension

 Have Some Fun: 

GIF Dance Party Chrome Extension

GIF Dance Party Extension

Click the link above, then click "Add to Chrome" and "Add Extension" to add the GIF Dance Party Extension. To Pin this extension to your Chrome, click on the puzzle piece near the top right, scroll to find the GIF Dance Party Extension, and then click on the Pin so it turns blue. You will now see the GIF Dance Party disco ball at the top of your Chrome. 

Watch the video below to see what the GIF Dance Party Extension does. 

 Discovery Education: Virtual Field Trips

        Discovery Education has some awesome Virtual Field Trips available. Just click on the link above and log in with your district Google account then choose your grade level. 

Then choose the Virtual Field Trip and share it. Click on the "i" in the top right of the Virtual Field Trip, click Share, then choose how you wish to share it.

Let us know which Virtual Field Trip you are taking in the comments below. 

 Resource Roundup: Black History Month Resources

Google Arts & Culture Resources

Google Arts & Culture has a wealth of Black History resources including historical, video, and artistic resources to help teach about Black History.

Pear Deck Resources

Pear Deck has downloadable Pear Decks for Misty Copeland (ballerina), Amanda Gorman (poet laureate) as well as a pop culture & arts Pear Deck. There are also a variety of relevant Newsela Pear Decks available. 

Seesaw Resources

Seesaw shares 30 interactive Black History Month activities, but feel free to search the Seesaw Community Activity Library for more activities. I especially like this activity that has scholars create a video reaction to BHM read alouds (all read alouds have been unblocked). 

20 Resources from PBS

PBS curates 20 resources (most including lesson plans) that address subjects in Black History from the Civil Rights era to recent history.

33 Resources from We Are Teachers

We Are Teachers shares 33 resources for Black History Month activities. Granted not all will work for Remote Learning (door decorating), but I am loving the idea of a Living Museum using the Spotlight feature in Zoom. 

Science BHM Resources from ScienceNetLinks

Science lessons from ScienceNetLink that are interesting, but not most resources are geared towards 6th grade and beyond.

BHM Resources from Facing History and Ourselves

Teaching ideas, history video lessons, and webinar opportunities for teachers interested in teaching about Black History.

Celebrating Black History with Discovery Education

Discovery Education has many Black History resources, videos, activities and images. Just log in with your district Google account.

African American Experiences

Discovery Education has numerous video and activity resources relating to the African American experience as it relates to History, Culture, and Politics. Log in with your district Google account.

Do you have other resources for Black History Month? If so, please share them in the comments below. 

Making your Google life easier with Labels

 Communication today is done the majority of the time in email form. One thing that is very time-consuming is adding each contact individually when you are emailing a large number of people. However, Labels in Gmail allows you to create a contact list of people that you email regularly without having to add each one individually. It is a game-changer for saving time. Whether you are a teacher emailing a group of students, a secretary that is emailing your building staff, or a department emailing a special set of staff, labels will save you time. Check out the video on how to create a contact list using labels in Gmail!

But Wait!

The one sad part of labels is that you cannot share them.  I know Google is king in the sharing world and they couldn't figure this out? 

However, you can export them to someone and they can import the list. So, you can share with just a few more steps! 

Watch the video to export your labels. 

Watch the video to import the contact list. 

 Resource Roundup: Celebrate Valentine's Day Remotely

SlidesMania Valentine's Day Google Slides Template

This is a great free Google Slides template that can be used in a variety of ways. Use it to organize your daily activities. Or have a different fun activity linked under each candy for scholars to enjoy. Or use it as a collaborative template with one slide for each scholar so scholars can put Valentine's well wishes for each other within the Slides. However you decide to use it, it is sure to be a hit. 

Jamboard Template for Class Valentine's Day Cards

Grab a copy of this Jamboard created by Megan Venezia (@venezia_megan on Twitter). Click here to open the Jamboard then click on the three dots to the left of Share and click Make a Copy to create your own editable copy to use with your class. 

This Jamboard template was designed to allow scholars to share Valentine's messages with each other. 

If you have more scholars than the Jamboard has premade, you can watch the screencast here made by Megan Venezia explaining how to expand it to suit your class size. 

Share the Valentine's Love on Flipgrid

Use custom Valentine's Frames to have scholars create Flipgrid Valentine's for each other or for their families (or both). Easily share any Flipgrid Valentine's for families through Remind. Scholars can use Emojis to create their own custom Flipgrid Valentine's frame. Or teachers can create their own custom Flipgrid frames using directions shared by @theMerrillsEDU. Here are some transparent PNG Valentine's frames I made with a free Canva for Education account and a free Adobe Spark for Education Account that you can attach to your Flipgrid assignment for scholars to use. I made the frames 1600 X 900 pixels as mentioned in this article. 

• Valentine's Frames

Seesaw Virtual Valentine Ideas

Resources from a Seesaw webinar that include K-5 Seesaw activity links for virtual Valentine's activities.

Be My Remote Valentine Jamboard

Julia Dweck (@GiftedTawk on Twitter) has created another version of the Jamboard Class Valentine that involves scholars screenshotting and pasting Valentine elements. To screenshot on a Chromebook, scholars will do the following:

Do you have other ideas for how to celebrate Valentine's Day remotely with your class? If so, share them in the comments below.