February- Innovative Designer

Innovative Designer

February's ISTE Standard is Innovative Designer. We will focus on tools that foster critical thinking to create a process for testing theories and solving problems!  Specifically we will be focusing on Design Challenges that involve little or NO technology!  Design Challenges are engaging ways for students to problem solve, collaborate, persevere, and can be great Buddy Class activities, too!

1. STEM Challenge #1 -Candy Heart Challenges

We like the challenges listed here, but we particularly love this simple engineering challenge.  Give each student or group an index card, and see who can build the strongest bridge that will span the gap between 2 plastic cups.  See how many hearts (or other small items) the bridge can hold!  There are many bridge designs and the shape of the hearts makes balancing tricky, so the students will have to problem solve to get them to balance!

2.  STEM Challenge #2- 100th Day 2D and 3D Designs

Have your students create designs and buildings using materials you have in your classroom. Students receive 100 of a certain building material to plan, create, and perhaps work together to build. Suggestions:

Pattern blocks or LEGOS (Add some math components with these simple activities)

Base 10 blocks  

K'Nex

PomPoms or Cotton Balls
Buttons
Play Money- coins and bills
Snap Cubes

Once completed, have them snap a picture and share on Seesaw or create a 100th day slideshow!

3. Kid Safe Search Engines  

For many students, prior to beginning a design challenge, research is involved!  We recommend these kid-friendly search-engines found under the student tab of the eLibrary here!

Kiddle

KidRex

These safe search engines offer prescreened sites and age-appropriate filters and content, so your students can have the freedom to browse the internet while staying safe online!  They can be clicked below, but you can also found them under the student tab of the eLibrary.

A Few Early-February Holidays and Special Events

Goodbye January

As we wrap up the month, we will finish up our focus on Knowledge Constructors!  This month we focused on tools that organized effective content knowledge and leveraged a student's ability to share that knowledge! 

1.  Groundhog Day

Seesaw Activity Library

K-2:  Will the Groundhog See His Shadow?  Check out this interviewing and graphing activity in the Seesaw Activity Library as well as this Prediction Activity (great for Seesaw beginners).  If these don't tempt you, there are many others posted as well!


Grades 3-5:  Questioning Activity by Michelle Smelser- This activity allows the students to include text and/or recordings to write 2 questions for the groundhog, 2 sentences they would say to him, and an area for them to write if they hope he does/doesn't see his shadow!
Text Evidence Paragraph Activity- This activity allows students to color code their evidence in a short paragraph about Groundhog Day!

2. 100th Day of School

Here are a few reading and math ideas you might try to celebrate this HUGE event!

• EPIC!  Search 100th Day of School (or Groundhog Day, or Super Bowl, or most anything)  and then click on collections to find collections others have created!

• Padlet - Students can then respond to the books they read via Padlet.  Padlet is a free, online bulletin board!  Padlet can be used for most any subject and any topic!  Students can type their responses, include pictures and attachments, and more! Padlet is easy to create and we also have this tutorial created by Chris if it helps!

• Looking for some "spice" in your math class?  Try Esti-Mystery!  Through the site, students are shown an image and each image invites students to wonder what number is represented by the image.  As you click through, clues will appear that will allow the students to use math concepts to narrow the set of possibilities to a small set of numbers.  In the end, the students will need their estimation skills to solve the mystery and figure out the missing number! We recommend allowing students to use a laminated 100s board (like these) to cross-off numbers as clues are revealed!  What we love about this is that it has aspects that tie nicely into ALL grade level lessons in Everyday Math!  Everything you need to use this with your students TODAY can be found here!  And when you're students are ready, we recommend Skyping with another class in the district and "playing" Mystery number using the same concept, as seen here on the Pennridge Skype site!

3.  Super Bowl Sunday-  

While we know there are many disappointed Eagles fans, we have 2 activities we thought your students might enjoy!

• Mystery Science- Who Invented Football?

• Google Earth- Show students the hometown location of both teams, Gillette Stadium (Patriots home field) and LA Memorial Coliseum (Rams), as well as where the game will be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.  You can calculate the mileage between, can take a look at the weather differences, and more!  Use street view (see picture) to show what the towns look like, what the stadium looks like...the possibilities are endless!  How can you tie this into what you're already teaching this week!

Knowledge Constructor

January's ISTE Standard is Knowledge Constructor

Happy National Compliment Day!

1.  Have you been looking for a resource for:

Students to type their responses and, as a teacher, be able to see them instantly?

Students to organize their work all in one place? 

Does making notecards impossible to lose sound like wishful thinking?

Sharing templates, resources, and links in a quick and efficient way?

If you answered yes to to any of these, then creating a OneNote Class Notebook might be right for you!  This is the perfect time of the year to introduce your students to a digital notebook for organization of projects, research, pictures, and more!  And don't forget, if you're the leader of a newspaper club, after-school club, or other extra-curricular club, a Class Notebook can be a wonderful tool in those areas, too!  Just let Chris or Erin know and we'd be happy to help you and your students get started.  Or, if you would like to try it yourself, view this step by step tutorial to get started and this information page on how to use the class notebook.

2.  World Read Aloud Day is February 1!

Every year, on World Read Aloud Day, people all around the globe read aloud together and share stories to advocate for literacy!

On this day, we encourage you to Skype with an author, a teacher-friend in another state, or perhaps a teacher-friend right here in Pennridge!   Pick a favorite book and take turns reading pages across the globe, state, or across Pennridge and share your love of reading with your students!    If you need help accessing regular Skype or Skype for Business, please contact us at ANY time!
Here are a few authors you might contact through the Microsoft Educator Community:

Duck Sock Hop author Jane Kohuth
Circle Needs a Ball Gown author Lisa Rose  (as availability Mondays and Fridays)
Children's Author and Illustrator Gina Perry

OR perhaps you'll read the same book as another teacher and share your love of reading via FlipGrid, Padlet, or another piece of technology!

3.  Chatterpix (iPads only)

Chatterpix is a wonderful tool for your students to share their knowledge of a research topic, MLK project (perhaps one that the students already created last week), their point of view as a character in a story, and MORE!  Chatterpix allows your students to take a picture (or a screenshot of an online picture), draw a line for a mouth, and record their voices for up to 30 seconds while they share their knowledge of that topic in a quick and fun way! Here's an example!

If you're a Seesaw user, you can simply upload right to Seesaw, or your kids can save it to their Google Drive. 
*Bonus- Chatterpix is on ALL district iPads already!
Need an extra set of hands to pull this one off?  Email us!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January's ISTE Standard is Knowledge Constructor.

This post includes some activities for Martin Luther King Jr. Day that will allow your students a chance to construct and share their knowledge.

1.  Using Seesaw (on iPads or laptops):

Although there are many activities in the Activities library, we wanted to share two.   The first (pictured below) includes directions for a Directed Drawing of Martin Luther King which the students then take a picture of, and add adjectives (labels) to describe him within Seesaw.  The Directed Drawing activity can be found here, which can be used with or without Seesaw.  Another very simple one has been posted by Michelle Hague and allows students to draw, type or record dreams they have- great for all ages!

2. Using EPIC! (on iPads or laptops):

There are many books, including many that are "Read to Me" for MLK Day on Epic, and it's easy to build a collection of books for your students.  Collections can be built for leveled reading groups, but also built by topic.  To create a collection, find the book you want, and click on the icon that looks like the image found here.

Other sources to check out for non-fiction articles are Newsela and PebbleGo!  If you need the district username/password for PebbleGo!, please contact Erin.  This is a fantastic resource that we pay for and we love to see it used to its full capacity!

3. Using Nearpod (on iPads or laptops):

There is a free Martin Luther King Nearpod activity by Jennifer Nichols in the Nearpod Library.  It is recommended for older grades, but can easily be adapted to meet your needs.

This is also a good time to remind you that in the District Library there are Pennridge teacher-made SEL lessons by grade level, so if you're looking for a different way to teach this month's skill of Service, look no further!

Simply login to Nearpod, Click "Explore," "District Library," and then your grade level!

January Events Coming Up:

• Although the weather might not permit, there is a lunar eclipse for January 20, 2019 
• January 24th is National Compliment Day.  The power of a compliment is pretty remarkable:  Either giving or receiving one can boost your happiness and confidence- making it a win-win! This can tie nicely into this month's TAKES PRIDE word- Service!  National Compliment Day is a fun day that can easily include everyone!

Technology Items for the New Year

1. Use of the Microsoft Outlook Desktop Application

When in district, you should NOT be accessing your email through the internet.  It's mandatory for all teachers to be using the desktop version of Microsoft Outlook, which is found in the start menu of your device.  This is important for several reasons:

• Your signature includes a district-wide initiative supporting SEL and our TAKES PRIDE theme, and will only work when you use the desktop application.
• Calendars will function and be shared more effectively.
• Files are easier to attach when sending e-mails and more reliable to download when received.
• OneNote connections will not work when using the web version.
• There is no need to type your username and password each time - the computer will know what your credentials are.

2. Office 365 Free Licenses

The holiday season might bring new devices into your household. A reminder that all students and staff are entitled to five free licenses of Microsoft Office through their Office 365 accounts.  Instead of purchasing this software through stores or other vendors, please download Office for free using these simple instructions.

3. Have a wonderful and restful holiday with family and friends!

Computational Thinker

Computational Thinker   

Today's post will deal with the theme of Computational Thinker, which looks to solve problems using data analysis and digital applications.  

Coding fits into this objective very well, and we have focused much of this blog post to creating an introductory lesson to coding for your students.

1.  Ozobots

Ozobots are small coding robots that are programmed using colored markers or using the computer, and are fantastic devices to introduce students to coding, from Kindergarten all the way through much older students.  We have 18 Ozobots that we would love to come use in your classroom!

All you need to do is let us know 2-3 times that might work for you.  We will bring all the materials needed for a 45 minute-1 hour lesson.  If you want to get some ideas of how we might use Ozobots , you can find lessons in the Lesson Library on their website here. Some of our favorite lessons that we've done in the elementary schools in the district can be found in this Ozobots Shared folder, as well as resources.  We can easily tie most any holiday into Ozobot use, as well!




2.  Hour of Code

The Hour of Code started as a 1-hour introduction to computer science to show that anybody can learn the basics (even Kindergartners and First Graders), and to broaden participation in the field of computer science.  It has become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts.  We hope you'll pick 1 hour in the month of December to give this a try, and we hope to see many teachers expand their knowledge during the 2018 Computer Science Education Week which will be December 3-9.  

Here are some suggestions per grade level, but we encourage you to take a look at their very user-friendly website!  If we can help in any way, please let us know!  We'd be happy to set-up your class, teach/co-teach the lesson, and more!  Some ideas:

With a Device

• Make a Flappy Game
• Little Dot Adventure

Unplugged - Conceptual Coding Activities Without a Device

• The Little Artist Inside Your Computer
• Team Hardware v. Team Software
• Dance Party Unplugged

3.  PowerPoint "Design Ideas"


PowerPoint has a new feature that will help you create some fantastic variety within your slideshow.  In PowerPoint, cue up a slide that has some content on it, perhaps some with both text and at least an image.  Then, click on the "Design" tab and look all the way to the right for "Design Ideas."  After choosing this icon, PowerPoint will automatically create some unique and beautiful combinations for the content on that slide.

PowerSchool and PowerTeacher Gradebook

Conference time often brings considerable attention to PowerSchool Gradebook and we are hoping to offer some tips on using the software most effectively.  For a full tutorial of the Gradebook please click here.

1.  Launching the Gradebook

The new version of PowerTeacher Gradebook is no longer compatible with the "old launch".  Please use the "new launch" method.  Directions created by IT can be found here.

2.  The font may appear too small in the Gradebook

While this continues to be problem that we cannot fix completely, there are some things that might help:

• To make your text larger in the Gradebook, click on "View" in your toolbar, and select Zoom.    You may notice the comment box/text does not get bigger with this fix.  We have looked into this issue and it continues to be unresolved.  Because of this, we suggest using the magnifier tool.  To access the magnifier tool, you can click on the small magnifying glass at the top right of your browser.  Or, you can hold down the CTRL button and use the + and - keys.  (If you have a new laptop and haven't yet changed the default font of your computer, you will want to click here.)
• You might consider viewing your Gradebook using your projector.  While certainly not ideal, it will magnify the screen real estate enough to make comments a bit easier.

3.  Reports in Gradebook

Some teachers find it helpful to run reports for students prior to conferences. 

• Reports Tab in Gradebook: This will allow you to customize the report you'd like to run.  The steps below frame a basic report, but click here for some visuals and more detail regarding how these reports can be created.

• Make sure you've selected the correct class.

• Choose Individual Student Report

• Select Student and customize the screen for what you're looking for

• OR choose "All Enrolled" to get a report for each student

You can also run a report in the PowerSchool Portal (the screen where you take attendance) without being in Gradebook.

• Quick Look Up-This is especially quick and helpful for a parent phone call, or a student who is wondering where they are throughout the marking period.

• In the PowerSchool home screen, click on the backpack icon.  

• Select the student, and in the Select Screens dropdown menu, click on "Quick Look Up".  There you'll see grades to date, and an overall grade for the year.

Attention Seesaw Users!

Keep Seesaw in mind for sharing student work at conferences.  In addition, a few teachers had their students do a self-reflection video in Seesaw (or a separate app and uploaded to Seesaw) and the teacher will share with the parents at conference time.  Click here for an example sheet that can easily be made into an activity.  This example uses the Shadow Puppet app, but keep the Chatterpix app in mind too.