Christmas Sites to Get You Through The Week!

via GIPHY

Just a few more days until the Semester Break. You can do it!

Here are a few sites that might help you make it to Friday!

1. The Reindeer Cam - A live feed of Santa's reindeer with regular appearances made by Santa himself. A scrolling nice list on the site makes it fun and interactive (you can add kids names to the list)!

3. Elf Yourself - Upload photos of your kiddos to create dancing elf videos!

4. North Pole -  A website of Christmas themed games, stories and activities. Fun for exploring about Christmas.

5. Why Christmas -  Interesting information about Christmas customs and traditions around the world, created by a Christmas expert!

6. Ultimate Winter Resources for Teachers - Tons of ideas, lesson plans and activities for teachers!

7. Winter Mad Libs by Classroomjr.com - Enjoy some mad libs, puzzles and mazes with a winter theme.

8. 30 Awesome No Tech Games for Christmas - Need some classroom activities that will get your kids up and moving? Here you go!

9. DigiPuzzle has some great Christmas themed online games and puzzles for kids to play. Check to make sure they work on the devices! :)

10. A Kid's Heart Christmas Games that will work on the Chromebooks!

From the Instructional Technology Department, We Wish You ALL a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

3 Great Ways to Use Your Chromebook Camera!

That's right! The Chromebook comes with a built in camera, and there are all kinds of educational applications that will engage your students and make learning fun! So, peel off the tape you placed over the camera lens (I promise there are no hackers watching) and let's get started!

1. Power Statement Posters (Or Any Kinds of Posters, Really!)

At the beginning of the year, I spent a day in a 4th grade classroom where we used Google Drawing and the camera on the Chromebook to create Vision Statement Posters. The students opened a Google Drawing, used the camera to take a picture of themselves (Insert Menu>Image>Camera), added some personal information about themselves and a quote that really meant something to them. They shared their posters with their teacher, Mrs. Schultz, and she displayed them for all to see!

Students could create posters in December to sum up their favorite concepts from the first semester.

Or use the same idea to create New Year's Resolutions at the beginning of the second semester?

Thanks to Kathy Schultz at CFES for letting me work with her and her kiddos on this activity!

2. Visual Vocabulary

Do you want students to know the vocabulary necessary to succeed in your content area? Of Course You Do!

Create a visual vocabulary slide show for each concept you teach, or one that you add to all year long! Here's how...

Use the School Video Recorder (In Google Drive>New>More>Video Recorder or at this Website) and the camera on the Chromebook to create a short video that shows or expresses the definition of a vocabulary word. The video will save automatically to Google Drive.

Then use Google Slides to insert the video from Google Drive and create a slide show of visual vocabulary! Here is an example of one, and a template that you can use to get started. Visual Vocabulary Template

Make one slide show. Assign a slide to each student, and you will have a visual vocabulary dictionary that all students can access whenever they need to review!

3. Show What You Know Comic Strips

Google Drawing is just so VERSATILE! Use it to create fabulous comic strips and have students show what they know. Here is a comic strip template to get you started, courtesy of Meredith Akers (@meredithakers.com).

Have students take pictures of themselves. Then using the shape tool, insert a call out box to add text to their pictures. How fun! Students can explain their thinking about any concept, and take pictures to show how they feel about the topic they are learning. They can work independently or in pairs/groups. Take a look at the example below.

You could also use the call out options with a picture the kids find, either online or in a textbook. Here is an example.

Obviously, this option doesn't use the Chromebook camera, but I thought this was a fun way to use the call outs.  It's a better option than drawing a mustache on George Washington, and so much more educational! 

The camera can be a fun tool to provide some high interest engagement to some of your lessons.  Why not give it a try before the break to help keep the kids on task and doing something they love!

Making It to Winter Break!

Four Weeks!

Four Long Weeks!

Every teacher knows how hard it is to make it from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  It doesn't help when the calendar works against you to put Thanksgiving early and the Christmas Break late. But, as we always do, we put on our big girl (or boy) panties (boxers) and make things great for our kiddos!

Here are a couple of ideas that may help you make it to the Winter Break!

1. Pare it down! Prioritize! Anything that can wait....can wait.
Grading, Report Cards, End of Semester Exams....there is no getting around some of the things that have to be done by the time you leave for the Winter Break. But there are plenty of things that can take a back burner. Don't add any extra tasks to your plate and postpone anything that doesn't require your attention in the next four weeks. I'm not a big fan of procrastinating, and I don't typically advocate putting things off, but for everyone's sanity, it's not a bad idea to prioritize the important things!

2. Don't build anticipation for the break!
While you can't avoid the many presentations, plays, parties, and projects that come with this time of year, you can minimize the disruptive effects by focusing on classroom routines and keeping to them as much as possible. Keep steadfast in your efforts to keep students on task and in the groove of your everyday procedures.

3. Plan High Interest Low Energy projects!
'Tis the season to plan those projects that take less planning but that the students love to do and are high interest. Plan for content instruction the first couple of weeks, and plan to give students time to show what they know the last couple of weeks. Include some technology ideas like creating a video or making a website. Yes, those younger kiddos can do it too! Plan to grade the project as the students are working, so as not to have all projects due at once. It is never a great feeling to have 50, 75, 150 papers or projects to grade at the end of the grading period or hanging over your head during the whole break!

4. Share the Wealth
Collaborating with your team of teachers is a great way to chunk the necessary lesson planning and lessen the number of tasks you have to take on during this crazy time period. While you may think taking the time to get together just takes away from the time you have to get things done, working smarter - not harder or longer- can really make a difference. Share those great projects and ideas!

5. Ramp Up the Positive Reinforcement!
Whatever you are doing to reinforce the positive behavior and the adherence to the procedures and expectations in your classroom, it's time to do a little more.  I know....I know....I said Pare It Down....but not when it comes to positive reinforcement. This is the time of year when what we are doing in our classrooms tends to quit working as effectively as it was. It's time to change things up, add another layer, do a little more.

Here are a couple of great positive reinforcement templates you can use to give kids some rewards for following the procedures and expectations! Add your own incentives on each slide and put the slide deck in present mode to have students click on the ornaments or parts of the snowflake to get a prize.  Change the incentives as needed to get you through the next several weeks! Click the link to make a copy!
Christmas Tree Template (thanks to Meredith Akers - meredithakers.com)
Snowflake Template

Whatever it takes, we can work together to make it through the next four weeks and make the learning for our students meaningful and engaging. Keep calm and hang in there!

Blogging Ideas for the Elementary Classroom

As the use of Blogging tools increases in the school setting and the use of Chromebooks are increasing as an acceptable student device, a marriage of the two seems to be a perfect storm.  Using Blogging on these devices allows the mobile user to Blog from anywhere there is a WiFi signal and the fact that Chromebooks have a full keyboard is very important to the writing process versus a smart phone.

Teachers can choose to allow students to create a Blog to show their learning. This applies to every subject, even Fine Arts. With the influx of accessible devices in the classroom, even itinerant teachers can quickly get students to Blog about their learning without needing a computer lab.

Then there are the teachers that use Blogging to get more from their student learning, to enhance their learning experience or to have students peer-teach other students not just in their class, but around the world. It acts like a text portal in that respect and with a good rubric, these Blogs are gradable.

You will need parent permission to use Blogger for the under 13 crowd, but there are a number of ways to Blog without using Blogger. You can use Google Classroom to pose questions and students can answer them there in a safe and secure environment and you can set it up that other students can respond to each other's post. You can also do this with a Google Site if the ability to respond to posts is not important.

There are solutions out there for the elementary-aged Blogger. If you are interested in learning more about setting up Blogging in your classroom, please look at this link.