Second Nine Weeks Technology News Instead of writing your passwords on paper where others can easily see them, you can use a password manager to encrypt and store them online. Some password managers can also generate random passwords, making your information even more secure. Examples of password managers include LastPass, KeePass, Firefox's password manager, and Google Chrome's password manager. GPISD Tech Updates This year’s Multimedia Festival theme is “How to...? Here’s how:” Contest entries are due to the campus TIS by January 5, 2016. All of the details for projects can be found on the district Technology web page. Special Tips for Special Pops The Phonics Studio app for iPad is an app that will help kids with articulation therapy. It makes learning how to pronounce words fun and easy with over 2,500 flashcards grouped by phonic sounds. Got ELPS? BrainPOP ESL is an app for iPad that will help English language learners practice reading and speaking the English language. GT Tips Squigly’s Brain Teasers is a great website to find riddles, puzzles, and brain games to keep your GT students’ minds sharp and thinking outside the box. | Blended Learning Edition Many of the activities in this newsletter focus on blended learning. These activities would work well in centers or a flipped or modified flip style classroom. Instructional Technology Highlight
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Created by GPISD Technology Instructional Specialists for Teachers http://galenaparkisd.com/curriculum/technology/
Web 2.0 Tools QR Treasure Hunt Generator! Get students using their mobile devices to move and to learn - NO INTERNET CONNECTION NEEDED! Appy Hour Turn your iPad into your personal interactive whiteboard! ShowMe allows you to record voice-over whiteboard tutorials and share them online. It’s an amazingly simple app. Tech for Teachers Cacoo is a collaborative tool for developing graphic organizers, mind maps, and diagrams. What’s New The Fodey Generator this tool allows you to add your text to pre-created images. One nice feature is that it creates html scripts for pasting into web pages for animations. Spice up your website! | Language Arts In the second nine weeks, students will begin studying poetry. Scholastic has a whole section of their website dedicated to poetry and famous poets like Jack Prelutsky and Karla Kuskin. Poetry for Kids is a another great poetry resource for both students and teachers. This website has a great collection of various types of poems. Poems are organized by topic and even by reading level. ReadWriteThink.org’s Word Mover student interactive can be used to supplement classroom instruction, reinforce concepts taught in class, offer increased student engagement, and promote out-of-school literacy. Students can use this blended learning activity to create “found poetry” by choosing from a bank of words. Math In the second nine weeks, students will learn about the concept of multiplication. The website multiplication.com is a great resource for online activities and games. Teachers will especially like the “Teachers” section where they can find videos for their students to better understand the concept of repeated addition. Math 3 Under the Sea is a fun website for students to practice writing repeated addition sentences to help learn multiplication. This would be a good activity to do on iPads or computers. If you have an Eno Board or Smartboard, your class could take turns and practice it as a group. Online Math Learning has a few videos to help you teach multiplication in a blended classroom. Students could view these two videos using the computers or iPads in your classroom. When they are finished they could then go to Beacon Learning’s Animal Legs to get even more practice.
Science During this second nine weeks, students will learn about matter and energy. The students knows that matter has measurable physical properties and those properties determine how matter is classified, changed and used. Play this game about weigh on the moon. Also you can find out what happens when you continue to apply more and more heat to a solid block of ice.Continue to click on the “Heat” button in this activity. You just might be surprised with what eventually happens. See if you have the survival skills in this activity to turn frozen ice in the cold environment of Alaska to drinkable water. Social Studies In the second nine weeks, students will be learning about community. Watch this video Communities and Types of Communities (excellent introduction). Click here for teacher’s guide. Types of communities: Life in the City , Life in the Suburb and Rural Communities. |
Web 2.0 Tools If you have a video to use in the classroom but only part of the video is applicable, crop the video with the website edpuzzle.com. Storyboard That is a tool that allows kids to create stories online with a computer or ipad. Appy Hour Khan Academy is a free app that allows the learner to take control of their learning by working on skills they choose. Quizlet offers a free app that allows you to access your created study tools as well as search public created study materials Tech for Teachers Powtoon is a web app which you can use on Google Drive to create animated videos. This is a tool to use to build your video library for blended classrooms. What’s New Want to change the way you complete exit tickets? Check out the website Exit Ticket. Teachers who need new ideas for technology, be sure to check out the website Educators Technology. . | Language Arts Revitalize your lessons with elements of blended learning. In week9 have your students watch Brainpop’s movie on Main Idea in centers. Then have your students complete the related activity. In week15 have your students practice synonyms with this fun game. Math Ready to try Blended learning? Insert a link to videos showing division of 4-digits by 1-digit onto your Moodle or Google Classroom page. Students can watch it in centers or in a computer lab. Then have them complete this practice. Give students a review identifying patterns in tables by having them play this exercise. Science Blended Learning - In weeks 9 - 11 introduce states of matter by having the students view this video. They can write 3 learned facts on an index card. Here are some online games to offer the students to review what they have learned. Social Studies Blended Learning Activity - Have the students complete a San Antonio missions web hunt. Students need to access the webpage and complete the activity sheet. These items can be added to the teacher webpage for student access. In the 2nd nine weeks while discussing Spanish Missions, you can use a Google Form for the Life in Missions activity. Here is the form in English and the form in Spanish If you want to use Flubaroo to grade the responses, see your TIS. |
Web 2.0 Tools GoFormative is a new way for students to present their work and get immediate feedback. Appy Hour MyScript Calculator turns handwriting into results. Write as you do on paper and the app does the calculations. Tech for Teachers Organize your most frequently visited sites in visual tiles with Symbaloo. Direct students to your symbaloo webmix instead of waiting for them to access a long URL to use instructional time more efficiently. What’s New Skyward Quizzes are the easiest way to grade quizzes and enter the grade at the same time. Ask your TIS or watch this informational video on how to create quizzes. | Language Arts As you explore summarization and visualization, students can create their own coat of arms during the Unit 3 Reading/Writing Connection. They’ll learn about the symbolism of each element of the design as they create. Use this webquest to take students through a self-paced introduction, practice, and assessment on author’s purpose.
Math If there aren’t enough available in your classroom, there are a ton of virtual manipulatives to discover as students work with fractions, decimals, and percents. Students can use Thinking Blocks to solve real-world problems involving fractions. There is also an app available for iOS. Science Watch this Study Jams video on aquatic ecosystems during week of October 26th. There are lots of ready made Spelling City activities on Ecosystems to help you review. Social Studies During the study of Branches of Government, use Read Write and Think’s Cube Generator. Kahoot has ready made activities like this one to help review Branches of Government. |