Fourth Nine Weeks Technology News NWEA Education Blog has published a list of 55 digital tools and apps for formative assessment in the classroom. There are many different formative assessments to meet the needs of any classroom. GPISD Tech Updates Registration for Technology Summer Camps will begin in March. Camps are for current grades second through fourth (Elementary) and fifth through seventh (Middle). Kids can learn about coding, making games and stories, taking and editing pictures and video, and have a great time making new friends. Special Tips for Special Pops Got ELPS? Use Quizlet to help English language learners memorize new vocabulary. Add lists using words from Spanish to English, words with their definitions, or with a picture. Give students time to review the flashcards then complete the activities that go along with your list. GT Tips Consider using choice boards with your students, and to increase technology usage; make at least half of the choices technology-based. | Instructional Technology Highlight Teacher Spotlight:
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Created by GPISD Technology Instructional Specialists for Teachers http://galenaparkisd.com/curriculum/technology/
Fourth Nine Weeks Web 2.0 Tools AnswerGarden is a feedback tool to collect brainstorming ideas, polls, and surveys. The result is a word cloud to post on your website or print and display on your wall. Happy polling! Appy Hour Mendeley an app that lets users annotate a search across PDFs, often in the form of Journal articles needed for class.The app is designed for researchers and students, allowing them to create their own fully-searchable library in seconds. Tech for Teachers Fluency Tutor from Texthelp Systems is a web-based application that provides tools to enable students to practice reading aloud and to record pre-assigned passages. Texthelp tools support all students, including struggling readers and ELLs. Since Texthelp is a Google for Education partner, their tools work seamlessly with your Google login, and integrate with Google Drive and Google Classroom. What’s New SchoolStatus is a program we have started using in the district this year. You can access it from Class Link. SchoolStatus is a “one-stop shop” for data. It pulls from Aware/Eduphoria, Skyward, and Renaissance Learning. You can even use it to make a phone call to parents. | Language Arts Third graders students will be learn about compare and contrast in week 29. Students can explore and learn on this interactive activity from the web about compare and contrast. After learning about compare and contrast teachers can use Quizlet, this is a wonderful tool for formative assessment that offers students to do at any time, ranging from from flashcard card, practice tests, audio activities, and playing game of Scatter or Gravity. Math The Interpreting Data activity from Topmarks is a simple to use resource where students can collect data by tallying and making a bar chart and pictogram of the results. The website requires the Flash program so it will not work on the iPads. Plickers is a great tool for formative assessment, even if you do not have a class set of devices. All you need is one device (iOS or Android) for the teacher, the Plickers app, and a set of Plickers cards. Everything is free, including the cards which you can download from their website. Science Weather Wiz Kids is a great place for students to learn about the rapid changes to the Earth’s surface from things like earthquakes & volcanic eruptions. They also have lots of other useful resources for students and teachers such as games and experiments you can do in class. Mr. Nussbaum is a website where students can learn about different landforms and much much more. Each landform is defined and has a video. Scholastic also has a unit on Earth Sciences that covers topics such as soil, landforms, and changes to Earth’s surface. This website works best in Internet Explorer. Most everyone knows about Kahoot! for creating fun and useful formative assessments for your students but did you know they have a new game? Jumble is Kahoot’s latest offering. Check it out! Social Studies During weeks 31-32 students will begin learning about Landforms and Bodies of Water. Play this video about Landforms and Bodies of Water then students can use this interactive activity to check for understanding. At the end teachers can assign the following quiz from Quizizz. |
Fourth Nine Weeks Web 2.0 Tools Bouncy Balls is a free online noise meter that shows students the volume of the noise in your classroom. It does this by displaying a set of colorful bouncing balls on your screen. The louder your students, the higher and more frequently the balls on the screen bounce. Appy Hour EDpuzzle is a site that allows users to select a video and customize it by editing, cropping, recording audio, and adding questions to make an engaging presentation or lesson. Tech for Teachers Looking for more formative assessment options? Check out this list of Top Tech Tools for Formative Assessment by Common Sense Education. What’s New If you are all about Google and you want to stay on top of all the current things coming out, here is a list of 15 awesome blogs to follow. | Language Arts When reviewing this 9 weeks be sure to provide a variety of reinforcement tools.Try these quick cause/effect reviews in Kahoot: CauseEffect1, CauseEffect2. If you’ve never tried Wizer.Me you should see how easy it is to add interactive worksheets to your classroom instruction. Just create a free account and then assign these worksheets via your Google Classroom: ContextClues1, ContextClues2. Instantly see the students’ results. Math Mix up your STAAR review with plenty of formative assessment games and interactive activities. Try these adding and subtracting decimals activities from Quizlet. Or how about this equivalent fractions review in Quizizz? Add some fun with these math games: multiplication, division. Science Weeks 32 & 33 is about the Moon Phases. Students can view this video about the different moon phases. After watching the video and completing their lessons they could play this interactive activity. Teachers can assign the quiz from Quizizz to assess their knowledge (formative assessment). Social Studies Beginning after Spring Break, students will begin learning about Issues, Events, and Individuals of the 20th Century in Texas. To start the lesson, the students can be introduced to The Great Depression with this youtube song. Students can explore this interactive website to learn more about The Great Depression. After learning about the Great Depression teachers can assign the quiz from Quizizz to assess their knowledge (formative assessment). |
Fourth Nine Weeks Web 2.0 Tools QR Stuff is an easy to use tool for creating the ever popular QR Codes. If you have a website and know how to copy and paste you can have your own QR codes in just minutes. Appy Hour Caper Card is a the simplest of formative assessments! Students display responses for teacher to see. Tech for Teachers This YouTube channel from Richard Byrne has over 300 quick videos with practical EdTech tips for teachers. Find great ideas for using Google docs, interactive websites, or a refresher on that great things your TIS showed you in that training that one time. What’s New Are you loving Google Classroom? Ready to take it to the next level? Try any of these 7 Hacks for Google Classroom from Alice Keeler. Group students, create a virtual discussion, grade an entire folder, and more. | Language Arts In this grading period students will conduct research. Students can use this Easybib.com to site resources in a variety of formats. In addition, Google Slides Explore feature which is very useful for conducting research. During the week of 5/23 students can play this game to reinforce punctuation skills. Quizizz is a great way to assess material learned so use this Double Negatives activity during the week of 4/11 Math Review is the name of the game for this grading period. This Quizizz activity is perfect for reviewing STAAR Terms and also use this one to review material covered throughout the year in all objectives. Getting ready for 6th grade can be fun! Teachers and students can practice graphing points on a coordinate plane on this website. This is also a time when xerox machines break but you can take that worry away by using this Wizer me online worksheet for review converting rational numbers. All these resources can be added to Google Classroom for students to work on during centers or for extra help at home. Science Introduce your Weather unit with Study Jams from Scholastic. Students watch the short video and answer 7 questions to check for understanding. Extend with “See All Related Jams” underneath the activity. Students can use the Venn Diagram app for the iPad to compare characteristics of the Earth, Sun, and Moon. These samples and word banks are also found in the Curriculum Map for Solar System in Week 28: Earthly Comparisons; Earth, Moon, Sun Sort; Triple Venn Diagram; and Data Table. After STAAR, use interactive activities from HealthyEating.org to teach students about health and nutrition. Social Studies Use interactive timelines in your unit on Industrialization. This one from SoftSchools can be embedded in your teacher webpage or shared in Google Classroom. As you begin to study women’s rights, remember that Newsela offers nonfiction passages at varying reading levels. Adjust the level for your students, and read one of Susan B. Anthony’s speeches on women’s suffrage. Use formative assessment tools like Plickers or this template for a Jeopardy Review in Google Slides with topics from your lessons on the 20th century. |
