Send your students off with information about Discovery Education's Worldwide Summer Adventure.  What a great resource to share as a wrap up for the year!  Remember all students grades 4-12 have access to Discovery Education and are able to use their account to participate in this opportunity.  Contact Dr. Sipe for information on how to give your students access.  Click here to check out more details about this Summer Adventure.

Back in January I blogged about Plickers.  I had a number of teachers who wanted to know if Plickers would allow you to add an image and it couldn't, but that feature has now been added.  So, if you have been putting off trying Plickers because you have been waiting for the add and image feature to be available, you might want to give it a try now. Click here to go to the Plickers site and get started.  

Jill applied for a grant through the New Oxford Foundation for a Promethean slate for her classroom and she received it.  Don't forget about the possibility of applying for grants through the foundation if there is a need you have for your students and/or classroom.

Do you "Flip Your Classroom" or create videos to help your students to better understand a concept?  If your answer is yes, you just might be the talent that the Khan Academy is seeking. Click here for more information from Sal Kahn about the Khan Academy Talent Search.

If you are not familiar with the teaching channel, you may want to check it out.  It is basically a Youtube for teachers.  You will find videos about a variety of lessons and topics. If you are looking for common core lessons, you may find what you want already created and ready to use.  It's a free resource for teachers. Click here to learn more about the teaching channel.

I know the year is just about to wrap up but I feel the need to share a really cool tool that I presented to a group of middle school students this morning.  It is called myHomework.  It is a web-based tool that is also accessible via an app for ipads, iphones and android devices. Mrs. Miller and Ms. Singer, counselors for the middle school Executive Functions Group, asked if I could share some tools to help their students stay organized with regard to assignments.  I shared this one because it is simple to use as well as free. I shared this one as well as Google Calendar. There is a paid option for myHomework but what the students need to stay organized can be done with the free version.  Students can set up their schedule and then add their assignments right into the tool either through their mobile device or a computer.
Here is a video link that will give you a better idea of what this tool can do for  your students.  This might be a good one to share with parents at the back to school  nights next year or better yet, share with your students on that first day back. Mrs. Singer gave me some feedback after the presentation.  She shared, "That was amazing! I have never seen this group of students this attentive and excited. Thank you so much for helping these students become more organized through technology. I think this could have a significant impact on their ability to get assignments done and be more successful next year."  It is a really cool tool that the students picked up right away and easily were able to use. So make note to start your 15-16 year on a fun engaging tech note by introducing myHomework.

From time to time I get requests from teachers asking about grants.  Here is one of which I was just made aware.  Below is a quick overview of what the grant could cover.  Click here to be directed to the actual grant page.
Programs should help teens build 21st century skills by utilizing cutting-edge technology such as computers, digital cameras, video cameras and professional software in a wide range of areas including (but not limited to):

• Audio production (including music mixing & recording)
• Coding/3D printing
• Computer maintenance and repair
• Digital photography/graphic design
• Filmmaking & videography
• Maker faires/hack-a-thons
• Mobile & game app development
• Programming
• Robotics
• Web site design

Community Grants are designed to support local efforts and are reviewed for consideration by Best Buy teams across the United States. The average grant amount is $5,000 and will not exceed $10,000.

Here are six interactive science adventures. Note they are also available in Spanish.  The adventures include careeres, infectious disease, forensic science, substance abuse and neuroscience, medical research and alcohol and body systems. Click the image below to be directed to the site.

This weeks Google tips featuresa couple of cool tips that I found helpful.

 Power Comenting in Google Docs - click here for this brief video tutorial explaining how to use quick key features to add comments within Google docs.

How to Make a Table of Contents in Google Docs - click here for this brief video tutorial explaining how to create an interactive table of contents in Google docs.

Inserting Page Numbers in a Google Doc. - click here for this brief video tutorial explaining how to create page numbers within a Google doc.

Create A Google Form from a Spreadsheet - click here for this brief video tutorial explaining how to create a form from a spreadsheet.

Matt Osmun's second graders have been using Google Classroom for a little over a month and they love it!  Here is one of Matt's students showing you what the class members are doing in Mr. Osmun's Google Classroom. Mr. Osmun shared that parents who have given feedback are very positive about it.  To log in the parents use their student's account.  One issue to be aware of arose when parents had private Google accounts.  They sometimes thought they were logging in under the student account, but they weren't.  Once that issue was resolved things have gone pretty smoothly with students using it both at home and school. It took one full class period for his students to get logged in to the site because initially the students typed out the name of the site, but now that the link has been added as a quick link under students on the district website it has been much quicker and easier for the students to get on. According to Mr. Osmun, the students were comfortable with it in a short amount of time. Once the bandwidth is better, it will be even better.  Mr. Osmun shared that using the Chromebooks was the fastest way to use Google.  The Google classroom tool has created a lot more excitement for the students to get to their work and complete it.  

Just a quick note about the video.   I used the movie maker tool to combine the video clips into one clip.  I have never used this new version of Movie Maker before and it's a bit different then the old version.  I apologize that some of the clips did not seamlessly run together.  I will have to take more time to play with this but wanted to get it out to everyone without any additional delay so that you could see how easy it is to use Google Classroom with your students. 

EDUSPIRE Summer Workshops click here for more information

May 18, 2015 1:00 PM ET
click here to register

Discovery Ed Board Builder Update

Graphite.org, sponsored by Common Sense Media, is a great place to find the best apps, games, websites, and digital curricula for your classroom.

* Read unbiased learning ratings and reviews

* Find Common Core-aligned ed tech

* Find Lesson Plans (“Flows”) in all subject areas

* Learn how other teachers are using educational technologies in their classrooms

https://www.graphite.org

I am giving you a heads up about a tool on Study Island that you may not be aware that you have access to for your students.  I have provided this quick overview video and on my next blog I hope to have more details about sensei for you.  The great thing about Sensei is that it lets you use a color coding system to identify students who need assistance as well as drill down to specific students by topic or standard area and see how they are progressing.  I noticed that you can also directly assign practice to students when you see they are in need of additional assistance in a particular topic or standard area.

Check out this really nice teacher resource called Teachers Pay Teachers.  There are lots of  teacher created resources for you to check out.  Some of the resources are free while others are at a cost.  Maybe you are someone who has lots of great resources to share and you could add them to the Teachers Pay Teachers site.  Free downloadable resource Tons of Tips and Resources, Within this free download you will see a link to a Story Kit free downloadable resource that gives you really wonderful ideas on how to use this storytelling app.