Click here to go to the web site and learn more about this free back to school learning opportunity.  

​Here is the information that I received.  It looks like it may be an engaging opportunity for students.
​
LearnStorm is Khan Academy’s free back-to-school program that gives you a powerful way to jump-start the school year.

In LearnStorm, your students will master skills, develop a growth mindset, and work together to unlock levels on a special LearnStorm tracker. Last year, we saw students literally leap out of their chairs with excitement over practice and progress! Learn more about LearnStorm in the video below:

Enroll your students in LearnStorm
Here is a step-by-step guide to help you sign up.

It’s not too late to win a LearnStorm class kit! 
Teachers who sign up for LearnStorm before September 4 will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win one of 2,000 LearnStorm class kits. Kits include 40 pencils, 40 stickers, 4 growth-mindset posters and some other classroom items generously donated by 3M. To enter, simply sign up for LearnStorm before September 4.
LearnStorm kicks off on September 4 and is available through November 9. Sign up now so you’re ready on launch day. Learn more about the program at learnstorm.khanacademy.org.

P.S. Sign up now and learn more about the impact LearnStorm can have on your classroom.
P.P.S. Explore our research-backed growth-mindset activities, developed in partnership with PERTS, a Stanford-based research group.

I am sharing the 2018 LinkIt! updates for those who haven't been following the additions to the tool.  

1- Khan Academy
Khan Academy provides free educational content in the form of instructional videos and practice exercises covering different subjects including math, chemistry, physics, science, arts, humanities and many more.

2-ReadWriteThink
ReadWriteThink offers a wide variety of classroom and professional development resources. These include student interactives, lesson plans, printouts, mobile apps, strategy guides,etc.

3- Common Sense Media
This is a platform where you can access teacher-created reviews of educational tools and mobile apps, read-made lesson plans, webinars, videos and many other resources.

4- CK-12
CK-12 provides teacher-curated STEM content that include lessons, activities, study guides, and practice exercises.

5- Smithsonian Learning Lab
Smithsonian Learning Lab empowers learners with materials and tools to hep them personalize their learning, create new ideas, find resources and access collections of educational content and build meaningful educational networks.

6- OER Commons
Open Educational Resources is a public digital library of open educational content that allows you to ‘explore, create, and collaborate with educators around the word to improve curriculum’.

7- TED Ed
TED Ed is an education initiative from TED to help teachers, educators, and students to access and create interactive video lessons.

8- Edshelf
This is a ‘socially-curated discovery engine of websites, mobile apps, desktop programs, and electronic products for teaching and learning’

9- Symbaloo EDU
‘SymbalooEDU is the visual resource management tool that helps educators and students organize and share the best of the web. Users save their resources in the cloud and access them from anywhere with any device’

Here is another of the summer Book Creator webinar series.  This one is focused on middle school.

Do you enjoy podcasts?  Check out Circle Round Folktales.  Circle Round is a children’s storytelling podcast that shares folktales tailored for a modern audience. With dozens of episodes, you can jump in right away and listen to them in any order. Each story also has a coloring page to accompany it.

Lesson Ideas for Podcasts with Circle Round

1.  Have students listen to the podcast, then participate in the "Now It's your turn" activity.  Have the students tell a story to someone about a particular experience, or draw a picture of a specific life moment and then share it with someone.

2. A teacher could chose an episode of Circle Round and find several versions of the story (in books or on the internet). students can read those versions first.  Then they can listen to the episode and compare/contrast. Or, they could do it the other way around.  Reading the stories first and then listen to the episode.

3. In the Circle Round podcaset, music teachers can use them to help students learn about and appreciate a whole range of instruments.  Composer/sound designer Eric Shimelonis uses a different musical instrument to underscore each story.  Music teachers could have students listen to the podcast.  Then they could do an entire lesson about that story's instrument.

Other ideas:

Transcripts of every Circle Round script can be found on the Circle Round website.  Teachers can cast students in different roles (characters and narrator) and have them act out each story.  Another student or group of students could provide sound effects using everyday items in the classroom.

Teachers can have students color the coloring pages provided with every story.  They can color while they listen to the episodes or afterwards.  Teachers can also have students create their own coloring pages, drawing whatever images resonate with them after the story is over!  

At this Smithsonian site history teachers will find the following: 

• Lessons & Activities
• Interactives/Media
• Museum/Artifacts
• Themes
• Books
• Teacher Resources
• Web Links

I really enjoy Monic Burns blog ClassTechTips.com and I continually learn from her share outs.  I am including the Youtube video where she talks about how to teach digital citizenship with the Adobe Spark tools.  These are great tools and her ideas are so easy to use.  Click here to here what she has to say.

Take science to a new dimension and learn about the human body... on a human body. The Virtuali-Tee uses beautifully designed augmented reality and amazing 3D learning experiences to explore the circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems with fully immersive 360 videos. 
The Virtual-Tee’s brand new heart rate tracker is a completely new way to connect you to your body. The app measures your heart rate and allows you to visualize your heart rate beating live in AR! Check out this video on this virtual reality t-Shirt,click here.

This Virtuali-tee will sychronize with your heart beat. Check out what this looks like to see what happens to your heart rate during exercise. Click Here.

Interested in your own Vrtuali-teeclick here.

Check out this cool product for the classroom. Click here.
​How To Use Dry Erase Tape in Your Classroom

• Labels   Dry erase tape can be used to label just about anything. This is especially useful for labels in your classroom that change throughout the week or school year. For example, if you are sharing a cart of iPads with a few teachers in your school you may have temporary student labels for which iPad students are using during a particular activity.
• Book Bins  One thing I love about classroom libraries is how fluid they can be over the course of the school year. When you’re looking to reorganize your books or move from picture to text labels, this dry erase tape makes it easy to switch it up.
• Logins   If you’re in a Nearpod classroom or use Kahoot all of the time, place some dry erase tape in a space in your room to jot down the pin number for these tools. This will make it easier for students to login mid-lesson.
• Word Walls   Word walls should not look the same in September, January and June. Use dry erase tape to make it easy to change up the words on display.
• Do Now   If you have a new do now activity of prompt each day use dry erase tape to create a space where you can quickly refresh the daily activity.
• Supply Bins   Whether you’re labeling the bins with extra chargers or looking to organize paper and pencils, dry erase tape can come in handy.
• Objectives   Use dry erase tape to post the daily objective on the board and wipe it away at the end of the day.
• Schedule Changes   Did something pop up on your schedule today? Do you have to reschedule an after school help session? Is there an assembly during period three? Post schedule changes on the board that may change each day.
• Meeting Spaces   If your students are working in small groups or you are setting up stations for a rotating activity, dry erase tape can help you label each area.
• Name Tags  Create name tags for student desks with this wipe away tape. When you’ve mastered your groups names these labels can be reused for a quick note or special message.
• Storage   Packing up? Moving to a new classroom? Switching schools? Use dry erase tape to label your math mainpulatives, posters, and favorite read aloud books.

This is why Rick Jones, high school agricultural and vocational teacher, is a Sheep Shearing National Champion.  Lots of practice.  Congratulations Rick on your title and this record.  

Click here to go to Schoology updates for assessment.   Teachers can now add a ruler, calculator,  protractor or highlighter to their assessments.  In addition, media and images can be added to assessments.
Also, for users who are enrolled in numerous courses and having trouble seeing all of your current courses, here is a brief video showing you how to move your courses around and organize your list so that you can see all of your current courses via your course tab.  Click here.

Thank you to Linda Swift who recommended this quick and easy to use tool.  Small PDF quickly lets users convert a PDF document to Word.  I couldn't believe how well it worked.  So, keep this tool in mind when you want to make a conversion from PDF to Word.  I believe I downloaded the PDF document prior to doing the conversion.

Now Comment is designed specifically for discussion.  It's free and a Google sign on can be used to create your account.  Click Here for short video preview.

Flipgrid is a fun tool.  It's great for including all students within a discussion.  I recently read about a neat idea for using Flipgrid.  It could be used in a book study.  Wouldn't that be an engaging way to get students to interact to a novel that a class might be reading.  Or wouldn't it be cool to take a social studies topic and have student elaborate on their thoughts and understanding of the complexities of an event or period in history.  Last, but not least, wouldn't it be cool to do a professional development book study with Flipgrid.

Found this interesting post by Ruben Knapen on the Book Widgets blog.  Whether you are a veteran teacher or a new teacher it's a good review of activities for engaging students.  Maybe you have some of these deep within your tool bag of activities and after reading this you will pull them out and try them again.  I am sharing the link above to his entire post, below I have passed on his list of interactive teaching strategies.  I have also added the link to go to Book Widgets and get a Bingo Card which you can customize for your own classroom.

3 Effective interactive teaching strategies to encourage speech in your classroomFirst, I want to put some activities in the spotlight. The following interactive student activities are three of the most effective ways to encourage more speech in your classroom.

1. Think, pair and shareSet a problem or a question around a certain topic, and pair up your students. Give each pair of students enough time so they can reach a proper conclusion, and permit the kids to share their conclusion in their personal voice. This way your students will be engaged, communicating, and remember more of the class than ever before.

2. BrainstormingInteractive brainstorming is mostly performed in group sessions. The process is useful for generating creative thoughts and ideas. Brainstorming helps students learn to work together, and above all, learn from each other. You’ll be surprised of all the great ideas they come up with! Check out these 8 fun brainstorming apps you can use in your classroom, or use BookWidgets' Mindmap widget to structure thinking.

3. Buzz sessionParticipants come together in session groups that focus on a single topic. Within each group, every student contributes thoughts and ideas. Encourage discussion and collaboration among the students within each group. Everyone should learn from each other’s input and experiences. As a teacher, you could give your students some keywords to spark the conversation.

Of course, there are many other interactive teaching ideas as well. I split up the activities in different categories:

• Individual student activities
• Student pair activities
• Student group activities
• Interactive game activities

Individual student activities4. Exit slipsThese are best used at the end of the class session. You’ll ask the students to write for one minute on a specific question. It might be generalized to “what was the most important thing you learned today”. Then, you can decide if you are going to open up a conversation about it in your next class. You can ask them if they still remember what they wrote down. Need a digital exit slip template? Try this one from BookWidgets and learn more about the possibilities of an exit slip.

5. Misconception check Discover students' misconceptions. See if students can identify what is the correct answer, when given a false fact. It’s useful when going over a previous lesson. It encourages students to think deeply and wager all the possibilities.

6. Circle the questionsMake a worksheet or a survey that has a list of questions (make them specific) about your topic, and ask students to circle (or check) the ones they don’t know the answers to. Then, let them turn in the paper.

Create corners concerning different questions that were circled. Let your students work on the extra exercises and explanation in the corners, individually. As your students will all have circled different questions, you have to give each student a different and personilized order to visit the corners.

7. Ask the winnerAsk students to silently solve a problem on the board. After revealing the answer, instruct those who got it right to raise their hands (and keep them raised). Then, all other students have to talk to someone with a raised hand to better understand the question and how to solve it next time.

Student pair activities8. Pair-share-repeatAfter a Think-pair-share experience, which I’ve written about in the first interactive learning lesson idea, you can also ask students to find a new partner and share the wisdom of the old partnership to this new partner.

9. Teacher and studentLet students brainstorm the main points of the last lesson. Then, pair up your students and assign them 2 roles. One of them is the teacher, and the other the student. The teacher’s job is to sketch the main points, while the student’s job is to cross off points on his list as they are mentioned and come up with 2 to 3 points that the teacher missed.

10. Wisdom from anotherAfter an individual brainstorm or creative activity, pair students to share their results with each other. Then, call for volunteers who found their partner’s work to be interesting or exemplary. Students are often more willing to share the work of fellow students publicly than their own work. Of course, you can always encourage sharing their own objectives as well.

11. Forced debateLet students debate in pairs. Students must defend the opposite side of their personal opinion. It encourages them to step away from their own beliefs and teaches them to look through a different coloured glass for once in a while.
Variation: one half of the class takes one position, the other half takes the other position. Students line up and face each other. Each student may only speak once, so that all students on both sides can engage the issue.

12. Optimist/PessimistIn pairs, students take opposite emotional sides of a case study, statement, or topic. Encourage them to be empathic and truly “live” the case study. You’ll discover some good solution proposals and your students will learn some exceptional social skills.

13. Peer review writing taskTo assist students with a writing assignment, encourage them to exchange drafts with a partner. The partner reads the essay and writes a three-paragraph response: the first paragraph outlines the strengths of the essay, the second paragraph discusses the essay’s problems, and the third paragraph is a description of what the partner would focus on in revision, if it were her essay. Students can learn a lot from each other and from themselves as well! Here are 10 more creative self-assessment ideas.

Student group activities14. Board rotationThis interactive learning strategy is even more interactive than the others! Divide your class into different groups of students and assign them to each of the boards you’ve set up in the room. Assign one topic/question per board. After each group writes an answer, they rotate to the next board. Here, they write their answer below the first answer of the previous group. Let them go around the room until all the groups have covered all the boards. Not that many boards in your classroom? Try using tablets and BookWidgets' interactive whiteboard.

15. Pick the WinnerDivide the class into groups and let them work on the same topic/problem. Let them record an answer/strategy on paper or digitally. Then, ask the groups to switch with a nearby group and let them evaluate their answer. After a few minutes, allow each set of groups to merge and ask them to select the better answer from the two choices, which will be presented to the complete class.

16. Movie ApplicationIn groups, students discuss examples of movies that made use of a concept or event discussed in class, trying to identify at least one way the movie makers got it right, and one way they got it wrong. Think about movies showing historical facts, geographical facts, biographies of famous people, …
Interactive game activitiesCreate in interactive classroom full of interactive learning games. Games are so much fun for students, since it doesn’t feel like learning. With BookWidgets, you can make interactive learning games like crossword puzzles, pair matching games, bingo games, jigsaw puzzles, memory games, and many more in minutes (and there’s a Google Classroom integration as well).

17. Crossword puzzleThe crossword game is perfect to use as repetition activity. Choose a list of words and their description, and BookWidgets creates an interactive crossword for you. The crossword game transforms these boring lessons into a fun experience. Here you can read more about how to create them and for which topics you can use them (not only for teaching languages)!

18. ScrabbleUse the chapter (or course) title as the pool of letters from which to make words (e.g., mitochondrial DNA), and allow teams to brainstorm as many words relevant to the topic as possible. You can also actually play scrabble and ask students to form words from the newly learned vocabulary.

19. Who/what am I?Tape a term or name on the back of each student. You can also tape it on their forehead. Each student walks around the room, asking “yes or no” questions to the other students in an effort to guess the term. Of course, the term has something to do with your lesson topic.
​
20. BingoBingo is a fun game that can be used for all sorts of exercises: language exercises, introductory games, math exercises, etc. Take a look at this blog post with all the different bingo possibilities here. You’ll be surprised about how many interactive lesson activities you can do with just one game.
Want to create a bingo game yourself? You can start for free right here: Click here to sign up for Book Widgets

How to come up with good exit slip prompts?
Here are some example prompts to draw inspiration from:

Write down three things you learned today.
If you had to explain today’s lesson to a friend, what would you tell him/her?
What question do you have about what we learned today?
What part of the lesson did you find most difficult?
What would you like me to go over again next lesson?
Write down two questions you would put in a quiz about today’s lesson.
What were the main points we covered today?
Did the group activity contribute to your understanding of the topic? Why?
Read this problem … What would be your first step in solving it?
I used app X extensively today. Was it helpful? Why or why not?
Was this post helpful?
What better way to end this article than by gauging your feedback via… an exit slip! ​

Check out this vimeo that shows you in 3 steps how to create lesson plans in Nearpod and send them to your sub or to your administrator who can share them with your sub when you are out of the classroom. Click here.

Saw this share out from Ed Tech and Mobile Learning.  Looks very helpful.
​Google Drive Guidelines
1- Get Started with Google Drive
2- Use Google Drive Files Offline
3- Accessibility in Google Drive for Mobile Devices
4- Navigate in Google Drive with  Screen Reader
5- Manage Files in Google Drive with A Screen Reader
6- Upload files and folders to Google Drive
7- Download a file
8- Backup photos & videos automatically in Google Drive
9- Store and play video in Google Drive
10- Save, edit & share Microsoft Office files
11- Save web content to Google Drive
12- Convert PDF and photo files to text
13- Organize your files in Google Drive
14- Delete and restore files in Google Drive
15- Find or recover a file
16- Find files in Google Drive
17- Sort your files
18- View activity & file versions
19- Use Google Drive apps
20- Change notification settings
21- Share files from Google Drive
22- Stop, limit, or change sharing
23- Make someone else the owner of your file
24- Share folders in Google Drive
25- Change your sync settings
26- Stop syncing files between your computer & Google Drive
27- Fix problems syncing to your computer
28- How Google Drive works with Google Photos
29- Back up iPhone data with Google Drive
30- Save, edit & share Microsoft Office files
31- Use Google Drive with Yahoo Mail
32- Attach Google Drive files to Evernote
33- Manage your maps in Google Drive
34- Back up WhatsApp messages (Android only)
35- Manage & restore your device backups in Google Drive
36- Use Google Drive apps

Back to School Boogie (Elementary)

• Game Designer: Breakout EDU Team
• Content Area: Team Building, Music, Dance
• Ideal Group Size: Whole Class / Suggested Time: 45 minutes
• Recommended Ages: Early Elementary

Story:  Vacations are awesome, but it is time to get back to school! We want to celebrate with our Back to School Boogie, but our license to  dance is locked up! We didn’t want the teachers to start dancing without us so we put it in the Breakout EDU box to keep it safe. We left the combinations written in dance codes around the room. Help us figure out the clues so we can open the Box and get our Back to School Boogie On! 

Raiders of the Lost Locker (Middle)

• Game Designer: Breakout EDU Team
• Ideal Group Size: Small Group / Suggested Time: 45 minutes
• Recommended Ages: Upper Elementary, Middle School

Story:  In the 1950s students used lockboxes for lockers and traveled to classes with them. The local high school in Cincinnati, Ohio found this unopened locker that appears to be at least 60 years old, and they have sent it to us to see if we can help them figure out to whom it belongs. Are you ready for an adventure?

The Faculty Lounge (Adult)

• Game Designer: Breakout EDU Team
• Ideal Group Size: Small Group / Suggested Time: 45 minutes
• Recommended Ages: Adult

Story:  Ms. Smith (the school principal) just won the lottery and abruptly left our back to school meeting. She said, "I'm outta here! If you need me, I'll be on my newly purchased private island near Fiji without my cell phone or access to email. everything you will need for another great year is in this room. Good luck!"
You look around and find a newly printed school handbook as well as a locked box which you hope will hold the key to a successful school year ahead.
The students show up in 45 minutes. Can you be ready by then?

Application Incomplete

• Game Designer: Breakout EDU Team
• Content Area: Team Building
• Ideal Group Size: Whole Class / Suggested Time: 45 minutes
• Recommended Ages: High School

Story: You and your friends have turned in your college applications… or have you?  Letters have arrived from five schools letting you know they are missing part of your application and if you don’t get it in on time, it will mean you will not be accepted to any of the schools.  Luckily the letters will help you get started and figure out how to open the Large Breakout EDU Box, and make sure your Application is Accepted! The clock is ticking and you only have 45 minutes!

Check out this webinar called Digital Storytelling with Book Creator.  If you have an interest in working with Book Creator this will get you started.

If you are a Pinterest user check out my site. I have 47 boards organized by categories of apps for educational purposes.   These boards have been compiled by myself and a network of tech integrators.  It's a quick easy way to see what apps can be used for specific educational purposes.  Click here.

​Master your Studies. On macOS and iOS.

Some things in life just have to be memorized. Facts, formulas, words, pictures, dates, procedures, even names and faces. Everything you do includes information that needs to reside in your head. Studies can help with that. This app received a 4.7 out of 5 on reviews.

Click here to learn more about this app.

I- File storage and sharing tools
1-  Google Drive
Store, access, edit and share your files. It provides secure file back-up for your videos, documents, presentations and photos.

2- Microsoft OneDrive
‘Store photos and docs online. Access them from any PC, Mac or phone. Create and work together on Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents.’

3- Dropbox
‘Dropbox is a creative collaboration space designed to reduce busywork, bring your files together in one central place, and safely sync them across all your devices—so you can access them anytime, anywhere. And sending large files is easy, even to people who don’t have a Dropbox account. Features like the doc scanner, shared folders, offline access, and more make collaborating with others simple.’

4- Box
‘Securely store, manage and share all your files, photos and documents with 10GB of free cloud storage from Box.’

II- Project management and team Communication tools
1- Trello
‘Trello gives you perspective over all your projects, at work and at home. Some of its features include: Create boards to organize anything you're working on; use them solo or invite coworkers, friends and family to collaborate; customize workflows for different projects; add checklists of "To-Dos" on cards; assign tasks to yourself and coworkers; comment on items with your friends…’

2- G-Suite (Docs, Sheets, Slides)
G-Suite provdes you with an arsenal of tools to enhance your collaborative team work drawing on features that support real-time collaboration, instant editing, chat and many more.

3- Evernote
Evernote offers a number of interesting collaborative features that allow you to ‘share, discuss and collaborate productively with other. You can use it to : Create, share and discuss with the people who help get your work done, all in one app; search within pictures and annotate images to give quick feedback; develop your projects faster and let multiple participants work on different aspects.’

4- Smarsheet
A good project management tool that provides you with a helpful features such as the ability to: create, edit and share work with your team so that everyone has the latest information; add pictures and view attachments to keep work organized; stay up to date with notifications and complete approvals with a tap of the finger.’

5- Slack
‘Slack brings team communication and collaboration into one place so you can get more work done, whether you belong to a large enterprise or a small business. Check off your to-do list and move your projects forward by bringing the right people, conversations, tools, and information you need together. Slack is available on any device, so you can find and access your team and your work, whether you’re at your desk or on the go.’

6- Microsoft Teams
‘Communicate in the moment and keep everyone in the know. Stay connected with chat, calls, and meetings within your team and in private or small group conversations. Schedule and join online Skype meetings with HD video, VoIP, and dial-in audio conferencing options. Share your files, apps or desktop in online meetings and review the important moments later with transcriptions of recorded content.’

7- Asana
‘Use Asana to quickly capture tasks, to-dos, reminders, and ideas. Get updates from coworkers, organize tasks and projects for work, or manage your to-do list for the day.’


III- Video conferencing tools
1- Skype
Using Skype group calling feature, you can organize video calls and conference calls that include group chats with your collaborators wherever they are with Internet connection.

2- Google Hangouts
You can use Google Hangouts to start free video or voice calls with a group of friends  (up to 150 people). For a one-to-one video calling you may want to check Google Duo.

3- Zoom
If you are looking for video conferences tools with more sophisticated features, Zoom is a good option. It supports online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms and many more.

VI- Collaborative Whiteboards
1- Web Whiteboard
‘Web Whiteboard is the simplest way to instantly draw and write together online. Nothing to install or learn. Passwords and accounts are entirely optional. Just create an online whiteboard with one click, and share it live by sending the link to people.’

2- Witeboard 
‘Witeboard is an excellent collaborative whiteboard tool you can use to collaborate with your team and brainstorm ideas  in realtime…The great thing about this whiteboard tool is that it does not require a sign up and is available on desktop, tablet, and smartphones.’  See more below on this one.
​
3- RealtimeBoard
Capture ideas, share feedback on projects, wireframes and designs and visually collaborate in real time with your.

4- Twiddla
A simple and easy to use real-time online collaboration tool to use in your team work. No plug-ins or downloads are required.
​