Calm (free for teachers!)

I was introduced to this website by Colin Pattison who uses it regularly in his intermediate classroom. He says that he will often use the various sound options to help his students focus.
As educators we know the importance of teaching mindfulness both for ourselves and our students. In a world which often over stimulates a center of calm is important.

The website has free functions but also some paid content. Here is the great news, for teachers it is completely FREE!

This is what they say....

In today’s rapidly changing world, children face unique social and emotional challenges. Kids are experiencing greater pressures earlier in life, and feel more stress and anxiety than ever before. 

What if their school day began with a few moments of quiet and stillness? Numerous studies have shown the many benefits of teaching mindfulness to children. Through mindfulness education, kids can develop a lifelong capacity for greater self-awareness, concentration, patience, and resilience. 

Under this initiative, any teacher with a K-12 classroom, anywhere in the world, can get free access to Calm’s paid subscription service (available on Android, iOS and the web). Teachers will have unlimited access to our growing library of guided meditations and mindfulness exercises, including Calm Kids, our programs tailored for age groups from pre-K through high school.

Go here and sign up.

I have a confession to make. Sometimes I have used independent reading as a way of infusing the classroom with some quiet both for me and my students. I know shocking! Last year I started a silent time instead. For a period of time each day or so (decided after classroom discussion, experimentation and reflection) we were just silent. Students could stare out the window, doodle, close their eyes, read or catch up on work the only rule was... they had to be silent. As a class we found we loved this time let's face it engagement can often mean noise. This gave us a designated time to recharge and refocus.
Why not put a little CALM into your classroom?

Google Arts and Culture

GOOGLE ARTS & CULTURE

Who is your ART twin?

O.K. I admit it. I have been having so much fun with Google's Arts and Culture App. You take a selfie and it uses facial recognition to match you with some of the world's most famous portraits.

My Dad 

Everywhere I go I ask people if I can take their picture.

Tawny Stewart

Over 40 million selfies have happened world wide with people trying to find their art twins. It isn't however without controversy. Some states do not allow access because it infringes on their biometric privacy laws. The App also is not very equitable. There are more than 700,000 items from the United States, more than 75,000 from the United Kingdom, and nearly 60,000 from Germany. Compared to only 16,000 from Mexico. This does tend to limit results to be bias towards white users.
Give it a try and see who you look like.

Digital Breakouts

If we have talked lately you know my new favourite thing is digital breakouts. I discovered these at the conference and have been busy creating and doing them with students.

A digital breakout is much like the breakout ed boxes except it requires nothing but a device and access to the web. Teachers or students are given a timeline (usually 10-45 mins) to search for clues in the form of hidden hyperlinks or images and text all embedded in a google site. The clues lead to puzzles that need to be solved in order to "unlock" questions in a google form. But, watch out sometimes the clues are just red herrings that lead you astray.





These are great to allow students to apply the learning from any subject area to a new situation either as review or consolidation of what they have discovered. It also allows students to collaborate, create and demonstrate GRIT.

Much like break out boxes there are 4 kinds of locks.

COLOUR LOCK

DIGIT LOCK

I would love to co-create one with you if you are interested or just come in and show you how they work. Here are a few to try as well as some links to resources that have been shared with me.

Thank you Jen @virtualGiff for your amazing session.


https://www.breakoutedu.com/digital/

BREAKOUT PLANNING SHEET WITH RESOURCES

Apple Classroom

If you have not tried Apple classroom to monitor your students iPads give it a try.

An overview of the app can be found here:https://www.apple.com/ca/education/products/  

(it’s about halfway down the page under the title ‘meet your new teaching assistant’).

We have developed a guide on how to set up and use Apple Classroom.  It’s on the staff intranet here: http://bit.ly/2kltr3a Please note that this application only works with iOS 10.3 and above, so older iPads will not be compatible.

Here is the GIST

-The teacher is the only one who downloads apple classroom.

-All students must have wifi and bluetooth on

-Teacher opens up the app it will generate a code for the student to input

-Students open their settings page

-Under bluetooth an orange icon will show up (students tap on classroom icon)

-Settings will come up asking to allow.

-Students must accept always.

-DO NOT use Never require teacher to ask permission

Sometimes it is a little glitchy and won’t work if students have bluetooth off. However you can still see what they are on if they are online.

Thanks to Clare Babbit who showed me apple classroom in action.

Treat of the Week: Be Internet Awesome

Be Internet Awesome is a new free resource from Google that takes players through a series of challenges that educate kids about internet safety in a non-threatening way.  The activities are designed for Grades 3-5, but may be suitable for older students. You know your kids best!  The site explores five topics on digital citizenship and safety:

• Share with Care (Be Internet Smart )

• Don’t Fall for Fake (Be Internet Alert )

• Secure Your Secrets (Be Internet Strong)

• It’s Cool to Be Kind (Be Internet Kind)

• When in Doubt, Talk It Out (Be Internet Brave) 

Students can play games that share key concepts about digital citizenship in Interland. 

The site also includes a guide for educators with lesson plans that accompany the online games.  

Be Internet Awesome works on any browser - including mobile browsers - and is free to use.  You don't even have to set up an account or sign in!

Treat of the Week: Speaking Up

Congratulations to LKDSB Core French Teacher Joanne Badder on releasing a book on the iBooks store!  This great resource shares how Joanne uses a variety of open-ended apps to help students become more confident with oral communication. While Joanne focuses on the use in the French classroom, her ideas could be easily applied to other languages or even simply to increase student confidence in oral communication in their first language.  Download it for free on iBooks!

Treat of the Week: Community Connections

Congratulations to Holly Vaughan for publishing her classroom story of making connections with the broader community including a local retirement home!  Holly shares the story of how her primary classes have reached out beyond the walls of the school.  You can download the book for free on the iBooks Store:

Treat of the Week: Creating "Choose Your Own Adventure" Stories

Congratulations to LKDSB's own Allie Kelly who recently published her first multitouch book to the iBooks store!  Allie's book shares how her students created Choose Your Own Adventure stories using Popplet and Book Creator for their narrative writing unit.  Her book does a wonderful job of laying out the entire writing process and takes you through the technical steps needed to turn your Book Creator book into an interactive text.  Download it out for free on iBooks!

Treat of the Week: Math Before Bed

LKDSB's own Jon Orr has written a book that brings the wonderful experience of reading a bedtime story with children into the math world.

"Math Before Bed is a collection of prompts that can inspire mathematical discussions that you and your children can have before bed, at dinner, or anytime. Each page in this book shows you and your child a perplexing problem. Sometimes there is one right answer and sometimes there are many right answers The purpose of each question is to generate a discussion about HOW you determined an answer."

Head over to the website to see daily prompts or buy a print or iBooks copy of the book.  You can also get the daily prompts by following Math Before Bed on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Treat of the Week: Elements of Music with iPad book

A team of LKDSB educators have collaborated on a multi-touch book to share how they use iPad to teach Intermediate Music.    The book includes lessons to teach the Elements of Music and includes step-by-step videos guiding you through the activity.  You can download the book for free from the iBooks store. 

Treat of the Week: Apple Teacher

As you may have heard, Apple Teacher has launched in Canada!  Apple Teacher is a self-paced professional learning program that allows you to gain confidence in using iPad and iOS Apps like Keynote, Pages, and iMovie.  You answer online quizzes to collect badges.  Once you have all eight badges you receive the "Apple Teacher" designation.  

Because of your experience and interest with iPad, you may be able to successfully answer some quizzes based on your previous knowledge.  If there is an app that you aren't as comfortable with, Apple provides amazing Starter Guides that lead you through building projects that teach you the necessary skills along the way.  Head over to https://appleteacher.apple.com to enrol! 

We would like to celebrate LKDSB educators who become Apple Teachers! If you receive your Apple Teacher designation, take a screenshot of your Profile Page on the https://appleteacher.apple.com website showing your name and Apple Teacher graphic.  Then head over to https://goo.gl/forms/DyTufQdAn77IemLJ3 and upload the screenshot.  We will publish the names of LKDSB Apple Teachers on https://engagelk.blogspot.ca and celebrate our District's accomplishment on Twitter.  

Treat of the Week: Clips

Have you seen the new Clips app for iPhone and iPad?  We love the fun filters, titles, and the fact that it can use voice recognition to automatically add subtitles.  Finally, you can choose a soundtrack that will automatically adjust to the perfect length for your video.  It's great for the classroom because the app keeps your video right on your device until you are ready to share it.  That means that there are no Terms of Service agreements or age limits to worry about.

This would be a great app to use for creating how-to videos.  You can also use it with still pictures, zooming and panning around the image to share important details.

Clips is available on the App Store for devices running iOS 10.3 and above.  Check it out!

If your students make something great using Clips and you'd like to share it with the world, post it to Twitter using #ClassroomClips or #AppleClips. And, of course, don't forget to add our #EngageLK hashtag as well!

Treat of the Week: Texting Story

Treat of the Week: Google Expeditions

Are you travelling for March Break? No? Fear not! Google Expeditions can take you anywhere!

Google Expeditions enable teachers to bring students on virtual trips to places like museums, underwater, and outer space. While you can use it with Google Cardboard for an immersive 3D experience, you can also lead your students through Expeditions on your iPad.  You can download the free app from the App Store.

  

Mr. Caffrey has compiled a map and list of all the available expeditions here. You might be surprised by what you can explore, including the Moon, the Respiratory system, habitats, careers... You can find links to almost any curriculum area.

Have a restful March Break - see you in a week!

Treat of the Week: Recap

Recap is designed to quickly gather information from students in video format.  Educators assign a question to students, and students take a short video in response.  Then, Recap puts all those videos together into one for quick viewing by the teacher.  It's a great way to quickly assess whether students got the main idea of a lesson, or get information from lots of students quickly.  You can also have students self-assess using a thumbs up/thumbs down system and receive quick visual feedback about whether students feel confident in what they have learned.

Teachers have to use a browser on a computer to access Recap (though they have assured us that they are working on a Teacher iOS app!) but students can use the iPad app or a browser to respond to questions using Recap.

If you want to know more about Recap, watch the Quick Start video on their website. 

Treat of the Week: Learning Commons in LKDSB book!

A team of LKDSB educators have collaborated on a multi-touch book to share their stories about successful Learning Commons in our District.  The book shares best practices for creating a Learning Commons, profiles four very different Learning Commons Coaches, and provides photos for inspiration.  You can download the book for free from the iBooks store.

Treat of the Week: Padlet

Padlet  has been around for a long time in the EdTech world. It started as Wallwisher a number of years ago, and has been a staple in classrooms ever since.  You can think of Padlet as a digital bulletin board.  Post text, photos, audio, videos, and links - all from iPad or other device.  You can even attach items directly from Google Drive.

Padlets can be public, private (meaning only you and contributors you add can see it), visible to anyone with the link, or even protected by a password.  With Padlet you can create a custom link for users to type in or click on, but it also automatically creates a QR code, so Padlets are really easy to share.

Here are a couple examples:

Students use the Assembly app to show 3/4 and post their results to a Padlet. 

You can create Graphic Organizers in Padlet so students can move their post to the appropriate space.

How else could you use Padlet in the classroom?  Add to this Public Padlet below to share your ideas!

Treat of the Week: Math Apps for iPad

Clarity Innovations has a suite of fantastic Math manipulative apps for iPad that are definitely worth checking out!  Most of them allow students and teachers to do things that are not easily done with physical manipulatives, so they are more than a simple digital replacement for the "real thing".  For example, you can change the Number Line app to from whole numbers to fractions or decimals and change the interval between numbers on the number line.  While none of the apps have a sharing feature, we just ask students to take a screen shot of their work and upload it to SeeSaw or other classroom sharing tool.

Fractions: Easily create and compare equivalent fractions in bar or circle form.

Number Rack: An expandable number rack that goes from 10 to 100.

Number Line: Way more flexible than a traditional paper number line!

Number Pieces Basic: Base Ten Blocks reimagined.  Break apart  "flats" and "rods" to reinforce understanding.

Pattern Shapes: Digital Pattern Blocks.  You can also create your own tangram-like puzzles.

Money Pieces: The coins and bills are American currency, but could still be valuable for students who already recognize Canadian currency and need practice with making change.  

GeoBoard: All the benefits of a real GeoBoard without the elastics!  

Number Frames: Number frames has ten frames, but can also be expanded all the way up to 12x12.

All of these apps are also available online, so you can use them in any browser.

Treat of the Week: Answer Garden

This week's Treat of the Week is a simple feedback and brainstorming tool.  Answer Garden  is an interactive tool that allows teachers or students to "plant a question" and then share a link with people to receive responses. The responses are displayed in a word cloud format. Answer Gardens can be customized to allow unlimited responses and password protection. Answer Gardens can be edited by the administrator if necessary. 

This tool can be used to brainstorm ideas for an inquiry, get answers to a math questions, curate a list of ideas about a topic or even to take a poll in your classroom. 

Treat of the Week: Great App Updates!

This week's Treat of the Week is actually a three-for-one deal!  Last week brought fantastic updates to three already great apps:

The Google Classroom update (finally!) allows teachers to assign work to specific students or groups of students, rather than to the entire class.  To use this new feature, create an assignment as you normally would.  At the top of the screen, you will see a button that says, "All Students".  If you tap there, a list of student names will appear.  You can then check or uncheck students as required for the assignment.

Google has also launched a new 3D version of Toontastic.  Kids can now draw their own characters in 2D, then make them "3D" inside the app and use them in their videos.

Finally, Adobe Spark Video (one of our favourite digital storytelling apps) now allows users to insert videos (rather than just photos) into their project.

Enjoy these great updates!