So many of you are rockin' Google, as well as SeeSaw/ClassDojo, into your
teaching and learning adventures - Just wanted to share some opportunities to become ambassadors or certified in those programs that you are incorporating into your classrooms

(if you haven't already).

• SeeSaw Ambassador  ~ Apply today! Love SeeSaw!

There are also so many opportunities to connect with other classes

around the world through student connected "blogs"/portfolios.  

Knock down those walls and share to a global audience!

• Class Dojo has an ambassador program as well, but it looks

like it opens up in the summer each year. We can keep an eye out if
any of you are interested. Love their Big Ideas component too!

• Google Certification - Levels 1&2 (assessment fees apply)

Let us know if you have any questions about moving forward with any of these
or if you want to explore any together.

Thank you for all that you do for our students each and every day!

Have a wonderful, restful, well-deserved Break!

See you in 2018!

-->Did you know?
Students can crop images in Google Slides into shapes rather than just the default square?!

Sumdog ~K-8 Math

This may be old news to you, but saw some education peeps talking about some of their favorite math programs. Many of the ones that you incorporate were mentioned ; However, there was one I saw a few times that I hadn't heard of and wanted to share in case it's "new" to you too > Sumdog

Looks like it's along the lines of Prodigy as far as having an avatar and completing questions.

Says it is free /CCSS aligned  ~ Haven't explored it myself yet, but please let us know if you want to check it out together.

Take or Toss!

12 Days of Tech-Mas

Eric Curts shares great resources and tools (He's the one who created the Snowman and Halloween interactive writing templates that we've shared out before).

He has a 12 Days of Tech-Mas countdown here too.

Take or Toss😊 Let us know if you want to explore anything together.

The Google Voyager tours look like amazing virtual field trips to embark on!

⛄️❄️Wintertime Googley Writing Activities⛄️❄️

Just wanted to share these Googley Winter Activities from Eric Curts via the 12 Days of TechMas in case you missed them. Just another set of tools to give students choice for switching up platforms for writing. Focus on just one to consider implementing or let the students explore a number of them and report back to the class about their discoveries.

Keep in mind that you can compile each activity onto an online gallery to share with families rather than printing them.

Students can also make their links "public" and create a QR code of their activity. >With an extension like Quick QR Code generator, students can easily make a QR code for their project. You can have them drop their code in Classroom or in a shared doc similar to this. Rather than printing out the full-colored activity, you're only printing a small QR Code. You can still have a designated classroom place to showcase their "work", but just swap out the QR code that peers and visitors will interact with.

This also works great for digital books that students create in Slides, Little Bird Tales, StoryBird, BookCreator, StoryJumper, etc.

~Your own little Read-Box for student-created ebooks~

Let us know if you have any questions or want to explore together.

Take or Toss!

Digital Rubrics & Google Keep

Have you been checking out the 12 Days of Tech-mas?! Love these rubric options! Some of the rubrics can be "stamped" right on a student's google doc. There are options for written/voice feedback, customized rubrics and you can ingest your Google Classroom assignments so that you can easily go from student to student. With anything new, there's a learning curve, but hopefully these save you time in the long-run while still providing students with authentic feedback.

The other countdown calendar highlights Google Keep today. Don't forget, Google Keep is also linked to the Docs/Slides now which makes researching, note-taking and collaborating that much more streamlined for your students. Add images, drawings, links and more! Try it out for yourself.

As always, let us know if you want to check out any of these together.

BlackLight Math & Glow-in-the-Dark Scavenger Hunts

Came across two awesome activities on Twitter to try out with your students. Nothing transformational here ~ but oh so fun for you and your students! Take or toss. If you’ve tried this in any subject, let us know how it went!

Can our rooms even get this dark?! :)

Black light Math

Glow in the dark scavenger hunts

Making Connections

Hi Teachers! This has been shared out before, but it's been a while. Just wanted to take a moment to share one of many communities where teachers are looking to connect their classes with others. If you scan the site, you'll see all different grade levels, around the world, looking to connect with others.

It could be YOU and your students!!

We'd love to help get you connected, so please let us know if you see anything that sparks your interest OR if you would like any help writing your own post.

There are many many different versions of connecting. A Mystery Hangout is often played much like 20-Questions -Neither side knows where the other is located (the teachers usually do and will plan it out ahead of time).  Jeanne Salazar does an awesome MATH Mystery Number instead of guessing the location ~ the students solve math riddles together and complete a mystery picture on a hundreds chart (created by the other class) as they go. There can be connections specific to novels read, Science concepts and so on. We had a Mystery Connection in Music class one year and the two classes sang holiday songs together in the end! We could even connect you with an expert based on what you're discussing in class.

Breaking down the walls of the classroom, connecting, collaborating and sharing with others is so incredibly powerful. Your students will always remember the experience.

We have many getting started resources to share if you're interested as well. Give us a shout!

2017 Google Countdown to Winter Break

Spreading some "Google" Holiday Cheer from Eric Lawson. Bookmark this page and visit it each day (beginning Friday) to open up a new Google tip. You won't be able to click on a date until Friday!

One example that was shared out in the past was the App Launcher organizer. Have you ever wanted to organize the icons that pop up in the grid? This extension will help you ~ now I have all of my everyday google icons right at the top when I open the grid.

Excited to see what fun Googly tools are shared each day! Give us a shout along the way if you want to explore any new goodies together.

Take or Toss

EquatIO Free for Teachers

Math Peeps : 

We've talked about EquatIO before, but now it's free for educators. Just wanted to pass along.

Looks like gMath is going away and Desmos Graphing is coming our way too!

Visual Note-Taking/ Sketchnotes

Had a recent conversation with a teacher about Visual Note Taking, so wanted to share a few resources. This concept has been around for a long time and many of you may already use visual note-taking strategies with students in the classroom on various levels (visual vocabulary, organizing writing, science, health, math, history concepts, music, art and so much more).

Whether via paper/pencil, chromebook or iPad, students do not need to be artists to visualize learning...in any subject/discipline.

Students can visually emphasize solely the text and layout (no drawings or colors) of their Cornell notes and other note-taking strategies as well.

It may not be for everyone, but it's a great strategy for some students to help bring the learning "story" to life and make it stick!

Take or Toss ~ As always, please let us know if you'd like to explore together or collaborate on ideas for tools to implement.

Why and how of sketchnotes in the classroom

2nd grade Sketchnotes example

Middle School Sketchnote examples

If you want to dig deep, check out these resources and examples from Sylvia Duckworth, Queen of Sketchnotes.

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I should have sent this all visually as a sketchnote!!

Hour of Code - Follow-up

If any of you are participating in this year's  "Hour of Code" or coding in general with students at any time throughout the year, please let us know!

We would love to come by and snap some pics if you're participating. Otherwise, please share your pics to helpdesk so we can get them on monitors. We're always looking for teachers to tweet out pics of their own too and help share our PG story. If you're interested in learning more, please let us know as well. If you're ready, just check the photo permission list, tag @PrairieGrove46  and include #pg46pride and #hourofcode.

We're excited to have PG students once again participate in this world-wide, real-world, experience!

Join the Global Movement ~ Hour of Code

Hour of Code is an annual computer science experience that takes place across the globe. Don't miss out! Carve out some time during the week of December 4th- December 8th to participate ~ Yes, YOU and your students! This can be implemented in every grade, anywhere across the curriculum, in any core classroom, co-curricular, special service, you name it!

• NO coding/computer science experience required by the teacher or students. For ages "4 to 104".

• Coding activities are self-guided. Many students have experience with some level of coding from STEM class, so they can help each other out!

• Choose from ipad/chromebook activities or "unlugged" activities ~ both are awesome!

• You could even invite experts from STEM fields in to talk with students (in-person or via "skype").

If you're interested, but don't know how to get started, give us a shout! We'd be happy to help you plan your hour of code. Don't be intimidated by the "hour" ~ it's flexible!

333,374 events around the world signed up to participate so far. 840 are in IL so far! Sign up here and let's add to those numbers!

Hope to see your students coding, programing and computing!

Please be sure to share any pictures. If you tweet out on your own, please use #pg46pride & #HourOfCode

Travel the World With Your Students

Last Take or Toss from me this week...

Oldies, but Goodies :

Google Lit Trips - create a 3D geographic tour of a story

Google Earth Voyager ~educational tours/field trips around the world! More info from this teacher's post here.

Have students mash Screencastify (or any other recording application) on top of the Google Earth experience and WOW :

14 ways to use Screencastify in the classroom  

Let us know if you want to collaborate on a world-traveling experience for our students OR explore any of the recording options for them to communicate with peers/community/world!

Amplify their voices and see what magic happens ~Adam Welcome

PearDeck Flashcard Factory

Hello Teachers! Wanted to pass along another "tool" to add to your toolbox shared by Steve Wick over at Wicked Good EdTech regarding a new-ish release of PearDeck Flashcard Factory.

Also, there is now an add-on in Google Slides for PearDeck. You can incorporate Pear Deck features into instructional slides to check for understanding, gather feedback, make predictions and more! The free version options are still pretty good. If you've tried these out, please share your feedback on how it went with your kiddos😊

Take or Toss! 

The Never-Ending-Open-Tabs Dilemma (Chrome Users)

Do you ever find yourself with many, many, tabs open?

Do you sometimes ask yourself, "Hmmm, which tab is it?"

Have you ever had to peer closely to try and figure out which tab is which because there are so many open and they just keep getting tinier?!

Did you know that each tab in Chrome is essentially another instance of Chrome open? The more tabs you have open, the harder your browser is working...the slower your connection might be!

You're not alone and there might be a solution for you :

Try OneTab. It condenses all of your tabs into a single tab. All of your tabs will sit in a list in the one tab . You can click to open the ones you need when you need them or restore/delete them all at once.

If the thought of your tabs "disappearing" freaks you out a little, you might prefer The Great Suspender. You can choose to suspend specific tabs or all except the one you're on. The tabs remain up, but they're "paused" (not slowing you down) until you reload them or choose to un-suspend all.

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Don't forget, Tab Cloud was shared a while back too. Pretty nifty extension that will save tab lists for you. I have saved tab lists for Start of Day, "morning" announcements, and others for specific lessons that I teach.

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Keyboard shortcuts?

Move across tabs on your Mac by holding "Control" and pressing the "tab" key

Move backwards through your tabs by holding "Control" and "Shift" while tapping the "tab" key

Command "w" will close a tab

Command Shift "t" will reopen a closed tab

Writing Tool ~ Creative Conversations via Fake iMessages

Morning! 

Came across a conversation about Fake Text Messages in the classroom. This has been around for a few years, so may just be a lil reminder. Students can create conversations between characters, historians, scientists, mathematicians or use it to strengthen vocabulary or grammar, and so more. You could also use it to display a class message via the projector or to blast out in Google Classroom.

Nothing transformational ~Just another tool to incorporate into a lesson or writing activity for students to use as an option to show their understanding/content mastery. User-friendly and simple to create/share.

Take or Toss.

BookSnaps & MathSnaps

Hi Teachers! BookSnaps have been around for a bit, but I've been seeing a lot more of "MathSnaps" too. There are a variety tools that your students can use on chromebooks or iPads to create theirs. Google Draw is one option that would work seamlessly with Classroom. 

There are many ways to implement this concept across the curriculum for students to reflect, express, question, explain thinking and reasoning, share...

Consider incorporating video and having students explain their booksnaps or math snaps too. 😃