Maddie at EdTech Classroom created a short video on how to do a Virtual Morning Meeting Activities for Distance Learning (https://youtu.be/bk2h-3xuNDg).
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Virtual Morning Meeting Activities for Distance Learning
Maddie at EdTech Classroom created a short video on how to do a Virtual Morning Meeting Activities for Distance Learning (https://youtu.be/bk2h-3xuNDg).
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Must-Have Google Slides Add-Ons for Teachers
In his video, Must-Have Google Slides Add-Ons for Teachers (https://youtu.be/jvpU2qPAt-k), Sam talks about 9 helpful Google Slides Add-Ons.
1. Unsplash
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
How to Create Interactive Google Docs for Distance Learning
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
How to Create Drag and Drop Activities on Google Slides
Creating interactive activities can be difficult in a virtual environment.
Pocketful of Primary (https://www.youtube.com/c/PocketfulofPrimary) has some great tutorials on how to make fun, engaging activities for your students. This week I am sharing How to Create Drag and Drop Activities on Google Slides (https://youtu.be/-byn2YTVeWU). This video is about 20 minutes long but is well worth the watch. I hope you enjoy the video and learn something new to use with your students!
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Make your PDFs and Worksheets Editable Online - Using Google Slides
As educators we always go above and beyond what non-educators are capable of doing. It is in our blood, our DNA, to do everything we can to help our students succeed!
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
9 Ways to Beat Zoom Fatigue
Here is another post, like last week, that is not necessarily a "tech tip". Although we don't all use Zoom, this article is good practice for all of us that are looking at a computer all day long.
9 Ways to Beat Zoom Fatigue (https://www.
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Sensory Rooms May Help Ease the Anxiety Students Feel from COVID-19
Sensory Rooms May Help Ease the Anxiety Students Feel from COVID-19 (https://bit.ly/3jL03xl)
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Zoom Accessibility Features & Best Practices for Security
Zoom has also published a series of Educational How To's. The one that caught my eye this week is called:
https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/03/27/best-practices-for-securing-your-virtual-classroom/?fbclid=IwAR3KVFa_bPdtmSu242X-PriODyfn0Jx1w5-mTKjMVNK-02lflFU2XSLUyL4
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Using Bitmoji in the Classroom
11 Super Creative Ways to Use Bitmojis in Your Classroom (https://www.weareteachers.com/bitmoji-classroom/)
Make a Bitmoji Scene in Google Slides! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGKTvlUbXxY)
Although these links focus on how teachers can use Bitmojis, don't forget about your students. Let them use Bitmoji in a presentation or class project. They can use Bitmoji to express themselves in a class discussion or in a morning "How Are You Doing?". Kids love Bitmoji too!
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Story Shares
Story Shares (https://www.storyshares.org/books) is a non-profit organization devoted to inspiring reading practices and improving literacy skills for individuals of all ages. Story Shares has a library full of books that are both compelling and approachable for struggling teen and young adult readers - Relevant Reads.
If you are interested in writing a book to share on Story Shares check out their Guidelines.
https://www.storyshares.org/files/guidelines-story-shares-july-2016.pdf
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Additional Information: Resources for Creating Accessible Content
AMMR training materials and resources created by Alt+Shift can be found in the Accessible Materials Made Right: Workshop Files folder. Additional resources that have been provided by past AMMR participants are located in the Shared Resources folder. Please consider uploading any of your own resources to this folder so that others can benefit from your shared knowledge and experience.
View the AMMR Shared Resources Folder on Google Drive (https://bit.ly/3bwPFFA)
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Course 7: Developing Your Plan
This course presents a series of questions to consider as you or your district or organization plan for digital accessibility. The approach to assembling a team, reviewing resources, revising resources, and clarifying future resource development needs to include defined goals and timelines that are reasonable to achieve and move you forward. If you work as part of a team or organization, those goals and timelines should also reflect input from the group. This increases shared ownership and accountability.
The purpose of the AMMR series is to increase awareness of what makes digital content accessible and why it really matters. The series will equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to begin creating accessible documents. This course focuses on using intentional planning and design to help people who would not otherwise be able to access electronic content.
Visit Course 7 (https://www.edupaths.org/Pathways/Details/1311)
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Course 6: Microsoft PowerPoint
This course focuses on using Microsoft PowerPoint to create accessible presentations. Some foundational aspects of accessibility are reviewed as well as slide set up, reading order, the accessibility checker, creating handouts, and more. This course is not intended to stand alone from the first three courses in the AMMR series. Foundational and essential knowledge communicated in those courses will not be found in this course.
Visit Course 6 (https://www.edupaths.org/Pathways/Details/1298)
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Course 5: Adobe Acrobat Pro
This course focuses on using Adobe Acrobat Pro to create accessible documents. Topics addressed include document set up, the importance of tags, accessible tables, bookmarks, and the accessibility checker.
Visit Course 5 (https://www.edupaths.org/Pathways/Details/1265)
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Course 4: Microsoft Word
This course walks you through the basics of using Microsoft Word to create accessible documents.You will learn how to use styles to make documents searchable, place bookmarks inside of tables, use the accessibility checker, and export documents to PDF.
Visit Course 4 (https://www.edupaths.org/Pathways/Details/1257)
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Course 3: Structure and Appearance, Part 2
This course addresses text considerations for documents you and/or your school or organization create. The particular focus for this course is alternative text for images, tables and charts, and closed captioning for video.
Visit Course 3 (https://www.edupaths.org/Pathways/Details/1243)
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Course 2: Structure and Appearance, Part 1
This course addresses text considerations for documents you and/or your school or organization create. In particular, the focus for this course is on fonts, font size, headers, underlined text and hyperlinks, and other layout structures added to documents to communicate information.
Visit Course 2 (https://www.edupaths.org/Pathways/Details/1242)
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Course 1: Code and Foundations
Have you ever used the cut-outs in curbs at crosswalks? What about pushing the buttons to automatically open doors because your hands were full? These are accessibility features that have been developed for individuals needing these access features, but all benefit from the innovations. The same holds true when we make digital content available to all users. This first course addresses the code, or the law, and reasons why accessibility is important.
Visit Course 1 (https://www.edupaths.org/Pathways/Details/1241)
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
Accessible Materials Made Right (AMMR)
The information I am sharing comes from Alt+Shift (https://www.altshift.education/). Alt+Shift is a collaborative and impact-focused organization advancing:
- The belief that every student is capable of learning and thriving within his/her educational environment.
- Educator skills, knowledge and drive to improve learning.
- Partnerships to co-construct systems at all levels to benefit students.
Please check out a quick overview of accessible materials and watch a short introduction video at
https://www.altshift.education/professional-learning/self-directed-learning/accessible-materials-made-right-ammr.
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Card Games in the Classroom
You can also check out 18 Fifth Grade Math Games for Teaching Fractions, Decimals, and More (https://www.weareteachers.com/fifth-grade-math-games/) which can be used for teaching and assessment as well.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Board Games in the Elementary Classroom
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Free Audio Books
Check out the SUMMER 2020 SYNC TITLE PAIRINGS (https://www.audiobooksync.com/2020-sync-titles/) page for the list of available books this summer.
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For younger students, check out the audio book options I discussed in a previous blog post,
Audio books (https://at-udl.blogspot.com/2016/12/audio-books.html)
As an update to this list, NighlightStories.net has begun adding new stories that you need to check out.
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
ModMath
ModMath assists students who struggle with Mathematical notation. The app lets you write and solve math problems on the iPad using the custom keypad. You can also print, email, or save to cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox.
ModMath lets you:
- Write and solve equations with a piece of virtual graph paper, greatly improving speed and legibility.
- Solve basic math problems and more complex algebraic equations, all without ever picking up a pencil.
- Print assignments, email them directly to the teacher or save to cloud storage.
You can visit http://www.modmath.com/ to see a short video of the app in action and to learn more about the app and the family that created it.
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Rewordify.com
- Intelligently simplify difficult English, for faster comprehension
- Effectively teach words, for building a better vocabulary
- Help teachers save time and produce engaging lessons
- Help improve learning outcomes
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
20 Quotes From Children's Books Every Adult Should Know
20 Quotes From Children’s Books Every Adult Should Know (https://tinyurl.com/u55wxyl)
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
LitCharts
Check them out at https://www.litcharts.com/
LitCharts provides Side-by-Side Summary, Analysis, and Themes of a variety of literature.
LitCharts is similar to SparkNotes or CliffsNotes except that LitCharts broke that mold in several ways. LitCharts is more of a bulleted-list-style summary of every single plot point in the book. It offers side-by-side analysis and color-coded themes throughout the book.
The LitCharts Library has over:
- 1230 Literature Guides
- 187 Poetry Guides
- 136 Literary Devices and Terms
- Shakescleare Translations of every Shakespeare play
LitCharts offers online access as well as a mobile app for both Android and iOS. The mobile app contains every word of content from the website, optimized for reading and reviewing on your phone.
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If you are interested you can also subscribe to LitCharts A+. They offer options for month to month as well as annual subscription rates.
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Otter Voice Meeting Notes
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Google Sheets as a Translator
This would be a great tool to use for those learning English as a second language as well as for those trying to learn any foreign language. You could expand your sheet to include images or even brief descriptions, whatever would be helpful for you or your students.
For more information please see the YouTube, How to Automatically Translate Google Sheets Cells (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEibCyjPMh4).
I am also including a link to the Languages Codes (https://developers.google.com/admin-sdk/directory/v1/languages) currently available in Google.
I have started a Google Sheet with translation from English to Spanish that you can take a look at as well, click the link below to make your own copy.
Translation Dictionary (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JvbtxT1tXM7s-lvb0_ZjNjUw7nvGlh3jmCBVFfdHY-g/copy)
Google Sheets are versatile. You could make a new tab for each language or, like in the video, make each column a different language as well.
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Aided Language Stimulation Explained
Teach a student to use a communication device to generate language by using the communication device as a model. Watch this PowToon video created by Chris Bugaj to learn a little about the importance of modeling the use of a communication device.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Keeping Pace
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Strategies for Eliciting Language
Another video created by Chris Bugaj and his colleagues at Loudoun County Public Schools. This video shows how language scripts posted around the room can be used by assistants, substitutes, and other educators in order to help students learn to communicate.
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Effective Communication Strategies
Effective Communication Strategies All Day Long (https://tinyurl.com/vvfvlkp)
This video describes how to infuse communication strategies into preschool classrooms, all day long. The information shared can easily be transferred to and used in higher grade levels as well.
Effective Communication Strategies worksheet (PDF version) (https://tinyurl.com/vl4lt22)
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Sticky
Did you know that there is a sticky notes app for the iPad?
Sticky - simple notebooks (https://tinyurl.com/tafnmya)
Sticky notes, both high tech and low tech, are great for on the fly visuals, phonics lessons and solving quick math problems.
With Sticky - simple notebooks you can arrange your thoughts, ideas, todos or assignments with different colors, sizes, and layouts. You can even use voice dictation to write without typing.
Sticky - simple notebooks is a versatile tool that can be helpful in all aspects of your life.
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
What Teachers Need to Know to Help Left-Handed Students Succeed
I think it is safe to say that we all know someone who is left-handed. My dad is left-handed and I have a few cousins that are as well. WeAreTeachers.com has published an article that contains some great tips and strategies to help lefties be successful in your classroom.
Check out What Teachers Need to Know to Help Left-Handed Students Succeed (https://www.weareteachers.com/left-handed-students) for more information.
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Twitter as a Tool
Check out a few hashtags for yourself, you can start with:
Creating a classroom hashtag, to use as a parent communication tool, to let parents see some of the great things you and your students are doing in the classroom, is also a great way to use Twitter as a Tool.
Get started on you Twitter journey today!
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
DF Tube (Distraction Free for YouTube™)
YouTube™, as a company, is directly incentivized to create views and get as many ad clicks as possible. Because of this we are often overwhelmed with thumbnails and advertisements from every angle. While this is good for someone looking to kill time, it is not so good if you are trying to focus on educational content, do research, or find some relaxing music to groove to.
Give it a try for yourself and see how much more productive you can be!
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Math Games
In the article 16 Fun and Free First Grade Math Games and Activities (https://tinyurl.com/w6gspte) from WeAreTeachers.com there are a variety of hands on math activities, some of which can be adapted for higher level math concepts. Many of these activities could be used as indoor recess game options as well, such as 100 chart battleship, dot arrangement bowling or Shut-The-Box.
Take a look at these great math game and activity ideas to determine how you can use them in your classroom today.