Keyboard Shortcuts for Chromebooks

Keyboard shortcuts make my life so much easier.  I love them.  

I found a great article that lists some great keyboard shortcuts for Chromebooks. 

Check out KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS FOR KIDS (https://www.coderkids.com/blog/keyboard-shortcuts-for-kids) from CoderKids. 

Card Games in the Classroom

 Last week I talked about using board games in the classroom.  They can be used for recess but are also a great way to practice a variety of skills.

You can also use a deck of playing cards to help students show skills they know and have learned related to IEP goal and objectives or state academic standards. Here are 16 Card Games That Will Turn Your Students Into Math Aces  (https://www.weareteachers.com/math-card-games/) and that you can use to test math skills in your 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.  

Board Games in the Elementary Classroom

As we approach the heart of the winter here in Michigan, students will be spending more and more recesses inside.  Teachers are always looking for activities to keep kids occupied during these times. 

Have you considered board games?  

Besides being a fun activity for the kids during these unplanned times, board games can be a great way for a student to show skills related to IEP goals or state academic standards.  For these reasons board games are great items for your classroom.  

Here is a list of 21 of the Best Board Games for the Elementary Classroom  (https://www.weareteachers.com/best-board-games-for-elementary/).

Note Anywhere

Have you ever wanted to leave a note on a webpage? Are you looking for a tool to leave some thoughts while doing some research?

I have a great option for you to try, Note Anywhere.



Note Anywhere is a Google Extension. It allows you to add Post-it type notes to almost any web page.
The notes stay on the page until you delete them and load auto-magically when you open the web page. The extension icon tells you how many post-its you have on a page when you are on the page.

If you right click on the Note Anywhere icon in your extensions tool bar, you can open the options menu. Within options you can change the color of the post-it note. You can also view a summary of where you have notes. It will provide you with a list of URL links to the articles with notes on them.

Note Anywhere can be a useful research tool for both teachers and students.

BigReveal

BigReveal is an iPad app that lets you create personalized scratch cards. You use the app to hide a picture under a silver coating, just like a scratch-off lottery ticket.
This app can be highly motivating to students. For teacher and staff, it can help evaluate how well students can swipe up, down, right or left and if they can access all areas of the screen, which can be helpful when trying out a new stylus or mouse.
This app is not free, but only cost $1.99. It might be a good investment for use with your students.

5 Fun and Easy Equipment Free Games

As the colder weather begins here in Michigan, teachers are always looking for indoor movement activities in case outdoor recess is not an option.  Other teachers are always on the lookout for quick brain break activities.  

fit by Sanford Health has a bunch of great ideas to help kids stay active.  The site is full of activities and informaiton about fitness as well as some social emotional strategies for students and families.

Their blog post this week is 5 Fun and Easy Equipment Free Games (https://bit.ly/30dAXlU).

Follow the links to check out the site and their recent blog post.  

Speech-to-Text, Google Voice Typing

As a district we have moved to 1:1 enviornment.  Every YCS student has access (or can have access) to a district issued device.  Take a moment to consider your students. Think about the ones who struggle to get their ideas onto paper. How about the students who struggle with spelling or have fine motor control issues.

Speech to Text is a tool that can help these students and many others. Speech to Text is an Accessibility feature built into most computers today. It is a tool that allows a writer to dictate their thoughts and ideas into a document. Many Speech to Text options also allow you to speak the punctuation and a multitude of other voice commands for editing purposes.

Google Docs has a built in Speech to Text option called Voice Typing.

Google offers a fairly comprehensive instructional guide for Voice Typing. The guide includes a list of languages supported by Voice Typing as well as a list of punctuation that can be voice enabled. The guide also includes a list of voice commands for formatting or editing your document in the sections under “Voice commands”. There are also some troubleshooting tips located near the end of the guide.

Voice Typing is also available on iPads via the microphone icon that appears next to the keyboard when typing.  

Give it a try! Your students will love it (and so will you)!

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Voice Typing is also available as a built-in features on the staff MacBooks.  Please reach out to me if you would like a tutorial on how to set it up for your use.

FREE RESOURCE: Fine Motor Strengthening At Home

Are you looking for some fine motor strengthening activities to do at home?

XceptionalED has a free resource available, a great PDF list of fine motor activities that can be done at home. Check out this free resource at:

https://resources.xceptionaled.com/blogs/post/Fine-Motor-Strengthening-At-Home