Educators are using Tackk in a wide variety of ways in the classroom. From daily announcements to
creating digital portfolios, the possibilities are endless. The ability to comment publically and privately allows for collaboration between teachers, students, or even with other classes.
Think "fantasy football for social studies, literacy standards, and world news. Great way to get students engaged in learning!
ePals
ePals is an ideal way to collaborate with other classrooms around the world. You can set-up communication through Skype or emails between students. Teachers can search for a class to connect with by age range, language and regions.
Canva is a tool that makes design simple for everyone. Canva gives you everything you need to easily turn ideas into stunning designs. Create designs for Web or print: blog graphics, presentations,
Facebook covers, flyers, posters, invitations and so much more.
This blog post focuses on completing Word Work on the iPad with elementary students. Thanks to Kayla Long for sharing this link!
Science Experiments For Kids | The Quirkles
Quirkles is the Science/reading book series that comes with 2 experiments to do at the end. They can be taught in any order so teachers could read the book or books that go along with the letters while they introduce them. Thanks to Renae Hukill for sharing this resource.
"Classrooms can Skype with a Yellowstone National Park ranger to learn more about geology (geysers, hot springs, volcanoes), ecology (fire; wildlife--bears, bison, elk, wolves, and more), or cultural history (Native American, world's 1st national park, tourism). Students can interview a park ranger or try to guess which park the ranger works in."
Ten Reflective Questions to Ask at the End of Class
Provides
some basic observations about reflection along with 10 reflective
prompt questions you can use with your students or for yourself. Great
questions for wrapping up the day, a project or a lesson.
5 Free Tools for Creating Whiteboard Videos
These
whiteboard video creation tools are great for those exploring or
working with the Flipped Classroom. They are also a great way to create
concept videos to share with parents and students as homework helpers.
Tool recommendations from FreeTech4Teachers.
Google Tools for Science & Math
Includes Chrome Extensions, Google Doc Add-ons, Graphing & Calculators, and Google Drive Apps connected to Science and Math
Last summer, I came upon a new tool called Google Keep. I liked it better than stickies because I could access them on any computer, but the features were limited and I couldn't access them on my Apple devices. Just this week I discovered that Google Keep has an Apple app and I've been taking a fresh look at this tool. Here's what I like about this tool:
1. It's free! Who doesn't love free resources?
2. It's tied to your Google account. You know what that means? No additional username and password to remember! Because we are a GAFE district, students can also use this tool for reminders, notes and checklists. This becomes the perfect digital agenda for students.
3. Color!!!! I'm all for using a variety of color! Google Keep allows you to change the color of your notes. I like to use this as a means of organizing my notes. For example, red notes relate to my website, green ones are informational reminders, and teal notes relate to the Intel Courses. Students could use different colors for different classes to help them stay organized.
4. You can change notes from a regular note to a checklist with one click. This is great for projects or daily to-dos, especially for those of us who like to see what we've accomplished and what is left to complete.
5. You can add reminders on your notes by clicking the reminder icon (finger with a string tied on it). Customize your desired date and time on your reminder and you are all set to receive notification reminders. No more missed deadlines!
6. With a simple drag & drop action, you can rearrange your notes and put them in any order that works for you.
7. You can search and filter your notes by words, color, sharing, lists, images, and more.
8. You can add images and websites to your notes. This would be great for collecting images and websites for a specific lesson, unit or project. You could also take a photo at a workshop of a key slide or information being presented and add it to a note. Students could take a photo of the work for the week if their teacher posts it in the classroom. This feature would also help students keep track of online photo locations for images they use on a class project.
9. You can share notes with other people by clicking on the share icon. They will receive an email message with a link to the note. This would be great for sharing project responsibilities or sending out assignments to students.
10. There is an app! Android users have always had a Google Keep app option for their devices, but until recently Apple users had to just use the Chrome web browser on their devices. Now you can see you notes and receive notifications on the go by installing GoKeep. App Drawbacks - too many ads and no search or filter option! Hopefully that will be an upcoming update. There is an alternative app option called TurboNote for Google Keep. You still have ads at the bottom of the screen, but they are not popping up over the top of your notes.
Some additional tidbits:
You can download the Google Keep app onto your computer from the Chrome Web Store.
There is a Google Keep extension - Category Tabs for Google Keep - that allows you to assign specific categories to your note colors. However, there are some glitches with filtering the colors.
This app runs offline!
Check out this video for a quick visual tour of this tool!
10 edu-books to inspire and stimulate
Looking for a book to help you go to the next level as an educator? Matt Miller, author of Ditch the Textbook, offers his top ten list.
75 Practical Ed Tech Tips Videos
Educational
'how-to' videos created by Richard Byrne, FreeTech4Teachers, covering a
variety of topics such as storyboarding, blogging tools and tips, audio
recording tools and more. (See playlist below)
Tackk
