Mozilla’s Popcorn Maker is a free video editing tool that takes out all the hard stuff. I just taught a colleague how to use this the other day. Super easy. It helps you remix web video into a single mashup video. You can pull content from the web (youtube, vimeo, etc) and add your own comments and links to it. One of my fellow teachers wants to use it to take clips/segments of certain youtube videos to create her own video that displays various types of dance.
In the spirit of the holiday season, I thought I’d share with you Google’s Santa Tracker. It’s pretty clever and I think the little ones would really be into it. Every day opens something new in the interactive town of the north pole. There are videos, games, simple javascript, global traditions around the world, how to say Santa in different languages, etc. They also have lessons aligned to the Common Core.
Mozilla’s Popcorn Maker is a free video editing tool that takes out all the hard stuff. I just taught a colleague how to use this the other day. Super easy. It helps you remix web video into a single mashup video. You can pull content from the web (youtube, vimeo, etc) and add your own comments and links to it. One of my fellow teachers wants to use it to take clips/segments of certain youtube videos to create her own video that displays various types of dance.
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Next week is Computer Science Education Week!!! I am currently in the middle of teaching my K-5 coding units and wanted to spread the word about computer science. Computer Science Education Week is a week dedicated to computer science so that every student in every school can get a chance to learn computer science. If you don't have a ton of time (I get it. I'm a teacher, too.) to dedicate to teaching computer science, at least give your students one hour. If you can gift your students with just an hour of exposure to coding, do it! It's better than nothing. I did the Hour of Code with my kindergarten class last year and they LOVED it. My students were working at home on their own time because they loved it so much.
Code.org is a fabulous web tool with an abundance of coding and computer science resources. There are various courses in the Code Studio such as The Hour of Code, Elementary Courses, Intro Courses, and Flappy code. You can organize your class and get instant feedback on how the kids are doing. If you don’t feel like setting up a class, no need. You can still do the courses without an account. Easy for teachers to learn, too. Do one of the courses yourself! Happy coding! Short and sweet this week...
Smore is a great website where you can create flyers, share them, and get feedback. Great for events, assignments, or newsletters. Emaze is a presentation tool that is easy to use with professionally designed templates. Can be used on an iPad or computer. My favorite feature is the automatic translation tool. A couple web based tools this week for creating infographics. An infographic is a visual representation of information.
Easel.ly gives you a way to make infographics online. There are plently of templates to choose from to get started. Very user friendly. Check out these that I made here & here. Infogr.am is another free site to create infographics with a variety of templates. These templates are more data based and the visuals are very appealing. Here is one that I made to represent my redesigned learning space last year. The tools I have for you this week are brand new. I've never used either of these tools but thought I would share and we can learn together! Tell About This is a new app from the creators of Write About This, which I shared with you before. Both of these apps were created by @dreambition (Brad Wilson), an educator from Michigan. I think this would be an awesome tool for elementary kids to get them to tell oral stories, brainstorm, and launch their writing. Check it out! Class Kick is a tool that offers instant student feedback. I like the audio/video feature and peer collaboration. This could get more reserved students asking for help. This would be a great resource that would support blended learning. These tools are fabulous for those of us who use Youtube videos. Check it out!
SafeShare.tv Want a way to share youtube videos without the potentially inappropriate ads? Use this tool to filter it all and generate safe links to share with your students. This tool is super easy to use. Just a simple copy and paste and voila! You have a safe link to share. TED-Ed Are you flipping your classroom? You can adapt and edit any lesson on TED-Ed or create your own. Donʻt know what flipping is? Click here. Photo Circle This is a free app where you can upload photos and share albums with friends. I have used this to take photos of my classroom set up and share it with other teachers. They also share their classroom setup photos with me so we can bounce ideas off of each other. Could easily be used to share photos of student work, photos of spirit week, etc.
Plickers A clicker but simplified. Free and easy to use tool that requires no electronic devices for your students. They can give their iPads a break! Instead, each students gets a unique barcode to answer with, a paper clicker if you will. A neat tool for teachers to use because it stores the data and responses of your students. Great for feedback and assessment.
The tools I have for you this week are centered on writing. Write About This is an app that allows students to write about a picture and do quick writes. Students can record themselves reading their writing as well and share it. Students will learn to navigate the keyboard and type more efficiently if they type their writing. There is a free version as well as a full paid version. Students are also motivated to write by having a visual to work with.
ColAR mix app is an augmented reality app. Students can print of pages to color and their artwork can come to life! They have pages on topics of science, animals, characters, Dot Day, etc. For example, I had my students color one of the Chinese new year pages, experience the augmented reality, and then use their imagination to write a story about it afterwards. They have free pages and paid pages. I have two tools for you this week.
The first is a web based tool called Go Noodle. This is a free resource with plenty of brain breaks so that students can get their wiggles out. I used this in my classroom last year and the kids LOVED it. https://www.gonoodle.com/home The second is another web based tool called Wonderopolis. I used this resource to spark ideas for Genius Hour last year. It’s also just a great website for kids to explore and wonder. There is also a different wonder every day. I have this widget on my blog. http://wonderopolis.org/ |
Tools & Tips Tuesday!You can learn about and access new tech tools I share with my colleagues every week. Archives
August 2015
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