CurTech93

Discovery Education - SOS! Discovery Education has an incredible resource called SOS! SOS stands for “Spotlight on Strategies.” The strategies can be used with their videos and other technology, but they do not have to be used in that way. They have over 100 strategies! Some of them you may be familiar with, some you may have forgotten, and some may be entirely new to you. Check it out! Log into Discovery Ed and then look at the black toolbar along the top. Find “professional development” and click on that. Now you will be on a page that offers a variety of professional development (we will look at that next week!). Click on the SOS picture:   This will take you to a page that lists a number of strategies by category. Choose one of them and you will have the option to read a brief description, watch a video describing the strategy, print out a pdf of the strategy, or choose another strategy in the same category. At the bottom of each SOS page, there is an opportun...

Problem Based Learning offers students the opportunity to devise their own solutions to problems in their world. With PBL, students may choose to share their solution to a problem digitally. Any of these digital files (iMovie, Timeline, Google Slides, Pic Collage, Explain Everything, Word Clouds, ChatterPix, Google Documents, Prezi, etc.) can be placed in Google Drive to generate a URL that can then be turned into a QR Code. These QR Codes can be shared with others. They can be posted in the hallways at school, on a class website, in a class newsletter, on a padlet ~ the possibilities are endless! Do you want to learn more about QR Codes and how you could make use of them in your classroom? Visit the Technology Resources page on CurTech93 and look for "QR Codes." There is also a LEAD course being offered on December 1st at District Office. Questions about QR Codes? Email Karen or Becky or complete the PLS form and we will be happy to support you.

What is the best way to allow all students to have their say and NOT interrupt all the time? Let me introduce you to BACKCHANNELING! Backchanneling is the conversation that happens alongside a webinar, in the form of an ongoing chat. But it doesn't have to only happen alongside a webinar. I have experienced it during a live presentation, during a Google Hangout, and in a classroom during instruction. The link below will take you to a blog about kindergartners who have begun to backchannel during  instruction. Using the backchannel in Kindergarten So cool! And this doesn't JUST have to happen with younger students - this would be ideal for older students, as well! Would you like to use this in your classroom? Fill out the PLS and Becky or Karen would be happy to work through that with you. Do you already have ideas for using this tool in your classroom? We would love to hear any ideas you have so we can share with everyone.

Discovery Education ~ not just videos! This year all teachers and students in CCSD93 have access to the Discovery Education website. There are SO many resources accessible through this site! Here are just a few ways it can be used to support instruction and learning: Streaming Plus - a library of thousands of videos that can be used to enhance instruction, available for grades K-8. On your home page, click on My DE and then click on Streaming Plus. You can choose to search by grade level span or by common core standard. Also, if you click on the index view you will see the list of topics available. Science TechBook - this is a digital, interactive textbook organized by the new NGSS standards, available for grades K-8.  On your home page, click on My DE and then click on Science TechBook. You can then click on the drop down in the middle of the page and choose your grade level “for use with NGSS.” Explore to learn more about the upcoming NGSS topics your grade level will...

Attention all K-2 teachers, students, LLC Directors and anyone else who uses Book Creator on the iPad - they have added comic strip options to the choices!! The new choices include speech bubbles, thinking bubbles, stickers, new backgrounds, sound effects, formatting for a comic book look, and many more! Using the comic book format with speech bubbles is a great way to write using dialogue. What are some other ways your students could make use of the comic book feature in Book Creator? Email Becky or Karen with your ideas and examples and we will share them on this blog and on CurTech! An example using a number of features from the new comic book options in Book Creator

Back to School Notes and News (from the Curriculum Department) Welcome back! As you prepare for the start of the school year, there are many digital materials that need to be set up for your students. There are also a number of changes and updates that have occurred in our resources over the summer months. CurTech93’s Getting the Year Started page has been created to help you navigate these tasks and changes. You will find information that helps you to: Create classes in your online resources Add students to your online resources Access digital books Add additional grade level materials to your online resources (different grade levels) Find updates from summer curriculum committee work ELA Middle School Humanities Middle School Math Review the list of CORE APPS available for your grade level, PS-2nd grade Locate the Problem Based Learning resources for the beginning of the school year Set up and utilize Google Drive with all students I...

PebbleGo!   There are so many topics our students research - and with PBL coming up, the topics will grow! Some of those topics are available in PebbleGo . PebbleGo is not an app. It is a website that is accessible through Safari on the iPad. Your students can access PebbleGo using the QR code below. If you are not sure what PebbleGo is, or if you are unsure of your building username and password for PebbleGo, check in with your LLC Director. Before your students log into PebbleGo, spend some time exploring and discovering what is available to them. When you get to PebbleGo and have logged in, choose a category - right now the options are Animals, Science, Biographies and Social Studies. In each category there are a number of topics. Choose the one you want to further explore. PebbleGo offers options for text to be read aloud, some videos, as well as other activities that can be imported into and completed in Explain Everything if you choose. PebbleGo is also a great p...