Last Chance for STEM!

We are down to the last month of school.

Have you been meaning to try out some STEM activities in your classroom before the end of the year?

Well, now's the time!

Here are some activities that are fun and students will love trying out!

1.    Makey Makey - The Makey Makey is an invention kit for the 21st century. Your students will be able to turn everyday objects into touch-pads and combine them with the internet. It's a simple Invention Kit for Beginners and Experts doing art, engineering, and everything in between. (Grades 2-5)  http://makeymakey.com/

o    Makey Makey lessons - click HERE

2.    Ozobots - The Ozobot is a little toy robot that blends the physical and digital worlds and teaches kids programming.  (Grades 3-5)  http://ozobot.com/

o    Ozobot lessons - click HERE

3.    Bottle Flipping - Check out this fun lesson - click HERE

4.    Robotics (KIBO, BeeBots, WeDo) – We have a variety of robots for K-5.  Try out one of these robots in your class as a group STEM activity. 

                               

There are many more STEM items to try out...stop by and check them out!

Gaining Resources with DonorsChoose.org

A few years ago, we posted about the crowdfunding site DonorsChoose.org. This is such a great resource that I wanted to revisit the topic. With budget cuts and a greater emphasis on using technology and STEM in the classroom, finding other avenues for funding is a necessity.

Since the previous post, we now have several teachers in each of our district's buildings who have created DonorsChoose.org accounts and many who have had projects successfully funded! Funded projects have included resources like robots, Chromebooks, iPads, green-screening equipment, 3D printing pens, and more! Many of these projects took advantage of match offers where companies, foundations, or anonymous donors fund 50% of the project. Creating projects with match offers is one of the best tips out there!

Botley the Robot

Little Bits R2-D2 Droid Inventor

In addition to match offers, there are also other ways to find funding besides individual donors.

Google has been offering some classroom rewards through DonorsChoose.org ($100-$300!!!) for completing their coding and applied digital skills activities. 

Check out this one if you teach grades 4-8: Classroom Rewards for Coding Activities with Google

and this one if you teach grades 6-12: Classroom Rewards for Google's Applied Digital Skills Activities

Angie and I are currently DonorsChoose.org Ambassadors and would be more than happy to help you get started with an account and/or posting your first project. DonorsChoose.org has even given us $5 starter donations to add to your first project! 

If you'd like to get started on your own, here's a quickstart guide! To learn more about how DonorsChoose.org works, the impact it's had, and more detailed steps to posting a project, check out the slideshow below!

I know there are many of you who have had projects funded! Please feel free to share the resources you've gained in the comments below!

SeeSaw in Action

Last May we introduced you to SeeSaw-an online portfolio tool teachers and students can use to document learning. This week guest blogger Diane Bobik, first grade teacher at Fox Twp., gives us a glimpse into how she's been using SeeSaw in her classroom.

Welcome to the 21st Century….wait we’ve been here for 18 years!  This was important message that I learned at PETE&C this year in Hershey.   Are you still sending home paper newsletters, notes, and updates? I was guilty of keeping things the same even though times are changing.  There are so many digital tools out there to track behavior, send messages and newsletters to parents, practice skills after lessons, and gather electronic portfolios...but who has time for all of these apps? I know that I certainly don’t have the time or to be honest, the patience to learn all of these programs.

SeeSaw offers all of these tools in one simple app.  And the best part, it’s FREE! Setting up a class is easy.  There are templated letters to send home to parents so they can sign up.  Parents can keep one account for several children. This was a win for my class since I have siblings together this year.  Once you have your account ready, the kids can start using the app. So far, we have taken pictures of our vocabulary words and then recorded ourselves reading them.  We have recorded videos explaining how we solved our math problems. We have done videos of our oral reading of stories. I can also use the app to send newsletters, reminders, and behavior updates.  Parents are then able to respond directly to me, or send praise to their children on their posts. Parents and students cannot make their posts live until they are approved by me. This is especially helpful if you have a student who wants to put silly things onto our page.

Here are some examples of what we have done with this amazing app:

Students log in with a QR code.

Student is taking a picture of his vocabulary words.

Students are recording themselves reading their vocabulary words.

Thanks to Mrs. Bobik for showing us how this 21st century tool has impacted her classroom! If you have any questions about getting started or if you already use SeeSaw in your classroom, be sure to let us know and check out the Badging Center under "Other Badges" to get your badge and let others know you're ready to share your expertise!

Making the Most of iPads in the Classroom

With the wealth of iPads available for use at the elementary level, I thought it would be a great time to highlight some of the apps that are currently installed. If you have a personal iPad, you may find these apps useful as well. There are quite a few installed apps for skill-based practice, but the apps I am going to focus on will, in many cases, help move students from consumers of information to producers or will help them apply what they've learned!

I tried to break the apps down by category, although some may actually fit into more than one. It would be great if we could have the apps sorted into folders on the iPads, but with the way the updates push out, that isn't currently possible :(

Robotics-Sphero EDU & Sphero Mini (for use with the Sphero Mini robots), LEGO Boost (for use with the LEGO Boost kit), WeDo 2.0 (for use with the LEGO WeDo 2.0 kits), Wonder, Xylo, Path, Go, Blockly (all for use with the Dash and Dot robots), Droid Inventor (Little Bits R2-D2 Droid Inventor kit)

*Note: the robots for use with these apps may not be available in all buildings, but if you'd like to borrow something, let me know!

Coding-Hopscotch, The Foos, Scratch Jr

Osmo-Pizza Co., Osmo Monster, Coding Duo, Osmo coding, Numbers, Masterpiece, Newton, Words, Tangram (see previous post about Osmo here!)

Google apps-Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Classroom, Hangouts, Google Earth

Formative assessment-Plickers, Flipgrid, Kahoot, Nearpod, Explain Everything

Digital portfolios-Seesaw, Class Dojo

Notetaking/Organizing ideas-Popplet Lite, Dragon Dictation, Notepad +

Create Videos-iMovie, Spark Video, TeleStory

A few others: ActivCast (mirror devices with the new ActivPanels), QR Reader (scan QR codes-great for puzzles, scavenger hunts and more!), EdPuzzle (assign video lessons-great for flipped learning)

Mark Anderson (@ictevangelist-click here to see a larger version) recently posted a great periodic table of useful iPad apps, especially for elementary use, sorted by category. You may recognize some of them from the above list. If you check out a new app and think it would be beneficial, let us know by dropping a comment below!