Prodigy: A Math Game For Elementary Skill Building - Prodigy: A Math Game For Elementary Skill Building by Richie Saltzman, prodigygame.com Ed note: This is a sponsored post from Prodigy Math, a free-to-play game with paid memberships available. What Teachers Need To Know: Prodigy Math is a web-based (not app-based) math program aligned to the Common Core State Standards for Grades 1-6. With more and more educators embracing game-based learning, it’s important to evaluate and choose the program that works best for you and your students. Prodigy is a free, adaptive math game that integrates common-core math (grades 1-7) into a fantasy style game that students love playing. And as a web-based game, Prodigy can be accessed at school and at home on virtually any device. Teacher Endorsements Over 1,000,000 students and 50,000 teachers use Prodigy for free math practice and it’s easy to see why. Sarah Z, Grade 5 Ontario Public School Shoshanna Cohen, Grade 2 Seattle Public School “I teach 2nd grade in a dual language classroom in Seattle.
Google Slides: Adding Transitions and Animations - Full Page In Google Slides adding transitions is simple. Also in Google Slides adding animations is easy. Learn how to perform both functions here. Adding transitions and animations Presentations don't have to be a series of static slides. Google Slides has one pane to manage all of your transitions and animations. Transitions and animations are best used in moderation. To add a transition: Select the desired slide, then click the Transition command on the toolbar. To add an animation: Right-click the desired object, then select Animate. If the Animations pane is already open and you want to add more animations, you can select an object and click Add animation. Animation options By default, an effect starts playing when you click the mouse during a slide show. If the object is a placeholder or text box, the By paragraph check box will be displayed. You can also adjust the speed of the animation by dragging the animation speed slider. Challenge! Open our example file.
10 Google Apps tips EVERY teacher should know Google Apps has its own unique quirks that can make life more efficient. Here are 10 tips EVERY teacher should know. (Flickr / Chris Schrier) Most of us have worked for years with Microsoft Office before Google Apps was unveiled. Ctrl+C = CopyCtrl+V = PasteCtrl+Z = UndoHold in Ctrl and use the arrow keys to jump from word to word or paragraph to paragraphHold in Shift and use the arrow keys to highlight text (If you didn’t know those already, you may have just gotten your best takeaway points from this blog post in the second paragraph!) Since Google Apps has come on the scene and taken the education world by storm, there are some quirks … no, eccentricities … no, subtleties … yes, subtleties! If you know them, you’re probably more efficient and quicker than you were before them. Here are 10 great Google Apps tips that EVERY teacher should know. 1. 2. 3. Google Apps isn’t just Docs, Slides and Sheets! 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Interested in having Matt present at your event or school? Related
I Have A New Favorite Animated Video Creator.....Look What You Can Create With Explee! It's that time of year. Time for cold, snowy weather and that brings snow days too. Today a lot of us have a snow day so why not create something new. I have a new favorite that I have been having a lot of fun with lately. With Explee, you can Create, share and discover educational animated video, as their website states. When I first read that description, I wondered if it would be tricky to use and create using Explee. Explee also has a wonderful Education Account....You can sign up here to get your membership and learn more about why using animated videos is so powerful in education. As I said, it is really fun and easy to create animated videos with Explee. One of things I think it so cool about Explee....the Text to Speech feature. Wouldn't this be fun to use with a foreign language class as kids are speaking and listening in different languages. After you add all of the elements you want to your Explee, you Export it and choose which Privacy you would like for your creation.
Google Slides: Adding Pictures and Shapes - Full Page In Google Slides adding pictures is easy. Also in Google Slides adding shapes is simple. Learn how to do both in this free lesson. Adding pictures and shapes Adding pictures and shapes can make your presentations more interesting and engaging. The picture and shape tools in Google Slides also let you customize your images by cropping, reordering, changing colors, and adding other formatting. Inserting pictures You can insert a picture from a file on your computer onto any slide. To insert a picture: Open the Insert menu, then select Image. Formatting pictures There are a variety of ways to format the pictures in your slide show. To crop an image: Select the image you'd like to crop, then click the Crop command. To crop an image to a shape: Select the image you want to crop, then click the Mask Image drop-down arrow next to the Crop command. After cropping the image to a shape, you can click the crop button again to use the cropping handles and adjust the size and proportions of the shape.
12 great ways to start using Google Classroom now Google Classroom is a powerful yet simple place to manage everything you do with G Suite Apps in the classroom. Here are some ways to get started with it. In fall of 2014, Google released Classroom to anxiously awaiting teachers. Since then it has become a favorite among G Suite using educators. Here’s why: It looks and feels like a Google product (which it should and which is a good thing)It’s clean and simple (which hopefully will make it easy to use)It provides a home base for everything you do in Drive For those of us that used lots of Google scripts (i.e. Here are some ways you can get started using, or continue using, Google Classroom now. 1. You can also upload a photo to display at the top of your Classroom. 2. 3. Click the “+” button in the bottom right corner of the screen and choose “Create announcement.” 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Group activities — Assign an activity to an individual group. 15. 16. 17. Under “Classwork”, click the “Create” button and add a topic.
Creating Structures & Growing Patterns Using Minecraft #onted In this article we are going to explore a lesson involving the creation of a student product using Minecraft to demonstrate a growing linear pattern. This lesson is applicable to junior and intermediate grades here in Ontario but we will focus on specific expectations from grade 8. Not only are we covering the expectations below, we will touch upon the 6 C’s, inquiry and developing a student’s spatial awareness as they have to plan their 3D canvas. Also, this provides a perfect opportunity for assessment as outlined in Growing Success (observation, conversation and student product). Specific Expectations: The 6 C’s include: The overall purpose of these six Cs and their underlying DNA is the well-being of the whole student, and the well-being of society, which essentially consists of higher levels of student achievement and the capacity to apply what one knows Overall Expectations:
Google Slides: Slide Basics - Full Page When working in Google Slides slide basics can help you become more comfortable with the program. Learn all about slides here. Slide basics Every Google Slides presentation is composed of a series of slides. Understanding slides and slide layouts When you insert a new slide, it will usually have placeholders to show you where text will be placed. Creating a slide and selecting a layout Whenever you start a new presentation, it will contain one slide with the Title Slide layout. Click the drop-down arrow next to the New slide command. To change the layout of an existing slide, click the Layout command, then choose the desired layout. To quickly add a slide that uses the same layout as the selected slide, click the New slide command. Organizing slides Google Slides presentations can contain as many slides as you need. Duplicate slides: If you want to copy and paste a slide quickly, you can duplicate it. Delete slides: If you want to remove a slide from your presentation, you can delete it.
15 FREE Google Drawings graphic organizers — and how to make your own Sometimes, we just need some help organizing our thoughts — students AND educators. Paper versions of graphic organizers can do a nice job of that. But by making them digital in Google Apps, they instantly become customizable. Multiple people can collaborate on them in real time. They can be shared with a link, embedded in a website or downloaded as an image file. In short, digital graphic organizers are more versatile. In Google Apps, there’s a highly powerful yet highly overlooked app called Drawings.It gives users a blank canvas where they can add text, shapes, lines, etc. Drawings can be the virtual page where students can gather and process their ideas. I used to shy away from doing a lot of graphic organizers because it’s hard to design them in Google Docs; the moment I learned that you could change the page set-up to 8.5 x 11 inches, my world CHANGED. Creating graphic organizer templates with Google Drawings Sharing your Google Drawings graphic organizers
Social Media in the Classroom: 16 Best Resources for 2015 Social media is a powerful tool for keeping in touch with friends, getting coupons and deals from your favorite businesses, and seeing what your favorite celebrities are up to. It is also handy in your classroom; platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and others have the power to help you forge closer connections with students and parents and enhance the educational experience in your classroom. How can you make it happen? Let the following resources lead the way. Is Social Media Right for Your Classroom? Just because your fellow educators are using social media doesn’t mean you should jump blindly on the bandwagon. A piece from Edutopia explains that social media is a unique form of communication that can accomplish multiple goals. Striking a Balance: Guidelines for Using Social Media Safely and Effectively How can you maintain appropriate student-teacher relationships on social media? Make the Most of Social Media Image via Flickr by MsC’sClassroom In Short
Google Slides: Getting Started with Your Presentation - Full Page If you're new to Google Slides getting started is easy. Use this lesson to familiarize yourself with this free cloud-based presentation software. Getting started with your presentation Google Slides allows you to create dynamic slide presentations. These presentations can include animation, narration, images, videos, and much more. The Google Slides interface When you create a new presentation in Google Slides, the interface for Slides will appear. Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn about the interface for Google Slides. edit hotspots Presentation Title Google Drive displays the title of your presentation here and in the View pane of your Google Drive homepage. Google Slides Home Screen This icon indicates that you are in the Google Slides interface. Menu Toolbar Various menus for working with your presentation can be found on the menu toolbar. Collaboration Options Click Share to share your spreadsheet, as well as to allow others to edit it and collaborate on it. Slide Pane
Google Greatness: 9 Google tricks I had never seen Google tools can make classrooms more efficient, effective and interesting. Here are nine tricks to add to your repertoire. (Flickr / Matt Montagne) I’m kind of a geek. Going to technology professional development on a weekend actually sounds like fun to me. When you make it tech PD that’s Google-focused, I’m going to look forward to it for weeks. If you’ve never been to a Google Apps for Education Summit and you have any interest in Google in the classroom, this is the place to be. The ideas in this post were found or inspired from presentations by Chrystal Hoe, Jeffery Heil, Adam Seipel, Tracy Arner, and Michelle Green. Here are nine of them: The Boomerang Chrome extension. Schedule e-mails with Boomerang: The Boomerang extension for the Google Chrome browser adds a “Send Later” button to your Gmail. Google Connected Classrooms: I’ve loved Google Hangouts and Skypes for a long time and really think they’re one of the most powerful uses of technology in schools. Related May 25, 2015