Noel Erskine, Technology Coordinator Norris Schools

Welcome to my technology blog.
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💥 Tech items - FREE (Reg. $49) JOIN NOW! TCEA Membership until October 30th! Tips, templates and more in this weeks tech tips.

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

 JUST JOIN - This is a great resource and is free for a short period of time!  TCEA (Texas Computer Education Association) has a ton of resources available for K-12 teachers.)  (Similar to NETA but much larger and a lot of free online resources, events and more.) 

Membership is free until October 30th. - JOIN HERE. 



Yes our Nebraska NETA is great too... so if you have not joined that... membership is always free.  Join NETA here.   BUT  join TCEA too... it's never free. 

WOW - some great virtual math manipulatives!  Check it out! 



Yes, Flash is finally going away.  iPads killed it years ago. Adobe announced they were killing it in 2017... and now it's officially dying after 2020.  (Chrome will no longer support it.)  If you have any sites that you are using that require Flash, they will be dead in a few months. 

No... not this Flash.   
This one: 


Jammin with Google Jamboard has some great tips, templates and more in this Wakelet Collection. 



Checkout this FlipGrid collection of 26 letter of the day activities.  Great for the young readers for letter recognition, sounds and exploring their surroundings. 




Grab this updated version of the Seesaw Icon Shortcuts for Activities!




3 FREE Halloween-themed digital escape rooms




Speaking of Halloween... Here is a Halloween Google slideshow template from Slidesmania.   Remember, there are a lot of great sites for templates. 

Halloween Charades

This resource was from TCEA  found here.   JOIN as noted above! 


I can definitely see charades working on a virtual platform. You could even shout things out while pantomiming because your microphone would be muted. I think this might help my acting abilities. ThisHalloween charades game contains 36 words or phrases to guess, along with a section of Double Trouble words (just in case you need a challenge.)

Make a copy here.



Posted by Noel Erskine at 8:21 AM 0 comments

💥 Tech items - Amazing K-2 goodies in this one!, SeeSaw tips, Jamboard templates, and yes... a confetti cannon!

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

 How to Build Banners in Seesaw - Make super visual banners in seconds after learning these tips!!  Watch the tutorial here.



SeeSaw Lockdown - Stop kids from unlocking things you have locked in SeeSaw - Checkout this short 3-minute video to find out how! 
  • Create a template and add your images, labels, etc...
  • Tap on the label tool (T) and add a transparent label.
  • Stretch that transparent label to cover you entire template.
  • Tap the 3-dots on the label and lock it to keep everything in place. 

CVC Generator for Seesaw - Check out how to build a powerful generator that builds little readers!!  Checkout the video here.




How to Share and Embed Jamboard in Seesaw!  Need a collaborative space with live updates?? Use Jamboard!!  Short video on how to do this.  See what kids are doing live!  This video uses this Meeting Schedule Jamboard Template <--get your own copy. 



Looking for a start of day Jam? This one tracks attendance, lunch choices, and milk counts!! Many variations available for you!

AND - MORE TEMPLATES FOR JAMBOARD!

Need help with Littles and Chromebook Shortcuts? Take a look here!  There are some great teacher tips and tools at the end of the slideshow too! 



Online Spirograph🎨 Need a great brain break or an artistic outlet for kiddos, check this one out!!




🔴  Miscellaneous tech tips: 
Not really a tech one here... but an interesting article with great visuals. "How do pandemics end?" 

Spot the Difference -  Identify the differences between two similar photos. (Smithsonian magazine activity.)  You can also make your own classroom activity by grabbing these pics each day and using this Google Slide template to create your own. 

Morning Meeting Jamboard💻 Grab this flexible morning meeting to allow students to "come up to the board" during morning meeting!!  Grab a copy of this multi-page Jamboard template. 
Remember - Jamboard is getting built right into Google Meet too!  It's one of our suggested Whiteboard tools for classes.  (Our Complete Whiteboarding tools doc is located here.) 




Speaking of Whiteboarding tools...  Whiteboard.fi   is a game changer! We mentioned this one a few weeks ago.   One of our teachers said this about  Whiteboard.fi  after giving it a try:  "The Whiteboard.fi app is really cool!  Just using it for the first time and experimenting, but wow!  " 

This online whiteboard tool that is different from all the others! Each student has their own board and the teacher will see each board as a tile as the students work. A ton of features - waiting room, kick student, lock room, save boards, students see your board, etc... and all FREE.   After putting 


Checkout this Techy Tips for K-2 slide deck that is updated each week with some great tips!  Scroll through the slides to see each week's tips. Good stuff!  The archive for prior years can be found here. 


Similar tech tips can be found on these sites: Site 1 -- Site 2 -- Site 3   


Check out this FREE virtual manipulative site!! (The base ten block manipulation is AMAZING!!)  Check it out!   (They also have some other great activities.)  Works on all devices- it's web based! 




SeeSaw tips:  
  • Use folders to their fullest potential with these 3 quick tips!!  Watch it here 
  • Listen and Write - Maximize the use of recordings by making use of these super engaging Seesaw activities!! Watch it here. 


Pocket Chart Grab this fun, easy to use Slides template and get your kids building words!! There is a blank template so you can make it your own!!  (Would work great with Google Classroom to push out a copy to students and then collect their work.) 




A creative way of using Google slides.  From @MeehanEDU 




This virtual WORD WALL helps my newcomer students retain new vocabulary words.  A tip from @MrsParkShine   
Insert: 
  • Target word
  • Non-linguistic rep
  • Audio 
Make a copy of the doc here. (File - Make a copy) 
 



OK - here's a fun one to use with your projector (or in a Zoom/Meet) - use it to celebrate students' success or correct answers. (Great when presenting your screen via a projector or in distance learning.)  (Or add a splash to your training videos.)   Give them the Confetti Cannon! 


 


Quick Tip of the Week (Sharing Slides in Google Meet, on the web, presenting, etc...) via Shake up learning.  Publishing your Google Slides lessons to the web gives you a unique link that anyone can view. It is a full window player, so you only see the slides one at a time. Use this unique link when sharing your screen in Zoom or Meet instead of clicking on “present.”  This allows you to see more than one window at once. ðŸ“º Watch this quick video to learn how!


It's the G-Suite we love.... but they are now calling it Google Workspace. 
Behold the new icons for Gmail, Drive, Calendar, and Meet - Google rebrands its business app suite to "Google Workspace."


How to Record a Video Presentation in Canva - Check it out.   Education accounts are free.  (Teachers register for free and then invite students.)  This is an amazing graphics program with even more features like presentations getting added monthly. They also have a lot of templates.  Here are the lesson plan templates and more are available via the dropdown: 



  


10 Jamboard templates for distance learning -  This post has 10 engaging ideas for using Jamboard in your class that will get your students working together.
 

Are You Ready to Trick-Or-Treat? A new Halloween template ðŸŽƒðŸŽƒðŸŽƒðŸŽƒ And it comes with a drag and drop activity!
Let's carve a digital pumpkin!


MemoMemo Templates for Seesaw - Spiral notepad Need to send a note but want to make it awesome?! Grab one of these to use in your class today!! - Template link





Posted by Noel Erskine at 7:09 AM 0 comments
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