Malchow's Tech Bytes~ August

 Welcome back to a new year! New year's bring with them fresh starts and so let's start fresh with a new year of Tech Bytes!

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Malchow's Tech Bytes👩🏻‍💻~ Sept 30th

Looking to collaborate with others beyond the four wall of your classroom? Check out the Global Read Aloud and the #mtgr1 Twitter slow chat!

Malchow's Tech Bytes ~ Sept 30th - Click the image above to access the clickable resources

👩🏻‍💻 Malchow's Tech Bytes~ Dec 2nd

It's Hour of Code Week! Take some time this week to introduce your students to the excitement of coding!!! Lots of resources this week that you can implement even if your own knowledge base is limited.

Malchow's Tech Bytes~ Dec 2nd

EpicPals is Flipping Out!

Do you have Flipgrid Fever? Flipgrid is an awesome tool that is rapidly gaining popularity. It is similar to Padlet in that students will be able to share their thoughts about a book but instead of having to write their thoughts, they will create a video which will post to a Flipgrid board.  The videos are incredibly easy to create and are done right on the site or on the free app. 

After a lot of thought about how this could benefit the students using EpicPals, I've decided to integrate this tool into one of the primary books this month to see how it goes. Padlet boards can be overwhelming for our struggling readers and writers so to level the playing field so all students can participate in some fashion, I'm going to include a Read to Me book each month which will have an attached Padlet board as well as a Flipgrid board option. Have your students choose (or you can choose) which way they would prefer to leave their thoughts. The Flipgrid board will also have a QR code for your students for easy access as you can see on the inset below. 

Since the Flipgrid board involves video and audio, please have a discussion with your students about proper digital citizenship skills and remind them that others can and will be viewing their videos.  I have the Flipgrid board set to be moderated so I can be sure that the videos are appropriate before they are posted. If there is anything that I deem questionable, I will not approve that video. I hope that this option opens up some new doors for you students and allows them a little more voice and choice with EpicPals!


On a side note, Epic Books just released a fantastic update which provides word by word highlighting for students with the Read to Me books. Another great feature for our struggling readers!

Epic! just released an Epic update!!

Epic has done it again! Yesterday they release an update with several new features/enhancements, but the one that I am most excited about it  Voice Search. Students now have the ability to click on a microphone in the search bar and and say the title of the book or topic they are looking for. This is going to be such a game changer for our youngest learners as their writing ability will no longer be a hindrance when trying to independently use Epic!                                                                                 I tried this new feature out yesterday and searched for alligators as well as Robert Munsch and was succesful finding books with both searches. I am so excited to see the positive impact this will have on not only our youngest students, but even our upper grade students who struggle with their writing skills.

Thank you Epic for always listening to teachers and their requests! This will definitely have a lot of us jumping for joy and doing a happy dance!

Are you anxiously awaiting...

Are you anxiously awaiting...the May Epic Books / Padlet Collaborative Reading project? 
Well wait no longer... the May boards are ready to go. You can access the May Google Doc by clicking here or on the picture below. If you need more information feel free to contact me or check out this post.

Brand new to the project? Here's what you need to know....

Decide how you want to use the project (with a guided reading group, as a whole class, or as an individual project- you decide what fits best for you and your learners) 
Next, print off the doc for those students or post somewhere in your room for easy access.

The QR codes will take your students directly to the coordinating Padlet boards- no url's needed- always a plus with young learners! (Clickable url's are included on the doc for your convenience and for classes using Chromebooks, etc) 

As your students begin to post on the Padlet boards, please don't be overly concerned about perfect spelling, this is meant to be a place where kiddos can read and respond to text authentically. I do check the boards every few days to double check content and if there is questionable phonetic spelling, I'll make a quick fix. I'm sure we can all think of a few words that students generally misspell that we ALWAYS double check- LOL

As for how students should respond, you decide what's best for your learners. Are you learning about text to self connections, retelling, summarizing, informational text, interesting vocabulary (juicy words/word choice)? Be creative, make the boards fit your curriculum and the rest of us will learn from you when reading your students' posts. Most of all, have fun with it! The Padlets are open ended for these very reasons so make it fit the needs of your class. I will at times put a question on the google doc or on the Padlet but these are simply springboards if needed and are not required. Feel free to have your students include images or screenshots of their favorite parts or exciting information.

If you have access to any of the books in another format- feel free to utilize them. Books do not have to be read on Epic although I will say my class is completely engaged when using Epic knowing that they have the ability to also earn badges for reading. Gamification has a strong pull in my classroom this year!

One last side note, feel free to do any or all of the books for the month. Books do not have to be in any particular order. Again, make this fit your schedule and your learners!

Have fun! I hope you'll join in the fun! 
Feel free to pass this on- it's open to all!

If you've not used Epic Kids Books, it is free for educators- so run, don't walk, to check it out!! If you're interested in learning how to set up individual student accounts, click here to access some screen shots that will help you through the process.

April Epic Padlet Collaborative Project

Our April Epic / Padlet Collaborative Reading project is ready to go. You can access the April Google Doc by clicking here or on the picture below. If you need more information feel free to contact me or check out this post.

Simply print off the doc for each of your students, for one of your guided reading groups, or post somewhere in your room for all of your students to access- whatever works best for you!

The QR codes will take your students directly to the coordinating Padlet board- no url's needed- always a plus with young learners!  Please don't be concerned about perfect spelling, this is meant to be a place where kiddos can read and respond to text authentically. 

As for how students should respond, feel free to steer your students in the direction that you'd like and that is appropriate for your group. The Padlets are open ended so they will best fit the needs of your class. I will at times put a question on the google doc or on the Padlet but these can simply be a springboard if needed and are not required. Feel free to include images or screenshots of students' favorite parts or information.

If you have access to the books in another format- feel free to utilize them. Books do not have to be read on Epic. 

One last side note, feel free to do any or all of the books for the month. Books do not have to be in any particular order.

Have fun! We hope you'll join in the fun!

If you've not used Epic Books, it is free for teachers!! If you're interested in learning how to set up individual student accounts, click here to access some screen shots that will help you through the process.

Creating a class in EpicBooks

I've had a few people contact me about how to set up their class in Epic Books. If you're a visual learner like I am this may help you out... I've put together a few screen shots with simple directions that should get you started. Just click on the picture below to view.

Now that you've got your class set up- interested in joining our Collaborative EpicBooks Reading Project? Click here to view the blog posts and find the current month's books for #EpicPals or here to follow the #EpicPals hashtag on Twitter

March Epic Padlet Collaborative Project

Our March Epic / Padlet Collaborative Reading project is ready to go. Come join in on this collaborative project. If you need more information feel free to contact me or check out this post 

You can access the March Google Doc by clicking here or on the picture to the right. Simply print off the doc for each of your students, one of your guided reading groups, or post somewhere in your room for all of your students to access- whatever works best for you! 

The QR codes will take your students directly to the coordinating Padlet board- no url's needed- always a plus with young learners!  Please don't be concerned about perfect spelling, this is meant to be a place where kiddos can read and respond to text authentically. 

As for how students should respond, feel free to steer your students in the direction that you'd like and that is appropriate for your group. The Padlets are open ended so they will best fit the needs of your class. I will at times put a question on the google doc or on the Padlet but these can simply be a springboard if needed and are not required.

If you have access to the books in another format- feel free to utilize them. Books do not have to be read on Epic. 

One last side note, feel free to do any or all of the books for the month. Books do not have to be in any particular order.

Have fun! We hope you'll join in the fun!

I've had several people ask how to set up individual student accounts in Epic. I've put together a few screen shots to help you through the process. You can access the slides here.

Collaborative Book Discussions- You Bet!

Click to access the Feb Google doc

Do you want to connect your class to others in a collaborative project that you can manage in whatever way works best for your class with no time zone issues? If so, you'll want to read on to see how easy it is and how you can be a part of this wonderful experience!



Last month LekaDeGroot (@lekadegroot), Terry Stoufer (@firstatbat) and I started a collaborative book project to help meet the needs of our above grade level readers after a conversation we had on Twitter. It started with Leka choosing several books off of the wonderful and free Epic Books site/app that each of our classes were already using. (If you've not heard of or used this wonderful resource I highly encourage you to link over and check it out!) 

A Google doc, like the one you see to the right, was then created with each of the books for the month along with a link and QR code that took our students to a Padlet board for each book. 

Each teacher decided how to best implement this project in their own class. I started out by using this in my guided reading group so I could introduce kids to the format as it was our first time using Padlet independently this year. Leka and Terry both had their kids read the books and use the Padlet fairly independently.

Here's an example of one of the Padlet walls for the story Snow Party. 

Created with Padlet

This was a wonderful way for kiddos to share their knowledge about books. My class really enjoyed reading what others had to say about the books and were just as exited to share their thoughts with the other classes. 

As Leka said in her post, and I couldn't agree more, "I am so thankful to have great teachers in my PLN who are willing to connect their students with the world..."

You can read Leka's reflection on the project on her blog, Growing Apples

If you'd like to join us this month, please do! We'd love for you to give it a try. You can download the GoogleDoc with our book selections here. All of the books are available on Epic although you're welcome to read the paper version if you have it as well. 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me either here or on twitter @smalchow