Tech Bytes~ April 9-13

Tech Bytes~ April 9-13

☔️ April Showers Brings #EpicPals Awesomeness! 📱📚

Our April EpicPals primary and intermediate collections

 are ready and waiting for you. 

Check it out~ 

Decorah Eagle Webcam

This month's Read-to-Me Flipgrid/Padlet selection is about Bald Eagles and includes a link to the Decorah, Iowa Eagle webcam. If you've not seen this site before, it's a MUST see. What a great way to bring the outdoors into your classroom!

New this month~  Padlet has some phenomenal updates which will allow your students to draw, take pictures, leave an audio or video post right in the app/online simply by clicking the 3 vertical dots on their post! I encourage you to share one or several of these new upgrades with your students to allow them to take more ownership of their posts. 

Also new this month~  I have also turned on comments this month on the Patterns in the City book in hopes of having students have a more authentic audience. Students will be able to share a picture of a pattern that they found in their classroom and also leave a comment under others' posts about the pattern that they see. I've left a sample on the board for you to share with your students. 

As always, encourage your students to read others' posts and if they like their post, have them click on the heart at the bottom of the sticky note. Being reflective and having an authentic reason to like something is a great first step towards leaving meaningful and authentic feedback. 

We encourage you to have conversations with your students on what constitutes a good post and how to be a good digital citizen when working online. You can find several resources to help you with these conversations on this previous blog post. 

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If you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. You can find both of us on Twitter- @smalchow (primary boards) and @bhopteacher (intermediate boards)

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New to EpicPals and need some additional information? If so, head on over the the
 #EpicPals page at the top of the blog for additional information.

Tech Bytes~ Feb 26

Is your class taking part in Read Across America Week or celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday? If so, there are several resources this week that you may find helpful in this week's Tech Bytes newsletter. Don't forget about the Read Across America Flipgrid resource that was highlighted last week as well~  https://flipgrid.com/drseussbirthday

Malchow's Tech Bytes~ Feb 26th

One of my long time favorite apps is Padlet. If you follow them on Twitter, you probably already know of all the fantastic new upgrades that have recently been released. If you haven't heard about these new features, you definitely need to take a peek! Lots of great new features that will make this tool even more accessible for our youngest learners and provide a variety of on board tools for all grade levels!

Moderated Padlet for Responses

We've all been there... somebody asks you to share a goal or an idea and although you have one, you're a bit nervous to share knowing that others will hear your crazy idea and judge you, or worse, you may have to admit to your weaknesses that are holding you back from attaining those goals. None of us wants to admit our weaknesses, yet we all want to grow and learn. It's such a double edged sword! In my position, it's hard for me to help others learn and grow if I don't know how I can help. I also don't consider these weaknesses, but rather our starting point. We all are in different places with our comfort in using technology and I simply want everyone to take a step further, a little out of their comfort zone, to try something new and let the magic happen


This past week I spent some time talking about global collaboration opportunities with the teachers in both of my buildings, a topic that can often strike terror in the eyes of teachers wondering how in the world they'll know HOW to connect with Google Hangout or WHERE in the world do I find classes to connect with, or WHAT happens if.... you get the idea.

After providing some of the answers on "the what" and "the who", I wanted teachers to share a goal they had for themselves this year based on something that piqued their interest from our discussion. That was simple enough, but I also wanted them to share how I could support them in achieving that goal. I wanted teachers to be brutally honest with me so I could best help them achieve those goals, but I didn't want anyone hitting the panic button because they were apprehensive about others seeing what they wrote. For my purposes, I also wanted to have this information in a place that I could access it throughout the year so I can continue to check in and work towards helping with these goals but I needed a private platform. Post-it notes wouldn't work, I'd lose them, they'd get ripped or lose their sticky. Email? Too many to keep track of- I want everything in one place and organized. And- I wanted to utilize technology so I could model a practical application as well as have the benefits of easy access from anywhere. Not too many considerations, right?!

What I ended up doing was creating a Padlet board that everyone could access with my unique link and with the posts set for me to moderate. In this way everyone was able to quickly get to the board, easily create their "sticky note" BUT not see others' posts. On the smartboard I displayed a screenshot of my empty board along with the link. I did not click over to the actual Padlet board during this activity as teachers would be able to see the unmoderated posts coming through since I am always logged into Padlet. Once my meetings were over, I went back into the settings for my Padlet board and changed the  board to private so at this point it is only accessible by me. I then approved the posts and rearranged them in order of priority. I now have easy access to the goals teachers chose and I can add notes to their posts as well. This really worked well and gave everyone a level of privacy. 

(Names as well as the areas teachers felt they needed help with have been removed from the sample screenshot above to maintain the privacy I wanted teachers to have)

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.

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

100th Day Collaboration

It's just around the corner, the 2nd biggest holiday celebration in February (or maybe in January for your school)... 

This year my class is hoping to collaborate with classrooms around the world in our celebration and we hope you'll join us! Each year we talk about what we would do if we had $100 or what we wish we had 100 of. My guess is many of you use some of these same prompts during your celebrations. 

This year we're hoping we can find out how other students answer these questions too. In fact, our goal is to get

posts

We've created a 100th day Padlet board and hope that you and your students will take some time to add your thoughts as well. 

Feel free answer as a class or have your students post individually. Pick a prompt from any of the ones listed above or if you have others that you use feel free to share those with us too. Add a picture or just write your idea. We'd love it if you'd leave your name and state/country in the title box. Make it your own and join in the fun! 

Click here to access the Padlet board

Here is a poster you can print off or project with the Padlet board QR code. I also have this QR embedded right on the board. 
I usually project our Padlets on my Smartboard and then have the kiddos come up and scan the QR code right from the board. Works great, easy to use and no printing necessary. 




If you have any questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with me!

Padlet Boards and Guided Reading- Easy Peasy

Sorry I have been missing for a few weeks, tons of things going on here that have kept me away from blogging. I'll write more about that another time though.

Last year, I wrote about the website Padlet  (for those old enough to remember, Padlet is the old Wallwisher site) and how we utilized this site during our study of organisms (you can read the post here). Since then I've branched out and utilized this wonderful tool in many different ways, both in the classroom and professionally.

This site can easily and seamlessly embed into so many facets of your curriculum. Currently I am using it with my higher guided reading groups as a way to monitor understanding through questioning. My kiddos are loving it! I find that it empowers my kiddos as it gives each of them a chance to express themselves.

Padlet is EXTREMELY easy to use and you can easily have a board up and running within 10 minutes the first time you try. (I've use it enough now that I can easily get a board up and running with minutes) If you've never used Padlet before, I have a Padlet board with tutorials, tips, and classroom ideas located here. Feel free to check it out. I'll be blogging in more detail about it soon, but this will get you started.

QR code in front cover of books

Back to Padlet and guided reading groups. So here's how I am using it and managing it with my groups. Once your board is created, Padlet gives you a url (which you can customize) as well embed codes and even a QR code. I simply printed off the QR codes and taped them to the inside cover of my books so I can use it year after year (you can clear the sticky notes off your Padlet board without having to recreate the board) I also added the url in case families don't have a QR reader. To give parents another option I also added the url to my classroom blog on my reading groups page (great way to get families to the blog as well as empowering my kiddos once again to navigate on their own- they handle all of these way independently. Amazing! If you'd like check it our for yourself, click here. 

Student adding his question to our Padlet

When our group meets, my kiddos bring along their iPads and either scan the QR code or access it through our classroom blog which have saved as an icon on our iPads (again, easy access!) This literally takes them 30 seconds or less. We start our group time by looking at the Padlet and talking about any new questions that were posted or any information that I have added. We then read and discuss 2-4 pages of the next chapter together and also add any questions that they have. After our group time, they have the option to go and find a quiet spot to continue reading and posting their questions if they'd like, otherwise, their homework is to finish the chapter(s) at home and if it's ok with mom and dad, to add their questions to the Padlet from home. I sent a note to parents about the site, how we were using it and directions on how to access it ahead of time. I also told parents that if they were not comfortable having their child access from home, that I totally understood (I mean, we are 1st graders) and that their child would not be penalized. They still have opportunity to use it with me here at school. 

Our current Padlet board for Mummies in the Morning

Here's the BEST PART though... as they post their questions, I can post examples of vocab that they are unsure of or leave them with another thought to ponder. In the example above, one of my boys was wondering what hieroglyphs were so I was able to embed a picture to show him. In or previous book, they wondered what a whinny was. Again, I was able to go out and find an audio clip and post it to the board so they could experience it first hand. This was so much more valuable than me simply saying it's a sound that a horse makes. Horses make lots of different sounds... which one would be in their mind? On that note, it is great for ELL students as it gives them direct experiences, visual and auditory, with vocabulary and concepts.

Using Padlet has really brought this group to life. In a typical group situation we still would have talked and shared our questions, but some kiddos wouldn't have had the opportunity to share due to time limitations, shyness or other group members monopolizing the time. ;-)  Using Padlet has empowered all my students to share and has given them the voice that they possibly didn't have before. I has been a wonderful tool!  Another perk... this past week I was gone on a tech visit to Minnesota. My students were really bummed but when I told them that their group would still meet and that I would be checking in from MN they were totally WOWed. I was able to read their questions and post my own responses. 

Whew! That was a long post! Congrats if you've made it this far! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.  Have some other ways that YOU'VE used Padlet in your class? Please post below so we can all learn from each other.

Tech-Tastic! Pulaski PD Presentation

Click image to access presentation

I am co-presenting at our district technology inservice on ways to integrate technology into both math and literacy. If you're interested in finding out about ways you can integrate Padlet, DoodlecastPro (Explain Everything, Educreations,etc) and PicCollage, feel free to check out our presentation link above, just click on the image. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

My co-presenter is a 5th grade teacher and as such we have many examples from both of our classrooms. You'll also find links to Padlet boards with more examples as well as video links with tutorials to get you going.

Using Padlet in Science

Today we began a new science unit all about the study of organisms. We started by brainstorming a list of living and nonliving things. In an effort to make this more interactive and engaging for all students I set up a Padlet wall for the class to write their ideas on. For those not familiar with Padlet, it is the old WallWisher. It is a virtual bulletin board that allows people to post their thoughts on a common topic. You can add images, video, or text anywhere on the page from any device. 

By providing a virtual bulletin board, everyone had the opportunity to share their ideas without having to wait while one person shares and the teacher writes it on chart paper. In addition, students will now be able to share our Padlet wall with their parents as well as our Twitter followers. We are hoping that some of our Twitter followers will tweet us some additional items for our list.

Using Padlet was extremely easy (both the setup and the using) To access the wall I simply copied the provided QR code (yup, the site provides one automatically for you to copy) and pasted it onto our smartboard document. My kiddos simply scanned it with their QR readers (we use Inigma) and it took them right there. Once on the site, kids simply need to double tap the screen and then tap in the dialogue box to write their idea. When they're done they  tap anywhere on the screen and viola! their post appears. I pulled up the Padlet wall on the smartboard which the kids thought was beyond cool as they could see all of the new posts appear as they worked.

As I mentioned, this was a great way for all students to be actively involved in our learning today in addition to making the walls of our learning transparent for our parents and others.

21st Century Learners

The post below is part of a presentation that I will be giving to new teachers in my district showing some of the ways in which I integrate technology and 21st century learning skills into my classroom and how it enhances teaching and learning.

"If a child can't learn the way we teach,

maybe we should teach the way they learn." ~Ignacio Estrada

21st century learning skills and technology enhance teaching and learning in even the youngest of learners!!

Engaging!

Motivating!

Problem

 solving! 

SMARTboards are  WONDERFUL tools! 

Students are:

-Engaged

- Independent

- Collaborative

-Problem solving

-Critical thinking

The sky's the limit...

Photo from Jessica Meacham's website

* Math lessons

* Word Sorts/ spelling activities

* Attendance/lunch

* Daily 5 check-in

* Calendar Activities

* Handwriting practice

* Student-led conferences 

* Great for substitute teachers- lessons can be preplanned

Click here for more SMARTboard files from Jessica Meacham

It's not all about the tools~

you can implement 21st century learning into your rooms with little to no technology.



Learning about life cycles we experienced
real-time integration!

Last year, my students only had access to a SMARTboard, my teacher workstation and my personal iPod touch. We also had access twice a week to our school's computer lab. 

Students used my iPod touch for fluency checks.

* Active learning
* Student-centered
* Media used for learning and assessment
* Self assessment- Huge!!!
* Able to address student diversity

 
 

 


Click image to find out more about how we integrated
technology into our groundhog study

 

Click image to see how we used this picture

to practice our paragraph format.





Our classroom blog has made our classroom walls transparent for parents but has also been a wonderful tool to integrate 21st century skills into the curriculum with not a whole lot of technology!

Click on image to find out more about our animal research



Our animal research was a fantastic culmination to our year!

It promoted:

* Collaboration

* Information and media literacy

* Creativity

* Active learning

* Student centered learning

* Problem Solving

There are TONS of wonderful, FREE

web 2.0 tools to use

This was part of a project-based writing unit.

Students used the writing process to create their paragraph and then used Microsoft Word to publish their piece. We learned how to change the size, font and color of our writing in addition to printing and saving.

We used digital cameras to take pictures of each other and our projects and made a slideshow to show which we embedded onto our class blog for our family and friends to view.

We also embedded a Wallwisher board (an online board maker) to have others share with us what they would do if they had a shiny red nose like Rudolph's. (*UPDATE- Wallwisher is now Padlet

This project utilized the following skills:

* Collaboration

* Effective communication

* Information and media literacy

* Globally connected

* Authentic writing/ audience

Click here for more ideas on how to use Wallwisher in the classroom.  



Wordle/ Abcya Word Clouds

Skype is another fantastic tool!

We have had buddy classes from Virginia, Iowa, and Kansas. We connected once a month or so and shared information about our cities, our interests, what we were learning at school (both classes used Everyday Math), read books together, shared our research projects and more.

It was a fantastic experience which helped both classes to become:

* effective communicators and collaborators

* globally connected to areas and issues

To find out more about how to connect with a class click go to http://www.skypeforeductors.com/ or the Skype in Schools wiki.



To find out more about this project click on the image

Digital Cameras

We used the cameras after our study of 3D shapes. Students went on a 3D shape hunt with a partner. The pictures were used as part of my assessement of their learning.





To find out more click the image



We also gave our Read Across America door decorating contest a technology twist by using the digital cameras.

Check with your LMS to see what else is available to you on a checkout basis. We were able to check out digital cameras, COWS (computers on wheels), webcams, and microphones to make other project-based learning come to life.



Remember- you have a lot on your plates for this year... choose one thing to start with~ explore and have fun with what you choose!

'There is no risk-less way to the future, we must choose which set of risks we wish to run.'

~Jay Ogilvy