Powtoon Intro

I've used Powtoon in my Classroom.  My students and I love it!  I was invited to present a tool I used in the classroom and decided to present Powtoon.  Here's the introduction video I created:

Using Aurasma

I've used Aurasma (iOs and Android, Free) in my classroom and it is AMAZING! It features augmented reality and it has endless possibilities raging from simple videos of students saying something about their cereal boxes to full blown book reviews.  Here's how to use it (courtesy of Sylvia Duckworth):

Using Aurasma

Here's a sample of what you can do with it:

Aurasma in Education

Probability and Excel

Here's an interesting post by a fellow teacher, Laura Suppa. She used Excel to show her students about probability:

http://laurasuppa.blogspot.ca/2014/06/probability-excel.html

Thanks, Laura!

TDSB Google Camp

Hello, fellow teachers!

I was fortunate to present at the Toronto District School Board's first ever Google Camp!

I was sooo amazed with the amount of knowledge shared between presentors and participants.

Click the banner below to access all the workshop resources (Banner belongs to TDSB.):

NFB Stop Motion

The National Film Board of Canada (https://www.nfb.ca/) has a second version to its popular PixStop app.  Called NFB StopMo Studio (https://www.nfb.ca/stopmo) and no longer free like Pixstop, for $0.99 it packs cool features that are easy to use  even for very young students.  To start, there are 4 audio / soundtracks that can be used.  There is now no need to take pictures and then transfer them to computers to edit.  Pictures can be shot and then edited directly on the iPad.

Prior to creating their movies, the students explored the NFB app by making Lego figures move.

As I only have classes for a short period (40 mins.) in a day, their Grade 3 teachers (Ms. Schock and Ms. Rusnov - without these two wonderful teachers it would take us ages!) did the heavy lifting of preparing the classes for the actual shoot.

In their respective homeroom classes, they took up a poem (The Bouncing Ball), did storyboards and then proceed to shooting their stop motion vid in Media Literacy.  Human figures and the bouncing ball were created with pipe cleaners, backgrounds and other structures with paper and markers.

Here are pictures of the Grade 3s:

QR Code Treasure Hunt Generator from classtools.net

Here is a great QR Code Generator website for Treasure Hunts!

QR Code Treasure Hunt Generator from classtools.net:

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Our Simple Ebooks!

In September, we produced our ebooks with Book Creator using the iPads. We never got to publish them online until now. If you have an ebook (epub) reader (tablet or computer), you can download the books directly from here:

 Ms. Yee's class

Ms. Bojeczko's class

If not, you will need the Google Chrome browser for this and you can download it HERE. Here are instructions on how to open these on your PC / Mac:

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One of the ways to view books online is to use Google Chrome + Readium

1. Install Google Chrome
First you need to install Google Chrome on your PC or Mac – www.google.com/chrome.

2. Install the Readium app                                                                 Readium is an app for Google Chrome that can display ePub files including those made by Book Creator.

Open Google Chrome and visit the Google app store to install Readium.

3. Add your books to Readium                                                               Once installed, open Readium and click on the add book icon to upload your ePub file from your computer or the web.

- from Red Jumper Studios

===============
If you learn by watching videos, here's how to open the books with Readium on Google Chrome (applies to PC and Mac):

Blogs and Links I Follow

How Technology Trends Have Influenced the Classroom

I am currently doing a course called: Integration of Information and Computer Technology and one of the things we have been learning is the flipped classroom.  Doing some reading, here is an excellent article that explores how technology has influenced the classroom:

How Technology Trends Have Influenced the Classroom by Carl Hooker on http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/

Google Apps

I've started using Google Drive and Calendar and I must sy that they are a lot more than what I've expected! For free apps and services like this, I feel like I (and tons of other people out there) hit the jackpot!  Our Board is slowly integrating into Google (yippee!) and I now understand the move. As part of te team that works on our school website, I got to embed Google Calendar into the site. In addition to that, it syncs well with the iPhone, which I use and really like!  I hope that when our new site goes up, readers get to see the convenience of Calendar. 

SUCCESS CRITERIA FOR A SIMPLE ANIMATED VIDEO

Here is what we made together.  Use this when you make your POWTOON:

___ use transitions for every slide
___ use background music
___ story has a beginning, middle and an end
___ choose a strategy to solve conflict
___ use pictures to show characters' feelings
___ use words to match what is happening in the slide
___ use capitals and punctuations when needed
___ use at least 1 text effect
___  use  at least 1 different background
___ use at least 5 props
___ use at least 6 frames
___ words are spelled correctly
____ use at least 2 animated characters

Here are exemplars:

Fillable PDFs

Adobe Acrobat is hands down one of the most fully featured when it comes to manipulating fillable PDFs.  It is not free though so I hunted down one that is free.  I found PDFEscape!  I used it to make a fillable PDF for making a Success Criteria.  Here is a sample of that clickable pdf:

Success Criteria  

The PDF can be clicked and hopefully, students enjoy following the criteria more. 

Violence and Its Impact

Here's a vid that makes adults aware of the issues faced when kids are exposed to violence in media:

Copy Account

Here's COPY, a cloud service, it gives you 15 GB and another 5 if you use my referral link. I get 5 if you do that.

Sign up for Copy using this referral link and both you and Erich Shih will earn an extra 5 GBs of free storage!

Sign up for Copy.

Integrating Tech in The Classroom Workshop

Just gave a mini workshop to beginning teachers at TDSB WR01 family of schools. It was a fast and furious 45 minutes where we browsed through a few apps both on the website and on the iPads.  Looking back at it, I realize there was really no time for Q&As which I usually enjoy in workshops I give.  I enjoyed it and I hope the teachers did too!  I also had the opportunity to meet a teacher librarian who co presented with me! Nice working with you, Marla!

I was another learning experience for me!  Here is the newsletter that accompanied the workshop:

Integrating Technology in The Classroom

Here is the accompanying PREZI:

I gave teachers trial accounts for POWTOON.   Accounts are live for a few weeks. Here it is:

username: bteacher1
password: bteacher1

You can use bteacher1  to bteacher5 .  Just change the last number.

8 iPhone Apps to Use in the Classroom

8 iPhone Apps to Use in the Classroom: http://t.co/He77nDZZAI pic.twitter.com/MCeZRlq2Gx

— edutopia (@edutopia) February 1, 2014

Symbaloo User Guide

Here's a quick guide on how to use Symbaloo - have all of your favourite websites on one page!

Symabaloo User Guide

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Young Canadians in A Wired World survey 2014

I found a very interesting infographic from Media Smarts that shows how much young Canadians are exposed to and use media in their lives.  One startling discovery:

I believe thus that it is a challenge for teachers, now more than ever, to harness the power of the mainstream to teach character and values.

Here is the full infographic which I first saw on Classpace:

Young Canadians in a Wired World

BBC Starship

We've talked about math websites that offer interactive games:  ABCYA, Mathletics and Sumdog.  Here is another one that suits younger students:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/index.shtml

10 iPhone Apps that Help Young Kids With Math | Babysitting

Looking for other Math Apps for Young Students? Here are some:

10 iPhone Apps that Help Young Kids With Math | Babysitting:

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This has been reblogged from Mario Addesa (http://marioaddesa.blogspot.ca/).  He has a rich resource for Teachers on his blogspot.  Check it out!