Using Prompts for Student Writing/EduWin for Carla Dunavan

Sometimes having students find inspiration to find a topic to write about can be difficult. I was always trying to find innovative ways to provide prompts. While there are lots of resources and ideas out there, here are two you might like to try.

Story Starters from Scholastic offers creative writing prompts. The online program asks for a first name, but not an e-mail address. The first name will automatically be entered if your student uses the online feature that allows them to type. Since Story Starter is a web-based program, you can assign it to your students to use on their Chromebooks. The prompts are leveled grades K-6th, and the program does change the prompt choices. There are four themes, Adventure, Sci Fi, Fantasy, and Scrambler. Each comes with a Teacher’s Guide and a Spin Lever you or your students can pull to come up with an interesting prompt.

If the student has accessed the web version, they’ll be able to choose a format, notebook, letter, newspaper, or post car, and can choose to add a drawing. Once the student is finished, the finished product can be saved to their Google Drive account. 

All they’ll need to do is choose “Print.” They’ll then need to make sure the Destination shows that it should be sent to their Google Drive. You’ll see that the Destination shows as Google Drive and that my username is shown. Once it is saved, your student will be able to find it saved as a PDF in their Google Drive. While it can be shared, since it is a PDF, it will not be able to be edited.

Another way I enjoyed giving student writing prompts was by using pictures I had cut out of magazines. I had a huge file of my favorites that my team and I used over the years as homework or in-class prompts that (sometimes, if we were lucky) tied to what we were doing in class. Enter Photo Prompts, a tumblr site with lots of photo prompts that can be filters by topic.

Of course, there are lots of other writing prompt websites. Write About is a great tool and offers a writing community. The site offers beautiful pictures and poses deep, thoughtful questions. Teachers can set up a class by signing up with their Google Apps for Education account. You’ll get a code that makes it easy for students to join your class. Geared more toward the older student, Write About offers students a chance to join writing communities based on their interests. That gives them an authentic audience to share with and receive feedback from. If you are interested, there is lot’s more information here.

EduWin/Carla Dunavan and WeVideo

WeVideo is a great way to use the Chromebooks to have your students create multi-media presentations. Want to get started with WeVideo in your classroom? Carla Dunavan has shared a short Google Presentation she created to use with her class. She shows how your students can install a Chrome extension that makes it really easy for your students to access WeVideo from Google Drive. Thank you Carla for sharing!

ReadWriteThink/EduWin for Christa Aoto with Google Maps

ReadWriteThink is a website that partners with the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English to provide quality language arts lesson plans you can use in your classroom. 

Recently, ReadWriteThink (RWT) has begun offering a number of free apps for your iPad, and one for Android tablets. One I recently downloaded from the App Store is Timeline.

The timeline can be organized by date, time or event. Each pin the student creates on the timeline has room for text and images. If students need to leave their work and return to it later, there is a Save Draft function. Next time the student returns to the app, the timeline can be edited. Once the timeline is finished, it can be e-mailed as PDF, or saved as a JPG file to the iPad's Camera Roll.

Another RWT feature is a list of interactive lessons. You can find these under Classroom Resources. There are about 60 interactive activities that span Kindergarten through 12th grade and include lesson ideas. Since ReadWriteThink is web based, it is easily accessed on student Chromebooks. 

I loved using the interactive lessons with my students but often ran into the challenge of having students who weren't able to finish the activity in a class period. Once they logged out, their work was lost. Also, the only way to save finished work was to print it. However, a new feature that 
ReadWriteThink offers in some of its interactive activities is the ability to save student work, and with Chromebooks, it is easy to save directly to your student's Google Drive account. You can find these by looking in the Interactive left-hand navigation bar and looking under Capabilities. 

You will also know when an activity you open has this capability because it will have a Save tab.



Once the student is ready to save their draft or complete work, choose the Save tab. Students should name the file and press Save.

On the next screen, choose Google Drive. If the student has multiple folders, they can open up My Drive and choose the folder they would like to save the file in.

They will receive a notice that the file has been saved.

When they go to My Drive in their GAFE account, it will be saved in My Drive, or in the folder they directed it to.

Next time they go to RWT, they will find their work by selecting the same interactive activity and choosing, Get Started. When the activity opens, choose the Open tab, and then choose Find My File.

Choose Google Drive and find the find the file by opening it from the folder it was saved in or from My Drive if wasn't saved in a folder. This may be a little tricky depending on how the files are ordered. Files can be listed as Last opened by me, Last modified by me, or Last edited by me. Depending on how long it has been and how much has been saved since the last time the file was opened, it might also be found in Recent. Double click on the file. A window will show that the file has been opened and the student will be able to continue editing.

When the activity is finished, it can be saved in Google Drive following the same directions as above, it can be e-mailed, or it can be printed assuming Google Cloud Print has been enabled.

Another feature offered by RWT interactives are nine audio activities. Find these under Capabilities. This one is memory match game.

With all the resources there are, it is sometimes hard to zero in on the one that is best to support your lesson and curricular objectives. RWT has vetted lessons that you can search by grade level, type of lesson, learning objectives, and themes. And now that they offer easy to access, use, and save interactives, it might become one of your favorite places to go.



EduWin for Christa Aoto with Google Maps

Christa Aoto is a TK teacher at Athenour. Recently, her students were a bit puzzled that they could be living in the United States, California, and San Jose. To illustrate this concept, Christa turned to Google Maps. Using the Earth view, she showed her students how they could be living in so many differently named places at once. 

If you or one of your colleagues are doing something in your class that uses edtech tools, please let me know. I'd love to share it with other teachers.

Haiku Deck /EduWin for Leslie Abbott

Haiku Deck is a web-based and iOS tool that makes it easy to create visually stunning presentations, and it is free. While you can upload and use your own photos, Haiku Deck has a huge library of Creative Commons photos for you to use, and it has a great search feature that uses the words of your text to suggest photos. 

Here is an example of how easy it is to find great pictures. Haiku Deck has automatically suggested words to use to search images from the words I entered on the slide. It chose the words valentine, day, holiday, sweets, sweetie, and holiday sweets.

I've selected to use the word "sweets" by clicking on it, and Haiku Deck has returned a number of images. I can always go back to choose a different word to search on, or enter a different word for those on the slide altogether.

The text feature encourages the creator to limit his/her words. This will help teach your students to be precise, and may even build public speaking skills when they don't have lines of text to read when presenting to their class.







Want to use Haiku Deck for math? No problem. There are also graph templates to use. 

Haiku Deck offers suggestions to teachers on creating an account for their class here:

Haiku Deck Accounts: Best Practices in the Classroom - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

There are lots of ways to integrate Haiku Deck into your curriculum. Leslie Abbott, a second grade teacher at Guadalupe, recently shared, "In my enrichment RTI group we read about cheetah adaptations in a National Geographic for KIDS, made a thinking map/tree map, and now on Monday I'll have them make the Haiku Deck on their chrome books." This is the one she made as an example. 

Cheetah - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Here are a few more ideas to get you started using Haiku Deck in your classroom:

• illustrate vocabulary
• tell a story
• holiday messages
• illustrate poems
• examples of a concept

If you are using Haiku Deck in your classroom, please e-mail me your ideas and I'll happily pass them on.

If you or one of your colleagues are doing something in your class that uses edtech tools, please let me know. I'd love to share it with other teachers.

Projecting from Chromebooks

As students create content on Chromebooks, we often want to give them the chance to present it to the entire class. It is easy for students to present from their Chromebooks. Students will need to use an HDMI connector. Teachers with TV screens in their classrooms should have an HDMI cable. Just plug in the Chromebook and select input. The projector will automatically find the Chromebook. You'll just need to mirror the screens. Press "ctrl" and 5th key from the left on the top row of keys.

Most teachers will still need to project Chromebooks through classroom projectors. You will need a VGA to HDMI connector. You'll need to unplug the dongle that connects your projector to your laptop and plug in the HDMI dongle, connecting the projector to the Chromebook. Then, the student will have to mirror the screens, pressing "ctrl" and the key

that looks like the image on the right.

We have some of the connectors in the District Office and would be happy to send one out to any class that requests one. One caution is that those dongles will only project images and cannot be used for audio. For that, you'll need to get a dongle that includes a male-to-male audio cable that is plugged into the dongle and the audio in port of your projector.

A few teachers have Chromecasts. Students will need to install the Google Cast extension from the Chrome Web Store, and then also need to be on the USD-Cast wifi. Students will then need to open the Google Cast extension.

EduWin from Nicole Moore

Nicole's Kindergarten students are learning all about penguins. Some of them have never seen a penguin, so to make the experience more real, Nicole and her students look in on the African Blackfooted Penguins at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the penguins at San Diego's Sea World. Needless to say, Nicole reports this is an activity the students look forward to everyday.

Another way to bring resources into your classroom is to participate in a virtual field trip. There are lots of museums and zoos that offer virtual field trips, but it sometime requires a bit of digging to find them. Here is an upcoming field trip offered by The Nature Conservancy, in cooperation with PBS and YouTube. It is scheduled for Thursday, February 5th, and is geared towards grades 3-8.  Click here for more information.

If you or one of your colleagues are doing something in your class that uses edtech tools, please let me know. I'd love to share it with other teachers.

Photos with Chromebooks/EduWin for Elise Plutt, Global School Day of Play

We've all noticed the camera on a Chromebook. Have you wondered what it is good for aside from selfies? Elise Plutt and her third graders are putting it to good use.

Using the camera, Elise's Third Grade students are taking pictures and adding them to reports. While it is a bit cumbersome, it works! Here's how to do it:

First, go to the Apps waffle in the lower left-hand corner of the Chromebook and find the camera icon. If it's not there, you can find the app in the Chrome Web Store and install it. Click on the icon to open the camera.

Once camera is open, you'll notice you can chose to add effects along the bottom of the screen that can be added before it is taken. This is a good opportunity to talk to your students about purpose and audience.












The app also provides a timer and the ability to take 3 shots with each click. 

Once you've decided on those options,  carefully position the item you want to take a picture of in front of the camera. Elise's students were taking photos of the covers of books they'd been reading. 

After the picture is taken, open the Gallery (see above).

 You will find a menu in the lower right hand corner.


By choosing the icon with the down arrow, you will save your image to your Google Drive. Organize your photos by creating a photos folder. Then you can save directly to it. 

After your student has made sure they saved the photo correctly, Elise suggests you teach your students to delete the photo since there is a limited amount of storage on the Chromebook's hard drive.

Now that the photo is stored in Google Drive, it will be available to insert in a Google Doc or Presentation.

When you are ready, choose insert image. Then, choose to Insert Image from Google Drive.

Choose the folder you have stored your photos in, and when the folder opens, choose the image you want to insert. Then press Select.

Once the image is inserted, you'll see that a menu of image editing options opens when you click on the photo.

Elise taught her students to crop the photo to only show the book cover. I've used it on this photo:

With students taking pictures, this could be a good time to talk about digital privacy. You'll want your students to be sensitive to taking pictures of each other and posting them in documents that will be made public

Just think of how many uses you'll be able to find for the camera once you teach your students to use it. Have your students take photos of artwork, science projects, examples of shapes in the environment. Share ways you use the Chromebook camera in your class. Send your ideas to me and I'll post them on the blog.

Google Classroom

A few teachers who have student teachers and are using Google Classroom have asked if there is a way for co-teachers to share a Classroom. Here is a video on a workaround. Other tips Jen Judkins shares in the video are sharing an entire folder, changing point values, and editing documents with tables on iPads.

Global School Day of Play

Have you heard of the Global School Play Day Movement? Inspired by Peter Gray, a noted American psychologist who has studied schools and societies that emphasize learning through play, the Bedley Brothers, educators in southern California, are trying to raise awareness of how important it is for children to have opportunities for free play. They are rallying K-6 teachers from around the United States to join them on Wednesday, February 4th in acknowledging that play is important in a child's development.

Students bring toys from home but NONE OF THE TOYS CAN REQUIRE BATTERIES. Students can bring board games, legos, blocks, dolls, playing cards, sports equipment, jigsaw puzzles. Think "mid-Century" and you'll get the idea. Then, give them the time to explore and play.

We are fortunate in California to have the kind of weather that encourages kids to play outdoors. Maybe join another class and set up some activities - but don't make the day too structured.

Need a little more encouragement? Watch this YouTube video from Peter Gray.

Wishing you and your students a great day of exploration!

Thinglink, Google Classroom Update, iCloud Account, Klikaklu EduWin

They say, "A picture is worth a thousand words." With ThinkgLink, you can have both! ThingLink is a free tool that you and your students can use to create interactive images.

You start with an image you find on the web or you can upload your own image. You then add links to the image and create icons so users will know where to click. As the user mouses over the image, icons show up. When they click on the icon, it takes them out to the website.

This is a ThingLink I created to use with Charlotte's Web. As students explore the links, they'll find lots of resources to explore, including an NPR interview with the author, E. B. White, a short video, as well as a Quia Quiz, and a Scholastic site.



You can use your Google+ @unionsd.org to create an account. Make sure you opt for the edu account and sign up for the Teacher account. Once you do, you'll be able to create a group and free accounts for your students.

ThingLink is a great tool for students to use to create interactive reports. They can attach photos they've take, pictures of images they've created, URLs of Google Docs they have shared, screencasts they've made, audio they've recorded, or rich media resources they've found on the web. And, since works on all browsers, your students will be able to create a ThingLink on their Chromebook, as well as iOS and Android devices.

Here is a YouTube video, created by NPR Education, that will help you and your students get started creating your own:

While I'm sure you can find many ways to use ThingLink in your classroom, Donna Baumbach has created a collaborative Google Presentation, "Ways to Use ThingLink in the Classroom," that offers many ideas to get you started.

Google Classroom

This week, Google announced a Google Classroom mobile app available for both Android and iOS devices. With the new mobile app, students can take a photo and attach it to their assignment. 

There are also new features for teachers on the Assignment page. You'll be able to quickly review student work for a particular assignment, their grades, and any comments.

Creating an iCloud Account Without a Credit Card

Some teachers are still having difficulty creating an iCloud account without a credit care. You'll need this account to keep your computer up-to-date. Thanks to Jason for pointing out an easy way to do it. Here is a short video to show you how.

EduWin for Lisa Mata and Cindy Loper with Klikaklu

Last week, the Fourth Grade class at Alta Vista had a fun activity while visiting the San Juan Bautista Mission. Lisa and Cindy had visited and created a picture treasure hunt with Klikaklu.com. Parent chaperones with iPhones downloaded the app. Lisa shared her treasure hunt with them, and the students were off, searching San Juan Bautista for the spots. Students were excited and  engaged.

You don't have to use KlikaKlu only for field trips. What about creating a scavenger hunt for geometric shapes? Here's how to get started:

If you or one of your colleagues are doing something in your class that uses edtech tools, please let me know. I'd love to share it with other teachers.

Padlet/EduWin for Larissa Rehm

Welcome back to school! I hope you all had a wonderfully restful and restorative holiday break. 

Now that we are back and all Third through Eighth classrooms have enough Chromebooks for each student (pretty awesome, thanks to all the voters who supported Bond Measure J), you may be looking for an easy, quick activity to access with students. Padlet might be something you would like to consider.

Padlet is a virtual stickyboard where users can post short notes, images, videos, and URLs. It is easy to create a Padlet board, and you don't even need to sign up for an account to use your first Padlet. Here is a short YouTube video made by Richard Byrne of  http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ showing you how to set up and use Padlet:

Once you create a Padlet, it will be assigned a unique URL. As we all know, URLs can be a bit of a problem for students. Using a URL shortener is one way around it. I really like to use the goo.gl URL shortener. You copy your longer URL and paste it into the box, click "Shorten URL" and you'll have a URL that is easier for your students to use. If you are signed into your Google account, it will keep a record of your URLs and even generate a QR code you can give students who are using tablets or other smart devices. 

Another great URL shortener to use is shoutkey.com The advantage is that the URL that is generated uses words, eg shoutkey.com/kingdom. The downside is that each shoutkey stays active for a maximum of 24 hours. However, if you have created a Padlet account, you will still be able to revisit your Padlet, and you can create a new shoutkey if you would like to make a Padlet board available again for students to add to at a later date. However, you might like to create the shoutkey ahead of time to make sure the word is accessible and appropriate for your students.

There are many ways to use Padlet in your classroom. Here are just a few:

• have students brainstorm questions they would like to research about a certain topic
• create columns on a Padlet and have students indicate where they are in the writing process by placing their name in the appropriate column
• have students post examples of a ELA concept, eg: "Write a metaphor." "Give an example of an adjective."
• if you have a library of photos/images, students can post them. An example might be in a primary class, "Post a picture of a word that has the long o sound."
• have students post pictures that represent a math concept, eg. "Post a picture of an object that includes a right triangle."
• have students write a short book endorsement and include a picture of its cover
• post a question for students to respond to, "What evidence do you have that the main character...?"
• use it as an exit ticket, "What is your most important take-away from today's lesson?"
• create a bank URLs of websites they find that can be used to research a particular subject. 

I'm sure you can find many of uses for Padlet I haven't begun to think of. If you find yourself using Padlet a lot, you can install a Chrome Extension from the Chrome Webstore. (Let me know if you need help with this). Then, it will sit on your toolbar and you'll be able to Create (a) New (Padlet) at a moment's notice.

EduWin for Larissa Rehm

Being a Fourth grade teacher, Larissa and her class are deep into the Mission Project. This year, her students will use Google Presentation to write their report, complete with pictures they have sourced from the internet. This is a great way to familiarize students with a new tool and teach them about giving attribution to the creators of those images, while completing a traditional Fourth Grade project. 

Larissa is also planning on having students create science notebooks using Google Presentation. Her long range goal is to have students save and showcase their work on a website. Way to jump in, Larissa!

If you or one of your colleagues are doing something in your class that uses edtech tools, please let me know. I'd love to share it with other teachers.

The Hour of Code

Forty-four USD teachers reported introducing the Hour of Code to their students. All grades were represented! Thank you to all who participated. The names of all the teachers who filled in the Google Form were put into a random name picker for a thank you drawing. Christina Le, a Kindergarten teacher at Lietz, was chosen. A MakeyMakey kit has been ordered for her. We hope she and her class will enjoy using it.