Never Stop Searching...

The Google Zeitgeist 2012: Year in Review has been released, and I so love it I would like to share it with you.

 Here's to the curious...

The Christmas Shed

We introduced a website titled The Literacy Shed during the workshops last summer.  This is a fantastic website that provides short film clips with suggested writing prompts.

I discovered that the blog author has created a Christmas Shed.  Included are clips from The Snowman, The Polar Express, The Chronicles of Narnia, and a pair of adorable ads from the British department store John Lewis - just to name a few.  If you are looking for a quick writing activity (or a quick simply a quick video to show) over the next week, this would be a great place to explore.

Enjoy!

mb

iPad ideas for Math and Science in the Upper School

As we are getting ready to implement sets of 10 iPads in some of our US Math and Science classes over the next few weeks, I thought it would be interesting to share a few resources.  A few 6th graders caught me shopping for Apps in the Media Center this morning, which reinforces their belief (and mine) that I have the best job in the school :)

First, I found a presentation titled "Introduction to iPads in Middle School" by a teacher named Gary Toews. I think it helps frame how to think about best using this mobile technology in your classrooms.

Not everything in the presentation lines up with how we will run things at HTS.  Gary is a big fan of Dropbox for sharing documents. I think Google Drive will make more sense for our students because they already have Google accounts set up (one less password to remember).

We'll also need to think about how best to print documents in the Upper School - more on this will follow...
 

Introduction to iPads in Middle School from Gary Toews

Next, I would like to share an article titled "5 Critical Mistakes Schools Make with iPads (and how to correct them)" from the edudemic website.  I would love to be able to have an entire meeting devoted to addressing the concerns raised in this article, but as time is always a bit short, if you have a chance to read it, I'd love to discuss it at any time.

And now for my App shopping project.  If the math and science nerds in the crowd would like to peruse the following sites and suggest any Apps that you'd like us to purchase to compliment current topics, please let me know:

First, I found a resource for free Secondary School Math Apps: http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/secondarymathematics

And some great ideas for Middle School Science Apps can be found on iear.org:
http://www.iear.org/iear/2010/7/26/ipads-in-science-by-al-gonzalez.html

This list of "100 Apps Perfect for Middle School" deserves a look as well:
http://www.fluency21.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=2402

Tumblebooks and Bookflix for iPad or Smartboard

Beverly found a great resource for children's picture books that can projected onto a Smartboard, or read on an iPad - Tumblebooks.  I have previewed a number of them, and I suspect our students will find them as engaging and fun as I do.

The link to access Tumblebooks through the DC Public Library site is here:  http://www.dclibrary.org/kids/videobooks

(you can also find the link to Bookflix there, which I describe below)

There are a number of titles available in Spanish as well as English... You can find titles about a huge range of subjects:

• Alphabet and reading
• Animals and insects
• The arts
• Early Readers
• Fables and Fantasy
• Friends and Family
• Fun and Games
• Geography
• Health
• Holidays
• Jobs
• Math and Counting
• School
• Science and Technology
• Seasons
• Sports
• World Cultures

Another Great Resource, available with a DC Public Library Card, is Scholastic's Bookflix:

According to their website, "Scholastic BookFlix is a new online literacy resource that pairs classic video storybooks from Weston Woods with related nonfiction eBooks from Scholastic to build a love of reading and learning. The engaging way to link fact and fiction, BookFlix reinforces early reading skills and introduces children to a world of knowledge and exploration."

Here is a list of the titles available:

Will.i.am Sings "What I Am" on Sesame Street...

I stumbled across this video on Pinterest this morning and it made my day.  Apparently it has become the theme song of classrooms across the country - one 5th grade teacher reported her kids sing it every day.

Watch it and and I dare you not to smile...

Happy Tuesday,

mb

The Teacher's Guide to Wikipedia

We all know that any research project with our students should begin with the HTS online encyclopedias, but inevitably, our dear students automatically start "Googling" and begin with Wikipedia... (Of course I never admit this is my default search technique.)

I came across the following article on Edudemic over the Weekend.  If you need a bit of ammunition when explaining to the kids that Wikipedia is not always the best source for a report, this will be very helpful.  It gives a comprehensive overview of how Wikipedia works, and includes perspectives on how safe and reliable it is for students.

http://edudemic.com/2012/10/teachers-guide-to-wikipedia/

Enjoy!

mb

Cool Videos to Liven Up Your Classes - including Bill Nye and Schoolhouse Rock

As I am a visual learner, and have a relatively short attention span, I have always loved educational videos.  Schoolhouse Rock and I are old friends... and you all know how I love BrainPop.

This week, I discovered some neat new sources of educational videos on YouTube - to include Bill Nye the Science Guy and Schoolhouse Rock.  Enjoy:

Crash Course History
This is a series of 37 fast-paced ten to twelve minute overviews of major concepts and themes in World History. These might be a fun way to kick-off or reinforce a unit in the Upper School.

 

Crash Course Biology
Like the Crash course in history, this is a series of  fast-paced ten to twelve minute overviews of major concepts and themes in Biology.

Disney Educational Channel offers a number of videos on YouTube as well.  On the website, they say: Disney Educational Productions is committed to providing the tools teachers need to engage, inform, and inspire many different learners. Packed with educator-designed teachers guides and activities, our ultimate collection of award-winning DVDs will make it easier for you to reach - and teach - your students through immersive multimedia experiences.

Some favorites inlude:

Schoolhouse Rock:

Bill Nye the Science Guy:

and...


Very fun engaging videos on the Presidents:

Field Trips!

Last week, new parent Diane Bastin came to visit our Lower School staff meeting.  Her daughters attended a Montessori school where the students went on dozens of field trips every year before joining the 5th grade at HTS this year.  She is an amazing resource, and generously offered to share her list of favorites.

She also includes some online programs her school participated in, such as the St. Jude's Math-a-Thon, and a Finance Course for kids... and provides some free programs for teachers at local museums.

Thanks Diane!

Free Programs:

Kids Euro Festival (reserve in August/September): http://www.kidseurofestival.org

DAR museum tours: http://www.dar.org/museum/edprogrms.cfm

Air Force Band Holiday Matinee (reserve in September): http://www.usafband.af.mil/holidaykids/index.asp

Corcoran Gallery of Art—tour + craft: http://www.corcoran.org/educators-students/school-tours-and-workshops

American History Museum—Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins presentation: http://americanhistory.si.edu/events/index.cfm - /?i=2

Capitol tours: regular school tours http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/education/planning_a_field_trip_to_the_capitol/

White House tours: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/tours-and-events/, including Kitchen Garden tours: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/tours_and_events/garden

National Museum of the American Indian: http://nmai.si.edu/visit/washington/group/

National Geographic: http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/article/group-sales/

National Gallery of Art: http://www.nga.gov/education/school.shtm - kthru3

Rock Creek Park planetarium, puppet Show, Peirce mill: (202) 895-6070 -- http://www.nps.gov/rocr/forteachers/rangerguided.htm

Nature/Science:

Arcadia Farm: http://arcadiafood.org/arcadia-farm-field-trips

Huntley Meadows: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/huntley-meadows-park/

Pumpkin Playground in Burke: http://pumpkinplayground.com

DC Farm to School LEAF program: http://commongoodcityfarm.org/programs/LEAF

Monarch Butterflies: http://www.eirc.org/website/programs-services/global-connection/monarch-teacher-network/

History:

Dumbarton House: http://dumbartonhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/School-Programs.pdf

Mount Vernon—mansion and distillery: http://www.mountvernon.org/educational-resources/teachers-students/field-trips

Gunston Hall: http://www.gunstonhall.org/education/outreach.html

Lincoln’s Cottage: http://lincolncottage.org/visit/education/

Claude Moore Colonial Farm: http://1771.org

On-site learning opportunities:

Free - Online:

St. Jude’s Math-a-Thon: http://www.mathathon.org

Kids Euro Festival performance—begin planning in late August

Finance course for kids: http://www.handsonbanking.org/en/instructional-resources.html

National Geographic Geography Awareness Week: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/collections/geographyawarenessweek/?ar_a=1

Nominal Fee: 

Adopt-a-whale: http://www.whalecenter.org/adoption/features.html

Gunston Hall—Meet George Mason, grades 4 to 6.

Free programs for teachers:

National Gallery of Art occasionally offers teacher preview events

Smithsonian Teacher’s Night in September: http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/professional_development/teachers_night.html

National Geographic Teacher Preview night on November 7th: Birds of Paradise http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/exhibits/2012/11/01/birds-paradise/

Newseum Teacher Open House: http://www.newseum.org/education/teacher-resources/upcoming-workshops/teacher-open-house/index.html

Ascanius Latin Program: http://www.ascaniusyci.org

Feel free to contact Diane with questions:

Diane Bastin

xanthippe@mindspring.com

(202) 422-1181

A Pair of Amazing Guides for iPad Users - and a Prezi

Earlier this week, I received a pair of super-cool guides in my inbox that I'd like to share:

First, Edutopia published a booklet titled:  Mobile Devices for Learning: What You Need to Know... Getting kids engaged with learning, focused on working smarter and ready for the future.  This guide is jam-packed with ideas - especially for our iPad users.

In his "GeekDad" Blog for Wired, Daniel Donohoo sums it up this way:  "Along with the usual app recommendations, the guide offers some analysis that looks at the positives, but also the challenges, of using mobile devices to support learning. It presents a wide range of diverse resources for teachers and parents to access as they undertake a journey to using technology to support learning. The whole process can also be overwhelming, so the guide doesn’t feel like it has excessive information, but instead acts as a launching pad for those interested in exploring how these devices can be used with students both inside and outside the classroom."

Plus, it is free. Of course, free these days means signing up to the Edutopia site, but if you do you’ll find the complete guide at http://www.edutopia.org/mobile-learning. 

I found a couple of ideas from the guide to be particularly useful, especially the following links to help to find new Apps:

• I Education Apps Review - IEar.org - Resources are organized by grade and subject by a community of educators and app developers.
• Appititc  - Appitic.com - A directory of apps for learning by Apple distinguished educators
• Teachers with Apps - teacherswithapps.com - Two teachers write easy-to-read reviews on educational apps for educators and parents.

Arriving in my inbox soon after was a huge guide from Common Sense Media called "Bring Learning to Life."  Divided by subject and again by learning level, it offers hundreds of ideas for Apps, online games and other resources.

According to their website, "no matter what your kids like, you'll find media here to spark their imagination and cement knowledge.  Discover inventive apps for kids struggling with addition, fluency games for advanced readers, websites to help with social skills, and more."   We do have a number of the recommended Apps available on our Lower School iPads, but we will be looking at the list carefully over the next few weeks to add to our offerings.  If you'd like to peruse the list and add your own suggestions, here is the link:

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/guide/back-to-school-guide

Then, when I was planning our 7th Grade class for tomorrow I stumbled across this amazing Prezi titled: 60 Educational Apps in 60 Minutes. Yet another resource to explore when searching for Apps.

60 Educational Apps in 60 Minutes on Prezi

Blog Spotlight: Free Technology For Teachers

During one of our workshops this summer, we spoke about the wealth of information available to teachers in the world of blogging.  I follow a number of blogs... in the world of technology, things are changing constantly, and the techie blogs help me keep up on the changes.  Having cool blog updates in my inbox is like having a teaspoon of Continuing Ed every day.

One of my all-time favorite blogs is called "Free Technology for Teachers."  Richard Byrne lives in a tiny little town in the woods in Maine, but this week he reached the milestone of 50,000 subscribers to his blog.  A well-deserved honor, I would say. I am constantly learning about new resources from him.

He has included a number of wonderful resources this fall.  I'd like to highlight a pair of them below, and encourage you to add to his number of subscribers and follow him as well:

From Richard:

12 Awesome EdTech Tools for 2012-2013 is designed to share what I think is a selection of free tools that can be used in almost every K-12 setting. I intentionally kept this document short because the intended audience is teachers who are new(ish) to using technology in their classrooms and I didn't want to create something that would be overwhelming. You'll also notice that I left out iOS and Android apps. Those will be featured in future documents.

Please feel free to download, print, and distribute this in your school.
12 Awesome EdTech Tools for 2012-2013


At Holy Trinity, we'd like to eventually move toward using Google Drive with our students, but at the beginning of this busy year, it keeps falling to the bottom of the to-do list.  If you'd like to tinker with Google Drive and Docs while waiting for the tech team to get to the bottom of their collective to-do lists, here is an excellent resource for you:
Google Drive and Docs for Teachers 2012

Anchor Charts!

                                                                               

 

Notes from Katie Khanijoun - September 2012

·        For me… it started with Pinterest… www.pinterest.com

·        What is an Anchor Chart?

o   Students brainstorm, teacher guides and scribes

o   Helps to “anchor” information in a student’s mind
(anchors new and on-going learning)   (holds our thinking in a visual place)

o   A chart you create WITH the students

------Made during the lesson (you can have examples to follow or have some parts prepared ahead of time).  You can “fix it up” after the lesson so it looks better

o   Promotes literacy and encourages independence

o   Visual reminder of strategies

o   Focuses on ONE strategy or concept or procedure

o   Excellent reference tool for students

o   Students helped to created itàmore likely to use it

·        Important:

o   Students should reference them, so should youàkeep them relevant

o   Can be interactiveà, have students use strategy and show it with a sticky note

o   Change them up when they aren’t needed anymore, take pictures of them so you can reference them for next year, also a good way to make them available for the rest of the year to students if you keep a copy of the chart in a binder

·        Also Helpful for:

Tutors, principal, parents and other teachers who walk into your roomàimmediately see what they students are learning

·        Awesome websites and resources:
http://www.cornerstoneliteracy.org/newsletter-archive/anchor-charts

http://www.scholastic.ca/education/litplace_earlyyears/pdfs/tip_archives/teachingguides5.pdf
http://suite101.com/article/use-anchor-charts-for-english-language-learners-a121105
http://jmeacham.com/anchorcharts.htm
http://pinterest.com/hellojenjones/anchor-charts/
http://www.fortheloveofteaching.net/2010/07/have-you-tried-anchor-charts.html

 

 

2012 Election Resources

The Election is just 49 days away...

I thought I'd share a handful of techie Election 2012 resources for you to explore:

The New York Times Learning Network is designed with 6th to 12th graders in mind.  They have recently posted a section with teaching ideas and resources:

... and a section with a number of great free web sites for teaching about the 2012 election:

Scholastic:
The Scholastic website is designed with younger kids in mind, and includes a number of games, videos and other resources:

 

Discovery Ed:
Holy Trinity School has a subscription to Discovery Ed, and among the resources is a weekly 3-minute video update on the election:

Remember, if you have not yet signed up for your personal HTS Discovery Ed account, our account number is: 13FF-53EE

 

BrainPop:

 

BrainPop also has an extensive Election Resources section, with quizzes, games, and lots of short videos from our friends Tim and Moby:

 

 



 

Remember, our login is dtarantino, and our password is seashell.

Do you have other favorite Election resources?  If so, share them below in the comments section:

Passwords and Email and Scantron and such...

Hello all - a few techie notes to begin the second week of school.

Passwords

Thanks for your patience as we have tried to work out network logins for all our Upper School students.  We should be in really good shape as we begin this week, but if you find you are in a lab with a child locked out, please text M, and she will trouble-shoot the problem.

Each US student will have a password page by the end of the week (see below).  We have asked they keep this in their binders as a reference, as they have so very many passwords to remember.  We will also have copies on hand.

A few notes about Email.  

• Each US student has an HTS Email account, and we have told them this is the only account they should be using at school  (the ability to G-chat has been disabled, among other perks.)

• This Gmail account easily links to Google docs or Google drive.  If you are new to this and interested in using it with your students, let one of the Tech Nerds know, and we can help you out.  It is a handy way to manage and edit papers with your kids.

• It should be very easy for you to Email your students, as they are all in the directory.

• We have told the students that they may not Email during class time without teacher permission. 

• We have also told them that if they use the Email inappropriately, they will lose all network privileges at HTS for some amount of time.

Scantron

Scantron testing begins for Upper School students this week, and Lower School students next week, and will likely take most of our technology classes over the next three weeks.  This means that much of the "Tech 101" stuff we generally introduce at the beginning of the year is not happening for a while.   If you need one of us to help introduce some techie element to one of your classes over the next few weeks  (say, saving documents to the correct drive)  just let us know. 

Lower School MiniLab Schedule 2012-13

Hi all,

Below, you will find the new LS MiniLab schedule.  If you would like to sign up for time in the lab beyond your tech classes, Catherine Miller will keep the schedule on the door, and you are welcome to sign up. 

Charlie Hennessy's Beginning of the Year Presentations

If you missed any of Charlie's presentations this morning, or would like to review any of the finer points of his wisdom, the links to the Prezis can be found below:

Changes at HTS:



Strategic Plan:



Discerning Meaningful Action:



News Updates:



Grades, Grading and Testing:



Rules, Reminders and Legal Restrictions



Schedules:



Technology at HTS:

Welcome Back to School!

A Few Notes for HTS Tools 101

Following is the outline Chris Clark will be working from on Tuesday afternoon.  We'll add more how-to notes if needed later in the week.

Overview of HTS website - www.htsdc.org

• frequently used links
• calendars
• student directory (has not been updated for 2012-2013 school year yet though)
• faculty page --> password:  stignatius
• schedules, class lists, how-to's, forms, etc. etc. can be found here, but is a little under construction at the moment

Network Drives

• H drive for personal stuff (only you and a few admins have access)
• N drive for NetDocs (all faculty/staff has access)
• shared documents
• report cards
• T drive for SAT files (all faculty/staff has access)
• documents regarding students with special needs
• generally NOT a good idea to share things on the C drive or "My Documents" folder

HTS Email

• webmail version
• sync with Microsoft office (requires an admin to set up for you)
• add to iOS (iPhone/iPad) or Android or home email program (Mail) like a regular Gmail account (willing to help if needed) 
• you may email a group of people:

allschool@htsdc.org

assistants@htsdc.org

classof2012@htsdc.org

classof2013@htsdc.org

classof2014@htsdc.org

classof2015@htsdc.org

early@htsdc.org

gavigan@htsdc.org

lower@htsdc.org

office@htsdc.org

technerds@htsdc.org

tutors@htsdc.org

upper@htsdc.org

Cornerstone - our online database/ online gradebook (used by upper school only)

• entering grades
• household viewable setting --> YES for everybody now, may change to NO for Lower School pending administrative approva
• printing class lists

Wordpress - for teacher webpages

• where students can find your page
• updating current page
• changing color of text
• making a link to a webpage
• uploading & making a link to a file
• weekly task of archiving****
• saving current week to new draft
• renaming the newly created copy
• going back to the current week's page and editing that page (should be page with just your name in the web address)
• linking newly created last week's page to HW archive page

SMART Notebook - 

• not too much detail here because of other workshops
• posting PDFs of SMART Notebook files to website

Google Calendar

• adding a test date, long-term project due date, special event
• can add more special events to "Grade Level Public Events" or "HTS Main" and it will automatically display on the HTS homepage
• excellent way to communicate to students, parents, colleagues, and principal

Use the technology!

• it's transparent (website, Cornerstone, Google calendar) - for your students and their parents
• more questions, confusion, and misunderstandings if you are not transparent
• less questions, confusion, and misunderstandings if you are transparent
• allows students and parents to know how well they are doing (Cornerstone)
• eliminates many (but not all) student errors of doing the wrong page, wrong problems, etc. (website)

• allows students to review material on their own time if needed (SMART Notebook, website)
• keeps a record in case you ever needed to look back (website, Cornerstone)
• communicates much easier than email
• more questions, confusion, and misunderstandings if you are not transparent
• less questions, confusion, and misunderstandings if you are transparent

technology blog maintained by Mary Beth Morell (http://htstechnologyblog.blogspot.com)

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technology wiki maintained by Polly Sileo 

happy to install software you may wish to use…please just ask

generally only users with administrator privileges can install new software on computers

Christopher Clark

Charlie Hennessy

Mary Beth Morell

Polly Sileo