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Showing posts from December, 2020

Winter Activities

  Earlier, I sent out a choice board full of activities for December created for kids. I thought today, I would share some activities for teachers that you can do either on your own or share with your students. Introduce yourself with video or pictures in a snow globe by Kristina Uihlein Holzweiss Virtual Ugly Sweater Contest by Jeni Tahaney 21 Days of Digital Learning Free PD by Shannon McClintock Miller and other librarians Would You Rather Prompt s by Dr. Kristen Mattson Free Google Classroom Headers by Tyler Janse Candy Lane Game and more by Cheryl Redner Virtual Christmas Class Party Ideas by Mil Lon Grinch Long Division Digital Escape Room by Kendra Emerson Brain Break for Elementary Students Four Free Digital Escape Rooms by Ditch That Textbook Gingerbread Man Activities by Katie Exum Decorate Your Gingerbread House Virtual Teacher Holiday Hunt with Goosechase by FHSISD (school) Free Write Ideas for Christmas Break Into Santa’s Workshop Penguins by Kindercares ...

NEW ZOOM FEATURES

While we are currently in a virtual education world at the MS and the HS level, I thought I would share a few features about Zoom you probably didn’t know. In August, Zoom released a few new features. These include: the ability to touch up your appearance, adjust your lighting, background audio suppression, new filters, the ability to share slides as a virtual background, and in-meeting reactions. Watch this quick video to learn more about each feature: https://youtu.be/2kQFMupmhIc Remember Prezi? Now you can Zoom at the same time. A few years ago, students and teachers were creating their presentations using Prezi . The kids loved them but it fell out of favor due to the fact that often, it would take forever for them to load. But that was before. They are now back and the best part!...they work seamlessly with Zoom. Watch this quick video to learn more: https://youtu.be/xNma6ZH9fPs

LINKTR.EE

If you are like me and follow a lot of different professional groups on Facebook or Twitter, you probably have seen people post links using a site called LinkTr.ee. What is it? Basically, it is a website or tool that allows you to easily create a list of links all in one place to share with others often through other social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and more. The more links you add, the bigger your list or tree. Think of it as a Pinterest without the pictures. How do you get started? It is super easy to start using Linktr.ee. All you have to do is to go to the site and register with your email. Once you sign up, you will receive a confirmation email. Next, you are ready to add your links. At the top of the page, there is a button that says “Add Links.” Click it and then select the pencil icon. Fill in the information and you are ready to go. At the top right-hand corner of the screen will be your specific Linktr.ee url to share with others. Here is mine that I created...

BITMOJI WITH FRIENDS

     Bitmoji just announced a new feature where you can connect with friends available for all (previously, it was only available on iPhones). It is called Friendmoji.    Think about how great this could be in education. You can get all of the people in your department together in a Friendmoji. Then, image stickers could be used when making announcements as a group to the students and/or to the public.

PIXEL ART PICTURE REVEALS

First, everyone seemed to be making Bitmoji classrooms and sharing them with each other. Next, it was digital escape rooms. Now, the newest fad for education seems to be pixel art picture reveals.  What are they? It is a spreadsheet with questions on the left and a hidden picture on the right. Every time a correct answer is put in one of the cells, part of the picture is revealed. How can you create them? Here is a google slide presentation that walks you through the steps. How can I find some already made? I am not completely sure who started this craze but there is now a very active Facebook group called Pixel Art Mysteries in Education. This is where many teachers share their creations with each other. Here are a few of my favorites so far: Figurative Language Easy Multiplication Facts Word Class (verb, noun, adjective) Addition Facts Simple Algebra Equations Division Facts *One thing about many of these that do bother me is many of the pictures are copyrighted images.