Lemon Tech Tidbits

What is it? Threadit is a quick and easy way to create short videos to communicate easier with others. What? Watch this quick intro video about this new product. Okay, I’m interested. How can I use it? Richard Byrne has created this video to show you how to create a threadit video. In addition, he has created a blog post you can read here.      The Threadit app comes as a web app and a Chrome extension to make it even easier to use. (right now, it is blocked by our organization). Why is it like Flipgrid and not Screencastify? Threadit allows you to share the video with others who can then make their own video replies on their own time. They can also easily share a Threadit with others. Why is it called Threadit? The idea behind the name is you can create these short little videos and then “stitch” them together into one cohesive video later. Is there a price? Not right now but in the feature, they might be a free and paid subscription choice.

Google Slide Templates - Another site that has awesome templates you can use for free for Google Slide presentations. Slide Presenter Toolbar Update - The toolbar has been redesigned to be sleeker so it doesn’t distract as much when presenting a Google Slide presentation. You now need to click on the three dots to access the menu. Math Practice Problems - In Google Search, students can access a million practice problems for chemistry, physics, and math. Make MadLibs with Google Forms - Take Forms further by creating a MadLib with the help of Autocrats. This is for more advanced users but the video has pretty clear instructions. Go to annetplanet.com for more comics.

Want to have a little fun this month? Have your students try their hand at the Easter Egg Escapade on DeckToys. It is like a digital escape room made for elementary students.

SeeSaw has been listening to feedback from teachers and has made a few changes. Record Your Voice!: You can now add your own voice to text, labels, shapes, and images. This means that each individual object can have its own audio. Think about introducing letter sounds, new words, or quick introductions. It also means students can leave multiple voice recordings on a single page to share their thoughts. Upload Audio: If you don’t want to use your own voice, you can upload an audio file to use instead. Lock the size of shapes, texts, and images: If you like to create manipulatives, this will be a game-changer. Click on the three dots and select Lock. You can lock the size only or lock all which means it will not move. For more information, click on this pdf link.  Prefer a video instead? Click on this link.

Canva has a paid subscription that many people purchase and swear it is worth the price. But did you know they also have a FREE subscription for education purposes? Yes, free. Wait, what is Canva? : It is a graphic design platform that can be used by teachers and students to create posters, social media graphics, presentations, infographics, and much more. It is very simple to use with templates and drag and drop capabilities. Okay, tell me more: Teachers love to use it to create presentations and create activities to share with students. There are thousands of educational resources you can use from virtual classrooms to interactive worksheets. Plus, you can invite students to join from all of your classes with no cost involved. For a full tutorial, click on this link. To sign up, go here: https://www.canva.com/education/

A recent trend that I have seen lately is teachers creating Facebook, Twitter, or even TikTok accounts and groups with the explicit purpose of sharing their created educational activities with one another. In almost every case, they are sharing it for free with the hope that someone else will reciprocate their good jester and share their own materials.  With this in mind, two educators have created a website called Teachers Help Teachers as a place where teachers can freely share with each other. They have taken the submissions and organized them according to grade level and topic. There are some absolutely amazing resources already available. Take a look and maybe think about submitting your own creations!

Elementary Mystery Doug : Short five-minute videos to prompt your students to ask questions and debate. Use them as bell ringers or end-of-the-day activities. Summarize it! : Khan academy has an excellent video series on how to summarize fiction and nonfiction text for grades 2 and up. Middle School Google Advanced Search Tips: Richard Byrne shares 5 features of Google Advanced search every student should know. Summarize it!: Teach students how to summarize by having them create a fake tweet (240 characters or less). Use FakeTweetGenerator. High School Compare Documents: Learn how to use this quick Google Doc search to compare documents amongst students. Everyone Kahoot acquired Whiteboard.fi. What does this mean for the future of Kahoot or Whiteboard.fi? No one knows right now but there is talk that maybe Kahoot will incorporate the whiteboard abilities into its online gaming format. How to Install and Manage Chrome Extensions Yes, another post by Richard Byrne but I felt I needed ...

  Recently, Eric Curtis shared his love of using games in a class by creating virtual renditions of classic board games such as checkers, chess , backgammon , and battleship . Now, he has created a new virtual game for Royal Game of UR . I am not familiar with the game but Eric Curtis breaks it down in simple terms to make it easy to play. This very old game (it was invented over 4,500 years ago) requires two students to square off against each other. They must use strategy and luck to win. As Eric says, “In addition to critical thinking skills, this game also ties in nicely with probabilities in math and with exploring the history of when the game was played.” On his blog post, you will find a link to the game, a short video tutorial, and instructions on how to play complete with how to roll the virtual dice.

Mote is a Chrome extension that allows you to easily leave voice comments on students assignments in Google Classroom. There has recently been an update in MOTE allowing you to add comments directly to Google Slides. Mote is a freemium service. The free version allows you to leave 30 second replies while the paid version allows you to leave 90 seconds. There is even a paid version that will take your verbal comments and transcribe it into a transcript too. You can sign up for a free account to try it out and see how much you like it. For a detailed video tutorial over how to use MOTE, watch this video (about 10 minutes long): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Z9vzoQtSs Jake Miller has a blog post on how to add audio directly to a Google Slide using the MOTE Chrome Extension. Here is a link to his post: https://jakemiller.net/motegoogleslides/ Mote is a Chrome extension that allows you to easily leave voice comments on students' assignments in Google Classroom. There has recently...