Lemon Tech Tidbits

  Many of us have fallen in love with Canva to create wonderful posters, signs, presentations and more. Did you know it also has a very nice video editing tool as well? You can create a simple video in which you add “slides” and then set the background to music. BUT, you can also access its video editor software and create a more customized video. Go to https://www.canva.com/education/ and select VIDEOS (in the middle). If you want to learn how to use this feature, try watching Richard Byrne’s video demonstration:  https://www.yout-ube.com/watch?v=mAJochoLo20&t=2s or to create a simple slideshow video, watch this demonstration: https://www.yout-ube.com/watch?v=HguHXjS1tNA

  What does it do? It allows you to easily turn any paragraph into a fill-in-the-blank worksheet otherwise known as a cloze exercise with one click. How do I get it? Go to Google Docs and click on Extensions. Under Add-ons, click on Get Add-Ons and do a search. Once you see it, click on it and add it.  How do I use it? Once you have your paragraph, do the following:  Highlight or underline the words you would like to be blanked. Once satisfied, on the sidebar, select whether your words were highlighted or underlined. Then, select between two different options; Option 1 where every words will be completely blanked and a list of the words will be added to a word bank at the end of the page. Or Option 2 where the first letter of each selected words will be left in the text while the rest will be blanked out. A word bank of the complete selected words will be added at the end of the page. The word list (word bank) generated is randomized in order. That's it!

If you are looking for some nice news articles to help teach nonfiction literature, go to TweenTribune . You can search by grade level from Kindergarten to Seniors or by lexile level. They even provide articles in Spanish. Each article is biased free and comes with a ready-to-use Quiz and comment section. At the bottom is a Critical Thinking Challenge that encourages students to discuss either in person or through a question addition on Google Classroom.  Not only can you access the articles but there is a whole section for Teachers including the ability to assign the reading to a class of students, helpful tips, and accompanied lesson plans.  

  Find the information you need to really make your history lessons pop. Smithsonian’s History Explorer was created as a way to easily find resources such as lessons and activities, interactive media and primary sources. You can use the search features to refine your search by grade level and historical time period. The search results will show you a summary and include how long the activity will take to complete.  To try it out, go to https://historyexplorer.si.edu/

  This is a game that can be challenging, but still educational, for students to do. It helps them practice their geography skills by providing students with a blank virtual map. They must fill it in with the right countries as fast as they can. You can select different ones by pulling down the “select a map” at the top. Once the game starts, a clock will count down how long it takes for you to slide over the names into the right places on the map. You can have students race each other or do it as an entire group activity.  I did struggle at first with trying to drag and drop the countries into the right spots. I quickly discovered you have to select (tap) and then select the spot (tap). With Chromebooks and iPads, this would be easier than trying to do it on a MacBook. Give it a try yourself. Go to MapPuzzle.xyz

  If you are looking for something easy to do with your students who always seem to finish with their classroom assignments early, my answer is to have them read. But if you want an alternative, have them work together to fill out a classroom sticker board or mosaic puzzle.  You can purchase a physical copy of a stickerboard from Let’s Stick Together for around $36.00. It comes with the grid and enough square stickers to fill it in. But there is now an alternative! You can have your students do a virtual sticker board for FREE! All you have to do is sign up for an account. Once you do, you will receive an email message allowing you to go to your dashboard where you can select the design you want. It will then give you a link you can share with your students. To try it out! Click on the link below and work together to fill in the picture. https://letstick.to/session/JNZehov58VsMMISxErcU0ipq

       What is it?   “ Kapwing is a collaborative, online content creation platform that you can use to edit video and create content.”       What can I use it for? You can use it to edit a youtube video to only show what you want to show, take a video and turn it into a GIF, create a video from pictures, edit an already created video by adding text, change the format of a video, download only the audio, and a lot more.       How do I get it? To be able to use Kapwing Pro for free, you do need to sign up and wait for verification. This applies to both teachers and students. Once your account has been verified as being for education, you will be able to upgrade the free Kapwing account to the pro version. Go to https://www.kapwing.com/edu to get started. I absolutely LOVE using Kapwing for all of my video editing. It is so easy to use. When I heard the Pro version was free, I shouted out loud. Luckily, I only scared my cat but yeah…very excited about this news!

     Have you ever sent an email to someone that contains information you want to be private? Maybe it is a very personal subject or a confidential document regarding a student only an administrator should have. No matter the reason, you now have the ability to protect your email messages so the receiver will not be able to forward, download, copy or print the messages AND the attachments. Mr. Williams, tech coach from Greenbush Educational Center, provides you with everything you need to know about this new feature in his latest video . You can access it here.