Rotating Pictures

Rotate Pictures in Bulk

The simplest  way to rotate a bunch of pictures at once is to use your Windows laptop.  Once the pictures are in a folder on your laptop, you can select all the pictures you want to rotate, right click on one of them and choose the rotate left or rotate right option.  



Then, if needed, the whole folder can be uploaded to your Google Drive.

Rotate One Picture

If you have only one picture to rotate, or you want you students to rotate a picture, your best bet is PixlrExpress (https://pixlr.com/express/). You can use a Chromebook or your Windows computer.

Click Browse and choose a picture from your computer or your Google Drive

Click Adjustments>Rotate

When you are finished, click Apply

Then Save your picture to your computer or your Drive

PS.. I LOVE PixlrExpress for basic photo editing and especially making collages.  It is quick and simple to use.  You should check it out!  

Discovery Education's Spotlight on Strategies

Looking for a way to spice up your vocabulary lessons?  Want a fun way to teach prediction skills?  Discovery Education (formerly known as United Streaming) has complied a plethora of fun teaching strategies that use digital media.   If your looking for some new activities and strategies this is a great place to start!

Spotlight on Strategies

 

RTSD 26 staff has access to a Discovery Education account. DE is a video database which also also includes lesson plans and interactive teaching and learning tools. If you need to create an account, you can find the directions on the RTSD 26 Subscription Websites doc.

New Features in Kahoot!

Kahoot! has added some great new features since my first post about it in 2015!

1.  Jumble
In this new game format students don't need to just come up with the correct answer, they need to come up wit the correct order/sequence of 4 choices.



2.  Team Play
KAhoot! added a Team mode feature so students can compete as a team using 1 device.  (Not available for a Jumble yet.)


3.  Game Options
Kahoot! has added some great game settings to help you customize your students' experience.



4.  Ghost Mode
After the end of a normal quiz, students can choose to play the game again in Ghost Mode.  In this mode a "ghost" of the player plays along side the player.  The "ghost" answers the question exactly the same way the student did on the first game.  At the end, students can compare their results with their first attempt and see if/how much progress they made.  (Not available for a Jumble yet.)

5.  Assign a Kahoot! as homework!

1. Open the Kahoot! you want, or create one as usual.
2. Click on the Challenge button and follow the instructions to set up a challenge. Choose how long you want it to be live.
3. Copy the challenge link, and share with your students – via email, google classroom, your website, etc...

Remember there are 4 different kinds of Kahoots - Quiz, Discussion, Survey and Jumble.  Need a quick reminder about each type?  Read What are the different kahoot types for?

CheckMark

 http://www.checkmarkclass.com/ 

A new Chrome extension will make using comments on a Google doc quicker! With CheckMark installed, a small keyboard with abbreviations for common errors like capitalization and punctuation pops up every time you highlight text on a Google doc.



Just click the desired abbreviation and a comment is created instructing your students what editing suggestion you are making.



Quick and easy!

C = Check capitalization
F = Check for fragment
P = Check punctuation
S = Check spelling
T = Tense
CS = Check for comma splice
RO = Check for run-on sentence
SV = Subject/Verb agreement
¶ = New paragraph needed
cla = Clarify your idea/meaning
det = Detail needed
dis = Discussion needed
evi = Evidence needed
rep = Repetitive
phr = Rephrase
spa = Spacing
​cit = Check Citation

There are plans to increase the extensions functionality in the future, but it is pretty sweet right now!

RAD Lands in School Virtual Field Trip

Discovery Education and Chipotle have partnered up to provide teachers with classroom resources for teaching about eating healthy. Visit RAD Lands in School to check out these resources.

On Wednesday, November 8, 2017 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM you can take you students on a LIVE virtual field trip to learn how easy it is to not only eat healthy, but how to have fun doing it!

The field trip is free! Registration is required. Then on 11/8 you can project the field trip in your room, sit back and enjoy the journey. Easiest field trip ever!

BrainPop and BrainPop Jr. Lesson Ideas

https://educators.brainpop.com/

BrainPop has lesson plans and ideas for many of the videos.


Some lessons include ideas to Smash other programs like Google Earth or Skitch with a BrainPop video!

Other lesson include some pretty cool Extension Activities. 

Eleanor Amplified!

The Radio Adventures of Eleanor Amplified podcast for kids 8-12 with entertaining, fictional stories about a world-famous radio reporter, Eleanor Amplified.  Designed to get children interested in journalism, spark conversations and make smart choices the episodes are 10-15 minutes of action packed adventures!

Great for a listening station or as a whole group!

Listen to Episode 1

MoxieReader on SALE!!

Tired of paper reading logs?
Looking for a new way to motivate your class to read?
Want to help students find the right book for them?

Check out MoxieReader!  It is on sale through September...  $19.99 for the year (regular price $63)


What is MoxieReader from MoxieReader on Vimeo.

Track, motivate and personalize what your students are reading at home and in the classroom!

Read&Write For Google Part 4 - Word Prediction and Translations

Word Prediction

Read&Write can help students who have difficulty typing or spelling when working on a Google Doc.  It works similar to your phone's text suggestion feature when your are texting.

 In a Google doc or slide, click the Prediction button.

As you type, a box will appear with word suggestions. Hover over a suggested word and it will be read aloud.  Click on a word and it will be placed in your writing.


In your Options menu you can customize the Prediction Tool.


Translator







The Read&Write toolbar also has a word translator button.  Click it on and highlight a word to see that word translated to the language you have chosen in your Options.















Coming Soon...
Part 5 - The Rest of the Tools!

Gather Resources!

Wether your looking for an SIPD idea or you need some research and resources to support your learning, online webinars and courses are a perfect place to start!


  

EdWeb.net has  over 1200 previously recorded, free, 1 hour webinars.  The extensive list of topics include bullying, differentiated instruction, library media, school gardening... 



The IEA's Online Learning Portal has a huge selection of free online, self-paced courses about Assessments, Class Culture, Technology in he Classroom, Teaching and Learning and other topics.



ASCD's free, on-demand webinars address timely and relevant topics like student engagement, classroom technology, and instructional strategies. 

Education Week has free upcoming and on-demand webinars on Language Arts, Math, Assessments, Common Core, Technology and Special Education.

TeachersFirst OK2Ask Archives has almost 200 free, archived webinars focusing on a wide range of topics form technology integration to digital storytelling to tools to use in reading/writing instruction.

Intel Teach Elements offers free courses for teachers that focus specifically on technology in 21st century classroom topics.

Other resources to check out
Education Closet (a few free webinars)
BrainPop Webinars
PBS TeacherLine (a few courses are free/cheap)
Library of Congress Online Modules
https://www.youcubed.org/ - Math Resources!

Read&Write For Google Part 3 - Highlighter Tools

Read&Write has a 4 different color highlighters and a clear highlighter button in the tool bar.   The different colors can be used to classify and categorize words on a website, Google Doc, Google slide or a PDF. 

The Collect highlights button will open a new Google Doc and automatically sort your highlights by color and includes a link to the original site!

Super cool!  You can highlight and sort parts of speech, story elements, topic sentences, evidence from the text and so much more!!!


Coming Soon...
Part 4 - Word Prediction and Translations
Part 5 - The Rest of the Tools!

Noisli - Improve Focus with Customizable Background Sounds

Would some of your students benefit from background noise that improves productivity or helps with relaxation?

Check out https://www.noisli.com/ a simple and quick way to reduce distractions while you work.

When you find a combination of sounds that suits your purposes, you can save it as a Combo.  Combos can be played back from the website or the Chrome Extension

Read&Write for Google Part 2 - Vocabulary Tools

The vocabulary tools work on websites, google docs, google slides and PDFs. 


Highlight a word and click the dictionary or picture dictionary button to display a pop-up window with definitions or pictures!

Use the toolbars colorful highlighters to highlight multiple words on a page and click the Vocabulary button to open a google doc with a table containing the words you highlighted, definitions and pictures!

Coming Soon! Part 3 - Highlighter Tools
Part 4 - Word Prediction and Translations
Part 5 - Audio Tools

Home Button in Chrome & ClassLink

​To set your home button in Chrome...

Go to your Chr​ome settings

Enable the show home button.

Type the website you want to open whenever you hit the home button.

Hint:  If you want it ti be the ClassLink page for RTSD26 staff, type http://launchpad.classlink.com/rivertrails

If you want to be able to use the Sign in with Google button on ClassLink, you must
1.  Log into ClassLink
2.  Go to the profile dropdown arrow on the top right
3.  Click My Profile
4.  Click Sign In Options
5.  Connect to Google.