#PicCollageChat

I was so excited to host the first ever #PicCollageChat, and chat with other teachers who love the app PicCollage as much as I do, or who wanted to learn about using it in their classrooms. So many awesome ideas were shared! Check them out here!

Weekly Tech-y News

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Book Snaps in Primary Grades

There is a fun new trend in the education world called Book Snaps! You can read more here about how teachers are using Book Snaps to share what they're reading and learning about through professional development. Some teachers have taken this back to their classrooms, and had their students create Book Snaps about books they are reading! In upper grades, students are using SnapChat (the original tool for this), but in elementary school, students can use Seesaw to create their own Book Snaps. This is a fun way for students to share about what they're reading and learning - they can highlight favorite parts of a book, add drawings overtop of a book page to show what they love, and even use the microphone tool to tell about why the book is a favorite, or what they found interesting!

Make "My School" Books Using the Book Creator App

Our Phase 2 TILT group visited Mrs. Rott's 2nd graders at Broadwater Elementary and helped them make some amazing books about their school using the app Book Creator. Click the link below for a wonderful guide on using Book Creator made by Linda Bernard of Redefining Learning.

Book Creator costs $4.99, but is truly one of my favorite apps to use in the classroom. The possibilities for creating across all areas of your curriculum are endless, and the the app is suitable for users of all ages. It's simple enough for young learners, but has plenty of customization features to make it a good choice for older kids, too. Read on to see some examples of these awesome books!

Weekly Tech-y News!

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More App Smash Fun!

I love how the first grade teachers at Beartooth took my earlier PicCollage Kids + Number Pieces idea and made it even better! You can read my original post here. Instead of having their students just build two digit numbers, they added another level of awesomeness by having their students add their two digit numbers together and solve the equation! They used the FREE apps PicCollage Kids, Number Pieces and Seesaw to accomplish this. Great work!

Recording Stations

As more teachers are using Seesaw and other tools to allow students to record their voice to share their learning, it's also become important to find ways to minimize noise while students record. I noticed a couple of simple ideas on Twitter during the #Seesawchat that I thought I'd share!

Weekly Tech-y News!

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Infuse IEFA with Technology!

This week I used some wonderful stories selected by OPI to support Indian Education for All, and infused these lessons with technology in kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms. Keep reading for ideas you can use in your own classrooms!

LOVE-ly Ideas for Valentine's Day!

I read this awesome blog post by Erin Flanagan, where she presents TONS of awesome ideas for integrating technology for Valentine's Day-themed projects.  She has some great resources in her Teachers Pay Teachers store to make this quick and easy for you.

Keep reading for this and more Valentine's Day ideas!

Empowering Education

Thanks to Terry Bouck, our superintendent, for featuring the BPS Technology Integration Specialists and TILT in his latest Empowering Education newsletter. Click the image of our bright shining faces to read more. :)

Breakout Edu in 1st Grade

We had a blast in Mrs. Tieszen's first grade, solving a football-themed Breakout Edu challenge created by the ah-mah-zing Ann Brucker. To complete the challenge, the first graders had to read and solve addition and subtraction word problems, then record the answers to open the locks. The kids did a tremendous job, and we were able to open the box! Mrs. Tieszen put the photos together into an awesome video using the free tool Adobe Spark Video. Click the image below to watch this video and learn more about Breakout Edu!

Weekly Tech-y News!

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PicCollage Kids + ChatterPix Kids + Seesaw Superbowl App Smash!

I posted a few fun Superbowl activities in an earlier post that you can read about here, but I also wanted to share a fun app smash project we did in Mrs. Johnson and Ms. Romersa's first grades today! We used the free apps PicCollage Kids and ChatterPix Kids, then posted to Seesaw. Read on to see our fun app smash (and remember you can use this same technique in other areas - think Groundhog Day)!

Padlet of Center Chart Ideas

I am still adding photos of center charts to this collaborative Padlet. Would love to see how you rotate your kids through centers in your classroom (whether you have Must Do - Can Do centers, traditional centers, Daily 5, etc). Check out the ideas below, and click on the Padlet to upload a photo of your own center chart organizational system!

Using Book Creator to Make Books in Kindergarten!

The app Book Creator is one of my absolute favorites. It's one of the most expensive apps I've bought, at $4.99, but also one of the most versatile. Students (yes, even kindergartners!) easily learn how to navigate and use this app across a variety of subject areas to create and share about their thinking and learning. Read on to see how we used this in Mrs. Robson's kindergarten to create ebooks about polar bears.