Valentine's Day
Just in case you still need a little something for ♥ Valentine's Day, here you go...
Christine Dixon and Marla Rosenthal have a Valentine's Paper Engineering Challenge for you. Click on the screenshot below. Remember you can find all of their STEAM challenges here.
♥ Or, how about using some of Christine Pinto's ideas with the littles? Check out her link here.
♥ Need more? Here's a bunch of quick, easy ideas for your classroom.
♥ Or, how about just a kindness challenge? Click on the image, then go to the three dots on the top right to make your own copy.
3D or VR Field Trips
This site was new to me today. It offers you a great way to explore monuments and international treasures. It is from Cyark, which I had never heard of. Explore the National Mall virtually with Monumental Ideas! cyark.org/monumentalide… "Engage students in STEAM based learning with a set of tools to discover and investigate the Lincoln and MLK Jr memorials. Comprehensive lesson plans are provided for K-12 @NationalMallNP"
Click on the link for the game and the lesson plans This is their mission: Ideas to Share
SafeYouTube is now Video Link.
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I have included a Wakelet, after the "Just for Fun" section, with articles and sites focused on Social Emotional Learning. Currently there are about 30 articles/links; just click load more to see all articles. Some are informational, while others have activities to try with students. If you have links which you would like included, just let me know. If you would like to be a collaborator on the Wakelet, contact me.
To Share
Just for Fun- More Bitmoji Ideas
SELExplore Citations
As I mentioned last week, the citation feature is back in Google Docs. Below are a few videos from Richard Byrne to help you learn to use the tool in the new configuration.
One of my pet peeves is students who do not cite images... or use images that are not labeled for reuse and figure it's OK as long as they cite them. In this video Richard explains a bit more about using the explore feature to cite images in Slides and Docs.
One of my favorite places to find images is photosforclass. I also tend to use pixabay and the noun project. We have a whole symbaloo of multimedia sources. And once again, Richard Byrne has a video to show you 5 great sources free images.
Explore the World
I just want to briefly showcase two different ways you can get your students involved, virtually, with some great explorers. Seat of Your Pants offers web camera seats to many different venues- feeding a giant octopus or exploring a volcano. You can check out theweb site here, or explore the YouTube channel here. Of course, National Geographic a whole Explorer Classroom! They have a really cool YouTube Channel and you can learn a lot more, get lesson plans, and sign up for their program on their web site.
You can find more VR videos from Discovery Education at http://www.discoveryvr.com/
I spent the day on Saturday over at #edcampGrafton. One of the sessions, which I did not attend was on Google Cardboard, and VR video. Google Cardboard has been out for at least 18 months, if not more. Click here to see the shared notes from that session. However, I did win a Google Cardboard set up in the door prize drawings. Have to say, I will probably never use it, and anyone who would like to borrow it to check it out- come see me. This fancy dancy new version of the old ViewMaster simply makes me seasick. It is very cool… but not only do I not own a smartphone, I quite literally cannot stand the 3D immersive view. I hated Second Life back when that was popular too. But- you may love it and find it incredibly useful… so here’s some info.
Check out the Google Plus community or look around on the Twitter hashtag... see embedded example below.
You can buy or make your cardboard viewer. There are also fancier Oculus Rift VR systems, pricey. Just to clarify- these are not just headsets for gamers- altho a lot of content is being developed for playing immersive games. Think of the possibilities- visit the jungles of Belize, walk along the Great Wall of China, check out models of Ancient Rome… The VR version can be very engaging for your students. There are lots of apps you can try out for both iOS and Android smartphones. There are good starter lists on the notes, as well as some of the links.
If you’re not really ready for all this- check out the VR or 360° videos on youtube- you can maneuver around just like you can when in street view on Google Maps. Here’s a couple of examples: Remember- zoom in/out and move around with your mouse or arrow keys or use your google cardboard and your smartphone.
Looking for more ideas? VentureBeat had a nice write up a while back, Science Beyond the Boundaries has some great links and Ronnie Burt over at Edublogger recently posted about using it on a trip.
TRY IT... You might like it!
Or.. you may enjoy the April Fools Version, which works so much better for me.
As budgets get tighter for schools around the country, more and more schools are turning to “virtual field trips”. This is not a new phenomenon; these have existed for years and have grown as the internet and the ability to connect has grown. However, the scope of these trips and the ability to personalize the experience through Skype or Facetime, Google Hangouts, is pretty amazing.
To my mind at the top of the list is the Google Cultural Institute with breathtaking images of art , wonders of the world and so much more. If you haven’t checked it out- take the time. This is not just for art, not just for world languages. You can use this site for history, for science and more. They have an excellent selection of videos on their YouTube channel as well. Exploring By The Seat Of Your Pants is a new site that you may find interesting. Quote from their website: "The primary goal of Exploring By The Seat Of Your Pants is to knockdown the classroom walls and take students anywhere in the world, never having to leave their desks. We aim to accomplish this by connecting students with unique guest speaker lessons and virtual field trips from around the world. Our focus is providing lessons related to science, adventure and conservation, but won't be limited to these areas!" Looking for stunning 360 panoramas?Check out Air Pano AirPano is a not-for-profit project focused on high-resolution spherical panorama shots from a bird’s eye view. Being the largest resource for 360° aerial panoramas and virtual tours in the world – by geographical coverage, number of aerial photographs, and artistic and technical quality of the images, AirPano has already photographed over two hundred most interesting locations on our planet. There are nearly two thousand 360° panoramas on our website at the moment. Bromo-Volcano-Indonesia ( this may take a minute to load)
Courtesy of www.AirPano.com
Scholastic has some great virtual field trips. Some, like this one are tied to books or even take you on a trip to a museum. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/collection/teaching-brian-selznick-including-virtual-field-trip
Google has launched their new Expeditions virtual reality system and has been getting a lot of press about it. You can read more about it on their blog or check out the NY Times article from 9/29/15
Here's a short quote from these articles: "These trips were all made possible by Expeditions, a new educational tool coming this fall that allows teachers to take their classes on field trips to anywhere. From the Expeditions app on their tablet, a teacher is able to send synchronized three-dimensional 360° panoramas to each student’s Cardboard viewer, pointing out areas of interest in real time and instantly pausing the trip when needed. Used in conjunction with existing lessons and curriculum, Expeditions immerses students in experiences that bring abstract concepts to life and provide a deeper understanding of the world beyond the classroom."
Skype Virtual Field Trips
Using Skype or other ways to virtually break down your classroom walls is not only a great way to connect with other classrooms around the world, but you can also go on virtual field trips. You can virtually visit other places in the world and SKype with experts in various fields. The following video is an example: " Journalist Anna Therese Day introduces students from a local school on the remote island of Kiribati with a group of American students in Seattle to talk about climate change and give the kids a chance to gain a new perspective on the issue. Check out Skype in the Classroom for more lessons about the environment. "
Discovery Education is another great resource for virtual field trips. They have a collection of archived virtual fieldtrips that you can watch, new trips coming up and currently have a wonderful trip to Kilimanjaro that they are broadcasting. Here are thecurrent links and the archived trips.
An old favorite of mine is Google Lit trips. You can use Google Earth or Google Maps to create your own trip around any topic, but I always enjoy the trips about books.
This is a quote from the site : "So What exactly are Google Lit Trips? The short version is simple. Google Lit Trips are free downloadable files that mark the journeys of characters from famous literature on the surface of Google Earth. At each location along the journey there are placemarks with pop-up windows containing a variety of resources including relevant media, thought provoking discussion starters, and links to supplementary information about “real world” references made in that particular portion of the story. "
Whoops- Almost forgot... Google Map Tour Builder. This is in beta, but has potential. Like building a tour with Google Earth, but looks easier to use. Here's an example from a 5th grade teacher.
Still Looking for more? Check out the Connected Classrooms Workshop a Google plus community online... lots of ways to connect as well as virtual field trips.
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AuthorMaureen Tumenas Archives
June 2021
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