HPS Tech News 2013 (No 6)
3/9/13
Welcome!
Wow, how quickly has this term flown by? This 'Tech News' edition has a variety of technology snippets. I hope something listed below is of use to you! Enjoy!
Blog News - blogED!
blogED is going through a resurgence at the moment with improvements and updates to what can be embedded and the widespread promotion of this DEC blogging platform is happening right now! This is great to see, because blogED is part of every teacher and students' portal, so it is safe, convenient and easy for all to use. And . . . it facilitates the creating and responding to digital and multimodal texts! One initiative of the DEC to promote blogED is through a 'blogED Blasters' group of teachers who are using blogED in their teaching and learning. A new blog has been created by this group called 'Widgets and Web 2 Tools to Embed in blogED'. There are a number of authors and we post and share examples of the tools we have used successfully in our blogs. Please visit this blog (You'll have to log in to the portal): https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/blog/363114-widgetsandweb2toolstoembedinbloged/
This blog will also be promoted in the next 'Technology For Schools' newsletter accessed through SchoolBiz, so check it out!
Sydney Region ICT Day 3/9/13
This was a great day for professional learning with a variety of sessions on offer covering different, but relevant areas. Highlights of the day included Lena Arena's (IT Engagement Advisor) session on integrating ICT into teaching and learning. One point she made was that teachers may have ignored the computers in their room in the past, but you definitely can't now with the new NSW Syllabuses for the Australian Curriculum. ICT is a general capability, mandatory and embedded through all KLA's. To achieve Objective C in English "think in ways that are imaginative, creative, interpretive and critical" you will have to use technology!! Lena shared some resources on creating digital and multimodal texts and one appeared on the screen that you will have seen before (see below). It was so lovely to have our students' work acknowledged!
Other links Lena shared included the National Digital Learning Resources Network, Kathy Shrock's Guide to Everything and reminding us to visit TALE and searching for all 'Syllabus Bites' resources and also the 'Writers Talk' series.
The highlight of the day was Glenys Goffett's session. Everyone, sometime or other, has visited the Copacabana PS website for their fantastic collection of resources all put together by Glenys! The school website was revamped using Weebly earlier this year, and it is better than ever; please make sure you check out the Get Smart Resources section and be truly amazed at what Glenys has collated. Glenys also used today to reveal another new linked website created with Weebly, 'Get EduCreative'. Wow!!! A truly inspiring teacher, achieving great things with her students and generously sharing her passion with all of us.
Weebly
Now, speaking of Weebly, as you know our new school website was created with Weebly a couple of weeks ago and it was very user friendly. Lots of teachers are now using Weebly for their digital programs, school websites, class websites and even students' websites although these have to be requested unblocked by the DEC for the students to use. Check out the Weebly site and have a look around.
Glogster
Glogster have some good deals on at the moment so you may want to check them out. They now also offer the new 'next gen' glogs with mobile view. In RFF, Year 4 are currently making these new style glogs on Australian World Heritage Listed sites. Inserted video/YouTubes are working so much better as well. Here is a finished one below on Shark Bay. When they are all finished, they will be published on our website.
Maths Resources
Fraction, Decimals, Percentages
MathsLinks Help
A great site put together by Simon Job that links to lots of great objects found on the web for teaching maths.
GregTangMath.com
Another great site with a variety of games plus Kakooma. This might come in handy for our maths enrichment groups.
These sites are just some that have been recently added to our numeracy resource page, so please have a look.
Smore
In RFF, Year 5 students are loving Smore! They are currently publishing their reports on the pygmy possum and the corroborree frog using this site. I have set up an 'RFF at HPS' account which they log in with a matching RFF gmail account I have created for them. They will all finish publishing hopefully in the next couple of weeks (there is one finished one below). Some students are so enjoying Smore that they have set up their own accounts at home and are making flyers! Maybe your students could present some of their work from this term using Smore.
The Secret Door
This site could prove a great prompt for writing. Enter the secret door . . .
Wow!
Please visit this interactive - One Second on the Internet. Keep clicking on the yellow arrows and be amazed.
Lego
One for you Steve. What else can be built with Lego? Check this out - Andrew Carol (an Apple engineer) rebuilt a 2000-year-old analog computer out of Lego. It predicts the year, date, and time of future solar and lunar eclipses accurately to within two hours. All using plastic gears. This video below explains how it works.
The Antikythera Mechanism in Lego
Visual Literacy
This YouTube below was shared by Lena Arena as an excellent example of a visual text that would lead to great discussions to develop our students' visual literacy. We need to be on the lookout for these!!
Embrace Life - always wear your seat belt
YouTube Fun!
KB have been giggling at this all term - Baby and Me. (They ask to watch it every week). We did look at it because we are working on 'Me' in COGs in RFF and we have been investigating how we look and how we have changed as we grow. And of course we are responding to multi-modal and digital texts!!! But, heck, it's just lots of fun and very clever!
baby&me / the new evian film