Tech it Out!
November & December 2021 * Instructional Technology
This newsletter will give you tips and information to help with technology in the classroom. This is for curriculum and instructional needs.
If you need help with getting your technology fixed, accounts unlocked, software, phones, or printing needs please contact the Technology Department. They can be contacted at: email technology@lvisd.org, call the help desk, or create a work order in Eduphoria. The extension for the help desk is 4357 (HELP).
I appreciate everything you do for your students!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!
~Valerie
Build a "What I Am Thankful For" Turkey with Google Slides by Eric Curts
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, now is a great time for all of us to pause and think about what we are thankful for.
To help out with this, Eric Curts created a Google Slides activity for your students. With this template your students will build a turkey where each of the feathers will display things that the student is thankful for.
This activity is created with Google Slides. To get your own copy of the template simply click the link below.
- "What I Am Thankful For" Turkey template - Google Slides link
For more information on this, go to the Control Alt Achieve blog: https://www.controlaltachieve.com/2021/11/thankful.html .
Google Docs Calendar Templates for the 2022-2023 School Year by Eric Curts
Although it still feels like the school year has just gotten started, he has received several emails lately from folks asking if he has made a version for next year ... the 2022-2023 school year.
So for all of you super organized people who are already planning for the next school year, he is happy to say there are versions for 2022-2023. See below for the links to get your own copies of these templates, as well as some basic directions on how to edit them for your own use.
Calendar Templates
There are two templates, including a 12-month version, and an 11-month version since sometimes schools don't have much in July and the extra space can be useful for additional information. To get a copy of either template, use the links below.
For more information, visit Eric Curts blog at: https://www.controlaltachieve.com/2021/11/22-23-cal.html
Check out these Resources
- Up-Goer Five Text Editor - Tool where you can only write with the 1,000 most common words. Excellent way for students to try to explain any concept using just basic words.
- Cleanup Pictures - Free online tool that uses artificial intelligence to let you clean up a picture by removing any object in the image that you want to remove.
- WorldCover Viewer - This interactive map lets you see how land is being used anywhere around the world, with the ability to zoom in on any location, as well as view land use statistics by country or state.
- "What If" Math Labs - Over 100 spreadsheet templates that each teach a math concept through student inquiry and exploration.
- Design Your Town - Google Slides template where students create a town on a grid. Excellent project for map skills and math coordinates.
- Math Fails - Large collection of pictures from real life that have "a mathematical error based on a misconception" and can be great for creating mathematical discourse with your students.
- Unfolding History - Blog written by the staff of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress to highlight interesting manuscripts and their backstories or greater historical context.
Information from the Control Alt Achieve November 2021 Newsletter.
2. Create a "slide deck book".
4. Create another game-show-style review game.
7. Assess with self-grading quizzes.
8. Write a Choose Your Own Adventure story.
LOOKING FOR MORE PRACTICAL IDEAS LIKE THESE? GET 3 FREE EBOOKS FULL OF RESOURCES!
9. Create a narrated storybook.
11. Brainstorm with digital sticky notes.
13. Play (and make) memory games.
14. Find or create novel HyperDocs.
15. Use Screencastify to create annotated movie or book reviews.
17. Student reflections newsletter.
18. Create #Booksnaps of current reading.
19. Have fun with magnetic poetry.
22. Practice digital citizenship (and have fun) with fake social media templates.
24. Try ThinSlides with your class.
25. Utilize the unique slide URL for slide to slides linking activities.
27. Write interactive math stories.
28. Lock the background for drag and drop activities.
29. Get up and moving with a digital gallery walk.
Virtual field trips allow us to take our students where the bus can’t. Here are 25 field trips and 10 activities, from Ditch that Textbook blog , to do while you're on one!
1. Hidden World of National Parks
2. Stages Around the World 360 Tour
3. Hall of North American Mammals
9. Reading the ABC's from Space
10. International Space Station
16. Changing Climate, Changing Cities: Virtual Field Trip from Phoenix to Shenzhen
18. Borneo: The Symphony of the Rainforest
20. Wild Biomes: America's Rainforests & Deserts
23. Powering the Planet: Renewable Energy
24. Journey of Water: Colombia’s Páramo
Virtual field trips directory page
10 virtual field trip activity ideas
1. Pair it with a digital escape room
3. Record their observations in a journal
4. Create a travel suitcase unboxing video
5. Create or find an accompanying HyperDoc
7. Add a stem connection with 3D printing or a makerspace challenge
8. Create an "All About a Topic" presentation
Valerie Ahr Frazier
“Technology will never replace great teachers, but technology in the hands of great teachers is transformational. "
-George Couros
Email: valerie.frazier@lvisd.org
Website: https://www.lvisd.org/domain/1095
Location: La Vernia, TX, USA
Phone: 830-779-6642
Twitter: @valerie_ahr