Oakland Schools Digital Learning
April 2023 Newsletter
In this issue you will find
- Poetry Month resources
- resources for Earth Day
- a "breaking news" headline generator
- a copyright friendly site for finding images and audio files
- a link to "Peg and Cat" games for PK-1
- a link to Pattern Shapes which are virtual Pattern Blocks
- a "Wordle-like" number game
- engaging estimation activities to use with students
- a short tutorial to learn how to use Emoji bullet points in Google Docs & Slides
- a link to sign up for Apple's new newsletter for education leaders
- a video on 20 hidden features in iOS 16.4
- information about 12 new features for the Whiteboard in Microsoft Teams
- information about the "Classroom Makers Loan Program" where you can borrow robots and other items to use with your students
- an easy way to pull up Tic Tac Toe for a Brain Break
- information about the Michigan Learning Channel free Summer Learning Program for PK-6
- news & current event resources from Discovery Streaming
- registration link for a free, self-paced course to learn to use Quizizz
Please reach out if you have questions about any of the information in this newsletter.
~Laura and Vinos
Poetry Month Resources
National Poetry Month Webpage
The National Poetry Month webpage provides extensive, up-to-date poetry teaching resources including how to celebrate National Poetry Month in the virtual classroom; 30 ways to celebrate National Poetry Month in the classroom, Dear Poet, a multimedia education project; and so much more.
The Children's Poetry Archive
The Children’s Poetry Archive is a place where you and your students can listen to poems. The site has poems read by the poets who wrote them as well as poems which other people have recorded for them. Written versions of the poems are available below the recordings so students can follow along as they listen. You can search for poems by theme, poet, and grade level bands. Scroll midway down the homepage to find the Explore section for easy access to these search options.
Earth Day -
Earth Day 2023
For the first time in the history of Earth Day a theme is being continued for a second year. The theme is "Invest In Our Planet" and it is focused on engaging governments, institutions, businesses, and the more than 1 billion citizens who participate annually in Earth Day to do their part - everyone accounted for, everyone accountable.
Some Things to Do for Earth Day
- Register as an Earth Day School. Put your school on the map and ensure that your community’s Earth Day efforts are recognized.
- Become an Education Champion by joining the global network of educators who work together to bring climate education to communities everywhere.
- Plan a teach-in to educate your students about the climate crisis and how each of us can be part of the solution. The Education Resource Library has resources to help guide the conversation or to plan other lessons.
Resources for Students
- Save the Earth from National Geographic - articles, ideas to implement, and some games
- Meet the Greenhouse Gases from NASA - get to know what's good and bad
- Where Do Recycled Items Go? from Wonderopolis - article, video, images, drag and drop vocabulary game, and short quiz
- Earth Day Art Activities - YouTube videos showing how to create various Earth Day related projects
Digital Resources
Breaking TV News Headline Generator
Students can quickly and easily create a professional-looking snapshot of a news broadcast using the "Breaking News Generator" from ClassTools.net. Students fill in a few lines of information (headline, date, place, etc.) and add their own image if desired. Completed snapshots can be downloaded and used in slide shows, documents, or submitted to your Learning Management System for review. No login required.
Openverse
Wish you could easily find images and audio for your projects that are freely available for you to use and don't violate copyright and fair use? Check out Openverse.org, an open source Creative Commons search tool. Enter your search term(s) and browse through the results.When you click on a thumbnail you will be taken to the site where the resource is stored. Each site has a slightly different look and feel, but all that we have tried have a download button available with no login required. Note: We recommend this site for adults to use, not students.
Elementary Resources
Peg and Cat Games on PBS Kids for PK-1
The Fred Rogers Company produced an animated preschool series featuring Peg and Cat which ran from 2013 to 2018. Even though the TV series has been discontinued, the Peg and Cat website, hosted by PBS Kids, houses games, stories, and videos for students PK-1 that are both fun and educational. Games are centered around arithmetic and problem-solving skills. In "Mega Mall" students shop by shape and then pay for the purchases. In "The Election Problem" students follow along as Peg tries to win enough votes to take care of the chickens while their owner is gone. All directions are given orally and some games also have text-based guidance available too.
Pattern Shapes from Bridges
Students can use the Pattern Shapes website to create their own designs, fill in outlines, and explore geometry. This virtual version of the Pattern Blocks manipulative is an open-ended educational tool, ideal for elementary classrooms and it works on any device with a browser and an Internet connection. As students work with Pattern Shapes, you can prompt them to think about angles, investigate symmetry, and compose and decompose larger shapes. Learn more about how to use the Pattern Shapes website with your students by visiting the associated Teacher's page.
Secondary Resources
Ooodle
Ooodle, from the Mathszone website, is like Wordle, but for Math. The Ooodle daily challenge gives the player six tries to guess the hidden equation. The only hint given is for the value. Just like Wordle, a green number means it’s in the correct spot. Yellow means a correct number has been used but not in the correct position. Gray means the number is not part of the equation.
Estimation 180
Estimation180, created by Andrew Stadel, provides estimation challenges for each day of the school year with a variety of teacher resources to help support deeper math conversations. Students will enjoy making sense of math and developing their number sense with these estimation challenges.
Pick from over 200 visual estimation tasks.
Google Workspace
Apple
Sign Up for the New Education Insights Newsletter for School Leaders
Apple Education has created an opt-in email newsletter for education leaders. Read insights from visionary leaders from around the world, learn how education innovators are using technology to solve today's most pressing challenges in education, and learn best practices around using the Apple platform for teaching and learning.
Microsoft 365
Makerspace
Classroom Makers Loan Program
REMC 17/Oakland Schools has a lending library of maker materials that are available for educators working in public schools located in Oakland County to check out for use with their students.
- Check out the "List of Items in Kit" to see all the items we loan.
- When you know what you would like to borrow, please review availability of the items by looking at the "List of Item Availability."
- When you have your items and available dates selected, fill out the "Loan Request Form" to submit your request.
Brain Break
Tic Tac Toe
Type "play tic tac toe" into Google Search and the first result will be a version of the game from Google where students can choose a level of difficulty or play against a classmate.
Michigan Learning Channel
The Michigan Learning Channel (MLC) is a statewide public television partnership offering instructional content to support the education of students and to provide alternative resources for families and teachers. The instructional content is aligned with Michigan’s educational standards and follows widely accepted sequences for mastering skills throughout the school year.
The lessons, generally about a half-hour each, are presented by a diverse group of educators and delivered as if the teacher is in a classroom setting. Most programs have supplemental educational activities and resources to build on the lesson.
Get Ready for Summer 2023
The Michigan Learning Channel is once again offering an immersive and fun Summer learning program. The free 8-week program encourages kids to “Learn, Do, and Explore” with literacy and math lessons, hands-on science, fitness activities, career exploration, and virtual field trips. They provide videos, a fun activity book, virtual events, and more to keep students from preschool to 6th grade engaged in learning during summer.
Schools and organizations are invited to order their own bulk copies of the Summer Activity Books for their students. Fill out the interest form to stay updated as files and more information become available.
Discovery Streaming Resources
News and Current Events Channel
Follow stories from around the globe on politics, conflicts, sports, the environment, and more.
Get the Latest
Try the Conga Line SOS Strategy with something you find on the News Channel. Get students moving and talking about the news with this fun SOS Strategy that allows them to collaborate with several classmates. Watch this ~3 minute video to learn why and how another educator uses the Conga Line. Find a PDF document with additional information about the strategy at Join the Conga Line!
Free Professional Learning Opportunity
Learn to Use Quizizz via a Self-paced, FREE, Online Course
Course - Quizizz - Student-paced, Formative Assessments (5 hour online course)
Quizizz is a free tool that allows you to conduct student-paced, formative assessments in a fun and engaging way for students of all ages. Questions and answer choices appear on each student's screen, so they can answer questions at their own pace, and review their answers at the end. Quizizz can be played by students using any kind of device with a browser, including PCs, Chromebooks, tablets, and smartphones.
It is very easy to create quizzes, plus you also have access to millions of public quizzes you can duplicate and edit for your use. Student accounts are not required! Students can join a Live game or a Homework game with the quiz code shared by the Teacher. You can access detailed class and student-level data for each quiz that has been completed. If you are a Google Classroom user, you can assign a Quizizz to your class with a single click.
If you would like to get started using Quizizz, sign up for this free, self-paced, online course. You will be guided, via video and text-based tutorials, through all of the steps needed to set up and use Quizizz. It is expected that it will take 5 hours to complete the course. This includes the time you will spend using Quizizz with your students. Note: To take this course for credit you need to be actively working with students in a classroom.
Begin and end anytime between now and April 1, 2024
5 SCECHs available for $10 processing fee
This course is available only to educators working in an Oakland County school.
Oakland Schools Digital Learning Team Information
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Using the hashtag will help Oakland County educators, who are interested in the effective use of digital learning, to connect and better collaborate with each other.
Oakland Schools Digital Learning Consultants
Laura.Cummings@oakland.k12.mi.us
248-209-2283
Vinos Kassab
Vinos.Kassab@oakland.k12.mi.us
248-209-2229