Late Tuesday Tech Tips
A little tech goes a long way!
Practicing before the competition
Lining up for the Opening Ceremony
Examining a robot
FIRST Lego League Competition Held at Carver Road
Carver Road Middle School hosted the regional FIRST Lego League
In First Lego League, children are immersed in real-world science and technology challenges. Teams design their own solution to a current scientific question or problem and build autonomous LEGO robots that perform a series of missions. Through their participation, children develop valuable life skills and discover exciting career possibilities while learning that they can make a positive contribution to society.
The Hour of Code is THIS Week!
Why is coding important? The time in which we live is different than the time in which we grew up! Each time period has taught its students how to do what is needed for that particular time period. Over the years, we have taught our children how to build houses, bake bread, forge a sword, etc. In our time, we must teach our children how to code.
Many of the tasks that were once done with fire or iron and then with pencil and paper, are now done with code. Teaching our students coding opens up a world to them and why couldn't they write animated stories, games, animations, etc? Not to mention, coding jobs are outpacing the supply for them!
It's not too late to take part in the Hour of Code! Take a look at some of the fun and educational activities that your students can enjoy by visiting www.code.org/learn. There's even one featuring FROZEN! There are coding tutorials for non-readers up to high school! Teachers can then print out their students' own personalized certificates!
You do not have to have prior coding experience. Do it! You and your students will be glad you did!
If you have activities planned, please email either Leslie or Robin to let us know. If we are available, we will come and take pictures. If we are not, we would love for you to take pictures and send them to us. We will post pictures in a future issue of the newsletter.
Interested in attending ISTE?
- Enter their social media contest. ISTE is offering a free conference registration AND a four night hotel stay to one lucky educator who participates in their social media contest. All you have to do is take a picture of yourself stating why you want to attend the conference and post it to your favorite social media network. Make sure you use the #ISTE2015 hashtag.
- Join Project RemaginED. Project RemaginED is a community of educators who are redesigning their curricula for the digital age. When you and your colleagues join this passionate community, you get the chance to collaborate on and publish new learning activities aligned to the Common Core and ISTE Standards - and compete for a free trip to ISTE 2015 for up to four members of your team. It's a win-win for both you and your students.
- Become a PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator. Submit a short video showing how you're using digital tools to drive student achievement in your classroom, and you could be one of 30 applicants selected for a three-day, all-expenses-paid trip to both ISTE 2015 and the PBS LearningMedia Digital Summit. Apply by February 11 to win.
- Apply for a professional learning grant. There are plenty of organizations that offer professional learning grants to educators to help them attend conferences. Here are a few places to start.
- NEA Foundation - Apply by February 1, 2015 to receive notification in time for ISTE 2015.
- Association of American Educators Foundation - Apply by March 1, 2015 to get reimbursed for up to $500 of your travel expenses. You do not have to be a member to apply, but members do get extra consideration for these competitive scholarships.
- Funds for Teachers - This flexible program offers up to $5,000 for individuals. Apply by January 29, 2015.
Is YOUR Name on the List Yet?
Special shout-outs go to Ashley Baldwin, Dottie English, and Stan Mangham for accepting the challenge and earning ALL FOUR Google Ninja Belts! Congratulations! (Additional Google Ninja pictures are forthcoming!)
It's not too late to be a Google Ninja! Go to our GSCS Ninja Academy right now! Join in to earn the Google Ninja pins for your GSCS lanyard.
Have no fear.
Be a Google Ninja!
*Because our Google Ninja list is so long, we have run into a problem! However, what a great problem to have!
We will be unable to publish the Google Ninja Standings list as a whole list. We will begin publishing the names of those who have earned their belts since the last publication. We will also be providing a link to the whole list.
Complete Google Ninja Standings
Google Ninjas since last publication: