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Showing posts from October, 2014

Appy Friday! Story Kit

Description: Story Kit is a very straightforward, user-friendly iPad tool (a.k.a. app). It is free to download, making it accessible to a variety of users. Story Kit allows the user to make an online book that is creative and uses images as well as sounds to enhance the book. When you first open the app a bookshelf pops up and you are able to create a new story with the quick click of the screen. You can use a photo from your photo library on your phone or iPad and design the background as well as add sound to the page. When a Story Kit is complete it may be opened on an Apple product (i.e., iPhone, iPad) or on any computer (Mac or PC) through an easy URL that is shared through email. Using the Story Kit app is as easy as: 1.    Open a new page 2.    Choose a picture 3.    Upload the picture to the app 4.    Record audio 4.    Type in text 5.    Color/design the background 6.    Save your wok 7.    Share (through email) 8.    Watch! **Here is a link to a ste

Appy Friday! Kahoot!

What’s It Like? Kahoot! is a student response system for creating and administering unique, game-like quizzes. Questions, along with answer choices, are projected onto a classroom screen while students submit responses using a personal (likely mobile) device. Kids' devices display color and symbol choices only; the actual answer must be viewed on the classroom screen. The energized, game-like atmosphere comes from the use of bright colors, along with suspenseful music.  Liveliness in the game or quiz escalates as updated ranks appear on the class scoreboard after each question -- personal points data is sent to each device. Playing a game of Kahoot! doesn't involve an account, just a game PIN from the main screen and a name. However, making quizzes (termed " kahoots ") does involve entering user information from the teacher. Is It Good For Learning? Kahoot!'s fresh format and fast access is likely to motivate students across grades and content are

Appy Friday! Under Control with Custom Search Engines

Create a Custom Search Engine I don’t always want my younger students to have full access to the internet for their research, but I want them to have an easy way to access websites that I as the teacher have reviewed and approved. I discovered a way to accomplish this by setting up a Custom Search Engine and sharing the link to the engine with my students. All my Custom Search Engines are saved using my Google account. To create a Custom Search Engine from scratch, you'll need to name your search and add some sites to search. Here’s what to do. Create a new search engine : 1. On the Google Custom Search home page, click New search engine . 2. In the Sites to search section, add the pages you want to include in your search engine. You can include any sites you want, not just sites you own. You can include site URLs or page URLs, and you can also get fancy and use URL patterns . 3. The name of your search engine will be automatically generated based on the URLs you select

Appy Friday! Check Out App Flows

We all know that trying to do "one more new thing" is what we always do. Most of us are motivated to try out new digital tools but don't quite know how to make these tools seamlessly flow into our lessons. App Flows provide a customizable framework that redefines the traditional lesson plan by integrating digital learning tools and content with pedagogical intent. Wow! That was a mouthful. Quite simply, you can discover tools on Graphite and then align them to each part of your lesson –- the hook, direct instruction, guided practice, independent practice, and wrap-up –- thinking with purpose about your lesson redesign.    There are three goals in mind: To guide teachers to reflect on where they're aligning digital learning tools within a lesson, why the tools best fit those particular activities, and how the activities themselves are being augmented To encourage blended learning opportunities by prompting teachers to mix in media-rich activities with traditi