Waffle Bytes

(Part of our Stay-At-Home series focused on practical ways you can use a resource to foster creativity, connections, and collaboration.) Continuing to write can be very important for students (and adults) right now, not just for learning but also for our social/emotional health.  Writing can help all of us work through emotions, and deal with the uncertainty of the situation many of us find ourselves in currently.  Yet, as many teachers can attest, it can be HARD getting students to start writing. Here are some ideas/resources that can help encourage your child to write: Multi-day writing Journaling example-  COVID-19 Pandemic : "chronicle the changes you observe as your community, the country, and the world respond to Covid19" This document includes a variety of modification for elementary, students with special needs, and even one with added social-emotional reflection questions.  It can be helpful for students to process through their experiences and...

(This is the start of our new Stay-At-Home series focused on practical ways you can use a resource to foster creativity, connections, and collaboration.) There are a variety of companies providing eBooks and/or Audiobooks for parents and educators while students are not able to attend their schools.  But, what can you do with them - or any book for that matter? Teachers : Here are some ideas for ways eBooks or Audiobooks can be used to connect with your students. Share a link to one of your favorite books in your communications with your students, along with why it is one of your favorites.  Invite students to read or listen to it, and invite them to share back a link to one of their favorites. Encourage students to create their own "audiobook" recording of a book for elementary school students (you may give some examples of appropriate books), which you can then share with your elementary teachers for sharing Inspire students to create a book report on what they are...

The American Prospect  magazine, in partnership with Omidyar Network, announces the first annual American Prospect Essay Contest.  Many Americans are considering how to create a more inclusive economy. This competition will give high school students the opportunity to read and reflect on one of four renowned books exploring how the economy works in terms of poverty, race, markets, and democracy. The students’ essays will explore where the economy falls short and what we might do about it. Prizes total $30,000: First place for juniors and seniors is $10,000; second place $5,000; third place $2,500. First place for freshmen and sophomores is $5,000; second place $2,500; third place $1,000. Forty honorable mentions will be awarded at $100 each. The  Prospect  will publish the winning essays at  Prospect.org  and feature a selection in the print edition.  The deadline for submissions is  March 31, 2020 . F or further information, go to...

Teachers - I would highly recommend checking out Toontastic if you are looking for an app for students to tell their stories.  It is a free Google product, and works on most mobile devices.  From the site: "Toontastic 3D is a playful storytelling app that scaffolds the creative writing process and empowers kids to create their own animated cartoons. While Toontastic was not specifically designed for schools, we have heard from a lot of educators over the years that they love how the app sparks their students’ imaginations and uses the Story Arc to help frame their writing. Their students use the app for creating everything from book reports to news broadcasts and foreign language skills."  Best of all are the following features of it: Kids do NOT need accounts Stories are stored locally There are NO ads or in-app purchases - you get the full app for free It works offline, so your younger kiddos can use it without being connected to the Internet

From the Michigan Department of Transportation - Representatives from 10 sovereign Native American nations in Michigan, five State of Michigan agencies, two universities, and three private organizations collaborated to develop two short curriculum units, one for 3rd grade and one for 5th grade. Each grade level unit includes five lesson plans and support materials for teachers using information from two archaeological sites provided by MDOT and cultural, historical, environmental, and indigenous knowledge provided and vetted by Michigan Native American tribal partners participating in the project. The lesson plans use the Inquiry Arc of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework and focus on specific Michigan Social Studies Standards. The lesson plans also provide links to Michigan English Language Arts (ELA) literacy standards, as well as science and math applications. Questions? Staff Archaeologist James Robertson , 517-335-2637...

From Karren Reish at MeL: Reading Redefined: Deep reading, learning, and the impact of digitization Register today to attend Reading Redefined: Deep reading, learning, and the impact of digitization September 30, 2016 -- 9:30am to 4:00pm Eastern ( 8:30am to 3:00pm Central) Lansing Community College West Campus eBooks. Websites. Blogs. Twitter. Facebook. Many of us are awash in digital information, and in the early 21st century much of our reading has migrated from print on paper to text on screens. What has been little understood or even recognized is the way that our reading habits are affected by the medium that we use. This is starting to change.  Recent scholarship has inspired articles and media reports, and awareness is growing that our choice in reading technology – printed book, Kindle, iPad, computer monitor – makes an important difference in our understanding and retention of what we read. Since eBooks began to appear, but especially af...

The site CommonLit has been floating around the interwebs the last couple days, and it is definitely worth looking into!  Works are searchable by grade level, theme, genre, and Lexile.  When reading you will see numbers - these reference terms and footnotes, which popup when you click on the number AND are also located together at the end of the passage:   Additionally, there are text-dependent questions and general discussion prompts provided to go with the reading: Across the top, there are areas with additional resources, including Paired Texts, Related Media, Teacher Guide and Parent Guide:   The Related Media & Teacher Guide areas require you to have a free account to access them. From the site: "CommonLit delivers high-quality, free instructional materials to support literacy development for students in grades 5-12. Our resources are: Flexible; Research-Based; Aligned to the Common Core State Standards; Created by teachers, ...

Found this in MACUL's Big Deal Media enews - sounds like a great way to involve students in an argumentative writing at a higher level!  Because it is ongoing, it should be easy to add to an existing curriculum at the right time. "The Virtual Debate project began as a way to infuse technology into an authentic argumentative writing experience by giving students an audience. To get started with the Virtual Debate, students in two classes agree to engage with one another and select a topic based on their interests and passions. Past topics have included police presence in schools, competitive sports, and digital detox, to name a few. Once a topic is selected, the two sides face off in a coin toss through Google Hangouts to decide the pro and con sides. Students then conduct research and even have the opportunity to contact experts to formulate arguments. Teachers who wish to participate in the virtual debate will find minilessons, anchor charts, and other resource...

Google Search does much more than search websites.  It has many features embedded right in.  These are great back-pocket nuggets for when you are in a hurry and don't have time to open another app or pull out a reference book. Here area a few ELA related items you can perform right in the search bar: Define a word Starting your search with define followed by the word will bring up a box with the definition at the top of the search results with links for translations, word origins and more definitions. Find books by author Typing in "books by" followed by the author's name in the search bar will result in a bar displaying books by that author at the top of the results list.  Additionally you get biographical information about the author below to the right. Current Events Adding "news:" before a search term will return news stories at the top of the search results.  Translate Type "translate" in the search box to b...

I just received this via email about an event tonight - looks like a great opportunity if you can register and attend at 7 pm ET! "Good afternoon, I just received late-breaking information that Discovery Education’s Karen Beerer is hosting a special webinar presentation this evening at  7pm ET  “Redefining Literacy for Today's Learners.”  This is open to all users of Discovery Education, and anyone else who may benefit.  Please share the registration link below.  Registration is free.  More details can be found here . Here’s the registration link with more info https://discoveryed.webex.com/ discoveryed/onstage/g.php?t=a& d=639481917 Description of Webinar : Visual literacy, digital literacy, 21st century literacy, media literacy, whatever you call it, we know that for students to be literate in today’s world, they need a variety of skills that equate to much more than reading and writing.   In fact, even reading a...

(for teachers in southern to mid-Michigan - easy driving distance to Ypsilanti) How would you like to become involved in a professional development project involving engaging students in Cyber Discovery? We are looking for teams of two teachers from eight different schools in southern to mid-Michigan (easy driving distance to Ypsilanti, Michigan) who are interested in making up a diverse group of dynamic team-oriented people! Requirements: Both teachers teaching ninth grade.  One teacher will come from math, computer science, or technology,  One teacher will come from an area in history, art, theater, English or other humanities class  (If this doesn't fit you, then do pass the opportunity along to someone else who would be interested in this program!) William Sverdlik & Zenia Bahorski of Eastern Michigan University have been awarded a grant from the national organization National Integrated Cyber Education Research Center (NICERC). NICERC is fund...

Registration for the MICCSS MOOC is now open! Audience : K-12 ELA & Math Educators and Curriculum Leaders Course Duration : 4 weeks - July 14, 2014 to August 15, 2014 Cost : Free (optional - 20 SCECHs for $10 fee; you MUST register prior to July 11 to be eligible for SCECHs) Registration : http://www.solutionwhere.com/remcam Course Information : This is a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for Michigan educators to help build awareness and share implementation strategies for the MI Common Core State Standards (MICCSS).  It is an online course - all work will be completed online using Moodle.  The course will be moderated and facilitated by instructional leaders around the state.  Participants are expected to participate in forums and submit weekly assignments.

This past week a thread went through the K12 Google Apps listserv about using rubrics within Google.  One post shared how Kevin Bookhouser - an English teacher - uses them to grade his students essays. He has created a great video explaining how he does this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTrD_0KQbDE This method could be used for any rubric you wanted to use, so if you have been contemplating this I would check it out!

MapAList is a FREE "wizard for creating and managing customized Google maps of address lists."  What use is this to you?  Here are some ideas - ELA - your class is reading a book and have students input locations mentioned in the book, now they can see a map of these locations; or create a map of everywhere your students' Flat Stanleys have traveled. Social Studies - your class is studying a long term event (say, a war) and you can build a map of the locations you are studying; OR for younger students, you can display a map of where the students in your class live Because the data is stored in a Google spreadsheet, the map updates automatically as you add or change items within the spreadsheet. You do need an account to use MapAList, but that is because it asks for permission to connect to your Google Account.  Once setup, it keeps an list of any maps you have created so you can update or change them.  Maps can be either private or public, and you can e...

Here are this week's Five Friday Finds!  As always share with others as we are all smarter when we collaborate :-) General : TED-Ed - "lessons worth sharing;" create customized lessons using video with the new "Flip This Lesson" feature from TED-Ed.  "[u]se, tweak, or completely redo any video lesson features..., or create lessons from scratch based on a TEDTalk or any video from YouTube." It is still in beta, but check it out! ELA : Storyline Online - "an online streaming video program featuring SAG members reading children's books aloud.  Each book includes accompanying activities and lesson plans." Math : Random.org  - Random number generator and a host of other things... flip virtual coins, roll virtual dice, shuffle cards, randomize lists, etc. Science : The Scale of the Universe 2 - Zoom in and out for comparisons of various items; ranges from molecular level to universe. Social Studies : The World i...

Here are today's Five Friday Finds!  Have a great weekend :-) General 50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom : links to a variety of ideas, how-tos and examples of using Skype in Education. ELA 124 Sites for Free Children's Books Online : "[A] listing of 124 sites that legally offer free ebooks for children to read." Mathematics STEM Collaborative : "Make the math connection with four interactive online learning adventures for middle school classrooms." Science Nature Works Everywhere : "The Nature Conservancy and its 550 scientists have created [this] new initiative to help students learn the science behind how nature works for us…and how we can help keep nature running strong." Social Studies HIstory Engine : "[A]n educational tool that gives students the opportunity to learn history by doing the work—researching, writing, and publishing—of a historian."

Here are today's Five Friday Finds.  Have a great weekend! General Tom Barrett's Interesting Ways Series "[A] great example of  crowdsourcing good quality classroom ideas... It is remarkable what can be achieved and created together if you give people the right way to do it." ELA The Center for Fiction "The Center for Fiction is the only nonprofit in the U.S. solely dedicated to celebrating fiction, and we work every day to connect readers and writers. .. We also feature workspace, grants, and classes to support emerging writers, reading groups on classic and contemporary authors, and programs to help get kids reading." Math Math Concepts Explained   Blog site maintained that explains various math concepts, number trivia and other math topics. Science NBC Learn - Free Resources Several series of video (and sometimes other) resources NBC has put together to learn about science in real life application. Soci...

Here's today's Five Friday Finds!  Currently at MACUL so the descriptions are short :-) General Canvastic Simple online drawing site.   ELA Storyboard Generator Generate or create your own storyboard. Mathematics Virtual Protractor A simple to use flash-based protractor. Science Famous Scientists Educational website about inventors and scientists. Social Studies   History World Interactive narratives and timelines.

Here it is Friday again!  This weeks Five Friday Finds are about getting out and about in the world... As always, share with others and have a great weekend. General   Useful Charts Just that - some useful charts for a variety of areas. ELA Google Lit Trips A teacher created and shared site that is free for other teachers.  Among other things, the site provides free downloadable files that "mark the journeys of characters from famous literature on the surface of Google Earth. At each location along the journey there are placemarks with pop-up windows containing a variety of resources including relevant media, thought provoking discussion starters, and links to supplementary information about “real world” references made in that particular portion of the story." Math   Battleship Numberline Brainpop interactive activity where students play "battleship" to learn about the numberline or work at estimating to hit the ship or submarine.  ...

Here are this week's Five Friday Finds!   Remember the beauty in sharing and collaborating.... Have a great weekend :-) General Megans' (luv2teach) Pinterest Ok, I'm not a Pinterest user, but this teacher has organized examples of lots of ideas for the classroom onto 91 boards - worth checking out if you are looking for ideas. ELA TES A great site for finding English teaching resources; put together by a network of teachers. Math 2D Geometry Shapes Game Elementary game for children to test their geometry vocabulary.  Uses both text & audio to ask them to select a certain shape. Science NASA - Station Spacewalk Game Interaction simulations of actual space walks conducting repair work in space. Social Studies Toporopa "Train your brain" with European geography.  A variety of tools here.