Waffle Bytes

Over 1500 new or updated resources have been added to #GoOpen Michigan! Check out these additions which provide more for every curriculum area - NEW International Astronomical Union (57 resources) - set of activities/lessons bundled under Astro EDU set NEW Code.org (342 resources) - includes lesson plans for CS Discoveries, CS Fundamentals, and CS Principles NEW National Endowment for the Humanities (405 resources) - EDSITEments set with a variety of resources including lessons, activities and readings NEW US Census Bureau (62 resources) - K-12 activities from the Statistics in Schools project UPDATED CK-12 resources (798 resources) - updated flexbook resources

The Michigan Open Book Project is a multi-year project to provide Michigan social studies teachers with OER (Open Educational Resources) textbooks that can be downloaded, modified, and used in their classrooms.  These are FREE resources (as licensed under Creative Commons) that you can modify to best meet your needs!  From the site: "A simple math problem:  T+D+TE=MOBP T = Textbooks - your district spends thousands of dollars on them, but they were written for other states and by the time they make it to you, they're already out of date. D = Devices - your district is getting more devices every year.  Perhaps an update to the aging computer lab.  Perhaps a mobile lab of tablets to check out for your classroom.  Maybe you're going 1:1.  Whatever the scenario, more devices are making their way into Michigan schools each year. TE = Teacher Empowerment - The best teachers know their content and know ho...

 iTunes U (Currently Free)   Basics: iTunes U has LOTS of curriculum material created by educators categorized by subject area, submitting institution, and grade level.  All the material is vetted through the submitting organizations, mostly Colleges, Universities and K-12 Education groups.  There is a Beyond Campus area that also has materials from museums, libraries (think Library of Congress!), and other educationally minded organizations.  Best of all - all material is available for  FREE . Educational Use: iTunes U is all about education as a majority of the information has been created by educational institutions.  Find the material needed to introduce, reinforce or supplement topics you are teaching about.  If you are in a situation where your students have the devices, as a teacher you can now push out the material you choose within iTunes U to the student devices using a common Apple Account (as long as students leave it l...

iBooks (Currently Free) Basics : Yes, you can buy eBooks from the Store within iBooks, but you can also add your own materials (pdf and epub formats), and add materials garnered from other places on the web.  The highlighting, note taking, built in dictionary, and bookmarking make it an interactive experience without defacing an actual book. Educational Use:   I have heard of many students with certain reading problems that can read better using iBooks as they can increase and change the font, and even change it from black text on white to Sepia or white on black.  The ability for teachers to share their materials with students on the mobile device is nice; however, when teachers make their materials ePub format it is huge as it adds the functionality of the interactive pieces.  The interactive features make it a great way to teach students how to take good notes that have meaning for them, and that are tied to the actual material the notes are about....

I just created a little manual (well, ok it turned out to be quite large) about managing the Moodle site for our Moodle Administrators.  We held our meeting yesterday, and I noticed that many of those that attended along iPads.  I had the brilliant idea of sharing the document out electronically, and remembered that I had been told that Apple's Pages will export to ePub.  So, of course, it gave me an excuse to play! Wow, it worked slick!  However, I thought I'd share out some tips to make your experience more rewarding, and less of the exploration (and problem fixing) mine was. Screenshot of the document in Pages Screenshot of the document in iTunes as ePub  Some suggestions in Pages: If you like to customize your headers (I used a lot of Moodle orange), use the Create New Paragraph Style from Selection under the Format Menu AFTER you set the text to the size, font, color, alignment, etc that you like. Use the built in Table of Content feature...

One advantage of the iPad is its versatility in dealing with books.  There is a convenience factor in having one device to handle both eBooks and audiobooks.  However, the fact that pdf files can be added to the device is a big bonus! eBooks Apple uses the ePub format for eBooks.  This means you are able to find eBooks from many other sources outside the iBook store and use them on your iPad.  These other books will even display on your “Bookshelf” in the iBooks app. There are many advantages of using the ePub books. You can look up word definitions, annotate notes, highlight text & create bookmarks simply by clicking on the text.  ( A pop-up displays with these choices. )  To add ePub files to your iPad: Find the desired ePub books online and download them to your computer ( note where you download them so you can find them!) In iTunes, go to the File Menu and select Add File to Library. Find and select the downloaded book, making sure you...

Often, finding good web resources are the hardest part of the job for an educator.  With all the demands on a teacher's time, who has time to spend searching?  If this is you, here are some resources you may found useful.  Please feel free to share with others! General- 10 Sources for Free Textbooks Online: http://blog.curriki.org/2010/08/31/10-sources-for-free-textbooks-online/ Just as it says… 10 sources for free online textbooks, lots of curriculum areas. ELA- Purdue Writing OWL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ The Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a free service of writing resources & instructional material Math- Mathtrain.TV: http://mathtrain.tv/ “Kids teaching kids” videos created at a middle school in California.  You can subscribe within iTunes, as well. Science - Animation Gallary: http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animation.html Animated tutorials for a variety of scientific disciplines.  Art - Art Cyclopedia: h...

I watched my 2 year old carry his blanket around the house this weekend, and for some reason it brought to mind the argument I had with a teacher about textbooks.  I don't know why the two things paired up in my mind, but they did.  Perhaps because (as with our previous boys) we are starting the process of weaning our son off his blanket.  It's a multi-year process in our household: first restricting it OUT of certain areas (for example the kitchen), then restricting it TO certain areas (the crib & the car), then restricting it to ONE area (the crib... or bed as it may be!).  After that, it is up to them (hey~ if they want to take it college, who am I to say?). I feel that likewise, I am trying to wean many of our teachers away from the security blanket of seeing their textbooks as their curriculum.  Somehow, at some time, a vast number of educators got sold on the idea that the textbook is the be-all, end-all of what they need to teach.  It became th...