Remove.bg

The tool I have to share with you this week is Remove.bg. This is a free website that can be helpful when you do not have access to a green screen. It will remove the background of an image and allow you to replace the backdrop image for FREE! Imagine how engaging this can be for students. I’m happy to help you get started with using your tool for one of your lessons!

Before:

After:

I call this “Gnomy goes to vote”

Will the gnome escape the leprechaun trap?!

Fun fact: If you are in presentation mode for a Google Slides presentation, hit the “b” key or the “w” key to quickly blank your screen. The “b” key will make the screen black and the “w” key will make the screen white. To show your presentation, press the “b” or “w” key again.

March is Reading Month & National Day of Unplugging

It’s March is reading month! This week I’m sharing several books with you. Happy Reading!

• Here are some great picture books that go along with digital citizenship and STEM that would be great for your students.

• Digital citizenship books for middle and high school.

• Here are some great reads for professional learning. This list is always growing!

National day of unplugging is March 6-7. This is a great time to promote reading! Sign up to take the pledge to unplug to receive free activities. Share out your celebrations of unplugging using #nationaldayofunplugging #unplug #wb2020 on social media! If you need ideas for an activity, please let me know. I’m here to help!

Digital Learning Day

Digital Learning Day is this Thursday. This is a day to promote high-quality digital learning opportunities for students. In West Bloomfield, we are frequently offering digital learning opportunities to our students. While this can be promoted any time of year, Digital Learning Day is a great time to highlight this work. Google has curated some Digital Learning Day activities in Applied Digital Skills. Share out your celebrations of innovative practices using #DLDay on social media! If you need ideas for an activity, please let me know. I’m here to help!

Everyday DigCit

The tool I have to share with you this week is the Everyday DigCit app. This Prek-12 app curates talking points for you and your students to discuss digital citizenship. The app sorts through discussion topics by grade level, too. From privacy to communication, this app provides a lot of food for thought. Curious about how this app was created? Check out Glide Apps to learn how to create an app through a Google Sheet. Let me know if you’re interested in integrating either of these into one of your lessons. I’m happy to help!

Merge Cube

The tool I have to share with you this week is Merge Cube. This cube uses augmented reality to allow you to hold virtual 3d objects in your hand and learn in a new way. I have one of these available to borrow. You can also find files for the paper template online. Here are some activity plans that they have put together. Let me know if you’re interested in integrating this into one of your lessons. I’m happy to help!

Math Tools

The tools I have to share with you this week are all related to math and can be applied at any grade level.

EquatIO is an extension to help with digital mathematical notations. You can type, handwrite, or dictate equations and formulas on your computer. There are two modes of simple and advanced input.

Wolfram Alpha is a computational tool for not only for math, but also science, technology, society, culture, and everyday life. The step by step solutions can be very useful.

Math Buddy Question of the Day generates a new math problem every day for each grade level. These are great bell ringer and warm-up activities. It will also show you a pie chart of the days responses and the percentage of people who got the answer correct or incorrect. This is helpful in pointing out the difficulty of the problem.

Desmos is a digital graphing tool that students can access on the chromebooks. The have curated classroom activities. This is a great resource for a digital calculator.

Wellbeing.Google

The tool I have to share with you this week is Wellbeing.Google. Finding a healthy balance with technology is a very important piece of wellbeing. Great technology should improve life, not distract from it. I challenge you to reflect on your experience and relationship with technology both at work and at home. Understanding your technology habits is the first step to fine-tuning them. My presentation on Technology Health & Wellness is also posted on the Technology Integration Hub for you, as well. This is all a part of digital citizenship and modeling good habits for students. What are your technology goals for 2020 both personally and professionally?

Wakelet

The tool I have to share with you this week is Wakelet. It helps you save, organize, and share content from the web. Wakelet is a free tool and what you save to Wakelet is viewable on all devices. Imagine how this can transform teaching and learning! Check out the Educator’s Guide. You can also get the Google Chrome extension for Wakelet here. I’ve shared this one with you before, but it is worth sharing again. If you haven’t tried it out, I encourage you to give it a go!

Workbench

The tool I have to share with you this week is Workbench. This is a library of content for educators to create, remix, and share lessons. Workbench was acquired by Google, which now streamlines learning with projects and Google Classroom integration. You can filter through by subject area or grade level. There is a wide variety of activities and topics, you can even learn how to play the guitar! For a more advanced coding lesson that ties in with data collection, check out how Google Sheets and Workbench programming integrates. I encourage you to explore Workbench and try out a lesson!

#CSEdWeek 2019

The tools I have to share with you this week are all about computer science, computational thinking, and coding. Computer Science Education Week is next week. This is a great time to promote this. However, I think that it can be promoted at any time of the year. As you participate in CSEdWeek, please share your learning on Twitter using the following hashtags: #CSEdWeek #HourOfCode. Hourofcode.com is a great place to start and filter through by grade, subject area, and technology that you plan to use. Remember that computer science can be taught as an unplugged activity. Here are a plethora of computer science resources:

Google CS First

Code.org

Scratch

Mozilla Web Literacy

Raspberry Pi

Microbit

Computational Thinking for Educators

Made with Code

CS Unplugged