Tammy Worcester’s Tech Tip of the Week

Tip 86 - My Kid’s Turn!

Thu, 20 May 2010 10:18:57 -0500

This week’s tip features a fabulous collection of educational video clips created by my colleagues at ESSDACK. They’re geared for parents, but you can use them in school too! The videos contain games, exercises, strategies, and activities that will help kids learn concepts and ideas - while they’re having fun!

http://mykidsturn.com

Shows include:
• By the Numbers (math strategies and problem solving)
• Just Desserts (educational games to play at the dining room table)
• Learn, Grow, Bloom (language and pre-reading activities for little ones)
• Great Games, Better Brains (making video games educational)
• Raising Digital Kids (cyber-safety and web tools)
• Magic Spell (spelling strategies and tricks)

More episodes coming soon!

If you’d like to share information about My Kid’s Turn with parents, feel free to print, copy, and distribute these fliers:

My Kid’s Turn Flier - single page

My Kid’s Turn Flier - two-per-page

Tip 85 - Image Search Engines

Mon, 10 May 2010 09:31:47 -0500

Of course, the Google Image Search engine offers a robust tool with tons of results, but it is blocked in many schools. This week I’m featuring two alternatives that will allow you and your students to easily find copyright friendly photos and icons.

(Thanks to fellow Kansas educators Ginger Lewman and Judy Beam for sharing these with me.)

Search Tool #1:
Compfight http://compfight.com/
 

A. Enter your keyword here.
B. Click to change the copyright license options.

Results for “dog” search (over 500,000 results!)
 

Search Tool #2:
Icon Finder http://www.iconfinder.com/

A. Click the “Browse” button to look through icon options.
B. Enter a keyword to search for specific icons.

Search results for dog:

A. RIght-click to copy the image, or download using one of the provided formats.
B. Pull down the “info” bar to make sure it is copyright friendly.
C. Pull down to change the licensing options.

Tip 84 - ABCya

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:22:31 -0500

This week I’d like to share a website that is full of fabulous educational games, activities, and tools for elementary students.

http://www.abcya.com/

Check it out! 
1. Go to: http://www.abcya.com/  
2. Scroll down to choose the desired grade level.   
3. There are dozens of options for each grade level. The screen shot below shows less than half of what is available for 3rd grade. Choose an activity or game and explore.    
4. In the Comments area below, please share your favorite ABCya activity and tell how you use it with your students.

Tip 83 - Graphic Organizers (Customizable!)

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:07:21 -0500

This week’s tip features a web tool that will allow you create and print customized graphic organizers. (I’m not sure, but I think it was originally shared with my by my colleague, Glenn Wiebe.)

Worksheet Works - Graphic Organizers
http://www.worksheetworks.com/miscellanea/graphic-organizers.html

This tool is extremely easy to use and the on-screen prompts will lead you through the simple process:

1. Go to: http://www.worksheetworks.com/miscellanea/graphic-organizers.html 
2. Click to choose the desired graphic organizer. 
3. Fill out the provided form:   
4. Click the “Create Worksheet” button. 
5. Click the “Worksheet.pdf” button.   
6. Save and open the file using Adobe Acrobat or another PDF reader.    
7. Print!

Tip 82 - New! Static Pages in Blogger

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:19:08 -0600

I was extremely excited to learn that Blogger has recently added a new feature - you can now add up to ten static pages to your blog! This opens lots of possibilities such as creating an online portfolio or building a classroom website.

Note - if you don’t already have a blog, follow the instructions here to create one: Tip 64 Blogger

Blogger Static Pages   
 Creating a static page:
1. Go to: www.blogger.com
2. Go to the settings (customize) area for your blog.
3. Click the Posting tab.
4. Click the Edit Pages link.
5. Click the New Page button.   
 Adding Information to the Static Page:
1. Enter a page title.
2. Enter the desired information.  Note - in this area you can add text, pictures, hyperlinks, and even embed code!
3. Click the Publish Page button.   
4. Determine whether you want the links to the pages to appear in the blog sidebar or at the top under the title.   

 Editing the Navigation Bar
1. Click the Layout tab.
2. Click the Page Elements link.
3. Locate the “Pages” gadget.
4. Drag and drop the “Pages” gadget to move it from the top to the side bar (or from the side bar to the top).
5. Click the Edit link to change the name of the “Home” page and to change the order of the pages.   

Viewing / Navigating the Pages
1. View your blog.
2. Click the links at the top or in the sidebar to move between pages.   
3. To view an example, go to: http://worcesterclass.blogspot.com/  

Please post ideas for using this new feature by clicking the “Add a Comment” link below.       

Tip 81 - Google Docs Self Check Quizzes

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:46:02 -0600

Many of you have discovered the power of using Google forms and spreadsheets to gather data. In fact, they can be a step forward in creating paperless classrooms!

For this week’s tip, I have created some templates for self-checking quizzes that are easy to use (I hope). The formulas are all entered for you, and the form and spreadsheet are there, ready to be used. Just have your students fill out the form, and their answers will be automatically scored!

Note - these forms work well on computers as well as cell phones and other web-enabled handheld devices such as iPod Touches.

Google Docs Self Check Quizzes
Note – Templates are provided with 5, 10, 15 or 20 questions.

Basic Instructions: For experienced Google docs users:
1. Open one of the templates below. (It will open in the form-editing view.)
2. Edit the quiz title and the questions (optional).
3. Send the students to the online form.
4. The students complete and submit the form.
5. Go to the provided spreadsheet.
6. Enter the correct answers in row 2.
7. Click the “Scores” link at the bottom of the page.
8. View the student scores!

Step-by-Step Instructions:
Click below to download a PDF with step-by-step instructions for using the templates:
 GoogleSelfCheck.pdf

Templates: