Blended Learning Tools - 4 Part Series

This is a four part series on digital tools for a Blended Learning environment.

First up, in this series, is InsertLearning.

InsertLearning is a Chrome extension that allows you to take a website and make it interactive!

Like many tech tools these days, InsertLearning is a freemium site. However, the free stuff is great!
You can add questions, videos, and discussions. I love the fact that you can push out the learning experience to students through Google Classroom!

Features . . . quick reference!

Highlight

Draw students attention to particular vocabulary or phrase with the highlighting tool. 

(You can follow up with a questions or a discussion.)

Sticky Note

How fun is this? By inserting a sticky note, you can include an image, video, link or embed a code.

What if you added . . .

• a poll
• Answer Garden
• Padlet
• Nearpod virtual tour
• Flipgrid
• Quizlet
• Quizizz

Even crazier . . .  add a personal message with insight, directions, or a word of encouragement.

Create a Question

Highlight a section and click the question mark. Up pops this box. At this point, you can add your own question or you can click on the "select a stem" for choices for question prompts. Multiple choice or open ended!

 Discussion
Add discussion questions that get students talking and connecting to the text . . . right there on the page.

What about pricing?

When designing work for students, start with your standards. Then, ask yourself if this tool lends itself to moving student learning forward.

Have fun with InsertLearning!

#FormativeSummit

Formative Fun at Lunch!

This Friday, Formative will launch their virtual PD Summit!
Formative is an assessment tool where students can type, draw, or submit images to demonstrate their understanding.

Each day of the event, you'll be able to...

• watch a brand new webinar led by a thought leader in education 
• extend your learning by engaging in fun challenges 
• earn a certificate of completion for PD credits 
• win awesome prizes

Today, I hosted a kick-off to the #FormativeSummit, during our lunch period. A sweet treat and playing around with the features of Formative.

Time to spread the word and the power of GoFormative!

Below, you will find the presentation I shared with our teachers!
Sign up for the #FormativeSummit by clicking here.

Scientific Sketching & Paper by Fiftythree

I love the Twitter post by one of our teachers,  Mrs. Bell's Class  (@KayleeBell17) on how her students used the ABCDE method to record their scientific observations. (Check out a full description and lesson plan from the California Academy of Sciences.)

The simple mnemonic, ABCDE, reminds students to make sure their drawing clearly depicts what they are observing.

Science notebooks are a great way for students to capture their learning . . . drawing, graphing and writing about their learning.

Why not add a bit of novelty and have students draw their observations with the app, Paper by Fiftythree?  Paper is free for iPhone and iPad. It allows you to create some amazing sketches. 
You can choose to save images as JPG or as PNG to the camera roll.

In the app, the tool tray has a variety of tools for drawing. My favorite is the watercolor brush.

Click here to see a full description of all the tools. 

To help students draw, have them try using a stylus. MEKO Stylus Pen 10 Pack Capacitive Stylus for  an iPad or iPhone is a great choice.  Great for control and accuracy.  They can be found on Amazon. This pack of 10 is only $6.99!

APP Smash Time!

Once, students have their sketches, have them upload them to one of the following applications. They can add their voice, icons, music and finally, turn their scientific sketches into an inspiring video. 

Adobe Spark Video

Book Creator for Chrome

Shadow Puppet EDU

But, wait, there's more! 

Have student finish it off by adding it to Flipgrid or Seesaw to share!

Want more details? Click here for the Google Slide presentation.

Happy scientific sketching!

Launch Yourself into Space

I love an app that has so many possibilities, plus a learning piece.
NASA Selfies app, allows you to step into a virtual space suit and visit various outer space locations.
There are 30 different stunning backgrounds that are real photos of space captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. It's not fancy, but when you add some app smashing, it takes it to the next level.

A few ideas for some app smashing fun!

Use the Balloon Stickies app to add a speech or thought bubble.

Using descriptive language, students can record their adventure, with ChatterPix Kids app.

Have students take multiple selfies and create a story with a beginning, middle and end. Pull them into Adobe Spark Video or Shadow Puppet EDU to tell the story. 

Or, start with Balloon Stickies, add to ChatterPix Kids and finish with Shadow Puppet EDU for a fun finished product. 

To start off a unit on space, have some fun letting students design a mission patch. You can use this as a way to start off your unit on space or just  a team building activity. 

Students can head to the history of mission patches to see authentic patches designed by various teams of astronauts. Some of the patches are commemorative, not worn by the crew. 

Google Draw and Canva are two great tools to use when designing a mission patch. 

Have fun in space!
Click here to access all the slides in Google.