Doodle 4 Google

Doodle 4 Google is an opportunity for students K-12 to design Google's homepage logo by submitting their very own creative artwork. This year the theme for Google's homepage logo is "My Best Day Ever...". The winner gets their artwork seen by millions of Google viewers, a $30,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 technology grant for their school, and other prizes.

Google has a Doodle 4 Google page for educators. It provides you with lesson plans, objectives, and resources. If you are going to have your class participate in Doodle 4 Google the competition is open until March 22nd.

Here is more information:

• Judging & Prizes
• Educator Guide
• Entry Forms

Screenshots from www.google.com/doodle4google

smore

Second grade students at both schools are participating in a Flat Stanley project with students in Texas. Teachers from Connecticut and Texas have been collaborating on a Google Document to create and implement the project together. I'm very excited to share the project details in a post once we are finished. Students just emailed their pen pals and now we are ready for some Flat Stanley fun!

I couldn't wait to share the smore flyer I created for parents and students explaining the next part of our project. As I was running the creation of a flyer by administration we began talking about our schools going green. Rather than printing 200 color copies of a flyer to send home why not email a link to this smore flyer for parents to open? This might even eliminate students misplacing their flyer or not getting one. Using smore also allows me to see how many times the flyer has been viewed. Parents can also leave comments or questions right below the flyer. I'm excited to try this new form of communication with parents. The flyer above was very easy to create and to share. If you are going to use smore to share information with your class or parents click "Embed" on the left hand side of the page. Then you can copy the link to share. Students would love using smore in the classroom. Students can create flyers to share their learning, classroom events, review books they are reading, and so much more.

Please let me know if you would like to use smore in your classroom or to communicate with parents :)

*Flat Stanley journal picture is from Mrs. Meurlin's blog @ http://stellarsweethearts.blogspot.com

Animoto

I have been getting a lot of feedback from teachers that I have created Animoto videos for. I greatly appreciate your kind words.... but I have to be honest. Creating a video using Animoto is VERY SIMPLE! You can create your own Animoto video in minutes. You do not need any training or extra classes.

Here's how :)

• Go to Animoto
• Sign up for a lite account which is free and you can create 30 second videos
• Choose "create"
• Select a style for your video (you can change the music after) and then hit "create video"
• Choose your music, video clips, and add text by clicking on the different tabs and following the prompts
• Upload pictures from your computer, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, or Picasa and music right from your computer
• Preview your video and then publish
• Share your video with your class, friends, or family by sending out the URL for your Animoto video, download it to your computer, or share it on YouTube

Screenshots from Animoto

Have iPads in your classroom? Or any iOS or Android device? You can get the free Animoto app! I create Animoto videos right from my iPhone and then I can instantly share videos from my phone.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Kidblog App

Kidblog
I just received a pending blog post from a student that I had last year. I decided I would respond to the student and then let the class know that I was going to deactivate our Kidblog :( because they are all in third grade now. As I was browsing through old posts I thought about how my former students would blog from their iPads. I really enjoyed blogging with my class, but remembered how we wished there was an app to make it easier for us when using the iPads to blog or comment. Well guess what? There is an app! I just downloaded the app and logged in. The app worked perfectly! There are tabs on the left side where you can easily create a new post, read posts, comment, view the site, or have access to the control panel. At the bottom there is a photo button where you can easily add photos and videos from your library with no embed codes or HTML! You can even manage your class right from the iPad. Blogging was one of my favorite things that we did in second grade. I definitely recommend starting a class blog!

*If you would like help starting a blog please let me know :)

ePals

ePals is a global community of students, teachers, and schools from over 200 countries. ePals allows you to connect with classes from all over the world in a safe and secure way. Signing up is simple. Create an account, a classroom profile, and then add your students. Once you are set you can search for classrooms to communicate with, join a collaborative project, or start your own project. Students will receive their own email addresses to use on ePals. Teachers can manage their student accounts and filter their mail. If you have your filters set to 1 you will receive all incoming and outgoing mail before it is processed. Once you approve the mail it will be sent to your students or to the class you are working with. Sue Duke and I just started using ePals in her second grade classroom. We are communicating with a classroom in Indiana. The students attend a fine arts school where the arts are integrated daily into their classrooms. Sue's students were very excited to connect with students that are the same age as them. The students noticed that they have a lot in common with their ePals. We exchanged emails with them and we are looking forward to collaborating on a project together and participating in a video conference. Students can also access ePals at home. There are learning centers students can explore and so much more.

Picture taken from Sue's classroom

The screenshot below is from ePals website "Common Core Implementation Center"

*If you would like to begin using ePals in your classroom please let me know. I have parent permission slips created that you can use in your classroom.

Thank you!

Rover: Free Education App That Streams Content

Today we explored Raz-Kids by Learning A-Z at Bungay. The program is tailored to meet students' individual reading needs and students were very engaged because the books were animated. We then decided to try the "Learning A-Z" app on the iPad by Lazel Inc. to have access to Raz-Kids. This app did not work. I then came across the app called Rover. Rover allows you to use Raz-Kids on the iPad. Rover is a free app that streams educational K-12 content on the iPad. On the Rover app you can access different educational content like Starfall, Discovery Education, Funbrain, and Reading A-Z. The content is filtered so you know that your students are not receiving any inappropriate content. If you have iPads in your classroom and a Reading A-Z, Raz-Kids, Starfall, or Discovery Education subscription this app is perfect for you. Please let me know if you would like this app on your iPads.

Check out Rover!

Word Mover

Word Mover is ReadWriteThink.org's free iOS mobile app. The app can be used to create poetry. There is a word bank available, famous works to choose from, or you can add and edit your own words. You can change the background, font, color, size, and placement of words. When you finish your poem you can share or print. There is so much you can do with this app. ReadWriteThink.org has great lessons available that you can use with Word Mover. Below I created a poem based on my hopes and dreams for 2013.