March 2013
Lake Orion Community Schools
LOCS Technology and Media Newsletter Celebrate March is Reading Month! In honor of March is Reading Month, below are some great resources for promoting reading. · Pictures to Promote Reading · Songs for Promoting Reading · Reading Brain Games and Books · The Reading Machine Archive: Reading Games You can also find a comprehensive list of Language Arts Resources under Instructional Technology on our current website.
New Website Coming Soon! The Lake Orion Community School District expects to debut our new website sometime in the next few weeks. The new website will have a clean, fresh look and have a simpler and more intuitive flow. Staff members will now have access to all forms, documents, and information that were previously only available on LOnet through the new Intranet portal. This portal will be available from any computer connected to the internet via a password. Need a document while working at home? You can now access it anytime, anywhere! Parents looking for district information pertaining to them, can click on the Parent button at the top of the page. Students also have a special button as well. These buttons appear at the top of every page. Another exciting feature of the new site is an integrated District calendar. Users will be able to view events on a District level, school level, or with multiple sites displayed at once! Websites for the individual schools are also part of this makeover. You’ll notice a consistent look amongst the schools so that no matter which school site you go to, you’ll always know where to find what you need.
App Fun RESOURCES AND ARTICLES GRANT RESOURCES Win a Document Camera! Want a document camera for your classroom? Samsung is giving away their SAMCAM 760 document cameras to ten teachers. To enter the contest, write a lesson plan, in 100 words or less, about using the SAMCAM 760. The deadline is May 1, 2013. For details go to samsunggrants.com.
Digital Wish Digital Wish is offering ongoing grants for a variety of technology resources. Each month offers a new grant. Teachers interested in applying need to upload a technology-based lesson plan related to the technology they are hoping to receive. For a full list of grant offerings, check out Digital Wish.
Inkflow: Think Visually Inkflow is a free iOS app that can be used by students to make mind maps, draw pictures, and capture ideas. Each page of sketches can be joined together to create a book with page-turning effects. Read more about Inkflow in the iTunes app store. Inkflow Virtual Heart Want to see a human heart in action? Check out the free iPad app Virtual Heart from the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Students can view the heart’s interior, the electrical system, valves, and blood flow. Virtual Heart Explore Cells iCell is a free app created by the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology for both iOS and Android devices that provides 3D images of plant, animal, and bacteria cells. Cells can be rotated 360 degrees and the user can zoom in to get close-up views of various cell parts. Tap on any part of the cell and a definition of the cell part will appear. Definitions can be set to basic, intermediate, or advanced levels. iOS App Android App Seven New iPad Apps to Know About Check out this recent article posted by eSchoolNews with recommendations for some iPad apps for education. Some you may have seen before, others may be new to you. Seven New iPad Apps to Know About 20 Educational Games Perfect for Young Students Looking for apps that are geared towards younger children, check out this recent article “20 Educational Games Perfect for Young Students” from Edudemic.com. The article features app for both Android and iOS devices. Free Reading Apps In honor of March is Reading Month Auryn, Inc. is giving away a free interactive reading iPad/iPhone app each day. Check out the full list here.
RESOUR CES AND AR TICLES RESOURCES ARTICLES Snowflake Chemistry With all of the snow we have been inundated with in Michigan this year, learning about the chemistry of the snowflake couldn’t come at a better time. Check out a video from the American Chemistry Society’s (ACS) Chemistry for Life series that shows the evolution of a snowflake from dust to ice crystals that form snowflakes. Check out the video on the ACS website. 10 Ways Students Can Use Twitter for Paper Writing Students are using Twitter everyday! How about capitalizing on this information by providing them suggestions for how they can use Twitter to help them write papers from this recent article “10 Ways Students Can Use Twitter for Paper Writing” by Leslie Anglesey. Included in her article is an explanation for students on how to properly cite Tweets into a research paper or essay.
RESOURCES AND ARTICLES Create Avatars Voki.com is a free web-based tool for teachers and students that can be used to create customized avatars that include your voice. A teacher can create a Voki classroom that allows you to add classes and students. Check out their website to see examples of how teachers are incorporating Voki into their instruction! Lessons are available for all grade levels and subject areas.
QR Codes in Education QR Codes can be a great tool for use with students. 2 articles to check out to help you incorporate QR codes with your teaching are: • •
“2 Simple Ways to Use QR Codes in Education” “Why You Should Start Using QR Codes in Your Classroom”
Need an easy QR Code Creator? Check out GOQR.ME , which was also featured in the March 2012 edition of the District Technology Newsletter. Digital Citizenship Digital Passport is a free web-based tool designed by Common Sense Media to help educators teach students in grades 3 to 5 how to appropriately use technology. Topics covered include: appropriate cell phone use, cyberbullying, safety & security, and copyright issues. To register and get started go to the Common Sense website.
Free ClipArt Looking for some clip art to jazz up your presentations or help students find images for their projects? Check out the Open Clip Art Library. This site is a collaborative community for creating, sharing and redesigning clipart. All of the images have been released to the public domain and can be used with no restrictions.
RESOUR CES AND AR TICLES RESOURCES ARTICLES Social Media in Education Using social media tools for educational purposes is a recent trend that schools are seeing a rising interest. In response to helping teachers understand how to use social media in education, Bloxx.com recently came out with an eBook called Social Media in Education: Enhancing Learning and Managing eSafety. You can download your free copy here. Inventor of the Week Teach your students about interesting inventors and inventions by visiting the Inventor of the Week website created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Don’t worry if you miss a week, just check out the Inventor Archive to find an inventor by last name or by invention. The site also includes other resources to promote the topic of inventions including an Inventor’s Handbook, Games & Trivia, and Links. Check it out. Skype in the Classroom As part of Skype’s services they have an entire website dedicated to using Skype in the Classroom. The site includes a search tool to find lessons on a wide array of topics and subject areas. Skype in the Classroom Online Digital Story Creator Meograph is an online tool that makes it easy to create digital stories. The site allows you to incorporate audio, text, links, Google Earth maps, and video to make the stories interactive. Check out the website and watch the getting started tutorial. This site is extremely easy to use for students and teachers alike! Photo Fun Kizoa.com is a unique website that allows you and your students to be creative with their photos. You can edit photos, create slideshows that include effects and music, or design collages that are still or animated. The site includes lots of options for creativity. Finished projects can be shared online or converted to videos. This is another very easy-touse site that’s worth a look! Create Cool Text Graphics or Logos Another interesting and easy to use creativity website is Cooltext.com. Cool Text provides you with a vast selection of designs that can be utilized to create titles, logos, and more. Just select your preferred style, type in the text, select your parameters and.... Voila! Your image is created and can be saved as an image for future use.