November 2012
Lake Orion Community Schools
LOCS Technology and Media Newsletter Curriculum & Common Core Resources Check out the multitude of curriculum resources available on our website in the Curriculum section, listed under employees. These resources are available both in and outside of the district through the website @ the following link: http://www.lakeorion.k12.mi.us/ C_Curriculum.htm On this web page, you will find a folder directing you to Common Core resources as well. Recent additions to this folder have been made that include links to • Oakland County Common Core • Deconstructing Common Core Standards • Common Core: Preparing for 20142015 (ppt. presentation)
Library of Congress Unveils Massive Common Core Resource Center The U.S. Library of Congress has just released a slew of free resources for teachers focused on Common Core. Read the full article and get access to the materials @ http://edudemic.com/ 2012/10/library-of-congress-unveilsmassive-common-core-resourcecenter/
PowerMyLearning PowerMyLearning is a free resource for teachers, parents and students that provides access to 1,000’s of academic games, simulations, and videos organized by subject, grade, and Common Core standards. Lesson plans are included for teachers to incorporate the activities into instruction. To get started, create your free account @ http://powermylearning.com/
Creating an Online Presence What is meant by the phrase online presence and why is it something teachers should think about? An online presence provides a teacher with permanent space for their classroom, curriculum, materials, and personality. When implemented effectively, an online presence can act as an unlimited extension of the limited service that is provided in the classroom. Such a space can help learners get extra practice, caught up, or go above and beyond on the same curriculum. Such a presence also provides another avenue to engage students in and out of the classroom. What is the purpose of online presence? Communication! It provides a way to communicate with students and parents beyond the classroom and traditional school hours. Students have access to their classroom information from anywhere, whether a student is physically in school or not. It allows teachers to differentiate learning and meet Blanche Sims student interest. It students learn causes teachers to the keys to become more varied in success. the way they think about teaching, learning and assessment. An online presence can also be an area to showcase student work. Finally, having an online presence prepares our students for the world we live in - an ever advancing technological world. What does an online presence look like? Depending on the grade level, different tools can be used to help you create an online presence. Moodle is an excellent tool that many teachers in Lake Orion already are using for this purpose. Weebly, a free website creation tool, is another great resource. For ideas and support on how to get started with creating an online presence using Moodle or Weebly visit the LO Techno Dragons web page @ http://lotechnodragons.weebly.com/index.html
Featured App of the Month
iOS Fun
(iPads, iPhones, iTouches)
Best iOS Apps for Mobile Learning OnlineUniversities.com recently created an infographic on the “Best iOS Apps for Mobile Learning.” What’s helpful is that they have organized the apps on the infographic into the following categories: Brain Exercises, Quizzes & Flashcards, Math, Science, Geography & History, English & Literature, Reference Materials, Art & Art History, Languages, and Productivity. Check it out: http://www.onlineuniversities.com/ blog/2012/10/best-ios-apps-mobile-learning/
Monsters Physics The Monsters Physics app is a cool app to consider for getting students excited about physics. Specifically designed for students ages 10+, Monsters Physics allows users to build and operate their own car, crane, rocket ship, helicopter, and other vehicles. This app won the 2012 Editor’s Choice Award from Children’s Technology Review. Check it out at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ monster-physics/id505046678?mt=8
Resources From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning Not sure how or why cell phones should be used for learning? Check out Liz Kolb’s blog “From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning.” www.cellphonesinlearning.blogspot.com Liz Kolb, a professor at the University of Michigan in the teacher education program, provides links to a variety of resources to help teachers with ideas on how integrate cell phones into the classroom. Additionally, Liz Kolb has written two books on the topic that may be useful as a follow-up resource: 1. Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education 2. Cell Phones in the Classroom: A Practical Guide for Educators
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Lake Orion Community Schools • Technology & Media Newsletter • November 2012
iOS Fun
(iPads, iPhones, iTouches)
Resources Google’s Library of Free Lesson Plans Did you know that Google offers an extensive library of free lesson plans for teachers? Granted a lot of the lessons incorporate the use of Google products, but there is a lot of great stuff available. You can search Google’s library by Product type, Subject area, or Age range. Check it out @ www.google.com/ edu/teachers/lesson-plansearch.html
Icebreaker.ws Visit www.icebreaker.ws for a catalog of icebreaker and teambuilding activities that are great for use in the classroom. Activities are broken by group size as well as categories.
Explore an Interactive Periodic Table ”The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Visual Elements Periodic Table features sections on history, alchemy, podcasts, videos and data trends. Simply by clicking the tabs above the table, students can explore each featured section. Using the buttons on the table, students can change their view and access stunning Visual Elements Images. And by clicking the symbol or image for each element in the table, they can read detailed information about that element.” Check it out at: http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table (Big Deal Book Newsletter 10/16/12)
Lake Orion Community Schools • Technology & Media Newsletter • November 2012
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Web 2.0 Resources Do You Tweet? Not sure about Twitter and how you can benefit from it as an educator? Check out this excellent article “100 Simple Ways to Effectively Use Twitter” Twiends.com has a great infographic to help you get started with understanding the basics of how to set-up a Twitter account and start tweeting. http://www.twiends.com/how-to-twitter
Loopster is a great free tool for editing videos. In 3 easy steps you or your students can easily edit their videos right online. www.loopster.com
Record MP3 is an online tool that allows you to easily record and share audio. www.recordmp3.org
Blogging in the Classroom Have you considered the use of Blogs in your classroom? Check out this resource “A 60 Seconds Guide to the Use of Blogging in Education” (http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/10/a60-seconds-guide-to-use-of-blogging.html) to help you get started! Includes a very helpful infographic!
Text2Mindmap Text2Mindmap is an easy online tool to create mindmaps. www.text2mindmap.com
Infographics Infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge and have become quite popular lately. The website visual.ly is an excellent resource for infographics on all sorts of topics. You can subscribe to their newsletter and follow specific categories of interest. Here’s a link to an interesting infographic on their website titled “How Different Will Classrooms of the Future Be” http://visual.ly/how-different-willclassrooms-future-be
TubeChop TubeChop allows you to easily chop a section from any YouTube video and share it. www.tubechop.com
Infographic
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Lake Orion Community Schools • Technology & Media Newsletter • November 2012