August 2016 Volume 5, Issue 1
MICROSOFT OFFICE 365 Are you taking advantage of this amazing platform offered to all West Virginia schools yet? Thanks to the WV Department of Education, schools and students have access to the Microsoft Office Suite software not only at school, but on their personal home devices as well. Applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote are only a few of the resources at one’s fingertips! For Students and their Families...
For Schools...
• The Office 365 Suite can be downloaded on up to 5 different devices using students’ K12 accounts
• Every computer can be upgraded to the newest Office 2016 suite for free
• Students can upgrade older versions of Microsoft Office to match the newest versions at school using their account information
• Files can be saved directly to Office 365 under OneDrive
• Files saved to OneDrive can be accessed on home devices
School administrators or school technology specialists are able to provide needed information about each individual’s K12 email account and password. Every educator and student in the state has an email account in place. Still have questions? Visit the WV Department of Education’s Office 365 Tutorial page on the state website or see the Frequently Asked Questions page for more information.
Article by Barbara Haught, East Fairmont/Fairmont Senior High Schools, Marion County
Office 365 Tutorials FAQ
What’s all the buzzabout? Coding is becoming quite the buzz word, isn’t it? To some, an introduction to the world of coding brings utter fear. If we can get past those fears though, we open our teaching to a realm where students are able to pilot their own learning. Two of the newest coding adventures offered for the younger folks in 2016 are Osmo Coding and Robot Mouse.
Osmo Coding
Meet Awbie who helps students journey through Osmo Coding. Players try to quench Awbie’s insatiable hunger for strawberries by moving through easy-to-navigate adventures. Benefits: • Physical world meets digital world. Magnetic coding tiles develop a path for Awbie. • New movement tiles are introduced throughout adventures to offer a learn-as-you-go strategy. • Added bonus game: As Awbie collects strawberries, he can begin to harvest plants and use his crops to improve his campsite.
Make a buzz r! this yea
Code and Go™ Robot Mouse
Think of Robot Mouse as an upgraded Mousetrap as Colby travels from one end of a maze to his cheesey prize at the end. Program Colby using the easy functions located on his back. Benefits • Mazes can be rearranged using the 16 grids and multiple dividers to challenge Colby (and students). • Direction cards are included for students to build their algorithm prior to programming Colby. • Multi-player options are available when Jack is added to Colby’s adventure!
Article by Amanda Allen, Gerrardstown Elementary, Berkeley County
vocaroo how to I was recently asked by RESA to try the website Vocaroo.com. As a special education teacher, I found this website to be an awesome resource! I was asked to report the good, the better and the best so here goes...
What is Vocaroo.com?
How can Vocaroo be used in the classroom?
It is a site that allows you to record your voice. Once recorded, your voice can be saved and recovered in different formats. The QR code is just one of the for mats I personally chose to use to pair with test questions.
I use it in a general education classroom setting. We have iPad sets, and I download a free QR reader. (Recommended: Quick Scan) Before a test I go through and read the questions aloud on Vocaroo.com and imbed the QR codes into the test. The day of the test every student tries the test with the read aloud. The students’ excitement was evident as they recognized my own voice.
How can Vocaroo be used again? We used this resource for every student in the classroom for this particular test, but it can also be used for just the special education students. In the future I will prepare the tests with the QR code for the students to scan the questions that they need read aloud to them. Students will feel empowered to work at their own pace and only have the ones read to them that need to be read.
Here is a short tutorial on how to use it: https://goo.gl/QT7J2w Article by Leslie Baughman, Summersville Middle School, Nicholas County
I had the pleasure of attending the ISTE Technology Conference in Denver, Colorado, in June. There were over 21,000 people who attended, 71 countries represented and over 200 vendors. One item that caught my eye at the ISTE Conference was Robauto Bibli. Bibli is a social robot. Included in the kit is a BiBli head, arms and body. It starts with a simple frame, head and wheelbase as well as a simple controller. Students can get their BiBli built, customized and driving straight. After speaking with this company, I found that they take their robots to libraries and while humans read the books, the robots interact with the audience. Beginning in June of 2016 ROBAUTO and researchers from the University of Colorado, Boulder started collaborating on a CU funded project to better understand human-robotic interactions in autism and early education. Article by Amy Webb, Shady Spring Middle School, Raleigh County
Amazon Inspire Plickers An instant assessment tool where student responses are read from cards through the lens of the teacher’s device
An all-new venture from Amazon that provides educational resources for teachers, by teachers. Think Teachers Pay Teachers with Amazon’s infrastructure.
Pokémon Go
about the authors... Barbara Haught works as an itinerant Business Education teacher at both East Fairmont and Fairmont Senior High Schools in Marion County. bhaught@k12.wv.us
Leslie Baughman works as a Special Education teacher at Summersville Middle School in Nicholas County.
lbaughman@k12.wv.us
Amy Webb works as a 7th Grade Special Education teacher at Shady Spring Middle School in Raleigh County.
aswebb@k12.wv.us
Amanda Allen works as a K-2 Computer Lab teacher at Gerrardstown Elementary School in Berkeley County. She is also employed as the school SYSOP. aallen@k12.wv.us