Notebooking, Teaching, and Technology

Last week I wrote about an "If I Ran the Zoo" project . It was a project that I collaborated with an elementary art teacher to complete.  Our big takeaway during our debriefing was the fact that the iPad app was too complicated for our second grade group and we wished we had something web based that would work for our upper elementary students. Imagine my surprise the very same week to come across Canvas , a web based drawing app that allows user to either draw freehand or upload a picture to trace around. The website seemed to indicate it was for Chromebook users but I tested it on a student HP device and it worked just fine. I created a video overview , which I have embedded above if you are interested in checking it out.  The art teacher and I were thrilled with the possibility of extending similar projects to our upper elementary students. I can't wait to see what ideas she comes up with!

Richard Byrne recently posted about three free music sites that teachers can use to find music and sound effects for podcasts and projects. It was super helpful and I bookmarked it for future reference. He didn't mention Free Play Music , which is my "go to" music site so I would add that to any list you have going. I worked with students making Lion King trailers and in this site I was able to type in "African" and found some fun royalty music that worked with the trailers students were making. Here is MY problem. I don't know what music to choose! I get overwhelmed with too many choices which is why I appreciate it when people cite their music in the video credits (Richard Byrne goes over that in his post). One teacher (art) who does that well is Tricia Fuglestad . I follow her for her outstanding use of green screen videos. She has a Vimeo channel and she gave credit to Kevin McCloud in one video where I liked the music . This took me on a fun...

Our district just purchased a subscription to Flocabulary this school year. Flocabulary is a website that creates educational rap and material for teachers to use in the classroom across a variety of subject areas. I jumped on the Ambassador band wagon this year and signed up to be an Ambassador with Flocabulary (along with Discovery Education ,  ClassFlow and Seesaw ...all sites and companies I use and love in the classroom). This is me sporting my Flocabulary Ambassador shirt :) I love Flocabulary...and so do our students...it's rap...what's not to love! Sadly it is subscription based and I try not to promote anything too subscription based on my blog because I know most of my readers have no control over budgets. However, I feel there is a slight loop hole. As an Ambassador we are given a 45 day free trial code we can share with teachers at conferences when presenting. I asked if I could share with blog readers and I was given the thumbs up.  The 45 d...

This came across my Facebook feed and if I still taught 4th grade I would definitely be signing up. Apparently Mattel has a Speedometry set for free for 4th grade teachers that helps to teach math and science skills using hot wheels. What?!?! How awesome is that?!?! The set includes lesson plans to help teachers integrate hot wheels into the curriculum. If you are interested you can sign up for your free kit here -  http://www.hotwheels.com/en-us/speedometry.html .