Charlotte's Web ThingLink

Monday, November 30, 2015

Customize Google Slide Pages/EduWin for Julie Nguyen-Ebadi

After learning about how to customize the size of the pages of a Google Slide presentation, Carla Dunavan put together a short tutorial on how to do it. Thank you, Carla, for sharing your directions with us. Teachers, you may notice that this is a great way for students to create an e-book. And because it is a Google Slide, Google Drawings, images, or YouTube videos can be easily inserted.




EduWin Nomination from Heather Koleszar for Julie Nguyen-Ebadi

Julie Nguyen-Ebadi is a second grade teacher at Noddin doing great things with her students in Google Draw. Recently, Julie had students find images on Google to show the life cycle of a butterfly.

Thanks, Julie, for showing us how your students are reinforcing their learning using online tools.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Thanksgiving Themed Activities Inspired by Video

Do you use video in your classroom to inspire thinking? 

Last month I attended Fall CUE up in the Napa Valley and ever since then, I haven't been able to stop thinking about Lisa Highfill's session titled YouTube Lessons That Will Leave You Thinking.

I was truly inspired, and after searching through the Highfill Crew YouTube playlists, I came across the video WWII vet forms unlikely friendship with toddler. That video sparked an idea about creating a Google Sites HyperDoc that could be used across grade levels. I decided that this was a great video about friendship, which seemed to tie in nicely with Thanksgiving. This led me to create a website with tabs for different Thanksgiving themes that teachers can explore with their classes, or have students explore on their own.

USD Learns: Thanksgiving HyperDoc

I invite you to check out the USD Learns Thanksgiving Hyperdoc to see if there is anything that might inspire you and students the week before Thanksgiving. There are some interactive pieces where students can share their thoughts or turn in links to their work.

Please be aware that any Padlet on this Thanksgiving site is a shared learning space where students can freely post their thoughts. Before trying it with your students, please have a conversation about digital citizenship and ask them only to post ideas and content that they want other students and teachers to see.

Want your students to be a part of our USD is Thankful Video?


What if we could capture video clips about what USD students are thankful for? Kid President's 20 Things We Should Say More Often reminds us that we shouldn't just say thank you on Thanksgiving, but we do have to start somewhere. This idea was inspired by the video Kid History Shorts: "Thanksgiving" (The Roberts).  If this video is too silly for your class, check out this school who captured clips about what they are thankful for: Happy Thanksgiving from Kingsway College School. This is a closer example of the vision that we have for our USD is Thankful video.

If you would like to participate, you can find more information about how to create class videos on the Gratitude page.

I am thankful to be working in such an amazing school district with such creative and innovative teachers. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your students, friends, and families!





Monday, November 2, 2015

4 Easy Low-Tech Digital Citizenship Projects

Don't forget that the November 13th Digital Citizenship Video Contest deadline is quickly approaching. The good news is that it's not too late to encourage your students to participate. We've come up with 4 simple low-tech project ideas with suggestions about how to turn those creations into videos:
  1. Write a poem
  2. Create a poster
  3. Write a song or rap
  4. Create a comic
Here's a Digital Citizenship HyperDoc with examples and how-to videos that can help get you started. You'd be surprised how easy it is to turn these projects into short videos.

Once you have your students complete a project, you may like help creating videos. The Tech ToSAs are available! Please fill out the 2 question Digital Citizenship Video Lesson Sign-Up and one of us will contact you to coordinate the lesson.


If you have any questions, you can always email any one of us: Genevieve, Nicole, or Mary Fran

Don't forget to turn the videos into the Official Entry Form by November 13th. We can't wait so see all of your students' creative digital citizenship projects!












*If you are having your students create their own videos for the contest, here are some digital story video templates to help them plan a script before creating the video.