cristina.runkles's blog

Teachers can adjust pre-made Activities in Kidspiration or start a new Activity for students to use by beginning of scratch and using the Picture View, Writing View, or Math View.     

Let’s take a pre-made Kidspiration Activity and adjust it to meet the needs of students.

1. Pick an Activity and click, “OK”.
2. Delete and adjust what you need to on the Activity.
3. If an item is locked and you want to move it or delete it you must first Enable the Teacher Menu.  When the Password Option box appears click, "OK".  To unlock and item, you need to select it and then click on "Locked Item" under the Teacher Menu.

    

    

   
    

4. Once you have your Activity ready you need to click on "Save With Activity Wizard" under the Teacher Menu.

   
    

5. Go through the steps to select the various options for your Activity.   Once you come to the last step, you need to name your Activity, type in a description, and click on "Another Location" for the place you would like to save the Activity.  You need to save the Activity in the Student Drive so students have access to it.  Most teachers have a grade level folder with their name on it in the Student Drive.  This is a great place to save the Activity.
   
    
6. Now when students come to the lab they can open Kidspiration from the Productivity folder on the Application Menu.  Once Kidspiration is open, students click on "Open a File" and go to the Student Drive to open the adjusted Activity you made.

   

Example of an adjusted State/Country Template below:

Original Template

Adjusted Template

Have you found some ActivInspire flipcharts that have multiple choice questions on them? You may be using dry erase boards or journals to have students write down their answers as you go through the slides. The questions in ActivInspire are meant to work with the ActivVotes and/or ActivExpressions. 

     

    

    

    

    

7.     Click on Verbal and select the type of question that is on the flipchart page.

    

    

12. When finished click on the red circle with the white x. 

13. Click the Close button. 

The TRT site has many Twitter resources available: http://sites.fcps.org/trt/twitter and http://sites.fcps.org/trt/twitterJan24.

There is a video and Guide to Twitter for Educators from Cyberwise that is very helpful.  You can download the guide as a PDF.  The guide links to other websites, documents, and resources.  Scroll down below the video and download the guide for teachers next to Supplementary Files.

Follow our Superintendent on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/FCPSMDSuper.

There are many educators in Frederick County that have started to use Twitter with students or professionally. I am adding to the list as I learn of  users. https://twitter.com/#!/list/runkles1/fcps-ed-twitter

Personal Learning Networks are the connections and communications made with others to:

• Share best practices, resources, and ideas
• Guide and challenge your thinking
• Answer questions or point you in the right direction
• Learn from other specialists

PLN’s have been around for quite some time, but over the past few years through online tools, educators have been able to expand their networks like never before.

Through the use of Twitter, Skype, Nings, Blogs, and much more, educators can learn from others all around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Twitter is an amazing tool that has really helped me in many ways professionally. There are many educators in Frederick County that have started to use Twitter with students or professionally. I have started to compile a list and will continue to add to it: https://twitter.com/#!/list/runkles1/fcps-ed-twitter

Through my PLN on Twitter I am able to:

• locate resources to use with teachers and students
• learn about emerging technology topics
• challenge my thinking in regard to educational issues
• collaborate with other educators and specialists
• share resources and educational ideas with others

Have you built your own Personal Learning Network? 

Additional Resources Available at http://sites.fcps.org/trt/twitter

Teachers and students can enter the MSET contest. 

Deadline for all contests: Postmarked/Received Digitally no later than January 21, 2012.

 “Enter students' multimedia, desktop publishing, or graphic art work or a teacher's own technology-infused lesson for a chance to win and be recognized by MSET members across the state of Maryland. Please note that we are accepting entries that were created during the end of the 2010 - 2011 school year after February 1, 2011. MSET encourages individual counties to host local contests prior to the January 21st deadline."

More Information - https://www.msetonline.org/grantsawards/contests

If you take a look at the Maryland Technology Literacy Standards for Students it states in Standard 1A that students in Pre-K and Kindergarten should be able to:

b) Use the mouse (or track pad) to perform computer functions (such as accessing an application, indicating a choice, or activating a hyperlink)

c) Recognize symbols and icons used to identify common functions (such as the arrow, hyperlinks, printer, save)

d) Use the keyboard to type letters and numbers and know how to use special key functions

Below are some fun holiday links that will help younger students to reinforce or practice these skills.  Remember that students can use these in the computer lab, with a slate, or on an interactive whiteboard.

• Make a Snowman
• Make a Snowman (by HelpKidzLearn)
• Ten Little Snowman from Starfall
• Snowflake Workshop - Create a Flake
• Design Your Own Gingerbread House
• Decorate a Gingerbread Man
• Gingerbread Man from Starfall
• Make a Tree (by ABCya!)

These would be nice to also put up on your website for students to play and practice over the Winter break.

Question:  "If I have more than one child and their teachers are all using Edmodo, how (as a parent) can I log-in with one account?"

The answer is simple.  You don't have to create separate parent accounts using different emails.  You can see what all of your children are doing on Edmodo with one account.

If you have already created an account for one child using the parent code your child's teacher gave them then simply sign-in with that username/email and password.  If you have not created an account at all, click on the Parent Sign-Up link on Edmodo.

Next you need to make sure you have the parent code for your second child. Click Add.  Type in the Parent Code for the new child you want to add to your account, select your relation, click Add. 

Now you have your children all under one account. 

 If you want additional information about Parent Code/Accounts - check out the Edmodo Parent Guide created by Edmodo.

Edmodo is always making updates to improve the experience for teachers and students.  If you are an Edmodo user and ever have any suggestions, I highly recommend that you go to the Edmodo Support community and add your question or suggestion. 

I love the annotate feature on Edmodo!  Have you tried it yet? Edmodo posted a video showing how to do this.

Edmodo Annotate Feature - When a student uploads an assignment you can annotate on top of it!  By using Crocdoc you can type, draw, etc on the student's assignment to give them feedback.  Read more about it on the Edmodo blog. 

 * First click on Annotate in Edmodo under the student's assignment.  Then annotate using the highlighter, text, draw, and comment features. 

* When you are finished, click on Download.  A prompt will appear asking if you want to include annotations within the document.  Click OK.  Save the PDF.  It actually turns the document into a PDF.  I like this feature so that students can not change any of the comments you have placed on the document.

* Upload the PDF under where the student submitted their assignment. 

Pixie 3 has many great updates that you can incorporate right away with your students.
New feature highlights:

1.  Add a Page Button - Now you can create multi-page projects easily all under one file name.

2.  Students or Teachers can Share Projects and Collaborate in real-time.

3.  Try out the crayon, marker, and brush paint tools.

Let's take a look at these featured highlights closer.

1.  Add a Page Button - Now you can create multi-page projects easily all under one file name.  Simply click on the "Add Page" button and create additional pages for your project.  You can save them all under one file name.  In the past students would have to save each page individually under a different file name. 

 Notice how you can go back and forth between the pages by using the arrows at the bottom of the page. 

2.  Students or Teachers can Share Projects and Collaborate in real-time. 

* A teacher or student can click File > Share Project.  
* The project should be saved to the student drive (so students can access it), and the person sharing the project picks an icon to represent the project. 
* Students that want to collaborate go to File > Join Project, click on the icon and select ok. 
* The original person that shared the project will approve people by clicking the "Approve" button on their screen.
* Now students can collaborate in real-time.
* The original person sharing the project should save it at the end.

3.  New crayon, marker, and brush paint tools - Check out the new paint tools in Pixie 3.

In order for links and navigation to work properly in many flipcharts, including the Elementary Math Electronic Curriculum Maps, ActivInspire needs to be updated.

Teachers can update computers without having to ask their Technology Coordinator.

If ActivInspire is already on your desktop, you can double click it to open the software.  Once the software is open, click on "Help" on the top menu bar and then click on "About." 

 The version number that is loaded on your computer will appear.  It should say, "Release version 1.5.33840."  This is the version that is being supported by FCPS in the schools at this time.  Please see the picture below.

If you do not have this version on your computer or you do not have the ActivInspire icon on your desktop, you will need to open the Application Menu, click on Productivity, and double click on "Install ActivInspire 1.5."  It will take around 5 minutes to install.  If the software does not install properly, please let your Technology Coordinator know.  They will need to uninstall the software and reinstall it.