If you’re looking for a fun activity to complete with your students this St. Patrick’s Day, then all you’ve got to do is snag a copy of my holiday-themed poetry magnets activity!
Here it is: A Google Slides activity containing 60+ words and phrases that can be manipulated into a fun-filled holiday poem, story, etc.
As with my other creations, the word boxes are actually images and cannot be edited; however, they can be deleted. Plus, additional words can be generated by creating a new text box and filling it with a white background.
Before you get started on your March adventure, here are a few additional items worth knowing:
» The background on the Google Slide is locked so students can avoid accidentally moving it, but it can still be changed if you wish to allow them to do so. Just right-click on the slide and select the “Change background…” option.
» Some teachers have requested that I provide a word list for each activity so I have created additional slides that include this info.
Check out a sneak preview below!
Click here to access the template. You will be prompted to download your very own copy of the original and save it to your Google Drive. It can then be easily shared with students—especially if you’re using Google Classroom.
Classroom Connection:
The St. Patrick’s Day Poetry Magnets template can be used in a variety of ways as either an independent or collaborative writing activity. Utilize the “magnets” included and/or add your own text boxes to extend the activity—although I think part of the challenge is to use the words provided.
A shout out to Kasey Bell for inspiring me to create my own version of poetry magnets. And a high five goes to Alex, one of my Tech Club kids, for helping to create this activity. ♥
Magnetic Poetry kits have been around for about 25 years, providing individuals with the inspiration to create poems on refrigerators everywhere!
In fact, the informality and spontaneity of Magnetic Poetry has endeared it to educators since its inception, especially for students experiencing writer’s block. Ironically that was the impetus behind the invention of this concept in the first place. Read more about founder Dave Kapell’s ingenious idea here.
Fast forward a few decades… When a cool concept like Magnetic Poetry is mashed with classroom technology, such as Google Slides, teachers now not only have a fun activity to utilize with students, but one that can provide struggling writers with a way to break out that inner Edgar Allen Poe in a more modern way!
So, here it is… Back by popular demand—An updated Winter Poetry Magnets Google Slides activity containing 100+ words and phrases that can be manipulated into a wintry themed poem, story, etc.
As with my other creations, the word boxes are actually images and cannot be edited; however, they can be deleted. Plus, additional words can be generated by creating a new text box and filling it with a white background.
Before you get started on your winter adventure, here are a few additional items worth mentioning:
» The background on the Google Slide is locked so students can avoid accidentally moving it, but it can still be changed if you wish to allow them to do so. Just right-click on the slide and select the “Change background…” option.
» Some teachers have requested that I provide a word list for each activity so I have created additional slides that include this info.
Check out a sneak preview below!
Click here to access the template. You will be prompted to download your very own copy of the original and save it to your Google Drive. It can then be shared with your students.
✤ A shout out to Kasey Bell for the inspiration to create these digital activities! ✤
Classroom Connection:
The Winter Poetry Magnets template can be used in a variety of ways as either an independent or collaborative writing activity. Utilize the “magnets” included and/or add your own text boxes to extend the activity—although I think part of the fun/challenge is to just use the words provided.
Magnetic Poetry kits have been around for about 25+ years, providing individuals with the inspiration to create poems on refrigerators everywhere!
In fact, the informality and spontaneity of Magnetic Poetry has endeared it to educators since its inception, especially for students experiencing writer’s block. Ironically that was the impetus behind the invention of this concept in the first place. Read more about founder Dave Kapell’s ingenious idea here.
Fast forward a few decades… When a cool concept like Magnetic Poetry is smashed with classroom technology, such as Google Slides, teachers now not only have a fun activity to utilize with students, but one that can provide struggling writers with a way to break out that inner Edgar Allen Poe in a more modern way!
So, here it is… Back by popular demand—An updated Thanksgiving Poetry Magnets Google Slides activity containing 80+ words that can be manipulated into a holiday themed poem, story, etc.
As with my other creations, the word boxes are actually images and cannot be edited; however, they can be deleted. Plus, additional words can be generated by creating a new text box and filling it with a white background.
Check out a sneak preview below!
Click here to make your very own copy of the template. Then have at it!
Classroom Connection:
The Thanksgiving Poetry Magnets template can be used in a variety of ways as either an independent or collaborative writing activity. Utilize the “magnets” included and/or add your own text boxes to extend the activity—although I think part of the fun/challenge is to just use the words provided.
Whether you’re looking for some neat themed lesson plans and activities to incorporate into your classroom to celebrate Thanksgiving, or maybe you’re just in search of some tech-based Thanksgiving games to keep your students engaged before the upcoming vacation… Either way, Edutech for Teachers has got you covered!
Hover over the interactive image to find tons of Thanksgiving-themed games and interactive learning activities for students and/or skip past the graphic to find additional (and recently updated) materials for teaching and learning about this popular holiday.
Check out the full screen version of this image here.
» November & Thanksgiving STEM Challenges: Build a Mayflower ship, dinner table, and turkey hideout! Check out this Pinterest board filled with November and Thanksgiving STEM challenges for elementary students.
» TeachHUB.com:Fed up with building pilgrim hats out of paper bags? Then try one of these less predictable, equally educational Thanksgiving activities for kids of any age.
» Kids Discover Colonial America: A unit that focuses on the founding of major settlements and daily life in Colonial America. It describes everything from the Pilgrims’ landing to the colonies’ later growth and business activities.
» Kids Discover Native America: A unit that focuses on the most fascinating details of the history and culture of Native Americans. From their spiritual beliefs, artwork, and legends to harrowing accounts of the unfair policies, diseases, and battles that nearly wiped out Native Americans.
» Eight Great Ways to Be Thankful: A printable infographic to get students thinking about what they are grateful for this season… Perfect for all ages!
Click here for a free download from Kids Discover.
» Scholastic News: A comprehensive site containing various resources for elementary students and teachers to learn about how the pilgrims reached America and celebrated the first Thanksgiving. Sections include The Mayflower, Daily Life, The Feast, Historical Letters, and Videos and Photos.
» Education World: Thanksgiving in the classroom doesn’t have to be limited to those lesson on turkeys. Instead celebrate this special season with some creative ideas via articles, lesson plans, site reviews, books, crafts, clipart and much more—all to help you meet all of your holiday needs.
»TIME Magazine: An interesting article regarding “The Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Thanksgiving”.
»Teachers Love SMART Boards: A list of Thanksgiving-related activities that can be utilized with an interactive whiteboard.
»abcteach: Games, puzzles and coloring pages designed for elementary students.
»The Best Websites To Learn About Thanksgiving: From audio and video to engaging reading activities, Larry Ferlazzo’s comprehensive list of Thanksgiving web sites includes something for everyone!
»Thanksgiving Trivia: The Huffington Post challenges you to take the ultimate quiz about Turkey Day.
»Thanksgiving Quiz: Another fun holiday quiz created by Funnel Brain.
»How Thanksgiving Works: A variety of Thanksgiving related articles and videos about the History of Thanksgiving as well as related customs, traditions and more from the creators of How Stuff Works.
Back by popular demand—some really spook-tacular digital resources that are sure to creep out your students—in a good way, of course! Yep—it’s the updated version of Tech or Treat so if you’re looking for some fun activities to celebrate Halloween in your classroom, then keep scrolling…
Whether it’s writing prompts, science experiments, Halloween candy math, Edgar Allan Poe videos or haunted vocabulary, there’s something ghostly awaiting you right here, right now…
This Five Little Pumpkins drawing activity invites students to create their own illustration of the rhyme while introducing them to coding. The worksheet also asks them to draw various parts of the illustration by following the algorithm’s steps.
Generated by Eric Curts, this Halloween rebus activity can be used for students to create and/or read. (BTW: Anyone who grew up reading Highlights magazine in the dentist office waiting room will quickly recognize a rebus. Basically, it is a story in which some of the words are replaced by images.)
Also generated by Eric Curts, this fun, and educational Google Slides activity is a great way for students to be creativeand to work on writing skills by describing the Jack-O-Lantern they build with shapes and/or drawings of their own.
For the Breakout EDU junkies… Check out this spooky, musical, holiday-themed digital breakout game created by Aubrey Yeh. (Designed for middle school students but could work for upper elementary or high school as well.)
In this project tutorial, learn how to make six different Halloween paper circuit creations. Using parallel and simple circuits, students can bring these templates to life with copper tape, LEDs and batteries.
The STEAM Powered Family gathered 31+ science, tech, engineering and math activities that capture a child’s interest and imagination during this spooky season. And so many of them are perfect for our young scientists! Be sure to check out this spectacular STEM adventure projects!
Get your classroom in the Halloween spirit with these math and science activities, writing ideas and crafts. This site, powered by Scholastic, includes Halloween-themed book lists to find a perfect read-aloud title or scary stories to share with your students for independent reading.
To prepare for Halloween in your classroom, check out these Halloween classroom activities from Teach HUBfor new ways to sneak in some spooky lessons and ghoulish learning!
Math… Pick a Pumkin… Bats in the Classroom… And Historical Figure Day, an alternative to the traditional Halloween hoopla. If you’re ready to celebrate Halloween in “spooktacular” fashion, you’re sure to find a fun idea or two right here on the Education World site.
A collection of all things Halloween by Larry Ferlazzo—A visual history, slideshows, vocabulary and spelling games, cloze activities, Halloween Around the World and Mia Cadaver’s Tombstone Timeout, one of the most favorite games found on the BBC site and more!
A variety of educational sites for Halloween by 19 Pencils.
» Tech-Themed Halloween Costume Ideas
Check out and/or share some pretty neat tech-inspired Halloween costume ideas on the Tech with Us Community Facebook thread found here. A shout out to Julie Goode Smith for generating this fun post!
Classroom Connection:
Use these resources to teach and learn about Halloween in fun and hands-on ways.
Welcome to the weekly (not so weekly) edition of The Edtech Smackdown—a collection of digital resources containing a few of my most favorite activities, tools and articles curated from various social media spaces throughout… well, in this case—the past few months.
For those of you who became a fan of these collections of resources, my apologies for the hiatus. I’d like to say I spent the last year putzing from beach to beach in my hippie van, but that will be my reality in about five years… In the meantime, I’ve actually had some really awesome reasons as to why I had to take a step away from blogging for while—again; however, I’ll spare you from the details other than to say that among other edtech things, I started a movement known as XscapeEDU, which is based on providing students with the opportunity to design and build original “xscapes” (or breakout activities) for other students.
➡️ Check out additional info about this concept as well as the Xscape Xstravaganza I recently hosted for 80+ students in my region to showcase their escape room talents here and here. You can also check out a collection of pictures from our inaugural event here.
➡️ And, of course, if you’d like to join the movement and become an Xscape EDU Warrior—please contact me!
➡️ OK, now that I’ve convinced you to get your Xscape EDU on, it’s time to check out some other good stuff… Despite the ongoing crazy busy schedule, I have continued to collect a variety of super cool resources that will be useful in the classroom throughout the upcoming school year, and I’m about to share some of these edtech gems right here, right now…
First up: Introducing one of the neatest activities I’ve seen in awhile using the new green screen feature in iMovie—the Wormhole Challenge. If you don’t have an iOS device capable of generating this kind of creative coolness, one of the examples shown below will definitely persuade you into visiting the nearest Apple Store asap (or if you’re me—Amazon Prime)! But it’s not just a fun looking activity—the learning possibilities are endless! In fact, you can add your ideas to the soon to be crowd-sourced Padlet located here.
➡️ For additional examples, check out the following hashtags on Twitter: #WormholeChallenge + #EveryoneCanCreate
Check out my first few attempts at creating a “Wormhole” video…
A shout out to Richard Hopkin for developing and sharing this concept!
➡️ Next, if you’ve previously tuned into my space, you know that I’m a total Google fan girl—and for good reason. That said, let’s kick things off with some edtech gems that will definitely assist you with engaging your students in learning!
➡️ From the amazing Eric Curts, Control Alt Achieve:
» Do you use Google Classroom and want to print student work without opening and printing each document individually? Allison McCutcheon has a solution, and it’s called PDF Mergy. Watch her explainer video here!—via Tony Vincent, Learning in Hand
» Nadine Gilkison’s Hyperdocs: From Rube Goldberg machines to counting money, this massive collection of Hyperdocs can be downloaded to your Google Drive for easy access and classroom usage. Not enough thank you’s to Nadine for sharing this amazing resource!
» Add intrigue to a lesson by having students make guesses about a pixelated picture—By Tony Vincent, Learning in Hand
» Pi-Top 4: It’s a Raspberry Pi computer with 14 components for making cool stuff. The components are magnetic and can connect to Lego.—via Tony Vincent, Learning in Hand
So there you have it—this week’s smackdown! Stay tuned for additional resources coming your way in the next round…
In the meantime—if you’ve missed any of my previous edtech collections, check ’em out within the interactive image embedded below… Be sure to hover over the image to reveal the hotspots!
Click here to view a full screen version of this image.
Click here to view a full screen version of this image.
If you’re ready to get your Easter on, then I’ve got the perfect edtech resource for you and your peeps—a poetry magnets activity containing 70+ words, or “magnets”, that can be creatively manipulated into a holiday themed poem, story, etc. via Google Slides.
So, if you’re ready to combine a little bit of Easter fun with Google Apps, then be sure to check out this must-try project in your classroom! Here’s how it works…
As with my other creations, the word boxes are actually images and cannot be edited; however, they can be deleted. Plus, additional words can be generated by creating a new text box and filling it with a white background.
Before you get started on your holiday-themed adventure, here are a few additional items worth mentioning:
» The background on the Google Slide is locked so students can avoid accidentally moving it. However, it can still be changed if you wish to allow them to do so. Just right-click on the slide and select the “Change background…” option.
» Some teachers have requested that I provide a word list for each activity so I have created additional slides that includes this info.
Check out a sneak preview below!
Click here to make your very own copy of the template. You will be prompted to download your very own copy of the original and save it to your Google Drive. It can then be shared with your students. My favorite way to do so is via Google Classroom.
Classroom Connection:
The Easter Poetry Magnets template can be used in a variety of ways as either an independent or collaborative writing activity. Utilize the “magnets” included and/or add your own text boxes to extend the activity.
A shout out to Kasey Bell for inspiring me to create my own version of poetry magnets . And a shout out to Alex, one of my Tech Club kids, for helping to create this super cool resource. ♥
April Fool’s Day is probably one of those classroom holidays you can’t escape—no matter how hard you try. So why not embrace it and teach your students a few things at the same time!
Yes—this means you quite possibly will have to endure some of those harmless pranks and hoaxes associated with this day—spiders in your desk, a plastic snake on your chair, or some mystery student messing with your computer mouse via a USB remote. Of course, I’m speaking from experience.
That said, if you’re one of those educators who enjoys having a little bit of fun with your students, then check out the recently updated list of resources below.
» NEW!April Fools’ Day Ideas for the Classroom: Jennifer Findley shares her favorite April Fools’ Day jokes and pranks for teachers. And if you don’t want to prank your students, she has two engaging educational activities that will allow you to still bring in some April Fools’ Day fun in your classroom!
» Fool Me Once: A digital breakout for April Fool’s Day created by Michael Davidson. This one is pretty tricky and will definitely fool you once… Or twice!
» Teacher Planet: April Fool’s—You can also take advantage of their April Fool’s Day lesson plans, worksheets, clip art and English as a Second Language Resources
Use these resources to teach students about the history behind April Fools Day. And while you’re at it, add some comedy to your day by having some harmless foolproof fun with your students and colleagues.
As Charles Dickens once said, “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”
If you’re looking for a fun activity to complete with your students this St. Patrick’s Day, then all you’ve got to do is snag a copy of my holiday-themed poetry magnets activity!
Here it is: A Google Slides activity containing 60+ words and phrases that can be manipulated into a fun-filled holiday poem, story, etc.
As with my other creations, the word boxes are actually images and cannot be edited; however, they can be deleted. Plus, additional words can be generated by creating a new text box and filling it with a white background.
Before you get started on your March adventure, here are a few additional items worth knowing:
» The background on the Google Slide is locked so students can avoid accidentally moving it, but it can still be changed if you wish to allow them to do so. Just right-click on the slide and select the “Change background…” option.
» Some teachers have requested that I provide a word list for each activity so I have created additional slides that include this info.
Check out a sneak preview below!
Click here to access the template. You will be prompted to download your very own copy of the original and save it to your Google Drive. It can then be easily shared with students—especially if you’re using Google Classroom.
Classroom Connection:
The St. Patrick’s Day Poetry Magnets template can be used in a variety of ways as either an independent or collaborative writing activity. Utilize the “magnets” included and/or add your own text boxes to extend the activity—although I think part of the challenge is to use the words provided.
A shout out to Kasey Bell for inspiring me to create my own version of poetry magnets. And a high five goes to Alex, one of my Tech Club kids, for helping to create this activity. ♥
Hey, math gurus! It’s that time of year again when teachers, students and mathematicians from all over the world honor the fun-loving irrational Greek figure pi (π).
That’s right! March 14—or Pi Day—is just around the corner so be sure you don’t miss this opportunity to make a lasting impression on your math students with this recently updated list of digital activities!
Let’s get the party started with a new addition to this page of resources—another super cool digital breakout game designed by Meagan Kelly, author of the I ❤ EDU web site. This game features trivia facts about the number π as well as info related to radius, diameter, circumference and area. Check it out here.
If you and your students can’t get enough of digital breakouts, be sure to take a look at another fabulous game created by Dana Gehman. Access Happy Pi Day here!
Next up: TeachPi.org, a one stop shop on the Web for finding and/or sharing teaching and learning ideas related to Pi Day. You name it and TeachPi.org most likely has it: Lessons, stories, music, digit games, poetry, art and even tattoos!
My favorite part of the TeachPi.org web site? A link to the original gangsta rap, “Lose Yourself (In The Digits),” a parody of the well-known Eminem hit. Check out the video below created by students at the Fort Vancouver High School using the lyrics to this song.
Here’s another fun Pi video set to the tune of “American Pie” by Don McLean.
And now for some interactive fun… Check out this multimedia sensation created by ThingLink guru Mathy Cathy containing a variety of super cool activities and info related to Pi Day.
Other great resources for teaching and learning about Pi Day include…
» The Last Minute, No-Prep Pi Day Activities Booklet created by Elementary Inquiry. Especially designed for students in Grades 5-8, this Teachers Pay Teachers freebie contains a list of 10 different Pi Day activities that can be completed with no prior planning and minimal materials. Choose just one activity—or do them all for loads of Pi Day fun!
» Pi Day: A Pinterest board filled with all sorts of classroom resources.
» Math: Another Pinterest board with Pi Day activities for students of all ages.
Classroom Connection:
Use the Pi Day resources and materials to generate some enthusiasm and appreciation for mathematics. And while you’re at it, have a piece of your favorite (chocolate peanut butter) pie!
Looking for some technology integration ideas to enhance your classroom lessons? Then be sure to check out my "Tech Tips" for the latest and greatest Web 2.0 tools, applications and web sites that can be incorporated into activities and/or projects. Although some posts may not be applicable to your content area or grade level, be sure to check back often as I will be varying ideas in order to provide resources across the K-12 curriculum.
Be sure to add this awesome tool to your tech-box!