February Newsletter

The February installment of Tech News is finally ready! In this issue, teachers will find information about Google Apps, keyboard shortcuts, wrapping up this trimester and getting started in the new trimester in Infinite Campus and Moodle, a schedule for March’s technology training for teachers, spotlights on recent uses of technology, and MORE!



CHECK IT OUT -- Click the image below:

Adobe Creative Cloud coming soon!

Here are some links to videos and other support for Acrobat Pro and Photoshop:

All secondary computers will receive Adobe Acrobat Pro and Photoshop

Please click below for How-to videos:
Acrobat Pro
AdobeTV: http://tv.adobe.com/product/acrobat/
Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/acrobat

Tutorials:

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/learn/tutorials/acrobat.html

Fundamentals:

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/learn/tutorials/acrobat.html#fundamentals

Photoshop
AdobeTV: http://tv.adobe.com/product/photoshop/
Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/photoshop
Website: http://www.photoshop.com/products/photoshop

Get Started

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop.html

Essentials and Key Techniques

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/tutorials.html

All elementary computers will receive Adobe Acrobat Pro and Photoshop Elements

Photoshop Elements
Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/photoshopelements
Website: http://www.photoshop.com/products/photoshopelements

November Newsletter

In this issue, teachers will find information about managing passwords, creating a CampusID for Infinite Campus, turning off email alerts while using a projector, a schedule for November’s technology trainings for teachers, spotlights on recent uses of technology, and MORE!

CHECK IT OUT -- Click the image below:

Coding...for Halloween or whenever!

Check out Google's Made With Code Halloween version that allows coders to make an animated yeti show off great moves! You can get started here:https://www.madewithcode.com/project/animation#

Here are some more coding sites that students can try:

• http://code.org/learn
• http://www.tynker.com/
• http://scratch.mit.edu/
• http://www.crunchzilla.com/code-monster

Connected Educator Month

CLICK HERE for Additional resources for Connected Educator Month 2014

October Newsletter

We would like to share with district teachers our October installment of Tech News! In this issue, we offer information about using Lync for web-conferencing, links to support Cyberbullying Prevention Month, a schedule for October’s technology trainings for teachers, and a spotlight on recent virtual field trips, and MORE!

CHECK IT OUT -- Click the image below:

May 2014 Technology Newsletter

We are excited to share with district teachers our first installment of Tech News!  In this installment we offer links to share with students, information about future professional development and trainings, a spotlight on third graders’ use of technology, and MUCH MORE!
CHECK IT OUT -- Click the image below:

Teachers, we hope you have a great end of the year with your students and an enjoyable summer!

Wonder what your students will be doing this summer?  Suggest they get inspired and entertained with this TED playlist of 10 videos for kids.  You should watch a few of them, too!

Fun, informative talks for curious kids.

TEDTalks can also be used in the classroom easily by using TED Ed which allows you to select a video and then create questions, notes and resources.  Check out the Lessons library here: http://ed.ted.com/lessons where you will find video-integrated lessons like the one below.  You can also create your own lesson by clicking on the Create a Lesson + link on the ed.ted.com/lessons page then adding your own links, questions, etc.

The following video is incorporated into a lesson.  Click this link to see the embedded video with comments, questions, and more:  http://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-do-americans-vote-on-tuesdays.  Here is the video that was used for the lesson:

The Four C's

The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done --men who are creative, inventive and discoverers. 

  Jean Piaget 

Teachers, we created this PSA using a web-based tool called Powtoon.  Students could create presentations, too!

According to their site, you don’t need to be a professional animator to get started with PowToon today. We provide all the animation tools you’ll ever need to immediately begin creating your own professional-looking animated explainer videos and animated presentations. From start to finish, you’ll be guided through a surprisingly simple process, resulting in eye-catching videos that will hook your audience without fail.

Check it out!

Attend the DEN Spring VirtCon April 26

The Spring DEN Virtcon is two weeks away on April 26. Register to participate inthis conference that combines the best of virtual and over 40 face-to-face events. Featuring 3 keynote speakers and more than 35 concurrent sessions covering topics like BYOD, digital textbooks, special education, and assessment, it is 100% free to attend.

FoT Grant Time!

Have you taken the time to write your Festival of Trees grant? If not, what are you waiting for! This is a great opportunity to bring some exciting technology tools into your classroom. The grant has expanded from the past it is not just for Promethean products anymore. You can apply for things like iPads and document cameras. Take the time, create a plan, and write the grant!

For more information click on the link below.

http://web4.sd25.us/grantapplication/

Technology and Informational Texts

Teachers are encouraged to use technology to determine, search for, and create varying reading levels of informational texts.  Check out this video that discusses ELA's Shift 3 the “staircase of complexity” and the need to provide students with increasingly more difficult texts:

With several ways to determine a text’s reading level, one tool that district teachers have access to is MSWord.  The teacher must first enable Readability Statistics, and then after a spell check on the document, a reading level is given.  The box looks like this:

To set this up, check out this link: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/test-your-document-s-readability-HP010148506.aspx 
And for another step-by-step (with images) explanation, check out this webpage: http://grok.lsu.edu/Article.aspx?articleid=14250

Teachers can also search many databases and online encyclopedias by reading level.  Even Googling can be narrowed by reading level: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1095407?hl=en

Finally, more and more online tools are available that help create varying leveled texts.  One excellent site is at http://www.newsela.com/.  This site offers the same current news article at different reading levels with the click of a button.  Another site to consider is http://rewordify.com/index.php.  This tool allows you to enter your own text (or cut and paste) to "simplify" by focusing on the more difficult vocabulary.  Check them out!