If you are anything like me, you often find yourself trying to create a review game of Jeopardy using PowerPoint in a hurry before the bell rings. What ultimately happens when you do this? Of course the hyperlinks don't work, previously clicked-on boxes aren't colored differently, questions and answers don't match up...and you are in tears on the floor hoping something magical happens. No worries, magic has happened! It is in the form of a great site called FlipQuiz. This is a great way to quickly create a Jeopardy-like game in a time-saving way. It automatically generates your board, links your questions, changes colors upon clicks (allows you to change them back if someone gets it wrong and you want to put it back in play), allows you to search public boards, and more! The free version of this is great! However, the PRO version does allow you a few creature comforts you may enjoy! It will create digital flashcards your students can access at home,the ability to upload images to the question tiles (awesome!), create custom points, and the ease of copying and editing other boards. Check out my Under 5: FlipQuiz video on this!
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December 7-13 marked the week of Hour of Code. This was not just a school event, a state event, or even a USA event. This was a world-wide event. Just on Code.org alone, almost 200,000 Hour of Code events took place. That doesn't even involve those that were not using Code.org or that didn't register their events. What is "code"?Coding in the introduction to computer sciences. All computers in the world, everything from laptops, apps, phones to washing machines, alarm clocks, and stoves have to run some sort of code. Code is written for alarm clocks to know to beep at a certain time, code is used to tell a washer how warm to make the water on a given setting, it is used to tell the Flappy Bird what to do when it hits one of those annoying pipes. Why do kids need to code?Computer science is a growing career field. The demand for people who can code has grown larger than the number of people out there that can actually do it. We need more students to learn these skills to meet the demand for careers. 65% of students entering elementary will hold jobs after high school that don't even exist yet, according to Cathy N. Davidson, co-director of the annual MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competitions. Coding also fosters critical-thinking, problem-solving skills, logic, and creativity. Students are asked to solve problems and think about the outcomes of a code they put together. Many students love the idea of learning something that can create a video game they love to play or an app they use on their device. It is engaging and exciting for them to do something outside the box. How did our kids do?A few students in first grade coded in PRIDE and loved it. Two third grade classes participated and the outcome was very positive. There were some students that struggled in the general classroom, that thrived when they were able to do this. Other students praised them and they got to feel on top of the world for an hour of their day. A large portion of the 7th and 8th grade also coded. It was amazing to watch and listen to them. Some students spoke with me about being interested in pursuing degrees and careers in computer science. Other students had never done this before and after the hour was up, they asked if they could participate when they went home. A freshmen English class took part, and although at first they weren't sure about it, by the end many of them were excited to print their certificates and actually ended up enjoying it. In January, look for a presentation that includes feedback from students, teachers, and parents. I can't wait to share their words with you! And yes, I have had parents stop and comment about how excited their kids were when they came home. Just a little food for thought! Coding ResourcesSneak Peek at Hallsville's Hour of CodeDuring a conversation last year with fifth grade, Mrs. Thompson decided she wanted students to take their explorer projects one step further, away from the paper books they had created in the past and closer to a more technology-rich portfolio of work. Enter Google Sites. With our Google Apps for Education (GAFE) access, students can create their own websites (under our school domain, of course) and they can share them with teachers, parents, each other, and the world. I took the directions of the project and modified them, making them fit on the website. In working with the 5th grade teachers, we created what specifications we wanted and made the jobs and projects. Students were able to find a job that interested them. It could be researching and typing a biography, creating a Google Drawing, making a map on Google My Maps, or actually creating the website and putting the bare-bones of it together. Students were proud of the results, and so were the teachers. Now that we are in year two of the project, we have been able to make some modifications from what it was last year. Using feedback from students and teachers, changes were made and items were added.
Many of them shared it with me for feedback and help with things they could not figure out on their own. Many of them were quite capable of troubleshooting and creating the site after a five-minute tutorial on how it worked. Please take some time and explore their websites below! |
AuthorFifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom, sharing my journey with technology in the classroom Categories
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