Group items tagged

"Bike to School Month is four weeks of events, workshops, and incentives to encourage students to bike or wheel to school. May 6 - June 5, 2019 Students and staff learn about active transportation, bike safety, healthy habits, clean air, and the fun of riding a bike! Bike to School Month is for everyone: students and staff can bike, walk, wheel or roll. Sign up your school to participate, and host an event for one day, one week, or the whole month! "

"Aah February; a month of love, of reading, of waiting for spring if you in the Northern Hemisphere.  While February may  be the shortest month of the year sometimes in teaching it can feel like the longest of them all.  While I love this month for the work I can do with my students, I find that sometimes the dark nights and cold Wisconsin winters can be positively slump inducing.  Rather than dread the slump, why not do something pro-active? So this year I plan on doing my very own unslumping challenge and you are more than welcome to join me.  Every day for the month of February, I plan on doing something to either reinvigorate myself or make a difference to others.  It will not cost me much money but will hopefully instead lead to a deeper level of gratitude for the incredible job I have, the amazing students I get to teach, and the wonderful people in my life. Here is what I plan on doing"

"Did you know that March is Women's History Month? Yes, I know that there is a month or day for celebrating just about everything out there, a number of these designations offer excellent teaching and learning opportunities. While it may fit better into some curricula better than others, the women that are highlighted by the NWHP (National Women's History Project) do come from different personal backgrounds, time periods, and professions."

October is Connected Educators Month. Here's a description: Connected Educators is an initiative of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education and is conducted by the American Institutes for Research in collaboration with several partner organizations and a technical working group. Numerous other organizations and individuals have contributed to its success as organizers and participating organizations in Connected Educator Month. Connected Educators pursues this mission through seeking to understand and promote educators learning and collaborating through online communities of practice and social networks.

"Did you know that January is considered International Creativity Month? This month, remind your students about the importance of being creative. Give your students the ability to creatively express themselves by providing various options for a particular class assignment. For example, instead of assigning the same writing assignment to every student, offer five variations on the topic to give the students more flexibility to choose something they find worthwhile."

"December saw the second full month of IE11 availability with Windows 8.1, the release of Firefox 26, and the first full month of Chrome 31 availability. The latest numbers from Net Applications show IE11 tripled its market share, although only all versions of Chrome managed to gain share overall last month."

"ontinuing our Apps of the Month Feature, here's a round-up of some of our favorite educational apps released or updated over the course of the month, which includes Android, iPhone, and Web applications. If you want to let readers know about your favorite educational app, tell us in the comments."

"I didn't think 2015 would be the year I created a teen maker space, but it was-and it turned out to be an exciting, challenging, and rewarding experience. After six months of planning, our maker space at the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County, Ohio, where I am the YA services coordinator, opened last month. How did it come together? Organically. It began during our teen summer reading program seven months ago, when I hosted a few extremely popular Maker Mondays. Our children's librarian, Debbie Baker, and I created a collection of circulating maker-related titles. We also assembled 20 small circulating maker kits with Snap Circuits (kits for creating objects with electronic circuitry), stop-motion animation materials, and LEGO. These were such a hit that a dedicated maker space seemed ideal for us. Ideal-until we considered our budget and space restraints. We started planning anyway. Our process began with a lot of research, online and in person, visiting libraries and maker faires. There was heavy-duty continuing ed: online workshops and webinars, many hosted by School Library Journal. We knew that a maker space would benefit our community, but we couldn't see how to make it happen. With time and goal adjustments, we reached the finish line and launched in January."

"Celebrate Black History Month with these twenty-eight ideas, one for each day of February, that recognize the heritage, accomplishments, and culture of African Americans in the United States."

"What a couple of months we have had. Deploying just over 100 ipads within a school is no easy feat! See initial iPad deployment post here."

"ASCD's Connected Educator Month (CEM) resources and discussions this week are dedicated to school culture. We believe a key step to providing a welcoming, supportive environment for students is to offer you professional development resources that emphasize school culture. Visit this ASCD EDge® page for our updating list of overall CEM resources."

"April is National Poetry Month in the U.S. Writing and or understanding poetry can be a challenge for those of who don't consider ourselves the creative writing type. Surely we have students who feel that way too. Here are five resources that can help us understand and create poetry."

"April is National Poetry Month, and no matter what you teach,  you can transform the first five minutes of every class into an empowering, issues-packed, discussion-based, poetry-friendly space. In 30 Days of Poet Warriors: Young, Diverse Students, Writing for Change, I have compiled 30 poems and 16 videos by first-time poets and students that address race, immigration, moms, Michael Brown, and more."

"When Apple started dropping hints about a coming "tablet PC" in 2009, it would have been difficult to see the way it might change the way we interact with digital media. The first-generation iPad was introduced in April, 2010 and in lieu of some significant hardware limitations, was a world-beater, garnering $1 billion in sales in just 4 months. The iPad 2 was released 11 months later, and the iPad 3 is currently rumored for a Spring 2012 release. While discussing the "history" of a product less than two years old may seem a bit premature technology moves at a dizzying, humming pace. Dog years have nothing on tech years."

"Last month I was busy visiting local schools ready for when Little N starts reception next year. One thing that really stood out was when a headteacher of one of the schools was talking about their use of technology, and how our children would grow up to do jobs that hadn't even been created yet, because technology is moving and developing so quickly. Even now Little N is learning about coding and he is only in nursery!  I sometimes feel like I am way behind when it comes to technology and the things our children learn, but there are lots of wonderful educational toys available nowadays that can help your children learn these skills, even if us parents haven't got a clue! One of the latest is the Cubetto from Primo, which hit the UK last month, and we were lucky enough to get our hands on one to review. It's the award-winning coding toy that children can use to learn computer programming and it's suitable for ages three and up."

"What are great tools for a makerspace? What materials should I get? Show this list of awesome stuff to your students and makerspace steering committee and see what your makers are interested in before making purchases. (Read more about starting a school makerspace from scratch) Curious about how to get funding? Read my makerspace buy-in post here (coming in May 2016). *What if I can't get it all? Decide how you want to run your space. Do you wanna have workshops or challenges? A challenge lasts a lot longer, so you could buy 10 sets of Makey Makeys and run a challenge for a few months. Or get 10 Spheros and do a different Sphero challenge each month. Just keep stretching your ideas and see where your imagination can take you, but don't get bogged down ordering a lot of stuff you do not know how to use.  Buy a set of something and see where it takes you! Also, don't wait until you know how to use it before using it with students! Learn ALONGSIDE your makers!"

"If you're like me, you can't believe that June is already here. And despite the craziness of assessments, reporting, awards day ceremonies, field trips, and impending good byes to students, my thoughts are already turning to my favourite season of the year. Summer! Bikinis and beaches, airplanes and backpacks, golf clubs and green grass, patios and cool drinks, and professional learning. That's right-professional learning. It's not only students who can experience summer learning loss! The glorious months of July and August are a rare opportunity for relaxation and adventure, but summer holidays also gives educators a chance to engage in self-directed professional learning. With ten months of busy schedules and mandatory professional learning days, pursuing our own educational interests is an indulgence many of us we feel we can't afford. This summer I challenge you to choose a topic you are passionate or curious about and pair some professional learning with your favourite summertime activity. Put a few of these summer learning hacks into action and avoid the summer slide!"

"Creating poetry on the iPad is the perfect way to celebrate National Poetry Month and there are many engaging and useful apps for creating poetry available!  Slip some technology integration into your poetry activities this month with these 10 iPad apps for creating and sharing poems."

"For 'Connected Educator Month,' Tips From 33 Educators We Admire"

"I don't want to make blanket statements regarding purchases. I fully recognize that every educator, school and institution has to decide what makes sense for them; ultimately, it is you that must live with the purchasing decision. At the same time, I would like to point out some things to consider. Applecare, from what I understand, extends the standard warranty of your iPad from 12 months to 24 months. Additionally, if you crack the screen of your iPad, you can have that iPad replaced for an additional $49 fee over and above the cost of your applecare protection plan of $99."