Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, some of my favorites!

Year of Code

Did you and your students participate in the "Hour of Code" in the fall?  I know the buzz around Roosevelt was positive with those who did the activity with their students.   Now, there is a movement called #yearofcode in the UK - trying to get as many people as possible to try coding.

They have a great game called "Moshi Pong" that may be fun for your students - or you to try!   Click here to play the game and try coding.

An Internet Minute

I saw this graphic on Google + today and had to share... it's crazy what can happen in 60 seconds!

Want to read more?  Click here to read the article.

Keeping the Balance

Today's students, especially in District 64, have access to a variety of different resources that enhance their learning.   To name a few that we all know and love, SMART Boards, iPads, Chromebooks, etc.   With such an increase in technology for our students, comes an increase in screen time.  According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children today are spending an average of seven hours a day on entertainment media including T.V., computers, phones, and other entertainment media. As educators, it is important for us to find a good balance and make conscious choices about when technology is appropriate and how it can be used to engage students in meaningful learning.   Click here to read a great article about the balance of screen time.  The article cites some great examples or choosing when to use technology, however, I like the three questions the author thinks about when choosing technology to use in the classroom:

• Is it appropriate?
• Is it meaningful?
• Is it empowering?

These are great things to keep in mind when looking at the ultimate goal of what goals you are trying to achieve with your students.  If you would like help planning in this matter, I'd be happy to help make sure we are using technology in appropriate, meaningful, and empowering ways - just let me know!

How cool are these blocks?

Formative Assessment Ideas

I came across this awesome article on edutopia on Formative Assessment.   Try these 54 teacher-created examples of formative assessments + share your own:http://edut.to/1c8ebH4.   Let me know if I can help!  In flipping through some of the ideas I know that many of you do some of them already - however, they have some exciting ideas to keep Formative Assessment exciting!

United States of America - by Lincoln Middle School Students!

The middle schoolers over at Lincoln have been very busy!   They have created a Google Site with videos for each one of the 50 states!  Some states even have more than one video.  This would be great to share with students, as they learn about the 50 states, or even regions in 4th grade.  

Check out all of their hard work - as you may recognize some of them at Roosevelt Alumni.  Click here to visit their United States of America Videos!   Thanks to Amanda Walsh, ITC at Lincoln, and Tom Nasshan for sharing their students hard work with us!

Doodle for Google 2014

I'm back from maternity leave as of today.   I hope you enjoyed a break from my daily emails although I'm looking forward to getting back to sharing things with you.

As you may or may not remember, Google holds an annual contest every year called Doodle 4 Google.   This year's theme is "If I Could Invent One Thing to Make the World a Better Place".

Before there was an airplane, there were doodles of cool flying machines. And before there was a submarine, there were doodles of magical underwater sea explorers. Since the beginning of time, ideas big and small, practical and playful, have started out as doodles. And we’re ready for more. One talented young artist (grades K-12) will see his or her artwork on the Google homepage and receive a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 Google for Education technology grant for his or her school.

I think it would be awesome to see some submissions coming from Roosevelt School!   If you are interested in your students participating, please click here to download the forms to participate.  I'd be happy to help you submit them, and think it would be great if we could make copies of the submissions before sending them in, and create an awesome display of what Roosevelt students would invent to make the world a better place.  If you'd like to work this into your curriculum, click here for guides for primary, intermediate, etc.   As always, I'm happy to help, just ask!