Tuesday, May 31, 2016

10 Ways To Stop the Summer Slide

The following was posted for my elementary kids on my classroom blog mrlosik.blogspot.com.  I am sharing it here to offer up some ideas teachers can use to help their own students avoid the "summer slide".




Don't let the last nine months of hard work simply slip away. Here are tens ways to keep the knowledge, creativity, and problem solving growing.

1. Read. Our local libraries are amazing places and wonderfully cool on hot days. Holland's Herrick District Library has lot of summer activities planned and so does the Saugatuck Douglas Library. The Kent District Library in Grand Rapids does too if your family is up for a little reading road trip. Best of all, they are all free. Another free online resource is the Michigan Electronic Library's kids section.

Your family can also sign up for Epic Books and have unlimited access to all kinds of digital books for your iPad or tablet. Think of it like Netflix for books with tons of the best titles like Big Nate and Bad Kitty. Epic is $4.99 per month and the first month is free. That's less than a pizza and whether you like fiction or non-fiction, there is something for everybody.

2. Practice Math Facts. Teaching and learning are a lot like playing sports. Professional football players don't just sit around all summer waiting for training camp. They are doing something everyday to become faster, stronger, and smarter. Whether it's running, lifting weights, or perfecting how to better cover a pass, they know without it, they won't be successful. The same is true with math facts. The more they become automatic, the more you can move on to more exciting stuff. Spend time on IXL and XtraMath this summer building your speed, strength, and brain. Here is the Blue Star IXL login.

3. Build Something. One of the main reasons we do math is so we can make cool stuff. Anybody can be a worksheet monkey but is really special to do something with your math skills. Whether you are just nailing wood together on a workbench or creating your own iPad speakers you have to be able to measure your pieces and solve equations. Check out Instructables.com and you will be amazed at all of the projects from simple to mind-blowing. Most even use things you just have lying around the house.

4. Get Outside and Explore. Did you know that in Michigan you are never more than six miles from water? West Michigan is literally one of the best places on earth to spend the summer. Whether it is a visit to a park, the woods, or the beach there are great places to explore just minutes from your house.  The Shore Acres Park near the Felt Mansion has all of that and more. Walk the trails and check out the different trees and then look for fossils, sea glass, and special rocks on beach. The Lake Michigan Rock Picker's Guide is a great book for identifying what you find. Here is a cool blog with some other information. Pier Cove, Westside County Park, Douglas Beach, and Laketown Beach are all free and close by.

5. Grow Something and Eat It. You might live on a big farm or you might live in a tiny apartment, but everyone has enough room for a flower pot or planter. Go big on a whole garden or just spend a buck or two on some green bean seeds and plant them in sturdy pot. Give them water and sun and soon you will have a beanstalk offering up a crisp healthy snack. Gardening Fundamentals  is a great place to start. Print out the journal to track your gardening.

6. Learn to Code. Why just play video games when you can learn an entire new language and build your own? Visit CODE.org and work on a couple of challenges like the Mindcraft, Star Wars or Frozen ones. If you get caught by the coding bug, keep going and try one of their 20 Hour Courses. There is something for every grade level from pre-school on up. Completing these courses will actually give you a nice boost on a career in computer science or set you up to build your own game.


7. Catch the Olympic Spirit. The world's best athletes are headed to Rio de Janeiro in August for the 2016 summer Olympics. Sharpen your geography and boost your knowledge by digging into the history of the games, researching your favorite athletes, and making the flags you find most interesting. Teachervision.com has a great site for getting started. NBC will provide hundreds of hours of coverage but you don't have to wait until August. Check out NBCOlympics.com now to learn all about what is coming up from Rio.


8. Play60. Just go outside and play. You don't have to spend money going to a sports or summer camp. It doesn't even matter if there are any other kids around either. Speaking of Olympics, set up your own events even if you just draw a line, pick up a rock, and jump as far as you can. Set the rock down next to where your back heel landed. Try to beat it. If you want to do some moving with a pro athlete, check out Washington Redskins' Ryan Kerrigan leading some agility activities from Discovery Education and the NFL. Getting creative outside is great for mind and body.


9. Go new places. If you have opportunity to take a trip, understand how lucky you are to be getting out and experiencing new places. Just paying attention to how the scenery changes or the importance of physical and human-created landmarks is the best social studies lesson anybody can have. Even if it doesn't work out for your family to embark on an epic journey just go somewhere different like a park you've never explored. Try to unplug as much as possible but if you are going to bring along a device use it to capture and then share the adventure. Here are some great apps for that.


10. Do Something For Someone Else. No matter what you do this summer, do something for someone else. The real reward is the feeling you get inside. I've always believed true friendship is true service so just randomly decide to help someone do something like empty the dishwasher or even clean your room without being told. The more you volunteer your time and talents, the more likely you will return to school in the fall ready to be the kind of kid that makes any school a better place to be.

Our summer vacation is something we can't take for granted. Find a nice balance of recovering from this school year, resting up for the next one, and finding ways to keep your brain firing while you make it the best one ever!


Thursday, May 19, 2016

10 Ways Glowforge Can Disrupt Education

It's been a long time since I have been more excited about the introduction of a piece of technology than I am for the Glowforge.



Aside from all of the personal ways I can see Glowforge help bring my creativity to life, this single device has the potential to revolutionize so many of the ways we do things in the typical school. I have often said, "There is a lot of money to be made in education...just not in teaching." Schools spend a ton of money that goes to vendors, but here are 10 ways a single Glowforge can change that.

1. Die Cut Letters - The Ellison die cut machines have dominated the bulletin board making market my entire career and their stuff is expensive. A single set of alphabet tiles runs $500 and it takes a ton of time to plan and cut that "Hurry Spring" signage. With a Glowforge you can throw a stack of construction paper into the machine and have your whole set of cut-outs zipped out in a couple of minutes...and you're not stuck with one font either. If you can type it on an device, you can cut it out of construction paper.

2. Mothers Day Gifts - Think about the huge ramp-up in production value that the average elementary school class could do when it comes to personalized gift crafting. Goodbye paper plate bouquets and hello personalized wooden votive candle holders.

3. Awards and Trophies - Athletic departments and honor societies spend huge amounts of their budgets on trophies, plaques, and awards. Think about the amount of money that could be saved if schools just bought the raw materials and engraved all of their own awards. What if a school created a class where kids designed and created all of the awards? A teacher may have to do final names but 90% of the work could be student driven and done at a fraction of the dough Ned at the trophy shop is charging.

4. Inventory Engraving - Speaking of engraving...instead of a jittery hand with an engraving pen or a sticker that is easily removed, schools could engrave items like laptops and iPads with attractive, permanent identifiers. Check out what Glowforge designers have done with a Macbook.

 

5. Staff ID Badges - Get creative and save money by creating personalized staff or visitor badges by cutting and engraving them from your choice of materials.

6. Pro-Style Locker Labels - If you have ever seen an interview from a professional or big-time college sports locker room then you've seen the fancy headers above each locker sporting the athlete's name, number, and team logo. With some creativity and cheap 1"x2" lumber, a school could give its athletes the pro treatment.

7. School Spirit Items - Lots of schools sell items as fundraisers and to boost school spirit. Instead of eating up profits by going to one of the national suppliers, schools could begin buying blank stock items and doing the engraving and laser cutting themselves with a Glowforge. You can't screen print with it but you can create some amazing luggage tags, pendants, and other personalized signage that can generate spirit, pride, and revenue.

8. Etsy Class - Think of all of the economics and entrepreneurship that can be experienced when students begin to design, create, and market products with a Glowforge. With sites like Etsy and Mercari as global marketplaces, individual students may begin to peddle their wares  to the far reaches of the Internet. It sure beats 180 days of PowerPoint lectures and worksheets.

9. Trick Out Your Office Space - With every Glowforge purchase comes access to the members' catalog that features projects ready to print and assembly. This iPhone stand is one example of the cool stuff that staff can create for themselves and add a high end, start-up, feel to the workplace. There are a ton of neat items like this available. Glowforge features a similar computer stand in many of its promotional materials that was cut as flat pieces and then glued together.

10. Hands-on Classroom Products - Instead of buying any of these items, just create your own.

•Wooden or Acrylic Cut-out Letters and Numbers for the early elementary classroom


•Wooden or Acrylic Cut-out Shapes or other math manipulates that can be used K-12


•3D Geometrical Shapes that can be cut from all kinds of materials from cardboard to plastics


•United States or World Puzzles cut from plywood or plastic. Team with the art teacher and have kids paint and label each state or country.


•3D Models of Landmarks can be elaborately created by cutting flat slices and assembling a bunch of pieces like this Space Needle or just cut and engrave a 2D image on piece of wood thick enough to stand up on its own or with a small additional brace.


Like I said, I haven't been more excited about a piece of technology in a long time. It can turn all kinds of creative dreams into reality but it has nearly infinite potential to impact how we do things and what we can create in our schools.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

PBS Kids: Design Squad Explains Design Thinking

Here are the best six minutes and thirty seconds I have spent this school year when it comes to understanding and teaching the design process to my students.

You may not use the same D-Think vocabulary but watching these kids complete the steps it takes to address and solve a problem is a great tool for students to learn and internalize the approach.


In addition, the Design Squad section on PBSkids.org is loaded with more videos, full episodes of the series targeted toward preteens and teens, as well as creative problem solving games. Our fourth graders are not only excelling at the activities they are also applying the design process to other projects we are completing.

Monday, May 9, 2016

Bluestacks full Version free download for Android Handset

BlueStacks App Player is an apparatus that enables you to run Android applications on your PC with an agreeable menu. From its interface, you'll have the capacity to deal with every one of the elements on your virtual gadget, and download and introduce huge amounts of various applications in only a couple of moments.

Bluestacks full Version free download for Android Handset


When beginning to run the program, it'll inquire as to whether you have an Android telephone. In the event that you do, you'll have the capacity to connect it up with the program and match up the greater part of your applications and assignments on the record you're right now utilizing. In the event that, then again, you don't have an Android telephone, that won't be a lot of an issue in any case, given that despite everything you'll have the capacity to download applications and utilize them.

Bluestacks full Version free download - You'll have a few distinct alternatives to download applications: utilizing the local application store connected to Bluestacks; getting to Google Play from your program, or downloading APK documents. With regards to the next download choices, this application works simply like a genuine Android gadget.

Framework controls are anything but difficult to utilize appropriate from your mouse where clicking replaces tapping and motions by mapping certain activities on your console. You'll additionally dependably have the capacity to utilize your outside gamepad or depend on the first material components in the event that you're utilizing a tablet or PC with a touch screen work. You'll likewise have the capacity to reproduce applications that utilization an accelerometer just by writing into your console.

Least prerequisite for Bluestacks include: 2 GB or higher memory, 4 GB space in hard drive, and Direct X 9.0 or higher installed.[13] The client additionally requires overseer benefits, can't keep running on the client's PC if BitDefender is introduced and the client's PC realistic cards ought to be refreshed to the most recent renditions.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Honor an Educational Superstar With a DENny Award

We are surrounded daily by great educators who change lives daily and are inspiring to their colleagues. Honor their greatness by nominating them for Discovery Education DENny Award.


 DENny Awards

2016 DENny Awards- Call for Nominations

Have you seen a colleague sharing his or her passion for Discovery Education? Do you know someone who is transforming learning in the classroom with Discovery Education? Is there a school or district administrator you believe deserves recognition? We know amazing things are happening in the classrooms and schools of Discovery Educators every day. We need your help celebrating them. Help us discover all the great examples of Discovery Education in action in your school and district by nominating a fellow Discovery Educator for a DENny Award.

Nominate a great teacher today.

MACUL Announces Spectacular 2017 Lineup of Keynote Speakers




2017 MACUL CONFERENCE



March 15-17 | Cobo Center | Detroit, MI


We're announcing our keynotes for #macul17! See below:





KEYNOTE SPEAKERS




Sir Ken Robinson
Opening  - March 16


Internationally Acclaimed Expert on Creativity and Innovation and Author, Finding Your Element, The Element and Out of Our Minds

 

 

 





Friday - March 17

World-renowned game designer, Inventor of SuperBetter, Author of the NYT bestseller Reality Is Broken, and Advisor and affiliate researcher with the Institute For The Future










Jennie Magiera
Closing - March 17

Chief Technology Officer, PLAYDATE Co-founder, White House Champion of Change, Google Certified Innovator & Apple Distinguished Educator


Visit maculconference.org for more information.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Epic, Brain Pop, and Seesaw Lead the Educational Migration to Apple TV OS

Just a couple of weeks ago it was hard for me to justify paying nearly double for the newest generation of Apple TV for classrooms compared to the previous generation. In my living room tons of great entertainment apps make the difference well worth the money. In the classroom there have not been many reasons to not just buy the cheaper model since Airplay is really  the feature most want.

My thinking is starting to change now that educational entities are starting to code for the TVOS platform. There is still a lot of space for growth but three key players are charting a course through these open waters.

Screen Shot 2016-05-04 at 9.55.06 AM

Epic - Think "Netflix meets Childrens Lit." This great site is full of the latest children's fiction and non-fiction and is 100% free for elementary teachers and librarians. These aren't poorly made ebooks; they are digital versions of some of the most-loved and newest books on the market. With the AppleTV app teachers can display the book on the big screen and read it aloud to the class. No more sore arms and no more hearing, "I can't see," as you try to read a picture book aloud to the class. Several books even have a "read to me" feature.

114_jr_ios_landing-main_screenshot-largeBrainPop Jr. - Movie of the Week - BrainPop has been producing great non-fiction animated shorts for years and now has brought its K-3 focused "Brain Pop Jr. Movie of the Week" to TVOS. Check out a different one each week with included educational activities. BrainPop Jr. subscribers can also login and access even more content.

Seesaw - This digital portfolio suite is taking classrooms by storm and now it comes to the Apple TV.  Teachers can log in to their classroom accounts and share on a big screen examples of student work or create slide shows and galleries. Think of how cool that would be to have playing during conferences or parents' night. Parents can log in to the app at home and then be connected with their child's individual portfolio. Now there is a great way for kids to show off some accomplishments the next time grandparents come to visit.

There are other non-education-specific apps too that could lend themselves to the educational setting. Word Girl and Super Why are great programs available through the PBS Kids app and a number of virtual planetariums are now available on TVOS.

Let's hope that more educational entities continue to write for Apple's newest platform, further bolstering an argument for choosing the newest generation of Apple TV over the previous generation.

 

 

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Fidgits: Fabulous Design-Thinking Problem-Solvers from PBS Kids

PBS has a great show called the Design Squad and with it comes a ton of fabulous challenges at PBSkids.org where users have to save little robotic creatures called Fidgits.

Teaching the design process has found a home at the core of a ton of my teaching in our elementary technology classes. "Fidgits" lets kids design their own fictional robotic creatures or perform a number of challenges to save Fidgits in danger.

How many challenges can you complete?

Although I use a pared-down version of the formal design process, I start in second grade at teaching kids that every challenge requires them to follow the design process.

1) Define the problem

2) Ideate

3) Prototype your solution.

4) Test

5) Repeat the process until it is perfect.

Fidgits is a great exercise for practicing that mindset.

Play now.

#MiGoogleFest Returns in August

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It was a smashing success last Fall and it is coming back for its second year. MACUL presents Google Fest 2016 at the Amway Grand in Grand Rapids on August 9 and 10.Tuesday the 9th will feature a series of specialized "camps" for administrators and users with varying skill levels.  Incredible educator and all-around good dude Kyle Pace will keynote the conference portion on Wednesday the 10th.
GoogleFEST   

#migooglefest

August 9 & 10, 2016

Amway Grand Plaza Hotel

Grand Rapids, MI


Registration Cost: 


  • One day: $89

  • Two days: $169


Keynote Speaker: Kyle Pace is an Instructional Technology Specialist and Google for Education Certified Innovator that has worked with K-12 teachers in his current school district to provide instructional technology professional development since 2004. For more information about Kyle, visit googlefest.macul.org.