Book Creator Toolkit for Schools & Districts

WEBSITE ↬ Book Creator Toolkit for Schools & Districts

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

I LOVE Book Creator and I have been using it in my own classroom for numerous years. I have also shared it with several colleagues and supported their use. My favorite project has been with a 7th grade ELA class writing holiday stories and then sharing the libraries with our elementary buildings right before winter break. Always a highlight of the year! 

Over the last few years, Book Creator has added some wonderful updates and features that make it even more wonderful. This share is the perfect example of what makes Book Creator awesome. The templates built in to Book Creator are also an easy start ... your students can focus on the content, while customizing the templates to create a beautiful product.

I love that any teacher can start using Book Creator for free! It will give you the opportunity to try it out and fall in love. A few years back, I even did the professional learning with Book Creator and became a Certified Author and then was honored to join in the Ambassador program. 

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using this book a number of different ways:

• be inspired with the number of ways Book Creator can be used
• use the Teacher Training & Support to teach yourself how to use/improve use of Book Creator 
• share with colleagues to demonstrate Book Creator's possible uses
• share with administrators should they want to request a paid account. 

So much is packed in this resource - how to use it in various contents, professional learning about Book Creator, example books, and so much more!

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Annotate.net

WEBSITE ↬ Annotate.net

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ all content

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

I've been on a mission lately. One that I've been intrigued by and one that hasn't proven to be easy and I can't say that I've got a "perfect" solution. BUT - I can say Annotate.net is a tool I came across during this search and I've been happy with what I've learned about it.

A teacher has asked my help in finding something that will allow her to write on screen while she is moving around the classroom and even possibly allowing students to do the same. She has been fairly happy with her bluetooth mouse that gives her the mobility but she's struggling a little with the annotation side of it. (That's the part that isn't exactly solved.)

Annotate.net allows anyone to do exactly this. Annotate on a web pages - and it's awesome! I've created the free teacher account and installed the extension (HIGHLY recommend it) and I've played around with it. It even "holds" the annotations when you scroll! So many benefits.

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using Annotate.net to easily allow them to digitally annotate on any web page. This is only the "tip of the iceberg" ... there is a TON of options. You can create classes in order to share your screen directly with students, you can record lessons, you can create assessments, and so much more! It is an impressive tool and I've only just begun to dig in.

Do you use Annotate.net? I'd love to know how in the comments below.

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CocoMaterial

WEBSITE ↬ CocoMaterial

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & students

CONTENT ↬ any/all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

Clipart is a great way to allow students to include images in their work ... but often its tough for students to draw or create the art on a device. CocoMaterial provides exactly what teachers and students need. I'm no artist, but with CocoMaterial, I can search and find what appears to be hand drawn work that I have the ability to download and use in work. Yay!

AND ... no account is necessary! Students can use this, too!

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using CocoMaterial to "spice up" their own presentations or lessons, but even more than that, I can see teachers allowing students to browse CocoMaterial and pull from their more than 2,500 images to add visual interest to the work they are creating.

*** Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

Photo Roulette

WEBSITE ↬ Photo Roulette: Random Historic Photos of the US

AUDIENCE ↬ students

CONTENT ↬ generates random historic US photos

GRADE LEVELS ↬ 4+

I heard about Photo Roulette while listening to the podcast "Check This Out Podcast:  Episode 87: ISTE a look back". Ryan & Brian share out numerous tools, resources, and activities in each podcast and this one really caught my attention. Random historical photos?! Whaaaaat??? Guess the year?!? It's a game?!?! LOVE IT!

You might be thinking - how do I use this at school? Stop and think ... these are primary sources about our history ... they are from the Library of Congress's digital collections ... students most likely won't be able to take one peek at it and guess the year. They will need to study it, read the caption, possible use their resources to do some research, and ultimately, guess the year it was taken within 10 guesses that provide a little feedback to help guide their next answer. And when the guess is correct, you can go TO the Library of Congress website and find out more information about the photo.

Now, you might feel these photos are too "tough" for your kiddos ... take the idea and modify it to fit your students. Take images about the topic you are currently studying and put them in a slidedeck. Or adjust the goal from guessing the year to guessing the person or the invention or the event ... allow students to research and work collaboratively. Wouldn't that be an awesome way to work in collaboration? And don't feel like YOU have to do all the work ... what if you challenge your students to find images to share out and challenge each other? 

Love it! Definitely something you should check out!

Here is a link to "Check this Out" podcast http://checkthisoutsite.weebly.com/

Day 11: Character Scrapbook by Scholastic

Character Scrapbook by Scholastic [LINK]

I have about a 20 minute drive to and from school. I began listening to podcasts about 2 years ago as a way to soak up more cool thoughts and do some of what I like to call #PDinthecar . One of my regular listens - Check this Out with Ryan and Brian - is a really good one. Episode #98 "New Connection" gave me today's resource.

Brian Briggs shared "Character Scrapbook" by Scholastic. I was highly intrigued! He described it as a site where students can go and create a character and then list out characteristics about that character. Sure enough - that's the gist! 

Ultimately, these can be printed, but another idea is to have students complete this and take a screenshot, then compile all into a Google Slide for the entire book. I can see that being a pretty cool class activity. 

Now - what if you don't teach ELA? I can see this easily being done in History class - historical figures rather than characters from a book. And 

I really like this site - especially to use for a quick activity. BUT .... I felt the options to build the character were somewhat limited. Sooooooo ... if you are looking for a bit more customization, I created this Google Slide you can copy [http://bit.ly/characterslide] for you/your students to use. 

Swap out the bear with the chosen character - or use Slide 2 to create your own version of the character and then insert on Slide 1. Collecting all the slide and creating a comprehensive slidedeck so all the students can see is a great way to share with all students (& don't forget about sharing the link to the parents!) so further discussions can happen. 

I also included a few "extension" ideas (you can find them on Slide 1). I love when I see students dive into an activity and I always try to think a few steps out by having something "extra" for students to chose from to push them a little further. I also try to balance allowing for FULL creation (Slide 2 where they can start their character from scratch) with a more guided piece (Slide 1) where everyone has a starting place, no matter the skill level.

I hope you enjoy BOTH of these activities! If you like the character slide I created, I encourage you to check out the website I co-created with Beth Kingsley called "Templates for Teachers" [http://bit.ly/templatesforteachers]. We have many more of these types of activities ready to go!

Please click HERE for the collection of all 15 resources.

Harry Potter "2-fer"

GOOGLE ARTS & CULTURE → Blog                   BRITISH LIBRARY  → Website
"DAILY PROPHET" → Website link  & Template link

Do you (or your students) love Harry Potter? Here are TWO really awesome ways to add a little Harry to your class! Google Arts & Culture (an awesome resource in itself!) showcases Harry in an exhibit a little more than 20 years after it's initial publication. The British Library has 10 "stories" focusing on different pieces of the Harry Potter story. Everything from the trip on Hogwarts Express to Divination to Charms to Herbology and more!

And finally - @CreativeEdTech has a bunch of pre-made templates for teachers (and students!) to use. But he's included here because of his mind-blowing Google Slide template in which he brings the newspaper - The Daily Prophet - to life! My favorite piece has to be the real moving pictures in the newspaper! YES!!!!