BandLab for Education

WEBSITE ↬ BandLab for Education

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ music

GRADE LEVELS ↬ grades 3 & up

Music teachers, this one is for you! It's is created specifically FOR YOU!

BandLab touts itself having "award-winning music creation features let students embark on a music-learning journey that unleashes their creativity and foster collaboration with peers." That sounds pretty awesome.

Providing a place students can create is just about required, right? BandLab seems to go further and also provides digital instruments, sound effects, and even a digital classroom platform.

***As with any program where you potentially are creating student accounts, PLEASE check with your technology team to make sure you have to correct permissions in place.

Groove Pizza

WEBSITE ↬ Groove Pizza

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & students

CONTENT ↬ music

GRADE LEVELS ↬ grades 2 & up

I'll admit it ... I was struck first by it's name since pizza is a top choice in my family. Then I started to play with it. Wow! It's a site where you can use shapes to create music! It was created by a couple of students at NYU as part of their thesis projects. (Read more here: https://musedlab.org/groovepizza/ )

I'd recommend checking out the video below as an intro, then hop on over to the site (linked above) and starting making some music!

Control music in Chrome

WEBSITE ↬ n/a - available in your Chrome web browser

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & Ss

CONTENT ↬ not applicable

GRADE LEVELS ↬ not applicable

I was excited to see this feature in Chrome a while back! Near the extensions & the profile picture, a musical note and 3 horizontal lines appeared when I was listening to a song on YouTube.

"What is that?" I asked myself.

When I clicked on it, I discovered I could control the music right there! No need to go back to the tab that is playing the music! Woot! Woot! I have dubbed it the "music burger"!!!

Now, this isn't truly a NEED in education, but when I really get into working on my computer at home, I do love listening to music and with this update, I can easily switch through the songs that are playing. AND ... it doesn't show up when you don't have anything playing. There when you need it & gone when you don't!

If you like this resource, be sure to check out the other resources like it tagged below.

Lincoln Center at Home

WEBSITE ↬ Lincoln Center at Home
AUDIENCE ↬ students & families

CONTENT ↬ musics & the arts

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

I came across this little gem today & couldn't wait to share! This site is from the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in NYC. What a great find!

Are you & your kiddos interested in learning ballet? Listening to concerts? Sculpture class? And so much more! Check out their daily schedule and keep scrolling to find the "on demand" section.

Great addition to the routine of math and reading!

Bensound: royalty free music

WEBSITE ↬ Bensound
AUDIENCE ↬ teachers & students

CONTENT ↬ any/all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ grades 2 & up

I recently needed music for my Google Innovator application and happened to be scrolling through Twitter. I came upon a Tweet by Brad Dale (@bradjdale) sharing Bensound (@Bensound). I couldn't click on his link quick enough!

Brad's share, "In need of Royalty Free Music for a project? Try Bensound.com", a royalty free site where you can find short clips of music. It. Was. Perfect. 

I clicked on a few and settled on "Hey", a cheerful & upbeat mixture of piano & hand clapping. Since I was submitted an application to Google, I most certainly didn't want to infringe on copyright and this was perfect!

If you are looking for short clips of music, I highly encourage you to check out Bensound, as well as share it with your students for when they need music for presentations or projects. Instilling a little good digital citizenship at the same time. And yes, I did credit Bensound in my video application. AND I was accepted to be a Google Innovator!

Day 15: Templates for Teachers

Templates for Teachers [LINK]

My last share of these 15 days is a very personal one. My colleague & friend, Beth Kingsley  (@bethkingsley13) & I created this site. We very much enjoy creating templates for activities that can be used in any classroom. This site is built from a love of teaching and learning. Please feel free to click on any of our templates, preview them and then click the "Use Template" to make it your own. You are welcome to modify as needed. Our hope is that you find something here that can serve you and or your students soon!

We will be working over the next several weeks to provide a better organization to the site ... so for now, please scroll through. We look at this site as a work-in-progress for sure! There is even a place for you to submit a request for a template we can create & share. We 💖 this stuff!

We have templates for:

• newsletters
• class award certificates
• magazine covers
• "Who Was ...?" books
• holiday themed activities
• digital badges
• "Who Would Win?"
• social media
• lesson plans

. . . . and more!

Finally, we are excited to announce we will be presenting at OETC (the Ohio Educational Technology Conference) on February 14. We'd love to see you there! We will spend some time sharing our site and then dive into "how" we create what we do, then provide some time for you to create!


Please click HERE for the collection of all 15 resources.

Day 13: The Kid Should See This

The Kid Should See This website [LINK]

I came across this website 100% by accident and boy am I excited!!! This is a curated website of random and AWESOME videos! The author of the site explains it like this:

The Kid Should See This connects busy teachers and parents to a growing library of smart, short, & super-cool, “not-made-for-kids, but perfect for them” videos that can be watched in the classroom or together at home. Enjoy 8-12 new vids each week, and search 4,000+ videos in the archives, curated by me, Rion Nakaya, with help from my 8 & 10 year olds.

To really understand today's share - please visit the site. There are endless ways to incorporate into your class. Give students the title of the video and let them predict the answer - or try to figure out what the video is going to show ... let them browse & find one that is interesting to them and let them investigate that topic further ... it might just spark them into making their own videos! [Hey! My Day 1 share could be perfect for this - Adobe Spark for Edu.] 


Here are some videos I've got to highlight for you:

• How does a cruciverbalist create crossword puzzles? [LINK]
• An accidental toy inventor’s shapeshifting designs [LINK]
• How can bananas make music? [LINK]
• How to make a flipbook [LINK]
• Revealing the true scale of the universe with VFX [LINK]

..... and SO many more!!!

Please click HERE for the collection of all 15 resources.

Day 12: Chrome Music Lab

Chrome Music Lab [LINK]

Have you looked for a way for students to create music but you don't have access to the "right" equipment? Chrome Music Lab is a great intro for this! I came across this last year thanks to one of the elementary music teachers I work with. He was excited and wanted to use it in his class. The students 💖 it! *Bonus - NO accounts needed!*

The website has such a "fun" look to it - you can't help but want to click around. (I've linked to an Eric Curts post with additional details about each piece of the site ... so be sure to check that out!) There are 13 different experiments to check out. What a fun way to incorporate music into any class, or allow students to express themselves with music! 

Don't limit this resource to music class, though. These Tweets are linked on the homepage but I wanted to make sure you don't miss how others use Chrome Music Lab in:

• math class with fractions [LINK]

• science class with sound waves & frequency [LINK]

• art class with literature [LINK]

• and more! [LINK]

One thing I see that you might find "lacking" is there a way to save or share a creation. A quick & easy way to preserve and share a creation would be to screencast it. Some might lend themselves to a screenshot, too. 

Eric Curts blog with additional details: "Learning Music, Art, Science, Math and more with Chrome Music Lab"

Please click HERE for the collection of all 15 resources.

Day 9: Gamify your Google Classroom

Gamify Your Google Classroom [LINK]

I'll be honest. I've not personally used this - yet - but I'm itching to! I am excited to use what we already have (Google Classroom) in a new way that looks to make the learning not only fun, but more meaningful. 

Lucie Renard, the author, proudly points out BookWidgets are "officially listed" on the #withClassroom website on the "Use interactive learning material" tab. This Google site indicates which apps will integrate with Google Classroom. Let's be honest, if Google is including it on their site, you know it has to be decent.

Lucie shares TEN widgets you can integrate with your Classroom as well as suggestions for each ones potential use. Personally, I'd love to try out the Jigsaw puzzle (#3) and Spot the Difference (#7). 

How cool would that be for a student to log in and see something like this waiting for them ... and be reinforcing what we've been studying?! 

I see it with students I work with, but also in my own home, when even a little bit of fun is included, the learning is deeper and richer. As a teacher, I'm always on the look out for a tool that can help me with this.

BookWidgets looks like such a promising resource, I'm definitely going to dig in deep on this one!


Please click HERE for the collection of all 15 resources.

Day 4: 250 Virtual Field Trips

250 Virtual Field Trips [LINK]

Let's face it ... field trips are BEASTS! Finding one, writing and receiving the approval, planning, the arrangements, and so on ... it's exhausting! And then you have to tackle the costs - transportation, any type of entrance fee, food &/or lodging. Whew! It's no wonder it seems like field trips are few and far between.

We are incredibly lucky to be teaching right now. The access we have to amazing places thanks to technology is virtually unlimited! If you've not guessed it by now, today's share is a gold mine of virtual field trips.

You can thank Kara Wilkins (@kwilkinstchr) for making it SUPER easy for you to find one - or more - that work for you, your content, and your students! She complied a searchable database on her blog, "To Engage them All", in her entry called "250 Virtual Field Trips ... most of them are free!" Look up your subject area or the unit you'd like to incorporate a virtual field trip in. 

Better yet - give this to your students and have them research which one(s) they'd like to take and challenge them to explain why they selected it. How cool would that be? Your students can use their researching and evaluation skills and then "defend" their choice. If you do this, I'd love to hear from you!

A few additional thoughts:

• I've covered this topic prior with these posts you can click on and check out:
• Chat with a Meteorologist? Yes, please!
• Every Kid in a Park
• 5 Ways to Break Down the Walls of Your Classroom with Tech You Can Do

• You can do one or ten or all of these - the only limits are the ones you place on this

• Not all virtual fields work out well - this is a great chance to discuss with your students and gain feedback for future trips

• These are NOT the only ones out there ... if you are on social media, throw out requests ... talk to the parents of your own students. You never know when or who will be your next gold mine!

Please click HERE for the collection of all 15 resources.

Day 3: Science Journal with Google

Science Journal with Google [LINK]

This is a SUPER recent resource I've been geeking out over. If you teach Science, "Science Journal" with Google is a M-U-S-T!!! A fellow Google Trainer reached out looking for creative ways to document lab experiments and Eric Santos offered up this one. Shout out to @SantosTechCoach Holy cow!!!! 

How did I NOT know about this?????

Ok - focus . . . the website provides a lot of good info - as well as ready to go experiments (some are to teach students how to use the app) - but if you really want the most out of this resource, you need to get your hands on phones or tablets and load the free app. I showed it to one of the 4th grade science teachers and we quickly were AMAZED with the features!

The app capitalizes on the microphone, the compass, the sensors of mobile devices to allow students to use an:

• Accelerometer X, Y, & Z (in m/s^2)
• Barometer (hPa)
• Brightness (EV)
• Compass (degrees)
• Linear accelerometer (m/s^2)
• Magnetometer (uT)
• Pitch (Hz)
• Sound intensity (db)

I'm not entirely sure where each of these will fit into curriculum or experiments, but I was blown away by the ability to hold my phone and measure the barometric pressure! I thought that was only something meteorologists did! I really was holding my phone moving it all around playing with all these measurements. 

AND ...

... not only does it measure this on your screen, you can RECORD it!

If that isn't enough, there is space to record observations right in the app! As I learn more about it, I can see it having a place in more than the science classroom. Music classrooms as well as physical education classes can absolutely use these metrics regularly. How cool would it be for the students to measure how fast they can run or how quiet they can be?!? 

More noteworthy info:

• teachers can SEARCH experiments by level, equipment, author, duration or features

• the app requires iOS 10 or later (we have some older iPads and we got lucky!)

• want to be even geekier? There is a SECTION for developers to "Think up new and innovative ways to use our code, or extend Science Journal by adding external sensors.

Please click HERE for the collection of all 15 resources.

Day 1: Adobe Spark for Education

Adobe Spark for Education [LINK]

Adobe Spark's tools allow teachers and students to create websites, digital stories, and images. There are even templates for those who are new or unsure where to start. On their website (link is above), a handful of student created examples are on display. No guessing needed to see what is possible with these tools.

We just pushed out the full free education suite to our teachers this past week and I am impressed!!! Adobe is providing FREE accounts for both teachers & students to use their powerful creation tools! (They even are COPPA compliant with parent permission!)

Check out the Post I made & downloaded in under 3 minutes:

A few cool things I discovered while checking it out:

-- you can upload images

-- you can search within their platform and freely use the images you find

-- you can start with a template and customize

-- you have some editing capabilities with photos

-- there are a good amount of fonts

-- I found it incredibly easy to use! I was pleasantly surprised ... I think even little ones would find it easy to use

If you are looking to give your students a powerful creation tool, definitely check out Adobe Spark for Education! 

And before you ask - YES! You and your students can share the creations (Google Classroom included!!!) ... (I chose to download both of these as JPEG's so I could use them here.)

There's NO limit to what you and your students can do with these tools ... and remember, they are FREE!

Additional Resources for Adobe Spark:

• Adobe's website includes resources for teachers, too!

• Matt Miller: "5 Ways to use Adobe Spark Post with your class tomorrow" (guest post by Claudio Zavalar, Jr.)

• Monica Burns: "Quick Start Guide for Adobe Spark for Education"

• Near the bottom of the homepage, you will find a link to a getting started guide - this is intended for your IT department

Please click HERE for the collection of all 15 resources.