Hooked on Science

Hooked on Science has to be one of the best STEM resource websites I have come across. This website is full of different types of lesson plans and STEM activities of the day. This will be a very helpful site for teachers. When entering the website there is a STEM pick of the week. If teachers are looking for STEM there is a tab called "EXPERIMENT ARCHIVE" under this a loads of experiments. Each experiment is divided based on the type of science that is used for example; engineering design, physical science, life science, and earth science. This tab also explains the importance of NGSS ( Next Generation Science Standards). Hooked on Science also offers different types of school programs. They offer an assembly type of programs and classroom programs. One type of an assembly program is called "Pokemon Science" "from creating a Pikachu lightning bolt to shooting fireballs like Charizard students discover the science behind Pokemon." A classroom program they offer is called 'Family Science Skills Night". "The Hooked on Science Family Science Skills Night helps families better understand the skills the Next Generation Science Standards provide for a strong science education, which equips kids with the ability to think critically, analyze information, and solve complex problems." They start the programs with a hands-on science program, where parents discover specific science concepts, these concepts reflect what they are learning in the classroom. They have six different hands-on science stations and this is where parents use what they are taught and help solve the program as a family. Some of the science stations involved are " Keva planks, Brain Flakes, Joinks, Zoobs, Squigz, SmartMax Magnets, Magformers and Straws and Connectors."

https://www.hookedonscience.org/schoolprogram.html

WeRead.org

WeRead is a site that is dedicated to encouraging young children to read. We used the program today as part of our EXPS Science in the elementary classroom session to have third grade students read field guides about different kinds of birds. The students were all very excited to use the iPads and to go onto the site, exclaiming 'yes!' when their instructor told them what we would be doing. This intrigued me so I paid close attention as these kids used the WeRead site. I think the best thing about this site is that a student can highlight a portion of text on their screen and tap a button to have it be read out loud to them as they follow along. Many of the ESL students took full advantage of this feature during class time.
WeRead is free to use and acknowledges the importance of fostering an appreciation for reading and developing the skill early on in children. It has an abundance of online books and resources targeted at children and their parents and even offers such services as reading logs to track time spent reading and progress made. It also offers suggestions and ideas for planning reading sessions if you are an educator.
When we used the site in class today, it was specifically designed for the students and was separated by units. Therefore educators have the opportunity to specialize WeRead for their specific needs and lesson plans. This makes it an invaluable tool for classrooms that have access to laptops or ipads.
I will definitely be looking into how I can utilize this service in my future classroom!

StudyBlue

    StudyBlue is an online learning service that helps high school and college students study for selective courses. The user is able to download Study Blue on any device at any time. The site will allow you to study by searching for your school and courses as well.
   This site shows the frequently searched courses by your particular school. The user is allowed to look through millions of notes discussed on class chapters. The user also can make and share study materials and join classes with other students. Study Blue helps make learning more efficient, allowing the user to enjoy more instructional activities.
   This growing online study tool, now has boasting 500 million flash cards, notes and study guides by students. Compared to 2009 company results (when Study Blue was first founded) of 5.5 million users and only 200 million study materials available. The educational site is easy to navigate and view.

PBS Kids

PBS kids is a brand for most of the children's programming aired by the public broadcasting service in the United States. The framework of this website was established as a "ready to learn" initiative, a project intended to facilitate access of early childhood educational programming as a new block called PTV. PBS not only has channel programming, but has many educational videos and games. The website also offers a tab, "TV time", this will tell the parent and the child what time and day certain t.v shows will be airing on t.v. This is great because then the time can set reminders and leave your child busy playing on the websites game until their favorite t.v show is playing.


 https://pbskids.org/tv-times/#page=schedule&day=20190328&provider=Broadcast

Teacher Certification Degrees

https://www.teachercertificationdegrees.com/top-blogs/science-teacher/


 Teachers certification Degree site offers about 40 teachers science blogs.

It also create all degree opportunities to teachers who would like to enroll in Education. It is available to any states of choice.

In most of the blog are upcoming notifications on events and conferences to the public to be aware of, and schedule for.
   Examples below:
The Iowa Teachers of Psychology will be holding their annual teaching conference on April 5, 2019 at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo. The legendary Sue Frantz will be their keynote speaker.

For more information, go to their website.

InsertLearning Onto ANY Webpage

 InsertLearning is a GoogleChrome website extension perfect for creating blended learning lesson plans, as that it allows you to turn any webpage into an interactive lesson. After downloading the extension, InsertLearning will provide a tutorial for the toolbar and an example on how to use the tool.

Lesson plans can be created in just 3 easy steps:
1. Select any webpage
2. Adding questions to the page
3. Send your lessons to your students!
Thats It!

IL Toolbar

• Teachers are able to highlight important information like, vocab words, important sentences, or dates to provide students with a visual reading guide. 
• Adding digital sticky notes to give teachers even options to communicate the lesson to students. Provide additional information or comments, embed YouTube videos, or a pause and reflect reminder.
• Add questions for knowledge check to help keep students on track. You can easily add multiple choice questions or free response for a reflection or longer answer.
• Include topics or questions and students can answer and reply to begin discussions. This way everyone gets to share their ideas while reading and what they think is important about the reading.

*It is considered a "freemium" site meaning 5 lesson plans can be created for free then $40 a year/$8 a month. Which I think is worth it!

**Formerly known as DocentEDU.

Schoology

Schoology is a site that teachers and students can use to enhance their educational experiences. A teacher can use this site to not only provide more content for their students to learn but create a whole new experience for their students. Teachers can add assignments, discussions, quizzes, and much more to help their students achieve. But not only can a teacher do this for one of their classes but they can do it for all of them. A teacher can create a group for each of their classes. All the teacher has to do is give the students an access code.

Schoology also can be used for grades K-12 allowing all teachers teaching any grade level to be able to use it. Also the assignments are graded right then and there. No need for the teacher to have to go through and grade the assignments, unless they are a discussion or written response, which of course calls for a teacher to grade it.

Not only does Schoology enhance the learning of many students but it allows for personalized and self-paced learning. Teachers can link videos and websites for students and also provide documented information for them to keep. By using Schoology students can go home and look online and have all of the information right there for them. No more excuses of "miss placing the homework" or "leaving it at school", it is all right there for them. Schoology also brings communities together by allowing communication of teachers from different districts to collaborate on different topics and enhance their students learning.

But altogether Schoology is a new way to really improve the basic classroom. It gives teachers a different approach to teaching and it gives students a new way to learn and enhance their learning.

Schoology

Blendspace

We have learned about Blendspace in class, and I must say it is a very useful website to utilize as an educator. I enjoy how uncomplicated it is to create a lesson on it as well as how simple it is to participate as a student. I believe this is an important resource for all of us to remember because it truly is a time saver! I have already created 3 lessons on the site already and it was not a challenge whatsoever. I love how we can incorporate multiple forms of media without ever having to leave the site once it is completed. As a student, I am familiar with the impatience that overwhelms the classroom as the teacher fumbles on their computer, opening multiple tabs and searching for things just to have to exit and continue shifting through more tabs. Here, this site allows for everything to be all in one place just like our site known as Canvas.

Netflix

When considering major entertainment services, the word "educational" may not immediately come to mind. However, there is indeed educational value in services as such as Netflix. In my opinion, Netflix has a large variety of shows containing educational value for all ages. I have had teachers use Netflix simply for us to implement our knowledge and understanding of Spanish while watching a foreign film, or study the important elements that go into creating a compelling story line. You could learn about wildlife and nature in a show as such as Planet Earth for a class like Biology. You could create meaningful discussion about technology after watching any episode of Black Mirror. The possibilities are endless and we shouldn't limit ourselves as educators. 

Spotify

When I say I love Spotify, I LOVE Spotify. Spotify is a music app that allows you to stream your favorite artists for little to no cost. You can create and even discover other people's playlists simply by the click of a few buttons. You can listen to countless genres as well as an artist's many albums as well as tracks they are featured on. You can even discover other artists who are related to their sound! Spotify even creates playlists for you, depending on what musicians and bands you have been listening to lately, which I think is the coolest thing ever. I have discovered some amazing tracks and artists because of Spotify, and I do not regret trying it out in the slightest. Much cooler than Pandora (in my opinion, of course). I find it a great app to study to as well.

YOYO Games- GameMaker

YOYO Games is a website/application that helps build different types of games. It starts with a concept someone has for a game and creates a finished game. This tool can be used as a STEM resource as well. There are two different ways that students are able to create a game. The first way to create a game is called DnD, also known as, Drag and Drop. This allows students the ability to create a game before having to code. It's easy to understand and allows students to experiment with different functionalities. The other way to create a game on YOYO Games is by GML, which is GameMaker Language. This way is powerful and contains script language that is easy to learn. GameMaker Language gives everything that is needed to make the games high quality and based on the C programming languages. Students will be able to create games that are STEM-related and/or contain STEM-themed games. On this website is a game called "Blackhole Hazard" which centers around the main character Dr. Albert Armstrong and shows various ways that various physical properties and reactions happen in cosmic spaces. 

I think this resource will be helpful in many ways. It can be used for students to make their own games in ways that will help them learn more about the topic they are learning. Another way this source can be used is by teachers. Teachers can make games that will help students comprehend subjects in fun interactive simulations. The games are easy and fun to make they would just need time and effort to be made.

https://www.yoyogames.com/

Typing.com

Typing.com is an online typing tutor, to teach your child about proper touch-typing techniques and improve their keyboarding skills. You can create an account for free but you don’t need it to actually use the site. For teachers, you can also set up a free account but you also have the option to upgrade to the premium package for $29.95 per license. The features that come with the upgrade are that students are covered forever; you can enjoy an ad-free experience and lastly, you would be supporting the online development of this great website intended to create a fun way to teach kids typing. With the upgrade you even have the capability of upgrading and downgrading individuals accounts. On Typing.com, your child can practice and master the keyboard one lesson at a time. It allows them to pick up where they left off in the course and displays a keyboard and hand diagram as they type to reinforce proper finger placement. On their blog I read an interesting article about 5 reasons games are a fun way to learn typing. Some of the highlights from that article include:

1. Games are engaging-teaching students perseverance and persistence
2. Chasing the reward-students learn that effort is worth noticing
3. Games are fun-learning should never feel like a chore
4. Hand-eye coordination-learning to focus and work your muscle memory
5. Motivation without risk-the ultimate risk of failure is minimized

Games have been proven to engage students and help them learn a variety of concepts. Studies have proven games work. Typing is also a skill that is ever growing in education.

Typing.com has also recently partnered with Clever which is another popular platform used in schools. This has increased typing.com’s popularity. I love typing.com as it allows teachers to create customizable lessons for students to do. It gives you real time feedback to track your students progress and also offers customizable reports. Typing.com is truly a great resource to use in your current or future classroom!

BrainPop

BrainPop is one of my absolute favorite tools that I remember from my 6th grade science class. BrainPop's goal is simple: to help kids understand their world. BrainPop is an elementary learning resource that supports core and supplemental subjects through playful and educator-focused short videos. Their animated videos are designed with relevance, depth, and humor to encourage and engage children during topics that may otherwise seem boring or difficult to understand. BrainPop topics include science, social studies, English, math, arts/music, health, and even engineering and technology. They even offer introductory lessons for supplemental topics like themes, setting goals, global figures, digital etiquette and holidays. BrainPop is not a free tool, but they do offer free BrainPop topics daily. Today, March 21st, is World Poetry Day, so there is a free video on Emily Dickinson. Check it out here! Beside their videos, there are quizzes at the end of each video. It's a great way to reflect on the lesson and to see if students retained what they watched. There are also worksheets, challenges and other activities that can be printed directly from their website.

Moby Max

Moby Max is another tool that was introduced to me during my work as an educational site assistant for ACCESS's 21st century program at River Oaks Elementary. It is an educational tool used across Dearborn Public Schools and in over 80% of K-8 public schools. Moby Max is used to "find and fix learning gaps covering Common Core, NGSS, and state standards". Moby Max offers programs in mathematics, language/grammar, speech and vocabulary, science, phonics, writing, state test prep, and more. Educators are provided with tools for diagnostic testing, progress monitoring, assessments, lesson plans, and daily goals. Students play games to earn badges and certificates and districts can even host contests. Moby Max is not just an online resource for practice and learning. They also offer tools to create interactive whiteboard activities, worksheets, and skills reviews. Moby Max even rewards posters, parties, and other prizes for schools who invest in their programs. In addition to a support team online, Moby Max also hosts free live training webinars for educators every Tuesday and Thursday. https://www.mobymax.com/

D2L

D2L is a learning management system used by Michigan State University, Kaplan, Walmart, University of Arizona, and thousands of other educational communities across 750 countries. They offer platforms for K-12, higher education, and corporate learning. My favorite of the three products is the K-12 platform called Brightspace. It is compatible both online and on mobile devices.

It has a very child-friendly look to it and includes tools for weblinks, activities, announcements, etc. It also has features for teachers to track progress and host webinars during snow days or special events. For corporate use, I have personally seen more advanced learning platforms in terms of aesthetics and statistical features, but D2L still offers many useful features such as a cloud-based platform for convenient access anywhere at any time, ePortfolios, discussion boards, and video engagement.

CommonCore

CommonCore is an app that can be accessed on iPhones and is free. This app allows users to have a quick and easy way to access all the common core standards. They have the standards for math -- traditional and integrated, language arts, history/social studies, and science and technical subjects. When you click on each different subject for the standards, the app allows you to directly choose what grade you are looking for. The CommonCore app is very convenient and useful for teachers to use when they need to reference the standards quickly. Searching for standards on the internet can be a hassle and a longer process than simply having the CommonCore app on ones iPhone and ready to be accessed at any time. 

TinyCards

TinyCards is a program that works in tandem with Duolingo, a program dedicated to teaching people foreign languages.  For all intents and purposes, it is the lovechild of Duolingo and Quizlet.  When people sign up for TinyCards, all of the classes they take with Duolingo will be imported into their TinyCards account.  From there, TinyCard creates flashcards using vocabulary from each level of Duolingo.

Though TinyCards is often marketed simply as an extension of Duolingo, there is even more to it than that.  The website allows you to create your own flashcard sets (on any topic, not just a foreign language) and share them with others.  This is extremely beneficial for students because flashcards often help reinforce lessons that students are taking.

The program is completely free and comes in the form of an app and a website.

Flipgrid

Flipgrid is a platform that allows people to record and upload short videos.  At the end, you have the opportunity to take a selfie and customize it with fun stickers and words.  This can be very helpful in classes (such as foreign language classes) that place a lot of emphasis on verbal participation.  For example, in my Spanish 101 course, the professor assigns Flipgrid videos where we have to record ourselves answering questions in Spanish using the lessons we've learned in the class that chapter.  She creates a topic (a folder of sorts that houses the students' responses) and, in the description of the topic, places questions that she wants us to answer.

One of the features that I find awesome (aside from the fact that it is completely free and comes in the form of an app as well) is that students have the option of watching other students' responses.  This can be beneficial to students because they can build off of one another and learn from each other.

Inside Tech Blog

                                              The Inside Tech Blog

    The Inside Tech blog written by Steve Berman , In this blog steve showcased the Online blog whether it’s breaking news, or an insider’s point of view, or irreverent humor one is seeking, they will definitely find them. He conveys massage that there are an infinity number of blogs on any subject whose authors will be happy to oblige.In this blog individuals are able to view  a lot of News on “5 Best Business Travel Tips”,”Smart Meters, Dumb Backlash”, “Why Nokia and Microsoft Can Challenge Apple and Beat Google”, “Why CIOs Shouldn’t Waste Time With Tablet Strategies- Plus 12 Hot Tablets!” “Why Google Android May and Chrome OS Will Fail”, “The Top Tech Controversies of 2010”, “In the Future, You Will Use Your Phone to Save Energy”, and “Report: Taliban Kills Afghan Elder Based on WikiLeaks Docs”,etc. In all of the blogs enough needed necessary informations are gathered for that moment, graphics are presented to really propale one’s attention to view the blogs. In the News areas, one is able to choose whatever blog him or she desires to view,the News  Categories provides lots of options to to select. For instant, the Apple,Business Entertainment, Gadgets, Gaming, Google, Hardware, Job Trends, Microsoft, Networking OS, Phones, Science, Security, Software & Web Development, Tech Law, Transportation Web-Sites. In Inside Tech blog you have the “HOME”, “NEWS”,” IT TOOLS”, “CAREER ADVICE”, and the “GET A JOB”. It is so unique to see the “GET A JOB” area, seeing the “ 10 Steps to Becoming an IT Professional”, the level the men walk on the steps was so amazing.

http://insidetech.monster.com/benefits/articles/8537-10-b

Brightstorm.com

Brightstorm.com is a useful site for not only students but for teachers as well. The site provides informational videos on how to complete certain operations or explain certain concepts. Topics that this site covers ranges from Math, Science, English, and specific Test prep that can be expected to be seen on standardized tests. There have been plenty times where I searched YouTube, video after video for a helpful, credible source on how to do math problems, often getting frustrate with the results. However, this site is able to provide informational videos from professionals from Yale, Stanford, and other accredited institutions. Brightstorm.com is the one stop shop for any informational videos you or your students might need!

VLC Media Player

VLC media player is tremendously popular, and by good reason – it is absolutely free, supports almost any video format, can optimize the synchronicity of video and audio, and supports streaming. In the ideal world everything would work how you want it and when you want it, but during the years we developed all sorts of formats for music and video - and different mechanisms of delivery also, such as discs or downloads. VLC is on top of it all, and that means that it is the perfect go-to app for any multimedia. VLC play formats which nobody mentioned or used in years and does it quickly. To me, VLC is like the Swiss Army Knife of video software. Take caution however because it is a battery strainer on laptops. If you plan on using this for more than 2 movies in one sitting, have a charger ready or else your students or audience will be furious to not know the ending to Madagascar 2.

Download it today!!! --> https://www.videolan.org/vlc/

U- Nest

U-Nest is a high-quality app that will help parents create and manage college savings plans for multiple children. It is simple and straight-forward to use and offers state of the art management and monitoring systems. You can easily keep track of the returns on investments, monitor and change automatic payments, and save a bit each month while you watch the savings grow. U-Nest has a multitude of tools designed to make account set up, monitoring investments, and changing monthly payments as easy as pie. Parents can look at projections based on monthly savings amounts, the child’s current age, and possible future costs of various types of higher education, which makes it easy to set a savings goal that matches the family’s needs. This app is an affordable alternative to more traditional financial services for many families.  Savings contributions can be started for as little as $25 per month and can be adjusted at any time. The management fee is reasonable at $3.00 per month, which is somewhat less than one might expect to pay a more traditional company providing similar services.

Crayola

Everyone in the world knows what crayola is. They create crayons, markers, pens, and basically any type of craft tools you can think of. But crayola.com is not only a way to look at their products but it is also a way that teachers can receive help on grants, tips and tricks on crafts, and much much more. 

When going onto the site they display four tabs including; products, coloring & crafts, education, and customize. Products is where you can find everything that crayola creates and purchase them for your class. Coloring and crafts gives teachers an opportunity to find DIY projects for their class that are creative and unique. Customize is a tab where you can go and customize crayola's products by putting "happy birthday" or "congratulations" on them. Lastly, and what I personally I think is the most important tab is education. In this tab you can find creatED professional development, lesson plans, creatED products, creatED family engagement, teaching and learning resources, and creative learning communities. All of these can allow teachers to explore new ways of teaching and really learn how to engage their students in a new inventive way. 

But there is one other tab that is extremely important and that is the educator tab. This allows teachers  to access more things on professional development, lesson plans, resources and grants, supporting research, and things about communities. The professional development is crayola's way of giving professional services to the teacher. Secondly, the lesson plans do not only involve art, they have every subject available to anyone, allowing for creativity everywhere. Third, the resources and grants is probably the coolest tab on there. This allows for teachers to see what grants crayola has to offer, so they can receive cool things for their class. Lastly, the supporting research and information on their  communities just gives insight on how crayola is actually making a difference, and how it can make a difference in your class. 

Teachers I feel probably do not even know that some of these resources that crayola is providing are out there. Teachers are able to look at lesson plans regarding any topic and receive grants to help bring art into the classroom. This website is not just a site to buy crayola's products off of, it can really help a teacher who wants to experiment in their classroom and bring children's ideas to life. 

CRAYOLA

Seesaw

Seesaw is a student-driven portfolio that inspires students to do their best work to share with their teachers and peers. Students are able to use creative tools to take pictures, draw, record videos to capture their learning. When the students work is posted, peers are encouraged to reflect and give feedback. Peers can provide constructive criticism, suggestions for improvements and provide encouragement. Before any feedback is posted teachers have the opportunity to review comments to ensure that it is constructive and appropriate.  

Teachers are able to create and share activities to students, do assessments and collect work. This allows students and teachers to interact around their work. Teachers can create up to 100 activities with the free seesaw account, up to 500 activities with the seesaw plus account and unlimited activities with the seesaw for school account! Teachers save time by having few papers to grade and collect student’s assignments digitally. 

Seesaw is also a family engagement app. It allows teachers to effectively communicate with parents, and keep them informed about their child’s work. When parents are involved with their child’s work, the child is much more motivated work.

Seesaw is a platform for student engagement that inspires students of all ages to do their best, and saves teachers time!  Seesaw gets students excited about learning as they express themselves and reflect on their learning. Get involved and download the app from the Apple App Store at no cost.

Can't make it to the zoo? NO Problem!

 ZooKazam is an augmented reality (AR) app that allows teachers to bring the zoo into the classroom! The app features more than 40 different animals and even dinosaurs that are all sorted so one's favorite easier to find. With categories such as Birds, Fish, Mammals, Dinosaurs, Bugs, Reptiles, and more, students can quickly locate what they're looking for; or it can help them learn the classification for future use. With picture quality imaging students can see physical details about that animals that they can't see through glass at the zoo.

Not only does ZooKazam provide a visual of the animal students are able to experience views of animals with different visual effects and weather conditions, such as it being rainy, sunny, or snowy. Visual statistics about each animal are provided to give the students info about the animal's diet and habitat, how big they grow, how many there are and even if they're endangered. An in-app narratior is even available to enhance the learning process. Conveniently the app has built in camera and video capabilities allowing multimedia to be easily exported onto any device. 

Funbrain

FunBrain is an educational website created for students in Kindergarten through 8th grade.  The website is comprised of free interactive games, books, and videos that help kids develop skills in math, reading, problem-solving, and literacy.  FunBrain has every video and game categorized by subject and grade level, which makes finding the appropriate game for your grade and subject so much easier.  This website has several educational games, such as the game Change Maker, where you have to use basic math skills to count out how much change is due during a transaction, as well as how much of even denomination of money should be given to warrant the least amount of coins or bills.  The service is 100% free and does not require creating an account.

Incredibox

Incredibox is a site that can be used to get students interested in music education and composition. Incredibox has four free versions that can be used in a browser or through apps offered on several platforms. The program allows students to mix beats and experiment with different combinations muting certain sounds or enabling solos. Students can try to unlock different bonus dance scenes depending on their combination of beats. Students can also record their beats and save them to turn in to a teacher or share these mixes and attempt to make it into a top 50 list on Incredibox. Incredibox can be a great intro lesson for a music tech class or similar class and really catches students’ interest and attention.

Sand and Water Play

Why is sand and water play important in the child care world?

Coming from a teacher’s point of view I know how messy the water and sand table can be, but did you know how many skills children learn from just 'playing' in the sand and water table?

When working with the sand and water the children are learning many different science concepts and terminology. Exploring the water is teaching the children about sinking, floating, changes of state. Being able to master the skills of pouring, the skills they are learning through water play can potentially teach them how to pour their own milk at the lunch table. Mathematic skills are also being taught while working with sand and water. Having the children practice measurements, terms such as less, bigger, smaller, more ect. These concepts work for the sand as well, another science skill they could be learning is cause and effect. What happens when we poor sand in the water, or water in the sand. This opens a lot of conversation with the teacher and child.

Physical development is a concept that is learned through water and sand play when the children are working with the sand and water, they are practicing hand-eye coordination, they are also using their fine motor skills to scoop the sand, put it in a funnel and pour. Another skill they are mastering when working in this area is social and emotional skills, playing side by side with other peers helps them build their cooperative play and sharing skills. For example, being able to work together and fill the entire bucket up with water and dumping it out together. Playing with the sand and water is also a calming skill, the children are really concentrating when they are dumping and pouring. This play can be very messy, but the children and learning so many small life skills with just ‘playing’ with the sand and water.

The child’s development is the most important and when working with the sand and water table they are master tons of skills that can help them succeed in little tasks, making them more independent. Think of all the things you could add into the water or sand to make their learning more fun and helping them master even more skills.

PBS Learning Media

PBS learning media is a collection of free educational videos that have great potential to be used in the classroom. There is a wide variety of videos ranging from Sesame Street to a recording of the Twelfth Night, to Engineering and Technology videos. Teachers may browse videos by subject, grade, or even standard. Subjects are categorized even further. Teachers can select topics such as ELA Writing or High School Geometry. I think the ability to search by standards is very valuable. Anyone can search by national standards. Teachers can also create a free account to search by their state’s standards. It is easy to sign up with Google, Facebook, or with a PBS specific account. There is also an option to link videos to a Google Classroom. Another bonus of this website is that it is less likely to be blocked by school administrators as opposed to sites like YouTube or Netflix. This is a great website to keep in mind for a rainy day or an unexpected day out of the classroom.

WhatsApp

WhatApp is a mobile communication app that has become one of the most popular in the world. You can use it to send text messages, pictures, videos and make calls both video and audio. WhatsApp is free is download, safe (as long as you don't use it to talk to strangers), and easy to use. How does WhatsApp work? WhatsApp uses the internet connection of your device to send messages to your family and friends. If you connect to a Wi-Fi network, WhatsApp will not use up your data plan.
Five features of WhatsApp that makes this a popular form of instant messaging.

#1. Import contacts from your device's address book automatically. WhatsApp will automatically detect which contacts are already using the app and add them to your contact list.

#2. WhatsApp offers lots of options for ways to communicate.  You can send text messages, pictures, record audio messages, and make phone calls. The phone calls also have a video group chat option that allows you to video call up to 4 lines at one time.

#3. Use the WhatsApp group chats feature to send message between up to 100 people at once. This is a great feature to share ideas, updates, and anything else you may need when communicating to a large group.

#4. Use WhatsApp search features to easily find specific messages. If there is a message you are looking for, you can search it by typing keywords to help you locate it.

#5. Save your WhatsApp messaging history by backing up your messages to your device or to your Google Drive. If you ever lose an important message or accidentally delete WhatsApp it'll be saved.

For me personally, I have found WhatsApp to be a great way to stay in contact with family and friends overseas. Internet in many parts of the world isn't always the most stable, and so WhatsApp has been an affordable way to connect with my loved at a minimal cost. Wi-Fi makes this the most convenient way to connect with people. The other feature that has been amazing is the video chats. Up to four lines can connect and you can have some great conversations. For me, we may connect to family on three different continents and four different countries!

I highly recommend using WhatsApp even in the classroom as part of connecting with families. I constantly get group messages from teachers, Girl Scout troops, people(friends, family) looking to promote their business, etc.

With over 100 Million downloads, Duolingo has a review of 4.7 stars out of 5. Duolingo is an app that helps you learn a new language. As soon as you click to get started, you are given the top languages that are your options to learn about. Some of the languages you can learn are Spanish, French, German, and Italian. It also has an option to learn English which is very cool because I had assumed that would be excluded. Once you select a language, you are prompted to pick a goal. "Casual" is considered to be 5 minutes of learning a day, while "insane" is 20 minutes of learning a day. I believe this is extremely useful that the user can set a goal at the very beginning that they can follow as they learn the language they have selected. And, if you ever feel like changing your goal later on, it is a useful option on this app. If you are not new to this language, you can take a placement test to determine where you are at in your understanding of the language. I believe this is very helpful compared to starting with the bare basics. That way, if you already know some of the language, you are not forced to waste time "learning" about words or phrases you already know. This proves to be a time saver! There are different levels where you can learn about phrases, travel, family, shopping, activities, fashion, and more.

Evernote

Evernote is an app and website that is meant to keep you organized and is a great place to keep all of your notes. Not only that, but going digital with your notes will help save paper and get rid of clutter. With Evernote you can capture ideas and inspiration in your notes and even add pictures to them. Using this app and website, you can manage your projects and it will help you keep track of tasks that have to be done as well as important deadlines. You can even share your notebook with others and edit it at the same time together. They also supply you with multiple different features such as document scanning, PDF and document search, and even multi-device sync.

Evernote is super helpful whether it’s for work, school, or even in the comfort of your own home. I believe that Evernote is something that could come in handy for a teacher in the classroom to maintain organization. This also works for students as well. Having a website or app where students can get creative, work together, and share work can increase their productivity and get them motivated to do their work and learn.

Catapult for Kids!

Catapult For Kids:

Involved in this STEM activity students are to create a catapult. This is a very fun and interactive activity, students can learn about science while catapulting objects in the air! In order to make a catapult you have to follow these simple and fun steps:

Step 1: Stack 5 craft sticks together, and rubber band the ends.

Step 2: Stack 2 craft sticks together, and warp a rubber band around the very end.

Step 3: Separate the 2 craft sticks. Place the stack of 5 craft sticks between the 2 sticks. 

Step 4: Wrap a rubber band around all of the craft sticks to hold the catapult together.

Step 5: Glue a milk cap (or something similar) on to serve as a launching platform.

Step 6: Push down on the top craft stick and release to launch an object from the cap. 

After students have created their catapults they can create an experiment using their catapult. They can either: 

• Launch an object from the catapult multiple times and measure how far it travels each time. 
• Launch different objects from the catapult and measure how far each object travels.
• Compare catapults. Build more than one catapult (the same or different design). Launch the same object from each catapult and measure how far it travels. 

Supplies needed:

• 7 craft sticks
• 3 rubber bands
• A milk cap
• Cotton Balls (or other objects to launch)

This is a very fun and different STEM activity! Students can learn, have fun, and be very creative!

Chemical Reaction Rockets

After viewing the basics from the Carolina STEM Challenge: Chemical Bottle Rocket - Kits are available to purchase but are also easy enough to build your own or adapt the challenge for your classroom.  For younger students (2nd-4th grade I would not use chemical reactions.  This would simply be a balloon rocket race.  They can design the rocket they want and race them across the room on strings.  For the older students the designs from the kits area a great idea but can be altered to a different scale.  The 5 or 6th graders can use the plastic test tubes for the fuselage or they can use different sized plastic bottles.  Using the bottles would make them be more creative in their rocket design as they would have to find ways to work around the curvatures of the bottle.
Baking Soda Rocket STEM

  
With this idea I would adapt by using toilet paper cardboard or other carboard tubes with the elonggated balloon inside.


This could be adapted with the different types of propulsion, vinegar and chalk or baking soda, soda and mentos or alkaseltzer.

Tik Tok is an app that can be found in app stores for iOS and Android devices. Tik Tok entails short videos that can be created and viewed by individuals. The result from this app is that people get to share their incredible talents, knowledge, and entertainment with others in a fun manner. There is also privacy settings for parents where they can control time limits on the app, and messages that can be sent and receive. This app is rated 12+ but I find that younger children are able to find the enjoyment in the app. This can be an educational tool by creating challenges to illustrate a concept  or lesson and would be easily digestible material for students

The Marble Challenge

I found this challenge very interesting.  The challenge is designed to get the students to think of different ways to use varying materials as a ramp or guide to allow a marble to reach from the top to the bottom of the run within a set amount of time.  As the students learn about friction they can apply their knowledge to the track.  They can play around with different textured runs and change the angles of the chutes to slow or speed up the decent of the marble.

For the younger students you can also make a marble maze on a paper plate, the older the students the more intricate they can make the maze, the run, or even the roller coaster.

This reminds me of the game "Mouse Trap."  After they have designed their marble run you can then get them to think of how to build a better mouse trap.

Marble Challenge

Science Journal

https://sciencejournal.withgoogle.com/  

Science Journal with a FREE application available for Android, iOS,
and most Chromebooks. The application is an ideal tool for schools
with little to no budget for expensive sensors. The app allows students
to document science experiments and also come with free activities.
The website provides a user's guide (with videos) and lots of experiments
to try out. Science Journal lets you record light, sound, and motion data.
Users can take pictures, import pictures, and write notes about their experiment.