Virtual Field Trips

Field trips are something that almost every student looks forward to. It is a welcomed change of pace to get out of the classroom and experience something first hand. But, how do we do this in the midst of a pandemic where some schools are not even conducting face to face learning? Easy, a virtual field trip. While a virtual version of the field trip comes at the expense of not being able to see, smell, and touch the things you normally would on a regular field trip; it still offers a fun and memorable experience for students! While many teachers look forward to field trips as well, the bonus of virtual field trips is not having any students wander off or goof off when their supposed to be engaged and learning. 

There are many websites that offer virtual field trips. Some major names like Discovery offer a variety of online field trips as well. However, today I will discus a website called The Nature Conservancy. This website offers a variety of field trips to various locations and discusses extremely important topics like climate change and the importance of protecting our environment. The Nature Conservancy offers loads of materials for teachers to create lesson plans and host virtual field trips for their students. The most amazing part? Each virtual field trip comes with a teacher's guide containing questions for students (with an answer key!), worksheets, organizers, and vocab words.  

This past week I decided to use the virtual field trip titled Borneo: Symphony of the Rainforest during my weekly tutoring session. I felt like each session was becoming the same and a tad boring so it was time to switch it up and add a new element. My tutee's eyes lit up when I said we were going to do a virtual field trip. Before beginning the video, I took some questions off the guide for teachers and rephrased them to ask my tutee what he thought we would see, hear, and learn about during this field trip. I gave him things to look out for and questions to answer as he went along watching the video. I know he learned a lot about the rainforest and so did I from taking this virtual trip. Throughout the virtual field trip the host also presents activities to the students. In the Borneo trip they played four different animal calls that were previously discussed and students had to match the sound to the correct animal. 

Hopefully some day soon teachers and students will have the ability to take in person field trips again and have a full hands on experience; but until then, these are a great way to change up the pace or even have a fun Friday activity. Some things will never change though, most of us will never get to take an in person field trip to the rainforest and yet it is something we all learn about in school. So why not take a virtual field trip? While it would still be virtual, students could still experience the sounds and sights of the topic they are learning about. 

To take your own virtual field trip to Borneo or another location click here: https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/who-we-are/how-we-work/youth-engagement/nature-lab/virtual-field-trips/#

Or to check out out The Nature Conservancy website click here: https://www.nature.org/en-us/

Happy virtual travels! 

Type to Learn

 Type to Learn 

    I decided for this post I would head back in time to middle school and look at a program called Type to Learn. I wasn’t sure it existed still but I found the website and as it turns out it is still used and on its 5th version. I mostly wanted to see if the technology resource was still around or if it had become obsolete. I had Type to Learn in my 6th-grade educational technology class called keyboarding. The entire class was based around Type to Learn, and learning how to type effectively. Type to Learn is a game-based learning tool to help students K-12 learn keyboard skills. Per the website “Keyboarding is wrapped around a captivating, futuristic world of adventure where students become members of an ancient society to save the world from a major communication breakdown.” I absolutely loved this as a kid, and it made the class period go by so fast. I remember sitting at my computer in class and not looking away because I was so focused on the game. It has been a few years since I have interacted with the program but based on the website the basic features seem to be the same as when I used it. Schools can buy the program as part of their ed-tech curriculum for about $230 a year, or parents can get it on the computer at home for students that are homeschooled or just need extra practice for around $35. The program gets harder as the levels go on, and I never actually beat the game. Some kids finished the program but I never got that far. It focuses on speed, accuracy, and technique. The levels adjust to your accuracy, so if you keep typing the words wrong it will get a little bit easier, and if you are excelling it will continue to get more difficult. The program tracks progress and student achievement in each student’s own personal login. A new feature that was not present in the version I used is the Spanish and ESL support as well as the accommodations for hearing and visually impaired students. The program is compatible with laptops, Ipads, and Chromebooks. I would like to know if schools still use this program in their ed-tech curriculum and if they find it to be an effective enhancement to their program or recommend it. I personally found it to be helpful, and it was a fun way to learn keystrokes and the proper way to type. I have not had the opportunity to go into any educational technology classrooms so it would be interesting to see if they still use this to teach keyboarding, or if there is a new best practice for teaching keyboarding. 

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H.I.P Pocket Change

 Money is a such a important and vital concept we all must learn in school. However, thinking back to my education learning about money was never really a fun topic to learn about. Maybe a lesson or two included using fake money but for the most part we counted change and dollar bills that were printed out on worksheets. Learning about money could really be quite an interesting topic if 

Our government has this really awesome interactive website for children to learn money in all sorts of engaging ways. The website is called United States Mint- H.I.P Pocket Change Site. There are several different activities available on the website such as scavenger hunts, designing your own coin, a library that explains all the various coin programs, and countless educational videos regarding the history of currency in America... just to name a few. 

Educational videos offered on the website consist of child specific videos discussing concepts such as the making of coins, coins in outer space, mint tours, coin design, the relation of STEM to coins, and the history of coins. Each topic area contains a few short videos to view that quickly explains currency in relation to that given topic. 

There are several free games available on the website as well. Games can be played individually or educators can choose to incorporate the games into their lesson plans. The website frequently adds new games as well so teachers can vary videos included in instruction and students can play new games whenever they choose. 

Even though at first glance this website seems almost too fun to be academic, it provides an incredible educational platform that is entertaining and engaging for students. It also provides teachers with countless resources to keep their students interested when teaching about currency. I am a firm believer in adding fun and relatable ideas into lessons as frequently as possible. Not only does this make lessons more interesting for the students, it's a fun way for the teachers to incorporate technology into their classroom as well. This website does an great job of incorporating fun in the very important learning lessons about money. 

Check out the link below!

https://www.usmint.gov/learn/kids/coins 

Education.com

    I would like to introduce a website called Education.com. I stumbled upon this website looking for activities for a student I was tutoring last semester. This website is a goldmine for elementary and middle level activities and lessons. The website includes free resources such as printable worksheets, lesson plans, games, and even entire workbooks. You have the option to choose from over 5,196 worksheets, 833 interactive activities, and 545 lesson plans. You can search for specific subjects, and concepts by using the learning library, or even use the worksheet generator if you have a concept that is not represented on the site. I used Education.com for their many different handwriting/alphabet practice sheets. The child I worked with absolutely loved to do them, and I found them to be well put together. I did not find any of the worksheets to be simply “busy work” but actually enhanced the learning experience for optimal success. I did a little digging into the other features of the sight and was just as impressed. The lesson plans are aligned with the Michigan Common Core and are well detailed. The online games are age-appropriate, and a great way to engage students. A unique aspect of this website is the free online stories. The books are separated into grade level and reading level. I opened one up and there is an option to have the book read to students, or they can read it themselves. After reading the book there is an option to assign a worksheet on it or play a game related to the story if you are a premium member. 

I signed up and created a free account and still have access to an incredible amount of their resources, but they do offer a premium membership for extra features. Since I am not a teacher I did not opt for the paid membership, but if I were teaching right now it would be something I would look into. I get emails from the website letting me know when new material has been added to the website and other improvements. There is so much to explore on Education.com and I highly recommend it to teachers, parents, and elementary education students. 

Digital Word Searches

In a previous post I had mentioned how I tutor my cousin who is in 5th grade once a week. Something we focus heavily on are his weekly spelling words. We have our session after he's out of school on Thursday's- this is our last ditch effort to be able to ace those words before his test on Friday's. 

It becomes super boring, and I mean superrrr boring to read him his words over Zoom and have him spell them back to me over and over again. I was desperate to figure out another way for him to practice his words that wasn't so boring. I began creating online word searches. I told Tyler a couple weeks ago we were going to do something a little different and do a word search. His response was "how do you plan on making that work?" I told him I had found a website where you could made the word search into a game. Immediately he was excited simply because of the idea it was a 'game'. 

The name of the website is The WordSearch and you can completely customize your puzzle. It's a quick and easy generator to use and it breaks up the mundane habits we have when practicing spelling words. The format of the words search is also customizable. Below I show the typical layout we're all used to and then a fun puzzle shaped search that we used for this week's spelling words. 

The website is completely free and saves all previous word searches. This is a great resource for teachers! That way they don't have to recreate searches year after year. It provides you with a 'play' link and an 'edit' link. This way you can go and edit the search if need be. I simply share the play link with Tyler over the Zoom chat and he shares his screen with me. I can help him out with a word if he's stuck or quickly fix an issue if something is wrong with the puzzle by quickly referencing each link. 

I mentioned the search is completely customizable and I mean it's completely customizable! There are varying levels of difficulty that can be selected, a kids version, hints that can be turned on or off, and color themes. The first puzzle I had created, I hadn't realized there were all of these features that could be changed. About halfway through the puzzle Tyler started flying through his words and I couldn't quite figure it out. I realized that every once in awhile a specific letter on the puzzle would glow. I asked him what he was doing to make the letters glow. Reluctantly he told me, if you type the first letter of one of the words it will light up those specific letters in the search narrowing down the results. In the following weeks I made sure to shut that feature off as he doesn't need those hints. 

All of their puzzles can be accessed and played online or saved and printed for in person use. The WordSearch automatically creates a key as well that can be referenced as needed.  I have fun as a tutor creating the searches and watching Tyler play the word search 'game'. I remember being in elementary school and constantly just spelling my words out loud. The WordSearch provides an opportunity to practice spelling words in a different way!

If interested in creating your own WordSearch visit their website below!

https://thewordsearch.com/maker/ 

Volt

 Volt 

Volt is an app that can help build a workout for your body type. This may not seem like educational technology, but it is actually quite versatile. I used this app all throughout high school in our physical education courses. I consider physical education to be just as important as the work you do in the classroom. Staying healthy, and bodily movement improves brain function. In addition, proper physical education is crucial early on because it will set the foundation for a healthy lifestyle. 

Using Volt, our teachers were able to program a workout for the whole class directly on our smartphones. The app shows you how to do the motion as well as provide stop by step instructions for getting the right form, and explains what the motion is targeting. Volt accounts for your body type, weight, strength, and abilities so it tells you how much weight to use and how many workouts you should be completing. Volt includes rest times, and breathing exercises. 

 The teacher who controls the workout is able to see what you have completed, how long it took you to complete the exercises and put you in certain levels. 

I found this app to be incredibly helpful in our physical education courses due to the feature that shows the correct form for the exercise. I also liked it because the exercises varied each day, and tracks your progress. Furthermore, if you do not feel comfortable doing an exercise that is programmed into your workout, there is a feature that allows you to substitute a different one. I have also used Volt for high school sports teams. Coaches can have all their players download the app and join the ‘team’ using a code. Coaches are then able to create workouts based on what the team needs to improve upon.

Volt is a free downloadable app available for all smartphones. The app caters to beginners, professionals, classes, and sports teams. You can select from hundreds of different categories such as general fitness, sports, cycling, military, rowing, marathon and so many more. I found this app to be really useful, and even digital immigrant teachers were able to navigate it. 

Physical education should not be overlooked in a student’s education. Physical activity can relieve stress from the classroom, improve mental health, motivate students, and even boost their confidence. I highly recommend this app for students, athletes, coaches, and physical education teachers. 

Notability

 Notability 

Have you ever found yourself misplacing paper you scribbled notes on, spending too much money on colored pens and markers, or hauling around multiple heavy notebooks and folders? I was right there with you until I stumbled upon an app called Notability. I was hesitant to download this app as there was a one-time $4.99 fee to obtain it, but after using it for the last couple of months I can’t imagine my academic life without it. 

Notability sounds just like what it is. An app to take notes. It sounds silly to spend money on that right? But no, it was the best $5 I have ever spent. I downloaded Notability onto my iPad and started trying out the features using the Apple Pencil. This app has different paper options, such as graph paper, lined paper with different line spacing, colored paper, and just plain white. The app allows you to change the colors of your writing, and you can create your own colors. Tools such as highlighter, pencil, eraser, and text are all at the tip of your fingers with options to change the size of each. The eraser feature makes it super quick to start over or clean up mistakes on your ‘paper’. My favorite feature of this app is the ability to upload documents, or powerpoints and write on them. You can search the web from inside the app for different images to upload, and mark those up as well.  I have created tabs for each of my classes and filed syllabuses, powerpoints, and articles to take notes on. This app has transformed the way I do classwork and made it easier for me to stay organized. The app automatically saves all your work, and you can have the contents of your app backed up to an email or to google drive in case you need extra security. I have actually used this app to complete assignments for this course, and track my homework. In addition, I turned in an entire page of notes for a separate class straight through the app into Canvas. This avoids the trouble of having to take a picture of your work, email it to yourself, download it, and then upload the file. Notability saves me a lot of time and energy when creating notes, studying, or reading. Furthermore, I never have to worry about running out of paper because of the seamless option on the app. As long as you keep writing the paper just continues. I have also found that the app makes handwriting more legible, and notes more uniform. 

Notability is a really cool, and simple way to take notes digitally and store them all in one place. I will never take traditional pen, and paper notes again. I have only used the app on an Ipad using an Apple Pencil, but I have seen others use it on a computer and their mobile phone. I find the app to be very user-friendly, and easy to navigate. It did not take me more than 15 minutes to figure out all the features and begin customizing my app. I highly recommend this app to anyone who is spending too much time writing their notes on paper, or who is looking for a way to effectively organize their classwork.

Kahoot, a way to make learning fun!

  Kahoot is a website that many teachers incorporate nowadays into their virtual classroom. It's a website you can use to make quiz's, assignments, or use just to make learning fun. Kids are able to use this website easily, teachers would just need to give them a link or code to get into the game/lesson. Kahoot games can be used for any subjects and teachers are also able to share their games with other teachers. Students are also able to work together or verse one another to include some competition. Most importantly, Kahoot keeps students engaged and entertained while they learn and collaborate. The link to Kahoot is provided below and I think you should take a look! 

https://kahoot.com/