PBS Has new Activity Widgits

Grab an Activity Pack PBS Teachers® recently introduced PBS Teachers Activity Packs, a growing library of Web-based widgets that contain links to PBS education resources and activities focused on a specific curricular theme for multiple grade levels. Presently more than 30 Activity Packs are available, free of charge, for educators to “grab” for classroom use or to post on their classroom and school Web sites or favorite social networking sites. Activity Pack themes cover a wide range of subject areas, including reading/language art, science, social studies, health and art. Some currently available themes are Arts Everywhere; China; Forensic Science; Great American Authors; Healthy Choices; Money in America; Mysteries of the Universe; Unsung Heroes in African American History; Technology & Ethics; and Volunteerism.

Doodle for Google

2008 Winner of Doodle for Google

Just Announced!
Google is running their Doodle for Google Contest again this year. This is a great opportunity for students to create their own Google illustration to replace the Google logo for one day.
Watch this amazing video to see what the contest is all about!


The theme for the contest is What I Wish for the World...
The contest runs until March 17th so make sure to get your kids doodling!
Register for the contest here!

Here are a few examples of Doodles for Google from the Google Illustrator.

Here is a great video from the Google employee who does the doodles!

Google Search Tips

Google is so much more than just searching for words! Did you know you can find flight information, track your UPS package, use Google as a dictionary, calculator and currency converter? You can use Google to find the time of anywhere in the world, to find an answer to a fill in the blank question, or to find movies in your zip code.
Watch this video on helpful Google Search Tips to find out how!

Google Reader Help Videos

Google Reader is a great tool to use to keep track of the blogs or news feeds that you like to keep track of. Watch these two Google Reader How To Videos to set up your Google Reader.

Happy New Year!

Winter Break is one of the better reasons to be in education! I spent a week in Santa Barbara CA with 14 members of my family for Christmas and then spent the week of New Year's at my hometown in Aspen, Colorado. It was a great break of walking the beach and skiing in the powder.

If the news didn't spread to your neck of the woods Aspen was shut down for New Year's Eve due to two bomb threats in town. Unfortunately, all the local businesses, bars and restaurants lost out on their biggest night of the year. Here are some Aspen Times articles ( #1 and #2) that will tell you more.

Here is how Google brought in 2009- the niner- as my family has named it!

TIES Conference and Technology Award 2008

Just returned from the 2008 TIES Technology Education Conference. Edina District & Media Technology Services was awarded the Minnesota Technology Leadership Award for 2008. It was a great four days of networking and learning.

I had three presentations at the conference. I did a half day workshop on Saturday on Google Tools for Educators. On Monday I lead a seession on Digital Footprints: Engaging Students in the Web 2.0 process. Lastly, on Monday I lead the Google Community of Interest. It was a great turn out and it was fun to share all of my Googly information with other excited teachers.

I also had the opportunity to meet Ben Friesen who is another MN Google Certified Teacher. We had a great time networking at the conference and at happy hour. We are excited to bring Minneapolis the first Google Learning Institute in August 2009. Details are still in the work, but if you are interested in receiveing information when it is first announced, fill out this form.

More on the TIES Conference 2008 to come...still sorting out all the great resources and ideas!

Here are the photos from the conference...Enjoy!

SCRATCH- My new favorite program!

This summer I was chosen to work with a group of 5 teachers and the Science Museum of Minnesota to develop some Professional Development Resources for teachers to implement SCRATCH into their classrooms and curriculum. I have fallen in love with Scratch and am seeing the amazing learnings that kids have from this program!

Scratch is a free, block-based programming environment created by MIT to produce media and teach programming concepts. Using drag-and-drop techniques to join together block icons representing code, students create games, stories, and simulations in which programmable objects called "sprites" move and interact. Scratch's graphic block-based environment provides an excellent platform for introducing computer science concepts such as objects, methods, and conditional statements.

Scratch is available as a free download from http://scratch.mit.edu/pages/download Scratch works on both Windows and Macintosh platforms. Email Mr. Michaud for instructions on how to install Scratch on Linux.

My favorite part of learning Scratch is to see how it fits into the curriculum. I have just started implementing Scratch into my elementary classrooms but it has been exciting to see how the kids embrace the program and learn so quickly.

My first project was with my sister's fourth grade class. The students were studying Minnesota History and created an animiated 4 corners project that shared what they had learned. They were required to have four sprites that were animated and gave information about MN history.

The second project I did was with a small group of 3rd grade students. They were reading "The Green Book" and were learning about figurative language. The students chose four examples of figurative language to animate in SCRATCH. They drew the sprites, gave them different costumes to animate them and then shared the example of figurative language as well.

Click below to see some examples.
My MN History Example
My Green Book Figurative Language Example
4th Grade Students's MN History Examples
3rd Grade Student's Green Book Examples (coming late December 08)

Here are some great Scratch Resources!

Enjoy!