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Showing posts from 2015

It's Computer Science Week - Let's Launch our Students into the Future!

As many of you know , this week is  National Computer Science Week  which aligns with the  Hour of Code .  Students all over the country are joining together to learn, explore, and grow with code.  This is a fun opportunity to get our kids excited about a field that will have over 1 million job openings by 2022.  Some of our kiddos and teachers in PPS have already begun their hour of code experience! You may be saying to yourself...I don't know anything about computer science, how can I teach my kids this?  Good news?  There are so many wonderful opportunities out there that are student directed, that you do not need to know ANYTHING about computer science in order to give your students this opportunity.  Below are some excellent resources for getting your kids excited about CS! Code.org : Appropriate for Y5 through Middle School students.  Provides four self directed courses, along with many other outstanding activities including Play Lab and Project Studio. CS Firs

The Hour of Code is Almost Here! Are you ready?

The Hour of Code 2015 is almost here! Last year several of our schools/classrooms participated...and I would love to see even more participate this year! Computers are everywhere, but fewer schools teach computer science than 10 years ago. Good news is, we’re on our way to change this. If you've heard about the Hour of Code before, you might know it made history. More than 100 million students have tried an Hour of Code. With the Hour of Code, computer science has been on homepages of Google, MSN, Yahoo! and Disney. Over 100 partners joined together to support this movement. Last year, every Apple Store in the world hosted an Hour of Code and even President Obama wrote his first line of code as part of the campaign. This year, let's make it even bigger. I’m asking you to join in for the Hour of Code 2015. Please get involved with an Hour of Code event during Computer Science Education Week, December 7-13. Get the word out. Host an event. Ask your school to sign up. You don

Google Computer Science First Program

Are you a Michigan educator looking for a way to engage your students with computer science, but not sure you have the computer know-how to lead a club?  Never fear...Google is here! The Michigan Film and Digital Media Office is partnering with Google to facilitate the Google Computer Science First Program for 4th -8th graders.  Any interested parties can fill out an application to be involved in this free program.  The program is scripted and laid out in a way that ANYONE can facilitate.  Computer Science First provides all the materials (except the computers/chromebooks). There are multiple paths/interest areas/clubs to choose from. According to the CS First Website, "Each CS First club is based on a real-world theme and offers about 10 hours worth of lessons and activities. The different club themes aim to attract and engage students of varying backgrounds and interests. All materials are targeted at students in 4th - 8th grades (or between the ages of 9 - 14) and are

Google Classroom Rosters in Google Sheets, Easy!

Are you a user of Google Classroom ? Do you work with your students' data in Google Sheets? Have you ever thought "I wish there was a way to grab my roster from Classroom and put it into a Spreadsheet. Ugh." Well, now there is a way! Meet... rosterSync ! From the site... rosterSync - Teacher Edition  allows teachers to sync a Google Classroom course roster -- including student email addresses -- directly with Google Sheets for handy use with Add-ons like Doctopus, formMule, autoCrat, formRanger, and others. Installing this Tool... I installed the Sheets Add-on, which can be found here I clicked the blue "FREE" button An "Untitled Spreadsheet" opened up and the Add-on was installed Easy!  Using rosterSync... After titling my Sheet (as any good Google Drive user does), I clicked "Add-ons" in the menu bar I choose "rosterSync - Teacher Edition" A few seconds later, I had this convenient sidebar at the rig

Veteran's Day 2015

Today is Veteran's Day.  A day where we honor the great sacrifice and service of the members of the armed forces.  A day to help our students understand why we set aside a day on our calendar to thank and honor these great individuals. Below are some resources that you can use to help as you explore Veteran's Day with your students. VA Veterans Day Teacher Resource Guide History of Veteran's Day:  http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp PBS News Hour Veteran's Day Lesson Plans Bet You Didn't Know: Veteran's Day  Video by the History Channel I would also like to take this moment to reach out to all the Veteran's we have on staff at PPS.  Sincerest thanks from the bottom of my heart. Jessica

Skyward: Elementary Report Cards - Double Checking Your Grades

This (2015-16) school year, PPS has made a few adjustments to our elementary gradebook. We are using year long trending.  This means that the final Q4 grade will take into account all events from the first day of school until the end of the academic year.  Don't be surprised when you see suggested grades showing up in Q2, Q3, and Q4 as soon as the Q1 suggestion appears. Skyward will not begin to suggest a trend grade until three or more event scores are entered for a particular skill.   These changes will help improve the overall suggested grade because it will take into account growth from the entire school year and it will provide more data points in order to make the suggestion.  That being said, it is still the professional responsibility of the teacher to double check the scores each quarter to make sure what the gradebook is suggesting aligns with how the child is performing on that particular skill.   Skyward makes this a fairly painless process.   First, click

Doodle4Google

Doodle4Google : It's time again for the Doodle4Google competition.  Break out the art supplies, technology, and get the creative juices going! According to Doodle4Google Website: For this year’s contest, students can create a doodle that tells the world “What makes me…me.” Kids have all kinds of things that make them unique, so they can use all kinds of materials to create their doodles, from crayons, to clay, to graphic design, even food and video games.  Students in grades K-12 are invited to take part in the 2015 Doodle 4 Google contest. Like all Google Doodles, each doodle must incorporate the letters G-o-o-g-l-e. One national winner will also receive a $30,000 college scholarship. The contest is open for entries from October 19, 2015 to December 7, 2015. Head on over to https://www.google.com/doodle4google/ to learn more about the contest and check out the  classroom activities. Enjoy!

Google Classroom: Attach Google Forms

It is no surprise that I love Google Classroom and Google Forms.  These are two of my favorite tools thanks to all they wonderful educational uses. Google forms are a great way to collect information from students.  Whether I need them to respond to a survey, take a quiz, or collect data, this is usually my go-to tool.  Traditionally if I needed my students to use a form I would share it with them via an email to their school account, or I would give them a shortened URL to type into their address bar.  Last year, when I began to use Google Classroom, it became even easier to have my students use google forms for quick formative assessments or to collect responses about their learning.  I could insert the link to the form right in an assignment in Google Classroom.  Once they took the survey/quiz, I would then have them go back into classroom and mark it as "done."  This was a bit cumbersome,  but it helped me to quickly see who was done and who was still working. This

Skyward: Creating a Seating Chart

Sometimes it is really helpful to have a seating chart with your students' names and seat locations.  Perhaps you have a sub or classroom volunteer who needs to know where the students sit, or who simply needs to be able to learn the students' names and faces. You can create these lists/charts in Skyward. Step 1: Go to the class in your gradebook for which you wish to create a seating chart. Step 2: Hover your mouse over the Attendance menu and select "Assign Seats for Seating Chart" Step 3: Now you have the seating chart window open.  If all you want to do is print this screen, then simply right click and select Print.  If you want to rearrange the order of the students you will have to do a few more steps. Step 4: Select the number of rows and seats per row at the top.  Click Refresh. Step 5: Click Select under the name of the student you wish to move.  Click Swap or Fill Seat to move the child to the new seat. Repeat until you have everyone where you w

Google: Google Forms Update

Over the last month, Google made some major updates to the look and feel of Google Forms .  Here is a great " how to " from Educational Technology and Mobile Learning on how to navigate through the new features. http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2015/09/teachers-guide-on-how-to-use-new-google-forms.html

Skyward - Secondary: Clone from Existing Gradebook

Clone From Existing Gradebook:  Allows you to copy one or more assignment from a current year or historical Gradebook of your own or copy an assignment from another teacher’s Gradebook. When selecting this option, you must be in the Gradebook where you want the assignment created. Step 1  Select the Gradebook with the assignment you want to clone. You can select from a  prior year Gradebook  (ex: 2015), current year Gradebook (ex: 2016) or another teacher’s Gradebook (You would need to click the Select Different Teacher button).  After selecting the Gradebook, click the Next button. Step 2 Select the assignment(s) you want to clone; all assignments are defaulted to selected. You can click the "Uncheck All" button to select individual assignments. You are able to clone an assignment only when you have the identical category assigned to your class. After selecting the assignment, click the Next button. Step 3 Select the class(es)to which you want the

Skyward - Elementary: Clone events from last years gradebook

Clone From Existing Gradebook:  Allows you to copy one or more events from a current year or historical Gradebook of your own or copy an event from another teacher’s Gradebook. When selecting this option, you must be in the Gradebook where you want the event created. Step 1  Select the Gradebook with the events you want to clone. You can select from a prior year Gradebook  (ex: 2015), current year Gradebook (ex: 2016) or another teacher’s Gradebook (You would need to click the Select Different Teacher button).  After selecting the Gradebook, click the Next button. Step 2 Select the event(s) you want to clone; all events are defaulted to selected. You can click the Uncheck All button to select individual events. You are able to clone an event only when you have the identical category assigned to your class. After selecting the events, click the Next button. Step 3 You see the event(s) you selected in the previous step. This screen allows you to change the Due date of

Google Classroom: New features for a new year!

This summer the big buzz at Tech Camp wasn't the Skyward gradebook or online assessments...it was GOOGLE CLASSROOM !  Google Classroom is a document management system from Google that really helps teachers organize and manage their classes.  It allows you to easily handout and have students turn back in assignments in a logical and organized manner.  This product launched just over a year ago and since that time it has taken the classrooms around the country by storm.  Learn more about Google Classroom in this blog post . Now since Google never leaves well enough alone when it comes to any of their products, it is no surprise that they have recently made some substantial feature adds to Google Classroom just in time for the start of a new school year.  These new features include some of the most requested items we heard from our PPS teachers who were piloting Google Classroom last year.  Here is what Google had to say about the new features they have added in their most recent Go

Copiers: Locked Print Jobs

There are many reasons why it is important to use locked print jobs.  Maybe you are printing something that has confidential student information on it, or perhaps you don't want your copies getting mixed in with someone else's, or perhaps you have trouble with the copy fairy walking away with your copies before you get a chance to get them from the copier.  Whether it is for these reasons, or many others you are probably wondering, "How do I do a locked print job on the new copiers?" Locking a print job is very easy with the new copiers.  You just have to make sure you are printing to the "correct" printer.  Let me explain... The way to do lock jobs now is to print to the FindMe printer for your building.  This will allow you to walk up any of the copiers, put in your code and print your job.  Here is how to set it up. Add the Find Me Printer Step 1: Open Internet Explorer Step 2: Type \\ppspc in the address bar Step 3: Scroll down until you

Copiers: Adding New Copiers to your Computer

As you start making your way back into the building, you will be greeting with the wonderful sight of new copiers and printers.  Along with these new copiers and printers we also have a new software called PaperCut that handles the accounting end for the copies.  Over the next couple weeks, we will be sharing tips and tricks for the new copiers.  To get you all started, here is how to add the new printers to your computers in your classroom so you can print the materials needed for the first week of class, as well as delete out the old print drivers you no longer need (anything with \\ppsprint.) Adding new printers Deleting old printers

Skyward: Adding Classes to Teacher Quick Access on the Teacher Dashboard

Welcome back!  It is time to get another school year underway.   As you login to Skyward for the first time this school year, you will probably notice that you need to once again set up your teacher quick access so that you can view the blue gradebooks and yellow attendance bells on your dashboard main screen.  Here is how you accomplish that task. Teacher Quick Access Box You will also see a box labeled “Teacher Quick Access”. In this box, click on the line that says “Click here to select classes to display for quick access”. From the window that opens, you can select to take your attendance by name or by seating chart. You will also want to select the “Let me select from all my classes” button. Put check marks in front of all the classes you wish to display. Click Save when finished. NOTE: Elementary teachers will want to select all. Secondary teachers - If you have semester classes, you can choose to only show the semester you want to see. You will now see, in you

Students Presenting on the TEC? Use the Incognito Window!

We love student created content! Creating materials to teach others can, when done well, really impact a student's learning. However, no matter the positive outcomes of students teaching students, when it comes to presentation day, getting students logged into and out of Google Chrome can be tedious and time consuming. Ugh. Well, here's a tech tip that might just speed up students getting access to their Google Drive presentations (or any other files associated to their Portage accounts). Google Chrome's Incognito Window Chrome's Incognito Window allows another user to quickly login to and out of Google Services without disrupting your profile on Chrome. Either use the shortcut keys Ctrl+Shift+N from Chrome or click on the Chrome menu button and choose "New Incognito Window" Then type in or go to " gmail.com ", " drive.google.com ", or whichever Google Service you wish and login to that service. When students are done pr

PD: Blended Learning in the Classroom Course being offered this Summer/Fall

Blended Learning in the Classroom Course Flyer This spring, our PPS tech director, our tech integration specialists, four of our middle school teachers, and one elementary teacher completed the REMC Blended Learning in the Classroom (BLiC) course. This 62 SCECHs course was really beneficial in moving many of us forward in our learning and understanding of Blended Learning. It offered background on what blended learning was (hint: it isn't just flipping your classroom!) and how to organize your classroom to get the most out of the time you have with your students. Although the course was amazing, it was a significant amount of work that would be challenging to complete during the school year without release time. Thankfully, the course organizers have heard our concerns and have decided to offer a "split" course that would cover the first three modules during the summer when we all have more time to think and process, then finish up the rest of the hands-on modu

PD: Going Google Training at Mattawan Middle School on June 15

Kalamazoo RESA, Berrien RESA and the Southwest Michigan TRIG Consortium would like to invite you to Going Google , a Google training, on June 15th at Mattawan Middle School. Click Here to Register If you have any questions, feel free to contact Keith at ktramper@kresa.net .

Grants: Looking for funding? Check out these grants.

Looking for some grant opportunities?  Check out these three grants.  Also, if you are looking for a more specific grant, GetEdFunding by CW-G is a great resource.  Do you know of some great grant opportunities?  Please share in the comments section! $2,500 Grant Program from Thank America’s Teachers Sponsored by Farmers Group, Inc., Thank America’s Teachers Website: https://www.thankamericasteachers.com/submit-a-proposal/ Contact: Farmers Group, Inc. 4680 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90010 Email: usw_farmersgivesback@farmers.com Description : Through the Thank America’s Teachers, Farmers Group, Inc. is awarding grants up to $2,500 each to teachers across America that can be put towards classroom supplies through AdoptAClassroom.org. The contest is open to full-time teachers in kindergarten through grade 12 schools. The contest consists of three contest periods and voting periods. Entries are limited to one per contestant per contest period. At the end of each period, Farmers Gr

Year End, Purging Student U Drives

As we approach the end of another school year, it is important for all students to know that ALL files and folders in their network storage drive, otherwise know as the U Drive , will be purged or deleted during summer maintenance . What does this specifically mean for students? If you need to keep any of your files from this school year, you will need to move them into your Google Drive or another service of your choosing. Any students leaving the district (Congratulations, Seniors!) will have to move their files into another storage location outside of the Portage Public Schools Network and their @portageps.org Google Account. There are several methods for making this move; however, we recommend either of the following methods below. Moving U Drive Files to your PPS Google Drive Account If you will be at PPS next year, this is the one for you! Login to a student computer with your Portage username and password Open Windows Explorer or My Computer to go to your