Spring Ahead

This weekend, we'll observe Daylight Savings Time by moving our clocks ahead.  For me this is usually the true signal of spring.  We've had unseasonably warm weather over the last month here in NC.  In some ways it feels like spring came earlier than usual.

Tonight I welcome spring with a cool app that surfaced in my email.  It is called iNaturalist.
I was hooked right away. Let me explain why.

Permission to Pin

There are so many great resources on the Internet!
Who knows, you may even think that my little blog is one of them.
Nothing would make me happier than to know I shared something you found useful!

In the spirit of collaboration and sharing, I want to make it perfectly clear that you have my permission to "pin" anything I have created and shared.  Why am I being so formal?  Simple.

Leapin' Leprachauns!

Crazy Leprachauns already visited my store. They have played Leap Year tricks on all of my prices so that the final prices all end in 29 cents. You might not think so when you first look at them but they marked my prices down 20% and then they marked them down another 10% when they messed around with TpT's pricing too. That means you're getting 28% off everything in my store and the final prices all end in 29 cents. What a funny little trick, but as with all magic it won't last forever. Once leap day is over I'm certain the magic will wear off and everything will go back to normal. Have fun shopping! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Techedoutteacher

Clip Art for Student Projects

Sometimes I just forget about great websites like DK Books.  If you have students completing projects and want them to use quality clip art, this is the place to look first! This is free, quality clip art for personal, non-commercial use only.  Let me be clear on that.  I know that a lot of my TpT followers will be looking for clip art for their products.  That is not what this is for.  Teachers looking for an easy to search, student friendly site will definitely want to bookmark this one!  Your students will have beautiful projects with accurate images from now on.

75 Ways to Say Good Job!

I know we've all seen the posters with different ways to tell a student they've done a "good job."  How about a teched out twist on that. My QR code enabled posters were featured in the Teachers Pay Teachers newsletter yesterday and they've already been downloaded over 1,300 times.  Did you get your copy?  Have you shared it with a colleague.  Kids are going to love using a mobile device to scan the "secret code" to receive their praise.

 

Sneak Peek

 I'm working on a techie update to my I have, Who has vocabulary games. 

It looks something like this.

That's right.  I'm building a QR code enabled I have, Who has game.

If you want a sneak peek, visit my page https://www.facebook.com/thetechedoutteacher

Find my post for the private sneak peek group.

Click like.
Wait for an invitation.
Then visit the private group and claim your file.
What could be easier?

Hope you enjoy it!

Touch it Learn it

Everyone has their own personal preferences for learning, but it certainly seems that learning by touching is highly effective.  Kinesthetic learners learn through movement.  Touch fits into this category.  If you have technology that is touch sensitive, you are in a position to engage students in their learning kinesthetically.  All too often the Smart Board is becoming nothing more than a very expensive projector screen. I am seeing lessons pop up all over the web that claim to offer interactivity for students when they are nothing more than a powerpoint slide show.  Just because it is being projected on a Smart Board does not mean the students are interacting with it in some new way.  In fact, they are often sitting in their seats watching text and pictures fly in and out while they take notes on a sheet of paper.  Is that really interactive?
I think not.  That is why I am developing a series of Touch it Learn it Interactive Mini-lessons for the Smart Board.  These lessons have elements built in that engage students in touching objects on the board and moving them around as they develop understanding of a topic.  The first one is complete and is being offered free on Teachers Pay Teachers.  In order to meet the typical requirements of having some type of student work to show for their learning, I have also included a Venn Diagram file to go with it.  The topic of this first mini-lesson is Bodies of Water.  Students will be able to identify bodies of water as either freshwater or saltwater. I hope you and your students will benefit from my mini-lessons.  There are many more coming soon.  If you haven't already subscribed to my blog, my facebook page, or my store please do that so you won't miss out when I add more of the Touch it Learn it Mini-lessons.