Shorten & Customize URLs

Often times, we request that our students watch a video, refer our students to passage on a pdf or any type of resource. Unfortunately, when adding an assignment or instructions to Seesaw and Google Classroom, we do not have the luxury of hyperlinking a URL.  You may want to consider using Bitly to shorten and customize your URL.   

Watch this brief tutorial for instructions.  Please reach out if you have any questions.

Differentiation via Seesaw

Provide differentiation for your students by pushing out specific assignments to individual students, small groups of students or the whole class via Seesaw.

Simply find or create an activity, select 'Edit Students' then chose the specific students. Finally, select the green check.  Only the student/s you selected will be able to view and complete the activity.

This brief video walks you through these steps.

New Tech Tools Page Coming Soon....

The Technology Department has updated the Tech Tools page.  Sometime in the next few weeks, the link on the students' home page (wpss.org/elem) will be updated to reflect the new site.  On the home page, students will find links to a variety of resources commonly used by our students including Adobe Spark, Kahoot, and Newsela.  The Images Page has links to the WPS approved sites for downloading copyright-free images.  Please continue to direct your students to the Tech Tools page when searching for images.  You will also find links to a wide variety of resources for you on the staff page!  If you would like to try something new or would like more information on any resource, please reach out to me.

Also to avoid any confusion, I am happy to give a brief overview of the site to your students.  Let me know if you are interested!  

Click here for a sneak peek! If you have any suggestions, to improve the site, please let me know. 

Try it Tuesday!

The struggle to get students to play creatively and freely is real.  A teacher recently said that the students don't know how to use the dramatic play area.  

Our colleague, Kris McDonough, found that her students always went to the same choice (legos, blocks, etc.) when given free choice.  Kris has introduced "Try it Tuesday"!  She puts out certain options for students to play including board games, play dough, legos, and so much more!  Other options are closed for the day.  Yesterday she opened "Cafe 113".  The students loved pretending to cook and be waiters!  I loved this idea!  You may already do this in your classrooms or something similar.  Share your ideas too!

Thanks, Kris! 

Noise Control Tools

Feeling like the classroom volume has increased with the holidays approaching?  Try using Classroom Screen!  There are tools built right in such as a Sound Level Reminder or Work Symbols.  Work symbols are a silent reminder for students to know the current expectation based on the activity.

The Sound Level tool allows you to choose a level of sound.  If the classroom noise level exceeds your desired level the bar will turn red from green and ding - providing a visual and auditory reminder to the students.

These tools are accessible on the bottom bar of Classroom Screen.

​There are many tools available to help.  You may also want to bookmark bouncyball.com.  You can set the level of sensitivity and change the icons.  More tools for your toolbox!

Try these tools out from time to time to see how your students respond.

Repeating Timer

Looking for an efficient repeating timer? Try Classroom Screen! Among the many awesome features (timers, random name selector, reminders, drawing tool), you can also set your timer to automatically reset and restart!  Perfect feature for rotating stations, partner discussions, Scoot activities, skill rotations!

Seesaw Save as a Draft Tool

Seesaw is an awesome tool to record and curate student work.  Students can take a quick in the moment picture or video of their work.  Or you can push out assignments or assessments!  Now students can save their work 'AS A DRAFT' - allowing students to return to their work at a later time without having to make another copy.