Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Spring Cleaning


Well, it finally feels like Spring around here!  We survived record breaking snow fall and hopefully, can now enjoy a crisp breeze, tulips pushing through the remaining snow, and longer days.  The sun doesn't set until 7:08 pm. Get outside and enjoy some sunshine!


Spring is always a good time to reorganize and rejuvenate (even for those of us that are knee deep in PARCC!).  Here are some tips for organizing your digital life!


Back up your images and documents....USB stick (flashdrive), cloud or external hard drive - take your pick!


Empty your Trash - Just because you put it in the trash doesn't mean it's gone. You still have to empty the trash or permanently delete the items.  Select Trash/Empty Trash


Organize your emails, delete, categorize or label those you need to keep! Gear Symbol/Settings/Labels


Completely close out of browsers and programs.....if the little bubble appears beneath the icon on your dock, then the browser or program is still open.  Right click on the icon, a menu will appear, select quit.


Create and/or organize Folders within Google Drive, your Documents or on your iPad.  In your Google Drive, you can even color code your folders:  blue = writing, purple = parent correspondence, yellow = student council, etc.


Clean up your Desktop - having too many items stored on your desktop will slow down your computer.  Move these items to Documents.


Update apps on your iPad


Stay healthy - wipe down your computer, iPad, iPhone with electronic safe wipes.


Streamline your RSS Feed (Feedspot) - too many items to ever read?  Pick your favorite sites or blogs to follow and get rid of the rest.  


Refresh and recharge....choose one item (big or small) from your to-do-list (or Todoist) and do it!  You will feel great checking even the smallest items off your list!

Have an awesome short week!

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Poetry

Creativity, collaboration and communication are skills developed in your classrooms everyday.  Upcoming poetry units give students the unique opportunity to explore their creative side and share thoughts, ideas or a few laughs with their classmates.  If you add a digital component, students can share their original works globally.  Grandparents, aunts and uncles can all enjoy the students’ writing.  Poetry comes to life if students record their work with emotion and intonation.  


With apps like Adobe Voice, Vocaroo or Voice Record students can create audio recordings of their poetry.  


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Padlet allows students to collaborate to create poems using random words and phrases.  

  Use My Story to publish your students’ poetry.  

  Create shape poems with word clouds like Tagul.  


The ideas are endless and hearing their voices is priceless!

Monday, March 2, 2015

Doodle



Spring is just seventeen days away!  Which also means spring conferences are right around the corner.  Doodle simplifies the process of scheduling events.  Parents can choose from a list of potential time slots.  Options include a choice eliminator. Once a time slot is taken, that time slot is unavailable - avoiding double bookings!  Sign up will be on a first come, first serve basis.  Simply invite the parents via email.  Once parents have signed up, with the click of a button you can print a list of the sign ups. Saving you time and energy!


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Doodle can be used for any type of sign up, including mystery readers or parent volunteers.  Doodle also makes it easy to schedule the best possible meeting time for a large group of people.  Finding a meeting time that works for everyone will be so much faster. Doodle can even be linked directly to your Google calendar!


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