Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Auto Draw - Google A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)

AutoDraw is a new kind of drawing tool. It pairs machine learning with drawings from talented artists to help everyone create anything visual, fast. There’s nothing to download. Nothing to pay for. And it works anywhere: smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop, etc.

AutoDraw’s suggestion tool uses the same technology used in QuickDraw, to guess what you’re trying to draw. Right now, it can guess hundreds of drawings and is looking forward to adding more over time. If you are interested in creating drawings for others to use with AutoDraw, contact them here.



Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Family Tips

Common Sense Media Family Tip Sheets 

Use the guides below to start tough conversations with your students/kids.





Tuesday Tech Tips - Google Expeditions



Every Tuesday Google for Education releases tips on Google Forms
The tips are submitted by everyday users. See if you can get your tip included. The tips are cumulative, so you can go back and reference tips from weeks ago.

Google Expeditions 
Teacher TIPS
Also check out
G+ Community
Twitter: #googleexpeditions
Help Center
Sign Up to create a lesson
Learn about Expeditions
Training Center for Expeditions


Tuesday Tech TIPS: Google Forms




Every Tuesday Google for Education releases tips on Google Forms

The tips are submitted by everyday users. See if you can get your tip included. The tips are cumulative, so you can go back and reference tips from weeks ago.


Google Forms
Teacher TIPS

Also check out
G+ Community (Docs and Drive)
Twitter: #googleforms
Help Forum
Learn about Forms
Training Center for Forms


Tuesday Teacher TIPS - Google Classroom




Every Tuesday Google for Education releases, tips for Google Classroom
The tips are submitted by everyday users. See if you can get your tip included.
The tips are cumulative, so you can go back and reference tips from weeks ago.

Google Classroom

Teacher TIPS
Also check out
G+ Community
Twitter: #googleclassroom
Help Forum
Help Center




Easily Turn Google Spreadsheets into Flashcards and Other Cool Stuff - Flippity

Transform Your Classroom into a Game Show


Flippity provides a variety of templates to create game show activities for your classroom.  The nice thing about Flippity is that most activities are based on a Google sheet you can easily edit. 
For examples and directions to using Flippity
For examples and directions to using Flippity - click here

There are 11 tools that you can select from:
  1. Flashcards
  2. Quiz Show
  3. Bingo
  4. Hangman
  5. Spelling Words
  6. Random Picker
  7. Mix and Match
  8. Badge Tracker
  9. Progress Indicator
  10. MadLibs
  11. Certificate Quiz






FreeRice - World Food Programme

Freerice is a non-profit website that is owned by and supports the United Nations World Food Programme. Students can answer questions knowing that their work turns into rice for those that need it.

Freerice has two goals:
  1. Provide education to everyone for free. CATEGORIES of QUESTIONS
  2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free. 
How to Play/Help: When you play the game (NO LOGIN required), sponsor banners appear on the bottom of your screen for every correct answer that you choose. The money generated by these banners is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.

Have students check out all the 
CATEGORIES of QUESTIONS
- SAT Prep
- World Languages: GermanSpanishFrenchItalianLatin
- Sciences: Human Anatomy, Chemical Symbols
- Geography: World Landmarks, Identify Countries on the Map World Capitals, Flags of the world
- English: Vocabulary, Grammar
- MathMultiplication Table, Basic Math (Pre-Algebra)
- Humanities: Famous Paintings, Literature, World Hunger, Famous Quotations


Google - ALL CAPS

Capitalizing a large portion of text or an especially long title can be a pain. Doing the opposite—converting capital letters to lowercase—is equally a waste of time. Google is making these tasks quick and easy in Google Docs on the web.

Simply open a Google Doc
Click the Format Menu
Select Capitalization
Select one of the following:
lowercase, UPPERCASE, Title Case


Interesting Maps - Using Maps For Students To Show Their Understanding / Application


Interesting MAPS
Are you using great maps with your students? Share what and how you use them for other teachers to learn from you.

World Population
Themes: Food, Health, Environment, Sci & Tech...
Overlays: Fossil Fuels, Land Use, Urbanization, Life Expectancy...
Years: Scrolls through years to see how the Themes and Overlays change over time

Compare Country Sizes or The True Size or How Big Really
Easy way for students to compare countries, states, and event sizes

World Export Maps Easy visual to see top exports from each country.

Where can the data take you? customize the data you want to display

What your state is good at, and what it's lame at.

40 Maps they did not teach you in school

Other Interesting MAPS
- What your state is good at, and what it's lame at.
- Debate Graph
- Population Density ( w/ sliding scale )
- Hurricane Paths
- Big Map Blog
- World Mapper
- Scribble Maps
- Crazy Maps
- Thematic Maps
- Tripline - The Scale of the Universe - YouTube video
- Map Maker Interactive- Easel.ly - Infographics

- Imaginative and Beautifully Designed Maps - Geography Awareness Week

TED Talk: Alisa Miller How does the news shape the way we ( the United States ) see the world
- GeoGuesser: figure out exactly where you are by using Google Maps and Google Earth to find geographical clues. Use GeoSettr to create your own GeoGuesser

- Mission Map Quest
- European Map Time Lapse Video
- World Geography Games
- Geography Awareness Week Ideas

Monday, April 3, 2017

Summer Instructional Technology PD

2017 Spring Professional Learning Opportunities

Register for the day(s) you would like to join us

We are excited to share our instructional technology professional learning opportunities for this summer.  We have spoken with many teachers throughout the district regarding needs and requests for professional learning, and here is the list from those conversations. We have had a great response but there is still plenty of room for you to join us.

Middle/High School 1:1
When: Wednesday May 31st, 2017  8:00am to 4:00pm
Where: Littleton High School
Who: 6-12 teachers
Description: possible topics and more...
  • Tools that Support Student Learning in Math, Science, Lang Arts, Fine Arts & Social Studies
  • Digital Citizenship - Common Sense Educator/School
  • Letting PLC Data Conversations Work for You
  • Chromebook 101
  • Using Google Classroom to organize student assignments, managing small groups and creating open-ended questions
  • Supporting Multiple Learning Modalities
  • Video and Audio tools that support content area focuses
  • Learn how to use Destiny the LPS District Library Catalog for research.

LPS Google Academy
When: Thursday June 1st, 2017   8:00am to 4:00pm
Where: Littleton High School
Who: 3-12 teachers
Description:
  • Learn Google Suite tools (Drive, Mail, Calendar, Sites, Classroom, Maps, Photos, Google Keep) to:
    • Supporting Multiple Learning Modalities
    • Scaffold learning for struggling students
    • Deepen critical thinking
    • Collaborate ( increase student audience )
    • Communicate effectively

Instructional Multimedia Day
When: Monday June 5th, 2017   8:00 am to 4:00 pm
Where: Littleton High School
Who: 3 -12 teachers
Description:
To create awareness and effective teaching practice guidance around multimedia tools:
  • STEM tools and techniques including 3D printing and coding
  • Multimedia tools and techniques including video creation and audio creation
  • Intra-classroom communication tools including Skype and Google Hangouts
  • Classroom communication tools including Twitter, Google Classroom and Classroom websites

Credit: You can be compensated in one of two ways for these three (3) offerings: $150 for each day you attend OR 0.5 recert credit for each day you attend.  
Course Requirements:
  • Active participation
  • Submit a 2-5 minute video reflection for each day (Screencastify or other preferred tool)
    • Reflection can include
      • How can today impact your classroom practices?
      • What additional support do you need to make your next steps?
      • How will you share your learning?

Leadership Opportunity:  If you are interested in leading one or more sessions please add this to the registration form or contact Dana Levesque or Randy Stall.


National Parks - Calling all 4th graders

FREE for all 4th graders 

Your 4th grader can take you amazing places! With this park pass, fourth graders can bring family and friends on adventures free for a full year. Each student receives a paper pass with a unique code. That pass gives them free access to all national parks, lands, and waters through August 31, 2017. This restarts again every year for new 4th graders. 

Every Kid in a Park 

Read more under Every Kid in a Park and how as a 4th grade teacher you can help connect families to the outdoors.

Link for Parents



Sunday, April 2, 2017

Quick Draw - Help the Network identify Doodles

Quick Draw Google


Can a neural network learn to recognize doodles? 


Help teach the network by adding your drawings to the world’s largest doodle data set, which could be shared publicly to help with machine learning research in the future. " Get 20 seconds to draw your picture and teach the network. Click Here to Try It





Other Google A.I. Experiments