Friday, December 7, 2018

#HourofCode2018

Dance Party- WOOT WOOT!  We started the Hour of Code week off with an Unplugged Dance Party activity from code.org for our circle time.  Middle school students have the MOVES!

Throughout the week students were having fun with the robot stations:
1).  Bowling with the robot Sphero










2).  Bocce ball with Sphero
3).  Ozobot doodling












4).  Cue robot drawing










Science classrooms also participated in the Hour of Code with choosing a website or app activity to engage with learning or challenging themselves with coding using the presentation below. 


Thursday, December 6, 2018

Holiday Paper Circuit Cards


Holiday Paper Circuit Cards

What a great activity to light up someone's day during the holiday season!  Some advisory classrooms have been creating holiday cards using simple circuits following the presentation below.  The iEngineers are leading this activity with other classrooms to show them how a paper circuit works.  Learning circuits + a fun activity = WIN WIN for teachers and students!  



Monday, October 29, 2018

Organizing Google Drive LIKE a BOSS

Google Drive is an essential tool for teaching!  I've been using Google Drive extensively for 5 years, and would label myself as a definite POWER user!  It has been a challenge to keep up with the organizing aspect of Google Drive.  This is a presentation below that I shared with my staff at one of the POP-UP Professional Development Workshops after school this year.  Teachers felt this was a need for their professional learning and being organized with their teaching resoures.

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Circle Activity- HOT 100

iEngineer students enjoyed playing this game below during Advisory.  It was LOUD and chaotic but the students were all engaged and wanted to keep playing!  A great way to get them off and running for the day!  I found this activity and other fun activities through the Origins Online Games Website.  With this website, you can search by different categories based on the comfort level of your students.  Starting off the year, I explore the acquainted activities and then throughout the year move to the more comfortable games.

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Green Screen About Me Blog Post

Students in iEngineer explored how to set-up their own blogs on KidBlog.  My goal for these students this school year is to have a space where they can freely blog about their passions, ambitions, ideas, strengths, etc.  The first blog post they created was an about me post based on their green screen picture they created with iMovie.  iEngineer students have so many skills and expertise to offer to the school and blogging is one way they can share this information out. 
I created a KidBlog presentation to introduce the students to kidblog.  Check it out below and feel free to use in your classroom this year!  It's a great way for students to have some choice and voice in their learning!

Thursday, September 20, 2018

BMS Tech Week

For the rest of September, students will be participating in Tech Week where they learn the skills of taking notes, being organized, and creating with their iPads.  Tech Week resources are located on our BMS website and below by clicking on the image/caption. 
iEngineer students will be taking on the Tech Week Challenge and creating videos to share with the school on how to use different apps on the iPad.  We can't wait to share our ideas with the school!  Do you have any ideas of cool tips & tricks?  Send videos to bmssteam@apps.district279.org to be eligible for a prize!
BMS Tech Week Resources

360 School Tour withThingLink

Yesterday was a FUN learning day!  I LOVE my job and discovering new ideas to try out with my iEngineer Adivsory students!
Thinglink has a paid feature where you can post 360 images, videos and create an interactive digital story.  We are planning to use it here at BMS to take 360 images and record audio of classrooms to create a digital school tour for families to view online of our AMAZING school!  Families will get to see what some of our classrooms look like and the fun projects students are engaged in. I'm SO excited to work with teachers and students on this project!  More information to come.  Check out what we've started!


Friday, September 7, 2018

Goose Chase Teamwork Challenge


One app I enjoy using with students is Goose Chase.  Goose chase is a digital scavenger hunt where students work in teams to collaborate on missions and have FUN!  It's a great way to get your students up and moving and learn more about one another and content within your classroom.  See the slideshow below for more information on how to get started!



Here are some pictures of how I've used it with my iEngineer Advisory students:
List of Missions
Students having fun with the Team Selfie mission


Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Schoology 101

Be Creative with Google Slides

I enjoy creating Google Slides and I like to add some creative themes to my slides.  SlidesCarnival is a website that offers free Google Slides and PowerPoint templates.  Just simply search through the templates and find one that best fits your needs for your presentation and click to use either with Google Slides or Powerpoint.  In each template, you get a variety of different slides to use.  Some examples may include a title page, chart, table, map, quotes, and more for you to edit. 
One of my favorites:
Search through the templates and find one that speaks to you- HAVE FUN!


Bulldogs on Social Media- FOLLOW US!

Follow BMS on
Social Media
Brooklyn Middle STEAM School is on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  
Celebrate our school’s activities and accomplishments with the hashtag:  
#bmssteambulldogs and #bmsbulldogsrock


 Brooklyn Middle Steam School




                    
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@bmssteam



Sunday, September 2, 2018

Blogging Is My New Jam


It's been a while since I've blogged but I'm jumping in full force this year!  I have so many ideas and so many things to share that I wanted a place that I could EXPLODE! The point is not to overwhelm you but to give you some quick ideas and resources to take a look at.
One of my favorite blogs that I follow is Cult of Pedagogy because it's relevant and meaningful for educators.  Interesting name too, huh?!! If you don't follow this blog, DO IT! I follow her on Facebook so when I'm scrolling through in the evening, I read the articles. 

A 4-Part System For Getting to Know Your Students is a good starting article for the beginning of the year and getting to know your students.  I used this article to help me set-up my own Google Form to share with students to learn more about them in my advisory class.  I want to best meet their needs by getting to know who they are and what their passions are to cultivate a classroom of life-long learners and leaders. 

Making Teaching in Schoology a Little Easier with Google Drive Integration

One of my favorite new features of Schoology is the Google Drive Assignments App.  This feature enables the instructor to assign Google Drive resources (Docs, Sheets, Drawings, Slides) right into the Schoology platform.  Students can make their own copies and receive feedback from the instructor right in Schoology.  Go ahead and try it out and guaranteed you'll love it too!

Starting the School Year Off With Schoology


There are so many great features for using Schoology in your classroom everyday!  Now that we have our courses available in Synergy, they are now synced into Schoology.  Schoology has also changed it's look and some of it's features so watch the short video below.  Also take some time to link your sections to save you much needed time and energy when adding materials to your courses.  More information here: Getting Started on Schoology For Instructors 

The district created this document to help you get started, check out some of these important ways to start the school year!  It is also posted in the Osseo Area SchoolOGY Teachers activity.  

Friday, August 24, 2018

Building Student Portfolios with KidBlog


Digital portfolios are a great way for us to see student growth, to celebrate the successes of our students, and to share with families.  There are many different platforms to create digital portfolios and I want to share one that I've used in the past with my 6th grade classrooms.  Our district has purchased a KidBlog license for all to use so why not give it a try!  You'll also be teaching digital citizenship and this is much needed for our middle school students!

Kidblog wrote this article: 5 Reasons to Build Student Portfolios on KidBlog and shows us how impactful it can be for reflecting and sharing with others.  There are also many other different ways to use KidBlog in your classroom but thought this could be a good place for you to get started on your journey!  Osseo KidBlog Directions

Get Started With KidBlog

FlipGrid To Start Off the Year!

Building relationships with students at the beginning of the year is so important.  Last year Flipgrid put together a list of 16 ways you can use Flipgrid at the beginning of the year to get to know your students better:  Building Community on the First Day of School.   This is a powerful educational tool for capturing student voice.  The best part is that it's FREE, easy to use and can be used in any subject!  You can just search the Discovery Library for cool resources that you can take and use right away- BOOM!

BMS will be using Flipgrid throughout the year and to start off the year teachers will use it to give a short introduction of who they are and what they are excited about for this year.  Book recommendations, project reflections, etc will be some of the flipgrids you will also see this year.

Let's get our FLIPGRID on BMS!  I highly recommend following the flipgrid blog to see new ideas and ways you can use Flipgrid in your classroom.