…Scratch does not require a local installation and can be accessed on any device with a web browser, including Chromebooks. Scratch is free. Users must create an account. Teachers can…
Keep Your Students Engaged Virtually: When Life Hands Them Lemons, Help Them Make Batteries (β¦and Other Cardboard Engineering Ideas)
…educators from Microsoft’s Hacking STEM team, James Burke and Jason Ewert. Learn how hands-on lessons with low-cost materials can work in your virtual classroom. James Burke is a 20-year teacher…
#95 β Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining Elementary Teachers
…folks in my cohort most often — is that they’re in teaching because they want to be the teachers they never saw as children.” Recruitment: To recruit more new teachers,…
Coding C.H.O.M.P.
…CHOMP (Presentation) CHOMP Interactive Scratch Program CHOMP Recording Sheet Scratch Account Information for Teachers Device access Minds-on Growth mindset Self-efficacy Planning and organizational skills Anticipating and evaluating the consequences of…
12 Classroom Valentine’s Day Activities
…use their critical thinking skills. These can be in the form of breakout boxes, escape rooms, scavenger hunts, or puzzle challenges. You can search online for various resources, like the…
Make Virtual Learning Accessible
Access Is An Equity Issue When students have difficulty accessing information and materials during virtual learning, it is not only a learning problem, it is an equity issue. Students who…
#63 β Accelerate Learning With Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning
…Lesson Development UDL provides a framework to help educators create content and materials that work for all learners. When designing a lesson, you need to include instructions, materials, and resources…
Lemon Battery: Collaborative Problem-Solving
Can you light up an LED with just some simple materials? Challenge your students to work collaboratively to figure it out and then make a switch to turn the light…
#125 β Evaluating the Credibility of Online Information
…Intent Accuracy Slant For more information about online reference materials, explore the AVID Open Access article Search and Seek Credible Information: Step 3 of the Searching for ANSWERS Inquiry Process….
AI and the 4 Cs: Critical Thinking
…to make it a more reliable tool.” This is not the first time that new technology has threatened to disrupt K–12 education. In fact, the release of generative AI tools…
Ed Tip: AI as a Lesson Planning Assistant
…that work well as starting points for lesson design. Then, the teacher must step in and review, reflect, and revise, as needed, to make the ideas usable in the context…
#136 β Computer Science Education Week and the Importance of Computational Thinking, with Kiki Prottsman
…lot easier to justify trying it and maybe committing to it.” Keeping It Going: Beyond Hour of Code, there are lots of free coding tools available online, including materials from…
Ed Tip: Digital Learning Environments
…search to locate resources online. I can refresh the webpage. I can navigate back and forth between pages. I can add, close, rearrange, and pin tabs. I can create, manage,…
Care for Your Students During Live Teaching and Learning
…quick check-in, continue to do those things in a virtual way. Consider communicating and creating new virtual classroom routines, like digital show-and-tell or virtual Spirit Weeks. Provide sentence stems to…
Week 2: K-2 Day 5 Letter
…materials to make an Invention Box to store and organize the tools, safety equipment, and materials for inventing. The next day we made play-dough—an easy material to make at home—to…