The Beautiful Hum of Children Learning

Last Friday, some students shared their projects. The sound was like a beautiful orchestra to me, so I recorded this harmony to share.

3 Steps to Create Instructional Videos with EDpuzzle

Steps to Use EDpuzzle:

 

1. The YouTube link below is a tutorial explaining how to download instructional video from Vimeo/YouTube/etc. to your computer.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IubsfPD9U9Q

2. Upload video into EDpuzzle app for editting and adding critical thinking, open ended questions.  I like the way I can really target what I want students to attend to in the video.

 

3.  The edpuzzle app allows you to set up a class to review answers with the class and give feedback to students. I have made several videos and see it's value!!!

 

Here is an EXAMPLE:

 

Watch 'How to Create Your Own Monarch Butterfly Rest Stop.mp4' on EDpuzzle.

https://edpuzzle.com/media/54e8e746df74e777457a765b

Proven Successful: Great Journaling App for Third Graders

"It's time for HappyTrack," my third grade students excitedly blurt out after hearing the daily 2:12 app notification from HappyTrack. We stop whatever we are doing, so students can individual reflect about their day with a rating scale of 1 to 10 and write a few sentences describing and explaining their day and rating.

We have consistently used this app all year and my students now have a beautiful journal telling about their days in third grade. Some days being happy, sad, upsetting, exciting, thrilling, or boring with sincere individual student self-reflections and growing emotional vocabularies.

I think what made HappyTrack more successful than hand written journals was the timer notification for consistent daily use, the name of the app (everybody likes to say the words Happy Track), and the ease of writing and caring for a solid iPAD as opposed to a journal that either looks like a piece art at the end of the year or like it just came out of the bottom of a student's backpack. The simplicity of the app also contributed to student success. The students like the color and text adjusting features too.

I will be using this app every year!

happytrack by Seth Hayward
https://appsto.re/us/MQE70.i

Digital Footprint! School is a safe place to learn and grow!

Just participated in the podcast about KidBlog on Teacher Cast. It is the next step for my students who really have started to develop as digital citizens on Edmodo.

School is a safe environment for students to develop a positive digital footprint. The idea of a digital footprint is real and what I currently feel compelled to help my students develop.  We will see how it goes! 😁