Common Sense Education has posted a notice on its website stating that the content on its EdTech review pages is no longer being updated, and it will be taking a break from edtech reviews beginning February 2026.

The notice also directs educators to Common Sense EdTech privacy ratings and encourages subscribing to its educator newsletter for updates on classroom tech and media trends.

For many educators and district leaders, Common Sense reviews have been a familiar first stop for quickly gauging classroom fit, usability, and student experience. This shift does not create an immediate emergency, but it does remove educator access to a widely used resource.

Educators are asking the question: “Where do I get a rating now?”

Where To Go For Edtech Ratings and Reviews Now?

A useful alternative for educators looking for ratings and reviews is the EdTech Index. The EdTech Index is a resource from ISTE+ASCD (International Society for Technology in Education and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) designed to help educators compare tools using validation badges from partner organizations such as Common Sense Education.

You can learn how it works in A Comprehensive Guide to Using the EdTech Index.

The EdTech Index is not trying to be a single-star rating destination. Its approach emphasizes validations and badges as indicators across categories that schools routinely weigh when choosing tools.

Ratings vs. Validations

Ratings and reviews summarize experience and opinion. These can surface workflow realities and teacher satisfaction.

Validations and badges are meant to indicate alignment to specific criteria within a defined scope. These can help you narrow options quickly, as long as you remember that a badge signals what was validated, not whether the tool is the right fit for your specific students and setting.

The EdTech Index organizes validation signals using five EdTech Quality Indicators: Safe, Evidence-Based, Inclusive, Usable, and Interoperable. These indicators are a decision framework that can help teams move from “This is popular” to “This meets requirements we can explain and defend.”

How To Use The EdTech Index

The EdTech Index’s guides explain how to interpret quality signals rather than relying on a single score. Here is a practical approach:

1. Start with a product page and look for validation badges aligned to the five indicators.
2. Filter or narrow your search by the indicator that is non-negotiable for your district, such as safety or accessibility.
3. Click through to see who issued a validation and what it covers using the Validations area.

A badge is a strong starting point; it is not the finish line. Even a validated tool can fall short if it does not fit local curriculum, accessibility needs, device realities, or implementation capacity.

What To Do Next

Common Sense Education's pause in edtech reviews removes a familiar shortcut. The good news is you do not have to start from scratch.

Use the EdTech Index as your decision support hub to narrow options. Start by filtering using the five quality indicators. Then open a product page and look for validation badges that match your priorities. When a badge looks relevant, click into the Validations area to confirm what it covers and who issued it.

Once you have a shortlist, compare the remaining tools side by side and choose the one that meets your instructional goals and classroom realities. The value of the Index is speed and clarity. In a few minutes, you can move from a long list of tools to a short list that clears your baseline requirements, then use the Index’s comparisons to make the best choice.

You can also check out Tech & Learning's classroom tools, which are general introductory overviews. These are continually updated, although not vetted to the degree that Common Sense reviews were.

As a psychotherapist and technology journalist, specializing in education, I'm often looking at the intersection between app-based solutions and real-world emotional needs for students.

This is a very, very busy space right now as apps, AI, and enhanced attention in this area are all making for a whole host of potential solutions. So where do you start?

I think it's important to focus on what you're trying to do, first. Are you offering tools to send kids away to self-regulate, or are you trying to work with them to offer ways to explore their emotional worlds together? Or perhaps a combination of the two?

A student with enhanced communication skills, empathy, and an ability to know their own needs and limits is automatically going to be more independent. This is good for them and for educators.

So this guide aims to lay out some of the best special ed need (SEN) apps to help foster social and emotional independence for a better mental health experience for students and teachers alike.

TeenToks

TeenToks is a very modern and highly teen-focused solution to a mental health issue that has been enhanced by social media. Only in this case, that social media-style app is used to foster better self-care, enhanced emotional learning, and reduced adult authority pressure to help.

This mirrors how adolescents process emotional information: socially, narratively, and without feeling 'treated.' In this way, the app allows them to explore videos created by peers, normalizing mental health talk, in a short-form that's easy with which to engage.

GoNoodle

GoNoodle is a great choice for anyone who wants to use movement-based work to help with the discharge of energy. For this reason, the tool can be very helpful for learners with ADHD, autism, and sensory-seeking challenges.

This uses movement to help regulate the emotional system and to discharge nervous system arousal, safely and effectively.

While that can look like burning off energy, it's actually co-regulation through movement. This is ideal for any student who may struggle to process or express emotional experiences verbally. A great, body-first somatic path to regulation.

Moshi

Moshi offers a way to help students down-regulate their nervous systems so they can be more available and attentive. This can be a great way to start lessons, setting everyone in the room on a similar level for calm and available attention.

This uses strong evidence-based approaches to reduce anxiety. This includes calming stories, mindfulness, and a focus on sleep. That makes this ideal for transition periods, such as lesson beginnings or endings, as well as refusal points, or to help with sleep when needed.

Smiling Mind

Smiling Mind is a really good tool for working on understanding how to name and communicate feelings.

Thanks to a focus on emotional vocabulary development, this is a really powerful way for students to explore their inner worlds in a meaningful and useful way, both in the moment and for the future.

This uses structured mindfulness programs, nicely adapted to age groups, that allow teachers to help students develop better emotional literacy. The fact it's free, school-friendly, and non-commercial all help to make this a really powerful option for teachers.

Zones of Regulation

Zones of Regulation is an effective option to help students with their emotional self-regulation. This works well to take emotions as they are, without the usual moral connections that can complicate the reality around working with them non-judgmentally.

This uses an emotional self-regulation framework that's visual for ease of understanding, even for younger students. The idea is to take "bad" away from feelings and rather focus on ones that, perhaps, need more support than others.

No matter which you use, these SEN-friendly options make for a powerful way to help students work more openly and effectively with their own emotions in a self-affirming way.

Quizplus is available as a one-stop shop for study, offering a place to practice and cement learning in an independent way that also gives educators oversight.

The company behind this resource claims that it has millions of users and, as such, offers tens of millions of questions that can be explored.

This works across a wide range of ages and institutions, from elementary schools and colleges to high schools and home schools. It offers quizzes, flash-cards, textbook solutions, and a broad question-bank across multiple disciplines.

But how does it stack up for classroom use, how might a teacher integrate it, and what are the caveats? In this article we’ll explore what Quizplus could do in your class.

What is Quizplus?

Quizplus is a massive online resource of quizzes, flash-cards, textbook solutions and questions designed to help with study.

This offers a massive 10 million+ data bank of options that cover more than 30 fields of study. That means access to a community of more than 10 million students using more than 20 million questions and answers as well as more than 300,000 quizzes.

This covers micro-learning but also plenty of school and higher ed subjects including biology, computing, chemistry, nursing, psychology, and more.

This works as a helpful supplement for educators who want to use the ready-made content as a way to support learning and reinforce independent exploration.

How does Quizplus work?

Quizplus uses a simple drag-and-drop interface that allows teachers to begin creating a quiz from scratch with ease. But it's not totally from scratch, as there are a range of questions, images, videos, timers, randomizers, and more from which to pick.

Once the quiz is all set, students can access it via a browser or mobile app -- on both iOS and Android -- allowing them to try it. Automation is applied to grading so responses can be given with instant feedback for students without a teacher needing to get involved in the process. Usefully, this can include explanations, hints, links, and supplementary materials -- all helping students progress independently with valuable actions.

For educators, there is a helpful dashboard that visualizes performance trends across classes and individual students. They also can quickly identify areas in which learners are struggling and adjust instruction accordingly. Also, the platform supports gamification, with leaderboards, badges, and rewards that encourage participation and can help provide a sense of achievement.

What are the best Quizplus features?

Quizplus has a host of helpful features beyond the broad selection of questions and answers. Adaptive quizzing adjusts the difficulty based on student responses, so this can follow the student learning curve to help keep them progressing without being prohibitively hard.

Multimedia integration means you can add images, audio, or video to a question in order to make it far more engaging and appealing to a wider range of students.

That instant feedback is a really great way to help students understand mistakes in real time. The fact it also offer additional pathways for learning can help support independent learning all in one spot.

The analytics dashboard -- which tracks class performance, question difficulty, and learning gaps -- is a helpful way for teachers to stay close to each student but at a time that's convenient to them.

The gamification -- featuring leaderboards, badges, and competitions -- can help boost engagement, especially with students who are particularly suited to that type of learning style.

For admins and educators, the LMS integration syncs with platforms such as Google Classroom and Canvas for streamlined management.

It all adds up to a service that is designed to support active learning, promote self-paced study, and give teachers actionable insights -- all in one spot.

How much does Quizplus cost?

Quizplus is subscription-based, with options for individual educators, schools, and districts. Costs vary depending on the number of students and the level of features required. A free version is available, as is a trial option.

The Free version offers some basic access with in-app purchase options.

Basic plans may offer limited quizzes per month, making it suitable for trial or smaller classrooms.

Annual institutional licenses provide unlimited quizzes, analytics access, and premium support.

Quizplus best tips and tricks

Mix question types
Use a combination of multiple-choice, short-answer, and multimedia questions to keep students engaged.

Vary challenge
Set up quizzes that adjust difficulty based on responses to challenge advanced learners and support struggling students.

Incorporate gamification
Leaderboards and badges motivate learners, especially in competitive or collaborative classroom settings.

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QR codes. They look sleek. They’re everywhere. But in education, they’re often misused.

Sure, these are convenient if the audience you’re targeting primarily accesses information on their phones. But in education, especially with today’s widespread phone bans, that’s usually not the case.

Educators and students usually engage using laptops, tablets, or desktops. So when a QR code is plastered on a slide, agenda, or online resource with no alternative, it’s not innovative; it’s misguided.

It’s time to rethink the QR code trend and align it with user experience.

When QR Codes Make Sense

Mobile-first settings

QR codes shine when phones are already out:

• Check-ins at events
• Hallway signs or posters
• Scavenger hunts or gallery walks
• Bulletin boards or printed flyers

In these cases, a quick scan saves time and typing.

On printed materials

Paper flyers, bulletin boards, or other displays? A QR code can elegantly point to a website, video, or form. Just make sure it’s large enough to scan and clearly labeled with its intended purpose.

However, a QR code alone is not enough

Pair the QR code with a shortened URL. This gives users agency over how they access the content.

When NOT to Use a QR Code

During virtual presentations to desktop/laptop users

Don’t make attendees grab their phone to scan a slide just to open it on their computer. That’s a clunky workaround when a simple clickable or short URL would do.

In person, when people are using laptops

If attendees are working on laptops, such as in PD sessions, conferences, or meetings, they shouldn’t have to switch devices just to access content. A short URL is quicker and easier.

As the only method of access

Everyone should be able to engage, regardless of device. A QR code with no alternate link assumes everyone has the same comfort level and tools. Standard QR codes can also be challenging for blind or visually impaired individuals. Providing a QR code only is not an inclusive design. That’s an oversight.

Design for Access, Not for Show

QR codes look modern, but good design isn’t about appearance. It’s about accessibility and usability.

Before dropping a QR code into your materials, ask yourself the following, and know what to look for in your answers:

What devices are participants using?
If most are on laptops or desktops, a QR code should not be the primary access point. Provide a clickable link or shortened URL they can easily type or open.

Is scanning easier or more complicated for this audience?
If it requires switching devices or copying links between phone and laptop, it’s not easier. Choose the method that works with the device they’re already using.

Have I provided an alternative, like a short URL?
If not, you’re limiting access. Always offer both a QR code and a short link so participants can choose what works best for them.

Did I include a resource document?
A resource doc (Google Doc, PDF, or slide deck) should house all relevant links. This makes it easy for participants to revisit materials later, no matter what device they’re using.

QR Codes In Education: The Bottom Line

If a QR code creates friction instead of removing it, it's not the right tool.

True innovation means designing with your audience in mind. That includes making it as easy as possible for them to access and engage with your content.

Know someone who's using QR codes incorrectly? Now you have an article to share with them.

Keeping lines of communication open between teachers and families is important. To support that, Lacey Merrifield, Director of Technology at Bosqueville ISD in Texas, created a communication app to achieve transparency in the community. Here we talk about how the app came to be, what it accomplishes, and how it helps mitigate over-communication.

Staying in consistent contact with your child’s teacher can keep you up to date with what’s going on in your child’s class, help you better understand a teacher’s way of teaching, and provide an answer when you need it the most. However, for many schools, keeping connected with what’s going on at a school has been left to the likes of Facebook. Lacey Merrifield thought of a better way to keep families connected with teachers without forcing them to be exposed to social media.

“We’re a really tiny district,” Merrifield says of her 750-student school community. “The main way they were communicating and getting information out was Facebook. At the end of every year we do a parent survey, a staff survey, a student survey, and one of the biggest things on the parent survey was that they had to actually get on social media when a lot of them avoid social media. I’d already wanted to redesign the school website and add communication to it. Our website was really outdated…and adding the app came from parents wanting to be able to avoid getting on social media [to stay connected].”

The Bosqueville ISD app acts as an extension of the updated website, which can also help keep parents connected if they find themselves without their phones or tablets.

For this effort and other work, Merrifield was recently honored with a Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award for Innovative Director of Technology during a recent Tech & Learning Regional Leadership Summit.

Making Safety a Priority

Parents today now have higher levels of access to teachers through emails and text messages. Pushing that communication through a single platform can help organize the messages that a teacher can receive regularly, and allows for communication without sacrificing privacy and security.

“We don’t want our teachers texting,” Merrifield says. “This is on the app. That way our teachers aren’t giving out their numbers. They don’t have to get a Google number. They can still use their phone, but their privacy is protected. We’re still communicating, but it’s not intruding on personal boundaries.”

What if a teacher does not want the app on their own personal device?

“The cool part about this is that if a teacher doesn’t want to put the app on their phone, they don’t have to,” she says. “It’s a web-based app as well so they can do it all from their school computer.”

This can help to separate the working world from a personal life for teachers who feel the two may blend together too often. Keeping school-related apps and tools strictly on school devices (or separate devices if they are not school-issued) can create peace of mind for a teacher while also allowing for full focus when sending information to families or responding to an inquiry from a parent.

6 Steps To Put Together a Communication App

With the idea and the execution of the communication service running smoothly, it might seem like the Bosqueville ISD app was a walk in the park to make. However, it took strong collaboration with programmers and designers, as well as vocal opinions from the community itself, to help get this innovative moment off the ground.

“The number one thing was getting a needs assessment that came through our staff, student, and parent surveys,” Merrifield says. “Then we collaborated with Edlio, telling them what we wanted from [the service]. We had to test, and there were some glitches. Our Google Sign On didn’t work as it should have, things like that. Then we had launching and training. I think getting those in the right order [is important], because if you launch it and it doesn’t work, nobody wants to go back to it.”

Merrifield shares the step-by-step process that ensured the app achieved the proper goals and met the needs of her school community effectively.

Needs Assessment: “We began by gathering input from stakeholders, including teachers, parents, and students, to identify their communication needs and preferences,” Merrifield says. “This feedback guided our overall vision for the app.”

Collaboration with Edlio: “After defining our goals, we collaborated closely with Edlio's development team. They provided us with insights into the features and functionalities that could be incorporated, ensuring the app would align with our communication strategy.”

Design and Development: “Together with Edlio, we worked on the app's design, focusing on user-friendly navigation and an appealing interface. Edlio's team helped customize the app to reflect our school’s branding and unique needs.”

Testing and Feedback: “Before launching, we conducted thorough testing of the app with a small group of staff who were also parent users to gather feedback on functionality and usability. This step was crucial to identify any issues and make necessary adjustments.”

Launch and Training: “Once the app was finalized, we launched it to the staff first, then the rest of the community. We also provided training sessions for staff and parents to ensure they were comfortable using the app effectively.”

Ongoing Support and Updates: “After the launch, we established a system for ongoing support and periodic updates, ensuring that the app continues to meet the evolving needs of our community.”

The Hidden Ways A Communication App Helps a School

The main focus of the communication app is to keep teachers and families connected, but having that service can also have other benefits that are more uncommon but just as important.

“There are so many apps,” Merrifield says. “When I started here, we had a different company for door access, a different company for cameras, a different company for guest services. We’re also in the process of changing that. That’s been my thing coming in. I’ve tweaked a few things. Our guest services, cameras, and door access are all going to one company now.”

Combining multiple services into one convenient spot can save time, effort, and money. Doing so with the Bosqueville ISD app had a profound effect on other aspects of school life, not only influencing community communication, but also the consolidation of multiple school tools and functions into better managed situations.

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AllHere Ed is the app-based learning tool built by an award-winning company to harness the power of AI in education. The Harvard Innovation Labs-formulated company has been around since 2016, but this Ed app is a first.

The company itself already has near 10,000 schools using its AI solutions across 36 states. The key to that success is that its tools are built by educators, researchers, and learning designers, and it's all backed by ESSA-aligned studies. The Ed app has been rolled out by the Los Angeles USD to more than half a million students across 1,438 schools and learning centers.

The idea behind this app, specifically, is to harness AI to better personalize learning acceleration to suit each student more perfectly.

Here's everything you need to know about AlHere Ed.

What is AllHere Ed?

AllHere Ed is an AI-powered app which is designed to offer a personalized learning journey to students. By working with AI smarts and student data, the aim is to guide students and their families on the best possible education path.

The key here is that the app is designed specifically for students, teachers, and guardians. That should mean that the educational achievements and records are accessible to all, at-a-glance.

While the monitoring of educational progress is a big part of this app, the offering of guidance and personalized learning activities is also a big part of the appeal outside, as well as inside, the classroom.

How does AllHere Ed work?

AllHere Ed is an app, so it can be easily downloaded across multiple devices. A student can use it to monitor their progress and interact with activities while teachers and guardians can monitor their progress, too. It essentially operates like a chatbot to guide students.

At the top of the app is academic progress monitoring with grades, attendance, and a plan, all laid out for quick viewing.

Then there are the personalized learning activities, which are generated based on the student's testing data across subjects. This also takes into account goals and needs for that student. Interactive learning paths include reading, math, computer science, and more.

Finally, there is time-sensitive guidance and support offered through notifications as well as real-time feedback to help continually guide the student's progress.

What are the best AllHere Ed features?

AllHere Ed is curriculum-specific, so it can help to guide students with a very focused outcome in mind. This content is district-approved and comes from curriculum providers to ensure it's doing the most good.

The timely nature of this platform is also a really powerful part of its appeal. Using notifications that are directly based on student progress, it can act as a co-pilot to help steer students onto the correct learning path when needed. These targeted interventions can help students stay on course even outside of the assistance given by teacher, guardian, and classroom learning.

The app also offers ability to communicate in multiple languages and ensures users can access all resources in their preferred language.

This isn't all AI though, as part of being a responsible company, the Ed system is also overseen by human moderators to ensure all is working correctly and appropriately. The company also takes steps to ensure all student data is kept private and secure.

How much does AllHere Ed cost?

AllHere Ed has a statement on its website in the FAQ section which says "The Ed Tool is available without charge to all students and parents." At time of publishing that is all that can be found in relation to price and cost.

Since this is a solution being rolled out at a district level, you can expect any pricing to be case specific. It is unclear at time of publishing what that could mean for your district.

AllHere Ed best tips and tricks

Use in class
While this is tailored to the individual and works anytime and anywhere, it pays to work through a task in class as a group so everyone can get an idea of how it works.

Monitor
While teachers and guardians can monitor students via the app it pays to check-in through other methods too, so you can validate how progress with the app is being experienced.

Explain
AI is an ever evolving tool and it's worth explaining to the students how this one works and in what ways it will be guiding them alongside you as a teacher.

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Summer is a time for exploration, creativity, and fun -- and we’ve kept that firmly in mind with these summer learning apps and sites, many of which prioritize active learning and creativity through gamification and student-led inquiry.

Before the school year ends, it may be appropriate to remind your students of ways they can have fun and keep learning this summer. These learning apps and sites are digital tools that can help them do just that!

Best Summer Learning Apps & Sites

PhET Interactive Simulations - If you like STEM topics, you’ll love the University of Colorado Boulder’s interactive sims, all of which help users to answer the question, “What happens if…?” In the Natural Selection sim, what happens if white rabbits breed with no predators and no food limits? The answer may be "Bunnies take over the world!” It’s ok, you can start over, add some predators and food limits. Whether physics, math and statistics, chemistry, Earth and space, or biology, every sim illustrates an important STEM concept in a way that encourages users to keep tinkering with parameters in order to change outcomes. For a more structured approach, PhET's teaching guides are ideal for educators, groups, and classes. Fully free.

SplashLearn - A gamified preK-5 learning platform for math and English topics, Splashlearn offers accounts for teachers or parents, who then create classes and assign activities. Parents and teachers receive progress reports while kids get immediate feedback and brief explanations of answers. Kids are also free to investigate topics according to their own interests. Quote-based accounts are available for schools while parents pay a modest $60 (math or reading) or $90 (both) annual cost. Free one-week trial with credit card.

NASA Space Place - Outer space is mysterious and fascinating, for kids and adults alike. NASA Space Place harnesses this natural affinity with a strong collection of educational games, activities, crafts, and videos that make STEM learning fun. Kids can explore topics including the Earth, Sun, solar system, and universe, as well as related science topics, such as how GPS works. STEAM topics are also addressed, from the monthly art challenge to making a “stained-glass”Earth. Fully free.

IXL - IXL (sounds like I excel) is a web- and app-based platform for CCSS- and NGSS-aligned practice problems for K12 students and adult learners. It provides tailored skill recommendations, feedback, and analytics in math, language arts, science, social studies, and Spanish. Memberships vary based on features and range from $9.95 to $19.95 monthly for families, while teachers and districts can request a quote. A thirty-day free trial is available to educators.

Catchy Words - Catchy Words is an engaging, free, augmented reality word game that works on smartphones and tablets. It brings digital letters virtually into the room, as if floating, that students then "catch" to help solve puzzles and learn spelling and grammar in the process.

StoryJumper - StoryJumper is a digital story creation tool that allows students to write, illustrate, and arrange stories into book format. These can be shared digitally or published in physical books that can be purchased through the platform's library. It's easy to use with a library of images, a selection of fonts, and colors that can easily be arranged by students of almost any age.

Tinkercad - Tinkercad is a free computer-aided drafting software platform that allows for the design and manipulation of 3D images using CAD, coding, and circuitry. It offers student the ability to work with virtual circuits and to learn code using blocks.

TinyTap - TinyTap is a website and app-based educational gaming platform that has more than 250,000 pre-built games, created by teachers across the world. It covers a range of subjects that include math, science, language arts, social skills, and reading.

Overdrive - Sora, the student version of this reading app, lets kids borrow ebooks, audiobooks, comics and more from their school or local library. It’s a wonderful tool for encouraging year-round reading as it lets students choose what they want to read or listen to and gives them access to a vast library anytime, anywhere.

Duolingo - Duolingo is a game-style language learning tool that's based online. It offers a digital way to learn a whole host of new languages for students of varying ages and abilities. Thanks to smart algorithms, this can even adapt to help specific students in areas they need.

Book Creator - Book Creator is a fun-to-use learning tool designed to get students excited about creating their own books on the topics they are learning about. Students can upload images, choose from emojis, make recordings and videos, and create and then share a finished book they wrote.

Arcademics - Arcademics is a math and language learning tool that uses arcade-style games to engage and train students to progress, through enhancing their abilities in these varying subjects.

Wonderopolis - Users submit questions that may be answered in detail -- as an article -- by the editorial team. Wonderopolis posts a 'wonder' each day, meaning one of the questions is answered in article format with words, images, and videos as part of the explanation.

Nova Labs PBS - An online-based gamified resource center from PBS that teaches STEM and science-based subjects to kids using engaging video, questions, and answers, plus interactive content.

MIT App Inventor - Created in conjunction between MIT and Google, this offers a place that students, as young as six, can learn the basics of coding with drag-and-drop-style block coding. It offers plenty of tutorial guidance, which makes it ideal for self-paced learning.

Minecraft Education Edition - Minecraft: Education Edition is a learning-specific version of this very popular block-based game. So while students will be drawn to the game anyway, this also allows teacher controls to help educate them as they interact with this virtual world.

Roblox - Roblox is a block-based, multiplayer, open-world digital game that works in app format and via a browser. It's not primarily designed for education but thanks to it's openly creative environment, it can be used that way.

Best Free Virtual Escape Rooms - Virtual escape rooms feature gamified learning that incorporates riddles, puzzles, math, logic, and literacy skills to create an exciting adventure in education. Students can build problem-solving skills and critical thinking while having fun. Some escape rooms are one-page affairs, while others weave an intricate backstory to enthrall players.

Although there is no replacement for getting your hands dirty with finger paints, technology can offer many ways for students to be creative when making art. In addition to creativity, technology can also allow students to explore and learn about art in new and engaging ways.

Some of the best free digital art tools are those from Google that help educators and students with teaching, learning, exploring, and creating art. The wide range of tools and activities available provide nearly infinite possibilities. 

#1 - Pixel Art with Google Sheets

Remember the old-school video games and their crude but charming digital art? "Pixel Art" is a style of drawing in which users create images out of a small grid with a limited number of colors. By forcing users to be creative within limitations, this method helps them to understand what’s essential to illustrate an item or idea. To create pixel art, users can apply color to the cells in a spreadsheet, using the "paint can" button in Google Sheets. To make the process easier, I created a spreadsheet template that uses conditional formatting - simply type letters in the cells and corresponding colors will fill the square. Learn more. 20-Color Pixel Art Template  

#2 - Mondrian Art with Google Sheets

Mondrian Art, named for the famous Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, is an abstract form of art that uses a regular-yet-irregular arrangement of squares and rectangles, often filled in with primary colors. Composed of lots of different-sized rectangles and squares, Mondrian Art is the perfect style to be created with digital tools such as Google Sheets. With Google Sheets you can merge cells together to make rectangles of various sizes, and then use the "paint can" button to fill them in with colors. To streamline the process, I have created a template that sets up the sheet so that the cells are all nice squares. Learn more. Mondrian Art Template  

#3 - Self-Portraits with Google Drawings 

(credit to Julie Lyle) 

Recently I came across an awesome activity from Julie Lyle on using Drawings to create self-portraits. Here’s the basic idea:  

• Create a Google Drawing and insert a photo of yourself.
• Next use the "Polyline" tool and the "Curve" tool to make colored shapes for all of the different portions of your picture.
• When done, you can then delete your original underlying photo and you will be left with a digital "clipart-style" image of yourself.

Demo video - "Doodle Yourself with Google Drawing" 

#4 - Mosaics with Google Drawings

(credit to Julie Lyle)

Similar to the self-portrait activity above, another creative way to make art with Google Drawings is this mosaic project. Rather than trying to make a realistic version of yourself, in this activity you transform a source image with colored shapes such as mosaic tiles or stained glass. Here's the basic steps: 

• Create a Google Drawing and set the background to black.
• Insert the photo you wish to modify.
• Next use any of the "Shape" tools or the "Polyline" tool to cover the image with quadrilaterals, triangles, or other shapes that fit your desired style.
• Leave some room between the shapes so the background can show through later.
• Color in the shapes to match the portion of the image they are covering (you can go with the default colors provided in Drawings, or you can use a color picker extension such as ColorZilla or Eye Dropper and then set a custom fill color).
• When done, delete the original image and voila! What remains are the colored tiles on the black background for your finished mosaic art.

#5 - Google's Arts and Culture

Google Arts & Culture from the Google Cultural Institute is dedicated to collecting and sharing art, photography, and primary source documents from all over the world and throughout history. Items are organized by themes, artists, mediums, movements, historical events, historical people, places around the world, stories of the day, and more. With Google Arts & Culture students can get closer to works of art and historical artifacts than they ever could in a museum. The digital items were scanned or photographed by Google using an ultra-high resolution camera so every brush stroke, letter, or similar detail is clearly visible. Even better, a number of the collections feature 360-degree videos and photos for an immersive experience. The mobile app version of Google Arts and Culture (Android or iOS) also includes a fun selfie option that searches thousands of artworks to find a match for your own face.  

#6 - Curator Table

Curator Table is one of Google's experiments that creates a massive virtual 3D gallery of artwork you can explore. You can use your mouse to simply browse, or you can use the search feature to pull out art for a specific artist, styles, or object. When you find the art you want, clicking on it will open a page with more details on that work. Try it here! 

#7 - Art Palette

A search engine based on color, Art Palette allows you to search through thousands of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and more, based on colors you choose. Students can then use the results to explore similarities and connections between the color-matching art. Here's how it works:  

• Click Launch Experiment on the Art Palette site.
• Select the colors for your palette from the color bar at the top.
• A grid of artwork that incorporates your colors will appear.
• Users can also click the "From an image" button to upload a picture—or use a webcam to take a picture for the site to match against.

#8 - AutoDraw

AutoDraw is a simple, easy-to-use drawing tool, with most of the typical features such as drawing, filling colors, resizing, adding text, and more. But wait, there’s a twist: AutoDraw includes Google's AI to help you draw by taking your squiggles and doodles, and offering to replace them with pre-made clipart-style images. Some possible uses might include:  

• Sketch notes
• Infographics
• Illustrating a story
• Creating a scene
• Desktop publishing (flyer, poster)
• Creative drawing

#9 - Just a Line

Is it possible to draw digitally in 3D? That's why Google created the "Just a Line" mobile app. This augmented reality app allows you to move through and draw in your physical environment. Here's how it works:  

• Install the app: Android or iOS
• Launch the app and point your camera at your surroundings.
• Use your finger to draw in the air a few feet in front of you.
• Walk around to draw in different locations.
• As you move around you can see your 3D drawing superimposed in your physical space.
• You can click the "Draw with a partner" button to let someone join you to draw together in the same space.
• You can click the "Record" button to make a video of your 3D art to share with others.

#10 - Doodle for Google

Way back in 1998, Google launched its first "Google Doodle." The company founders were going to spend a week at the Burning Man Festival and wanted to let people know they would be out of the office. So they changed the normal Google logo on the site to one that included the Burning Man logo for the second "O,” and now it has been a staple of the website to show creative versions of the Google logo to celebrate events, people, and ideas. Since 2008, Google has hosted an annual "Doodle for Google" contest, in which K-12 students create and submit their own artwork for the Google logo. Winners have their artwork displayed on Google's site, while earning valuable scholarships and tech packages for their schools. To participate, students combine any style of art with the things they are passionate about. Learn more.  

Eric Curts is an education trainer and consultant with over 20 years' experience throughout the U.S. He is an authorized Google Education Trainer and a Google Certified Innovator. Read his blog at www.controlaltachieve.com and follow @ericcurts on Twitter.

To share your feedback and ideas on this article, consider joining our Tech & Learning online community here.

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Anurag Acharya co-created Google Scholar in 2004. The Google engineer and former professor of computer science at the University of California at Santa Barbara was inspired to create the free search tool after being frustrated by being unable to access research articles as a student at the Kharagpur campus of the Indian Institute of Technology. 

Today, Acharya is head of Google Scholar and an authority on how the scholarly search engine can best be used by teachers and their students. He offers these tips and best practices for teachers to use and share with their students. 

1. Teaching With Google Scholar: Use The “Related Searches” Feature  

One way to dig deeper into a topic, especially for students who may not be familiar with a field’s specialized terminology, is to use the “Related Searches” feature, Acharya says. 

For instance, if you or a student start with a general search term, say “tutoring,” Google Scholar will display results for that term. But if you scroll down a bit you’ll also see a heading saying “Related Searches.” Under this heading will be more specific commonly searched terms associated with your search. In this example, the related terms include terms such as “mentoring tutoring” and “peer tutoring.” 

Some of these associated terms might help a student hone their search. “It allows you to explore easily, and it is sort of a topic map,” Acharya says. 

2. Search by “Related Articles”  

Under each Google Scholar result, there is a “related articles” link that will take you to similar articles that might utilize different key phrases than what you searched. This can help you narrow or focus your search on a particular sub-area of your initial search, Acharya says. 

For instance in our search of “tutoring” articles, clicking on the “related articles” link under “peer tutoring” brings up more peer tutoring research and steers you away from other types of tutoring research.

3. Search by Author and Follow Authors

Once you’ve found useful articles, clicking on the author link and going to their Google Scholar profile can often help you find other work from the same researcher. “The authors may actually do other work that is only slightly related, so therefore may not be using the same terms,” Acharya says. 

Google Scholar lets you select researchers to follow, which can be a great way for teachers and more advanced students to stay on top of topics of interest. Google Scholar also lets you opt to receive email alerts regarding new articles by the author, new citations to the author, and new articles related to the author's work.

4. Learn to Recognize Which Articles Are Available 

“A challenge for scholarly articles always is, 'Are you able to actually read what you find?'” Acharya says. “A lot of the things are by subscription only.” 

To help with this, Google Scholar provides two columns of results, unlike a traditional Google search. On the center of your screen, you’ll get the regular link to the articles that come up in your search. However, on the right-hand side, you’ll see links to PDF or HTML versions of the article that you should have access to. 

“We merge the articles that are available to everybody, and all the articles that are available to you based on your institutional subscription,” Acharya says. “So if your college, your school or school system, or your public library has access, then this gets automatically integrated into the search results.” 

5. Search for Review Articles 

Teachers can explain to students how review articles summarize other studies or material on a given topic. As such, they can provide an excellent overview of research, Acharya says. 

Google Scholar provides two ways in which people can search particularly for review articles. One way is to select “review articles” on the left hand side of the screen. You can also just type your topic word followed by the word "review." This second method will bring up slightly different results but in most cases the quality of the search is comparable, Acharya says.   

6.  Use Google Scholar to Generate Citations  

This tip is one students will be particularly interested in. Under each Google Scholar search result is the word “cite.” Clicking on this will provide citation results in various styles, including MLA, APA, and other common academic citation styles. “You can just paste it into the paper that you're writing,” Acharya says. However, he understands some teachers might bristle at using this type of shortcut. 

“It depends on what the goal of the course is. Personally, I'm not really sure that having people learn the minutiae of styles is that useful,” he says. ”There's so much more to learn about information, the evaluation of information, how to collate it, how to combine it, which would I would think would be far more powerful and useful to students in their future lives."

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The best-flipped learning or flipped classroom educators utilize a variety of learning sites, apps, and hardware that help them make the most of the time they have with their students in the classroom. 

We asked successful flipped learning educators to share their favorite tools as well as tips for using these. They provided recommendations ranging from apps that allow teachers to embed quiz questions within a video lesson and track student progress to external microphones and monitors that can help improve the quality of teacher-made videos. 

However, as important and fun as using these tech tools for flipped learning can be, flipped classrooms are not about the technology, say enthusiasts. Instead, It’s all about how you as an educator prioritize your time with students. Flipped learning prioritizes one-on-one and small-group individualized help over lecture-type activities. It’s important to keep that in mind as you explore these tools. 

When done correctly, flipped learning can be highly effective. One review of flipped learning studies in a college setting found that flipped learning students learned more than those in traditional lecture settings, but teachers who employed a partial flipped model got the best results. 

These flipped learning sites, apps, and hardware recommendations will help you enhance your flipped learning technique and/or decide if flipped learning is right for your classroom. 

 Video Tools  

EdPuzzle 

A popular tool in flipped classrooms, with EdPuzzle educators can crop videos, add voiceovers, and embed questions within the video. “Edpuzzle is a tried-but-true favorite for flippers because it requires students to be active viewers,” says Andrew Swan, a middle school social studies teacher in Massachusetts. “They can even let the video play in the background while they browse different tabs. The teacher's ability to add questions, voiceovers, and notes can be highly valuable.” 

Playposit 

This program also allows educators to embed questions and notes within videos, making each more interactive. Dan Jones, an 8th-grade social studies teacher at Richland School of Academic Arts in Mansfield, Ohio, recommends either Playposit or EdPuzzle. “Both of these platforms allow teachers to post their videos, embed questions, and get data back immediately,” he says. “When students watch the videos and take notes at home, teachers are able to see how well the students understood the lesson, how long it took students to watch the lesson, and even how engaged the students were with the lessons.”

mmhmm.app

“mmhmm.app is a pretty cool video-production program that I discovered last year when it was in the beta phase,” Swan says. “Now many of the premium tools require a subscription, but you get one free hour per day. I enjoyed the abilities of shrinking and enlarging my head on the screen, and adjusting the transparency. Now it works quite well with a greenscreen to let your head ‘float’ within the window.” 

Screencast-O-Matic

“Screencast-O-Matic is my go-to website for video recording,” says Carolina Buitrago, an EFL expert currently teaching and conducting research at Universidad de La Sabana in Colombia. “Its studio is easy to manage, and even if I use the basic version I still have a lot of features. I love that it is accessible for me money-wise and that I can upload my recorded videos directly to YouTube.” 

Screencastify

“Screencastify is my go-to screen recorder,” Jones says. “I can screen-capture and include either just the audio in the open tab, voiceover what is occurring on the open tab, or I can just record my webcam. The recording populates in my Google drive, thus making it easily shared.” 

Final Cut Pro 

For more advanced video development, Jones recommends investing in Final Cut Pro, but warns educators should expect a significant learning curve. “I also have a 4K Video Camera that I use as well as a lapel mic and sound cables that get plugged directly into the camera,” Jones says. “When making these sorts of videos, I use a forward-facing light board that allows me to face the camera the entire time I am giving notes. I write on the glass and then flip the image so that the writing appears correctly for the audience. Like I said, though, this is a more advanced way of creating instructional videos. Most folks will do just fine with Screencastify or Screencast-O-Matic.” 

Content Sharing and Slides  

Google Slides

Matthew Moore, a high school and community college math teacher in Illinois, recommends flipped educators build a framework on which all of the other activities, apps, projects, assessments, and other materials live, so students have a one-stop shopping spot for all the technology in the course. Moore uses Google Slides as that framework for all his classes. “The basic Idea is a visually engaging graphically organized single resource,” he says. 

Canvas 

A well-known learning management system, Canvas offers a free version for educators and students on which teachers can create entire courses filled with text, embedded videos, assessments, and other content. “I have used this with my students and it is a great way of building content that can be accessed asynchronously,” Jones says. 

Genially 

“Genially is a content-making tool that has thousands of templates from presentations to games and even escape rooms,” Buitrago says. “It is easy to use and the results are amazing. Students love all the content I make with it.”

Perusall

“Perusall was developed by Eric Mazur at Harvard University,” Jones says. “This free program -- there is a paid version as well -- allows students to engage both synchronously as well as asynchronously with a piece of reading. Students are able to comment right on the document and ask questions.” 

Desmos

“Desmos is something I use a lot in math,” says Peter Santoro, a recently retired high school math teacher in Long Island. “Graphing calculator allows students to graph multiple functions and see them all in different colors on a large graph. There are also many activities that teachers have posted and shared on Desmos for just about every math topic. It is easy for teachers to use and very easy for students to learn.” 

Hardware  

Samson GoMic

Swan recommends this portable mic that sells for $50. “Audio quality is really important, especially as many students listen on earbuds or headphones, so ambient noise in your videos can be really distracting,” Swan says. “The GoMic just clips on top of a laptop screen and connects via USB.” 

Headphones

“The most important learning tool in my classroom for students outside their chromebook is a set of headphones -- cheap or expensive makes no difference,” Moore says. “The headphones allow students to be in a busy or loud classroom of activity, but pop in the headphones and focus on either an instructional video, play white noise or music, and do math practice, or meet with me or a peer digitally. Headphones are critical to in-person and remote learning.” 

An External Webcam

For teachers, Moore recommends an inexpensive external webcam. “Even a $50 external webcam allows the teacher to flexibly focus on a face, a group, a presenter, or a demonstration easily. Additionally, the external webcam will likely have a better microphone than the laptop and being heard is No. 1 on the important list, while being seen is a distant second or third place.” 

Green Screen 

“For a more non-essential piece of kit, a back of chair or pull-down green screen can allow a teacher to minimize distractions for remote learners and in meetings,” Moore says. “It also allows you to record your face while screencasting or creating instructions, and again minimizes distraction. Necessary? No. Nice to have? Yes.” 

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• Research: Video Learning May be More Effective Than In-person Lectures

The importance of communication in education cannot be overstated. At the simplest level, teachers need to communicate with students and families about assignments, deadlines, classroom rules, and other details necessary for the daily tasks of teaching and learning. Equally important, teachers must also provide feedback on kids’ behavior— both positive and negative—and their progress in mastering concepts and curriculum.

Fortunately, today’s communication options for teachers go well beyond sharing personal phone numbers and limited text messages. The best communication sites and apps for education below provide teachers with a digital platform for two-way group or individual sharing of text, images, video, calendars, and much more.

FREE

Along
An impressive award-winning education communication platform that focuses on strengthening the student-teacher connection. Along is fully free because it’s underwritten by Gradient Learning, a nonprofit educator-led organization. After signing up with their school email, teachers select from research-informed questions that allow them to better understand their students. Students then respond using audio, text, video, or multiple choice. Combined student answers are presented in graph form, making it easy for teachers to adapt their teaching based on the feedback. Other features include a dashboard for school administrators and the ability to track answers over time.

How to Use Google Classroom to Communicate with Students and Parents
Google Classroom features strong communication options for teachers. In this article, learn how to email students (one some or all), post announcements, and create class summaries for parents and guardians. An explanatory video plus Google Classroom screenshots make it easy to follow each step.

FREEMIUM

Koalendar
A super easy-to-use scheduling calendar for educators, Koalender integrates with Google Calendar, Google Meet, and Zoom, and provides a clean, professional scheduling interface for parents to access. Teachers create a free account quickly with email (or logged-in Google account), then, if desired, connect their existing Google, Microsoft Outlook, or iCloud calendar. For those who prefer not to link an existing external calendar, this step can be skipped (and revisited later if desired). Next, teachers customize their calendar booking page with times, location, description, icon, meeting duration, availability, and more. The sharable booking link is easy for parents and collaborators to access/accept with no account required. Koalendar’s robust free account is all that many educators would need. However, the Pro account’s premium features—such as reminders, pricing, questions, and password-protected links— may benefit some users.

Microsoft Teams
Instant messaging within the larger Microsoft Teams collaboration platform allows teachers to communicate using real-time private and group text or video chats. Features include rich text formatting, GIFs and stickers, priority notifications, and translation into 36 languages.

Bloomz
Top rated by teachers, Bloomz is a free app designed to make multimedia teacher-parent-student communications fast, easy, secure, and effective. To get started, teachers sign up for a free account, download the iOS or Android app, and create an online classroom. The easy-to-navigate website extends plenty of guidance and tips for new users.

ClassDojo
ClassDojo provides a free comprehensive package of communication tools for teachers, with an emphasis on sharing daily classroom activities, student behavior feedback, and strengthening the school-to-home connection. Remarkably, the app is 100% free for schools with no third-party advertising.

Remind
One of the most popular school messaging apps, Remind bills itself as “a simple way to stay connected” for teachers. Both private and group chats are supported, as well as sharing pictures, videos, files, and links. The free account permits a generous 10 classes per account, 150 students per class, and integrates smoothly with apps such as Google Classroom, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive.

Klassly
Klassly’s social-media style interface offers a relaxed online environment through which teachers and parents connect and communicate. Educators can share any type of digital content, including pictures, videos, voice memos, documents, events, polls, lists, invites, and assignments. Other features include the ability to initiate group or private chats and quickly send emergency messages.

TalkingPoints
A nonprofit dedicated to promoting multilingual school-family engagement, Talking Points’ award-winning platform allows teachers to send messages in English that are automatically translated into the recipients’ preferred language. Free individual teacher accounts allow up to five classes and 200 students.

Evernote
Evernote’s online productivity platform allows teachers and students to create and share digital notes, multimedia files, and assignments securely. The free basic account offers features such as tagging, image scanning, and web page clipping, and syncs across two devices.

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Thanksgiving is a day to reflect with gratitude on the blessings of our lives. It’s one of the most beloved American holidays, celebrated by people of all religions and backgrounds, and ideal for incorporating into your curriculum.

However, our understanding of the day has changed over the years. While some of the following Thanksgiving lessons, activities, and games include familiar elements such as turkey and pumpkin pie, others inquire into the historical record and modern social perspectives, helping students gain a fuller, more authentic understanding.

Before diving into the following free Thanksgiving lessons, activities, and games, educators can get an overview of the changing way Thanksgiving is taught through the articles listed below under Thanksgiving Perspectives, Past and Present.

Thanksgiving Perspectives, Past and Present 

The Wampanoags' Thanksgiving
Historian David J. Silverman’s essay delves into the Wampanoag side of the Thanksgiving story. What was the state of the Wampanoag nation when the Mayflower landed? What motivated the Wampanoag to create an alliance with the English settlers? This revealing examination from a historian’s perspective is ideal for high school students. Lesson idea: Before assigning the essay, ask your students to write a few sentences on what might have motivated the Wampanoag. Then have them read the essay and write about how their views may have changed.

Thanksgiving: Another Serving
What happened to relations between the Wampanoags and the European settlers? In a span of a single generation, they went from Thanksgiving comity to the bloody battles of King Philip's War. Historian and professor of Early American History at Harvard University Jill Lepore explains in this fascinating video hosted by The Gilder Lehrman Institute.

Time: The Way American Kids Are Learning About the “First Thanksgiving” Is Changing
Should we be teaching students myth or history? This excellent article is a great starting point for teachers to learn the truth, the myths, and the historical interpretations surrounding the first Thanksgiving. Best to read before planning your lesson.

Native Educators Say Thanksgiving Lessons Can Be Accurate, Respectful, And Fun
If you’re wondering whether there’s anything suitable left to teach about Thanksgiving, don’t despair. This article details simple steps you can take right now to make your Thanksgiving lessons accurate and inclusive.

Best Free Thanksgiving Lessons and Activities

Thanksgiving Math Activities for Kids
Two engaging Thanksgiving-themed math activities include printable handouts and an exploration of math skills. Aimed at kids in grades preK-3, the Thanksgiving Coloring Activity combines arithmetic with coloring by number. For older students (grades 4-8), try the Thanksgiving graphing activity, in which a correctly plotted graph reveals a surprise message. Great fun!

Squanto's gift: A Thanksgiving science lesson
A hands-on Thanksgiving science lesson that demonstrates the importance of Patuxet tribe member Squanto (Tisquantum) to the early settlers. Ideal for grades preK-5, this lesson requires only simple materials, a bit of time and careful observations. An excellent introduction to the scientific method for younger students.

The First Thanksgiving Celebration Lesson Plan
A K-4 reading-based Thanksgiving lesson that teaches students about the lives of the Wampanoag people and their participation in the first Thanksgiving celebration. Includes key questions, extension activities and suggested reading.

Thanksgiving Music Activities
These five terrific Thanksgiving-related songs will have every kid in the classroom singing along. But there’s much more than just the joy of singing in these lessons from Beth’s Music Classroom. Included are tips for teaching music principles, activities and videos.

Thanksgiving Science Experiment
Perhaps more than any other American holiday, Thanksgiving celebrates the abundance and variety of delicious foods. And nothing makes food taste better than butter! This detailed butter in a jar experiment is perfect for teaching science with a Thanksgiving flavor. Includes chemistry discussion, photos, video, worksheets and printables.

Plimoth Patuxet Museum Teacher Toolkit
A five-unit curriculum that takes a deep dive into the first Thanksgiving. The standards-aligned lessons comprise sections on the Patuxet people, leadership and diplomacy, the crucial role of corn, the celebration as a historical event, and ways to think about giving thanks. Included in this comprehensive resource are vocabulary, themes, historical notes, and bibliography.

StoryCorps: The Great Thanksgiving Listen
The nonprofit organization Storycorps has been capturing the voices and stories of Americans since 2003. Storycorps’ Great Thanksgiving Listen invites young people to take part in this oral history project by recording an interview with an elder, mentor, friend, or anyone they admire. The Educator Toolkit provides step-by-step guidance on every aspect of the Great Thanksgiving Listen and includes printable handouts for students.

Lesson plan: After helping Pilgrims, today's Wampanoag tribe fight for their ancestral lands
A lesson for grades 6-12 that teaches about the Wampanoag people of today in the context of their historical role at the first Thanksgiving. Choose from among topics such as Thanksgiving history as told by the Wampanoag, land disputes, and gambling, then ask the provided questions. Lesson available as a Google Doc.

Celebration, Conflict and Contemplation: Digital Thanksgiving Activities and Lesson Plans for Students
Ideal for distance or hybrid learning, these free preK-12 digital Thanksgiving lessons include thought-provoking writing assignments, recipe-based math lessons, humorous turkey hijinks, and a look at the modern day lives of the Wampanoag People.

Thanksgiving Directed Drawings
Directed drawings are a great way for kids to gain basic drawing skills and confidence while creating their own artwork. Whether apple pie, cooked turkey, Happy Thanksgiving message, or cartoon turkey, these free and fun video drawing lessons are perfect for both classroom and remote learning.

Turkey Templates for Thanksgiving Creativity and Writing
Education technology expert and Google app guru Eric Curts shares Google Slides templates for building and disguising a turkey. Use it as a fun art lesson, or as a jumping-off point into a discussion about empathy with animals.

Best Free Thanksgiving Games and Interactives

PBS Kids: An Ellwood City Thanksgiving
Join beloved cartoon character Arthur the aardvark as he visits various friends and relatives for Thanksgiving, and learns about different ways of celebrating the holiday. This interactive game allows kids to select whom to visit, participate in the meal and acknowledge the role of Indigenous people. Options in this high quality game include closed captions, music, sound effects and dialog.

Plimoth Patuxet Museums: Activities and Games
Living like people of the 17th century is an excellent way to learn social history. Talk like a pilgrim, cook 17th-century food with modern recipes, and ponder 11 tricky riddles. Fun for students and teachers alike.

6 fun Thanksgiving-themed games for young learners
If you’ve never tried ABCYa games, here’s the perfect opportunity. High-quality digital games are accompanied by an amusing soundtrack that only adds to the fun. Best of all, five out of these six games are CCSS-aligned. Try the Thanksgiving printables too!

You Are the Historian: Investigating the First Thanksgiving
A great way for students to investigate and learn a more nuanced history about Thanksgiving, from both the Indigenous and Colonial perspectives.

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Google Jamboard is an interactive, multidimensional edtech tool that can be used in a wide range of learning settings (online, face-to-face, dual audience) to connect students to learning materials in a collaborative way. For an overview of Jamboard and a breakdown of its unique features and recent updates, check out “How to Use Google Jamboard, for Teachers.” 

Jamboard can be used in any academic subject and to teach any topic. Below, is a sample lesson plan that describes just one of the many ways that Jamboard can be used to bring learning to life. 

Subject: Science 

Topic: Anatomy and Physiology  

Grade Band: Middle and High School  

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 

• Identify the major body parts of the human body
• Describe the functions of the organs within a human body

Teacher Pre-Planning  

Before facilitating the lesson, review the different annotation features within Jamboard with students, and encourage them to use a wide variety of colors and drawing options. Jamboard allows for the use of simulated drawing tools such as a paint brush, highlighter, pen, and markers. 

In addition to writing on the Jamboard with one of the drawing tools, digitally integrated sticky notes in different colors can be used to help organize the content. For this sample anatomy and physiology lesson, you may want students to use different colors or drawing tools to identify the different body parts and organs. 

Finally, since the content is focused on the human body, pre-select appropriate images that students can label and save to a shared Google Doc. Other options for selecting an image file on Jamboard include uploading from a file on your device, by the image’s URL, with the camera feature, or searching in Google Photos. 

Teacher Instruction 

Google Jamboard features frames, similar to a PowerPoint or Google Slide presentation. Each Jamboard can have up to 20 frames. On the first Jamboard frame, have the pre-identified image(s) uploaded through the Google Drive file select feature. Then, go over each body part to provide an understanding of the official names and functions. Students can contribute to the Jamboard by labeling and adding notes while you, as the teacher, are instructing. 

Peer Exploration 

In subsequent frames, students can focus on one or more of the organs. For example, you can have students work in small teams with each one responsible for a particular organ. Since all students, regardless of their physical location, will have access to the Jamboard, they can all simultaneously contribute to the learning activity. 

For each frame focused on a particular organ, you could require the students to add the following:

• A unique background (either from the Jamboard options or one you upload)
• An image of the organ
• A sticky note with the official definition
• Annotated notes around the organ, explaining the function
• A table or diagram illustrating how different body parts and/or other organs are connected to the organ
• A fun fact related to the organ

The frame(s) can remain on Jamboard, saved as an image, or downloaded as a PDF. The saved work might be helpful as quick study guides for subsequent assessments.  

Sharing Learning 

Google Jamboard integrates seamlessly into the virtual conferencing Google Meet platform. After each team or student has completed their Jamboard, they can go into present mode and share their work, right from the Jamboard.  

How Can Google Jamboard be Used to Support Dual Audience Learning? 

As mentioned above, Google Jamboard is an extremely flexible and versatile edtech tool that can be used in a variety of learning settings. As students continue to learn online at home as well as in person, Jamboard has the potential to authentically connect students who are learning in either environment at the same time. Students can use their individual devices to contribute to the lesson as well as work on content independently. 

With Jamboard being part of the GSuite family of tools, everything is saved automatically, and students can pick up where they left off, regardless of if they change locations or even the device that they use.

• How to Use Google Jamboard, for Teachers
• Top Edtech Lesson Plans

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that by 2029 employment in STEM occupations will increase by 8%, more than twice the rate of non-STEM careers. And the fact that the median STEM wage is more than double that of non-STEM wages underscores the importance of effective K-12 STEM instruction. 

STEM subjects can be dense and difficult for students to engage with, which is why these top STEM apps can make a valuable addition to your STEM teaching toolkit. Most offer free basic accounts. And all are designed to capture the imagination of users, through games, puzzles, and high-quality graphics and sound. 

1. The Elements by Theodore Gray iOS
   Animated by detailed, high-quality 3D graphics, The Elements by Theodore Gray brings the periodic table to life. With its strong visual appeal, it’s ideal for engaging science learners of any age, while older students will benefit from the depth of information presented. 
2. The Explorers iOS Android
   This Apple TV App of the Year 2019 winner invites amateur and professional photographers and scientists to contribute their animal, plant, and natural landscape photos and videos to this extensive showcase of Earth’s wonders.
3. Hopscotch-Programming for kids iOS
   Designed for the iPad, and available for iPhone and iMessage as well, Hopscotch-Programming for Kids teaches children age 4 and above the basics of programming and game/app creation. This multiple-award winner is an Apple Editors’ Choice. 
4. The Human Body by Tinybop iOS Android
   Detailed interactive systems and models help kids learn human anatomy, physiology, vocabulary, and more. A free handbook provides interaction hints and discussion questions to support learning in the classroom or at home. 
5. Inventioneers iOS Android
   Kids learn physics while having a blast creating and sharing their own inventions, aided by Inventioneers Windy, Blaze, and Bunny. Winner of Parents' Choice Gold Award. 
6. K-5 Science for Kids - Tappity iOS
   Tappity offers hundreds of fun interactive science lessons, activities, and stories covering more than 100 topics, including astronomy, Earth science, physics, and biology. Lessons align with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
7. Kotoro iOS
   This beautiful and dreamy physics puzzle app has one simple goal: Users change their clear orb to a specified color by absorbing other colored orbs. A great way for students to learn and practice color-mixing principles. No ads. 
8. MarcoPolo Weather iOS Android
   Kids learn all about weather by controlling 9 different weather conditions and playing with mini games and interactive elements. Three humorous characters who respond to users’ weather choices add to the fun. 
9. Minecraft: Education Edition iOS Android The ultimate building app for students, teachers, and kids of all ages, Minecraft is both a game and a powerful teaching tool. The education version provides hundreds of standards-aligned lessons and STEM curricula, tutorials and exciting building challenges. For teachers, students, or schools without a Minecraft: Education Edition subscription, try the hugely popular original Minecraft iOS Android
   
   •How Remote Learning Is Affecting the Future of Classroom Design
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10. Monster Math: Kids Fun Games iOS Android
    This highly touted gamified math app allows kids to learn and practice grade 1-3 Common Core Math Standards. Features include multiple levels, skill filtering, multiplayer mode, and in-depth reporting with skill-by-skill analysis. 
11. Prodigy Math Game iOS Android
    Prodigy uses an adaptive game-based learning approach to engage students grades 1-8 in building and practicing math skills. Math questions are aligned with state-level curricula, including Common Core and TEKS. 
12. Shapr 3D CAD modeling iOS
     A sophisticated program aimed at the serious student or professional, Shapr 3D CAD modeling is designed to provide users a mobile platform for CAD (computer-aided design) software, which is typically desktop-bound. The app is compatible with all major desktop CAD software, and supports Apple Pencil or mouse-and-keyboard input. Apple Design Awards 2020, 2020 App Store Editors’ Choice. 
13. SkySafari iOS Android
    Like a pocket planetarium, SkySafari lets students explore, locate, and identify millions of celestial objects, from satellites to planets to constellations. Try the voice control feature, or use it in augmented reality mode to combine a simulated sky chart with the real view of the night sky. 
14. World of Goo iOS Android
    An App Store Editors’ Choice and multiple award winner, World of Goo starts off as an amusing game, then dives into weird but wonderful territory. This physics/building puzzler will keep kids engaged testing and applying engineering concepts and the laws of gravity and motion.  

Google Slides is a super useful teaching tool that's totally free. In an age of want-it-now impatience, however, sometimes clicking through Slides can be a bit much for students. One way to speak in their digital language while remaining concise and getting your point across is to use an animated GIF. So converting your Google Slides show into an animated GIF is the quickest way to do this and can be done for free.

An animated GIF is essentially an image file, or more accurately a video, which shows a selection of images, like a slide show, in quick succession and on repeat. Crucially, this can be opened on pretty much any device, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops. It's also condensed in size, making it ideal for sharing quickly and easily in emails and beyond.

One tool which allows you to convert a Google Slides document into an animated GIF, for free, is Tall Tweets, created by the awesome Amit Agarwal.

• Google Classroom review
• Google Classroom for teachers
• How to setup Google Classroom

With Tall Tweets you can import a Google Slideshow, set the duration for each slide (as well as some other options), and then create and download an animated GIF version of your slideshow. This can be used with many Google Slides projects to export the final product. 

Many tools to make animated GIFs are available, but it is always helpful to find one that is free and super easy to use. See below for detailed directions on how to use this great tool.

Create Your Google Slideshow

First you need to finish creating the Google Slideshow that you want to convert into an animated GIF. For helpful tips on making the slideshow, check out our Best Student Templates for Google Docs, Slides, Sheets and Drawings.

A key factor to keep in mind is that you may want some slides to last longer, and some to be shorter, when playing as a GIF later. Although you can't make a specific slide last longer, you can make it look like it does. One way to do this is to make multiple copies of the slide, without making any changes to it, so it looks like the scene is lasting longer. Here's exactly how to do that.

• Select the slide you want to last longer.
• Make a copy of the slide by clicking "Slide" and "Duplicate slide", or copy and paste the slide, or press "Ctrl" and "D" (for duplicate).
• Repeat this multiple times to make 5 or 10 copies of the slide (for example).

Later when the slideshow gets converted into a GIF, it will look like the slideshow has paused on this slide for longer. Tall Tweets has a limit of 100 slides when creating the animated GIF, so be sure your slideshow does not exceed that amount.

Convert Google Slides with Tall Tweets

Now you can convert your Google Slideshow into an animated GIF at the Tall Tweets website. Yup, you'll need to head over there to have you Google Slides offering uploaded to convert and download as a GIF. This is a simple enough process, but for clarity, these are the steps.

• Go to Tall Tweets.
• Click the "Select Presentation" button.

• Browse your Google Drive to find and select the slideshow you want to convert.
• The site will now make a copy of each slide. This can take a while depending on how many slides are in your presentation.
• When the slides have all been loaded you can now enter your settings.

GIF Image Width (in pixels) 

For this, enter how large you want your animated GIF to be. The wider the GIF, the larger the file size will be. Very large GIFs will take longer to load on websites, and some services have limits on how large of a GIF you can post. For example the maximum file size for an animated GIF on Twitter is 5MB on mobile and 15MB on web.

Slide Duration (in seconds) 

For this part enter a number for how long each slide should last. For some slideshow (such as comic strips or eBooks) you will want the slides to last long enough for people to read the content. However, for stop-motion animation, you may want the slides to move much quicker, such as 0.1 or 0.25 seconds per slide.

• When ready click the "Create GIF" button.
• When done the animated GIF will display.
• You can save your own copy by clicking the "Save" button, or by simply right-clicking on the GIF and choosing "Save image as…"

• Google Classroom review
• Google Classroom for teachers
• How to setup Google Classroom

The ability to add audio to Google Slides has been one of the most requested features for many years. If you've read our Google Classroom review and are now using that, Slides is a very useful tool to add. Being creative, we have worked around this limitation in the past by embedding YouTube videos in Slides, or using a tool such as Screencastify to record a video of Slides while speaking. Although those workarounds still have their place, it is wonderful that we now have the option to add audio directly to a slide.

Being able to add audio to Google Slides can be used in so many ways in school: 

• Narrating a slideshow
• Reading a story
• Making an instructional presentation
• Providing spoken feedback on writing
• Having student explain a solution
• Giving directions for a HyperSlides project
• And much more

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The only big pain point still left is the actual recording of the audio. You see, even though we can now add audio to a Google slideshow, there isn't a simple built-in recording button. Instead you need to record the audio separately with another program, then save it to Drive, and then add it to a slide.

So that brings up the big question: What are some easy ways to record audio? When using my Windows PC, I can use a free program such as Audacity. Students often will be using Chromebooks, so we need some web-based options. 

We are going to take a look at four excellent, free options for recording audio right in your web browser, and then how to add that audio to Google Slides. 

• How do I use Google Classroom?
• Google Classroom review
• Chromebooks in education: Everything you need to know

1. ChromeMP3 Recorder from HablaCloud

The first tool we are going to look at is by far the simplest of the bunch: The "ChromeMP3 Recorder" web app from HablaCloud. This tool however is a web app, not a website, which means it only runs on Chromebooks, not other computers such as PCs or Macs. 

If you are on a Chromebook though, this is a fantastically easy tool to use. Here's how it works: 

• First, install the "ChromeMP3 Recorder" web app. You can get the Chrome Web Store link on the site at HablaCloud.
• Once the web app has been installed, you can open it from the Chromebook app launcher when needed.
• When the app opens, simply click the red "Record" button to start recording.
  You can click the "Pause" button if needed during recording.
• When done, click the "Stop" button.
• The app will now ask you where you want to save the MP3 file in your Google Drive. You can also name the file at this point to make it easier to find later. 

That's it! This tool doesn't offer any other editing options. Just a simple way for anyone to record and save audio on a Chromebook.

2. Online Voice Recorder 

If you want another tool that is just about as simple but runs on Chromebooks, PCs, and Macs, then you can use the "Online Voice Recorder" website. 

If I am not on a Chromebook, this tool is is usually my "go to" for anytime I need to record some quick audio on the web. Here's how it works: 

• Go to the site at OnlineVoiceRecorder.
• Click the mic button to start recording.
• Note: You will need to give it permission to use your microphone the first time you use the site.
• Click the "Stop" button when done.
• You will now get a screen where you can preview your voice recording.
  If needed, you can trim the start and end of the audio to remove any extra dead space.
• When done, click "Save."
• The MP3 file will be downloaded to your device! 

Note: If using a Chromebook, you can have the file save directly to your Google Drive by changing the "Downloads" option in your Chromebook settings. 

3. Beautiful Audio Editor

The next tool for recording audio online is the "Beautiful Audio Editor". This tool is reasonably easy to use as well, but offers extra editing features. If you just need to record some simple audio, this might be more options than you need but would be helpful if you plan to do some editing to the recording afterward. Here's how it works: 

• Launch the tool at Beautiful Audio Editor.
• Click the "Record" button at the bottom of the screen to start recording.
  Note: You will need to give it permission to use your microphone the first time you use the site.
• Click the "Stop" button when done.
• Your recorded track will now be added to the editor.
• You can drag the play head back to the start and press the play button to preview your recording.
• If you need to trim out any of the audio, you will need to use the "Split Section" and "Remove Section" buttons in the top toolbar.
• When you are happy with the audio, you can click the "Download as MP3" button to generate a link to save the file to your device. 

Note: If using a Chromebook, you can have the file save directly to your Google Drive by changing the "Downloads" option in your Chromebook settings. 

Editing for this tool includes the option to change the audio speed, combine multiple tracks, fade the volume in and out, and more. You can get detailed directions by clicking the "Help" menu option. 

4. TwistedWave 

If you need even more fancy editing tools, another audio recording option is "TwistedWave". The free version of this tool allows you to record up to 5 minutes at a time. Here's how it works: 

• Go to the website at TwistedWave.
• Click "New document" to create a new file.
• Click the red "Record" button to start recording.
• Note: You will need to give it permission to use your microphone the first time you use the site.
• Click the "Stop" button when done.
• Your recorded track will now be added to the editor.
• You can click at the start of your clip and press the "Play" button to preview your recording.
• If you need to trim any of the audio, you can click and drag with your mouse to select the portion you want to get rid of, and then press the "Delete" button.
  When you are happy with the audio, you can download it my clicking "File" then "Download."
• Better yet, to save it directly to your Google Drive you can click "File" then "Save to Google Drive." TwistedWave will ask you to log in with your Google account and give permission. 

This tool provides other features in addition to simple editing. In the "Effects" menu you will find tools to increase or decrease the volume, fade in and out, add silence, reverse the audio, change the pitch and speed, and more. 

Adding Audio to Google Slides 

Now that you have recorded your audio with one of the tools described above, you can add that audio to Google Slides. To do this, two things must be true for the recordings: 

1. The audio files must be in your Google Drive, so if you saved somewhere else, such as the "Downloads" folder on your computer, you will need to upload the files to your Drive. For easy access, and to help with the next step, you should put all of the files in a folder in Drive.   
2. Next, the audio files need to be shared so anyone with a link can play them. This can be done file by file, but it is much easier to simply change the sharing permissions for the entire folder that contains the recordings.

With those steps completed, you can add audio from your Google Drive to Google Slides as follows: 

• With your Google slideshow open, click "Insert" in the top menu bar.
• Choose "Audio" from the drop-down menu.
• This will open up the "Insert audio" screen, where you can browse for or search for the audio files saved in your Google Drive.
• Choose the file you want and then click "Select" to insert it into your slide.

After the audio file has been added to your slide, you can edit several options for it including volume, autoplay, and loop. Here's how:

• Click on the audio file icon to select it.
• Then click the "Format options" button in the top toolbar.
• Finally click "Audio playback" in the side panel that opens.
• Here you can adjust settings such as:
• Start playing "On click" or "Automatically"
• Set the "Volume level"
• "Loop audio" if you want it to keep playing after it ends
• And "Stop on slide change" if you want the audio to end (or continue) when the user moves to the next slide.

News-O-Matic EDU

Daily news stories and supplements keep elementary schoolers current

Pros: Updated five days a week for all 52 weeks of the year.

Cons: Pages and features might display incorrectly (based on device), plus feature availability varies by platform.

Bottom Line: This highly-useful current events platform can be a daily fixture of elementary classrooms.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Education management platform provider Abre.io will be showcasing its non-traditional method of open-source product development at this year’s TechOlympics, February 22-23 at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, OH. Abre will hold an App Development workshop which will walk attendees through the Abre Appathon framework for development.  The framework features hosted events where students define problems and develop their own Abre apps as solutions to education challenges. 

TechOlympics 2020 is the nation’s largest student-run tech conference and Cincinnati’s premiere technology competition and expo.  During the competition and expo, students compete in challenges ranging from programming to design to networking in an effort to build their technical skills. 

Based on the Appathon framework, the App Development workshop is an opportunity for students to define problems within a learning community and develop their own Abre apps as solutions. This session will walk students through what Abre is, how Abre works, how to design and wireframe an app, and how to connect to Github and download the source code for Abre. 

The Abre App Development session at TechOlympics 2020 will be held Sunday, Feb. 23 from 9-11a.m. at the Great American Ball Park in the Center Field Pavilion. For more information, contact Emily Spinks at espinks@abre.io.

Quizlet

Flexible study aid supports learning at home, at school, and on the go

Pros: From personal study sessions to game show-style competition, Quizlet adapts to your situation.

Cons: May require extra teacher supervision/moderation; user-generated content isn't always reliable or appropriate.

Bottom Line: A quality study tool for learning and memorizing facts; extensions to support higher-level thinking would be a nice addition.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

QuaverSEL

Shake up SEL lessons with music and movement

Pros: With a well-designed curriculum, this site uses a thoughtful and comprehensive approach to teaching SEL skills to young students.

Cons: The program doesn’t collect individual student responses; assessment is limited to teacher observation.

Bottom Line: Fun for students, easy for teachers, QuaverSEL uses the power of music to boost social and emotional learning.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

It's the time of year again for my favorite annual sites and apps.  This year's list includes a wide variety of educational tools, from student response systems to curation tools to multimedia resources. Many are new and some are free. As always, tools listed in previous end-of-year posts are not eligible for this year's list.

1. Wakelet - Wakelet lets educators bookmark any item on the web (i.e. article, blog, tweet, etc.), curate them in stunning visual ways, and invite others to collaborate.  Wakelet is great for digital storytelling, professional development, digital portfolios, newsletters and more.
2. GooseChase - An innovative site/app (iOS/Google Play) for creating digital scavenger hunts. Includes plenty of templates for educators to create their own scavenger hunt, integrated into any curriculum.
3. Educandy -  A wonderful site for creating educational games easily. Teachers simply enter questions and Educandy creates the game. Students play online or using the Educandy app. 
4. Walnut - An excellent new site/app for finding educational videos and then taking quizzes to assess learning, similar to BrainPop. This is a great way for educators to assess learning and differentiate instruction.
5. Knoword - A super fun vocabulary game with an educational portal where teachers can create their own word lists and track/monitor students.
6. Mobile Permissions - A fantastic free new tool for educators to send parents permissions slips via their phone or mobile device.  Parents can then electronically sign and submit payment while educators can monitor it all from their teacher portal.  
7. DOGOnews - DOGOnews is an excellent site for creating reading assignments for grades K-8 that can then be integrated into Google Classroom.  This is done through their curated safe (COPA compliant) educational database that provides assessment and language/speech features.
8. VideoClass - A great site for educators and students to find standards-aligned educational videos on a multitude of subjects, including math, physics, English, literature and more.  Teachers can upload their own videos, create a screencast or even earn extra money by charging to download their videos.
9. Parlay - Parlay is a very innovative online tool that educators are using to take classroom discussions to the next level.  Features include a robust library of discussion prompts (with resources), online discussion roundtable, and "live" verbal roundtables. Students review the materials provided and submit thioe own responses.
10. Math Attax - A super-fun highly-addictive free mobile (iOS/Google Play) math game with a simple interface that helps students with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. 
    
    [40 Sites & Apps for Teaching Kids to Program or Code]
    
11. Loop - An interesting new student response system in which educators create an online classroom and post questions for students to answer. Teachers can create groups for any class and compare data between groups. Responses can be anonymous to encourage student engagement.  Helps teachers assess student learning and differentiate instruction.
12. while True: learn() -  A innovative new iOS game that educators can use to not only integrate game-based learning into their instruction, but also introduce STEM skills such as programming, coding, and logical thinking.
13. Backchannel Chat - An amazing site/app for creating backchannel chats that educators can use for classroom brainstorming and assessing learning. Teachers maintain full control over the discussion, with the ability to remove messages if needed. 
14. Fishbowl - A new social network/community where teachers and other professionals can post questions, share resources, or collaborate on best practices.
15. Kolibri - An interesting new site for finding interactive resources, videos, lesson plans and quizzes.  Topics include math, storytelling, social-emotional learning and more. 
16. NowComment - A great learning tool which allows educators and students to annotate online documents to facilitate engagement and learning.
17. FUNecole - A wonderful digital learning solution for grades 1-6 that focuses on computer science, digital literacy and SEL (social emotional learning).
18. ClassroomQ - An easy-to-use innovative tool that acts as a digital hand raising device. Designed by two teachers, the site allows kids to ask for help without interrupting the flow of instruction. 
19. Newlearn.io - A new professional social network for teachers to find educational resources curated by common core standards. Search for resources by keyword or by standard. 
20. OneClass - A fantastic all-in-one solution for students looking for homework help, study guides, tutors, and more.
21. Codelicious - Codelicious is a customizable computer science curriculum designed to help educators integrate STEM into their classroom with courses on Scratch, Javascript, video game development, graphic design, engineering and more. 
22. AdaptedMind - An excellent online curriculum for math and reading grades K-6 that uses educational games to make learning fun. 
23. Education Galaxy - This innovative learning platform provides online assessment, practice and instruction for K-6 students. Programs are aligned to state standards and free accounts are offered to educators.
24. boclips - A great place to find vetted educational videos. Perfect for schools where YouTube is blocked by filters.
25. Course Hero - Students can find online tutors in a variety of subjects, while teachers can earn extra income by signing up to become an online tutor. 

David Kapuler is an educational consultant with more than 10 years of experience working in the K-12 environment. For more information about his work, contact him at dkapuler@gmail.com and read his blog at cyber-kap.blogspot.com.

When students design an infographic they visualize data and present their research in a dynamic way. They can use icons, charts, shapes, stylized fonts, borders, photos, and more to make data more engaging and understandable. Students can also tell a story with numbers. They are sharing with others their interpretation of statistics, queries, facts, and survey data to tell a bigger story. The web tools below will get you started with free templates students can quickly edit.

Tools for Creating Infographics

• Infogr.am is a simple web tool to design infographics from templates with graphs, charts, fonts, and more. The free plan allows 10 projects.
• Piktochart is a free web tool to design infographics with templates, graphs, charts, fonts, and more. The free plan allows 5 projects.
• Canva is a free web tool, iOS and Android app that allows the creation of several different digital products with templates, fonts, stock photos, icons, frames, and more. In addition to infographics, students can create magazines, flyers, greeting cards, and more.
• Genial.ly is a free web tool for creating infographics, interactive images, timelines, presentations, and more.
• Venngage is a great way to create infographics with some incredible templates students just click and edit. Access to clipart, etc. The free plan allows 5 projects.
• Visme allows you to create a few free infographics with cool transitions and effects. The free plan allows 5 projects.
• Check out this fantastic Google Draw template for creating infographics by John Calvert.
• Easel.ly is another web tool for creating infographics. The free plan allows 5 projects.

To thank you for your sharing, friendship and support over the years I am sharing free tips, learning resources, web tools and apps for 25 days in my Digital December STEM Advent Calendar.

cross posted at teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is a Technology and Computer teacher, education consultant, and author of books including Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: 10 Ways to Launch EdTech Missions in Your Classroom. Read more at teacherrebootcamp.com.

Students can create digital timelines to analyze the past and help teach others. Timelines help students display their research in a dynamic way with photos, clickable links, video, and audio. Creating a digital timeline is engaging and also inspires students to teach others. The timelines students create present history and research in an interactive display. The free web tools below will get your students started.

Timeline Tools

• Sutori is a web tool students can use to create a collaborative digital timelines or interactive presentations with images, text and embedded multimedia, such as Google products, tweets, and more. Students choose from a variety of different templates. Teachers can invite and manage students within the platform.
• Genial.ly is a web tool for creating interactive digital presentations, infographics, timelines, and more. Students can choose from various beautiful timeline templates. They can add stock photos, text, interactive elements, videos, audio clips and more.
• Tiki-Toki is a web tool for creating beautifully animated 3D timelines with images, text, and colorful backgrounds. Embed on a website.
• Read Write Think walks students through the definition of a timeline and creating their own.
• Myhistro is a web tool and iOS app for creating a digital timeline with text, video and pictures. Students can collaborate and also add to Google Earth.
• Timetoast is a web tool for creating timelines with images and text description. Embed the animated timeline on a website.
• Timeline JS is a web tool to create a timeline with a Google spreadsheet. Add images and embed audio clips from Soundcloud.

To thank you for your sharing, friendship and support over the years I am sharing free tips, learning resources, web tools and apps for 25 days in my Digital December STEM Advent Calendar.

cross posted at teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is a Technology and Computer teacher, education consultant, and author of books including Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: 10 Ways to Launch EdTech Missions in Your Classroom. Read more at teacherrebootcamp.com.

One way to inspire students to be lifelong learners is to teach them how to collect, categorize, curate, and tag resources with a social bookmarking tool or app. I have listed some of my favorites for students and teachers below. Social bookmarking makes research fun, engaging, and collaborative. Social bookmarking helps students visualize and personalize their learning in boards, magazines, or walls!  Get students to create collections for each unit, topic, or project or use any of these tools to share additional resources for a project. With one of the tools below you could easily share with students a collection that includes checklists, rubrics, tutorials and more for a task.

Tools and Apps

• Wakelet is a free curation tool and app where students add videos, photos, quotes, Flipgrid videos, and more collected from the web! This tool also supports struggling students with the Immersive Reader feature.
• Diigo is a web tool, iOS / Android app, and extension to annotate, curate, and bookmark resources found online. Diigo also allows students to annotate pdfs and tag their bookmarks.
• Pearltrees is a web tool, iOS / Android app, and extension to categorize, curate and visualize bookmarks. The bookmarks turn up as thumbnails on a board. Students can move them around and name their boards of thumbnails.
•  Scoop.it is a web tool and extension to annotate, curate, and bookmark resources in a digital board.
• Google Keep is the web tool, extension, and app to annotate, curate and bookmark.
• Symbaloo is a web tool, extension and app which displays your bookmarks as icons.
• Livebinders is a web tool, iOS / Android app, and extension made for educators to place bookmarks as tabs in a digital notebook. Students can also make each tab look like a web page.
• Pinterest is a web tool, iOS / Android app, and extension to annotate, curate, and bookmark resources visually. I use this tool with my college language learners. Check out my students Pinterest boards of their digital portfolios here.
• Cube for Teachers is a new web tool I recently learned about. Teachers create a free profile to share a list of bookmarks with other teachers.
• Flipboard is a web tool, iOS app, and extension to curate bookmarks into a digital magazine.

cross posted at teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is a Technology and Computer teacher, education consultant, and author of books including Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: 10 Ways to Launch EdTech Missions in Your Classroom. Read more at teacherrebootcamp.com.

I still remember the storybooks I created when I was younger. They were made by stapling or gluing construction paper over notebook paper and illustrating the pages with crayons and marker. Students still enjoy creating physical storybooks, but now their stories can be preserved digitally forever with free web tools and apps. The tools and apps below make it easy for students to illustrate, animate, and share their stories with friends, family, and a wider audience. Not only can students create stories about any topic, but they also have the opportunity to be published authors which motivates many to continue reading and writing.

Tips and Ideas

The following are tips and ideas for further supporting students through the process:

• Students can create their own storybooks, work in pairs, or contribute to a class storybook.
• Provide students with templates, checklists, and rubrics.
• Read, Write, Think has several interactives that walk students through the story creation process- Story Map, Literary Elements, Flip Books, the Hero’s Journey, Story Cube, and Fractured Fairy Tales.
• Walk students through the self and peer editing process.
• Students can create stories that retell history, portray themselves as superheroes, set in the future, highlight different cultures, or to teach others math, the alphabet, or to be better citizens. The choice of topics is endless!

Tools and Apps for Creating Digital Storybooks

• Book Creator– Web, iOS and Android app to create and publish digital books with personal photos, audio, video, and more.
• Elementari– Create a free class account for up to 30 students. Students use the web tool to create a storybook with sounds, animations, shapes, and more.
• Buncee– Web tool and iOS app to create and publish a digital storybook with free library of animations, stickers, templates, frames, stock photos, video, audio, and more.
• Storybird– Web tool that is easy to create a written storybook.  Students choose art created by professional artists and add their words and ideas.
• My Storybook– This web tool requires no registration and is simple to use with very young learners and elementary students. Children create a storybook with drawings, images, characters, and more.
• Storyjumper– Choose characters and backgrounds to visualize a written story. Not able to embed.
• BoomWriter– Create collaborative class storybooks. Features include peer editing and a voting process.
• Google Slides and Docs are also great free options. Students can easily search and insert images, add video clips, and more! Student collaboration is easy and students have access to accessibility features and translation tools. Publish as PDFs or embed as a slideshow.

To thank you for your sharing, friendship and support over the years I am sharing free tips, learning resources, web tools and apps for 25 days in my Digital December STEM Advent Calendar. Just click on the calendar below and a post will appear for that day. NOTE! The post will not appear until that day. If you enjoy these resources, then take one of my fully accredited continuing education and graduate online courses or check out my latest book, Hacking Digital Learning Strategies with EdTech Missions!

cross posted at teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is a Technology and Computer teacher, education consultant, and author of books including Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: 10 Ways to Launch EdTech Missions in Your Classroom. Read more at teacherrebootcamp.com.

Who: Cathy Daniels, Principal

Where: Waters Elementary School, Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin

Our old communication system was no longer working. The combination of weekly newsletter, Skylert, paper communication, email, and phone calls were no longer an effective way for us to communicate with families. It’s hard to use five-six different communication strategies, and the Friday folder was no longer working. People prefer texting now, but our staff didn’t feel comfortable giving our their phone numbers. 

We wanted to build a strong channel of communication between school and home so that we could create a closer connection to what was going on in the classroom. Several of our teachers were using Bloomz. They were excited about it because Bloomz gave them the ability to share videos, pictures, messages, and clips with students’ families. It brought teachers and families closer together. We reviewed it as a staff and thought it would be a wonderful way to share our learning lives, so we signed a contract with premium services.

A Welcome Change

Whether it’s teacher messages, video clips, or PTO meeting reminders, everything is shared in the app. Every Monday morning the entire school gets together to celebrate whatever is relevant that week, and we send out Monday morning videos through the app. Parents can attend the Monday celebration if they want to, or they can watch the video clip on the app. This has made a real difference in our school. Parents and families feel a bigger part of our learning community. It’s almost like families have an eye into the classroom – they can see and hear what it feels like to be in our school. It has allowed us to extend our reach, build relationships, and increase a sense of trust.

Measures of Success

Now:

· All parent-teacher communication comes from one source

· Teachers and administrators can easily share videos and photos with families

· Parents can quickly respond to teacher requests

· Extended family members can also be in the communication loop

· Asking parents and grandparents to get involved at schools is quick and easy.

Together, our connected community can support our kids in learning every single day. The numbers show the benefits of better communication: school carnival participation is up to 65% and PTO attendance is up 300%. The additional connections make for a much happier environment where everyone feels included.

This app allows the people who need to be in touch the most to be closer—teachers and parents. Everyone wants every child to be a successful learner. The Blooomz app has helped us get better at gathering and sharing information and building relationships that allow our students to be more successful.

Technology Used

Bloomz

Create mobile apps with extensive help from start to finish

Pros: In-app hints, a broad library of lesson plans, and tutorials guide kids through every step of the app creation process.

Cons: It may be cost-prohibitive for some teachers, and since there's no autosave, students may lose their work if they forget to save it.

Bottom Line: Intuitive platform encourages students to engage in design thinking and coding with loads of support.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Classcraft

Track behavior, motivate students with clever fantasy-themed game.

Pros: Instant feedback and accountability encourage students to act responsibly, and teacher-created quests motivate learners.

Cons: Depending on how it’s set up, the experience could be more punitive than supportive and in some cases, may hinder relationships.

Bottom Line: Classcraft is a fantastic game for encouraging positive behavior while students build knowledge and develop communication and collaboration skills.

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Duolingo

Stellar language-learning tool levels up skills in bite-sized bursts

Pros: Comprehensive, clear lessons guide students through questions and let them set the pace, personalizing the experience.

Cons: The games are great, but they'll work even better coupled with teacher-led differentiation and thoughtful classroom instruction.

Bottom Line: Duolingo's lessons provide a simple, effective, and engrossing way to learn a language.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Curriculet 

Pros: Great customization features help teachers boost students' close reading skills with text checkpoints that test comprehension.

Cons: A recommendation tool for related reading could increase personalization and engagement; adding paid features can get pricey fast.

Bottom Line: An excellent tool for in-text assessment. Maximize the platform's usefulness by uploading your own texts and setting up CCSS-aligned checkpoints.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Today is Halloween, traditional associated with “candy day” or “where’s the treats”. This is also associated with kids (unless you get that awesome neighbor handing out “adult” Jell-O shots during a candy visit). Well, how about some “treats” for teachers? We are all looking for strategies to increase student engagement, so today I thought to have my stop on the trick-or-treat trail be treats for student engagement.  I believe that high levels of student engagement are commonly believed to be critical to learning.  Student engagement implies both effective and behavioral participation in the learning experience (Marks, 2000).  Wang and Holcombe (2010) offer a more complex, yet similar definition of student engagement.  “We operationalize adolescents’ school engagement as school participation (behavioral engagement), school identification (emotional engagement), and use of self-regulation strategies (cognitive engagement)” (p.634).  In each case, the focus of the definition hinges on a level of student participation in the learning process.   The more students are engaged in their schoolwork, the more likely they are to perform well academically, obtaining higher grades in their classes and higher scores on standardized tests. Makes sense…RIGHT?

Some traits I feel are  common factors that impact student engagement are:

• Teacher and student Relationship and trust
• Relevance of the content
• Teacher Planning, Monitoring and Adjustments to Practice

I also do a lot of work focused on “active learning” and believe it is one of the foundations to academic achievement. By integrating technology in the classroom, educators can take learning experiences to the next level and significantly improve student performance.

So, enjoy these engagement treats and share some of your own by tweeting to @MatthewXJoseph

VoiceThread is a great tool for this. VoiceThread allows learners to speak and record what they have to say. For example, students can make math tutorials for one another explaining mathematical concepts and post them online.

AudioBoo is another tool for student to record their own voice and a tool teachers can record and share audio for students or anyone else.

Bubblr is a tool to create comic strips using photos. Just taking a sequence of pictures where you can add bubbles and create a story. Not actual voice, but voice expression in storytelling

Slidestory allows you to combine picture slide shows with voice narration. Each picture in a slide show has an accompanying voice narrated mp3 audio file, optional tags, and text caption. Isn’t this a very exciting way to make presentations and share them?

Screencast-o-matic is a powerful screen recorder that allows users to capture anything happening on their screen, as well as voice and video from the webcam for up to 15 minutes in the recorder’s free version. Regarding its pedagogical use, students can record their own videos describing how they solved a particular problem step-by-step (e.g. a trigonometry problem) or explaining their thinking process about the structure of an essay.

TopHat is an interactive, cloud-based tool that helps professors increase classroom engagement and create an interactive learning environment while gaining real-time feedback on their students’ understanding. Instructors can prepare lecture slides and enrich them with some really interesting and interactive features, from launching questions to receiving real-time student feedback. The platform offers an easy interface for managing a classroom – you can quickly take attendance, automate your grading process, and poll students, all in one place.

This kind of interactive approach can be used in many contexts. Top Hat works for just about every subject. The functionalities of Top Hat allow you to break your routine of being behind the podium and teach a class right from the app from anywhere in the classroom.

Write About One key to improving student writing is to have students write more often. But paperwork is hard to manage, you are limited in how much feedback you can provide, and students often have trouble thinking of ideas. Write About solves these problems, providing students with an online space to write on high-interest topics and get feedback from their peers.

Periscope With live streaming, a camera records something—a conversation, a demonstration, a performance, a meeting—and that event is broadcast live online, in real time. Until recently, if a school or teacher wanted to live stream something, the process required expensive equipment or subscriptions. But now live streaming is available free to anyone with a smartphone.

As the current front-runner in live-streaming apps, Periscope has gotten a lot of attention this past year. Like Meerkat, its primary competitor, Periscope allows users to broadcast live from their smartphones or tablets, take written comments from viewers, and share broadcasts on Twitter.

PosterMyWall is a fantastic tool for creating artistic, high-quality posters, collages, photo calendars and/or photo cards that can either be shared online or printed out and inexpensively shipped home. PosterMyWall for teaching purposes is to have students create posters as the culmination of a project to demonstrate what they have learned. Another interesting idea would be creating a poster as a means of introducing the students to a specific topic in an innovative way that stimulates discussion.

Today’s learners are experiential learners who learn by discovery rather than being “told.” They like to interact with content to explore and draw their own conclusions. They also like playing different roles in their learning, either as a student, or even as instructor or facilitator or supporter of others, and switch between them. We need to create classrooms where students are the ones who have to defend and explain their ideas as opposed to regurgitate facts.

Dr. Matthew X. Joseph is currently the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in Leicester Public Schools. He has been a school and district leader in many capacities in public education over his 25 years in the field. Experiences such as the Director of Digital Learning and Innovation, elementary school principal, classroom teacher, and district professional development specialist. His work and experience focus on supporting teaching and learning. Follow Dr. Joseph on twitter at @MatthewXJoseph or read his blog techinnovation.live

Annenberg Classroom

Civics website makes teaching the Constitution manageable, meaningful

Pros: The videos are solid and are extended with multiple materials connecting the Constitution to current events.

Cons: There's no built-in differentiation, and while the lessons have a variety of videos, illustrations, and photos, the website itself is lacking.

Bottom Line: Go for the videos, stay for the lessons: Annenberg Classroom saves teachers' prep time when teaching the Constitution, current events, or other civics lessons.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

PebbleGo Next: Kid-Friendly Database for Grades 3–6

This student-centric research site gives kids a just-right amount of information to build foundational research skills.

“Thinklets” Provide Path to Teaching Common Core Math Lessons

CueThink, an innovative, community-based platform, helps students plan, strategize, and collaborate.

Explore Photosynthesis, Carbon Cycle, and More with Virtual Lab App

CellEnergy Photosynthesis Labs helps high-school and middle-school students explore how photosynthesis and cellular respiration allow matter and energy to cycle through ecosystems.

Dictionary.

Vast word reference features tons of content and word games

Pros: It's comprehensive, multilingual, and engaging, and games are fun for all vocab levels.

Cons: The interface is overwhelmingly busy.

Bottom Line: Powerful tool crammed full of games, classic reference information, and flexible controls.

Read more.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Planboard

Handy one-stop digital lesson planner saves time in the long run

Pros: Track classroom schedules, lessons, and standards while easily embedding PDFs, links, and videos.

Cons: Lacks pre-made templates, so initial setup takes time.

Bottom Line: Simplifies lesson planning with an intuitive, easy-to-use interface.

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

ClassTag

Flexible user-friendly tool gets parents and teachers in sync

Pros: Excellent how-to info makes it easy for teachers to get oriented and get creative.
Cons: Some features may be redundant with communications tools your school already has in place
Bottom Line: A fabulous way to coordinate the little sign-ups that make a big difference.

Read more

By Common Sense Education

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

Seeing AI

Free app uses AI to communicate the world to visually impaired kids

Pros: With options that include bar code scanning; screen reading; facial, color, and scene recognition, this one free tool does the job of many.

Cons: There are some issues with accuracy, and not all text is readable; for nonlinear texts, there might be issues reading text in order.

Bottom Line: Students who are blind or have visual impairments will likely find this multifunctional tool to be a welcome and useful shift from more limited apps.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Slido

Increase student buy-in with interactive polls and Q&A sessions

Pros: The clean design and variety of polling options make it a great tool for student engagement and classroom discussion.

Cons: Most of the classroom-centric features are available only with a paid plan, and polls must be reset one at a time.

Bottom Line: Engaging classroom response platform offers teachers and students real-time feedback opportunities.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

The best student templates for Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms or Drawings can mean the difference between an easily produced masterpiece and an effort filled low-mark mess. These can be of tremendous help to teachers, who can share these templates to make the lives of their students easier – and ultimately the quality of work submitted, better.

If you have ever used Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Drawings, and Forms, then you know how easy it is to collaborate and share work with peers and students. Thousands of educators create and share best student templates as part of their lesson plans, activities, and projects, making these resources free through their blogs or on Twitter. 

Using templates saves you and your students a lot of time and stress. All you need to do is copy the template you want your students to use, edit and tweak the template as you like, then share the URL with your students so they copy it and complete the work.  

Below is a list of websites with tons of free templates, tips, and tricks.

• Google Classroom review
• How do I use Google Classroom?

Free Templates for Google

The following websites are filled with Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings templates that are ready to use. Edit and tweak these templates as needed. 

You may want to share the activity with your students as a template so they can preview it. To do this copy the template’s long url and change the edit part in the URL, "/edit", to "/template/preview."

• Of course you can find several free templates I share regularly on this blog, Teacher Reboot Camp, in my books, and in my 400+ slide presentations.
• Eric Curts shares tons of templates for Drawings, Slides, Docs, and Sheets in his blog, Control Alt Achieve.
• Kelly Fitzgerald shares tons of Google tricks and templates, including several graphic organizers, in her blog, Edtech Nut.
• Brad Dale shares tips, tricks, and templates in his blog, Time to Talk Tech.
• Ms. Drasby’s Tech Babble is full of tips, tricks and templates.
• The TCEA blog is another great place to find tons of free templates, including Breakout Edu activity templates.
• The educators from Black Gold Regional School Division share tons of creative templates for students to create magazines, newspapers, and more!
• The Instructional Tech Talk blog has several templates, including awesome infographic templates for students.
• Flippity has tons of templates for Google Sheets! Create digital flashcards, interactive quizzes, scavenger hunts, and other cool stuff.
• Check out Slidesmania and Slidescarnival for some colorful themes and templates to make your presentations and lesson plans stand out.
• Pear Deck is an add-on for Google Slides to increase student engagement. The platform features a library of ready to use templates.
• The Google Teacher Tribe has several podcasts, tips, tricks and templates.
• Alice Keeler often shares tips and templates, especially for Sheets.
• Find templates for student choice menus and more at the Shake Up Learning blog.
• The Google Teacher Tribe has several podcasts, tips, tricks and templates.
• Twitter is another way I find tons of useful templates! I recommend these hashtags-#GoogleEDU, #GoogleClassroom, #GoogleET, and #GSuiteEdu.

Geoguessr

[Global Sim Lets Kids Direct Earth's Future

"Just one more turn" gameplay jazzes up geography

Pros: Clean interface, easy controls, and addictive gameplay make geography appealing.

Cons: Favors players with some travel experience or background knowledge in geography.

Bottom Line: It's not a typical educational game, but students are inspired to explore the world and encouraged to think critically about what defines culture and geography.

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

PebbleGo Next

Safe nonfiction database develops students’ research skills

Pros: The site’s organization is consistent, so kids can easily find information and quickly learn what to expect.

Cons: Without individual student logins, there’s no way for teachers to analyze how specific kids are using the site.

Bottom Line: Student-centric research site gives kids a just-right amount of information to build foundational research skills.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Flipgrid

Pose questions, spark thoughtful video responses with stellar tool

Pros: Customizable video responses push students to plan their responses and speak thoughtfully.

Cons: The social media-style features that make Flipgrid fun can also distract students from the purpose of the assignment.

Bottom Line: A simple way for students and teachers to create online discussion, as long as your classroom culture is mature enough to use it wisely.

Read more here.

By Common Sense Education

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

CueThink

Social approach to problem-solving promotes deep math learning

Pros: Students can share ideas and collaborate while solving problems, which makes for a fully engaging and empowering learning experience.

Cons: The interface takes a bit to get used to; problems must have a due date.

Bottom Line: An innovative, community-based platform that helps students plan, strategize, and collaborate.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Microsoft Teams

Collaborative platform helps manage multiple groups and projects

Pros: Easy group creation, integrative approach, and step-by step support get teachers started with fun and practical features for their classes or PLCs.

Cons: Since it integrates with other Microsoft tools, such as OneNote and PowerPoint, novice users may find it busy and daunting to learn to use them as well.

Bottom Line: It offers a ton of options for integrating learning; the lack of some typical LMS features may make it a better fit for small groups or nontraditional group configurations.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Catch up on everything new in G Suite for Education from September 2019, and see great ideas and resources!

Below is the recorded video from our September 2019 Google User Meeting, along with the meeting agenda and all the awesome resources and G Suite updates from the summer months. This includes 22 new Google updates and 19 Google resources for your class.

The monthly meetings are hosted by the Google Educator Group of Ohio, but are open to anyone from any location. The purpose of these meetings is to:

• Connect Google-using educators
• Share the latest Google Apps news and features
• Provide tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to’s
• Share best practices of how Google Apps is being used within schools
• Ask questions and get answers

The video from the meeting is recorded and available for later viewing for those who cannot attend or connect live. See below to view the recorded video, agenda, and all the resources from the September 2019 meeting:

Note: If you would like to see each of the agenda items with links directly to those spots in the video, open the video using the YouTube link below and then click “Show More” below the video.

 YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQPDDTrmg5g

You can view the full Google Document agenda with links to all the Google Apps updates from the last month, as well as all the resources covered in the meeting in the Google Doc linked below.

 View the agenda - Google Document link

Agenda details

Upcoming Events

• Applied Digital Skills workshop - September 30, 2019 - 12:30pm-3:30pm - SPARCC / Stark County ESC - Free registration
• Future Ready Schools Leadership Institute- October 7-8, 2019- Kalahari Resorts -Website Link
• Learn 21 Conference- October 29, 2019- Ohio State University Ohio Union -Website Link
• Ohio Technology Summit (Makerspace Edition) - October 29th @ Otterbein University - Website Link
• Learning Innovations Conference - November 5, 2019 - Kent State Student Center - Website Link
• Teach Better Conference- November 8-9, 2019- Akron, Ohio -Website Link
• EdTechTeam Ohio Google Summit - Dublin, OH - November 9-10, 2019 - Website Link
• OCALICON 2019! November 20-22 Columbus, OH - Website Link
• WVIZ/PBS Ideastream Tech & Learning Conference - Cleveland, OH - 11/20/19
• NEOTech 2020 (March 16-17)

What's New in G Suite

• Switch to a blank screen and set advanced time options for presentations in Google Slides - Resource Link
• See when someone is out of office in Gmail and Hangouts Chat- Resource Link
• Google Images removes 'exact size' and 'larger than' search filters - Resource Link
• Updated Working Hours in Calendar helps colleagues know your schedule- Resource Link
• New version of Android brings Live Captioning and more Digital Wellbeing tools - Resource Link
• Translate Docs into other languages - Resource Link
• G Suite Admin Console getting updates including faster loading, improved search, unified app management, and new policies for users and devices - Resource Link, Resource Link
• Display the word count as you type in Google Docs - Resource Link
• New improvements for Jamboard mobile and tablet apps - Resource Link
• Chrome version 77 adds built-in feature to send webpages to and from your desktop and mobile devices - Resource Link
• Form Notifications add-on now available in the G Suite Marketplace - Resource Link
• Google Expeditions now has the option to share a link to individual Expeditions and specific scenes - Resource Link
• Google launches "Recover Together" website with addiction recovery resources - Resource Link
• Google adds Live Caption feature to Hangouts Meet on Android - Resource Link
• Google Docs and Slides adds custom line spacing for text - Resource Link
• Google Docs adding link preview feature - Resource Link
• Chrome gets updates including tab previews, answers in the address bar, color customization, and more - Resource Link
• Search, view and add bots directly within Hangouts Chat- Resource Link
• Transformation reports from Google for Education are now generally available - Resource Link
• Google Assistant comes to more Chromebooks - Resource Link
• Dark theme is coming to Gmail for Android and iOS - Resource Link
• Find people and rooms more easily on the Hangouts Chat mobile app - Resource Link

Show and Tell

• My, Myself and I Google Slides - Mr. Theriault - Resource Link
• Video - "Diving into Google: An advanced search methods tutorial" - Resource Link
• SearchReSearch blog from Google's Dan Russell - Resource Link
• 30 Ways To Use Google Search For Critical Thinking In The Classroom- Resource Link
• 4 Ideas for Promoting Creative Thinking with your Content - Resource Link
• Chromebook Gestures- Resource Link
• Parent Conference Translator- Resource Link
• SnackVids - Easy site to pull the transcript from a YouTube video and help you search for the words you want - Resource Link
• Google Slides "Mystery Reveal" Template - Resource Link
• "Creator Studio" add-on for Google Slides - Resource Link
• 6 Chromebook keyboard shortcuts that save time - Resource Link
• Spice Up Your Slides with 600+ Free Design Templates - Resource Link
• 3 Tips to Turn Your Lectures into Engaging Conversations - Resource Link
• Student Metacognitive Portfolios Using Google Sheets - Resource Link
• Learner Portfolios with Google Sites - Resource Link
• Hacking Google Sites to create template for student portfolios - Resource Link
• The Power of Google Drawings to Engage Students - Resource Link
• Bookmarks in Chrome – Everything you need to know to use your bookmarks like a pro! - Resource Link
• How to Manually Update Chromebooks - Resource Link

To see the schedule for upcoming Google User Group meetings visit:

Google User Group schedule - https://sites.google.com/view/geg-ohio/monthly-meetings

cross posted at www.controlaltachieve.com

Eric Curts is an education trainer and consultant with over 20 years' experience throughout the U.S. He is an authorized Google Education Trainer and a Google Certified Innovator. Read his blog at www.controlaltachieve.com and follow him on Google+ and @ericcurts on Twitter.

Nearpod

Interactive slideshow tool engages students, promotes collaboration

Pros: Students actively participate in their education while teachers get valuable feedback on student learning.

Cons: Creating and modifying presentations can be time consuming and can get expensive; some features may not work on all devices.

Bottom Line: This effective tool leverages the capabilities of 1-to-1 environments and offers both teacher- and student-paced learning.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

 TouchCast Studio

Cool tool takes videos to the next level

Pros: Professional video templates incorporate elements from multiple sources, and creative features enhance the video's content.

Cons: Students may discover inappropriate content through some of the vApps; help is outdated and hard to locate.

Bottom Line: It's a creative tool for teachers to make interactive video content and for students to present information, but teachers should monitor use.

Read more here.

By Common Sense Education

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

DreamBox Learning Math

Pros: The adaptive technology is quite good; lessons often make use of inquiry-based teaching strategies that focus on conceptual understanding rather than procedures.

Cons: K-2 students may need a lot of support with the interface and games, at least initially.

Bottom Line: Excellent all-in-one solution for extra math support and practice, with solid adaptive tech that supplements but doesn't replace curriculum.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Notebook - Take Notes, Sync

Pros: Full-featured and free, the tool comes with an intuitive, beautiful interface and syncs across all of your devices.

Cons: There are occasional syncing issues, and the placement of the drawing tool is a bit awkward.

Bottom Line: From the novice to the super-organized student, Notebook's versatility is a rare free find.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

ReadingIQ

Great looking, free library has a reasonable diversity of titles

Pros: The collection consists of high-quality, recognizable books and covers lots of topics.

Cons: Some of the most commonly found features of digital libraries are missing.

Bottom Line: This is a reading app that focuses primarily -- and successfully -- on the reading; don't expect many bells and whistles though.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education