Learning in the Lou

These are all the random MicroSD cards I found on my desk. Seriously. Why so many? I take a million pictures on my phone and I keep filling up the cards. Instead of sorting through and deleting various images I just buy a new card. Deleting is just so time consuming! This week Google released an update to the Photos app. It is only available on Android but soon it should be released for iOS devices. This update will solve my issue of the full SD card and might just prevent me from buying more cards. What magical feature is this? The app will scan your phone and let you know how much space you will save if you delete the images and videos you already have backed up to Google Drive. Follow the steps below to run this feature on your Android device. Open the Google Photos app. Click the hamburger icon  on the upper left side. (Three lines.) Click Settings .  Click Free up device storage .  The app will start scanning your device and comparing it to what you hav

So, I wanted to print on sticky notes. I have been teaching growth mindset strategies and philosophy to teachers in the Lindbergh School District for the past couple years.  In addition to studying Carol Dweck's Mindsets: the new psychology of success , we've moved onto reviewing a resource book by Mary Cay Ricci called Ready-to-use resources for mindsets in the classroom .   With more than 60 resources to examine and just six hours of class time, I was looking for a fast, clean way for teachers to share their experiences implementing the mindset resources.  Inspired by Yelp, I created my own customized resource reflection sticky notes: Here is my step-by-step sticky note printing procedure: Select your sticky notes (the stickier and flatter, the better) and get their dimensions. Recreate the outline of one sticky note with proper dimensions using Microsoft Publisher. Create a text box inside your sticky note outline.  Build your custom template. Click-and

You can now embed live polling questions into Google Slides using PollEverywhere!  Here is how to make it happen:  Download the PollEv Presenter Google Slides Extension  to your Google Chrome browser. Refresh your Chrome browser and open Google Slides. You should now see PollEverywhere tab in your Google Slides presentation menu: When you're ready to insert a question (make sure you're logged into PollEverywhere), select the PollEverywhere tab and choose to insert a poll or create a poll. When you have finished, you will see a slide that looks like this: When you run your Google Slides in Presentation mode, this slide will turn into a live, embedded poll.  You can even change the results display to fit your purposes.    There is no need to "Alt Tab" or exit out of you presentation to introduce live student polling.  Enjoy! What the advanced version of PollEverywhere? Just email Doug or Colin and we will hook you up! We have a district a

After setting up your initial list of slots you now need to add additional dates. All you need to do is edit your current list and click, simple as that! Follow the below steps to update your form. Log into SignUpGenius Open your volunteer form. Click tab 3 -  Dates/Times Add dates and times at the bottom. Click Add New button on the right. The newest dates will show up on the bottom of the list. Click tab 4 at the top of the screen. Add title, # needed and assign it to a date and time.  An example of what it looks like when making your selections. Click Update at the bottom of the screen. Now when I click on my signup link this is what I see. New dates and slots to pick from.

I'm sure we all have parents who are willing to help us in our classrooms but organizing the sign ups can be a little challenging. Check out this post detailing how to easily create a system to help your parent volunteer system run smoothly. This will be a two part post. This post will detail how to set it up. The follow up will show you how to edit and add additional dates to your existing volunteer list. Thanks to Christina Jaggie for this idea! Navigate to signupgenius.com Click Login/Join Fill out the highlighted information. Pick a theme. There are about a billion of them.  Click custom and continue. Enter the dates and exact times you need people to come in and help. Click continue. Name the time slot. Select how many volunteers you need. Pick the exact date you want this event to occur on. Feel free to check/uncheck. Then continue to the next screen. Click Proceed. Click the center green but

The Hour of Code is coming up in the next few weeks. A few years ago they released an Angry Birds version and then an Elsa skating challenge. Those were pretty neat. This year they released a Star Wars challenge, I guess that is kinda cool. I saw this today and I am wicked excited! Minecraft challenge! Go check it out . I would think every student young and old would be pumped about this one. Code.org - Every student should have the oppotunity to learn code.

Above are some ideas the PDC shared on how you might use Keep to stay organized. How can the notes Get Gas and Need to get outside! remind you to do just that? 1. Hover over the note. 2. Click the little hand with a string tied around the finger icon. 3. Click Pick Place. 4. Choose the location. When you are near that location a notification will pop on your phone. This method works wonders for a grocery list. Add a Snapshot to a note while on your mobile device. 1. Click the note. 2. Click the ice cream cone. (3 small dots) 3. Add image. Google Keep is one of those apps that keeps getting better over time. Download it to your device and start creating!

Pagoda's curley steps by Tristan Schmurr What could my next steps be? You have some of your students using apps and you are wondering what they are doing. There just isn't time to sit down with each of them to have a conversation every time they use the iPads. Are you looking for a super simple solution to this issue? Seesaw is it! Before the students move off the center or close out the app have them follow these simple steps and watch your concerns melt away. Take a screenshot of something that represents what you have been working on. Open Seesaw . Click Camera Roll . Open Photos . Click Camera Roll . Select the image you want to upload. The image will open. Click the pencil icon. Now the students can annotate and record their voice. This will allow the students to reflect on their learning and allow you some insight into what they are doing!

Post-It notes are fantastic for quickly brainstorming ideas. Google Docs is amazing for writing things that are slightly longer than what a tiny note can contain. Check out how easy it is to move what you have in Keep directly into a Doc! Click the ice cream cone (3 dots) at the bottom of your Keep note. Click Copy to Google Doc . Above is the note transferred into a Doc. What about the apps?  Look for the same ice cream cone icon inside the note and follow the above procedure. Check out our other post about Google Keep .

Custom Search Engine This amazing tool allows you to prioritize or restrict what sources your students use to search. It is like you limit Google to only search the sites you have preselected. Setting this up is as easy as 1,2,3. What does it really mean? Your students are researching about the butterflies or the Civil War but just Googling these topics return a few hundred results which is a tad overwhelming. Creating a CSE allows you to preselect the best resources and enable the power of Google to scour these sites to give relevant results quickly. 1. Start at google.com/cse 2. Click New search engine . 1. Start by adding a website you want your students to search. 1. Continue adding sites. 2. Name your search engine. It is recommended to name it after that project or unit the students are researching. 3. Click Create . 1. Get the Public URL and share it with the students.

Keep - Always Within Reach Google Keep is one of those simple apps that integrates into every part of your mobile and desktop life. This post is dedicated to showing you a few ways you can use Keep today. Getting Started Download the app on your Android or iOS device  and/or  login to your Keep account on your laptop . 4 Note Types Basic Note Checkoff List Image Voice 1. Basic Note Click Take a note... to start creating a basic note. Start typing to begin your note. It is recommended you add a title to your note. 2. Checkoff List Click the icon shown above to start a new note with checkboxes. Each entry will be accompanied by a check box. Click the box when that task has been accomplished. It will then be moved to the bottom of the list with a line through that entry. You can uncheck the item and it will move back into the note. Click the ice cream cone (three dots in the upper right corner) to open the menu. With one click