Bring some " sparkles" with Google Chrome Extensions

What in the world are Google Chrome Extensions? These extensions are software you can install within your Chrome browser that allows you to run other services in the browser.  It sounds super complicated and you might think, “ why would I need these extensions?” Well my friends, I am here to share some extensions I use especially during distance learning.  

First things first, adding Google Chrome extensions is so easy and FREE! If you don’t use chrome I highly recommend downloading it to use as your web browser. Personally I use my Mac at home but I go back and forth using Safari and Chrome to achieve specific tasks.  You can add extensions with just 2 quick clicks! Here are my favorite Chrome Extensions for Distance Learning!

1. Screencastify - Right after the PD from Jeff Quick on Screencastify, I downloaded the extension and it has been super easy to use instead of having to record myself in Zoom, waiting for it to download, edit in iMovie before I can upload it on to Drive.  This program easily record your screen, yourself, or both! Not only does it save directly into your Google Drive, I also love how you can directly add it to your Google Classroom! 

2. Bitmoji -This is my FAVORITE Chrome extension. Long gone are the days of emailing your Bitmoji from your phone to your email on your laptop and having to maneuver the Bitmoji with the set background around.  Within this extension, your Bitmoji will have a translucent background, which means, you can place it anywhere you want and it would have that pestering white or black background blocking your content. I love using Bitmojis. Here are some of my favorite ways to use this extension:

• I put Bitmojis on my daily message slides I share on Class Dojo and Google   Classroom. My students LOVE this!

• I insert Bitmojis on student’s work. It acts like a digital sticker.  You can search for Bitmojis with the extension and then just copy and paste them  or click and drag right into the Google slides, powerpoint or even the student’s work in Google classroom. It becomes a digital sticker when I use it on students' work.  

3)  Emoji Keyboard – Use this extension to add emojis to your announcements, slides, or Google Classroom! So easy and your students will love it! I use it for changing Google Classroom topic names! Anything to give our students some giggles and excitement to push through this last month fo distance learning. 

4) Custom Curser Make your curser something fun for your online class meetings or screen recordings! We have to get that motivation going any way possible. 

5)  Google Keep- Organize your notes and to-dos by category! You can even color code and add your own labels. You can access it from your computer, phone, or even your apple watch! Game Changer!

6) Full Page Screen Capture Easily take a screenshot of your screen or browser with one click! 

I hope these extensions will help motivate your students to continue with distance learning and also help you with some productivity and some silliness! 

HAPPY TEACHING!

Eileen Wunderlich 

Eileen.wunderlich@omsd.net

Worry is Just Wasted Energy

How can we help students cope with stress when they have to take a district benchmark?  Recently, my students had to take our Reading Inventory assessment which is a reading comprehension diagnostic tool.  My fourth graders understand how this test works and that will measure their current Lexile level used to determine reading proficiency.  Of course, students can do well, struggle, or even score lower than the last time they took it. 

As any concerned teacher, I continuously try to find new ways to encourage my students to relax as much as possible and to do their best.  I came across a new strategy at a recent conference I attended and wanted to try it out.  It is quite simple to implement:

1.  Talk to students about what stress is and how it affects us during performance-type assessments.  Let them vocalize their concerns first. I described worry as just wasted energy.  If you allow it to take over, you won't get far in whatever task you have in front of you.

2.  Hand out a half-sheet of lined paper.  Give students 3 or 4 minutes to write down what worries them about the assessment they are about to take.

3.  While they are writing, place two trash cans at opposite ends of the classroom.  As soon as the timer is up, ask students to read what they wrote to themselves one more time.  At a determined signal, have students roll up their paper into a ball and toss it into a basket.

4.  When my students threw their "worry balls" into the baskets, I could feel the tension released.  There were a few cheers as well.  Do NOT pick up the rolled up worry balls.  Leave them right where they landed.  I told my students that if they begin to stress out they could simply look towards everyone's concerns on the floor or in the basket to remind them that the act of worry is just wasted energy. 

5.  Needless to say, reading gains were MUCH more than I had expected.  Of course, these gains are not exclusively because of this strategy but I hope it relaxed them enough to get through it with confidence!

Happy Writing!
Gustavo Macuil

So the writing journey begins...

The start of a new school year is always exciting.  Teachers return with a fresh mindset determined to

change or adjust instruction from last year....and....so the journey begins.  Last year, I focused my Spotlight blog entries in writing after participating at the Invitational Summer Institute sponsored through the Inland Writing Project.

As I implemented many new writing strategies into my classroom instruction, I felt that I needed to dig deeper in certain writing aspects and this is where a new year, a new journey, begins.  This year I will be focusing on explicitly teaching and practicing the 6 Traits of Writing more thoroughly.

The 6 Traits of Writing includes the following: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions.  This month I am focusing on ideas.

Last week our class started a narrative story.  I had collected some super cool Writing Traits items like my Scholastic kit: The Trait Crate which includes mentor text to help frontload the six traits along with posters and a reference book.  I also had a Traits of Writing big book which someone had left in our community "grab-n-go" table of our staff lounge...(this was a treasure of a find!).

I explained to the class how writers sometimes struggle with not only coming up with ideas to write about but supporting details in order to expand on those ideas.  So here were two days worth of activities in a nutshell:

1.  Think of your comprehension skill of the week.  Ours was Problem/Solution.  Try to align this skill with a student-produced narrative essay.

2.  Provide students the "problem" of their narrative piece.  I gave my students the sentence "Suddenly, I heard the dark clouds roar like _____ and it began to rain cats and dogs!"  I left the line blank in order to review similes.  Students decide independently to write their own simile.  I also included an idiom as this was the vocabulary strategy of the week in our Wonders reading program.

3.  Students fold their graphic
organizer into six sections and draw borders using a sharpie.  They label the first two boxes "B," the next two "M," and the last two boxes "E."  These will be their beginning, middle, and end sections of their stories.

4.  I then proceeded to ask the class to think about something that may happen in real life that could be ruined by a sudden storm.  They came up with a lot of interesting ideas for their beginning event.  The problem would be the actual rain storm.  On the back of their graphic organizer, they selected their event and then proceeded to think about main characters, supporting characters and any details that they could possibly include in their stories.

5.  Next we proceeded to share these ideas for their stories with partners.  Students

gave each other feedback and encouragement to keep writing.

6.  I then allowed them two draw their panels with as much details as possible.  They could color their panels as well.

7.  They also received post-its and place the post-its on the panels in which they wanted dialogue.  They quickly "scripted" some dialogue on their post-its since this is part of the narrative writing standards for fourth graders.










8.  Now they are ready to write their first draft. After spending two days of sharing ideas, I feel they will have much more to write about during their first draft.

Happy Writing!
Gus Macuil

Attention-Getters and Cheers!

Attention- Getters

Are you looking to add some new attention-getters to your current library?  Attention-getters are a fun and efficient way of getting your students' attention quickly and without having to yell over them (as we all know how effective that is right?).  Attention-gettters are an important component to any successful classroom management system.  They are a MUST HAVE to help your day run smoothly, and the kids love them! I have put together some of my current favorite attention-getters that I use with the students in my 4th grade class.  See a brief description and video clips of each one below:

Teacher Says…	Students Respond…
Hocus Pocus…	…Everybody focus
Here ye here ye…	… All eyes on the queen
Hands on top…	…Everybody stop (while putting hands on top of head)
If you can hear me put a bubble in your mouth…	…students pretend to have a giant bubble in their mouth
Can I get a…	…whoop whoop
Ready to rock?...	…Ready to roll
Class class…	…yes yes
Chop chop…	…Lollipop
Jazz hands…	Students shake their hands in a “jazz hands” fashion

Classroom Cheers!

Classroom cheers are a great way to celebrate student successes both big and small!  Kids absolutely love the cheers and thus are encouraged to constantly cheer on their classmates.  My students are always looking for their classmates successes and are excited to celebrate them.  Classroom cheers can also aide in classroom management as students are highly engaged and looking to both earn and give those cheers to their classmates.  It's a great way to encourage your students and help boost their self-esteem throughout the day.  The cheers are so simple and so fun to implement.  Here are some of my favorites that I am using with my 4th grade students this year:

Cheer Name	Student Actions…
WOW cheer	Make a “w” with each hand and put on each side of their mouth.  Open mouth to make an “o” shape.
Marshmallow Clap	Clap hands like there’s a big marshmallow between them.
Disco Cheer	Put left hand on hip, use right hand to point down to the left and then up to the right.  Repeat this action while saying “ah, ah, ah, ah, you did a great job, you did a great job.”
Truck Driver Cheer	Use hands to pretend to hold steering wheel, then use right hand to pretend to pull a semi-truck horn and say “honk honk.” Then put pretend walkie in front of mouth and say “Good job good buddy.”
Tiny Clap	Use pointer finger tips to clap.
Cheese Grater Cheer	Hold one stand still pretending to hold a cheese grater, and use the other hand to “grate” the block of cheese. While doing this students say “You’re great, great, great, great great!”
Big brrrr Cheer	Cross arms over the front of the body like you’re cold, while saying “brrrrr,” then throw both hands up in the air and say –“illiant!!”
Hip Hip Hooray Cheer	Put right hand on hip and say “hip,” put left hand on hip and say “hip,” then throw both hands up in the air and say “HOORAYYYY!”
Chili Pepper Cheer	Reach up and pretend to pick a chili pepper, bit into the pepper and say, “that’shot!” while fanning yourself with the other hand.
Lookin’ Good Cheer	Use pointer fingers to draw a mirror in the air, then say “looking good!” while girls fluff hair and boys pretend to slick theirs back.
Fantastic Cheer	Use pointer finger to twirl a circle and the air while saying “FAAAAAAAAAANTASTIC” and then point towards the person the cheer is for.

I sure hope this helps to add some new fun and engagement into your classroom as well!

Collaboratively Learning,

Megan Brown

megan.brown@omsd.net