I was the TECH lead at my school site last year in SFUSD. This is my first year in Ravenswood. I am familiar with Chromebooks, iPads, MacBooks, and iPod usage in te classroom. This year I am using Kindle Fires with my students.

Mosa Mack Science

This year I am field testing a new NGSS aligned curriculum for my 6th grade science class. Mosa Mack Mosa Mack: Science Detective is a web-based series of animated science mysteries and corresponding inquiry-based curriculum activities. The pre-library beta version, which includes three episodes and curriculum supplements like discussion guides, hands-on activities, vocabulary cards and engineering challenges, is available for free or with a yearly license (which is what I bought with my fall EPAK grant). 

The episodes are six minutes long and teach a science topic through a character-based mystery. Each episode ends with an activity in which students have to solve the mystery using evidence gathered from the episode. The initial content is geared towards 4th-8th grade classrooms, and teachers can project them for a whole class or break students into smaller groups to explore mysteries tailored to them.

A couple highlights:
-Spanish subtitles for videos
-NGSS aligned 
-Engineering projects for each unit
-A working science curriculum!!! yay!

This is my first meeting. I use the laptops, Google Drive, and doc cams in my classroom. I hope to learn more and contribute to the Team.

I went to the ed surge event last weekend and learned about a bunch of exciting new tech apps, programs, and websites:

writereader.com   this is a great website for primary grades. it allows children to type in a story page by page, then choose a picture from a kid friendly google image search for each page. an adult then comes and writes the child's words underneath with correct spelling. the books can be emailed to parents, printed out in booklet as well as two other forms. books can be published and read world wide and then readers can like the books and it also shows how many "hits" the book got!

also
talking points- a translation app to text parents in their home language

lessonplanet.com- open ed resources free for teachers!!!!

pagamo- gamified practice for kids.

Pop Ups

Students who are in Let's Go Learn and want to link to Khan Academy videos run into a problem.  Nothing happens.  But if you look carefully in the upper right corner of the page there will be a tiny little box with a red X on top.  Click on that and then on the radio button to Always Allow Pop Ups from Let's Go Learn.
Problem Solved!

Technology in the Classroom.

Since I am a brand new teacher this year I am starting with the basics. (i.e. Doc cam, projector, chrome books)

Howdy, All!

I have this great new tech item that I recently purchased.  I'm currently taking videos throughout the school day of our students, teachers, and events in order to publish them either on our district FB page, on the District website, or on our future school website.  I want smooth, professional videos with my little Sony Action Cam.  That's where this Feiyu gimbal (video stabilizer) comes in. 

It's a couple of hundred dollars but the video this allows you to take with action cameras is phenomenal.   There's one available for GoPro's as well.  A YouTube review link is available below.  Watch out for some amazing footage from Los Robles in the near future!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoTSQECBXPs

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1161604-REG/feiyu_gm_g4_s_g4_3_axis_handheld_gimbal.html


~Nelson