My Upcoming Schedule:

• Tuesday, Nov 1: Park Rapids all day
• Wednesday, Nov 2: Park Rapids 8-2:00, Nevis 2:30 – 5:30
• Thursday, Nov 3: Park Rapids all day
• Friday, Nov 4: Unscheduled. Let me know if you want to meet. J

Please feel free to contact me at any time via my cell phone (320-241-6150), my home email (lconzemius@gmail.com) or my Park Rapids email (lconzemius@parkrapids.k12.mn.us) .

Scheduled Classes:

There is a two-hour technology class scheduled in Nevis on Wednesday, Nov 2, on Google Forms, and one in Park Rapids on Thursday, Nov 3, on using Google Forms. All of you are welcome to attend any of these classes. Please email me to let me know if you’ll be joining us. Thanks!

Google Tip:

Google Apps for Education is undergoing some improvements, including a brand new name – G Suite for Education. While I’m not too sure about the new name, some of the feature updates will be very helpful.

One new feature is Explore. Explore can be found in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Calendar, and was designed to make complicated tasks easier. Here are a few examples:

• In Google Calendar, you can use Explore to find times when attendees are available for a meeting and locate available meeting spaces more effectively. If you plan with other teachers and use the “invite” feature of Google Calendar, you may find this update very helpful.
• In Google Docs, Explore will use “machine intelligence” to recommend websites, articles, images and videos that relate to the content of the text.
• In Google Sheets, Explore will allow you to convert written questions into formulas, so you don’t have to know, or locate “help” to find formulas, you can just type in “what is the total cost” and Google Sheets will provide the formula you need.
• And, in Google Slides, Explore will provide recommendations to improve the overall look of the presentation, suggesting design enhancements that will enhance the content without any extra work.

BINGO:

A free Bingo card creator can be found here: http://goo.gl/vmV0LH. This link will bring you to www.kidsCerts.com, a website that will help you create free, great-looking certificates and Bingo cards. One of the nice things about this site is that you can use images as well as text – so the results look amazing, and can be printed easily to multiple, unique cards. The certificates on this website are also easy to create and beautiful to look at. Give KidsCerts a try today!

Have you ever done a “Twitter Chat”?

A Twitter chat is an incredible way to network with other educators from your own home. Using any device or a computer, you follow the tweets at a certain time of day, commenting to the questions if you have something to say, or just reading the great comments others are sharing. During a Twitter Chat you will learn about great resources, new teaching methods, articles, freebies, and more, and will be able to personally communicate with like-minded educators from around the world.

A few Twitter Chats to check out, in case you’re interested:

#Edtechchat – Monday, 7PM CT: This chat is focused on using technology in the classroom.

#edchat – Tuesdays, 11AM CT and 6PM CT: This chat is focused on education, and has a different theme each week.

#Ntchat – Wednesdays, 7PM CT: New Teacher Chat was created to provide mentoring for new teachers.

#whatisschool – Thursdays, 6PM CT: Conversations about schooling, with weekly questions related to the future of education.

#EngageChat – Fridays, 7PM CT: Conversations on how to keep students engaged.

#Satchat – Saturdays, 6:30AM CT: Discussion for current & emerging school leaders.

#Sunchat – Sundays, 8AM CT: Global chat for educators around the world.

You don’t have to connect “live”. Search the hashtag to read all of the tweets from the past chat whenever you’d like.

November Resources: Native American Heritage Month

NEA has a terrific resource of Native American Heritage lesson plans and activities for all grade levels on their website at: www.nea.org. To get you to the right spot, here’s the breakdown by grade:

K-5 www.nea.org/tools/lessons/native-american-and-alaska-native-heritage-month-grades-k-5.html

This resource includes non-fiction text, information-gathering, creating a board game activity, a study of Alaskan animals, Native dolls, pourquoi stories, modern/ancient tool comparison, vocabulary (place names), and many background resources.

6-8 www.nea.org/tools/lessons/native-american-and-alaska-native-heritage-month-grades-6-8.html

Including poetry, fighting injustice, examining US expansion, pottery, modern-day Native American cultures, teaching historic places, expeditions, Stories from the past, and much more.

9-12 www.nea.org/tools/lessons/native-american-and-alaska-native-heritage-month-grades-9-12.html

This list includes links for expansion of the US, three-voice narratives, teaching with historic places, the Ancestral Pueblo People, cultural stories of rock art, the Smithsonian Education American Indian Heritage Teaching Resources, campfire stories, traditional crafts, video resources, and more.

Science & Math Resources: http://scimathmn.org

SciMathMN is a non-profit partnership promoting quality science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Housing all of the science and math standards, SciMathMN also contains best practice information, and every benchmark from Kindergarten through high school. Select a benchmark and you can view an overview, misconceptions students have, teaching vignettes, teaching resources, assessments, resources for differentiation, and information for parents and administrators. It is a wealth of information no science or math teacher should be without!