iTunes U and McKinney ISD

The Media Resource Specialist group has spent time this year creating courses in iTunesU. If you've never explored iTunesU before, you will be AMAZED at the amount of free resources available. iTunesU is the perfect example of the "learn anywhere, anytime" mentality. All you have to do is log in to iTunes with your Apple ID and explore the iTunesU library. You can do this from an iPad or your MacBook. You can download courses or e-books to your device and read them whenever and wherever you want. I specifically remember downloading a course onto my iPad, then reading it and watching videos within the course while I waited for a doctor's appointment. That's right - it's all about time management! HA!

Here are a few more tips to get you started with iTunesU.
When you're in iTunes, look for the iTunes U link:

Once you're in iTunes U, search for McKinney ISD and you should find our courses. There are only a few courses right now, but check back often! As courses are completed OR added to, they will be added to the McKinney ISD library!

One of my favorite things about iTunesU courses (especially as a creator of some), you don't ever have to be "finished" with your course. You can add materials, lessons or activities at any time, so even if a course is published, more materials are likely to be added to it.

With summer quickly approaching, I thought this was the perfect time to introduce this amazing resource. Don't forget - it's multi-platform, so you can access iTunesU via your macbook or an iPad. If you're on an iPad, find your iTunesU app (it is an Apple app that should be on all iPads.)

If you have any questions about iTunes U and how to get going, let me know! I'd be happy to show you:)

GoNoodle-Brain Breaks

Guest blogger Jan Sullivan shared this site with us.  

It is a super cool way to give your students a brain break when they are fidgety or lethargic!  

Check out this link to the site to watch a short video intro that will help get you started!

Here's another link to a tutorial that you might find helpful.  And, did I mention that it is FREE?!?

What GoNoodle Brain Break does your class love?  

Share it in the comments below for an extra star for your cape! :)))

Vine Videos

Many of you have probably heard of the iPhone app called "Vine." Here's a little description of Vine from their website: "Vine is the best way to see and share life in motion. Create short, beautiful, looping videos in a simple and fun way for your friends and family to see."

With Vine, you create 6 second videos that loop over and over until you make it stop:) I got the idea of using Vine with Vocabulary from Twitter (surprise, surprise.) A word of caution: Vine is frequently used as a social media site, for silly, fun videos and comments that could be inappropriate for children. When I suggested that my teachers try Vine with Vocabulary, I told them to only let the students use Vine with the teacher's iPad and monitor them closely (i.e. only let them create Vines, don't let them browse the gallery.) 

Once the students' vines are created under the teacher's account, the teacher can go to Vine's website and embed their vines into their own teacher websites or wikis for student viewing and sharing. 

Using Vines for  Vocabulary is a great way for students to demonstrate their mastery of a word through words and visual representation. Also, when students view other vocabulary vines, they get another person's examples, explanations... and on top of that they get the repetition of that 6 second video looping over and over again.

Amber Evans and Marley Goodwin had their 3rd grade students make Vocabulary Vines when they were learning about geometry. Check Amber's out here and find Marley's vines here. Way to go 3rd grade!

Angela Stallbaumer, Sarah Feeney and their 2nd graders created Vines to show their understanding of suffixes. Check them out here.  Way to go 2nd grade!

There are many, many ways that Vines could be used in education. One of the greatest things about it is the time limit on the videos. If you need a quick activity and you want your students to publish something, but you don't have time to spend days on a project, Vine is great option!! I sometimes create vines just to "show off" what students are doing. Here's an example:






Hope you enjoy using Vine!! If you have any questions about it, or would like some support using it in your classroom, please let me know:)

**Please note: The Vine app is NOT downloaded onto the school iPads because of the reasons mentioned above. We don't want our students visiting the gallery and viewing public videos and comments. You can, however, download Vine onto your teacher iPad or your phone - doing it this way allows you to monitor more closely:)

More Google Chrome Awesomeness - URL shortener

A couple of weeks ago, Laura wrote a post about Google Chrome's Incredible Start page. I tried to think of a topic that was NOT related to Chrome, but gave up and decided to share my new favorite time-saving tip. One of the coolest tricks I learned at TCEA (or after TCEA really, when I took a few moments to digest all I learned), is the Google URL shortener.

If you are using Chrome, look at your menu bar on the far left and click on the "Apps" button.

Search for "URL shortener." You are looking for an extension. Once you install it, an icon for it will appear just to the right of your URL window.

There it is! I have a URL shortener icon and when I click it, I get a shortened URL (http://goo.gl.....). My favorite thing about it is the QR code! I click on the QR code and I can copy it and paste it into a word document to print, into a Keynote presentation, etc. 

This is such a time saver! With one click, I get a shortened URL (that is super easy to cut and paste into an email, for example) AND a QR code for any webpage I visit. Love, love, love this!

If you give this Google Chrome awesomeness a try, or discover another Chrome extension that you love, please share it with us:)

Incredible StartPage

Wouldn't you like an "Incredible Start" every time you opened up a browser?

I attended a couple of sessions at my technology conference last week by a gal that is a professional presenter.  She raved about Google Chrome and all of the great plug ins that it has.  So...needless to say, I am now a believer.  You will need to create a google account if you don't already have one.  After that, you can go to the Chrome Web Store and find all kinds of goodies.  A quick and easy plug in with high impact to me is Incredible StartPage.  After installing the plug in, this is what my home page looks like:

I was given the option to import all of my bookmarks from Safari, customize my theme, and write on the sticky note!  A neat feature is that it keeps a list of my recently closed sites, so I can revisit something that I may have accidentally closed or forgot to bookmark!  And, if you are on a different computer, after you log into Google, your Incredible StartPage should follow you!

You will probably need to install Google Chrome on your laptop.  After you install it, visit the Chrome Webstore to search for and download the Incredible StartPage plugin.  The sleek format of this plug in makes me happy each time I launch Chrome!

Tip for iPads: Add to Home Screen

A lot of you may know about this, but it is such a handy tip, I wanted to send this out to everyone. If your students use a favorite website, or frequently use a website on your iPad(s), you really want to do this. For instance, our 1st and 2nd graders are deep into research about polar bears and penguins. So, adding arkive.org as a weblink on the iPads will come in super-handy.

I made a Snap Guide (another cool app!) explaining the few steps necessary to make a weblink on your iPad. If you make a weblink on your iPad with a favorite website, it looks just like any other app. By clicking on the link (or app button), it will take the student directly to the website where you want them, so there's no URL typing or anything!  Take a look at the snap guide below to learn how to do this.


Check out How to Add a Web Page to Home Screen by Melanie Burford on Snapguide.

Scanning App

Penney Bell let me know about a new App that she has been using. It is called Scanner Pro and lets you scan anything with your iPhone or iPad. Then you can email it to whoever needs it. I can scan a paper and immediately send it to a parent, or print it without having to leave my classroom! It is on sale now for $2.99.  I have an app called TurboScan that I love.  Both are definitely worth the $!