November Tech Team News for Staff!

We have had several students already enjoying our weeks designated as "Design Space Weeks" in the Learning Commons. Each month we will get out several items for students to explore and figure out at lunch periods. They need to get a special pass from Mrs. Bender or a teacher on lunch Duty to come up and join us. The next scheduled Design Space weeks are: November 9-13 and December 7-11 (which happens to be the "Hour of Code" week!) If teachers are interested in exploring, please let Dana know--I'm happy to get items out for tinkering!

We recommend using image sites that give students permission to use their images in their work. Sites like PhotoPin, Pixabay, and Pics4Learning are fantastic first stops when searching for images!

A correct image attribution includes 3 parts according to Creative Commons:

The title of the image, the owner of the image, and the license under which it can be used. All three of these parts can be hyperlinked in online work to create an ideal attribution. Here is an example of a blog post with images that are correctly attributed. Once students practice a couple of times, they seem to catch on and are able to include the necessary parts with links.

If the above sites don't give students the results they are looking for (after trying alternative search terms and synonyms), they can use Google Images. ***Please note that we should be using the images in google that are "Labeled for Reuse." To find these, search for an image and then click on Search Tools, and then Usage Rights. Select "Labeled for Reuse" or "Labeled for Non-Commercial Use."

If you are needing support with technology tools and integration, our collaborative tech team members are here to help! Here you will find a list of tech team members and chromebook cart point people who can assist you.

Tech team members can help with learning new technology such as: Google Classroom, Google Drive, Google apps and extensions, website assistance, mimio, web 2.0 tools (prezi, animoto, S'more, PowToon, QR Code generators, etc.), screencasting tools like Screencastify, Mackin VIA (ebooks and databases), Destiny Quest (our library catalog), and more! (These were some of the high interest topics based on the staff survey last school year.)

Please feel free to call on us to help! We are here to support you. If you are unsure of who to touch base with for certain topics, let Dana know. I can point you to a helpful tech team member!

Some 7th graders designed a read aloud lesson plan for the book "Not Norman" and had the chance to carry out their lesson with 1st and second graders at Thornton Elementary on Thursday, Oct. 22nd and Friday, Oct. 23rd! What a great service learning experience it was for them!

Check out this Animoto Video showcasing the groups who read!

We are expecting a shipment of new print books within the next couple weeks! Lots of new and popular fiction titles and soon after that another shipment of mostly non-fiction books.

In addition, we now subscribe to Learn 360, a video streaming resource for teacher and student use! I am working on getting accounts set up and will let you know soon how to access this great resource!