https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/chinn/?p=1038
Hi Everyone,
Summer is almost here! Seven items of note for this week.
• Staff Potluck Tuesday, 11:30, Corridor Library – If you haven’t done so already, please sign-up for what kind of salad, desert, chips or drink you would like to bring to our end-of-the-year celebration.
• Year End Check Lists Due Wednesday – Remember to complete and turn in your Year End Check List before you leave for the summer. Make sure that everything in your room is boxed or stored in a manner that can be easily moved into the hallway during summer cleaning.
• UO Duck Store’s Kid’s Reading Challenge – If you’re looking to share a summer reading incentive program with students, here’s one that’s being put on by the UO Bookstore. Barnes and Noble also has their own summer reading program as well.
• Building Use Team & Cafeteria/Gym Schedule – The attached schedule will be next year’s gym and cafeteria use schedule. I realize both schools are wanting more gym time in the afternoon, but I do believe this schedule is the fairest way to split the spaces. We can always revisit the schedule, but any plan would need to give equal gym time to both schools in the afternoons.
• Focus Group for 4th and 5th grade teachers – I received an email that looks suspiciously like an advertisement, but it also says it will pay teachers who participate $75 for 90 minutes of your time from a grant, so I decided to go ahead and forward this. Attached is the flyer if you’re interested in doing this and earning some summer cash.
• 77 Web Resources for Teachers to Explore This Summer – Here’s an attachment to save for the future when you’re surfing the web on your iPad this summer. You’re probably familiar with some of the sites listed here, but there were many that were new to me that looked interesting.
• Some of Allan’s Favorite Free iPad Apps – Now that classroom teachers have iPads, I thought I’d share some of my favorite educational apps and also some of my favorite non-school related apps as well. I’m thinking part of our back-to-school staff meeting will include some time for teachers to share apps you may have found over the summer. But before the apps list, Misty also mentioned that you can access your 4J files1 server space through the Pages app. This tip sheet takes you step-by-step how to do that.
• Evernote – Misty shared this one at the meeting, but it’s well worth mentioning again.
• DropBox – This is one I use to access files on my computer from my iPad. You have to install the app on your iPad and also run an install program on you laptop, which will create a DropBox folder on your computer. Once you have that folder, anything you put into that folder will be available to you on your iPad. I store most all of my school files here and like it a lot because it automatically backs up my files anytime I make changes to documents kept in the DropBox folder. Tell me if you want to use this one because if you download it to your computer from a link I send you, both you and I will get free extra storage space.
• CloudOn – This is an app related to DropBox. It allows you to edit and modify any documents kept in your DropBox file.
• Edmodo – You all received a training on Edmodo following Spring Break and you may not have known that there is a slick iOS app to access your Edmodo account.
• Common Core Standards – A nice app that lists all of the Common Core Standards for all grades and subject levels, which we will all be accountable for in the coming years.
• TED – TED’s official app presents talks from some of the world’s most fascinating people: education radicals, tech geniuses, medical mavericks, business gurus and music legends.
• Overdrive – If you have a library card, this app allows you to checkout eBooks for free. It also allows you to checkout audio books as well.
• Kindle – iBooks is nice, but I prefer Amazon’s Kindle app. Amazon also has a larger library of books to purchase from. And remember that most older classics are in the public domain and are therefore free, so read as much Nathaniel Hawthorne, Sherlock Homles, Emily Bronte or H.P. Lovecraft that you want.
• Flipboard – This is a very nice, easy to read magazine style news reader app. You can read their pre-loaded sections or you can add your own favorite websites (BoingBoing and GeekTyrant are two personal non-school favorites) to read it in this magazine format.
• XfinityTV – If you have Comcast/Xfinity, this is a great app that allows you to watch a huge library of TV shows and movies on your iPad. This app also allows you to manage and control your DRV, along with being able to change the channels. HBO also has a great app if you subscribe.
One and a half more kid days! Have a great week and an even better summer break!
Allan