Wonder Workshop has created “Smart Robots for Curious Minds.” These simple yet exciting little robots have made a tremendous impact on kids of all ages. Through the use of an iPad app, students are able to code the robot’s movements in a fun, accessible way! The Wonder Workshop robot, Dash, and his counterpart, Dot, teach kids basic computer programming while developing their problem-solving skills all through play.

Communication between teachers and parents is critical in order to build a strong home-school connection. With our dependence on cell phone technology, it’s no surprise that communication via text is now a reality for educators! Introducing an incredibly powerful communication tool called Remind.

Using Remind, teachers can create groups for parents and then send text message updates through the web or the Remind app. Teachers share the class sign-up code with families as a way to share updates about what’s happening in class.

In addition to sending group texts, the teacher can send personalized messages to any individual in the group and even open up a chat with the individual parent to invite a quick dialogue via text. (The parents can never text the teacher directly – don’t worry!)

As this year winds down, we encourage our teachers to consider launching Remind at Curriculum Night as a way to communicate with our students’ families.

One of the most engaging online writing apps that I have seen is called Storybird. Even the most resistant writers will take to this beautiful site that offers hundreds of illustrations to accompany students’ original stories and poems. Take a minute to watch how one of our fourth grade classrooms at Walden Elementary School is sharing their love of writing through original digital picture books created using Storybird.

In District 109, all of our 3rd-8th grader students use Chromebooks as their 1:1 learning device. While this gives students incredible access to countless web applications, there are times when teachers are looking for alternatives ways for students to express their ideas, especially when students are in math class.

Recently, one of our instructional coaches, Maria Galanis, discovered an Android app called Lensoo Create that she began downloading onto some Nexus 7 tablets at her school.  Because demonstration of math concepts and knowledge can be challenging on a Chromebook alone, middle school math teachers were thrilled to learn of this free, easy-to-use, whiteboard app to use with their students. Take a few moments to watch Maria Galanis and the Shepard students share their love for Lensoo and think about how this might be useful in a classroom near you!

Google Form is my favorite Google App. In my role as classroom teacher, instructional coach and administrator, no tool has been move valuable to me! Over the years, Google Forms continues to improve, yet some of my tips may not be as intuitive as one might think.

Here are three tips that I hope you will find helpful when it comes to using Google Form. Learn the fastest way to enter Choose from a List options, see how to limit the number of characters entered into a free form paragraph text response, and find out how you can view all of your form analytics in one place.

Do you have a favorite Google Form Tip? Please leave your tip in the comments below!

Zaption provides an easy-to-use web interface where teachers create “tours” of any web-hosted videos. The teacher can create questions that are asked periodically throughout the video and then review the analytics from her students’ data. This type of product is especially helpful when students are being asked to compare and contrast text with video. We are excited to be bringing the premium version of Zaption to all 109 teachers where you will have access to hundred of teacher-created Zaption tours. Teachers will also be able to create their own Zaption tours and share tours with others.

Night Zookeper is an educational game that inspires children to create their own characters to live in a magical world. Students are inspired to produce their best writing in this online world because their work is viewable by other students around the world. Teachers can easily assess student work against learning objectives and provide students with reports that show their progress over time. One of our second grade teachers, Kelli Pottinger, raves about the excitement generated in her classroom from Night Zookeeper. If you are looking for a way to get students to write online and connect with others, Night Zookeeper is a great way to inspire your young writers!

Showbie has been a game changer in our kindergarten, first and second grade classrooms. Teachers use Showbie to assign and collect student work, with an option to offer students with feedback from right inside the Showbie app. If you have a 1:1 iPad classroom, Showbie is the perfect solution for workflow management. Check it out!