Free Printing from any St. Louis County Library

Do you like to keep a running record of students’ work? Do you want to print students’ work to display or deliver? The St. Louis County Library staff can print items from the internet or library services. You can also email files to a St. Louis County library branch for printing. They will email you when it is finished and ready for curbside pick-up. There is a limit of 60 pages per day for this service. Best of all, it’s FREE! For more information or to contact a St. Louis County Library branch, visit here.

Pixton Comic Creator

Another way to add some fun and personality into your digital classroom space is to use characters. Using characters can be a beneficial way to add a bit of storytelling and to create engaging content. Pixton Comic Creator allows students to make a cartoon version of themselves and then they can create comics with different scenes and characters. The free version allows students to create comics with the ‘Dinosaur,’ ‘My Bucket List,’ and ‘Truth or Lie?’ class packs. Thanks to Brittany Powell at Oak Brook Elementary for this tech tool!

School Chromebooks

School Chromebooks

Encourage your child to use school Chromebooks appropriately. Here are some tips:

• Keep Chromebooks and their chargers in family spaces (not bedrooms)

• Have conversations about appropriate internet use

• Talk to your child about the differences between personal devices and school devices

• Remind everyone that nothing online is ever secret or anonymous

What are school Chromebooks for?	What are school Chromebooks NOT for?
Activities assigned by the teacher (also known as schoolwork) Reading eBooks Research activities and projects assigned by the teacher Class Zoom meetings Communication with teachers Communication with other students IF working together on school projects	Movies, videos, and games NOT related to school Communication with students NOT related to school Researching topics NOT related to school Anything that the teacher did NOT ask you to do Anything that would NOT be acceptable to share with the class and teacher

Using Schoology Assessments as 'Target Checks'

Do not feel limited to giving only summative tests or quiz with the word Assessment. You can give Schoology Assessments as a formative assessment and call them 'target checks' to clarify the difference to the students. Check out this less-than-a-minute video from Jenny Proffitt at Parkway's TLA. This video shares how she used the Schoology Assessment settings and various question types to check for student understanding.

Multiple Questions on a Page in Schoology Assessments

This tip is from Veronique Lynch from Parkway South High. Veronique Lynch put multiple questions on a page so that students can refer to the image or audio prompt on the same page. Veronique was able to do this for fill in the blank dropdown question and fill in the blank text question in Schoology Assessments. Watch this 1-minute video to see what it looks like!

Nibble and Note

Kristen Harms is going to begin offering weekly professional development specific to Virtual Campus teachers called “Nibble and Note.”  Information will be housed HERE.  Teachers can attend the 20-30 minute sessions live or they will be recorded.  Teachers can find the topics on this site and they can also request topics.  Please note this will be very informational and teachers can totally eat/multitask during these sessions!

Reading Online

written by Kristen Harms/ posted by Elegan Kramer

The following strategies will help students move beyond random surfing and clicking to using the internet and online reading meaningfully.  Research shows that students need comprehension skills and strategies to specifically and effectively read and learn from text on the internet.

Which Link Should I Follow?

Students should stop, think, and make predictions about which site to explore.  Students can answer specific questions off the computer to help them analyze what they are reading.

How Do I Navigate Within a Site?

1. Read the title of the page and the title of the Web site in the margin at the top of the window.

2. Scan menu choices. Hold your mouse over the navigational or topical menus that often appear down the left frame or across the top of the window, but don't click yet. Get a big picture of the information available within the site.

3. Make predictions about where each of the major links may lead and anticipate a link's path through multiple levels of a Web site.

4. Explore interactive features of dynamic images (animated images, or images that change as a viewer holds the mouse over them), pop-up menus, and scroll bars that may reveal additional levels of information contained within the site.

5. Identify the creator of the Web site and when the site was last updated. You can often find this information by clicking on a button on the home page labeled “About This Site,” but sometimes deeper exploration is needed to find the site's creator. Consider what this information indicates about the site.

6. Notice and try out any electronic supports the site has, such as an organizational site map or internal search engine.

7. Make a judgment about whether to explore the site further. If the site looks worthwhile, decide which areas of the site to explore first.

How Do I Know This Is True? Think and Check Critical Reading

Think	Check
Does this information make sense?	➜Be skeptical and ask around.
Where else can I look?	➜Search the Internet using keywords in quotation marks, or look in a book.
Who created the site and why?	➜Explore the “About Us” link with a critical eye.
Who is the author?	➜Search the Internet using the author’s name in quotation marks.
Who is linking to the site?	➜Type “Link:” followed by the URL of the site in question into the search box of the Google home page.

Teacher Tech Tip: Slidesmania and SlidesCarnival

Slidesmania have free templates and how to for Google Slides. It’s not just for powerpoint presentations. There are interactive templates for:

Notebooks	Choice Boards and Games
Planners	Breakout Rooms

A time-saving characteristic with these templates is that they are all linked within the presentation. For example, if someone clicks on the Monday tab in the planner, it will go directly to Monday’s slide. This allows the presentation to be manipulative and interactive. Students can also use these templates for student projects and group presentations - it is free and open to all!

Another free powerpoint template and Google Slides themes for presentation is SlidesCarnival. SlidesCarnival focuses on making presentations more appealing and does not have as many interactive templates.

Parent Pointer: Talking to Kids about Recent Events

In light of the recent events last week, remember that our kids are also trying to make sense of what they’re seeing and hearing. Kids are often more tuned into our emotions than we realize. As you are processing through family conversations and with the anticipated inauguration happening next week, here are some resources that might be helpful when talking with your children.

• Parkway teacher discusses Capitol chaos - video on kmov.com

• Talking to Kids about the Violence at the U.S. Capitol - Common Sense Media

• Promoting Compassion and Acceptance in Crisis - National Association of Psychologists

• When Bad Things are Happening - Teaching Tolerance

All of these resources focus on listening to the child and giving them a safe and brave place to share their emotions. We also have an excellent social-emotional and counseling team in Parkway who are always happy to support you in any way possible. We hope these tools help you provide the care, comfort, and answers our kids and teens need during these challenging and unpredictable times.

Nearpod for Teachers

Written by Kristen Harms/ posted by Elegan Kramer

 

Nearpod Introduction Video

 

Nearpod enables instructors to limit distraction and multitasking during a lesson by broadcasting content and interactive learning activities/exercises to student devices in real-time.

Slide Content and Activities

Click on each icon for a quick explanation video.

	Thousands of videos featuring trusted brands, curated to save teachers time (No need to search YouTube!  No ads!) Discover relevant and relatable content that respects student interest and identity. Cultivate active experiences with built-in, interactive, standards-aligned questions.  Teachers can also make the video interactive.
	Create a traditional slide in Nearpod or import from Google Slides
	Connect students to any website on the internet opens up endless possibilities to share information with students
	a library of 100 stunning 3D objects that you can easily add to your Nearpod lessons
	PhET simulations engage students in science and math concepts through an intuitive, game-like environment. Students learn through exploration and discovery.
	Nearpod VR takes your classroom on Virtual Reality Field Trips with 450 ready-to-run lessons to inspire students to investigate and broaden their horizons.
	Nearpod is giving teachers the option of adding videos from BBC Worldwide directly into their lessons
	Teachers can enhance their Nearpod lessons with the addition of Sway presentations. Sway lets teachers tell compelling digital stories and design beautiful presentations. Unlike traditional static presentations, Sway incorporates multimedia and interactive elements to offer a rich experience.
	With the slideshow feature, students can scroll through multiple slides on their own pace. This is a great way to include slides you want students to look through on their own during a Live Participation lesson, or a way to break up the way material is presented.
	Teachers can upload an mp3 recording to the for students to listen from the teacher’s device or their individual devices.

	Time to Climb is a highly interactive gamified activity within the Nearpod Student Engagement Platform. Students race to the top of the mountain against the clock by answering multiple choice questions. Time to Climb activities are great for bell ringers, learning checks, exit tickets and more.
	The open ended questioning asks students to work together as a class to write an answer to a question about a text, and include the evidence they found after re-reading the story.
	Select corresponding text and images for your students to match. All you have to do is create the pairs and you're all set. You can use our timer feature when creating the matching pairs activity to specify a time limit for your students as well.
	With a Quiz, you can add multiple-choice questions to your Nearpod lesson. Quizzes are auto-graded, so you'll know right away what students understand, and you can share out the results with students in real-time.
	Flipgrid allows students to record short videos and share them with their teacher and class. In order to use Flipgrid within Nearpod, you'll need a Flipgrid account. If you've never created a Flipgrid account, you can create one here. This activity works only when using Nearpod in a web browser.
	The Draw It activity allows students to respond to a prompt with drawings, text, and images. You can upload a background image, or have students draw on a blank background.
	Collaborate Board allows for crowd sourced ideas within the feature. Students are able to indicate their preference for certain responses by simply clicking on the heart icon. Teachers then are able to sort boards based on number of likes—they also have the ability to delete comments. This is similar to Padlet.
	Poll activities allow teachers to ask a multiple choice questions without a right answer to check for understanding, take a class vote, highlight student opinions, and more. The Poll activity can be used for multiple-choice questions that do not have a correct answer.
	Fill in the Blanks is a drag and drop activity that allows students to complete a passage and populate blanks with words. Students get instant feedback, so they'll know what words or concepts they need more practice with.
	Memory Test shows students a grid of "face-down" image cards that they click on one by one to reveal an image. Their objective is to match identical images. This can be a great brain break or game.

Technology Cleaning Instructions

 written by Kristen Harms/ posted by Elegan Kramer

The guidance below is provided by Dell Technologies. 

We understand customers may have questions about cleaning and disinfecting options for their Dell products. The guidance below applies to all Dell-branded PCs, monitors or display screen, docking stations, keyboards, and mice. 

1. We recommended you wear disposable gloves when cleaning and disinfecting surfaces. 
2. Turn off the device you plan to clean and disconnect AC power. Also remove batteries from items like wireless keyboards. Never clean a product while it is powered on or plugged in. 
3. Disconnect any external devices. 
4. Never spray any liquids directly onto the product. 
5. Moisten a microfiber cloth with a mixture of 70% isopropyl alcohol / 30% water. The cloth should be damp, but not dripping wet. Excess moisture should be removed if the cloth is wet before wiping the product. Using any material other than a microfiber cloth could cause damage to your product. 
6. Gently wipe the moistened cloth on the surfaces to be cleaned. Do not allow any moisture to drip into areas like keyboards, display panels, etc. Moisture entering the inside of an electronic product can cause damage to the product. Excessive wiping potentially could lead to damaging some surfaces. 
7. When cleaning a display screen, carefully wipe in one direction, moving from the top of the display to the bottom. 
8. Surfaces must be completely air-dried before turning the device on after cleaning. No moisture should be visible on the surfaces of the product before it is powered on or plugged in. 
9. After cleaning or disinfecting a glass surface, it may be cleaned again using a glass cleaner designed for display surfaces following directions for that specific cleaner. We recommend you avoid glass cleaning products containing Ammonia. 
10. Discard the disposable gloves used after each cleaning. Clean your hands immediately after gloves are removed and disposed. Other cleaning chemicals are very harsh and will damage surfaces. 

Avoid using any of the following chemicals or products containing these chemicals: 

• Any chlorine-based cleaner, such as bleach 5 
• Peroxides (including hydrogen peroxide) 
• Solvents such as; acetone, paint thinner, benzene, methylene chloride or toluene 
• Ammonia (i.e. Windex) 
• Ethyl alcohol Using any of the chemicals listed above will cause permanent damage to some product surfaces. By following the steps outlined in this document, you can minimize the risk of damage.

Changing and collecting multiple shared links in Drive

These directions allow you to change and collect many links at once to share quickly rather than going into each Google Doc individually. It is a productive, time-saving strategy to encourage teachers to utilize breakout rooms and virtual group work more. This works for any collaborative Google tool such as Slides, Jamboard, and Sheets.

1. Make multiple copies of the Google Doc (or in this example, Jamboard) in a folder

2. Select all of the Google Doc by clicking and dragging with the mouse.

3. Click Share button to change settings for all Google Docs

1. Change sharing settings for all Google Docs to Parkway Schools 

2. Change permission settings to Editor 

4. Select Copy links.

5. Paste links in a new Google Document and separate them.

Time-Saving Tech Tip #1: Using Google Sheets

5. In Google Sheets, paste the links.

6. Go to Data > Split text to columns in order to separate all links at once

Time-Saving Tech Tip #2: Using Google Drive Stream to change the name all at once

1. Go to your Google Drive Stream

2. Select all

3. Rename one and it will rename all of its copies