Author: Jacqui

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, an Amazon Vine Voice, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

Subscriber Special: 2nd Grade Bundle of Lesson Plans

Every month, subscribers to our newsletter get a free/discounted resource to help their tech teaching. Not a subscriber? Click the button below.

2nd Grade Bundle of Lesson Plans

4-2-23 through 4-7-23

Price slashed from $7.99 to $3.99

What’s included in the 2nd Grade Lesson Plans Internet bundle:

  • A brief summary of each project, including suggested grade level and prior knowledge, time required, software required
  • Higher-order thinking skills addressed
  • Technology-specific skills taught 
Five projects include:
Art Online
Online resources from the world’s great art museums, do-it-yourself sites and more.
Online Sustained Silent Reading Sites
Use the internet to offer variety in Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) program (which is the same as DEAR–Drop Everything and Read). Every student can find something they’ll like on these websites.
Online Spelling Practice.
Use www.spellingcity.com to practice spelling words, site word or Dolch words.
Elementary Research on the Internet
Provide a list of websites on a topic, specific questions on a worksheet to answer, citation sheets to complete.
Internet Basx
Explores the internet (back/forward buttons, toolbar, links, home page, netiquette, plagiarism, etc.)

To get this huge savings, you must be a subscriber. If you aren’t (more…)

World Backup Day

World Backup Day–March 31st Every Year

March 31st is called World Backup Day. At least once a year, I remind you to backup your data files to an external drive (like a flash drive). This is one that isn’t connected to your local computer so can’t be compromised if you get a virus. It’s good to always backup data to cloud drives or a different drive on your computer but once a year, do the entire collection of data files to what is called an ‘air gap’ drive–one that is separated from any internet connection.

How to do this 

There are various ways to back up your data. You can back up your data to an external device or a cloud-based backup service, or both. You might even make more than one backup to external storage devices and keep the two copies in different places.

To back up PC/Windows, use Windows Backup:

  • Click the start button.
  • Go to Control Panel
  • Select ‘Backup and Restore’
  • Select ‘Backup Now’

From there, select a drive with sufficient space and start. Be forewarned: If you have a lot of data, it takes a while. You can work on your computer while it’s backing up; it’ll just be slower.

Mac: Use the Time Machine tool.

Chromebook: No need. Everything is saved to the cloud. Now if you want to backup your cloud, use a service like Backupify.

(more…)

Invention Convention 2024 is coming

 

Invention Convention Worldwide is a global K-12 invention education curricular program mapped to national and state educational standards that teaches students problem-identification, problem-solving, entrepreneurship and creativity skills and builds confidence in invention, innovation and entrepreneurship for life. Signups for the annual Raytheon Technologies Invention Convention US Nationals start March 29, 2024 (that’s today–publication day for this article).

RTX Invention Convention U.S. Nationals 2024 will be held at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI on June 5-7, 2024. Here’s a calendar of events (from Invention Convention Worldwide):

(more…)

35+ Easter Websites and Apps

Many Christians celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. To non-Christians (or non-traditional Christians), that event signifies a rebirth of spring that is filled with joy and gifts — and chocolate! Overall, it is America’s most-popular holiday with Christmas a close second. The date depends on the ecclesiastical approximation of the March equinox. This year, it’s March 31, 2024.

Here’s a good mixture of games, lesson plans, stories, and songs that can be blended into many academic subjects (for updates on this Easter-themed list of websites, click here):

18+ Interactive Easter websites

Preschool-2

This website includes a colorful collection of Easter (and Spring) games and information that is visual and enticing to youngers. Games are Easter Math, Easter Egg Hunt, Easter Egg Dress-up, Easter Word hunt, complete-the-sentence, and more. Also, viewers will find websites about the history of Easter around the world.

ABCYa Easter Egg Hunt

Preschool-Kindergarten

Like all of ABCYa’s games and activities, Easter Egg Hunt is a colorful and intuitive educational game for young children.  It is easy-to-understand, playful, with favorite Easter symbols and energetic music that will engage children. The five Easter-themed games are easy-to-understand (no directions required) with a countdown clock to motivate activity. Nicely, it also aligns gameplay with the national standards met.

(more…)

Tech Tip #5: Where Did the Taskbar Go?

tech tipsIn these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip:  Where Did the Taskbar Go?

Category: PC, Keyboarding

Q: Some programs hide the taskbar when they open. How do I access the Start button when that happens?

A:  Push the flying windows (between Ctrl and Alt) to bring up the Start button.

It might have disappeared because it’s set to Autohide. Here’s how to fix that:

  • Hover over the area where the taskbar lives.
  • If it appears, right click on it and select Properties. Go to the Taskbar tab.
  • Make sure the box that says Autohide isn’t checked.

If the taskbar doesn’t appear, hover over the extreme bottom edge of the screen. If a double-headed arrow appears, click and drag up to bring your toolbar back from the edge.

Sign up for a new tip each week or buy the entire 169 Real-world Ways to Put Tech into Your Classroom.

What’s your favorite tech tip in your classroom? Share it in the comments below.

(more…)

9 St. Patrick’s Day Resources For Your Class

St. Patrick’s Day is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on March 17th to honor St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, credited with bringing Christianity to the country. The day is marked by parades, wearing green clothing and accessories, traditional Irish music and dance, feasting, and the symbolic consumption of foods and beverages like corned beef, cabbage, and Irish stout. It has become a global celebration of Irish culture and heritage.

st patricks day websites

Getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day? Try these fun websites with activities for different grade levels, different classes (click for updates on this list):

  1. Puzzle–St. Pat’s Puzzle
  2. Puzzle–St. Pat’s drag-and-drop puzzle
  3. Puzzle–St. Pat’s slide puzzle
  4. Puzzles and games
  5. Resources for St. Pat’s Day from Education.com by grade and subject
  6. St. Patrick’s Day history–video
  7. St. Pat’s Day songs–video
  8. Tic tac toe
  9. Wordsearch

(more…)

Celebrate Pi Day and Maths Day

[gallery type="square" columns="2" size="medium" ids="68539,68542"]

Two math celebrations are coming up on March 14th: Pi Day and World Maths Day

Pi Day

Pi Day is an annual celebration commemorating the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14 since 3, 1, and 4 are the three most significant digits of π in the decimal form.

Daniel Tammet, a high-functioning autistic savant, holds the European record for reciting pi from memory to 22,514 digits in five hours and nine minutes.

(more…)