One of the most popular applications of math is through spreadsheets (like Excel) that make those numbers relevant to everyday life. We’re going to provide a series of lessons on spreadsheet basics you can use in your K-8 classroom. Here are some of the topics we’ll cover (if the link doesn’t work, it’s because the lesson plan is not yet published here):

1. #74: Mastering Excel (for Beginners)
2. #71: Beginning Graphs in MS Excel
3. #70: Create a Timecard in Excel for Grade Two and Up
4. #73: How to Graph in Excel
5. #12: Create Simple Shapes in Excel
6. #75: Tessellations in Excel
7. #72: How to Check Your Math in Excel
8. How to Use Excel to Teach Math Arrays
9. #79: Excel Turns Data Into Information

–from 55 Technology Projects for the Digital Classroom. 

–5 bundled Excel lesson plans (for a fee)

If the lesson plans are blurry, click on them for a full size alternative. (more…)

As a tech educator, it’s difficult to find a substitute teacher. Even if the sub is knowledgeable in the subject matter, s/he doesn’t have intimate knowledge of what this particular student group knows about software, websites, or problem solving which can be scaffolded for the current lesson. Nor does she know the level of independence and self-direction to expect during class. When I started teaching tech, my generic sub lesson plan looked like this:

• practice keyboarding for fifteen minutes
• visit inquiry-themed websites

That was fine–don’t get me wrong; it promotes student learning while avoiding a meltdown by the teacher–but I now have better options that keep momentum going while I am away for PD or recovering from an unexpected illness. These stand-alone lesson plans are designed to complete important techie learning tasks, assess existing knowledge, or integrate technology rigor into class inquiry. They require little domain-specific knowledge, asking primarily that the sub supervise activities and encourage critical thinking, problem solving, and transfer of knowledge on the part of students: (more…)

Three holidays are fast-approaching–Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. If you’re a teacher, that means lots of tie-ins to make lessons festive while remaining relevant.

Here are ideas for Halloween projects, lesson plans, websites, and apps (check here for updated links):

Websites and Apps

1. 30-day Halloween fitness challenge
2. Build a Jack-o-lantern (in Google Slides)
3. Carve-a-Pumpkin from Parents magazine – Resolute Digital, LLC (app)
4. Enchanted Learning
5. Halloween games, puzzles–clean, easy to understand website and few ads!
6. Halloween Kahoot Games (video for teachers)
7. Halloween Science
8. Halloween Voice Transformer (app)
9. Make A Zombie – Skunk Brothers GmbH (app)
10. Meddybemps Spooky
11. Pumpkin Patch Games
12. WordSearch Halloween – AFKSoft (app)

Projects

1. ASCII Art–Computer Art for Everyone (a pumpkin–see inset)
2. Lesson Plan: Halloween letter for grades 2-5
3. Make a Holiday Card
4. A Holiday Card
5. A Holiday flier

(more…)

Here are the skills fifth graders can learn in Photoshop if you’ve prepared them with basic computer skills:

• Photoshop artwork–already live
• Photoshop actions–already live
• Photoshop basics
• Photoshop filter and rendering tools
• Photoshop starters–auto-correct with the auto-correction tools–those quick fixes that make a photo look cleaner (coming up)
• Photoshop crop tool–with the lasso and the magic wand
• Photoshop clone tool– within a picture and to another picture
• Photoshop–change the background (put yourself in front of the Eiffel Tower or on top of Hoover Dam)
• Photoshop tools–add custom shapes
• Photoshop–start with Word (a little dated but still useful)

Get started

(more…)

Understanding how to use the internet has become a cornerstone issue for students. No longer do they research projects solely in the library. Now, there is a vast landscape of resources available on the internet.

But with options come responsibility for their use. As soon as children begin to visit the online world, they need the knowledge to do that safely, securely, responsibly. You can find grade-specific lesson plans in our K-8 curricula. This for K we post free, as a sample. Use the lines in front of the steps to check off completed work:

Overview/Big Ideas

Students learn how to live in the digital world of internet websites, copy-righted images, and virtual friends who may be something different.

Essential Questions

• What is a ‘digital citizen’?
• How is being a citizen of the internet the same/different than my home town?
• What are the implications of digital citizenship in today’s world?

Objectives and Steps

The objectives of this lesson are:

(more…)

Grade Level: 5th (or whichever grade you teach arrays)

Background: None. This is an intro to MS Excel or spreadsheets

Time: About 30 minutes

Steps

(more…)

I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m taking a few days this summer to review them with you. Some are from members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, from tech teachers who work with the same publisher I do. All of them, I’ve found well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, taking into account the perspectives and norms of all stakeholders with appropriate metrics to know learning is organic and granular.

Today: Lesson Plans

There are lots of bundles of lesson plans available–by theme, by software, by topic, by standard. Here are a few with links to more detail:

• STEM Lesson Plans
• Coding Lesson Plans
• By Grade Level
• 110 lesson plans–integrate tech into different grades, subjects, by difficulty level, and call out higher-order thinking skills.
• singles–for as low as $.99 each. Genius Hour, Google Apps, Robotics, STEM, Coding, and more.
• Holiday projects–16 lesson plans themed to holidays and keep students in the spirit while learning new tools.

Who needs this

These are for the teacher who knows what they want to teach, but need ideas on how to integrate tech. They are well-suited to classroom teachers as well as tech specialists.

(more…)

Here’s a great lesson plan that’s adaptable to history, science, or any number of other topics:

This project introduces the basics of magazine creation in MS Publisher while students engage in inquiry-based learning that incorporates discovery and fosters curiosity. The project includes a cover, table of contents, border, map, banner title, five fast facts and pictures. This is an easy project that always comes out nicely for learners.

If you don’t use MS Publisher, adapt this project to your favorite class magazine publisher, like Canva:
(more…)

One of the most popular applications of math is through spreadsheets (like Excel) that make those numbers relevant to everyday life. We’re going to provide a series of lessons on spreadsheet basics you can use in your K-8 classroom. Here are some of the topics we’ll cover:

1. #74: Mastering Excel (for Beginners)
2. #71: Beginning Graphs in MS Excel
3. #70: Create a Timecard in Excel for Grade Two and Up
4. #73: How to Graph in Excel
5. #12: Create Simple Shapes in Excel
6. #75: Tessellations in Excel
7. #72: How to Check Your Math in Excel
8. How to Use Excel to Teach Math Arrays
9. #62: Email from Word (Or PowerPoint or Excel)
10. #79: Excel Turns Data Into Information

–from 55 Technology Projects for the Digital Classroom. 

–5 bundled Excel lesson plans (for a fee)

Today

Excel Turns Data Into Information

(more…)

One of the most popular applications of math is through spreadsheets (like Excel) that make those numbers relevant to everyday life. We’re going to provide a series of lessons on spreadsheet basics you can use in your K-8 classroom. Here are some of the topics we’ll cover:

1. #74: Mastering Excel (for Beginners)
2. #71: Beginning Graphs in MS Excel
3. #70: Create a Timecard in Excel for Grade Two and Up
4. #73: How to Graph in Excel
5. #12: Create Simple Shapes in Excel
6. #75: Tessellations in Excel
7. #72: How to Check Your Math in Excel
8. How to Use Excel to Teach Math Arrays
9. #62: Email from Word (Or PowerPoint or Excel)
10. #79: Excel Turns Data Into Information

–from 55 Technology Projects for the Digital Classroom. 

–5 bundled Excel lesson plans (for a fee)

Today

How to Use Excel to Teach Math Arrays