Ghosts-Static Electricity

Here's a fun experiment for elementary students: https://www.teachertube.com/video/static-electricity-ghost-400836

It teaches kids the basic ideas around static electricity while putting them in that Halloween spirit!

Google Docs

Struggling with Google Documents? Here's a Google Certified teacher's Google Docs Tutorial Page. It's pretty much your one-stop-shop for all Google Docs questions. Great resource!

Screencasts

I make a ton of screencast videos using Snagit and my HUE document camera, but Free Tech 4 Teachers recently released a blog post about FREE ways to screencast using any device. The post includes ways to record your screen using a Mac, a Windows machine, an iPad, Android, Chromebooks, or even browser based recording. A fantastic resource for any teacher!

Halloween Safety

It's that time of year, again! Halloween can be a fun time of year for our students, but how can we keep them safe while wandering the neighborhood? Free Tech 4 Teachers has a few helpful reminders for keeping the young ones safe on Halloween.

FREE conference tomorrow

Nothing to do tomorrow (in Colorado during the Fall?!?!)? Attend Discovery Education's FREE virtual conference for "Literacy for the Digital Ages." Go to Discovery Ed to learn more.

Student Blogs

Here's our students ongoing book review blog: Steck Stars Literature Reviews. Our students love seeing their work being viewed by an authentic audience. I have them type them in Google Docs and share them with me. Then, I copy and paste the final product into one blog site using blogger. Check it out!

Table Formatter

Table Formatter is a great tool to use as an add-on to Google Docs. It's a great way to add style to the tables in your next Google Doc. Give Table Formatter a try!

Google Doc Add-Ons

Any teacher using Google Apps needs to know all the great tools that can be used to enhance them. Free Tech for Teachers gives teachers an overview of what they must have. Which ones would you use? Would you add any to this list?

Connected Educators Month

October is officially Connected Educators Month. What does that mean?!? How do I connect?!? Edutopia provides a starter kit and tools to connect and learn with/from other educators.

https://twitter.com/JonathanAlmon/status/655056133770444800

Maker Movement

All those teachers, students, and parents interested in making new things should subscribe to Makezine. Especially with Halloween quickly approaching, they have numerous ideas on creating costumes and decorations. Also, you can follow them on twitter: @make. Check them out!

Documentaries

Educational Technology and Mobile Learning released a post about how to find FREE educational documentaries. They recommend three sites: Top Documentary Films, Documentary Heaven, and Free Documentaries. Any sites you would add to this list?

ISTE Conference 2016

The ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education) conference is back in Denver from June 26-29, 2016. It's an exceptional conference where there are numerous presenters to learn from. Every teacher should try to go. Here are important dates to remember about the conference. Registrations begins Nov 2.

FREE Literary Works

Educational Tech and Mobile Learning recently posted about 7 ways to find literary works for FREE. I've used Open Library and Project Gutenberg to find ebooks but am looking forward to see what I can find with the other websites. Would you add any websites to this list?

Lesson Plans & Common Core

Here's an interesting new tool for teachers to use to plan lessons: Achieve the Core. It makes sure teachers are aligning each lesson with a Common Core State Standard. Seems to be a very helpful tool.

My Youtube Channel

Here's my youtube channel:
 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt3fZcXjVwVXb6ZHbz-wJJw

It has numerous helpful videos I've created to show users how to use Weebly to create free websites, how to use DPS Google, and how to use Prezi (an online presentation tool. I created them for students, but hopefully, you find them helpful as well.

Creative Literacy

Daniel Weinstein is a English teacher from New York who emphasizes creativity in his classroom. He keeps a website and blog, The Creativity Core, where he outlines how he teaches creativity in writing and reading. He specializes in K-12 education and is a great resource for any Literacy/English teacher. Also, for all you Twitter users, his handle is @WeinsteinDaniel.