Happy Birthday Albert Einstein & Happy Pi Day

Next to "My Hero Zero", Pi is probably one of my favorite numbers. Though I may be a bit irrational at times, so is Pi, also known by the by the greek letter π. Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to it's diameter and is approximately equal to 3.14159.  March 14th (get it 3/14 -- 3.14!) is a day to celebrate the uniqueness of this mathematical constant and ironically it is also Albert Einstein's Birthday.  Below is a collection of websites taken from an Edutopia Article by Matt Davis for you to explore Pi with your students - If you want to celebrate Einstein's Birthday, I suggest a round cake!

• Pi Day Activities from the San Francisco Exploratorium: Without the Exploratorium, we might never have had an official Pi Day celebration. In 1988 Exploratorium physicist Larry Shaw started the tradition, and it was finally recognized by Congress in 2009. The Exploratorium highlights some great hands-on activities, and there is also a great list of Pi-related links.
• Happy Pi Day from TeachPi.org: TeachPi hosts a trove of Pi Day resources, featuring fun classroom activities, Pi Day-inspired music, and other fun learning ideas. There's plenty here to keep students engaged, and learning, on March 14. Check out the activities section for a bunch of great learning ideas.
• Pi Day Teaching Ideas from Scholastic: Scholastic produced these great lesson plans for three different grade levels -- preK-1, 2-3, and 4-6. There's also interesting information about the history of Pi, as well as a link to aWeb application that allows students to explore Pi through music.
• Pi Day Resources from Math Goodies: Math Goodies features some great, free math lessons that incorporate Pi. Check out their circle lessons, as well as links to other online resources and list of questions for students to research the history of Pi.
• What Is Pi, and How Did It Originate?: Scientific American dug deep into the history of Pi in this article, offering an insightful look at the origins of the mathematical constant.
• TeachersFirst's Pi Day Resources: TeacherFirst offers this great roundup of Pi-themed lessons and resources from around the Web focused primarily on high school. Included in the collection are some general math resources, like Simpsons Math, and they all come from a variety of great sources.
• Celebrate Pi Day with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: There's plenty of great resources here from NCTM. Along with fun activities, there's also an Illuminations lesson plans section with some great standards-based lesson plans for educators.

Chromebook Keyboard Shortcuts

The Google Chromebook has a keyboard shortcut overlay that can be very helpful if you're feeling like you are missing the capabilities to use Accessories you may previously have used on a desktop.  This was particularly helpful recently when we found something similar to the "Snipping Tool" that we used so often to create tutorials with screen images, but goes far beyond CTRL-V and CTRL-C for copy and paste.


Click CTL-ALT-? to open the keyboard overlay.

Hold down the CTRL key to view the first level of shortcuts.

Using the image below as an example, CTRL-d is "Bookmark current page".

Hold down CTRL-ALT for a view of more keyboard shortcuts.

Using the image below as another example, CTRL-ALT-t is "New Terminal"

Hold down CTRL- SHIFT to view the last of the keyboard shortcuts.

Using the image below as a final example, CTRL- SHIFT-w is "Close Window"

It's Your Turn to Change the World - Google Science Fair 2014

On February 12th Google along with Lego, Scientific American, Virgin Galactic and National Geographic launched their 4th annual international online science & technology competition for teens ages 13-18. Past winners have tackled some of today’s greatest challenges, like an anti-flu medicine, more effective ways to beat cancer, an exoskeletal glove, a battery-free flashlight, banana bioplastics and more efficient ways of farming.  What is your idea to change the world?

There are resources for parents and teachers to help kids get involved and ideas and guidance for students to get their creative juices flowing.  

If the desire to do great things doesn't motivate you perhaps the prizes will!  Scholarships of $25,000 and $50,000 plus trips to the Galapagos Islands, the Lego Factory and more...

Students have until May 12th to finalize their submissions.  But don't wait till then to start building your project site and get started.  Here is a short video overview of the submission process and and here is a link to the Google Science Fair site - Just click on the Get Started Icon at the bottom of the page.  Good Luck!

Doodle For Google Art Contest 2014

If you are an avid Googler, you know that the giant search engine frequently surprises the world by doodling the Google logo based on famous birthdays, holidays or events. What you may not know is that Google launches an annual contest which invites k-12 students in the U.S. to use their artistic talents to redesign Google's logo. 

This year, the theme is "If I Could Invent One Thing to Make the World a Better Place...". The winning artist will see his or her own artwork on the Google homepage for 24 hours, win a $30,000 scholarship, a trip to San Francisco, and $50,000 technology grant for his or her own school.

All submissions must be received by Thursday, March 20, 2014. Visit the Doodle for Google homepage for contest details.

Details and Rules
• All submissions must be received by March 20, 2014.
• You can mail in applications or upload right on the website.
• Submissions must be accompanied by a completed Entry Form.
• Instructions, mailing addresses, official entry form, and official Contest Rules are all available at
www.google.com/doodle4google 

We highly encourage you to share this opportunity with teachers and students in your schools. We hope to share their doodles here on the Orange-Ulster BOCES Model Schools blog after the winner is announced. 

Happy Doodling!! 

Getting Started with Animoto

One of the great opportunities provided educators with the cornucopia of technology tools available today is more easily moving from students as consumers of knowledge products such as worksheets, videos, lectures from their teachers and others, to producers of their own knowledge by creating videos, animations, concept maps and more.  This is an important 21st Century Learning Skill and enables students to become more active participants in their own learning.

Animoto is a useful tool for students and teachers to create videos that demonstrate their understanding of a concept and communicate their ideas from pictures and/or video clips.  What we would like to do here is help you get started using this awesome site.  When you first set up your account you will have a free account that only allows you to create web quality videos up to 30 seconds long and have access to a limited number of video styles and 300 music tracks to choose from.  As an educator you can have access to an Animoto Pro account for 6 months and for up to 50 students.  Below are the steps to get signed up and create your first video.

1.  Sign up for Animoto

2.  Click on the Education link at the bottom of the page.

3.  Click on the Learn More button where it asks if you are a teacher.

4. Select the Apply Now button and fill out the form.

5.  While it says it may take weeks to get you a code, we have found that you get it automatically.  This is the code that the students need to also get a pro account.  One suggestion, since it is a long code, either create a google doc with the code on it as well as the directions for signing up that you share with them, share it on your LMS like Edmodo or Schoology,  or simply email the code and directions to them.   You may use this sample directions Google Doc for sharing with your students on how to get set up and get started.  Simply past your promo code on the line.  Here is an example of a confirmation page with the code:

Here are the steps in none other than an Animoto Video:

If you want to learn more, attend Christine's Workshop on Tuesday February 18th.  Find out more and sign up on MyLearningPlan.Com

Hiding Apps on iOS devices

As shared staff members, we often find that the teachers we work with have technology questions we never thought to ask. Many of these questions are things we didn't know needed answering until they put them in our path. These same questions often come from classroom experiences, but more often come from teachers who are also parents. This recently happened in a faculty lounge at the Elementary level.


During a discussion regarding Social Media in the classroom, it came to my attention that children/students have found a way to hide information on both personal and school issued devices, specifically apps. That being said, and with a multitude of devices in classrooms, it's important to know how to access all apps, at all times, to keep students on the right track.  It might actually be helpful to hide apps as the teacher if you don't wish for your students to be distracted by outside sources while using the required apps for a lesson.


Here are the steps to hide apps, as well as how to search for them once hidden on the device.

• Fill up your home screen with apps. Keep one folder on the home screen.
• Place all the apps you want to hide away in a folder in the dock.
• Tap and hold that folder while double-pressing the home button to open up the app switcher.
• Switch back the home screen.
• Tap the folder on the home screen (the one you don't want to hide).
• Back out to the home screen again. Press the home button.

All of those apps are hidden away, and you can still find them by searching through the Spotlight. Unfortunately, if you reboot your device, the apps you've hidden will reappear.
http://lifehacker.com/hide-apps-in-ios-7-with-this-trick-1349955784

Tech Tip - Adding Languages to Your Chrome(book) Keyboard

Choose keyboard input methods for Chrome

If there’s more than one standard way to type in your language, you’ll want to make sure you choose the keyboard input method that works best for you. By adjusting your keyboard input method, you can also add accent marks, insert currency symbols, and use other special characters. You'll also be able to specify multiple language preferences in order to type in multiple languages. Once you’ve set your preferences, you can easily switch between languages for your keyboard via the status area.
Set your keyboard input methods
1. If you haven’t already, sign in to your Chromebook or into chrome (on another computer).
2. On your chromebook, click the status area in the lower-right corner, where your account picture appears.  On your computer, click on the Chrome menu icon 
   
3. Select Settings.
4. Click the Show advanced settings... link.
5. In the “Languages” section, click Language and input settings.
6. If the language you want to use isn't already listed, click Add and select the language you want to use.
   
7. Select the checkboxes next to the input methods you want to use.
8. Click OK.
To quickly see the list of input methods you’ve enabled, click the status area in the lower-right corner and select the keyboard language from the menu that appears.
Switch between input methods
1. Click the status area in the lower-right corner of the screen.
2. Select the keyboard language from the menu that appears.
3. Choose the input method you want to use from the list that appears.
If you have more than one input method enabled, then the keyboard language you’re using will appear in the status area. That way, you can always tell which language you’re using.
Tip: Use the following keyboard shortcuts to quickly switch between different input methods:

• Press Alt+Shift to switch between different input methods.
• Press Ctrl and space to switch to your previous input method.