Halloween: Dance Their Energy Away (With Tips For Using YouTube)

Lots Of Halloween Energy? Try Some Halloween Energizers!

I remember the excitement I felt around Halloween as a kid. As a teacher, I tend to live more vicariously through my students now. As fun as it is to see students excited, it also can be challenging to keep them focussed and motivated. I find movement breaks can help.

In this blog post I will share Halloween movement break videos (see the playlists embedded below), I will walk through how to create and edit YouTube playlists and how to save playlists made by others. At the end I will share how I try to minimize distractions when using YouTube.

Thanks to M.F., S.M., and A.K. for their suggestions!

Halloween Dance Videos

FSL Halloween VIdeos

Halloween Movement Breaks (Younger Students)

YouTube Playlists

Movement breaks are a regular part of my classroom routine. During exciting times of the year, I use them even more. To help me access them quickly, I create YouTube playlists. This is helpful because it helps me organize the videos and then I have them ready to go year after year. I also like making playlists because often the videos are too short for what I want. For example, my Halloween physical education lesson is often done in class as the gym is often closed. If I want to have the dance portion of my lesson to be 20 minutes, I create a playlist that links a number of dances together. I still have the option of pausing or skipping a video.

To create a YouTube playlist you will need a YouTube channel. If you have a Google For Apps for Education (GAFE) account, you will probably already have a YouTube account. You may just need to activate it. When you go to YouTube.com, look in the top right hand corner. You will either see a blue sign in button or your avatar/icon for GAFE (this indicates you are already signed in).

Tip: If you do not have time to create a playlist, you can find the videos you watched most recently by going to "History" on the left side panel.

If  you want to create a playlist, there are different ways you can go about it. One way is to select My Channel or Library on the left. I suggest selecting "Library". Then you will have the option to make a new playlist. The new playlist button will have a plus sign.

You will be prompted to make a title. Also consider if you want your playlist available to others. You will see a globe with the word Public and an arrow. Public means anyone can search for and find your playlist. Unlisted means it is not searchable but anyone with the link to your playlist can use/view it. Private means only you can access/view the playlist. Note the default is Public and you have to select drop down menu to see the options. 

Once you have created your playlist YouTube will take you to the playlist settings page. Here you can edit your playlist. There are many options. Three that are important to know (to start with) are:

1. You can delete you playlist from this page. Select the three dots on the right.
2. You can change your playlist from Public to Unlisted to Private here at anytime.
3. You do not need to know the videos you want to add yet. 

If you do know the video(s) you want to add, select add video button and follow the instructions. If you do not know all the videos you want to add yet, you can leave your playlist settings page (no need to save) and start searching videos. 

When you find a YouTube video you like, you can add it to one or more playlist you already have. If you are like me, and have many playlists, you may want to use the search tool (box with magnifying class under Add to) to find the playlist quickly. You can create a new playlist within this option, as well. The create new playlist option is at the very bottom of the drop down menu.

Does Order Matter?

Depending on what/how you are using your playlist, you may nor may not care the order the videos appear. YouTube will play the videos in the order you have added them to your playlist. If you wish to change the order, you will need to go into your playlist settings. To access the playlist settings, select library (left hand menu). You may see the playlist you have been working on underneath the word library (click on the playlist). If not, click on library. You should see your created playlists on the right-hand side. Select the playlist you want to edit. You can click and drag the videos by selecting and holding the small bar on the left-hand side of each video.

When you click on a video in your playlist, a drop down menu will appear on the right. It will say "more" and an X will be to the right of the menu. The X is how you delete a video from a playlist. The drop down menu gives you the option to move the video to the top or bottom of the playlist, to edit/add notes about the video or set the video as the thumbnail for the entire playlist. 

Tip For Next Year

It is useful to look at your playlist before you used it each year. Over time videos get deleted for a number of reasons. Your five video playlist from 2016 could end up being only two videos in 2017. Remember you can delete videos from your playlist. You can access the edit features when playing your playlist by going to the gear in the top right corner. 

Use Someone Else's Playlist

If you want to use someone else's playlist, you can! You will have no control over the playlist but you also do not have to spend time creating it! To find a playlist, include the word playlist in your search terms. Select view full playlist to check out what videos are included. 

When you select save playlist, it is added to your library.  To accessed any saved playlists, simply select the library option on YouTube's menu. You will see all your saved playlists under the ones you have created.

Free Is Great... But All Those Distractions

Using the extension ImprovedTube helps with some of the distractions that come with using YouTube. As it is an extension, once you install it, it will be available from your Chrome browser (to the right of the omnibox). You will have to select the setting you want to use. Click on the ImproveTube extension icon and you will get a dropdown box. I suggestion looking through all the settings. I use the options under Appearance Settings. I hide the related sidebar and I hide comments. Under Player Appearance I select Start In Large Player for player size.

Sharing Is Caring

This post is by no means exhaustive for how to use YouTube playlists. Please share your YouTube tricks or treats in the comments. Or share your favourite Halloween videos or playlists!

Further Reading/Viewing

• YouTube has a page on getting you started with playlists.
• Rutherford Gets Its Google On: YouTube Playlists - a short video I made to show how to make playlists. 
• GoNoodle Brain Breaks, Many Possiblities - GoNoodle is great for movement breaks!

GoNoodle Brain Breaks, Many Possiblities

Have you ever tried GoNoodle's videos and games to help keep your students moving inside the classroom? These desk-side movement activities geared towards K-5 classrooms are selected and projected by the teacher from the GoNoodle website. Sign up as a teacher at gonoodle.com, fill in some information and then choose your class "Champ". Champs are the primary motivation system in GoNoodle. Every time you play an activity with your students, you help grow your Champ. When you grow a Champ completely, you get to choose a new one to grow. (For more info about Champs click here). There are over 200 GoNoodle videos to choose from. 

Here is how to find the right activity for you:

• Explore: Explore is the default view after clicking the Play button from the champ page, featuring the newest and featured GoNoodle activities. Use this page to see what's new, what's coming soon, and to find activities you may not have played before.
• Channels: GoNoodle is like a music collection – think of channels as artists! If you know you want to dance with Zumba Kids, you can go straight to the Zumba Kids channel.
• Categories: Think of Categories as genres. To see all the dancing videos, for example, head to the “Guided Dancing” category. A variety of genres makes it easy to find the right video for your classroom’s energy level.
• Search: Searching GoNoodle is super easy. Simply type in keywords to see all the videos that match. Try “mindfulness,” “Pop See Ko,” or even “2 minutes” for videos around a certain length. Perhaps a 10+ minute video for that indoor recess?

Quick Subject Transitions 


In the Explore view search for videos and activities by duration. Grab a 1 minute clip and wiggle your way into the next subject area. I thoroughly enjoy Awesome Sauce's "Dance like this Dude". Silly dance moves everyone can get into to get the blood flowing for the next part of the day. 








Here are some highly recommended options for your next GoNoodle Adventure:
(You'll need to already have signed up to view these channels and categories)

1. Testing: Calming category.  Ease anxiety with several calming, stress-reducing activities.
2. Indoor Recess: Mega-mixes. Longer GoNoodle videos for the times you’re stuck inside.
3. Mindfulness: Think About It. A series of positive, one-minute reflections, perfect for morning meeting.
4. Great for the active: Koo Koo Kanga Roo. Awesome beats, hilarious dance moves.
5. Special needs favorite: Mr. Catman. Emphasis on coordination and concentration.
6. Sluggish afternoons: Zumba Kids. Dance your way back to life!
7. Bouncing-off-the-walls energy: Free movement category. A group of videos that let students get the wiggles out.
8. Older grades: Fresh Start Fitness.  Seriously intense workouts!
9. Younger Grades: Maximo. Simple stretching moves, led by a silly monkey.
10. Celebration: Guided Dancing category. Pick a dance-along, and go to town

Read more about the features and specifics or GoNoodle here. How are you GoNoodling in your class?

Mystery Location Hangouts

We're Going To Start A Little Off Topic

The reason I blog is two fold. Yes, it is to share what I have done with others to show how technology can be effectively used with younger students. However, I blog mostly for myself. When I blog, I reflect on the activity and research the topic in more depth which helps me think about what my next steps are. As such this, as with many other blog posts, is a mix of what I have done and what I have learned and what I might do next.
   

What Is A Mystery Location Hangout (or Mystery Skype)?

Typically, Mystery Location Hangout (aka Mystery Hangout or Mystery Skype) is a game played by two classrooms in different* cities that connect to each other using Google Hangouts or Skype. The objective of the hangout is to correctly guess the city each classroom is located in by asking each other questions using a webcam.

*It does not have to be two different cities. My Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) class did their second Mystery Hangout with a class that is a part of the "Greater Edmonton Area" (Sherwood Park). This was great as we were studying Alberta geography at the time. 

How Do You "Play"?

Students use their geography skills to guess the location of the other class. However, there is some preparation required with younger students and I would also recommend preparation with older students for their first few Mystery Hangouts. Prior to the Hangout, I have my students prepare the clues we are going to share. I then try to order the clues to keep the game going as long as possible, if time allows, I included students in this planning (for example should we tell them we are next to Saskatchewan as a first clue?).

Prior to the Hangout, I assign a pair of students to welcome the other class. Everyone else is paired up and each pair is given a numbered clue to read. Before their first Mystery Hangout I also have my students practice with the webcam on (and display it on the Smartboard). Then each pair goes up to the webcam and practices reading their clue (or greeting/ending). I typically do not do this extra practice for subsequent Mystery Location Hangouts.

During the actual Hangout, my class and the other class alternate reading the clues to each other. My students use a combination of simple atlases and Google Maps (on Chromebooks) to try to locate where the other class is. 

I typically give a tutorial to the students that help on the Chromebooks to help them use Google Maps prior to the Hangout.

Once both classes have located where the other class is from, a pair of students closes the Hangout with a good-bye and appreciation.

I am intrigued by the idea of having students be assigned (or selecting) various roles, as described by Pernille Ripp. I am not sure what that would look like in the younger grades yet. 

Cybrary Man has a list of some unique questions older students might want to ask if you are doing a Mystery Location Hangout with a class in your own country. For example:

• How would you describe the weather now?
• Do you experience any extreme weather? If so, what kind?
• Do you live in an urban, suburban or rural area?
• What time is it where you are right now?

After our first Mystery Hangout this year, I added a follow up lesson. We reviewed our clues and the clues the other class gave. Then we revised our clues based on our experience to help us on our next Hangout.

Why Do A Mystery Hangout? Let's Look At The Social Studies Curriculum

As I am a grade two teacher, I am going to pull from the grade two Alberta curriculum. However, if we start with the front matter, this applies to kindergarten to grade twelve. The front matter reminds us to "infuse technology". Other aspects of the curriculum doing a Mystery Location Hangout will help address are:

• demonstrate a global consciousness with respect to humanity and world issues 
• apply historical and geographic skills to bring meaning to issues and events     
• use and manage information and communication technologies critically
• communicate ideas and information in an informed, organized and persuasive manner

Looking more specifically at the grade two curriculum, Mystery Hangouts offer students the opportunity to use their geographic thinking by using simple maps to locate communities studied in the world. It also makes using an atlas have a purpose! When you have students using Google Maps to figure out where the other class is, they are sharing information collected from electronic sources to add to a group task.

How To Find Classes To Connect With?

Without a doubt, finding classes to connect with is the hardest part of doing a Mystery Location Call. If you are flexible about who you connect with (and where they are from) and when you can connect, you will have no problems! Twitter is a good way to locate teachers to connect with. You could use the hashtags:

• #eduhangout
• #mysteryskype
• #mysteryhangout
• #MysteryLocationCall 
• #GHOLocationCall

In my opinion, the best way to find classes to do Mystery Location Hangouts with is by joining some G+ Communities.   

• Connected Classrooms
• The Global Sister School Project
• Mystery Hangout For Schools
• Mystery Hangouts for Foreign Language Teachers
• Mystery Location Calls
• G+eduhangout Community

There are many spreadsheets out there that you can add your name to as a teacher/classroom available to do Mystery Location Calls. I find these resources hit and miss and more time intensive than say Twitter or Google+. However they do occasionally work. Just this week I got an email asking to do a Hangout.

Often the classes I do Mystery Location Hangouts with are with teachers that I have made a connection with through another project such as Dot Day or the Global Read Aloud. The more you are involved in global projects and the more you develop a digital PLN, you will find it easier to find classrooms to connect with. In these cases, often a Mystery Location Hangout is the introductory activity to a larger collaboration project.

Four Important Tips

Tip One: Place your webcam carefully. Try not to have that Canadian flag or other identifying items visible to the other class. 

Tip Two: Try to do a test call prior to (ideally the morning of) the actual Hangout. That way you can try to work out any technical problems ahead of time. 

Tip Three: Have a back up plan if technology problems do occur. What will students do while you (or the other class) problem solve? 

Tip Four: Related to tip three, give yourself MORE than enough time to do the Hangout in case of technical problems. If you think it is going to take 30 minutes, give yourself at least 45 minutes instead of trying to squeeze it into a 30 minute block. 
.................................................................................................................
Stay tuned for a sister post to this one: Mystery Number Hangouts.

Reflections On: Connected From The Start PART 3: Twitter

Connected From the Start

At this year's Greater Edmonton Teachers' Convention (GETCA) I went to see Kathy Cassidy's session called "Connected From the Start" which is also the name of her book, which covers the same topics.

Like many teachers who use technology in class, Kathy uses a wide variety of technology devices and applications. Her classroom has one-to-one iPads. Her session had three main sections: Skype, Blogging and Twitter. I reviewed each section in a separate blog post, this is the final review.

Part Three: Twitter

Kathy Cassidy has her own personal Twitter account as well a class Twitter account which is used year after year with her class. Her students are usually the ones composing the tweets on iPads. She also types what students share. Sometimes it is a combination of students composing and Kathy adding clarifying spelling in brackets.

Her students tweet class events, tweet what they learn and sometimes tweet about specific topics using hashtags (#). Her students usually combine their tweets with pictures. This is where having iPads/tables is useful.

The rule in her class is to show Mrs. Cassidy before you tweet. She shared a humourousf story about when a student did not show her prior to tweeting on purpose. A Twitter follower alerted her to the inappropriate tweet and reminded the class that the "world is watching". This event would often turn people off of letting young student have access to Twitter in the classroom. She shared how she used this as a digital citizenship learning opportunity for that child.

She recommended that you do not use your personal/professional account for class tweeting. She suggests limiting which Twitter accounts your class account follows to only Kid-friendly Twitter accounts.

My Reflections

I use Twitter for developing and strengthening my Professional Learning Network. I use it to find ideas and educators to inspire me. However have not used Twitter much with my class (until this year). I have watched other teachers use class Twitter accounts but did not feel that the practice would enhance my students' learning experiences as using Twitter with younger students felt somewhat superficial, from my perspective. Seeing how Kathy has students logged into Twitter on iPads helped me see how having a class Twitter account can be child centred. 

One I idea Kathy shared that I really like is the possibility of using Storify for a class Twitter account. Storify helps you create stories or timelines using the content you create on Twitter (and other social media). 

This year I started using Twitter with my class via my own account because we participated in the 2015 Global Read Aloud. My students tweeted questions at author Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrator Tom Lichtenheld. Both replied and my students were excited to get a special hello from Tom.

Last year I started using Instagram in a similar way to Kathy's use of Twitter but on a much

smaller scale. I have one device (an old smartphone of mine). As I have become more comfortable and confident with using it in class, I have allowed my students more independence with composing (sometimes using voice typing) the text. I will often share the Instagram post on Twitter if we have added a hashtag. So I can see the benefit of having a class Twitter account to support our Instagram account.

After the Global Read Aloud we did use Twitter a few more times. This happened because my students were now aware of Twitter. In science I tell students that at the end of an experiment we need to share our results. Each year we brainstorm that could look like. This is typically what students come up with: 

• tell our families when we get home
  
• put what we learned on SchoolZone (EPSB's secured information bulletin board for parents and students).
• email someone
• blog about it

and this year they added:

• share it on Twitter.

The few times I did use Twitter this year with students, they wanted to know if anyone had replied or responded. I had to scroll through my other notifications to get to the replies. The adjacent tweets each time I did this were benign but it was distracting for the students. This is when I realized the importance of having a dedicated school or classroom account. You would never have to worry about what other tweets were on your feed that you did not want posted on a Smartboard.

So as you can see even before I went to Kathy's session at GETCA I was already beginning to lean toward creating a classroom Twitter account. I would say her session solidified this decision for me. However, I still have some things to think about before I do.

Questions I need to figure out before I start a class account on Twitter:

• Will I create a unique account for each school year? My students come up with a classroom name. I try to avoid calling anything "Ms Mondor's class" but prefer to use the unique class name to build student ownership of creating our classroom climate. On the other hand, building followers to make Twitter impactful takes time. Having a strong base of followers at the start of each year would be ideal.
• Similar to my first questions, what will happen if I change grades or schools? Will my classroom Twitter account follow me or will I start a new one for a new school/grade?
• Am I willing to have a device (or more, I do have access to a few tablets at my current school) permanently logged into Twitter for students to use? I already do this with Instagram but I am the one the hands the Smartphone to students to take Instagram photos rather than having it available for when they decide they have something important to share.

Related Div1 Edtech in EPSB blog post: So I Joined Twitter. Now What?

Reflections and Learning from 'Movies and Math'

I was delighted to attend several of Kathy Cassidy’s presentations at GETCA (Greater Edmonton Teacher's Convention), this past week. Through Twitter I have come to know her as grade one teacher who fearlessly and meaningfully integrates technology in her classroom.  She shared tips, tools, student blog posts, math movies, and apps that she uses in her own practice as a grade one teacher in Saskatchewan.  

Jo Boalar’s online course How to Learn Math and Sherry Parrish’s excellent book, Number Talks have made me eager to increase the math conversations in my online classroom, and Kathy’s sessions highlighted some new tools to make this happen. Here are some of them.

Free and Awesome Math Apps

What’s fabulous about these first three Apps is that they are available for both the computer and the ipad.  And best of all they are free. Play with them and see how they will support math learning in your classroom. Division one students will easily pick up how to use these Apps especially if they are modelled in day to day math discussions.

Number Pieces

Number Frames

Geo boards

Once students have completed an activity with any of these Apps, save their work by taking a screenshot. Not sure how to do this?  To create a screenshot of your iPad display, press the sleep/wake/power button (at the top-right of the device) and the Home button (below the screen) at the same time. There are many ways to to get a screenshot on the computer but one of my go-to tools is Greenshot. It's free and easy to use. Now to use these images to create a math movie.

Tools for Math Movies

ScreenChomp, Show Me, and Explain Everything are the tools that some of my students have used to create math videos. All of these are for the iPad, a tool which I know not everyone has in their classroom.

Young children can be challenged to speak and draw on the screen at the same time.When a student is using these applications - add all the images and the on screen drawings before creating the recording. Once everything is in place, students can press record and explain their thinking.   

ScreenChomp  Here is a short video explaining ScreenChomp. If you want to know more about this App check fellow blogger David Salmon's Post: Unleash Your Student's Knowledge with ScreenChomp.

Show Me - Getting ready to create a Show Me

Explain Everything  

Explain Everything is a tool with lots of options but not one that young students could easily use independently. The videos that my students have created with Explain Everything have been done with the one on one support of an adult.  

Inserting videos in a Google Form

I plan to have my students use these tools to demonstrate their understanding of math concepts by creating their own math videos. The next step will be to get them sharing their videos with others and having other students respond to the videos.

There are many ways to share our Math Movies. Check the recent Div1 Edtech post on blogs. However I want to try something new. I've discovered that you can now insert a video in a Google form. I am interested in giving it a try. In my online classroom I would post a video in a Google Form and use that as one way to capture student responses. Although the creator of the video would not see the responses I would gain insight into student thinking.

A Powerful Practice for Learning and for Assessment

Whether your students are in a classroom together or scattered across the globe imagine the power of students creating recordings of their math thinking and sharing their videos with others in a variety of ways. My goal is to have all of my students creating recordings and responding to each other as we continue to collaborate and grow in our math learning. I use simple sentence starters to guide students as they give responses:
'I heard you say...', 'When you said... I thought....', 'Did you try...? 'Can you tell me more about...', ' I learned ....', Now I understand...'.

When it comes to assessment, these math videos give me one more opportunity to listen to student voices and guide them in the next steps for learning. As students think, process, clarify, reflect, respond and rephrase there will be a lot of great learning happening. And that makes me happy!