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!

I Co-Taught... With Myself!

A Little Bit Of Background

A few years ago I started making short math videos and uploading them to YouTube. The point of these were three-fold. First of all, I used them as sets to my lessons. I was able to use school manipulatives, and Alberta curriculum terms to tailor the video to my students' needs. Second of all, by having the sets as a video, I was able to provide students with opportunities to review the material if they wanted or needed to. Finally, I was able to share these videos with parents to help them better understand what math looks like in the grade two classroom of today.

Then last year I was in need of more differentiation in my literacy centres (long story, see this post) so I started creating making words videos. This year I decided to introduce this centre earlier in the year. As a result, I created a new video that would be the model for the centre. I like to teach whole class lessons and do whole class practising of centres to build independence when possible.

The Ah-Ha Moment

The majority of my teacher made videos have been short or made for students to use independently. This was the first time that I had a longer instructional video playing for a whole class activity. The video was a recording of what I would normally be modelling on the Smartboard for the Making Words lesson. This freed me up to walk around, observe, intervene and praise more frequently and effectively than if I had been doing the lesson "live". I basically was co-teaching, with myself. It was great and I believe it could be a very powerful strategy if used thoughfully. 

Now I just need to find some time to make more videos!

Yes, You can Show Your Students' Faces on YouTube

There are a lot of misconceptions about the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. It is often used as an excuse as to why we shouldn’t post videos of student learning or start a class twitter account. It is good to understand your jurisdiction’s FOIP Consent form in order to know what parents are permitting you to do with their child’s information. This is all the more relevant in today’s digitally connected society where the internet is a ubiquitous public space that we frequently utilize for teaching and learning.

Before we look at the FOIP form, it is important to note that the form is only the one step in the process. You must inform parents on how you are using their child's information on the internet. You don’t need a new form every time, but if you decide halfway through the year to do a project that will go on YouTube, you need to let the parents know. Nobody likes surprises, and informing them gives them the option to back out, which is their prerogative.

Here are the elements of the FOIP form from Edmonton Public School that deal with posting information online:

“[School] is requesting your permission to use your child’s personal information (i.e., image, grade and/or name, etc.) in public venues or on the internet where the general public may have access to the information in order to communicate with parents, the community and the general public.”

Notice that this statement says that images and/or names can be used on the internet to communicate to the general public. Further to this point, it also states on the form:

“Examples might include, but not limited to:
-posting pictures, videos, podcasts or presentations online
-accessing and posting information to public websites or social media applications (e.g., Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and other emerging technologies)”

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. It is imperative that you know the purpose for posting online. You could have students make videos of themselves reading stories and post it on YouTube. But why use YouTube? If the video’s intended audience is just you and the parent, it may be better to upload it to a Drive folder. If your class has a message for the community, then YouTube may be the best medium.

And this has to be stated again. You need to let parents know if you are using web apps or posting anything will use the student’s information. This can be done through a newsletter, class blog, Schoolzone (in EPSB) or any other medium that you use to communicate with parents.

Here is a great video to recap (and the acting is fantastic):

The FOIP Consent form ensures that we are abiding by Alberta’s FOIP Act. The Act isn’t preventative legislation. It instructs us on what we need to do when we need to use personal information in order to do our duties as teachers in today's connected, online world. The Act and our FOIP Consent form ensure that we, as a public institution, are being responsible with the information parents are giving us.

If you really want some good reading, check out the full Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Technology As My E.A.

Help!

I recently had an educational assistant (E.A.) join my grade two class about 60% of the week. After about a month of having her in class she was away for two weeks. Despite her only being with my class for a short time, I already relied on her for the smooth running of my literacy centres. Each day students go to two centres. I have a large number of students who are working significantly below grade level and with behavioural issues. I truly needed her help and now she was going to be away for two weeks!

Technology To The Rescue

During reading centres I like to work with one group exclusively on guided reading or guided writing. I only leave my group briefly in the middle of each centre to monitor students' progress on the other centres (I sit where I can visually scan all groups regularly but I also like to do a walk-around once). Therefore, all the other groups need to be independent so that they are not interrupting my group. I do not want the independent work to be "filler", however. I want students to be engaged in meaningful work.

So, I decided to try increase the technology I use for centres to help me during my E.A.'s absence. My reasoning? Not only is it engaging but it could possible help provide immediate feedback on their work. Plus, if done correctly, I felt it would require little instruction from me. 

I already was using technology twice in my centres. Since September, students used tablets to access their RAZ Kids accounts. As well, students regularly accessed the computers to do word work activities (either from Spelling City or from interactive games/activities that related to the word work topics of the week).

OR Should I Say Google To The Rescue?

After searching ideas online and scanning many Pinterest boards, I did not find any pre-existing and free technology options that I felt met my needs. So I decided to make my own using Google Apps for Education products. 

Forms

The first tool I turned to was Google Forms. I used multiple pages along with the "Go to page based on answer" for multiple choice function to create a form that told students if their answers were correct or not as they worked on the form. They were directed to a video that reviewed "verbs" are if they selected the wrong answer. I taught students how they could select the "back" option once at the video to try again. 

I could see using this as a centre again, depending on the topic. It did not take much time to set up and my students were already familiar with forms, so it do not require a lot of instruction from me.

YouTube

I used YouTube for a making words station in a similar fashion as I used forms: I used it to provide students feedback on their work. I found a Notebook file I had created previously for a whole class lesson (I've been doing making words on the Smartboard for a long time, so I have many of these). Using Screencastify and a headset with a mic, I recorded a instructional video that I then uploaded to my YouTube channel. I put the letters needed for the making words lesson into ziplock bags and created a worksheet to record their work.

At centre time students took a bag of letters and a record sheet to a computer. As the video instructed, they'd make a word based on what they heard orally. Then the video would show them the correct way to make the word. I monitored whether or not students were just listening to the video and writing down the answers or if they were actually making the words along with the video. Only one or two students needed re-directing at the beginning of the centre.

I asked the students after how they liked the video/making words centre. Most gave it a thumbs up. A few mentioned that they found it too easy. So the following week I created two videos. I labeled each bag with a sticker to denote which level the letters belonged to.

I found this centre so successful that I have decide to keep it even with the return of my aide! I had always avoided having a making words (without technology) centre because students would not get feedback if they were making the words correctly until I looked at the record sheet a day or two later. Now that is no longer a concern as the video provides instant feedback. As it does take some time to make the videos, I will likely not use this centre every week.

Read And Write For Google

We had been working on adjectives and adverbs in language arts and learning how to revise sentences with them. So I decided to have students work at a "Super Sentences Centre". Each student was given their own copy of Super Spring Sentences (I used Doctopus to share). Students had to revise the writing by adding adjectives. Students who needed support got it with Read and Write For Google (RW4G). For those of you who are not aware of RW4G it is an extension that will (among other things) read a Google Document to the user. This meant all my students could work at this centre independently. In addition to having RW4G support them in reading the Document, they also had spell check to help them with the words they were adding. My students were familiar with how to use Google Docs and RW4G prior to this centre.

At the end of each round of centres each day, I read that day's Super Sentences creations on the Smartboard. This helps hold students accountable as well as show students how adjectives and adverbs can totally change a piece of writing. 

Like the making words videos, I liked this centre so much that I've decided to keep it in the regular centre rotation. The following week I modified it slightly for adverbs. As I create more "Super Sentences" centres I will share them on the Division One Collaboration Site For Educational Technology.

Not A Replacement

While having these technology centres helped bridge the gap while my aide was away, they are not a true replacement for an effective teacher or educational assistant. Unfortunately, there are many years when teachers have large class sizes with diverse needs and no funds to provide a human educational assistant when one is needed. Hopefully some of these ideas may help support teachers in that situation.

A Note About Access To Technology

To provide some context, I will share what technology I have access to. I have four desktop computers in class. As I have 25 grade two students in my class, most of my groups for centres are four to six students. So I use the computers as a centre but often need to use a netbook or two as well for large groups. Our school has 18 tablets. I currently keep six of them in class permanently as they are not used by others, at the moment. I also have easy access to a cart of 24 netbooks (yes, netbooks).  While these are not for my class exclusively, no one else uses them so I keep them in the room across from my classroom for easy access. Therefore I can have more than one group working at a computer-based centre.  

5 Great Division One Social Studies Sites

Five Great Social Studies Websites For Division One* 

*This post definitely has a grade two slant!

YouTube

Finding social studies websites for younger students can sometimes be problematic, as much of the reading level is quite high. That is why video sites like YouTube are great because they can provide content that is accessible for a larger audience. I make playlists for different topics. Here are some examples:

• Acadian Culture
• Mapping Skills
• Inuit Throat Singing
• About Saskatoon

Canadian Geographic Kids

This is definitely aimed at older kids but I have used this site for grade two students to research things like the different animals found in Nunavut. The CG Kids Map Puzzle is a favourite during our geography unit. 

The Kids' Site of Canadian Settlement

This is actually archived now, so it is usable but not maintained. It has information on the Acadians and Ukrainians which is good for grade two. The reading level is quite high but good for read alouds. 

Social Studies Image Collection (LearnAlberta)

This is a LearnAlberta resource, available to those with a username and password. It has lots of great images related to the Alberta social studies curriculum. 

Virtual Museum of Canada

"The Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) showcases a rich collection of Canadian heritage online." You can browse by age level:

• grade one
• grade two 
• grade three

Preparing For Division 2

Hi everyone! I don't actually teach Div1, but I've been invited by Colette to come blog because we've shared a whole bunch of resources this year. I teach a grade 4/5/6 class, and we've been talking recently about the skills that we'd love to see kids come to us with. Here's a list of things that I'd like to see, but always end up teaching kids how to do in September and October:

1. I'd love to see kids that are familiar with creating things in Google Drive, whether it's a document, a drawing or a presentation. I get why forms and some of the other more obscure ones aren't used all the time, but those three would be the basics. It would let us jump into creation instead of getting a feel for tools and the inevitable "Create" button talk.

2. Have an understanding of how passwords work. Too many kids have had the same password for way too long. It'd be nice if by the end of Grade 3 they're familiar with creating a password that's unique to themselves and why they shouldn't be sharing it.

3. Check and send basic email. This is a 21st Century skill, and every year, I end up emailing things to kids and answering the same question; "How do I find that?" If we're really teaching kids about Digital Citizenship and how to use things correctly, then they're going to need to understand the basics. Email writing should replace letter writing. I can't believe the Great Canadian Mail Race is still going on (but that's a topic for another time).

4. Numbers 4 and 5 kind of go together, but they're important in this day and age. Google something. It'd be really nice if they could think "I'm not sure about this..." or "I'd like to know..." and then could go to Google and look at search results to find answers. Kids already know this early, but we should be guiding this to make sure we're getting the results we want from this strategy. The critical thinking piece of looking through results, and explain their reasons for picking specific results is something that should be developed on a yearly basis.

5. "Google Before You Tweet..." The permanency of things on the internet is important, and kids need to have an idea about "The Grandma Rule" and sharing things. If we're talking about sharing things with a class Instagram or Twitter account, they should know just what to put up there, and be thinking about why they're sharing it as they're doing it.

Most of these are pretty basic, and if you're using tech in your classroom, you're probably doing them already. (If you are, thank you!) If you've got suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments, email me, or tweet me @NotebookNick. Thanks for reading.

Virtual Lego??? Grade 1 Science-Building Things

Grade 1's love the Science unit, "Building Things". This year I tried Lego building with a twist of technology. Through google apps I found a Lego Builder app. It is a great app that allows students to use their imagination in a new way. My end goal was to have each child build a structure that had a purpose. I wanted it to be open ended to allow for students choice.

To begin I had to get the app on each of my students users. This was labour intensive for me and my EA because I did this in October when they were still learning the basics of logging on. In hind site I would have had older buddies in to help or requested a few parents to help with this  or possibly log on for them and add it for them ahead of time. You decide what works best for your school community. When they were finally on I told them to explore and try to figure out how to build. It is not easy if you have a high percentage of students without experience with basic computer skills. In my case I found that my students were not willing to take a risk and try so this first lesson did not go well.

Attempt two with the Lego Builder App,  I decided to start by doing a demo on the Smartboard.  I reviewed how to find the app on the Chromebook, then I modelled the basics of how to choose, place, turn the bricks. Off we went and this went significantly better. Everyone was able to build and some took risks this time and figured out how to change the colours of the bricks. I followed this lesson with four or five exploration/ practice times.

The next step was to have our grade 3 buddies join us for building a structure for the first time. The grade 3's had not used this app so it was a great opportunity for the grade 1's to teach the basic skills to older students and then the grade 3's helped them plan a structure that had a purpose. They built bridges, cars, houses, castles, boats and an ice rink. This time I had a few partners discover that they could turn their structure to see it from all angles.

Finally we were at the point where the grade 1's were going to build independently! I added a little more motivation by letting them know that I was not the only one who was going to see their work. We were going to make a YouTube movie showing their work and recording them describing their structure. Now we added the complication of needing to save their work so they could go back over a number of classes. This became a bit of a challenge. Students need to go to sign in to Publish your design. To do this students go to the top right of the Lego Builder App where it says sign in. They then have to enter their G-mail and password. They then click sign in with Google and are prompted to enter it all again. It is a bit tedious but most of my students were able to follow step by step and complete this independently. They then will need to hit save periodically as I found with all of the students working at the same time it would freeze and they would lose their work. They learned quickly to save every couple of minutes.

The products they built were creative and when making the movie we found a lot of them had created a story that went with their structure. To make the You Tube video I used the You Tube Capture App on my phone and recorded each child's segment. They had their structure on the Chrome book and then they manipulated to show what they made and what it's purpose was. Some described what it was and how they made it. Some told a story about what was happening. Some reflected on what they liked the most and what challenges they had while using the app. I then had Chrome books set up at the Celebration of Learning and parents watched the video of their child's work.

To improve this project for next year I would have limited the speaking time for each student as the final product had to split into two parts. I would have provided time for them to practice speaking to a partner about their structures so they had louder voices.

What I loved about making this movie as their presentation of their learning, is that students who would not have been able to reflect in a written form were provided success. All students were excited and engaged in trying their best. This open ended task resulted in some traditional looking structures and some very creative structures and this allowed for greater success.

I have shared a link to part 1 of Grade 1 Builds below.


http://youtu.be/9toWxbTx5LE

Flipping the Grade One Classroom

Using the flipped classroom model can create collaboration amongst students and also between students, teachers and parents. It can also be a powerful tool for increasing engagement and differentiation. 

Using the flipped classroom model is very achievable in the Division One classroom.  Like anything in technology, its all about practice.  When I originally watched the Flipped Classroom video I thought, "I was not ready to take that on."  I had never used YouTube for that purpose before but just by exploring the website, doing some reading and asking some questions, I was able to figure it out.  I am still not an expert but now that I have experienced an amazing degree of students success, I am motivated to continue using the model.  

I have heard many teachers say that time is a factor.  When you are starting, time is certainly a factor.  I have found that if I can plan ahead and make several videos at one time I decrease the time for setup.  Then I have several lessons planned ahead of time and ready to use in the classroom.  I spent an hour preparing, making and uploading six videos.  I have used those six videos for five, one hour class periods.  Also, I will refer back to these videos later in the year for review and further extension of the skills.  It is an investment of time up front that pays off big in the classroom. 

My goal is to continue using vodcasting to present new concepts in the classroom and at home via SchoolZone.  The next step is to create learning opportunities where students can apply the learning to more project based work in the classroom.  My latest idea is to continue recording videos for the Math curriculum but switch topics to patterning.  Each video will introduce a skill from the Program of Studies, such as: creating patterns, naming patterns, extending patterns and translating patterns.  The students would start a larger individual project where they incorporate each skill as they learned it.  The criteria for the project would be tailored for each student.  Different videos stationed around the room, and made available at home, would make for a custom project tailored to meet the needs of each student at the speed in which they are able to learn. 

Yet another idea was suggested today, and that is to have the students make their own video to share their learning.  This would certainly be a powerful learning experience for the students. And something new for me to think about.  I would start by making a class video or small group videos. We could use the video camera or the Chromebooks. We could use the videos for assessment. We would have lots of discussion about digital citizenship; we could share the videos with an audience.  Some many ideas and lots to think about.  If you are familiar with the Flipped Classroom model or with making videos with Division One students, I would like to connect with you and here about the process you used.  How can we collaborate as teachers to create collaboration in our classrooms?

Showing Videos In Class

Showing Videos In The Classroom

The other day I was asked to help get a VCR working. My first response was, "is this video not available in a different format?" It got me thinking about the last time I used a video tape in the classroom, it must have been at least four years!

In the past, the library was my go to resource for videos, as long as someone else didn't have the TV cart signed out! Smartboards, Discovery Education (all EPSB teaching staff have an account), YouTube, Teachers' Domain and occasionally Teacher Tube have changed all that.

Discovery Education

What I like about Discovery Education is that they have video segments as well as full videos easily available.  That makes using videos for a set, for an example or for closure so easy!  I even use video segments for centres. Discovery Education is not exhaustive and it is not Canadian. So the content is limited when it comes to things like social studies. 

If you have an account with Discovery Education, you can save and organize the content that you use every year. EPSB staff and students simply have to log-in to SchoolZone and go to the Resources tab. By accessing Discovery Education this way, you are already logged in!

I also like that Discovery Education makes it easy for me to download the videos I want to use. That way I can plan ahead and not have to worry about Internet problems when it comes time for my lesson. Don't forget to delete them after you are done, or your IT analyst may come to have a chat with you about the amount of server space you take up! :-) 

YouTube

As is stated in the blog post Effective Uses of Video in the Classroom, "Social media has allowed anyone to become a video producer. The result is an explosion of high-quality teaching videos."

What I really like about YouTube is the playlist function. It is worth setting up an account just for that function. Sometimes I find great videos on YouTube that are less than a minute long but they only include part of what I wish to inform my students about. The great thing about a playlist is that you can group a bunch of videos together and they will play immediately one after the other. You can control the order of the videos as well. YouTube has a helpful page on getting you started with playlists.

I've used an Inuit playlist the last two years for a social studies centre. I have three centres. One is a netbook/laptop centre where they research animals in Nunavut. The second centre, students work with me to locate Nunavut on a map and look at some of the features of the territory. At the video centre students watch a playlist on Nunavut on the Smartboard and jot notes about what they observe Nunavut looks like. I keep it on a loop so they see a few times. I tell them the first time it is to just watch.

You can check out some of my playlists if you wish. Some are incomplete as I've started to recreate some playlists as I just activated my school account and previously used my personal account.

Here's one I created for Saskatoon:

But What About The Ads and Recommendations? YouTube Options!

One of the concerns many teachers have about using YouTube with students are the ads and recommended videos that show up. Many of these are potentially inappropriate. If you are using Chrome, there is an extension you can add called YouTube Options. It gets rid of everything BUT the video. Check it out!

Further Reading

If this is something you are interested in, you may want to check out the following 

• The Teacher's Guide to YouTube In The Classroom
• Video Sites for the Classroom