How Do You Pay For It All?

Grants and the PTO are the best ways I have found so far for finding funds to create more technology or STEAM opportunities.. Our school budget is very very limited. I have been able to get subscriptions to a few apps for all or most of the staff and students. These are paid via the school budget but this is the first year since I have been in this position that these opportunities have been considered for funding.

What do I do in the mean time? I have scoured the Internet and written sources that may show up in my mail box. I have found a few: 

Digital Wish- I have registered. I have not really utilized this option at this time. They have Fundraising and Grant links. Most of the 2017-2018 grants have closed, but the list tends to be updated over the summer. Check back to see what is available.

Donors Choose- I have used this site several times to get fundraising opportunities going. Most of the ones I have done were to get more books for the library (my other responsibility) but I also had a fully funded grant to get my Ozobot Bits and Code & Go Mice this fall. The best thing with this site is when you are fully funded the order is placed as soon as you accept the funding. I just had a grant funded this past week and the items will be in this Wednesday (3-28-18). I do need to follow up with pictures and an impact statement by the end of June, this process is also easy to complete.

PTO- our PTO does fundraising in various forms all year. They also give all teachers an amount of money to spend on items for their classrooms. The amount allotted replaces what the school budget use to allot us each year. In the past we had a set amount within the school budget for classroom supplies but that had disappeared about 15 years ago. Since then our PTO has tried to make up this difference. This group of volunteers is wonderful and very supportive. Check out your own PTO/PTA opportunities. Also help to pay back by volunteering yourself at any event they may sponsor for families and students.

Internet Search- There are websites that have where grants opportunities. Your location in the United States can play a roll on what grants are available. Some companies open their grants to specific areas only. Read the fine print. Make sure you have all of the requirements in your document. Follow up with any after funding obligations.

Teachers' Groups- I belong to the MTA (Massachusetts Teachers Association), NEA (National Education Association), and MassCue (a technology group). These groups may also offer funding opportunites. I wrote a grant for $3000 for MassCue. I was awarded the grant for the Lego WeDo 2.0 kits. I am currently preparing the kits to begin work with the students and to train teachers so they can use them this fall. I also agreed to presenting my experience with the kits at one of their conferences. 

Technology is expensive. Technology is also becoming the driving force for future occupations. Students need more structured exposure to technology (not just gaming, socializing, or shopping experiences). Students need these materials to be successful. If the school budget does not support this need... after a lot of hunting... grants and other funding sources may be available.

If you should find more sources, please feel free to contact me.

My Sources- so far

My sources...

I will be adding to this page as my blog progresses!

Books:

• Complete Library Skills books (copyrights about 1994)

Platforms, Apps, and Extensions:

• ABCYA
• ABCya Paint
• BBC's Dance Mat Typing
• Bitmoji
• BrainPOP 
• BrainPOPJr 
• Code.org
• Discovery Education
• Go Guardian
• Google CS First
• GSuite for Education
• KAMI
• Kodable
• MakerBot
• Typing.com
• WeVideo 

Robotics:

• Code & Go Mice
• Code & Go Mania Board
• Lego WeDo 2.0
• Ozobot Bit

Standards:

• 2016 Massachusetts DigitalLiteracy and Computer Science(DLCS)Curriculum Framework
•  MSLA (Massachusetts School Library Association) Standards

Websites:

• Donors Choose Grant
• Teachers Pay Teachers

Adding Coding to the Program

Adding Coding to the Program

Code.org:

Free... Free... Free... 

We have a very tight budget at our school and we have limited funds for additional programs. Technology can be expensive. Finding programs that are rich in content and not expensive to use can be difficult to find. One jewel out there is Code.org.

Many educators have used the Hour of Code with their classrooms. Students get to experience what coding is all about with familiar gaming characters. They can manipulate the characters using Javascript and Blockly coding methods. My students love it and are very engaged. Hour of Code though is only the beginning.

I use Code.org to allow coding opportunities to my students throughout the year. At first, I found the program a bit difficult for my first graders, but the developers have rearranged and added to their curriculum, so there are more structured levels for every grade. The pre-reader program has many "unplugged" lessons and I find that I need to combine them into one or two lessons in order to cover the information. (1-in-6 day, 40 minute class schedule for each classroom). When signed in as a teacher, I am able to create a classroom for all 35- 36 classes that are assigned to me. I can also move students between classrooms (add and delete) as well as push them forward to their new assigned room for the next year (All without losing their progress.).

I use the program as an "if you have completed your work" and as direct class instruction throughout the year. The program also helps to develop common vocabulary (loops, run, etc.). Code.org offers free teacher training throughout the country. I have been to one session about 4 years ago. I plan on attending another session soon, to get tips and exposure to the newer curriculum. 

Not so free but worth it:

Code & Go Mouse:

I attended a MassCue conference this fall and one of the vendors was displaying Code & Go Mice. I was able to get a Donors Choose Grant that covered two Code & Go Mice Kits. I use them with the K-2 students. Each classroom kit had 3 mice, maze board tiles, purple walls, cheese blocks, and coding cards. Note that via Donors Choose the kits were more expensive but came in threes via their supplier. The PTO bought me 3 more Code & Go Mice kits which had a single mouse, maze board tiles, three bridges, coding cards, and activity cards. I divided all of these materials up into 9 sets- (it allows grouping of students from 2-3 versus 3-4 per mouse). I duplicated the cards to fit the amount of maze board tiles that each group actually has to use (example- 4X3 tile board for a total of 12 tiles). I created with them Drawings, and Docs. I also created more activity cards situations for each grade level. The Donors Choose Kits has a student activity book as well as a teacher's guide. I restructured their material to work for my set-up and created planning sheets for the first and second grade students. The engagement for these mice is strong. Sharing can be a problem. I gave the students in each group numbered tile pieces so they could take turns without a lot of issues- it helped! An interesting observation: I have found the hands on aspect allows those students who tend to struggle with reading or math have a lot of success with the Mice and with problem solving. I noted that students who get easily discouraged with academics, being very pleased with their experience. Recently, I have found a game board that I may try to get financed via a grant, that uses the Code & Go Mice: Code & Go Mania Board. 

Ozobot Bit: 

Walking around the same conference, I was able to experience Ozobots and Ozobot Bits. Bits are more in my price range and more manageable for younger students. Ozobots are great for older students and I believe they can be used in water. The same Donors Choose Grant allowed me to get six Ozobot Bits and the PTO gift gave me another three. I also received one more kit from my husband as a gift. The ten allow the amount of students in a group to shrink, and the 3-5 students have more time using them. 

The great thing about Ozobot Bits is the students can use regular Crayola Markers Washable (Red, Greed, Blue, and Black) and they can use regular drawing paper. They create the code they want the Ozobot Bit to conduct and test it out. The process is great for trial and error practice and for understanding that code writing requires reviewing your work- a lot!. We used large drawing paper this year. Next year I will be able to spread the students down the main hallway to make large coded paths on art paper. The website has many lessons and pathways to print out and to laminate. The Bits come with a packet of path and code cards. I also laminated all of them. This year I tried the basic lessons on all 3-5 classes. Next year I will tier it better for the students by grade level, so they are learning something new each time. 

Lego WeDo 2.0:

These kits were bought via a $3000 MassCue Grant that was awarded to me in January. They just arrived the past week, so I will be posting more about them in an upcoming Blog session. Stay Tuned!

Google CS First:

I came upon this purely by accident while looking through the Google Training site. Google has created free coding kits that allow for short clubs or lesson sessions based on themes. I will be trying out my first kit this month (I just have to find the same day opened in my calendar for about 5 weeks to begin a Coding Club). I will cover this experience in a new blog to post soon.

Organizational Note- Number everything... robots, tiles, cards, lesson cards, and bins. This is the only way to make sure everything for that robot remains together.

Year Three

YEAR THREE

I am now midway through my third year as the Technology Teacher. I am still enjoying it and still struggling to put together a strong scope and sequence. But I know I am heading in the correct direction.

The new Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Standards for Digital Literacy and Computer Science Curriculum 2016 was released and became the basis on which to guide a strong technology program. A few items that need more focus... coding... robotics... typing... terminology... while keeping the students learning the Google Apps.

So far this year...and the plan forward...

Kindergarten- Students begin the year with mouse practice skills. I understand a lot of devices are touch screen and many mouse pads are on our devices. I feel that using a mouse allows for students to better understand why I am explaining commands such as right-left click. I also feel that the mouse is a better tool to help students with their dexterity. The students must think about the eye to hand connections. They must learn left from right. They also learn to scroll, click, drag, and click and drag. It helps them to better form their written letters and numbers. We use simple games that I put on my in-house website. I have found ABCYA to be a great source. I examine which games are age appropriate and allow the students to practice these skills. The most important objectives with mouse practice skills are the how to leave a game, and at the end of class, close the browser. We stress the TAB, little X, and the larger red X a lot. Pictures, screen shots, and posters are created as reminders. This concept takes a while but it is so important.  Mouse practice takes about 2 months to master, to a level where I feel they can move on. (School schedule-- 1 class every 6 days for 40 minutes). The students explore typing using the BBC Dance Mat programs and levels. They also learn basics such as drawing and printing with various online programs.

First Grade- This group really comes in as older kindergartners. It is not until about mid October that they begin to shed their "toddler-like" shells. I begin the year with their first class as a review on mouse practice. We move on to keyboarding. I use Typing.com with all of the grades 1-5 students. It is free (You can buy away the ads). It also allows me to have all of the students involve. Student with developmental disabilities use it. I can rearrange the students each year from classroom to classroom. My rule is you must complete all of the beginner levels before you may play the games. The site also has a typing test section, pretesting, midway testing, and post testing is possible. 

Moving on to other objectives, I have added Google Drawing to the mix and am exploring Google Slides- since the students have Google accounts, though the technology admin. has not given out the log-in information... I find that I have to create 140+ drawing or slides and share them with the kids via my in-house site and sort by teacher then student. Tedious to set up, but I can still access their work to help them. Next year, I will have Chromebooks and their usernames will not require the student address to log in, I hope to have the first graders on task as well.

Second Grade- Typing continues...and the second graders are truly introduced to the basics of the Google Apps. Logging in correctly can take a few months (and there are some students who still struggle). Once we get that established we re-explore Google Drawing- taking the basics to the next level. Google Documents is added as well as Google Slides. The students begin trying their hand at animations and transitions. I also try to tie the activities to real school situations, such as typing a document, adding illustrations, and using a social studies or science theme to drive the task. I always give the student the "researched" information to use (this would include vocabulary and explanations). It helps when differentiating work. Students with difficulties in reading and spelling do not have to struggle to come up with the information. The images and creative designs are purely from the students.

Third Grade- Third Grade students spend a little more time exploring what Google Classroom is all about. They used it in second grade, but just began understanding the basics of how to work within the platform. Now they begin to understand more parts and how to use it to make classwork more manageable. Third graders expand on Google Docs, Drawings, and Slides, explore Gmail, and try their hand at Sheets. They create simple tables and then choose different charts to display the information.

Fourth Grade- Fourth Grade work looks similar to Third Grade. Their activities include more application of the tools available within each Google App. They also continue with the Typing.com- hopefully moving into the intermediate sector.

Fifth Grade- Fifth Grade takes everything we focused on in grades 2-4 and looks at how students can use these apps to fulfill academic requirements (not only in 5th grade but as they move to the middle-high school). Examples such as, "if a teacher assigns a project you can use 'Google....' to show how you processed the academic information", are applied. Students get more "what-if" scenarios for problem solving situations that can occur when using the apps. When students need to rely on the technology to complete the work, we want to avoid having to lose learning time trying to solve a technicality. We also use Google Calendar, Keep, and Explore, to help students have more workflow tool options.

The curriculum also includes for ALL STUDENTS:

1. All do Typing.com (the Commonwealth has suggested benchmarks for each grade level on WPM). 
2. All do the Hour of Code- in one form or another.
3. K-2 use Code & Go Mice to learn basic coding with robots.
4. 3-5 use Ozobot Bit to learn basic coding with robots.
5. 1-5 will begin using Lego WeDo 2.0 robots this spring and throughout the 2018-2019 year. I will be exploring how to make them usable for Kindergartners. I may have to find a grant to add the Simple Machines to their curriculum.
6. 1-5 Students are using the Code.org curriculum to practice coding. The developers have updated the curriculum so that it fits each grade level and builds as the students progress. I have been through their training (free), in the past, and have signed up to attend a newer training session this spring. 
7. Digital Citizenship- AUPs, email etiquette, and over all smart technology use.