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Save Fred equipment: 4 paper clips, 1 clear small bowl, 1 gummy worm and 1 gummy lifesaver.
STEM/STEAM

We Have to Save Fred!

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

As I have said before, I love working in the brick and mortar building of TCEA HQ, but it is also invigorating to get out on the road. The best part of workshops is connecting with teachers. I love hearing what their students are learning and what technology they are using to get the learning accomplished. I wish I could remember which fantastic educator shared this activity. So if by chance you are that educator . . . thank you for sharing Save Fred. 

The Set Up

Fred is a worm who likes to take his boat out on the water. However, we know that worms cannot swim, so Fred practices safe boating by wearing his life preserver on the water. BUT, tragically, Fred’s boat has flipped over. Fred landed on top of his boat and his life preserver bounced under his boat. It is your mission to SAVE FRED.

Student Objectives:

Two hands with paper clips holding the gummy worm, Fred.
Photo by author.
  • Analyze a problem
  • Try different design solutions
  • Build student communication and collaboration
  • Reflect on the process
  • **Not just for kids . . . great activity for adults

Equipment per Group

  • Four paperclips (the larger paper clips work better for smaller hands)
  • One gummy worm (I like the Target brand the best)
  • One gummy Life Saver (a standard bag will provide many life preservers)
  • One small plastic cup (Dollar Tree has a good and inexpensive selection)

Save Fred Video

Check out this video by Mr. Pearson for the story setup and directions on how to save Fred the worm. The video length is only 1:42. Make sure you watch to the very end. Mr. Pearson used Chatterpix in a very creative way.

Beth and Rowdy showing off their Fred.
Beth and Rowdy = Success!

The Problem

How can your group save Fred? Your group can only use the four paperclips to accomplish this mission: You need to get the life preserver on Fred and get Fred back in his boat, all without touching Fred, the boat, or the life preserver. It would also be great if you did not injure Fred. Do not stab him with your paper clips.

Two tips from Tessa Stow, a fifth grade teacher in Hereford ISD who uses Save Fred as her first science lab every year.

  1. Try this challenge non verbally.
  2. Don’t tell them they can bend the paper clips. “Sometimes you have to modify in science because it doesn’t always work the first time.”

Extension Activities

  • Use a digital storytelling tool to create a story about Fred. Try out. Toontastic on a Chromebook or Book Creator on an iPad.
  • Try Adobe Express to create your own Save Fred video.
  • Use Flipgrid to record group reflections.
  • Use Popplet Lite, Microsoft OneNote, or Google Drawing to flowchart the process. Check out this free resource from Purdue EDU.
  • Create your own ChatterPix Kids. Four easy steps are listed below.

Chatterpix Kids App

The Chatterpix  Kids app is made by Duck Duck Moose for iOS devices and is free. It is geared for ages 5-12, but even high schoolers enjoy using it.

Four Easy Steps

  1. Take a photo.
  2. Draw a line to make a mouth.
  3. Record your voice.
  4. Share the Pix with friends and family.

I would love to hear how your Saving Fred adventures are going. Email me at preimers@tcea.org and share your Fred stories.

Featured image photo by author.

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Digital BreakoutEducational TrendsGood Teaching

Back to School Breakout

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

Kick off the school year with a TCEA digital breakout. The theme is school supplies.

If you are new to digital breakouts, check out the basics. (If not, skip on down to the Back to School breakout section.)

What is Breakout EDU?

Teams of students follow clues posted and/or hidden in the classroom to open up a locked box. The box can have one or several locks. The time frame for Breakout EDU is usually 30 to 45 minutes.

What is a Digital Breakout EDU?

A digital breakout uses a Google Form and Google Sites. You will find images, text, and hyperlinks on the Google Sites. Students use the information on this page to solve digital puzzles. Next, they submit the answers in the Google Form. The Google Form uses response validation to create the digital locks. Unless you provide the exact content, the question does not unlock. Students will not be able to submit the form unless all the digital locks contain the correct answers.

Digital Breakouts in the Classroom

The beauty of digital breakouts is students can work by themselves, in pairs, or in small groups. Time limits are set in the story line. Teachers can set their own time frames. You can find digital breakouts  for every level and subject imaginable. Remember that the intrinsic reward is solving the breakout, so no prizes are necessary. The Back to School Digital Breakout is on the easy end of the spectrum. It is a great “starter”  to this type of game format.

Equipment Necessary

The only item you need for a digital breakout is an internet-connected computer. A laptop, desktop, or Chromebook is the preferred device. You can also use an iPad to play.  The tricky part on an iPad is toggling between two tabs in the browser. One tab is for the Google Site with the breakout information and the other is for the Google Form to type the answers.

Accessing the Google Form from an iPad

  1. Tap on the Google Form which contains the locks.
  2. In the upper right corner, tap on the action button. Note: The action button is the little square button with the upward pointing arrow.
  3. A Google Form will open in another tab.

Flip-flop between the two tabs. Google Sites holds the breakout information. The Google Form has the answers.

The Back to School Digital Breakout

Is this a hidden lock?
Is this a hidden lock?

If you are ready to get started, click here.

The Lock Information

The Back to School Breakout has a total of four locks:

  • 7-Direction Lock
  • 4-Color Lock
  • 4-Letter Lock
  • 3-Number Lock

Helpful Hints

  • Find the three hidden links on the web page.
  • The fourth lock is a school supply quiz in a Google Form. The student will need to look at the image and type in the correct word. Spelling counts! When you reach the submission page, you will reach the lock riddle.
  • No external links appear. Younger learners will not find annoying ads or possible inappropriate content.

Don’t forget that you can always email me for hints if you get stuck on the puzzles. Happy Breaking Out!

More Digital Breakouts

Featured image designed by TCEA.

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SketchUp Pro - 3D Modeling Software
STEM/STEAM

Enhance Student Learning with SketchUp Pro

by Joe Vasquez
written by Joe Vasquez

Strengthen your students’ skill set using SketchUp Pro, simple 3D modeling software that can empower learners to explore complex design ideas while developing critical thinking skills. A great tool to construct 3D models of buildings or recreate historical monuments and the like, SketchUp Pro can be used for all types of lessons that are best illustrated using 3D design.

Usability

Known for its ease of usability, SketchUp Pro is a powerful 3D modeling software that is fun to use and easy to learn. Enable your students’ creativity by transforming their thoughts into digital creations. Gather ideas from the software’s 3D Warehouse where you’ll be able to find virtually any 3D model imaginable for free.

Get an overview of the software and learn all about its latest upgrades and essential functions by signing up for our upcoming webinar on March 27; click here for details. The webinar is free to members, as is the SketchUp Pro software. You can also discover new tips and tricks by watching one or more of the software’s tutorials and obtain answers to impending questions by visiting the SketchUp forums.

Think Outside the Box

Break the norm and use 3D modeling to explore different concepts and ideas across all content areas. Initially developed to assist architects in designing buildings and exploring complex 3D design ideas, SketchUp Pro, has evolved to provide a wide-range of applications for your classroom. From designing the Leaning Tower of Pisa to sketching the human brain, the options are limitless! Use the software to encourage self-expression and creativity for your students.

Get Started Today!

Ready to harness the power of SketchUp Pro? TCEA is here to help! Whether you are a teacher looking to obtain a single license or a tech director needing to update every school-owned computer, TCEA can provide you the modeling software for FREE, typically $495 per license. Through our partnership with Trimble, we are able to offer all K-12 public school educators and students in Texas a free license of the program. To make the software accessible for all, you do not need to be a member of TCEA to take advantage of this great opportunity; just complete this form to receive your free license.

Are you ready to introduce your students to SketchUp Pro? Get your free software license today!

 

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The Merry Merry Breakout scenario screenshot
Digital BreakoutEducational TrendsGood Teaching

The Merry Merry Breakout

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

Somewhere in the month of December,  I stumbled upon a blog post by John Spencer entitled, “Ten Creative Alternatives to Showing Movies Before the Break.” You can read his article here and pick up some great ideas for the last weeks of school before the new year.

Creative Alternatives

Creative Alternatives

John is a former middle school teacher and current college professor in Oregon. He is on a quest to transform schools into “bastions of creativity and wonder.” If you visit his blog, you can sign up to receive the Ten Creative Ways to End the Semester Resource Pack.

I was very interested in checking out his blog to see his ten activities. John has great suggestions that can be incorporated into all grade levels and subject areas. However, I must say he should have included a digital breakout, bumping the list to ELEVEN!

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Breaking Into Breakouts

A breakout is a bit like an escape room but on a smaller (and safer) scale. Students are challenged to use clues to open locks, and ultimately finish the game. The Merry Merry Breakout is entirely digital. A digital breakout does not require a physical box and locks, like traditional breakouts. Instead, this type of breakout needs a web page on a Google Site. The page can include images, text, and hidden hyperlinks that students can use to solve digital puzzles.

A Google Form is used to create the digital locks. In order for a Google Form question to act as a lock, the question needs to have the response validation selected. You can find this option by clicking the “Skinny Snowman” (three horizontal dots) in the lower right-hand corner of each question. The most common locks are Direction, Color, Number, Word, Letter, and Date.

The Merry Merry Breakout

 The Merry Merry Breakout is a Christmas-themed breakout with five digital locks. The breakout contains information on Christmas traditions and holiday trivia. You can find all the answers on the breakout site. A couple of the answers will only be revealed if you locate the hidden links on the page. These links will lead to puzzles that will need to be solved.

I kept the external links to only one outside source to eliminate annoying ads or possible inappropriate content. The only external link on the site is a YouTube video of the Frosty the Snowman song. This video is not a digital lock answer, so don’t be concerned if your school district blocks YouTube videos.

Don’t forget! You can always email me for hints or answers if you get stuck on any of the puzzles. 

Along with gift opening, caroling, gingerbread house decorating, and other family traditions, consider adding a digital breakout to your family gatherings or holiday festivities. You can find a plethora of physical and digital breakouts at the official Breakout EDU website.

Happy two times: Happy holidays and happy breaking out!

Access: The Merry Merry Breakout

***This breakout is typically done with Grades 4-8.

More Winter Resources from TechNotes

More Digital Breakouts

Featured Image: Screenshot by author

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Chrome Music Lab
ChromebooksContent AreasGoogle Tips and Tricks

Why You (And Your Students) Must Try the Chrome Music Lab

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Google Chrome is such an amazing browser, primarily because of its ability to be personalized for each individual using it with different apps and extensions. And now Google has come out with yet another amazing resource developed for Music in Our Schools Month: the Chrome Music Lab.

Now, before you stop reading because you are not the music teacher on campus or because you don’t think you are musical, please wait. The Music Lab is for everyone, and especially for your students, regardless of what you teach. This free resource features a series of experiments that let anyone, at any age, explore how music works. Designed by musicians and coders (what a fun conversation that must have been!), the site is designed to help you learn, understand, and have fun with rhythm, chords, arpeggios, sound waves, harmonics, and more.

I started playing around with the Music Lab and must confess that I soon lost all track of time; it’s just so much fun! I was able to create amazing (at least to me) pieces of music, experiment with sound waves, interact with major and minor chords, program a drumming monkey, and so much more. No directions were required, although they are available for each experiment; I just had to be willing to wade in and try.

The Chrome Music Lab would make a great center in an elementary classroom or work well in a makerspace at a high school library. Innovative teachers will be able to create engaging, interactive lessons around the science of sound, how tone in music can be compared to tone in writing, the natural mathematical relationship between a string’s length and its pitch, and how the speed at which we speak impacts what others hear. Because the site is so open ended, there is really no limit to what students will be able to learn. I would encourage you to put students in pairs and assign each pair one of the experiments. Ask them to play with it and become an “expert” in it. Then have them share what they’ve learned with others. And then turn them lose to experience the joy of music.

What will your students create today?

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Content Areas

Texas High School Bookshare Member Prepares for Transition to College

by Alexis Cline
written by Alexis Cline

Guest Blog Post By Valerie Chernek, Bookshare Communications

“It is no longer difficult to find accessible books, and I will use Bookshare for a lifetime,” says Emeline Lakrout.

“Just a few years ago, it was difficult to find accessible books,” says Emeline Lakrout, who has degenerative low vision. “I appreciate that my parents sought reading solutions for me starting at a young age. I have always been able to enjoy reading because of their efforts.”

Now 17, Emeline takes honors classes at Reagan High School in San Antonio, Texas. She is an avid reader and technology user who is interested in all kinds of books and genres, from classics like The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck to historic accounts of the Cold War era, like Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety by Eric Schlosser.

In high school, she taps into the Bookshare online accessible library for textbooks, novels, and academic research, like test prep for the SAT, PSAT, ACT, and AP exams. She reads quickly and credits many of her teachers for providing required reading assignments at the beginning of each school semester, especially in English. “This helped me stay on track with my studies and classmates,” she says.

Emeline uses an iPad with Bookshare’s Read2Go app and a Lenovo Android tablet with Bookshare’s Go Read – a free, open source app. These technologies include accessibility features to enable a user to enlarge the font size or follow along as highlighted words are read aloud. You can change the rate of speed of a voice or place a bookmark on the last page you’ve read. “These features provide extra support for me,” says Emeline. “Now I get all my accessible books from Bookshare and plan to use it for a lifetime.”

Busy preparing college applications, Emeline intends to study social sciences and likes to explore the online library for titles about careers, business, leadership, politics, and pleasure reading.

“Bookshare is really convenient,” she says. “It has a category of popular books and recommended bestsellers. It is always fun to scan through these titles and download a few books for safe-keeping. I also read periodicals when I can, like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. It’s like having a reading backpack on the go. You don’t need another library resource – just an Individual Membership – and you’ll have all the titles you will want to read.”

Texas K-12 public and charter schools serving students with print disabilities can get free, customized Bookshare training and support through the TEA-funded Accessible Books for Texas (ABT) program. Contact your local ABT Outreach Coordinator to help more children who are blind, have low vision, a physical disability, or a learning disability, like dyslexia, improve their reading experience.

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