May the 4th ~ Fun Star Wars Themed Activities

 

May the 4th

Fun Star Wars themed activities to do post testing

Created by Scott Aten, May 1, 2024

With testing winding down, I thought you and your students could use some fun and educational activities that can be integrated into your content area.  I ran across this article from Tech & Learning that has a lot of activities for May the 4th.  What is May the 4th?  It is the day Star Wars fans celebrate the Star Wars franchise (May the 4th be with you - get it?).  Below are a list of some activities suggested in the article that you may be able to use or tweek to use with your students. You may want to have a student try the links to be sure nothing is blocked before you do it with the class. 

Here we go...

May the 4th Be With You: Real-World Connections in the Classroom and Beyond

Award-winning English teacher Katherine Mulrooney offers great ideas for relating Star Wars to classroom subjects, including engineering, social studies, music, math, and literature. Each standards-aligned digital teaching resource is shareable via Google Classroom (get the links and you can use them in Canvas)  and forms the basis for a complete lesson.  

Create Star Wars Art

As an art or graphic design assignment, have your students focus on an aspect of Star Wars they find meaningful, such as good vs. evil, relationships and community, or mythic heroism. Then ask them to illustrate this theme, either by creating their own artwork or developing a specific prompt for AI-generated artwork (some of these may be blocked) . To complete the assignment, students write an essay (but not AI-generated!) explaining how their art exemplifies their chosen motif.

Starwarigami
What does origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, have to do with Star Wars? Strictly speaking, nothing at all. But that’s where the novelty (and fun!) lies. Combine the intricate paper engineering of origami with the futuristic spacecraft design of Star Wars and you will have a lesson that appeals to your entire class. The brainchild of software engineer Martin Hunt, Starwarigami provides 18 printable fold-and-crease patterns in addition to a gallery of finished artwork and links to other patterns. 

Star Wars Crawl Creator

One of the most iconic features of the Star Wars movie franchise, the inclined scrolling text lends an air of historic importance to any words. Users simply replace the existing text with their own, and share the generated URL. Let your students show off their creative vision with this free, fun and easy-to-use Star Wars movie introduction generator. 

Star Wars Trivia
Test your knowledge of Star Wars—and yourself—with these online quizzes and polls. Whether matching the quote with the correct movie or pondering which Star Wars device you can’t live without, rest assured that any result is a good result. The greatest teacher, failure is.

Star Wars - Would You Rather?

A high-energy, feel-good exercise program that asks kids to choose between two Star Wars choices, then perform the indicated activity. 

The Cave Challenge: Star Wars Mindful Matters

Ashley Eckstein, who voices Ahsoka Tano on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, leads youngsters in a brief guided mindfulness lesson. Just as Luke Skywalker faced his fears in the dark cave, so must everyone explore their own dark spaces, illuminating them with calm acceptance rather than anger.

May the Force = mass x acceleration

What do Star Wars, NASA's Dawn spacecraft, and Newton's Laws of Motion have in common? From the renowned Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, this Star Wars-inspired, standards-aligned lesson about ion-propulsion includes background, student activities, example spreadsheets, and more. Want to go deeper into the physics? Check out the fine collection of force and acceleration lessons here. 

NASA STEM Education Resources

Transform your students’ Star Wars enthusiasm into genuine learning with this extensive collection of STEM-teaching resources for K-12 and beyond. Included are lesson plans, educator guides, interactive multimedia learning modules, contests, challenges, and much more. Searchable by grade level, subject, and type of activity. 

Not So Far, Far Away

A lesson about latitude and longitude based on Star Wars fictional planetary locations and their Earthly analogues. Students learn how filmmakers used various extreme Earth landscapes as the basis for other-worldly Star Wars scenes, then map latitude and longitude of the real-world locations. Includes follow-up questions.

Star Wars Day STEM Activities

A wealth of Star Wars STEM activities can be found here, from creating colorful lightsaber greeting cards to building robots from junk. Many of these excellent resources are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. 

Teaching With Star Wars

In the Star Wars saga, the most valuable lessons extend beyond technological advancements. Rather, they explore life’s problems and solutions, whether in a distant galaxy or right here on Earth. Star Wars authority and educator Dan Zehr thoughtfully delves into timeless themes such as dedication, resilience and effective leadership.  

Teaching ‘Star Wars’ With The New York Times
The Times takes Star Wars lessons to a level above Cloud City with its Shakespeare, history, physics, science, math, and yes, economics, Star Wars-themed lessons. An exceptionally strong resource, especially for middle schoolers and above.

Yoda speak translator

This Yodish speak translator just for fun, try. Even better, use it as the foundation for an English grammar lesson.  For computer science classes and advanced students, the Yoda translator API allows users to integrate the Yoda speak translator right into their website or application.  

Star Wars Lessons for the Music Classroom

John Williams’ Star Wars score is one of the best known movie themes of all time. But what about other avenues to combine Star Wars and music in a single, thought-provoking lesson? Teacher Jessie Powell, the force behind the popular YouTube channel Music and Motivate, provides a detailed narration of her favorite Star Wars music lessons, as well as a link to her blog, where the interactive lesson can be accessed for free. 

Hopefully you can find something useful in this list.  Have a happy May the 4th day and "may the force be with you aways."

[Green Technology Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Monitor Student Chromebooks with Classroom by Lightspeed

 

Classroom by Lightspeed

Monitor student Chromebooks while students are in your classroom

Created by Scott Aten, April 12, 2022

One of the biggest issues staff have faced since going 1-1, is keeping students on task when in the classroom.  The lure of games, internet searches, and videos is too much for some of our students.  As a classroom teacher it is challenging to keep these tech savvy students focused on the learning at hand while still making use of the great tool the Chromebooks have become.  We now have a tool available to you that should help tip the advantage back into your favor.  Lightspeed Classroom is a tool to monitor your students while using their Chromebooks in your classroom during your class period.

Getting started using Lightspeed Classroom
You will want to bookmark this site: https://classroom.relay.school/
Login with Google to access your account and classes.  Your classes have been added for you already.  If you have any students that are missing or misplaced, please put in a help desk ticket to have this resolved for you.

Helpful Instructions

I have broken down all the parts of this application to make it easy for you to get this up and running in your classroom.

• Getting Started for GWD, GPS, and GIS (3:32 minutes)

• Getting Started for GMS and GHS (5:51) 

• Class Controls (4:38 minutes)

• Web Rules Option (12:03 minutes)

• Using Groups (3:27 minutes)

• Monitoring Students (5:13 minutes)

• Force Check-In Students (1:37 minutes)

• Communication with Students (3:52 minutes)

• Some Tips (3:00 minutes)

NOTE - There are two different "Getting Started" videos.  One is for GMS and GHS, the other is for the rest of the district.

Recommendations for staff who have been using it

Make sure you unlock the class before they leave your room. You don’t want them to be blocked from cites they may need to access in their next period’s class. (GIS, GPS, GWD)

If something is not working the way you want, don't panic. Just set web rules to none and have students refresh.

Allow Lists
As you will see, you restrict students to an "allowed" list of sites.  The teachers that helped pilot this application have started a list of URLs to include in allow lists based on content area as well as by building.  You can access this list here and add URLs that are helpful for everyone.  Please only add URLs to your building and sites that are beneficial to everyone.  Also remember this is a document for the whole district and any changes you make are visible to everyone - not just you.

If you would like me to come and assist you during a TBT or department meeting or even one on one please feel free to schedule me to come and assist you.  I am always ready to come help.  

[Green Technology Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Manage Classroom Noise with Bouncy Balls

 

Bouncy Balls

Manage Classroom Noise

Created by Scott Aten, March 8, 2022

A quiet classroom does not necessarily mean optimal learning is happening.  Students can learn a lot by collaborating, discussing solutions together, and exchanging viewpoints on what they are learning.  There can be a fine line, however,  between productive classroom noise and disruptive classroom noise.   As teachers we can train our students on how to keep classroom discussions and collaboration at a volume that can be productive.  Joe Grigas shared this site with the staff at GMS recently and after looking at it myself,  I thought it was worth sharing with all of you.  The site is called "Bouncy Balls" and it can be used to measure the noise in a room.  

Here is how it works.  The teacher launches the free Bouncy Balls website. In the upper right corner of the site you will see a microphone with a line through it.  Clicking on this icon will turn on your microphone (you need to have a microphone connected to the computer). 

Next the teacher has the ability to set the sensitivity of the microphone.  This may takes some practice to determine what is the best setting for your classroom and microphone placement.  This also helps determines what noise level is too much.

The "Total" area allows you to determine the number of "balls" or other items appear on the screen.  Sliding the control to the right adds more and to the left reduces the number of elements on the screen. 

Bouncy Balls comes with more options than just balls.  You can choose different "themes" to bounce Emojis, Bubble, or Eyeballs.  Plastic is the default and represents the "bouncy balls".

The training part occurs when the "Noise Alert" is turned on.  The site will make a noise and display a message when the max noise level is reached.  This can be an audible clue to the class that things have gotten too noisy for productive learning.  There are two options for the noise alert - Beep and "Shush".  This alert can be turned off as well by clicking the "checkmark".

Overall this is a simple site to use and creates a visual interpretation of the noise in the classroom.  Give it a try next time students are working in groups.

Please feel free to schedule me to come and assist you with your next project that has at technology piece included.  I am always ready to come help.  

[Green Technology Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

 

Using the Canvas Commons

Find existing content for your Canvas Course

Created by Scott Aten, November 9, 2021

After talking with some of the presenters from our PD day, shout to out Natalie and Christine, we were surprised that a good amount of the staff is not aware of the Canvas Commons.  So I thought I would create this quick post to remind everyone about this great resource.

What is the Canvas Commons?
The Canvas Commons is a digital library that contains content created by other teachers. The Commons allows teachers to share resources with others, allowing them to import these resources into their own Canvas course. 

Where can I find the Canvas Commons?
When you have logged into your Canvas Instructor account, look for the "Commons" button in the far left menu.  Click on it to enter the Commons.

How does the Canvas Commons Work?
There is a lot of content available in the Canvas Commons.  By default, you will have the "Green Local Schools" filter turned on.  This filters and shows only content Green staff members have added to the Commons.  More on sharing content later, but for looking for things created by non-Green staff you will need to turn this filter off. Turn off this filter by simply clicking the X at the end of the label.

You can now search for content and will discover material added by teachers outside of Green.  Start by typing something in the search box at the top.  For example if I am doing lessons on "The Great Gatsby" I could type in "Great Gatsby" and I would find 102 results that include quizzes, modules, pages, assignments and even entire courses.  I am able to import any of these into my own course and use them with my students.

You can apply filters to your search in order to find more specific content.  For example if I wanted to find a quiz I can use with my students who just read "The Great Gatsby", I can click the filter button and then click the quiz button.

This will limit the search results to just Canvas Quizzes.  You can run similar filters for Modules, Assignments, and Pages as well.  You may also filter by grade level to help focus the content to your age students.

You can preview the content by clicking on the links in the search.  This will allow you to see if the content is what you want before you bring it into your Canvas Course.  Please note that this content is not vetted, so please use your professional discretion before adding content to your course from the Canvas Commons.

How do I get this content into my Canvas Course?
Once you find content you like and want to use in your Canvas course, you can import it by clicking the "Import/Download" button on the right side of the screen.

You will then be asked to identify into which of your Canvas course(s) you would like to import the content.  Then simply click the "Import into Course" button.

Keep in mind if you import a Module, you will be getting all the pieces of that Module (assignments, quizzes, pages, discussions, etc.).  So this is a fast way to get a lot of content into your course.

Once the content is in your course, you will need to unpublish things you don't want the students to see, add the appropriate assignment types (practice and achievement), as well as alter some due dates.  If you import things to ProgressBook you will have to set assignments to sync as well.

Can you just show me a video of you doing all the steps?

How can I share content to the Canvas Commons for other to find?

If you have designed a nice assignment, module, quiz or other piece of Canvas content, you can easily add it to the commons by following these steps.

1) Find the content you want to share (if it is an assignment, go into "Assignments"  in your Canvas, if it is a Module, go into the "Modules" in your Canvas course, etc.)

2) Click the three dots at the end of the content

3) Choose "Share to Commons"

4) Choose who can use this resource ("All of Green Local Schools" - will limit it to just our staff)

5) Complete the rest of the info as appropriate

6) Click "Share"

It is that easy!

Hopefully this will help you find and share content in the Canvas Commons.  If you need assistance feel free to schedule me to come and work with you or your department.

[Green Technology Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Creating Group Assignments in Canvas

 

Canvas

Creating Group Assignments in Canvas

Created by Scott Aten, February 5, 2021

Many of you have really started to get the hang of Canvas, so I thought it would be a good time to introduce the Group Assignment feature available in Canvas. Many times teachers create assignments for a group of students to work on together as a team. Canvas has the ability to allow these groups to be created and allow students to submit something as a group.

Group Options Canvas allows these "Group Sets" or groups of students to be created in several ways.

1. The "Group Set" can be created manually by the teacher, meaning the teacher creates the groups.
2. Canvas will randomly create the "Group Set". Cross-listed courses can still have these groups made within sections.
3. Teacher can create the number of groups with a limit on number of students in the group and then the students sign-up for a group

Where are the "Group Sets" made? The course teacher can set these groups up by clicking on the "people" menu in their course. To create a new "Group Set", click the "+Group Set" button.

• The teacher will be asked to provide a name for the Group Set. This can be anything but should represent. the type of work being done, so it is easy to distinguish from other groups you may make in the future.
  
  
  
• Self Sign-up can be turned on if you want the students to pick their own groups. You can also require the students to be in the same section as the rest of their Group members. Students will need access to the "People" menu option if they are going to pick their own groups. The students will see the Group Set in the people area and be able to join one of the groups the teacher has created.
  
  
  
• The Group structure allows the teacher to control the number of groups to be created, how many students are in each group, if the groups are randomly created by Canvas or if the teacher will create the groups.
  
  
  
  
  
• Each "Group Set" has a group leader that can be assigned, randomly selected, or designated by the first student to sign-up for the group (option 3 above). When students are assigned to be a group leader, they can manage members of the group and edit the group name. However, they cannot change the number of members allowed in the group.
  
  
  

The teacher can always override and make changes to the groups even if the initial groups are generated by the Canvas.

NOTE - The Group Set needs to be created BEFORE the assignment is published.

How do I use the Group Sets in the Assignment?

With the Group Set created you are now ready to create the assignment itself. You begin by clicking the new assignment button. The assignment creation is the same as any other assignment where you include directions, assignment type, points, etc.

Some things to remember:

• You can't use a group set until the students have been added to the groups. So if you are making the groups, they need to be made BEFORE you publish the assignment. Similarly if you are letting students pick their groups, they need to be picked BEFORE you publish the assignment. Grades and submissions may be affected for students who were not in a group at the time of assignment submission but who were later added to a group.
• In Group assignments ONE submission will count for the entire group. Any group member can submit for the group.
• The Google LTI tool CANNOT be used with group assignments.
• Additional information from Canvas

To use the group set in the assignment you check the "This is a Group Assignment" box.

The teacher has the option to give each student their own individual grade or leave the grade 
as a group grade (meaning when you add the grade all students in the group get the same
grade).  The teacher also selects the created group here as well.  Notice that you can also 
begin the Group Set creation process from here as well (just remember students need to be
in the groups prior to publishing the assignment.)

Once the students are all in the groups, the teacher can publish the assignment and the students can get to work.

This may seem complicated, but once you have run a few group assignments it really is not too difficult.  This is a nice feature that Canvas offers to allow group work to continue digitally.

Please keep in mind if you ever need to schedule me for a 1-1 help session, these can be scheduled using this link.

[Green Technology Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Google Earth Projects

Google Earth offers a new and different way for students to show what they know.

Created by Scott Aten, February 24, 2020

If you have not looked at Google Earth in awhile, you may want to take a look. There have been many new features added that make it a great tool to use with students. If you are teaching anything that involves locations on our planet from the past or present, then Google Earth can be a useful tool in your teaching tool kit. I recently provided a live PD webcast for Social Studies teachers, but much of what we looked at can be used in other content areas as well. Practical applications include:

• Science - Study land forms, glacial geology, tectonics
• Social Studies - See locations of various historical events, see the relationship between locations of events by distance.
• Language Arts - Lit trips, see locations described in literature
• Foreign Language - visit locations where the language is spoken, see how the culture has impacted the architecture and city design.
• Mathematics - Measurement tools teach distance, area, and volume (Real World Math), use real-time coordinates to demonstrate distance calculations.
• Art History and Architecture - Search for museums, study city planning techniques and trends
• More ideas can be found on this website

Google Earth has many built in features that make it more than just a digital globe. Tools and features include:

• Quickly find any location on the earth by searching for it by name. Once at the location yo can use the pre-created info cards to learn more about the location, see points of interest, and even add the location to a project.
• The Voyager tool takes you to some Google created content that includes an education section. In the education section you will find projects that include topics like: The Underground Railroad, Exploring Earth's Keystone Species, Poetry Around the World, Congressional Redistricting in the United States, and much more.
• I'm Feeling Lucky tool takes you to a random spot on our planet. Great intro activity to get conversation started in the classroom.
• Projects are a great alternative to PowerPoint or Google Slides and are built right on top of Google Earth. Perfect for you as a teacher to design a lesson presentation taking your students from location to location with ease. Or better - let you students create projects to demonstrate their understanding of what you have been studying.
• Measure Distances is a newer tool that allows you to measure the distance from one location to another or find the area of a space you draw on the map. Unit conversion is included as a part of the tool so calculations can easily be changed to whatever units on which you are focusing.

The map tools themselves provide you with the opportunity to zoom in and out of locations, change your view from 2D flat satellite view to 3D model view, and the ability to go down to street view of any location to see what it looks like today. All of this works on the Chromebook, so all of your students will be able to use this great tool.

I am sure that if you do some exploration on your own you will begin to think of many ways that Google

Earth could be used in your classroom to make what you are studying have more impact for your students.

Watch my presentation to see these tools in action.

[Green Google Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team