Jamboard is a free Google tool that creates whiteboards that are a lot like slides. You don't need an interactive whiteboard to use it. You can use the app for free on any device! It works with Google Drive and allows you to present your whiteboard to people viewing remotely. Which makes it a great online whiteboard option for distance learning.

Check out the "Getting started with Jamboard video" and the 10 Jamboard templates that you can use for remote learning.

Click on the the "The Google Teacher Center" link to discover has some great resources for educators looking to get started using Jamboard in their classrooms. Resources include:
- a video library or tutorials
- tips and trick from teachers
- PDF guides
- lesson plans and more

In today's world, 21st century skills are crucial for our learners as they provide the foundation for success in a rapidly evolving society. These skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, and digital literacy, equip children with the abilities to navigate complex challenges, adapt to change, and thrive in a globalized world. By nurturing these skills, we empower our learners to become agile, innovative, and socially responsible individuals who can actively contribute to the progress and well-being of our society.This resource has a 21st Century Skills poster, a big view 21st Century Skills Scope and Sequence document for grades 1-12, and a more focused view 21st Century Skills Scope and Sequence document for each of the following grade groupings 1-2, 3-6, 7-9, 10-12. This resource also has  Digital Literacy Scope and Sequence documents for each of the following grade groupings 1-2, 3-6, 7-9, 10-12 (linked in each of the previous documents).

Students can self-assess their 21st century skills using the division rubrics. You may wish to have them write a short reflection in the box they evaluate themsevles in (supported, with some support, with limited support or independent), or they can simply mark where they feel they are as another option.At the bottom there is room for students to reflect on their greatest area of strength, and explain why. There is also an area for the student to indentify an area of growth and state how they can imporve. The documents are attached below in MSWord (feel free to edit to fit your needs) and PDF verisions. Teachers may include these reflections with student reports or conferences if they they choose to. 

Over 40 free online escape rooms to use with your class. They are already made and free!

Culture is crucial. Teachers want to build it in the classroom. School administrators want to build it in their schools. How do we build relationships with students, set standards, and make school a place where students want to be?

The classroom is a good place to start. This video shares 5 ways to build school culture with your interactive display.

Samsung has a fantastic interactive display called the Samsung Interactive Pro. This is the tool being used in the video, but the same strategies can be used with any interactive display device.

Here are the 5 ways to build school culture with your interactive display:
#1 - Classroom Rules and Norms Brainstorming Session
#2 - Get to Know You Unboxing Video Activity
#3 - Create a Digital Appreciation Board
#4 - Create a Class Banner or Quilt
#5 - Do a Digital "What Do You Remember" Activity

This Back-to-School Challenge encourages students (and teachers) use an Adobe multi-page template to create back-to-school goals. That template can then be used to create an Adobe Express video in which voiceovers are added. Then the video can be submitted to a contest where a backpack, including an iPad and Apple Pencil, Rode Video Mic, tablet holder and tripod, power bank, ring light … and more, will be given away to several lucky winners.

Part 1: This short YouTube video gives an overview of the challenge.

For a more in depth video of how to use the template, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUYAFEkeScI

The template itself can be accessed at https://express.adobe.com/sp/design/post/urn:aaid:sc:US:2141641d-87a0-4622-b157-a46db3fdee0f

Part 2 of the challenge involves using the information collected in the Adobe Express template to transform your multi-page portfolio into a reflection video to help guide your year.
Head over to https://edex.adobe.com/challenges?sdid=D4P81QZ8&mv=social&mv2=ownsoc-org for the outline of the video project.

Be sure to view the Part 2 Video Tutorial and the Printable Lesson Plan.

To enter the contest to win the great prizes, fill out and submit the following form by September 30: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-RraSiOATA9mrJ6pGZtVML4iBb10HLXCVVT8oZuip3w6zDw/viewform

Check out this collection of challenge materials for fun, easy, and engaging ways to get your students learning!

There are new challenges every month so keep checking back! Be sure to explore past Creative Challenges as well!

This is available in website and app versions. This is a very user friendly way to make podcasts.  There are a variety of sound effects, clips etc to be used to make a polished more professional sounding podcast.  Students - make sure you have your school's and parent's permission before using this! 

Antimatter is a collaborative meme studio for your classroom.

It includes:
- Super powerful creation tools: Empower your students to express complex ideas through culture and creativity
- A place for collaborative learning: Students chat with their peers and promote great work to help the best ideas rise to the top
- Built for students & teachers: Create studios by classroom, or by topic. Manage your students and the content they create with our moderation tools

Sign up for free!

These interactive videos are meant to stimulate creativity and a hands-on activity at home.

Auxy is a digital-music-creation app for iOS that focuses on beats and electronic music. It's gorgeously designed, offering a simple-to-hop-into experience that has tons of depth. To start creating your track, add a melodic instrument or drum sound from the app's built-in sound pack. Then, press and hold to edit your loop, duplicate it, or toggle a 12-tone chromatic scale or an 8-tone major, minor, or harmonic minor scale. The next screen shows a grid. Each column represents a note of the scale, and each row is a single beat. Tap the boxes in each row to indicate which notes you want to play on each beat. You can add as many instruments as you like to your one-, two-, or four-bar loop. Then, swipe to the right on-screen to create the next loop in your song with the same instruments. Tap the gear at the top of the screen to alter settings for your project (such as tempo and key).

From the menu at right, you can render your project and then export it directly to SoundCloud or save it as a video, audio, or uncompressed WAV file to your device. You can also export your project as a MIDI file or export the individual instruments. The top-left menu lets you browse built-in projects and your own creations, and you can also browse and download additional sound packs. You can also browse other users' creations on SoundCloud or view the Auxy Instagram feed.

"In Beats Empire, students act as music producers in a studio where they sign new artists, direct the bands to record songs, perform market research and marketing, and try to produce hits, gaining enough profit to keep the studio running and to pay the talent. The goal of the game is to get a gold record (500,000+ sales) in every music genre or to earn three platinum records (1,000,000+ sales) in any one genre, all without running out of money."

Socratic seminars are a democratic, student-centered, approach to class discussions. They can be used at any grade level with any subject area. In a Socratic Seminar, members meet in a circle and share their insights. Participants do not raise their hands or call on names. Because there’s no discussion leader, each member can comment or ask follow-up questions to one another. This approach can be empowering for participants because they own the conversation. Unlike a typical class discussion, the conversation moves fluidly back and forth rather than having to go through the teacher.

This article outlines several approaches to conducting a Socratic Seminar:
- The Giant Circle Approach
- The “Fish Bowl” Approach
- The Round Table Approach
- The Scattered Approach
- Multiple Seminars
- Online/Offline Seminars

The author also provides a sample of how to run a Socratic Seminar and tips for ensuring that all students can participate.

This site has an amazing variety of tools that students can use to share their learning.
Let your students have voice and choice!
Some of the best choices on this site include

FAKEBOOK - kids can make a mock facebook page ONLINE for a historical figure, or a character in a novel. Etc.

PAC MAN & ARCADE GAMES -transform your quiz into a trivia Pac Man game. The kids have to answer questions to play and if they die they must answer more questions to continue. The kids can make their own trivia games as well. This could be a great final product and you could play it on the smartboard as a class to evaluate it.

FAKE NEWS Headlines - this would be great for an important event in a novel, or current events, or historical info!

QR CODE TREASURE HUNT – no Internet needed. Kids can create these; or you could!

BURGER ESSAY PLANNER -students can plan and organized essays with the provided structure!

Other Options include: timers, turn your text into a Star Wars theme, 3D gallery, fake Twitter, random name picker, etc!

Create your own Pac Man game using this 1 hour tutorial. So cool!

By signing up with your email address and clicking the yellow subscribe button, you will receive this great design thinking project that your students will love! It is part of a design thinking toolkit and includes a free design thinking project, an eBook, and a suite of assessments. You will also receive a weekly email with free, members-only access to the latest blog posts, videos, podcasts and resources to help you boost creativity and spark innovation in your classroom.

The AI Family Challenge is a free, hands-on AI education program that brings families, schools, communities, and technology know-it-alls together to give everyone the chance to learn, play and create with AI.

This site offers opportunities to watch interesting videos, design cool things, build neat stuff and play awesome games.

If your student/child is not sure what they can write, use this handy chart from Scholastic to get them started. There are so many choices!