Tech-Tip Tuesday

This week's Tech-Tip focuses on the Research and Information Fluency strand from the Technology Application TEKS.

Image from: https://techteks.weebly.com/research--information-fluency.html

Learning.com has lessons on how to navigate and find resources on the web. You can click the links below to present the lessons (parts of or whole lesson) as a class, or you can direct students to log in to learning.com through ClassLink. 2nd-5th grade have the lessons already assigned to them.

These lessons are also just useful to watch as an educator (PK and beyond) to help give you some guidance when helping your students research.

15-minute lesson

Click here to view the lesson
En Español

This lesson gives students a basic introduction about how the internet and the World Wide Web works, and it teaches students how to navigate webpages and look for valid information.

15-minute lesson

Click here to view the lesson

En Español

In this lesson, students receive direct instruction and practice using effective keywords and categories in search engines as they identify successful online searches, and consider their privacy and safety when providing personal information on the Internet.

15-Minute Lesson

Click here to view the lesson

En Español

In this lesson, students learn how to use web sites to research and find valid online information. They also learn how to respect intellectual property by properly citing online resources.

Below are district provided resources your students can use to look for information. All of the following resources will soon be added to a research folder in ClassLink. For younger learners, you can make access to these expository digital resources easier by creating engaging visuals with topic-related clickable links or QR Codes (if printed).

Kiddle is a kid-friendly and safe search engine designed specifically for kids. I strongly encourage all elementary students to use Kiddle.co instead of Google when searching for information.

Why does Kiddle use a .co instead of a .com domain? In Kiddle's case "co" stands for "children only."

PebbleGo is a PreK-3rd database for reading and research. PebbleGo offers four databases: Animals, Science, Biographies and Social Studies.

I love PebbleGo because it is simple to navigate and it has read-along audio and word-by-word highlighting features.

NEW You can now log in with ClassLink!

USERNAME/PASSWORD

CCE: ccreekelem/ read

HES: hutto/read

KES: bdkes/school

HNES: hnorman/school

NJES: nadine/read

RES: rayelem/read

VHE: vhelem / read

Britannica School Library has English and Spanish Encyclopedias with a read-aloud feature and multiple reading levels of text for each article.

NEW You can now log in with ClassLink!

USERNAME: hippos PASSWORD: learn

Kids InfoBits is a kid-friendly database with read-aloud translation tools.

NEW You can now log in with ClassLink!

PASSWORD: learn

National Graphics Kids

NEW You can now log in with ClassLink!

PASSWORD: learn

It's important for you to know what your students are doing on their Chromebooks, especially when there is some autonomy for where they can look for information.

Use DyKnow (Log in with Google) to watch all of your students' Chromebooks at once!

With DyKnow you can freeze students' screens, block/limit access to certain websites or apps, and send quick check questions.

​Genius Hour is a great way to develop students’ information fluency skills in an authentic and relevant context. The idea behind Genius Hour (also sometimes called 20% Time) is that students have some designated school time to explore a topic of interest to them (as opposed to researching a topic assigned by the teacher). It doesn't have to be every day, and it doesn't have to be a full hour.

While it may seem like a decadent use of instructional time, consider all of the research, reading, note-taking, composing, technology & presentation skills students will be practicing during the Genius Hour process.​ Utilizing forms like this session log helps keep students organized and focused, and provides a means for the teacher to monitor student progress during the course of the project.

The #geniushour Twitter feed is full of great ideas, links, and examples of how teachers are implementing Genius Hour activities in their classrooms.

techteks.weebly.com/research--information-fluency.html

Take some time to unwind and recharge! Whether you prefer being Plugged In or Unplugged, checkout some of these ways to recharge your mind, body or soul!

Thank you to everyone that participated in Digital Learning Day! The winner from the $50 gift card drawing is Ashely Fulp! Congratulations!

Below are some amazing tech integration examples from Digital Learning Day.

Ashley Fulp's fourth-graders worked on depicting the literal and figurative meaning of idioms using a green screen. Her fifth-graders recorded their news broadcasts using a green screen and created digital games based on the enigmas they studied. Her third graders used PicCollage to create a poster showing geometric transformations, and her and first and second graders worked on retelling stories with Ozobots.

Click the links below for the presentations:

• Google Classroom
• Literacy Work Stations
• Chromebooks for Littles
• Planbook

Share a response in this forum post. Share lessons, activities, ideas you would like to try, etc. You can even share an idea that doesn't require technology. Anyone that responds will receive five pairs of earbuds (while supplies last) and be entered into a drawing for a Hutto ISD tumbler.

Elementary District Instructional Technology Specialist

Email: kelly.hong@huttoisd.net
Website: https://www.hipponation.org/Domain/57
Phone: 1112
Facebook: http://facebook.com/HuttoCIT
Twitter: @kknhong

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