Chromebooks at Howe Manning

With a generous grant provided by the Middleton Board of Trade, Howe Manning received 25 Acer 13in. Chromebooks.  Chromebooks are similar to laptops where students can access the internet and their Google Apps for Education account.

Our media specialist Ellen Reusch worked with students in grades 3-6 to access databases for research.  She has worked extremely hard creating a list of resources for students to use to assist them in their research.

Today students participated in a scavenger hunt for the database "Infobits".

Click on image above to access website

Infobits

Students investigated the Infobits database and had to find information about various topics.  They found the year that Van Gogh was born, different breeds of horses, the capitol of Vietnam, and many other facts.  They really enjoyed the search and found it extremely easy to use the website.

Scavenger Hunt for Infobits

Thank you Middleton Board of Trade

for our Chromebooks!

A Day of Google

I can't think of a better way to spend a day during my winter vacation than learning more about Google Apps for Education.

Early Thursday morning I headed 0.3 miles down the road to Manchester Essex Middle/High School for Google Winter Camp sponsored by MassCue.  Two of my Colleagues joined me for a day of Google.

Deb Pazdziorny, Dierdre Baker, and Eileen Mulligan

What a great day of learning.  I had an incredibly hard time choosing which classes to take.

Class 1:  Google Certifications
Learning what it takes to become a Google Certified Educator Levels 1 and 2.  Stay tuned for my progress!

Jonathan Schmid

Class 2:  Writers Workshop Reimagined with Google Docs
So many resources for getting kids involved in the writing process.  My favorite find is "InstaGrok" which makes a web of resources for many different topics.

Class 3:  Make and Take Google Templates
I always love taking classes from Jennifer Judkins!  She always makes learning fun!  In this class we learned how to use www.flippity.com to create Jeopardy games.

Jennifer Judkins

Class 4: Collaborative Video Editing in the Cloud

Back with Jonathan Schmid learning how to create a video using "WeVideo".  With this program/website, students (and teachers) can create a video with pictures, videos, and text.  You can add music and other features to make it engaging.

Below is the video I made for "Hour of Code".

What a great day to learn about the many benefits and possibilities of Google Apps for Education.  I am once again inspired!  I can't wait to share my new "tricks" with my students and staff! 
Thanks to all of the presenters, Steve Guditus and the staff at MERSD, and MassCue for putting on such a great show!