Blue Devil 2.0

Teachnology for K-5 Teachers

LIVE Broadcast of Polar Bear Migration Today and Tomorrow

November5

Tundra Connections - Polar Bears International

 
Tundra Connections conduct LIVE, free broadcasts from the tundra during the annual polar bear migration in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. We are inviting you and your students to join the DEN’s Lance Rougeux and experts from the field as they bring you the following webcasts.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 at 1:00 PM CENTRAL (CT)
All About Bears: How do polar bears compare to other bear species? Explore their adaptations and learn how similar and different bears are!
Target Audience: Discovery Educator Network and At Large Grades 4-8

 

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6 at 11:00 AM CENTRAL (CT) – JUST FOR KIDS
Polar Bear Senses: Learn how polar bears rely on their amazing senses to
survive the arctic chill.
Target Audience: Discovery Educator Network and At Large Grades 2-4

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6 at 12:00 PM CENTRAL (CT)
Maternal Dens: What do you think a polar bear den looks like? Why do you think dens are important to polar bear cubs? Have all your questions and more answered by expert polar bear scientists.
Target Audience: Discovery Educator Network and Grades 4-8

Registration for any and all of these events is simple – just click here – there’s one link for all of the webcasts.

Join us for this unique opportunity to learn about one of the most beautiful and powerful animals on Earth. In addition to the webcasts with the DEN noted above, Tundra Connections has many other activities for schools and students. Take a look at their complete schedule of upcoming educational opportunities.

 

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Free App of the Day

September24

Sun by KIDS DISCOVER for iPad on the iTunes App Store

Sun by Kids Discover
Description
From iTunes
••• Selected New & Noteworthy in Education by Apple – April 2013 •••

To us here on Earth, the Sun is hugely important. Without it, our world would be a frozen rock wandering in space. Learn all about how the Sun gives us food, energy, seasons, weather, calendars, flowers, light, air, and some really wicked sunburns!

In this app you’ll learn about:
• Different Size Stars in our Galaxy
• How a Star is Born
• The Sun’s Core
• Solstice vs. Equinox
• A “Spacial” Relationship
• Sun Worshipers
• A Sunny Future?

Features include:
• Interactive 3-D models
• High-definition video and audio
• Hi-res photographs, cartoons, and animations
• Easy-to-read, accessible writing
• Quizzes, puzzles, and other fun games
• Plus…optimized for the iPad Retina display

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Return of the Cicadas

May31

Westfield has been invaded by the Cicadas.  The deafening sound and swarm of these fascinating insects is upon us.  To some it is extremely disgusting but to many, including some our students, it is an awesome wonder of nature.  Senor Vasquez has found this amazing video by Samuel Orr that you may want to share with your class.  It is a beautiful video that explains this natural phenomenon and may make you think twice about our new neighbors.

Return of the Cicadas on Vimeo

Happy insect trails Blue Devils!

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Wonderful Website

May21

5-21-2013 9-46-59 AM

National Geographic Kids

This website provides many resources to help your students learn science, geography and history.  The site has video clips on nature, history, animals, the environment, and space.  The animals section contains links to profiles that your students can use for research.  There are country facts and images and a news section that provides articles on a student level.  The site is engaging and interactive  Students will find it easy to use and could be helpful for end of the year projects.

Happy tech trails Blue Devils!

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Free App of the Day

April26

From iTunes:

The Earth has one big water system with many features. The Ocean app of Ringier Studios is a fantastic journey deep into the sea. Learn and enjoy the seven essential principles of Ocean Science with movies, 360° pictures, outstanding animations and motion graphics.

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New Apps for the iPad Carts Part 2

April2

From iTunes:

If you can imagine it, you can build it with TinkerBox.

TinkerBox is a fun, free-to-play physics puzzle game. While it is full of interesting science facts and teaches basic engineering concepts, TinkerBox is more than just educational!

Take the tools in your hands to explore your creativity and imagination with Invent mode. Build outrageous machines, share them with your friends, or download popular inventions online at http://www.tinkerboxnews.com.

Stretch your brain through the devious Puzzle mode. Get immersed in physics-based puzzles and mechanical concepts, where your only hope for success is your creative problem solving.

Dream. Build. Share. TinkerBox.

From iTunes:

Always at the forefront of innovation, the University of Waterloo initiated a collaborative student-design project to celebrate 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry. Chem 13 News together with the Chemistry Department and the Faculty of Science encouraged chemistry educators and enthusiasts worldwide to adopt an element and artistically interpret that element to eventually be brought together in a mosaic of science and art. A year later, with the project complete, we have designs by chemistry students from all Canadian provinces and territories, 20 US states and 14 different countries. Each element captures a unique and creative spark but together they ignite a passion for chemistry.

From iTunes:

Evernote is an easy-to-use, free app that helps you remember everything across all of the devices you use. Stay organized, save your ideas and improve productivity. Evernote lets you take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, record voice reminders–and makes these notes completely searchable, whether you are at home, at work, or on the go.

✧ New York Times ‘Top 10 Must-Have App’, Winner: TechCrunch Crunchies, Mashable Awards and the Webbys. ✧

Key Features:
• Sync all of your notes across the computers and devices you use
• Create and edit text notes, to-dos and task lists
• Save, sync and share files
• Record voice and audio notes
• Search for text inside images
• Organize notes by notebooks and tags
• Email notes and save tweets to your Evernote account
• Connect Evernote to other apps and products you use
• Share notes with friends and colleagues via Facebook and Twitter
• Works with Evernote Business: Capture, browse, search, and share Business Notes and Business Notebooks from your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
◦ Premium feature: take notebooks offline to access them anytime
◦ Premium feature: allow others to edit your notebooks
◦ Premium feature: add a PIN lock to your Evernote app

From iTunes:

Hold the world in the palm of your hand. With Google Earth for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, you can fly to far corners of the planet with just the swipe of a finger. Explore the same global satellite and aerial imagery available in the desktop version of Google Earth, including high-resolution imagery for over half of the world’s population and a third of the world’s land mass.
With Google Earth, you can:
• Navigate the world with a swipe of your finger
• Swipe with two fingers to adjust your view to see mountainous terrain
• Show the Panoramio layer and browse the millions of geo-located photos from around the world
• View geo-located Wikipedia articles
• Use the Location feature to fly to your current location
• Search for cities, places, and business around the globe with Google Local Search

From iTunes:

Preview award-winning Inspiration Maps with Inspiration Maps Lite

Work with up to five diagrams to create maps, edit and stylize content, transform diagrams to outlines, and preview templates. —> For unlimited diagrams that you can export to Inspiration 9.1, use with other apps, and share with others: upgrade to Inspiration Maps, the visual thinking and learning application for the iPad. Students build their knowledge by creating diagrams, maps and organizers that help them brainstorm, plan, organize and build thinking skills. Tap to transform visual work into outlines that export for writing. Use Inspiration Maps to:

– Brainstorm new ideas and capture insights
– Analyze information
– Understand cause and effect
– Organize projects
– Organize thoughts and topics for writing
– Take notes
– Study for exams

Features:
– Friendly design developed specifically for iPad
– Diagrams are easy to build – and save instantly
– Create an unlimited number of documents*
– Diagrams transform to outlines with a tap
– Personalize with images, color, shape, arrow style, and backgrounds
– Use images from the web or the iPad camera
– Attach notes to any item to start writing
– Add hyperlinks
– Dozens of templates are included
– Optimized for the Retina display
– Additional templates available in Spanish and UK English
– Localized in Spanish and UK English

 

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Webinar Wednesday

January30

Here are a few Livebinders I have found with some great resources for your interactive white boards.  If you click on the tabs, you will be directed to the site and you can bookmark the ones you like for future use in your classrooms.

Happy tech trails Blue Devils!
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Free App of the Day

January24

From iTunes:

With our website, www.projectnoah.org, we’re building an active community where users can view submissions, help identify species, choose their favorite photos, follow their favorite contributors and discuss their encounters. Users can also make submissions directly from the web.

✔ Our ultimate goal is to build the go-to platform for documenting all the world’s organisms. By encouraging the mobile masses to document their encounters with nature, we’re building powerful force for data collection and an important educational tool for wildlife awareness and preservation. We hope you’ll support us by joining Project Noah today.

✔ Noah stands for networked organisms and habitats. Read on to find out how it all works.

➽ The Project Noah app has 3 modes:

✔ Spottings: Grab a photograph of a plant or animal that you find interesting or want to learn more about, select the appropriate category, confirm your location, add some descriptive tags, and submit it. If you need help identifying species, no prob, just select the check box and the community will suggest species IDs

✔ Location-based Field Guide: See what kinds of plants and animals have been spotted near you and learn more about them. Search through a map view, list view, or grid view of most recent spottings all based on your location. You can filter wildlife by categories so you can explore what you’re most interested in.

✔ Field Missions: We work with labs, environmental groups, and various organizations to help them gather important data for their research projects. Missions can range from photographing squirrels or mushrooms to tracking migrating birds or invasive species. Missions allow users to contribute to ongoing research projects, but they can also be for fun and exploration.

 

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Free App of the Day

January21

From iTunes:

Fish Hooks is an underwater physics-based adventure puzzle starring Milo the fish and a host of his aquatic friends from Freshwater High. You assume the role of Milo and must master the art of making and popping bubbles to successfully navigate the treacherous waters of Randy’s diabolical design. You will have to float, fall and fling yourself through the mazes to advance, all while maneuvering with the precision of a ninja (well, the fish version of a ninja. While you’re in a bubble.) Perfect timing and puzzle solving skills are essential if you want to avoid the increasingly difficult obstacles and master all of the underwater moves you’ll need to win. Have you got what it takes to BE THE BUBBLE?
Find out!, as you:

•Play through more than 50 levels of marine madness!
•Unlock 5 of Milo’s best friends – who you can use as player characters in the game!
•Master the art of bouncing off turtles!
•Surf whirlpools, fly through tubes and free fall!
•Collect apples in each level and max out your high score!
•Beat Randy Pincherson at his own game and win back the trophy!

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Free Apps of the Day

January18

Learn about the solar system in a hands-on way! This interactive science book features over 40 pages of fact filled content as well as numerous videos and interactive simulations.

Learn about:
• The Milky Way galaxy
• The Sun
• The planets and their moons
• The dwarf planets
• Planetary day and night cycles
• Planetary seasons
• Gravity
• Planetary magnetic fields
• Space exploration

Experience:
• The size differences between the Sun, planets, and moons
• How much a person would weigh on the Sun, the other planets, and the Moon
• How the seasons change as the Earth orbits the Sun
• How fast the planets orbit the Sun
• The solar system distances to scale

TouchWorld is a fun way to explore and challenge your knowledge of countries around the world, by exploring and taking quizzes on world geography.

TouchWorld includes a unique dynamic interactive map, and allows both kids and adults a challenging and engaging way of increasing their knowledge of world geography.

Features include 9 quizzes:
-Explore mode – touch on a country and get its info
-Continents quiz
-Country quizzes – for 200+ world countries
-Countries within the 6 continents
-Capitols of the world

Also explore the world using Apple Maps and Wikipedia.

Players earn a certificate of achievement for successfully completing a quiz.

The passport tracks which countries you have visited within a quiz.

Info built into app & which does not require a network connection include: Capitol, Largest city, land area, natural resources, environmental issues, lowest & highest elevation, population, ethnic groups, religions, languages, urbanization, life expectancy, and median age.

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