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Roanoke Mini Maker Faire

The very first Roanoke Mini Maker Faire is coming to the Science Museum of Western Virginia on April 22 from 1:00pm – 5:00pm, and I am beyond excited.

What is a Maker Faire? 

MF_RobotA Maker Faire is a gathering of fascinating, curious people who enjoy learning and who love sharing what they can do. From engineers to artists to scientists to crafters, Maker Faire is a venue for these “makers” to show hobbies, experiments, projects. We call it the Greatest Show (& Tell) on Earth – a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity, and resourcefulness.  There are many Maker Faires across the world, and it’s so cool that Roanoke will have it’s very own AND that our students will be able to attend and participate in this global movement!

What will you see and do at the Roanoke Mini Maker Faire?IMG_8095

Students from all over the New River and Roanoke Valleys will be showing off their Maker skills – from lip balm to an interactive ocean exhibit to a dancing troupe of robots and much more.  Other Makers will be there too, including the Roanoke Robotics & Makers Club with their retro arcade games and robots.  There will be a chance to make Milkweed Missiles with kids from Green Valley Elementary and talk to the Wind Turbinators from Valley Elementary, and all sorts of other opportunities for kids (and kids at hear) to build and make.  All ages are welcome to attend, and it’s FREE!

Big Thanks!

Karen Richardson from The Virginia Society of Technology in Education and Hannah Weiss from the Science Museum of Western Virginia have been instrumental in getting this event to happen in our own backyard, and I am so grateful for their expertise and hard work.  Checkout the website for the event, reserve your free tickets, and check out the list of Makers that will be there.

We hope you will bring the whole family and stop by to glimpse the future and get inspired at the Greatest Show and Tell (on Earth)!

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Small Group Center Ideas

Our division has really been talking hard about small groups.  Our literacy plan requires small groups in Language Arts, but teachers are also asked to come up with ideas for Math, Science and Social Studies — even cross-circular activities.  Here are some ideas for using Technology in small groups.

 Minecraft Edu (Use Prompts to match your content – area, perimeter, models of science or social studies concepts, novel settings, etc.)  — All Roanoke County teachers and students have accounts.

Breakout Edu (Digital Breakouts) – https://platform.breakoutedu.com/ ; Create a free teacher account to find the free games; Example: Finding Frosty – https://platform.breakoutedu.com/game/FINDING-FROSTY

Formative (Game Based) Assessment Websites

 Reflection

Coding

 Organizing

 Creating

Are there any other ideas or resources that you use in your classroom?

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Minecraft Edu

Did you know Roanoke Country provides Minecraft Edu to students and teachers?  Here are some resources you might find helpful as you explore the ways you can incorporate this engaging game into your classroom.

Support Links:

Lessons, Worlds, and Educational Community

A huge thanks to JT Thompson from Microsoft for many of the above resources.

Here’s one more great resource:

Ben Kelley’s Minecraft Resources

 

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Office 365 Handouts

Access the Roanoke County Office 365 Portal here:

http://portal.office.com 

Looking for Office 365 Handouts?  Here are ones that we have set up so far:

Accessing Office 365

One Drive – Shared Files

SharePoint – Accessing Share Fair Resources

Email:

Office 365 – Changing Email Format Settings

Office 365-Contact Group

Office 365-Distribution List

Outlook 2016-Contact Group

 

 

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Download Handouts

There are handouts for most of the programs we use at school (and some websites too) available in the blue box to the right. Here’s how you find them:

Use the arrow at the bottom of the box to scroll though the list of handouts. When you find one you want, click on it.bluebox1

Then click on DOWNLOAD.

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Choose a place to save the handout on your computer so you can find it. Then click save.

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Making Your Own Activities for the Smartboard

Once you have the SmartBoard Notebook Software on your computer, I highly recommend that you download and check out the  Lesson Activity Toolkit.  It contains interactive templates for different games and lessons.  It contains fun ways to practice things like:

  • Category sort – Organize key words into two categories
  • Key word matching – Match key words to their definitions
  • Multiple choice – Create up to 10 multiple choice questions
  • Text reveal – Reveal 5 lines of text in your preferred order
  • Word guess – Guess the letters of a key word up to 15 characters

All you have to do is add your content!  Download it here.   Don’t forget to take a look at the Quick Reference Guide they provide.

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