Come join many of our amazing Granite School District students, teachers, and numerous other volunteers in some LEGO robotic fun! [Read more…] about Upcoming Event: Granite FIRST LEGO League Competition 2018
In December 2017, students and staff in Granite School District checked out nearly 12,000 ebooks and audiobooks from our OverDrive Digital Library. The infographic below reveals the top five schools for the month. [Read more…] about OverDrive Monthly Circulation Competition Update for December 2017
The Google Slides Module is now open on our Chromebook Basics and G Suite Online Training site for Granite teachers. The module walks you through the basics of Google Slides, but also includes some additional helpful tips and tricks. [Read more…] about Now Open: Google Slides Basics Online Module
In November 2017, students and staff in Granite School District checked out over 14,700 ebooks and audiobooks from our OverDrive Digital Library. This is up 2,000 from last month. The infographic below reveals the top five schools for the month.
For 2017-18 the Granite Educational Technology department is sponsoring a monthly checkout competition between schools, with four traveling trophies awarded to the highest circulating elementary and secondary schools, as well as the “most increased” elementary and secondary schools.
In November 2017, Beehive Elementary and West Lake STEM Jr. High held their spots at the top and therefore keep the trophies which they were awarded for winning the September 2017 competition. Members of the Educational Technology Department still visited them with treats.
We are excited to announce two new winners in the “Most Improved” category: congratulations to Pleasant Green Elementary and Kearns Senior High! Pleasant Green’s improvement was the most dramatic, moving from zero checkouts in October to 4th place overall in November.
Alyssa Carraway, secretary in the Educational Technology department, tracks these checkout numbers and has used Google Sites to create a simple but beautiful website to share this data with our district throughout the year. She uses Canva to convey the data in infographics, such as the year-to-date information shared below. You can check out the full site for more details on Granite OverDrive usage per school, as well as monthly updates on our OverDrive checkouts competition winners.
(Granite’s OverDrive provides free access to ebooks and digital audiobooks for all students and staff in Granite School District. Granite’s OverDrive can be accessed on the web at http://granite.lib.overdrive.com or via OverDrive apps designed for various mobile devices. For more information or help getting started with OverDrive, visit https://www.graniteschools.org/edtech/overdrive.)
Infographics and Granite OverDrive Circulation Site created by Alyssa Carraway, Administrative Secretary, Educational Technology Dept. OverDrive posters designed by Cindy Moyle,
Secondary Library Media Supervisor, Educational Technology Dept.
The Educational Technology Department recently participated in Granite School District’s Latino Outreach Night, during which we shared with students and their families some unplugged and plugged Hour of Code activities, a button making activity, as well as information on accessing Granite’s OverDrive Digital Library. We created a couple of new collections in OverDrive especially for the night:
We also created this poster featuring Latino Stories in OverDrive which you are free to print out and display in your library or classroom, or post digitally on a web site.
We’d love to add to these lists, as well as create more lists of books and resources on other subjects and cultures in coming months. If you have a purchase suggestion (either for OverDrive or your school’s library) or if you would like help finding resources and books on a certain topic or subject, try out our Request and Suggestion Form.
The Utah STEM Action Center is currently offering classroom grants for Utah educators.
The PreK-12 Classroom Grant is available for Utah educators and administrators to apply for funding to improve student understanding of and learning experiences in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Awards will be granted for innovative and creative projects in STEM subjects. These projects should focus on classroom-level instruction that is unique to the needs of the students.
The application window is open from November 6, 2017-December 22, 2017. For more information and to apply, visit the STEM PreK-12 Classroom Grant page. [Read more…] about Grant: STEM Utah PreK-12 Classroom Grant
Computer Science Education Week is December 4-10, 2017. Many schools, educators, and students participate in an Hour of Code during Computer Science Education Week.
Last year, students at Farnsworth Elementary and Woodstock Elementary tried out computer programming by participating in Hour of Code activities. In the video above, a few of these students share their work and their thoughts about the coding activities with Joell Wilkins, school technology specialist.
Hour of Code is a worldwide initiative to introduce young people to the basics of coding and computer science through 1-hour coding activities. These activities are especially promoted during Computer Science Education Week, but can be done at any time throughout the year. If you are interested in hosting an Hour of Code event, these how-to guides provide assistance for activities ranging from school-wide events to at-home family coding activities.
Check out these awesome Pleasant Green Elementary students learning to code during their Coding Club. Thanks to Jayanne Unander, school technology specialist, for sharing!
https://twitter.com/junander/status/922595732523188231
If you host a coding activity please share it with us! You can leave a comment below or share pictures via social media including Twitter or Instagram, using the hashtags #gsdedtech and #HourOfCode.
Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) is an annual program dedicated to inspiring K-12 students to take interest in computer science.
Originally conceived by the Computing in the Core coalition, Code.org® organizes CSEdWeek as a grassroots campaign supported by 350 partners and 100,000 educators worldwide.
CSEdWeek is held in recognition of the birthday of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906).
–from “About CSEdWeek” (https://csedweek.org/about)
See what the developers of Microsoft, Dropbox, Twitter, Facebook and others have to say about learning to code.
Post created by Teresa Bruin, district educational technology specialist and team leader. originally appearing in our November 2017 Ed. Tech. Monthly Newsletter for Teachers. Hour of Code spotlight video created by Joell Wilkins, school technology specialist at Farnsworth Elementary and Woodstock Elementary, and originally featured on this blog last year.
Cindy Moyle, our district’s library media specialist for secondary schools, recently shared a presentation at the American Association of School Librarians 2017 Conference about OverDrive Digital Library entitled “Getting the Word Out about Your eBooks & Audiobooks.” The presentation features ideas and resources from Cindy Moyle, as well as other school librarians in Granite School District, for promoting the district’s OverDrive ebook and audiobook collection and encouraging reading.
Click here to download a copy of the presentation.
Click here for downloadable OverDrive bookmark templates, stickers, etc.
Click here to view past resources and activities for promoting OverDrive that we’ve shared on this blog.
(Granite’s OverDrive provides free access to ebooks and digital audiobooks for all students and staff in Granite School District. Granite’s OverDrive can be accessed on the web at http://granite.lib.overdrive.com or via OverDrive apps designed for various mobile devices. For more information or help getting started with OverDrive, visit https://www.graniteschools.org/edtech/overdrive.)
Have you ever wondered what school technology specialists and library media educational technology specialists do on their Friday trainings? Heidi Meenen, one of our Educational Technology team leaders, gives some insights into our department’s Friday professional learning in the video above.
In this meeting, technology specialists learned about a new technology tool, the Explore feature in Google Sheets, and then had the opportunity to engage in a lesson that integrates that tool into learning. They experience first-hand how the lesson works, then take it back to their schools to share with students through co-teaching opportunities, modifying when necessary to meet specific classroom needs.
Additionally, technology and library media specialists spend time at Friday meetings in collaborative groups creating original lesson plans. Each month they focus on one or two specific topics or tools from our Technology Integration Progress menu. The goal is to create and amass a library of lesson plans aligned to specific core standards that integrate innovative technology use and 21st century learning practices such as those described in the ISTE Learning Standards. Technology and library specialists share what they create with each other and bring these lessons back to teachers and students at their schools.
You can see snapshots of some of these shared lessons in action in classrooms by browsing our @EdTechGSD Twitter Feed. As time passes, selections from these shared lessons and resources may also be shared publicly on our Technology Integration Progress Resource Pages.
Spotlight Created by Heidi Meenen, Educational Technology Specialist and Team Leader.
The posters below highlight a few of the titles that have been added to Granite’s OverDrive Digital Library this month. Click on them to download a high quality PDF that you can print out and display in your library or classroom, or right click and save the images to post them on a school or class website.
In October 2017, students and staff in Granite School District checked out nearly 13,000 ebooks and audiobooks from our OverDrive Digital Library. This is up nearly 3,000 from last month. The infographic below reveals the top five schools for the month.
For 2017-18 the Granite Educational Technology department is sponsoring a monthly checkout competition between schools, with four traveling trophies awarded to the highest circulating elementary and secondary schools, as well as the “most increased” elementary and secondary schools. In October 2017, Beehive Elementary and West Lake STEM Jr. High held their spots at the top and therefore keep the trophies which they were awarded for winning the September 2017 competition. However, we have two new winners in the “Most Improved” category: congratulations to Cyprus Senior High and David Gourley Elementary!
Alyssa Carraway, secretary in the Educational Technology department, tracks these checkout numbers and has used Google Sites to create a simple but beautiful website to share this data with our district throughout the year. She uses Canva to convey the data in infographics, such as the year-to-date information shared below. You can check out the full site for more details on Granite OverDrive usage per school, as well as monthly updates on our OverDrive checkouts competition winners.
(Granite’s OverDrive provides free access to ebooks and digital audiobooks for all students and staff in Granite School District. Granite’s OverDrive can be accessed on the web at http://granite.lib.overdrive.com or via OverDrive apps designed for various mobile devices. For more information or help getting started with OverDrive, visit https://www.graniteschools.org/edtech/overdrive.)
Infographics and Granite OverDrive Circulation Site created by Alyssa Carraway, Administrative Secretary, Educational Technology Dept. OverDrive posters designed by Cindy Moyle,
Secondary Library Media Supervisor, Educational Technology Dept.
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