South Florida News from ExploreLearning : Broward

New Gizmos! Digestive System & Unit Analysis

Here are two Gizmos released today, that would be really fun and useful before FCATs! 

 

Click the links

Unit Conversions  learn unit analysis, metric only or metric/customary too.

 

Digestive System  you put the system together, learn functions, turn up the volume too!

 

 

Quick FCAT - Nature of Science Prep! (Quick Virtual Science Fair)

Hi Everyone!

I know you are pushing hard before FCATs - I know that Gizmos have already helped your students prepare, and you are putting finishing touches on your preps.  I know many of you have seen this if you've trained with me, but just in case you forgot about it, here is a very quick and powerful tool to cover experimental design.  It can be done whole class, small groups, or individual.  You use screenshots to help fill in the design, and there is less writeup so that the focus is on designing the experiment (with one variable). Here's the file ( Download Mini_sci_fair ) and it has a rubric/standards too!

Let me know if you need anything!

One of my favorite new Gizmos! Measuring Volume!

One of my favorite new Gizmos is the fairly new Measuring Volume one!  Kids can use the sink for hours and never leave a impact on the enviroment!  There's an exploration and a practice setting - the practice one guides the student on using the meniscus to determine accurate volume measurements - yay, what a time saver!

FCAT & Gizmos

Here are some inspirational slides to help you find conceptually powerful and engaging lessons to remediate benchmarks in preparation for the FCAT...

These are the FL DOE sample test items correlated to specific Gizmos!

Here is an Action Plan that you may want to use at PLC meetings to help your staff: Download FCAT-EOC-Gizmo_Action_Plan

 

From a student's perspective: How to enroll in teacher's class in Gizmos

Hi Everyone!

I was recently asked if I could provide an overview from a student's perspective of enrolling in Gizmos.  Here is a video on how to enroll with a teacher's class code...it takes maybe 1 minute to complete.  After the initial enrollment, the student logs in with their username/password at the login page! Then they're off having fun with Gizmos!

 

 

Gizmo Refresher Webinar!

YOU’RE INVITED!

Hello Gizmologists!

 

You are invited to take part in a Gizmo Refresher Webinar!  If you’ve had the initial training, but you’d like some reminders or pointers, please join us on Wednesday, February 8^th from 3-4 pm or 8-9 pm.  Each session is limited to 25 participants so that we can give personalized attention to your questions, so please RSVP by replying to desiree.sujoy@explorelearning.com  to reserve your spot.  We will gladly add additional days/times to the schedule to accommodate everyone’s interest in this event.  It will also be recorded, if you’d like to watch it as a video file at your convenience.

 

•       Topics to be addressed:

§  Settings, Class Tabs, Adding Gizmos, Gizmos resources, Enrolling students, Managing Gizmos list, Import Gizmos, Sharing Gizmos, End of the Year considerations, Highlighting a Gizmo

•       To participate, you need:

§  A computer with internet connection

§  Username and password for ExploreLearning.com (Gizmos)

§  Phone line/cell phone to dial into the conference call

In order to attend, please RSVP by 2/7/12 with the specific time that you want to attend, and a confirmation email will be sent to you with directions; i.e. the site to go to and the phone conference #.

 

Please pass this invitation around to anyone you know that uses Gizmos, as I may not have updated email addresses for all users.  See you there!

 

Sharing Gizmo Lists!

Here's a video I made to show you how to email your Gizmo lists in your PLC's or with any other colleagues! (here's how to initially share the list: click here...)

Enjoy!  Click here! or watch below to see how to email them...

 

Middle School Benchmark Resources

Happy New Year! I've created easy spreadsheet documents that will help you use Gizmos to remediate particular standards in response to your diagnostic results. Each standard is listed in order on the left, Gizmo in center, and standard + explanation on the right.  The Gizmos are clickable hyperlinks that take you straight to the Gizmo. Enjoy!

Science:

• Download FL_Grade_6_science_benchmarks_Gizmos
• Download FL_Grade_7_science_benchmarks_Gizmos
• Download FL_Grade_8_science_benchmarks_Gizmos
  

 

Math:

• Download FL_Grade_6_math_benchmarks_Gizmos
• Download FL_Grade_7_math_benchmarks_Gizmos
• Download FL_Grade_8_math_benchmarks_Gizmos
• Download FL_Algebra_I_standards_correlated_Gizmos
  

Happy New Year! Here's a Hybrid Shark!

Hope that you are all rested and ready for the rest of the school year!  Here is an interesting news article about the hybridization of a shark species off of Australia (I know, it's a Yahoo News article - I'll try to get an actual journal article soon!) Hybrid Shark Found Off of Australia

Here are some great Gizmos for studying evolution:

Rainfall and Bird Beaks Gizmo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evolution: Natural and Artificial Selection

Gizmo Refresher Webinar!

YOU’RE INVITED!

Hello Gizmologists!

 You are invited to take part in a Gizmo Refresher Webinar!  If you’ve had the initial training, but you’d like some reminders or pointers, please join us on December 6^th or 7^th from 8-9 pm.  Each session is limited to 25 participants so that we can give personalized attention to your questions, so please RSVP by emailing me (desiree.sujoy@explorelearning.com) to reserve your spot.  We will gladly add additional days to the schedule to accommodate everyone’s interest in this event.  It will also be recorded, if you’d like to watch it as a video file at your convenience. The video recording link will be posted on my blog on 12/8!

• Topics to be addressed: Settings, Class Tabs, Adding Gizmos, Gizmos resources, Enrolling students, Managing Gizmos list, Import Gizmos, Sharing Gizmos, End of the Year considerations, Highlighting a Gizmo

 

• To participate, you need:
  • A computer with internet connection
  • Username and password for ExploreLearning.com (Gizmos)
  • Phone line/cell phone to dial into the conference call

In order to attend, please RSVP by 12/5/11, and a confirmation email will be sent to you with directions; i.e. the site to go to and the phone conference #.

Please pass around to anyone who you know that uses Gizmos too!  See you there!