5 Reasons to Use Digital Choice Boards in the Classroom: Personalize learning with digital choice boards and activities. Great way to integrate technology into the classroom while providing a rich learning experience for a variety of learners. Digital differentiation! Think of it like a hyperdoc or hyperslide :)

Students make a water piano using Scratch and a MaKey MaKey to investigate pitch during their sound unit.

I was super jazzed to find the post on Pinterest from Mary on Adventures in Kindergarten on how to how to have landscape and portrait lay...

Are you looking for an incredible resource to learn more about smart boards or increase your skills in using your smart board? Well, Monic...

This is a set of three different reading passages: sound, light and visible light. Supports the 5th grade Virginia Science SOL. 5 comprehension questions go along with each passage. Answer keys included! Great way to combine reading skills with science! ************************************************************************** Follow Me so you can be notified about my latest products! (Click the star near The Techie Teacher icon) You can also follow me on: FACEBOOK Pinterest Instagram Twitter YouTube The Techie Teacher

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering...

Have you tried DIGITAL directed drawings? These directed drawings all contain an academic element. Students will learn how to successfully design images on a digital canvas.

This blog is intended to give helpful tips and tricks for incorporating technology into your classroom.

Learn how to add sound to Google Slides the easy way with this step-by-step tutorial. Videos included!

I am so excited to be writing my second blog post of the year on this wonderful blog. During my last post, you may remember that I offered ...

This blog is intended to give helpful tips and tricks for incorporating technology into your classroom.

10 End of the Year Technology Activities

With one simple Chrome Extension, you can easily turn any website into an interactive virtual lesson- in minutes! It is like a miracle, and I am hooked.

Google Keep is one of my favorite G Suite tools! One fun way to use Google Keep is for feedback. In this post, I've got 4 ways to use Google Keep for feedback and assessment.

Tune in to this episode to find out 4 fantastic vocal warmups for your music lessons to improve your students’ aural skills.

I'll be the first to admit it. After almost two years of creating original products for my TpT store, my digital savviness has grown tremendously! Some techy tips I've learned through other sellers, others by trial and error, and others by complete accident. I recently redesigned quite a few of my older product covers because I started to cringe a little when I would scroll past them. I would say to myself, 'Why did I think that even looked good?!' This is actually the face I would make... Microsoft PowerPoint has very quickly become my FAVORITE tool for creating

My Portable Recording Setup for Student Use When Recording in the Classroom

Easy to Access Digital Whiteboards with Collaborative Options for elementary students

We've found a screen protector that's so tough, you won't believe the demo videos they've made about it. Cue the rock music--and the hammers.

We all know and love Kahoot, right? If you do not know about Kahoot then we have a few blog posts with tips and ideas to get you up to sp...

UPDATE FOR MAC USERS: 11/17/2012 Scroll to the bottom of the tutorial where I have placed a link for all of you. Sorry this was not in the tutorial before (-; Hi everyone! There have been many inquiries on Facebook and in the TPT forums regarding the best way to secure images and content within a PDF file. You might be surprised, but many people were NOT aware that converting a document to a PDF does not automatically secure the content in the file...WOAH!!! There are extra steps you need to follow to make sure your files are secure. This tutorial also includes directions for taking a few EXTRA steps to make sure the images (clip art, borders, graphics) are secure in your files. Many artists require that the images are "flattened" in a SECURED PDF file. However, most do not explain what it means to "flatten" the images or offer directions as to how to do this....but today.....you will become an expert....hahahaha.. Actually, I am just hoping you can understand my directions..hehehehe You can view the images below and/or download the PDF file to save directly from my blog...WOWEE!! Here we go: Programs I used in this tutorial: Adobe Acrobat X Pro Windows OS (Operating System): Win 7 Microsoft Office (PowerPoint) 2010 This tutorial will help you learn how to add the most efficient security to your published files. More specifically, I will show you how to "flatten" images to prevent people from extracting (copying & pasting) images from the digital files you create. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding this tutorial or you would like to offer suggestions to improve this tutorial. [email protected] Step One: Launch Microsoft PowerPoint and start a NEW project. For this tutorial I created a simple cover page with text and images. If you have already created a PowerPoint document, you can skip to the step that applies to you. Here is the finished slide BEFORE saving. None of the images have been flattened and nothing is secure……yet. Step 2: Saving the finished PowerPoint Save your document as you normally would; creating a PPT version of your original file. You want to save the original as a PPT in case you need to make changes to your file in the future. Many of you might be used to saving your file and then immediately converting the file to a PDF. If I convert my PPT file to a PDF without taking any other steps (as I did in the picture to the right), you will see that I am still able to highlight, copy, and paste the individual images within the file. You might be shocked to discover that saving your document as a PDF does NOT secure the content. You must take extra steps to secure the content in your file. Step 3: Saving Your PPT as an Image Before converting your saved PPT to a PDF, we are going to “flatten” the images by saving each slide as an individual PNG or JPEG image. You cannot edit the flattened image files. I choose to save as a PNG, but you can choose to save your file as a JPEG. Save PPT as an Image: Go to FILE>SAVE AS Once the window pops up, you will use the drop down menu at the bottom labeled: SAVE AS TYPE, and choose to save the file as a PNG (Portable Network Graphic) or JPEG. Once you have chosen the file type, click save. You might be prompted to choose to save the current slide or all of the slides in the file. If you want to use all of the slides, then choose to save each slide as an individual PNG image. The images will now be saved in the place you designated on your computer or flash drive. Step 4: Creating a Secure PDF from your flattened image files Now that you have saved each slide as an individual image file, I will show you how to convert the images to a single PDF file. Open the file on your computer or flash drive that contains the image files you just created. As you can see (to the top right), I have only one image saved, since I only had one slide in my file. To create a PDF using the image, I am going to RIGHT CLICK on the file and choose to CONVERT IMAGE TO A PDF If you have more than one image to convert, highlight (IN ORDER) the needed files, RIGHT CLICK and choose to COMBINE SUPPORTED FILES IN ACROBAT (See bottom right picture) In this window, you can add more files or remove files you do not want in the PDF. Choose to COMBINE FILES and your images will be converted to a PDF. Quick Note: Sometimes, the images that you saved as a PDF will not convert in the correct order. Do NOT panic. All you need to do is open the bookmark preview in Adobe (right panel). Once opened, you will see thumbnails of each page in your pdf. Just select and drag the thumbnails and drop them in the correct order. The page number will change automatically once it is dropped in another position. Step 5: Securing the PDF You have not added security yet…. Open the PDF if it is not already. Now that you have your PDF open, you can click on any area and notice that the entire page will be highlighted, rather than any one image. You now have “flattened” the images within a PDF file; however, you have not secured your PDF. If we leave the file as is, the buyer will still be able to copy and paste the entire page. The only way one could “steal” images after flattening would be to take a screenshot of the image; however, the quality will be terrible and the image will not be by itself (see bottom right picture). The thief will have to do quite a lot of editing in a design program to get the image by itself. Next, I will show you how to add security to your PDF to prevent anyone from copying the pages. Step 5 Continued Adding Security Options to your PDF Click on the TOOLS tab located on the top right menu bar of your Adobe file. Select and click the PROTECTION tab, ENCRYPT, & choose to Encrypt with a password. Choose YES to change the security setting if prompted with this question You will get a pop-up window with options for securing your file. Choose your encryption settings: Add a Password Make sure to UN-CHECK the first box to enter a password. This option prevents anyone from opening the file. Step 5 Continued Adding Security Options to your PDF Check the box to restrict editing and then customize your settings. Create a PASSWORD. To get a strong password setting make sure your password includes an uppercase letter and a number. Choose OKAY once you have finished creating your password. You will be prompted to enter the password a second time before the window closes. Now, save your PDF and you have created a secured PDF file! Congratulations!!! You did it!!! I really do hope this helps some of you out and helps to secure your digital files! Click the download button save/print a copy of this tutorial. Thank you for visiting! Come back and check out my post tomorrow to see what I post for FREEBIE Friday!! I was determined to be prepared this time and participate in the fun!! The GOLDEN ticket for Mac users: I noticed that many of you who read my blog are actually Mac users and I always feel so bad that I can't offer you the same help...so....as usual, I don't give up until I learn..HA!! I found a helpful tutorial and had a friend "test" it out before sharing with all of you. For those of you using PAGES in Mac, there is a way to save your pages as a "grouped" JPEG image. Here is the Tutorial I found CLICK HERE Save this site in a reference journal, so that you can refer back to this site when you need help. I can tell you that YOU DO NOT WANT to use the help forums on the APPLE site!!!! They are filled with tons of information from many people that have NO CLUE what they are talking about. There may be forums in there that are helpful, but I did not even see one. In fact, I was so irritated about some of the advice people were giving that I had to sign in and comment - I couldn't resist!! I left the link to the correct tutorial in that forum because the people who actually needed help were being prompted to do things that caused more frustration! People REALLY should not comment in forums like that UNLESS they do know what they are doing and they are actually prepared to provide a step by step solution. It drives me bonkers when people just decide to continually add their 2 cents, because it causes far more harm than good. I also received some input from a friend - Tracee Orman, who is just some small time blogger and seller on TPT...bwahahahaha - yeah right!... Here is what she had to say...(referring to using Pages on a MAC) You can group every object & text box as a single item, then do the "Arrange" > "Lock" to completely secure it. Just remember when grouping objects, you can't make changes (like adding a drop shadow) after it is grouped together. Thank you for the info Tracee!! Please check out her blog (if you haven't already); however, please refer to the tutorial that I listed above if you have questions. I would hate to have her get a ton of emails from people saying, "The 3AM Teacher sent me to you to get help with using Pages"...I would feel horrible....truly.... However, I did make sure it was okay for me to include her knowledge before posting this...(-; For you MAC users, please go through the tutorial and let me know what you think and if it was helpful or not...(-;

I have had a Smart Board in my classroom for several years, and this year I was again asked to create and present a Smart Board workshop for my colleagues. Since I was already working to put together all this information, I thought I might as well share it more widely! This first post will focus on tips and tricks for using a Smart Board and Smart Notebook software in the classroom. Tips and Tricks for Smart Board Setup The order of operations matters. Any time that you want to use a Smart Board, be sure to complete the following steps in sequence. Make sure that the computer is plugged into the Smart Board (USB) and to the projector (Mac computers need an additional dongle). Turn on the projector. Turn on the computer. If the computer is connected to the projector when it turns on, it will automatically adjust its screen size and resolution to match that of the Smart Board. If the computer is already on before the projector is connected, the computer will retain its screen's aspect ratio, which may result in a disproportionate or squished look when projected onto the Smart Board. Troubleshooting: you may need to choose the "Mirror Displays" options in display settings, which will tell the computer to display the same screen on the projector as on the computer itself. Background tip: When starting up, the projector will display your computer's desktop. Keep that in mind when choosing a background wallpaper, and I recommend trying to avoid keeping files saved on the desktop. (This is an easy one to forget if you are using a personal computer. Unless you want your students to be immediately distracted by a giant picture of your dog, don't use personal photos for your computer's wallpaper.) Get in the habit of orienting your Smart Board as soon as you turn it on and are logged into your computer. (For SmartBoard-brand boards, you can hold down the two buttons together to activate the Orient action.) Although kids love to hit the orient crosshairs, I have found it much more efficient to orient the board myself, as precision is critical. Tips and Tricks for Writing on a Smart Board When writing on a Smart Board, always remember that the board responds to the last object picked up. If you pick up one of the colored markers to write and then pick up the eraser, anything that touches the Smart Board (marker, eraser, finger, pointer, etc.) will act as an eraser. If you put the eraser back, then the Smart Board will "remember" that the previous object was a pen, and anything touching the board will write like the pen. When writing with a pen on the Smart Board, be aware of where your hand is in relation to the board. Many times when my students come up to write on the Smart Board for the first time, they grip the pen in such a way that they end up resting the side of their hand against the board. They are startled to discover that they are now writing with the edge of their hand and not where the pen point is. (Having kids write with their finger or a pointer while holding the pen in their other hand is an easy solution.) The pen itself does not really determine its own color or style. By default, picking the red pen out of the red tray will make it write in red, but you can use the pull tab or toolbars to change the color, size, and style of the pen. I most often use this option to turn on highlighting when reading or responding to texts on the board. You have two options to erase "ink" from the Smart Board. You can pick up and use the eraser, which erases in a large circle shape, or you can use the eraser to trace a larger circle around anything you wish to erase. Draw the circle, tap once inside it, and all the ink will disappear. (Using the Smart Board eraser does not erase typed text or images.) Write Large, Write Legibly. You will need to use larger fonts when typing on a Smart Board screen. I usually use Arial as the font with a minimum font size of 24. You want to make sure that all students can easily see and read the information on the board. Tips and Tricks for Managing Files on a Smart Board If you are using a Smart Board connected to a school computer in your classroom, then you will want to come up with a system for transferring files back-and-forth between a school and personal computer. I have found that Dropbox is an easy way to keep Smart Board files synced. I can edit files on my personal computer or school computer and syncing keeps them both up-to-date. (You can use the 'selective sync' option within Dropbox to only share a folder of Smart Board files with your school computer, rather than sharing everything.) New to Dropbox? Using this referral link helps me store more files in the cloud at no cost to you! Separate Originals and Class Copies: If you are using a Smart Notebook file with students, you may find it useful to save the file at the end of a class lesson to include all the notes or annotations you added as a class. I strongly recommend using "Save As" at the end of the lesson to save a new copy of your file. I use Save As and then append the date to a given lesson. (So, The-Tide-Rises becomes The-Tide-Rises-150524 if I shared it on May 24th, 2015.) Then, next year, I already have a clean copy of the file to use, or I can pull up the "after" version to see what kids came up with. Export Smart Notebook Files: You can use File --> Export within the SmartNotebook software to save a lesson created in Notebook as a web page, image files, PDF, or even PowerPoint. Exporting to PDF is a great way to then share your lesson with students so that they can access and refer back to the files. Smart Board Tips and Tricks Do you have any favorite Smart Board hacks or tricks? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

This tutorial will show TpT sellers how to secure a PDF to protect your work with a password, as well as the clipart graphics you're using.

7 awesome strategies for digitizing your worksheets using Google Apps. Perfect for saving paper and managing student work in Google Classroom

Learn how to assign Google Slides activities, assignments, and lessons through Google Classroom with this free downloadable guide!

Hey guys! It's Erin from I'm Lovin' Lit and I'm so happy to be a part of this wonderful new blog! Today I'm going to talk about my feelings ...

Discover a comprehensive Trumpet Fingering Chart to help you master the instrument. This easy-to-follow guide includes finger positions for all notes, from beginner to advanced levels. Perfect for students, teachers, and enthusiasts, our chart simplifies trumpet learning and improves your playing technique. Start your musical journey with the right tools at your fingertips.