1. WI February LC News Letter

    Join us at the Apple Store in the West Towne Mall, Madison, WI on Saturday, February 18 at 8:00 a.m. to learn about how the iPad is being used in education. In addition, STEM information, the Discovery Mobile App., and a variety of other educational apps. will be shared.  Discovery Education members are invited as we explore how the new iPad2, along with [...]

  2. STEMazing Night with Hall: Going Mobile

    On Wed February 1, I ended my first big Digital Learning Day by joining in with Hall Davidson for a Siemens STEM Webinar :Making Mobile Media Meaningful in (and Beyond!) Your STEM Classroom. Hall Packed the hour full of so many great ideas using mobile devices to reach higher levels of analysis in the classroom [...]

  3. WI DEN iPad Event Feb 18!

    Join us at the Apple Store in the West Towne Mall, Madison, WI on Saturday, February 18 at 8:00 a.m. to learn about how the iPad is being used in education. In addition, STEM integration ideas, the Discovery Mobile App., and a variety of other educational apps. will be shared. Discovery Education members are invited as we [...]

  4. Rock Our World!

    Verona Area School District Students Collaborate with Others Around the World, Submitted by Rita A. Mortenson Since the start of the school year, the 3rd graders in Ms. Karie Huttner’s class and the high school students in Ms. Julie Jenewein’s, class along with Ms. Rita Mortenson, have been busy making music, videos and skyping (video chatting) [...]

  5. Science Upclose

    When I am not thinking about teaching and using technology, I am engaged in some fiber activity – spinning, weaving, or holding my angora bunnies. But until recently I never brought this part of me into the classroom. Last year I wrote a proposal for donors choose to get cardboard looms and a silkworm farm [...]

  6. Money, money…

    For the past two years, I have had the fortune to be able to integrate more technology into my classroom through grants. One little known grant available to Wisconsin educators is the WEMTA technology grant. The deadline is approaching quickly – the last Friday in January. This grant has helped me to fund the expansion [...]

  7. Empower Students to Present Creatively!

    Empower Students’ Creativity through a Variety of Web 2.0 tools resources and publishing. Back in the day when I was in school, I was sometimes assigned to conduct research in many classes, demonstrating my knowledge gained through giving a speech, (or presentation) in front of class, or writing an essay. There were not many choices [...]

  8. Write Me Another Story

    Over winter vacation while reading one of my favorite blogs – Mind/Shift I learned about a really amazing story writing app with the power to design beautiful student created images or uploading other images. Scribble Press is a free iPad app that gives children the tool to create wonderful stories that they can share by [...]

  9. Epic iPad Digital Storytelling: Explain Everything!

    I have been on a pretty serious quest, analyzing a number of productivity, photo shop and publishing apps.  In past Posts, I have featured Screen Chomp, Show Me and pic Collage.  Honestly, I really try to stay as close to Free Apps as possible, but every so often I find one that is not free, but [...]

  10. Siemens STEM Institute applications open

    Are you motivated to spearhead STEM Educational initiatives in your District, community, state and beyond? Be the catalyst to STEMazing change. Siemen’s and Discovery Education will empower you to build a powerful, yet sustainable STEM focus. The Siemen’s STEM Acadamy was the most powerful professional development experience I have ever had… and then it got even better! [...]

  11. Discovery and Tagxedo

    So here is a little fun using Discovery Encyclopedia articles and the wonderful word cloud creator Tagxedo. Step 1: Find a resource from DE and encyclopedia Step 2: Copy and paste part of the article into Tagxedo Step 3: Choose a shape and edit the words Step 4: Choose the colors and share ________________________________________________________________________ Citation [...]

  12. Merry Apps for Mind Maps !

    Mind Maps are graphic representations of information that show both small units of information and their relationships in a visual way. Concept maps,(or story maps, graphic organizers, advance organizers, story webs, semantic maps, and cognitive organizers), are often used to teach text structure and to aid in comprehension, helping students understand multiple layered concepts. Research [...]

  13. Accelerate Learning with Green Screen & Music

    Kari Huttner has taken advantage of the great DE music featuring Dr Lodge McCammon’s content driven Jams containing powerful lyrics and melodies to charge students’ interest and improve their level of comprehension.  Kari adds Green Screen fun with DE Video segments, reaching  total tech integration! What a great way to demonstrate how we help young [...]

  14. I am SO Glad I Found You!

    Hey There! Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Peg Hartwig and I am the new WI LC DEN Blog chair, taking on Chad Lehman’s role.  I wanted to introduce myself as I am relatively new in the DEN circle and happened upon the DEN in a most curious way. In 2010, I was selected [...]

  15. Things I Think You Should Read

    It’s been a while since the Wisconsin LC Blog feature “Things I Think You Should Read.” Well, it’s back. Below are the latest blogs/articles/links worth checking out. What You Can Do To Support School Libraries In Crisis 10 Tools for Getting the Most from Dropbox  Rethinking Classroom Furniture The 10 Barriers to Technology Adoption  20 [...]

  16. Quick Update from SLATE 2011

    Thanks to DEN STAR/GURU Rita Mortenson for sharing this information from the conference…. I am here at the 2011 SLATE Conference (School Leaders Advancing Technology in Education) and I was fortunate to attend an amazing Discovery Techbook Presentation by Laura Lamb, from Discovery. The long awaited Science Techbook for Wisconsin was just released for grades [...]

  17. iPads: Not Just for Fun and Games

    Although I teach honors algebra 2 as well as a low functioning Essential 1 freshman math class, I am striving to integrate iPads effectively in many ways beyond  learning games for practicing computation and mathematical reasoning.  IPads can be used effectively to remediate, extend concepts to STEM, and Publish. All of my students have access to using [...]

  18. Conference/Event Take-Aways

    People attend conferences and events for a number of reasons.  When the conference is over, people often walk away wondering what information is valuable and how it can be used in the classroom.  Kari Huttner, a Wisconsin DEN LC member, recently shared a fantastic classroom experience.  The idea began with a conversation at the DEN [...]

  19. JellyCam: Deep Learning through Fun Publishing

    JellyCam With your students to make a fun easy 21st Century production! After fumbling around with moviemaker, taking loads of pictures, importing, organizing and time-editing, I finally completed my stop-action attempt one hour later… then my new friend and Mentor DENnis Grice  from California, shared this amazing free web tool with me,  (Thanks to DENSI). [...]

  20. STEMtastic ways to integrate DEN streaming

    Have you taken advantage of Discovery Education  Streaming? There is such a vast amount of resources ready for you to tap into – but who has the TIME? Well, I have taken advantage of Discovery Education Streaming while empowering my students to become stronger 21st Century Learners.  Students are offered the opportunity to research the [...]