Exploding Box

This is an Exploding Bod that we created in our educational technology class.. We used four 12X12 card stock paper sheets to  create this box. The inside of the box is glued together by the base of the box and all the other pages are not attached in any way.

There are many different ways that this can be used in your classroom. One way would be to create a fun story. Each page could have a little picture and some words to describe the picture. Students could put mini pictures on each page, or this could be a collection of all their work over the year. For example, they could put their iSpy picture on one page and a poem that they wrote on another. they could put a picture of their family and friends on two more pages, and write about themselves for yet another page. The possibilities are endless!

Instagram Images

We created instagram images in our educational technology class. Here is a link to the website that I used to create these Instagrams. You can cut these out after printing them and attach them to a tile with mod podge. Then you can glue a magnet to these and hang them anywhere magnetic. This is also a cool idea for a project that your students can work on and give to their parents!

Cupcake

This is a cupcake we made in my educational technology class. First I used the quick selection tool to delete the background and the paint bucket tool to change the color of the cupcake. Then I selected the gradient tool to create the rainbow. I saved this as a ping file so there will be no background showing.

Discovery Education Puzzlemaker

My friend and I created a tutorial for the website  Discovery Education Puzzlemaker. This is a great website to use to create fun puzzles for your students that are specifically designed towards your lesson. You can also have students or parents create puzzles for each other. Here is the link to our Education Puzzlemaker Tutorial. Enjoy!

QR Codes

We experimented with QR codes in our educational technology class. Here are the worksheets that I created using QR codes. It's a way to make lessons, in this case math, a little more interesting for your students. I created these QR codes on QRstuff.com but you can also check out Snap Maze or Kaywa for more options.

This is obviously a more structured worksheet, but you can also create matching, flash cards, and fun activities as well!

Polaroid Pictures

This is a fun way to create memories. You can cut them apart after printing them and create a collage of mini Polaroid pictures. You can glue these on tiles using mod podge and attach a magnet to the back of each mini Polaroid and hang them on your fridge, locker, or anything magnetic. Students could create these as gifts for their parents as well. Here is a link to the website where I got the template for the mini Polaroids if you want to check it out!

Germ Cover

This is something that we made in my educational technology class. After printing it off I wrapped it around a hand sanitizer container using mod podge. This is a really awesome way to make a boring hand sanitizer container look like it belongs in a classroom! Children are always spreading germs around, so if you have this on hand you will be able to quick give them a squirt if they sneeze in their hands, or on a desk.

iPad Rules

When you introduce iPads in the classroom you need to make sure that you set rules and regulations for your students to follow. You can either make your own or look online for ideas. Above is a picture of a poster that I made of rules for iPad use in my (future) classroom.

Forms

Here are two forms, the first one is before and the second one is the one that I edited to make a little more fun! I grouped the information into three categories: Your Child, Parents, and Contact Information. This makes the form easier to look at and it looks like less of a burden to fill out. Different fonts and colors also enhance the overall look of the form.

Blurring out Faces

This is an example of a student collage I made. I blurred the faces on Gimp 2. I first opened up the picture that I wanted to use to blur the face, then I selected the ellipse select tool and circled around the face that I wanted to blur. Under the filters tab at the top of the page is a blur option. There is a list of options, click on pixelize. Gimp gives you the option to choose the pixel length and width. You can experiment with the numbers but I found that it's best to use between 10-20 pixels.

This is a very useful tool if you want to show off your work (that includes pictures of students) online. All you have to do is blur their faces and you can still get your idea/project across to your audience.

Magazine Cover

This is a magazine cover that I created on Photoshop. All you have to do is create a new project in Photoshop and make it 8 X 10 inches. The resolution I used was 300 pixels/inch. When you create this magazine cover, make sure to give every block of writing a separate layer. This will be very helpful for moving the words around and tweaking your project.

iSpy Picture

Here is an example of an iSpy page that I created in my Educational Technology class. There are a lot of educational uses for an iSpy page. It's a lot of fun to create and then students can work on their writing skills. Different levels of writers can be challenged with this task. Younger students can work on writing complete simple sentences. Older writers can work on compound sentences and more skilled writers can work on rhyming words. The teacher can even go one step further and create a book out of his/her students' pages.

Printing Posters from your Printer

This is the poster that I wanted to have larger than a 8.5' X 11', so I visited the website called Block Posters. It's a really cool website that lets you make a huge poster out of regular printer paper. There are many awesome websites out there, but a lot of them are confusing and difficult to self-teach. Block Posters is super user-friendly and only takes three steps to go from a tiny picture to virtually as large as you would like! I decided to make my poster 4 sheets wide by two sheets tall. Block Posters even tells you approximately how big your picture will measure out to. My poster will be about 2.5' X 1.8'. If you think this sounds like a fun website I included the link to Block Posters for your convenience.

I would use this in my future classroom for a few different reasons. This is cheaper than printing a real poster, so if I need to save some money I could make a poster this way. I can also create large posters that could cover up a huge portion of a wall. The students could work together to put the poster together. That would create classroom bonding between my students. We could all take a class picture, print it off this way, and assemble and hang it up together.

Embed a form

This is a great way to get to know your students. They can fill this out on the first day of class and you can read through them to add to what you know about your students. Some of the information could be information that you would eventually find out on your own, but it would be awesome to know all this information right from the start! It will help you connect more quickly with your students.