Zing!

Recently I learned about Zing, an app with free books, by Schoolwide Inc.  I created a class account which my students joined.

Right now I am using the free account.  This week all my students read a book about bridges prior to a bridge building challenge and they read about sound prior to a series of sound and vibration experiments.  As they read Zing gives students the opportunity to take notes and highlight within books and it has a dictionary feature.

There are 1000s of free books I can add to the class library for students to read.  I can browse by topic/category as well as reading level.  Some books have quizzes associated with them.  There's a good mix of fiction and non-fiction books to choose from.

I plan to use Zing throughout the year in combination with Epic to provide my students with a varied set of books on different topics of interest at a wide range of reading levels.

Google Expeditions

Yesterday my school was lucky enough to have Google Expeditions visit to pilot their program.  Students in grades 2-5 all had the chance to experience 1 or more Expeditions.

Google Expeditions is a set of virtual "field trips".  At each location students get a 360 degree view as well as being able to look up and down.

My second graders enjoyed several sessions throughout the day and "traveled" to the Amazon, the ocean, CA state parks, Yosemite, and different landforms.

Students had a fantastic time.  The app made it easy for me to control what the students were viewing.  I could highlight specific parts of what they were viewing by using an arrow/bullseye feature and thus direct everyone's attention to something I wanted everyone to see.  The app included specific details about the location, which I could relay to students.  This made it easy to share facts without having to do any research myself.

Thanks for the visit Google!