2nd Grade Resources for Technology Integration

In many second grade classrooms, units of study include Force and Motion, Native Americans, Communities, plus place value, addition, and subtraction in math. Below, I've shared some resources that will hopefully be beneficial to your instruction.

Whole Class Activities and Teacher Resources

Force and Motion/Changes http://interactivesites.weebly.com/physics-and-motion.html or http://interactivesites.weebly.com/matter-chemical--physical.html These are sites with many digital activities that can be used with the whole class. Materials Needed: Teacher computer and projector	Native Americans http://interactivesites.weebly.com/native-americans.html Digital activities for the Native American units. Can be used with the whole class to learn about Culture/traditions/regions, etc. Materials Needed: Teacher computer and projector	Communities https://goo.gl/3iBiAI This is the Pinterest Board for communities. Not everything has to have something tech-related and there are some really cute activity ideas on this board for your second graders! Materials: Various

Math Learning Center Apps http://catalog.mathlearningcenter.org/apps These are great for whole class math instruction in any unit. Just click the "open web app" and you can use these with your projector to support student understanding. Materials: Teacher computer and projector	Smartboard Addition and Subtraction https://goo.gl/dFfJVO If you have a Smartboard or Smart Notebook Software, these are the collection of interactive lessons you can download for addition and subtraction.	2nd Grade Math Pinterest Board https://goo.gl/FjNVsP A great board for finding worksheets, activities, and digital learning tools for your second graders. Many of them are completely free or the images may spark some creative ideas!

Math Center Activities for the iPad

Math Center Learning Apps Yes! You can get them on the iPad as well and they are completely free. Give students a problem to work on and they can use the manipulatives on the iPads to help solve it! Or, just practice with the apps, take a picture, and put it into Seesaw explaining their math creation!	Math Facts Ninja An engaging free game that allows students to practice facts for addition and subtraction. They can choose their fact set and their ninja tool and slice at the correct answer.	Thinking Blocks: Addition and Subtraction This free app focuses on addition and subtraction and has various levels challenging students to create visual models of the problems. They can work with numbers 1-50 or 1-300 depending on their level.

Using Seesaw as a Center in Science and Social Studies

Are you a Seesaw user? There are many ways to use Seesaw in a center during our content area units:

• Take a picture of a page in a nonfiction book about a topic and use the audio feature to read it out loud or use the drawing feature to underline important vocabulary.
• After students finish an activity or project, have them take a photo of it and reflect on how they did or what they learned.
• Use the drawing option to create a picture of something they learned during the unit. They can add audio to explain their drawing.
• Create a digital poster using PicCollage Kids to show money amounts, geometrical figures, different communities, etc. Upload it to Seesaw to show what you know!

Social Studies Resources for Early Settlements and Revolutionary War

What used to be my favorite social studies units are either in progress or coming up in the next couple of months in my district. There is a lot of curriculum to fit in and only two days a week to teach it. That's not a lot of time to get our students excited about American History.

So, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, I've located some engaging resources that you can use with the lessons/objectives you already have. These can also be easily put into Google Classroom to do at home, as enrichment, or made into QR codes for centers.

Colonial America

A TOUR OF WILLIAMSBURG
https://www.history.org/almanack/tourTheTown/indexKids.cfm
This site can be taught during the early settlements unit. Students can use Chromebooks to tour the town themselves or you can use the tour with the whole class to discuss the culture/traditions of Colonial America.

COLONIAL JOBS
http://www.history.org/kids/games/brickmaker.cfm
http://www.history.org/kids/games/toolTrouble.cfm
Play these two games on the Chromebook to learn more early occupations. The first is about how bricks were made and the second is about the tools the blacksmith used in his forge.

TODAY IN THE 1770'S

http://www.history.org/history/todayin1770s/index.cfm
What happened on this date in the 1770s? You can find out here. You can change the date manually or just use today's date to read newspaper excerpts about events occurring at this time in history.

INTERACTIVE 13 COLONIES MAP
http://mrnussbaum.com/13int/
Students can click on each colony in the map to learn more about it including when it was founded, who moved there and why, and other historical information. It also include clickable points for five major cities.

DOING RESEARCH?
http://www.kidinfo.com/american_history/colonization_colonial_life.html
This is a great site for all information on what life was like during colonial times. If students are doing a presentation or project, this is the place to go for research. Another great site for research is 

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/13coloniesdef.htm 

@MRBETTSCLASS
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%40mrbettsclass
Like to show your students videos of popular songs with the lyrics changed to help them remember history? Click on the link above to see song titles for both Colonial America and Revolutionary War topics. A really engaging way to get kids to remember their history. 

Revolutionary War

ANIMATED MAPS
http://historyanimated.com/verynewhistorywaranimated/?page_id=29
This site has playable maps that you can stop and start wherever you want for discussions/Q&A, etc. You can play the entire Revolutionary War from beginning to end or pick specific sections to focus on.

THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION
http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/road.html
This interactive Q&A activity gives students a chance to make decisions that will either lead them to independence (with correct answers)... or not.

BRAINPOP
https://educators.brainpop.com/bp-topic/american-revolution/
Brainpop actually has quite a few resources for the Revolutionary War. Not only videos with quizzes but games and other tools as well. This link will take you to the list of options available.

MISSION US: FROM CROWN TO COLONY
http://www.mission-us.org/pages/landing-mission-1
Great game to go along with the Rev War unit. Students can create a quick, random username and password and then go on the mission.

BILL OF RIGHTS
http://constitutioncenter.org/billofrightsgame/
Help to restore the Bill of Rights by navigating through the fictional town of Freeville to find the missing freedoms.

iPad Resources

EARLY JAMESTOWN APP
This is an interactive textbook that students can read in addition to History Alive. Many pages have videos to play or pictures they can enlarge to learn more about a specific person or event. 

AMERICAN REV HISTORY
This is an interactive timeline of artifacts. Students can move across the timeline on the bottom of the screen and tap on any of the artifacts to learn more about them and their importance to the time period.

THINKFAST: ROYCE 1770
This is a quiz game where students have to find a dog named Thimble in the colonial town. They have to answer questions to move through the map and learn more after each correct answer.

LOOKING FOR A PROJECT IDEA?

Easel.ly is a great tool for creating digital posters or infographics for these units. It is super easy to use and you can create class groups, send out a link, and use a class code to join.

Global Connections in the Classroom

Connecting educators and classrooms around the world allows students to learn, question, create, and engage in meaningful, authentic opportunities. There is a whole collaborative, world-wide community out there involving students, educators, and organizations at all levels with a goal to increase opportunities for connections around the globe that support cultural awareness and recognition of diversity.

Embracing a rapidly changing world, our job as educators is to empower learners to assume active roles in their communities, to face and engage global challenges, and to contribute proactively toward a more peaceful, just, inclusive, and secure world. This is one of the strategic goals in my district and so I collected these resources to help teachers find ways to support their students.

How can I integrate these connections into the classroom?

• Author Visits
• Content area experts (scientists, park rangers, historians)
• Book clubs or debates with other classrooms
• Mystery hangouts to learn about other places and cultures
• E-pals (electronic pen pals)
• Share/participate in projects
• Global Read Aloud

Need to connect? There are many ways to start reaching out.

Nepris
Nepris focuses on connecting classrooms with industry specialists around the world. The freemium version lets you create one live virtual session and join one live industry chat but gives you unlimited access to all past recorded videos/virtual field trips to use in your classroom.
https://www.nepris.com/

Epals
With participants in over 200 countries, this service allows educators throughout the world to connect with one another in meaningful ways and collaborate. Projects and challenges are available in addition to Epals to reinforce the connections made.
http://www.epals.com/#/connections

Mystery Skype
Mystery Skype (or Google Hangout) is a 45-60 minute session with a classroom in another part of the country/world. Students ask yes or no questions to guess where the other class is located. Once the locations have been guessed, the students can share information about where they are.
https://goo.gl/W1LBEP

You can also try these simple ways to get started:

Unicef Kid Power: Brain Breaks that Save Lives

Freerice.com: Answer questions and donate food to those in need

Belouga.org: Learn about the world, with the world

Global Read Aloud: Read aloud and make connections

Creating a Connected Classroom

Working in K-5 classrooms, not only do I support teachers with tools for their students, but I also see some of the awesome ways they are already promoting confidence, independence and ownership in their classrooms, even with regards to tech integration.  There is nothing I love more at work than walking into a classroom where technology is being infused all across the board, rather than something just taken out when needed.  I can tell immediately just by looking around the room at what is hanging on the walls and by what the students are doing that it is truly a connected classroom.  

Whether you are 1:1 or have shared devices, there are many ways to incorporate technology naturally throughout the day to support students in all aspects of their learning process.  Here are a few possibilities if you are looking for some ideas:

Create a student tech support team.  This can rotate each week, allowing three or four students to be the technology helpers in the classroom.  This builds confidence and the students love to show what they know and support their peers.  I've seen this done as young as 1st grade with excellent results!

Help students monitor their own progress using an interactive status chart.  Designate an iPad or other device for them to mark their status during projects or activities.  It will help them stay focused and be more independent.  It will also help you as the teacher to keep better track of everyone's progress.  This example was created in Smart Notebook.  Students can drag the star to their box or draw a checkmark in their box on the Smartboard.  It also works in the free Smart Notebook app. No board needed!

Use Seesaw!  Seesaw is an excellent tool for students to show what they know and keep a record of their growth and accomplishments.  It can be used in any subject area and parents can join to get a peek into their child's day.  Teach students how to identify pieces that have meaning to them and use the recording or captioning tool to reflect on them.  They can add their work anytime throughout the day.

 Use QR Codes.  Forgot your homework? Scan the QR code and fill out the Google Form to let me know what happened.  Want to borrow a book from the classroom library? Add a suggestion to the class suggestion box? Create a Google Form and hang the QR code somewhere in the room for easy access.  A great way to collect information into a handy spreadsheet.  Using Google Classroom?  Just add the links to your Forms in the classwork tab to use whenever needed!

Learning about animals? nonfiction topics? a specific time period in social studies?  Make devices an option for research.  Some students will use them and others may not.  That's ok!  Student choice is a wonderful thing.  Add some resource links to Google Classroom if you like, or let students explore on their own to find what they need in addition to using print books and other resources.

These are just a few ways to incorporate technology naturally.  Check out your colleagues classrooms or ask your admin to let your next meeting be a share of ideas.  The best teacher learning comes from seeing each other in action.

If you would like to try the status chart, it's free!  Just click the link in that section.  It is in Google format.  To use it, just add it to your drive.  Using laptops? Download it first and then upload to Smart Notebook.  Using an iPad? Import into the Smart Notebook app directly from your Drive!