Coding or programming is the way that we as programmers, can tell a computer what to do using instructions that the computer will understand. The instruction for coding can be either in words or icons. Lightbot is a programming puzzle game.

During the Global Read Aloud (GRA), students will write scripts, and use the online video platform Flipgrid to communicate with children outside of their classroom, about what they are reading

Lino offers the capacity to post sticky notes on a canvas using a web browser. The teacher may create a canvas and share the link with the class. The students do not have to login to collaborate. Students may collaboratively post color-coded sticky notes, share images, links etc. to the canvas. Very simple tool to use with students and highly engaging!

Richard grew up in Kenya as a Maasai boy, herding his family’s cattle, which represented their wealth and livelihood. Richard’s challenge was to protect their cattle from the lions who prowled the night just outside the barrier of acacia branches that surrounded the farm’s boma, or stockade. Though not well-educated, 12-year-old Richard loved tinkering with electronics. Using salvaged components, spending $10, he surrounded the boma with blinking lights, and the system works; it keeps lions away. His invention, Lion Lights, is now used in Africa, Asia, and South America to protect farm animals from predators. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Your challenge is to use broken or old technology and other available resources to create a prototype that can be used to protect your home. This could involve tinkering, hacking, or redesigning the components of the technology to meet your needs.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

Lalilo is a free online adaptive literacy tool for kindergarten, first, and second-grade teachers and students. Students work on phonics, word recognition, and comprehension while collecting badges and unlocking stories. Student data is collected for teachers.

Computational thinking is a powerful skill that students need to learn. The benefits of being a good logical thinker and problem solver will help in school and in the workplace. To begin, students need to recognize patterns and sequences, create algorithms (step-by-step instructions or formulas) and devise logic for finding and fixing errors. A great place to start are puzzles! Students love to solve puzzles and it helps develop reasoning skills useful for programming, computer science, and anything they might do.

It starts with the snapping of pictures in everyday objects within the classroom and beyond! Then, with an even closer look, students use Skitch an iOS app to enhance their photos to identify geometric vocabulary terms found in our daily lives.

Loom is a free extension to make recordings of Chromebook screen, a combination of a person and the screen, or just a person to create a video with sharing capabilities.

The crosswalks include English Language Arts, math, and science. Social studies will be forthcoming.

The MITECS and Computer Science Standards Crosswalk resources provide a variety of activities for teachers to easily integrate the MITECS (Michigan Integrated Technology Competencies for Students) and Michigan Computer Science Standards into the K-8 classroom. They were created for all teachers who are interested in exploring ways to make connections between computer science and grade level curriculum content.

The true story of how Momofuko Ando was inspired to create one of the world’s most popular foods after seeing long lines of hungry people waiting for a simple bowl of ramen following World War II. He dreamed about making a new kind of ramen noodle soup that was quick, convenient, and tasty for the hungry people because he believed that peace follows from a hungry stomach. With persistence, creativity, and a little inspiration, Ando succeeded. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Develop a food product (a new food, tool, or invention, et al) to help increase access to food in your community.

Magic Tree House is a website that provides interactive games for students that connect to the Magic Tree House books. There is an easy level and a hard level. All activities are connected to the Magic Tree House books.

Popplet is a web based and app based tool that allows students to mind map their ideas with user-friendly functions. Students can create brainstorming webs easily and collaboratively.

Students design and create a robot by selecting, manipulating, and assembling various parts using the activity on ABCYA.

ABCYA Animate is a free, interactive website that assists students in creating a stop-motion video. Students use a variety of backgrounds, characters, and other images that are combined to create an animated stop-motion video that can be exported as a .gif file for students to showcase their work. The website is intuitive for students and also for teachers. This activity will take 55 minutes and the activity must be completed in one sitting.

This animation maker from ABCYA will be not only fun for the students, but a great way to create a story that is animated gif when it is completed. It is easy to make with premade or create your own backgrounds, 100+ images, and text tools. Once you start the creation, you cannot save and work on it again. The animation can be exported and saved as .gif that can be opened and played in any browser window.

All you need is repurposed cardboard and the handy tools from Makedo and students can construct anything. The Makedo tool kit is composed of a safe saw, screwdriver and special screws for the cardboard.

Students will create and use a ten frames tool to help to understand counting, place value, number relationships, adding, and subtracting.

Seterra is an online ultimate map quiz game that allows students to practice their map skills. It can also be used as a map quiz to give students a score. There are many options that students can choose to create an environment where map skills are fun!

Do you think you can make a map of your classroom? It’s easy with The Cat in The Hat This and That map making tool