Distance Learning Resources

DIGITAL LEARNING RESOURCES

Age of Learning is a comprehensive, research-validated curriculum for preschool through second grade, available on all major digital platforms and used by tens of millions of children to date. Adventure Academy™, is the first-of-its-kind educational massive multiplayer online game (MMO), serving elementary and middle-school-aged children with thousands of learning activities in a fun and safe virtual world. ReadingIQ® is a digital library and literacy platform for children 12 and under designed by reading experts to improve literacy skills, with many thousands of expert-curated books from leading publishers.

ABCmouse.com® is a comprehensive, research-validated curriculum for preschool through second grade, available on all major digital platforms and used by tens of millions of children to date

Adventure Academy™ is the first-of-its-kind educational massive multiplayer online game (MMO), serving elementary and middle-school-aged children with thousands of learning activities in a fun and safe virtual world

ReadingIQ® is a digital library and literacy platform for children 12 and under designed by reading experts to improve literacy skills, with many thousands of expert-curated books from leading publishers.

To sign YOUR school up for their account please visit: https://www.ageoflearning.com/schools.html

We are excited to share some really neat resources with you! Here are some great ways to continue to engage and stimulate your child's mind during distance learning:

Check out the fantastic Digital Reading Resource that includes a various ways to access reading materials in all different mediums. There's something for everyone in there!

Age of Learning has allowed us to grant BCS families at-home access to their online learning programs (ABCmouse, Adventure Academy, and ReadingIQ - instructions in attached link) for free. These research-based educational programs include thousands of digital learning activities for preschool, elementary, and middle school students. All three programs can be used on computers, tablets, and smartphones, and you can add up to three children per account! See the document for more info. Download the Age_of_Learning pdf for instructions on how to begin your learning adventure!

age_of_learning_parent_letter_-_english_and_spanish.pdf
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Wide Open School is a free collection of the best online learning experiences for kids curated by the editors at Common Sense. They offer many online resources as well as ones that can be completed offline and on smartphones, as well as bilingual and English-language learner resources. This is a great place to go if you are looking to fill in time with educational and inspirational activities.
Families: PK-5th Grade & 6th-12th Grade
Educators: PK-5th Grade & 6th-12th Grade

Includes resources for: Live Events, Access for ALL Students (resources for affordable internet costs), English-Language Learners, Special Needs, Emotional Well-Being, Reading + Writing, Math, Social Studies, Science, Get Moving, Arts, Music + DIY, Life Skills, Field Trips, Daily Schedules, and Tips for learning at home!

CODING

Teachers/Students: Right now this app is free for teachers and their student (who's user accounts are created under the teachers profile.
Click here for more info.

Parents: If you wish to create a personal account separate from the school, CodeSpark is offering a 50% Discount with code STARTCODING

You can login CodeSpark Academy by:
1. Downloading the app on a mobile device OR go online on your computer https://codespark.com/play/
2. Clicking on the "schools" button in the top left corner (DO NOT click the Parents Start Here button)
3. Clicking on the "students" button
4. Clicking on "Use Classroom Code" and entering the code for your child's grade (ask Miss Haber for this code).

CODESPARK ACADEMY
Technology touches every part of our children’s lives today. Thus, being able to understand, use and create technology are important 21st century skills for all kids. Understanding the basics of coding is becoming as essential as reading and math. Adding codeSpark Academy to curriculum has shown improvements in students’ problem solving and creative abilities. That’s why I’m excited to share that our computer class is going to learn to code with codeSpark Academy! With codeSpark Academy, our students can learn key computer science concepts that are the foundation for all programming languages. With its word-free approach, colorful characters called Foos, and creative coding space computer science is fun! Students will have a blast solving coding puzzles and creating games.

CodeSpark Academy is allowing us to grant families home access to the student's school accounts during this period of distance learning. Like other core subjects, the best way for your child to master the fundamental concepts of computer science is to practice coding at home. And with codeSpark Academy kids learn at an accelerated pace while tapping into their natural creative skills - who knows, maybe your child will come up with the next big idea in tech!

Digital Storytelling Apps

Are you feeling in the mood for adventure!? Well here's some good news! Even though we cannot go outside much, digital storytelling allows you the opportunity to flex your creative muscles and bring the adventure INTO your house. The apps Toontastic 3d and Goldfish Movie Maker are both available for FREE on the Apple App Store (iPhone, iPad) and Google Play Store (android mobile devices).

TOONTASTIC 3D
3… 2… 1… ACTION! With Toontastic 3D (created by Google) you can draw, animate, and narrate your own cartoons. It’s as easy as play. Just move your characters around onscreen, tell your story, and Toontastic records your voice and animations and stores it on your device as a 3D video. You can choose from props, draw a custom 3d character, select and name pre-made characters, customize the colors of both, and even put a photo of your face onto a character! Toontastic is a powerful and playful way to create interstellar adventures, breaking news reports, video game designs, family photo albums, or anything else you might imagine!

What people are saying:
• Parents' Choice Gold Award: "Toontastic 3D is a wonderful creative outlet for all budding storytellers, young scientists, or those who increasingly blur the lines between the two - perhaps this is where the next documentary makers and Pixar artists will get their start."
• Five star rating from Common Sense Media - "Kids are in the director's seat and have free rein to let their creative side shine with this flexible and easy-to-use storytelling platform."
• A+ and Editor's Choice rating from Children's Technology Review - "Powerful and free, this rich language experience lets you create your own self-narrated puppet shows."
• Winner of the 2017 BolognaRagazzi Digital Award for 'Best Kids App of the Year'

GOLDFISH MOVIE MAKER
If you are looking for a program that's similar, but a somewhat simplified version, the Goldfish Movie Maker is a great alternative. Finn & Friends are ready to make their big debut on the big screen and you get to be the director! Choose your cast and costumes, select different settings and background music, and record all the action and dialogue. Where the story goes is all up to you!

For even more Goldfish fun, check out their stop animation page!

MOVING PICTURES

"A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS."
No...really! Looking for a fun way to make someone a special message? ChatterPix can help you with that! Take pictures of a person or an object in your house, and you can animate it and make it talk by adding your own voice! You can even take a picture of something you made in art class, and make THAT talk! Want to jazz it up? You can play music in the area you are doing your voice recording in to make it extra special. ChatterPix also lets you add stickers, photo effects, and picture frames. This is a great way to make mom a present for Mother's Day... or anyone you think could use a little fun and cheer.

This free app is available on mobile devices.

PHOTO EDITING

Explore new places you can do photo editing...for free!

also try out the
befunky Collage Maker

Adobe Spark Post is a free online and mobile design app with a powerful, easy-to-use, picture editor. Scale, rotate, tilt, resize, and flip photos. Apply filters, text, or adjust contrast, brightness, saturation, warmth, or sharpness—all with a few taps.

PicMonkey is free on mobile devices

Video Editing

WeVideo is program that allows you to make videos on any device, including Chromebook, Windows, Mac, and mobile. You can also edit on the go with mobile apps for Android and iOS devices. You can even work with each other (remotely) on a project, without leaving your homes!

To Join our school's WeVideo Middle School Group:
1. Click HERE (you will then choose the "join with new account" option).
2. Create an account using your school email address. This will allow me to see your work, put you in groups to work together (if you choose to do that), and will make your account free!
3. After that, you should then be able to login to www.wevideo.com !
*While available on mobile devices, the full set of features is only available on a desktop computer.*

SPARK VIDEO

Video Editor, Slideshow Maker

Adobe Spark Video is designed to make mastering the art of video production a breeze. All you need is a computer, a mouse and a reliable internet connection. Using a simple drag-and-drop system, you can upload videos, add music and insert captions wherever you like. There are various tutorials to help you on your way, but most people can master the basics of video production within an hour.

SPECIAL FX

3D FX Editor : Magi+
Looking for some special 3D FX to add to your videos? Magi+ (available on android and iphones) is a powered video builder and editor that provides a nice selection of free* fictional movie level video effects.

A few examples of fx are:
Energy: Wind, thunder, lightning, tornadoes, particle effect
Sci-Fi: Mechs, dragons, robots
Vehicles: Trucks, cars, helicopters, etc
Surprises: Flying cards, flying rain, flying cars etc

How to use:
1. SELECT: from a vast variety of options and themes. There are plenty to choose from that are free!
2. CAPTURE: They have made making super hero videos post pretty simple. Simply follow the guide and move to record
3. DOWNLOAD: After you record a video clip, you can then download the clip. Then you can add it to other editing programs, like WeVideo, to add the special effects scenes into your videos

**There's quite a large variety of free effects, so no purchase is necessary! Consult a parent or guardian before unlocking an optional effect (unlocked by watching an ad). Everyone's ad experiences will vary depending on the kind of content you normally watch from your mobile device.

ANIMATION

Animate your dreams and bring them to life! FlipaClip's powerful and fun animation tools make frame-by-frame animation easy.

Whether you’re sketching, storyboarding, animating or learning, FlipaClip provides the best drawing and animating experience. The simple and intuitive controls are easy to learn and powerful enough to bring your ideas to life! Create frame-by-frame animation, draw pictures and turn them into animated gifs, or draw over videos to create video. FlipaClip comes with everything you need to start animating. Draw cartoons with frame-by-frame animation to bring them to life, add audio and share your animated works with the world!

One is an instructional video from me showing you the basics. I am using my phone with a stylus, but you can use any mobile device you are comfortable with. The second is a

FlipaClip is available for free on mobile devices

Check out this video from Ally Animations. She will describe how to make a talking animation. She has a bunch of fantastic FlipaClip video tutorials to check out, for any of you who want to have a little extra enrichment.

Augmented Reality

It can be tricky staying in the same place for a long time. It can make you wonder... if I could do anything to my space, how would I turn it into the PERFECT space for me???

With 3DBear, your ideas can come alive as you place 3D objects all around in this augmented reality app (augmented reality is the combination of the real world and the virtual world).

Celebrate National Mental Health Awareness Month (May 2020) by designing a space that makes you feel happy, calm, excited...and anything else you want to feel! The final result will look different for everyone, so express yourself for the genuine you that you are.

Assignment Idea: Turn your indoor (or outdoor) space into the perfect place for you using Bear3D
Grades 1-4: Take a photo of your design and share if you like
Grades 5-8: Record a video and feel free to share why you designed it the way you did

3DBear AR is available on iphone and android. Please remember: use Augmented Reality experiences like this app ONLY when a parent/guardian can supervise you. Remember to be aware of your surrounds and make sure you have enough room around you!

PARENTS: This app was selected as Common Sense education's top tech for using Augmented and Virtual Reality.
If you choose to have your student use this app, please assist with it's installation and introduction.
"3DBearAR is a design app (for iOS and Android) that combines augmented reality (AR), 3D design, and 3D printing through integration with Maker Bot Thingiverse. YouTube tutorials accessible from within the app are a useful place for users to begin. Merging technology and artistic design with math and engineering concepts like scaling and iterative design is at the heart of the STEAM approach, and 3DBear AR is a powerhouse when it comes to possibilities." If you have younger elementary, these apps of course are something you will want to assist your child with, especially if they are younger. But what a fun way to play and learn together...enjoy!

Google Augmented Reality
If you are looking for something simpler (and you LOVE animals), then try out Google's AR to put an animal into your house!!! It's like bringing the zoo into your living room!

GRAPHIC DESIGN

One thing I love about Graphic Design is that you can learn A LOT of really fantastic stuff online... for free!

If you've ever wanted to polish up your graphic design skills, then I highly recommend watching the video "How to Learn Graphic Design at Home". It suggests many techniques that you can use on any platform and are ones that I personally used while growing my graphic design portfolio.

You will also see a broad array of resources for anyone starting out in graphic design, and even a special code to get 2 free months of Skillshare for FREE! Skillshare gives you lessons in everything from animation, photography, music, and really any other creative skills

If you are someone (like me) who can't get enough of design, this will be a lot of great resources to keep you busy during distance learning time.