Big Huge Labs

Have you discovered the online creation tool, Big Huge Labs? They advertise as being being able to help you "do cool stuff with your digital photos," which is certainly true...but the site is really so much more. It's all about providing you with a place to create with your students. Just upload a photo from your iPad or computer to start a project. 

Some highlights:

• Works well on both laptop/desktop computers and with iPads.
• Great for a quick creation to stand by itself or as one piece of a larger project.
• All finished projects can be "saved as" an image directly on to the device on which it was created, shared via email (there's an option to do so for each project), airdropped, or printed from a connected device. Projects need to be completed in one session, however. There's no way to edit them later. 
• A sampling of the things your students can create by uploading a picture: 
• digital trading cards
•  magazine covers
• maps (of places they're studying, visiting, etc)
• a movie poster
• a motivational poster
• a postcard

We'll be adding more to the blog about this tool as time goes on, but for now, check these creations out.

 Magazine cover based on civil rights unit. (This might make a great cover image in the Book Creator app with more info students write inside the iBook created in this app.)

Animal research project trading cards. Could be shared with teacher, who can print and share sets with students or post online for students.

Already Planning for the New School Year

It's never too early to start thinking about the beginning of the school year and how we might communicate with parents. Here are two ideas you may want to consider.

Remind 101

Parents don't always check their email but they always check their phones!

Remind 101 allows teachers to communicate to parents via text message without actually sharing phone numbers. It is great for reminders for field trips, class celebrations, project due dates, etc. or any other quick communication. It is an app but you can also sign up online. Click here to learn more. 

Google Forms

If you don't already use them, I suggest creating a parent survey or questionnaire in Google Forms to collect parent info. You might gather preferred method of contact, info that helps you get to know your new students, or even volunteer interest. It's great for student interest inventories, too. The best parts? All responses are collected in one place in a spreadsheet and it's paperless. Share the link via email or post it on your teacher page for parents to respond. 

One important note: No one outside the district can respond to the form unless you change the settings. At the top of the form, uncheck the box for "Require Oak Park School District 97 login to view this form." (Do this for any form you send students, also.)