I came back from four days in Arizona and baseball, spent one day at school catching my breath and doing laundry at home, only to repack and head to Palm Springs for CUE 2015. It was incredible as usual. The keynotes Jennie Magiera, Sumata Mitra and Adam Bellow were so inspiring and my sessions were very helpful. I am ready to move forward into next year armed with new ideas and lots of creative energy. 

Now forward to next week where I hop on a plane for NCEA to present on becoming a Tech Mentor. I am not as nervous as I was before. My revisions have be made. I have gone over it in my head a hundred times. The outfit is bought. I'm still thinking about the shoes-buy new or wear ones I already have? Oh, and I am registered for the #catholicedchat Tweet up! 

Flash forward from that to April 25th and 26th where I will get to spend the weekend with some of my favorite people for the EdTechTeam iOS Summit. The best part is that it's being held at my school. I don't have to drive or fly anywhere! I am beyond excited for this event. I encourage everyone to sign up. I recently did a GHO on Air with Holly Clark who is heading up the summit. Here is the video and I hope it gets you excited!

Our 4th grade students have discovered the Green Screen app by Do Ink. I originally put this app on the iPads knowing that the possibilities would be endless and well, it would be fun. I used to love to chromakey when I did editing so I wanted to play with the app myself. It is ridiculously easy to use. Teachers do not be afraid! The students will figure everything out and your knowledge of how to work the app will be minimal. You just need the ideas. Here are just a couple of ideas:

1. Mission Presentations-The students videotaped themselves giving their mission presentations. They then keyed their video over a picture of their mission. Parents loved it and it is especially great for kids who don't actually get to visit their mission.
2. Non-fiction Book Reports- This was so fun! The students each read a biography from the "Who Was" series from Penguin. They wrote a short report and did two projects. First they created a trading card using www.bighugelabs.com. You can get an educator account for free and set up your class with no ads. Then they brought costumes and videotaped their oral report in front of the green screen. 

A roll of fadeless bright green bulletin board paper makes a perfect green screen studio. Don't forget the students can use moving backgrounds too!