seesaw

All accommodations are focused on one thing: how do we make the content accessible to the student? Several years ago, I was challenged to think about an educational Hippocratic Oath. What would be on my list of imperatives as an educator? “Do no harm” is the famous line everyone knows, but a more correct summary of the famous line written is, “As to diseases, make a habit of two things — to help, or at least to do no harm.” Do good comes before do no harm. In other words, we should be focusing on the good of all students...

At Elkhart, putting students first is at the heart of everything we do. One way to ensure all students learn is to be very intentional that every student can access course material. Below are a few ways to ensure your teaching is accessible to all students. Making Canvas work for your students If your Canvas course includes images that are for content – not just decoration – you need to include an “alt” description. The alt description is read by screen readers for users who are low vision so they have an understanding of what is being shown by the...

Are you looking for some back to school activities that introduce the iPad and/or Seesaw to your students? Look no further. Below you can find a small collection of activities that you can use to help bring technology into the classroom the first few weeks of school. K-2 Activities Reading Room – Seesaw Read Alouds:Interested in some back to school read alouds? Here you can find a Seesaw activity with links to 9 different read alouds for your scholars.  Check it out, here. Back to School with Seesaw: Need a good activity to introduce your students to the Seesaw Tools? Look...

Friends, we’re in the final countdown to summer. Which means at this point, we’re all just trying to make it. Needs some fun ideas for keeping students engaged in your class? Consider adding some creative opportunities to your classroom activities! Using Apple’s Everyone Can Create curriculum, find ways to add in photo, video, drawing, even music to your class. Below we will highlight some of the fun photo activities that YOU could use and adapt to fit the needs of your students in order to include some creativity into your classroom! Everyone Can Create: Photo Accessed through your iPad on iBooks,...

As the end of the year draws near, are you looking for a way to keep your students engaged and excited about doing their Seesaw activities? Or in some cases, even just get students to complete? Well look no further! The spotlight seek and search activity adds an extra element of fun for the students. It is easy to create and can be used for any subject! Here’s how to create one broken down step by step. Creating your OWN spotlight Activities! Go to “My library” within your activity library and then click on “create new activity”. On the next...

Growing up, I always enjoyed scratching off my parents scratch lotto tickets. When looking for a way to recreate this for students, I found Scratch and Solve activities! You can use the “scratch” ability to make Seesaw work more engaging for your students. After inserting an image, you simply color over spaces to hide words from students! Students will use the eraser to “scratch” away to find a problem/work to complete. Create your own in 3 easy steps! Using Google Slides, create a template for students. This normally involves creating shapes to use as a holder for words or whatever...

In its most recent update, Seesaw has provided users more functionality with its voice and audio features.  These updates provide a more robust learning experience by offering more flexibility with voice instruction on the Seesaw creative canvas.  By adding these features to its platform, Seesaw has made it easier for teachers to create activities and assignments that are more accessible to more students, thereby increasing student engagement and success.   Object voice support can help students in the following ways: Provide voice support for specific text boxes and other objects on the creative canvas Present multi-tiered instructions for different parts of...

Interested in learning how teachers create sorting activities on Seesaw? Watch the video or follow the written directions below to learn how! Create a Background in Slides Google Slides is a great place to create backgrounds for Seesaw activities. It allows for more customization and editing options than creating the background in Seesaw, itself. It also helps by creating less items for students to manipulate or potentially edit on their Seesaw activity page. When creating a background in google slides, you can change the background color, add text boxes, utilize tables, and much more! When finished, you’ll want to download...

Virtual learning has presented teachers with many different challenges, one of them being attendance taking. Creating a consistent method for taking attendance will help free up tons of teacher time. Below, check out 4 tips from teachers on how they manage taking attendance. Tip 1: Utilize the Calendar Feature From Rebecca Dodd, 3rd Grade Virtual Teacher at Beardsley When taking attendance I find the Calendar functions the most useful. There are two ways to use the Calendar Function, the first is by looking at the activities folder and the second is through the student journal.  If I want to see...

The Seesaw video tool is a great way to model and break down or “chunk” your instruction for virtual assignments. Chunking instruction is when you are intentionally pacing instruction to deliver one idea, or step, at a time. This helps simplify instruction for the students, allowing for a more direct route of step by step instructions for one assignment.  Teachers are able to model the assignment as well as demonstrate the expectations. Teachers could chunk their instruction to: Model and complete a sample directly on the assignment for students to watch Break down specific steps in the assignment to demonstrate possible...

Struggling with how to teach the inauguration in your classroom? Below you will find lessons, read alouds, primary sources, and seesaw activities to help students better understand this day in history. Read Alouds Utilizing picture books can be a great way to introduce challenging topics for students. Below you will find two different book lists, and also two different picture books that are read aloud on YouTube with corresponding lesson plans you could use and adapt to fit your needs.  This list of books for election day includes stories that are applicable for Inauguration Day. Senate.gov has curated a list of...

Looking to celebrate MLK Jr day in your classroom, but not sure where to start? Find resources here.

Seesaw blogs are a great way to showcase the work your students are doing in the classroom. By engaging with an authentic audience of their classmates and parents, students are encouraged to complete better work and to get real feedback from their peers. Blogs can also create a space for students to share their thoughts and ideas, their special interests, and to celebrate one another. Seesaw Blogs can be used for: Showcasing student work (VIDEO: Seesaw Wow Work! Intro for Students) Responding to readings or writing prompts Publishing writing pieces Showcasing final projects Sharing fun creations Social media space How to...