Our fascination with the cosmos doesn’t end with the eclipse. Let’s use this momentum to spark curiosity about astronomy:

• Stargazing Apps: Turn your smartphone into a stargazing tool! Apps like Sky Map or Star Walk II use augmented reality to overlay constellations and celestial bodies on your device’s screen.
• Online Planetariums: Explore the wonders of the universe with online planetariums like Stellarium Web. Students can take virtual tours of the night sky, explore galaxies, and learn about distant planets.
• Citizen Science Projects: Engage students in real scientific discovery by participating in citizen science projects. Platforms like Zooniverse offer a variety of projects where students can analyze data collected from space telescopes and contribute to ongoing research.

Lights, Camera, Space Exploration!

For our younger learners (K-5), NASA’s [Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)] (https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/) is a treasure trove of interactive resources. Explore the wonders of our solar system with JPL’s groovy collection of “Space Place: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/“, featuring age-appropriate games, activities, and videos.

Want to go on a virtual mission? Check out NASA’s “Eyes on the Solar System: https://eyes.nasa.gov/” which allows them to explore planets, moons, and other celestial objects in 3D!

Simulations that Blast Off!

For our middle and high school students, the website “National Geographic Education: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/” offers a universe of astronomy simulations. 

Speaking of simulations, did you know you can explore the Milky Way Galaxy right from your web browser? Check out the “Milky Way Habitability Explorer” from PhET Interactive Simulations: https://phet.colorado.edu/. This fantastic tool lets students experiment with different galactic conditions to see if they could support life.

More Resources

The article “Best Solar Eclipse Lessons and Activities: https://www.techlearning.com/news/best-solar-eclipse-lessons-and-activities” offers a great starting point to learn more about astronomy.  

Learn more about Space Exploration with Google Arts & Culture. 

Let’s make this April a month of wonder and discovery!

We Have a Winner!

After four rounds of head-to-head playoffs, Blooket has come out on top in our Tech Tools Tournament. Its most serious competition was in Round 1, where GimKit came in a very close second. Perry Township definitely loves our gamified learning!

We saw lots of love for many tools and had a bunch of fun in our tournament. Thank you so much to the over 540 people who participated in our polls.

Want to learn more about each tool? You can still click on the image above to open our interactive Slide.

Google Keep: Create notes, checklists, and reminders that are available at all times on any device. Label and sort your notes with tags. Share a note with friends, teachers, and classmates. Pull notes from Keep into a Google Doc or Google Slides presentation.

Google Calendar: Google Calendar allows you to schedule due dates and appointments, as well as plan your time. In a shared calendar, multiple people can view and create events. All Perry Township Staff and Students have access to Google Calendar.

Google Drive & Gmail: We all end up with lot of ‘stuff’ in our Drives and inboxes but there are several tricks that you can use to help you find things more easily. 

• Keep your files and emails in folders! 
• The search box is your friend! Both Drive and Gmail are searchable. You can search by file type, the name of the person who sent you an email, the date something was created or modified, and many other criteria
• Use clear and simple file names and email subject lines. This makes it much easier to search for your files and messages AND to tell what their contents are without having to open and read them.

The Perry Township School Librarians and Instructional Technology Specialists are proud to share our 13th Annual Holiday Reading and Gift Idea Guide.  Whether you’re looking for a great read to borrow over break, a last-minute addition to your holiday wish list, or a gift idea for someone special, there are a wide variety of book, game, and STEM toy suggestions here to consider!

Just click on the image below to access the interactive slideshow:

We have updated our navigation menus to provide a single link to all of the tools that use Single Sign-On through Clever.

Please use the Clever link at the top of the right-hand menus to access the following resources:

• BrainPOP
• Evaluate
• IXL
• McGraw Hill Textbooks
• Naviance
• SAAVAS/Pearson Textbooks
• Waterford