Journey so far.....

I have taken something away from EVERYONE why has posted on our blog. THANK YOU! All I can do is share my experience so far—ups, downs, and the excitement I have for what this technology blessing will bring in the future.

 The greatest thing I have done, is ask experts  to share awesome things with me, read twitter feeds, follow awesome "techie" people, and collaborate with others.... USE learning specialists- Jacque Prater helped me get the ball rolling! I LOVE getting ideas from others. Everybody brings their special spin on things and I love sharing ideas. Sharing is caring people! lol 

SET UP: Thanks to Koder I picked up a cool turquoise power strip from TJ Maxx. I also tagged all of my cords with cute duct tape, labeling what cord goes with what iPad. Each iPad has its own place…. it’s easy for me to keep up with them that way. Each iPad has its own special homepage screen with my name and iPad number 1-7. So my cords won’t tangle, I duct taped them to the back of the red caddy. (Tangled cords = stressed out teacher) My iPad manager for the week is in charge of making sure they are all plugged in at the end of the day.

Each subject has a folder of designated apps and ANY app I don’t want them to use goes in the “Do Not Use” folder. #clevername

 NEW APPS:

I have STOPPED “binge downloading” apps J Why? Because I didn’t feel like I had a good handle on what they were doing when at an iPad station.  I didn’t know if the apps were making them more productive or whether they were just playing.  Apps I thought would be great tools ended up being time wasters and playtime.  I now have only a handful of trusted apps that have a purpose.  That way, I can be confident that my kids are using their time wisely.  I'll introduce new ones after they have been tested by a tech expert in my class or myself. (Kids are great at figuring out new apps :)

FAVORITE APPS:

**QR Reader APP for everything!  Anything they can SCAN, they think it's cool! You can create your own QR codes @ this website:     http://www.qr-code-generator.com/

Reading:

 -  EPIC!

·        - Scholastic Magazine App (It can read your Scholastic News to those that need assistance)

·        - Popplet (LOVE this for word work!....still exploring its many uses)

Math:

·        - Kakooma 

·         -Thinking Blocks (AMAZING app for word problems)

·         -Numbers Logic Puzzles (making 10 out of numbers)

·         -Sumdog

ABSOLUTE FAVORITE THING THAT THE IPAD ALLOWS ME TO DO.

SEESAW!!!!!

 (There are so many things you can do via Seesaw ....I'll tell you my faves)

PARENT APP ICON

CLASS APP ICON

THE LOWDOWN:

• It's an online learning portfolio that is super user friendly for elementary.
• Inviting parents is easy with a quick print out.  They can view their child’s work on the computer OR “Parent App”
•  Students can access and upload things from home by downloading the “Class App” and scanning their QR code (I taped one in every homework folder)

• I created folders for every subject so the kids could file things away and they would be organized for me when taking grades.

• YOU can download the class App so you can sit ON YOUR COUCH and assess your student’s learning from home without bringing home a stack of papers
• Group projects can be uploaded to every member’s folder so they all get credit
• You can create a folder for yourself in the class where you can upload assignments and videos you want the students to see
• This is a controlled social media outlet to teach the kids how to be responsible and encouraging as they can comment on their classmate’s work.

How we use it in:

MATH:

·         -Using the DRAWING tool, they work out a math problem...it works like ‘Show Me’ so you can see them working it out and hear them talking themselves through it.  I have heard almost every one of my kids catch a mistake and correct it.  Something about talking themselves through it helps. This is great when introducing new strategies.  I love hearing them :) It is so cute and a great assessment of their understanding.  I included one of my favorites :)   (This is my math homework a lot of times)

       

         -After using Pic Collage to create something for math (like different representations of numbers), they screenshot it and upload it to the math folder in Seesaw

-     -Video their group having a “math talk” in small groups

ELA/WRITING:

·         -Students record themselves reviewing a book for homework or completing reader’s response activities

·        - Word work activities are uploaded

·         -When learning new material (such as contractions or pronouns)  you can create a video as a class and upload it to all of their folders so they can go back and review the lesson

·        - If a student misses a spelling test, give the test via Drawing tool so they can complete with an iPad and headphones, pausing between each word.  (This way you aren’t taking your guided reading time or study hall to give a test.

·         -When students share a published book, we video them reading it to the class

SCIENCE

- Record group science experiments to assess mastery (you can’t be everywhere at once! )

I'm loving these iPads and would love to share ideas anytime! I would love to learn more about Popplet, Haiku, and anything else AWESOME! :) Give Seesaw a try...I promise it's amazing and easy to set up. Winter break is almost here!!  

Kahoot In Kinder!

I know you just read the title of this blog and thought is she crazy?! After reading another blog about Kahoot I decided to give it a try!

My class is all about technology and are constantly wanting to get on the iPads. Luckily they are still at the age where they will use the iPads correctly! I told my class that we were going to try a new way of learning using the iPads and playing an educational game. They loved it but of course you could see the competition coming out when I told them about it. Before we started we talked about ways to encourage others and that it is okay to make mistakes. We discussed that it is not about which table wins or loses ( yes I know it really is) but that we are trying our best no matter the outcome. The first go around was a little difficult but as we continued playing it got much better. Like I tell my class on a daily basis, practice makes perfect!

I use Kahoot as an incentive in my classroom. If the class as a whole has an outstanding week then on Friday we have our Kahoot Day. I think that Kahoot is a fun way to get the students engaged and learning, which we all know is extremely important! The thing that I really enjoy about Kahoot is that you are able to make your own game so that it can correlate with you lessons. I have used it several times as a way to begin and end lessons or units. Give it a try! I promise it will be worth it :)

The countdown is on, 2 weeks until Christmas break!! Y'all, am I the only one that feels like this year has FLOWN by?!  It's crazy!!

I have a few things I want to share!  This first one is AWESOME!  If you've heard of Greg Tang Math, you know how great this game is for your kiddos!  I was recently introduced to the game "Kakooma".  It's a math fact fluency game that can be played with addition and multiplication.  I originally downloaded the app on my phone, tested it out, and it worked great!  However for some reason when I downloaded it on my ipads at school, there are glitches.  All you need to do is go to this website: http://gregtangmath.com/games.html?game=kakooma and add it on the home screen of your ipads.  In this game, you pick the operator, puzzle, and difficulty level.  I highly encourage you to have your kiddos click on "Practice" before they start playing the game.  Here is a video of myself practicing the game. (I tried to go slow for y'all to watch, and it's shaky because I'm using my left hand to video! I never said I was an expert with technology! Ha!!)  If you watch all of the videos, you can see how much this game can be differentiated!!

 

Here are a few more games his site has to offer!  http://gregtangmath.com/games.html This is another good option for you to add on the home screen of your ipads! :)

 

 

 

I also wanted to share some different ways I've introduced apps to my kiddos.  Have you ever felt like this?

Let's be honest, sometimes it's cooler having other kids teach us how to do things!  When I wanted to introduce the Seesaw app to my class, I ventured out and asked an expert class to come teach my students.  Mrs. Perdomo was nice enough to have her 2nd graders show my class how to use the app.  They had so much fun learning not only how to use it, but different things they can use it for!  If your class is not already using Seesaw, I highly recommend it!!  My firsties have already saved several pic collages, recorded themselves reading stories they've written, recorded themselves teaching how to solve math problems, Chatterpix about Thanksgiving, word sorts and much more! 

The last thing I wanted to share is how 1st Grade incorporated technology in our Thanksgiving rotations.  Every year, we do fun rotations at Thanksgiving.  This meets several ELA and S.S. TEKS!! (Story elements, holiday traditions, origins of holidays, etc..)  This year, knowing how much we want to be using technology, we decided to have a techy rotation!! This just so happened to be my rotation! We all decided that we wanted to teach our kiddos how to use Chatterpix.  When each class came to me, I taught them how to use Chatterpix. The other teachers donated their ipads so every student could have their own.  After learning, they got to explore!  Options were to say "Happy Thanksgiving" or to use a fun Thanksgiving picture to talk about pilgrims, the Mayflower, or a Thanksgiving tradition their family had.

Thanks for reading!  I hope you found something you can use! 


I’m using our IPads in all the different subjects I teach.  I’ve used a lot of the apps that have been mentioned in previous blog posts and my favorite so far is a free app called Socrative.  We have individual books about different historical figures or events in our new Social Studies series.  I’ve been using the books and writing two sets of questions about each book.  We don’t have much time for Social Studies so we try incorporate it in our ELA rotations.  One set of questions I have titled “Note-Taker” and the students read the book and fill in the Note-Taker worksheet/questions as they read.  They really don’t know how to take notes yet and this has helped them a lot.  I like writing the questions myself because I try to use information from a lot of different text features and this a great way for them to become more familiar with reading all the different text features in a story.  This counts as one item on their menu board.  I make up a separate set of questions and I put those questions on a Socrative quiz.  You have a choice of what kind of question you’d like to write: multiple choice, true/false, or short answer, and these different types of questions can all be mixed within one test.  After you make and save the test, it will give you an SOC number, I send that number to my teammates and other teachers in Wylie who use it and they download that specific test and save it to their Socrative account.  The kids go to the Socrative app, sign up for the test you want them to take (it will ask for their name) and their results will go to your Socrative account.  (Make sure you look under scores and not progress)  I started out giving them the page number where they could find the answer since this was so new to them, and now I no longer do this, they just have to read the book and find the answers.  The books that we have read from the Social Studies series so far are written anywhere from a 2.5-3.0 AR reading level.  The books that are about individuals have been AR testers so they can earn AR points as well.  Some of our lower level readers are able to listen to the book if you have a computer available to them, but we haven’t figured out how to make that available on the IPad. (They can read it on the IPad, there’s just not a sound file to go with it for the IPad)  It would be ideal if we could load the Social Studies series that comes on a thumb drive on every computer in the second computer lab but Misty said that teachers don’t have the ability to do that.  I asked our Social Studies admin person if they would give Misty permission to load it on every computer in the lab and she is checking into it.  We have been counting the Socrative as a Social Studies grade and the Note-Taker as an ELA grade.  I’ve used Socrative for other things as well, the kids seem to enjoy it and if you want them to redo it, you are able to mix the questions around and let them retake it.  I started using it here, and now Tibbals is using it along with us.  It’s a great way to incorporate Social Studies and Science into ELA.

This is my 30th year to teach and man, I've seen a lot of changes take place over those years.   I have to admit... I was very concerned about all this "newfangled" technology we were going to have to do this year, but I've really enjoyed it!  And when it works, it's even better!!

I don't really have any new student apps or sites to share with you that haven't already been shared. So I think I would like to share with you some tools I've used to help on the teacher side.

#1.  Google Classroom   - This is something that has MANY parts to it and I'm gradually learning more about it.  Thank the LORD, that my daughter used it in her classroom last year!  She, Lee Hattaway and Jacque Prather, have been my go-to people for help.  I think it will take a while to master, but it's exciting to see the emails that pop up on my phone after students have worked on assignments or announcements that I've placed in Google Classroom. And when they come to school and say, "I watched the video on classroom last night" or they ask a question right there in the comment section, it's exciting!

#2. http://safeshare.tv/ - This is a great site to make those YouTube videos free from inappropriate commercials or viewing of those weird videos on the sidebar.   You find the video you want on YouTube, copy and paste it into the safeshare site and it will create a new link for you to paste to whatever/wherever you need to put it.

#3 Facebook - I've created a class FB page called Bulldogs of 406.  You can join if you'd like to see what I post there.  This in mainly for parents, but I have had parents post pictures of science experiments they did at home with their child.  I post pictures of the notes from my board for the day, calendar happenings from the SMORE Kellye sends us.  I post videos to help parents understand how I'm teaching math, and from day-to-day I post pictures of students doing activities in the classroom.

#4 Showme.com - I have made videos of me doing and explaining how I am teaching a math concept, and then I send the link to the parents to watch.  I've had many comments that it really has helped at home.

#5 Google Extensions - These are little things that you can place on the toolbar beside the address window.  The one I use the most is called Ginger.  It's a grammar checker.  When something is not grammatically correct it will highlight it and when you hover over it, it will give you a correction and you can click on it and it will automatically fix it.  I use it for parent emails, FB, this blog...
Go to the Google Store and click on Extensions on the left hand side.  There are TONS!
Move It is one that you set the amount of time before a screen will come up and it will tell students what activity they should do.  For example, you can set it for 20 minutes and every 20 minutes a red MOVE IT screen will come on and say something like "Move your arms in big circles 20 times forward and backwards."  When you hit the finish button it will go away for another 20 minutes.

Here's a blog from a tech coach about some extensions.  He even screen casts how to find the extensions:  http://tommullaney.com/2015/10/21/8-google-chrome-extensions-for-students-with-learning-needs-and-everyone-else/

There you go... I'd say try safeshare for sure... It's easy!  If you need any help with any of the others, I'd be glad to help. Just let me know.

Wow, you really CAN teach an old dog new tricks!!

Pic Collage struggle and SeeSaw love!

The first 9 weeks with the iPads have been a great experience. The kids and our team have especially enjoyed working with Pic Collage and SeeSaw. I have loved both apps, but I haven't been able to use Pic Collage to its full potential. Any tips and/or help would be appreciated.

When we introduced Pic Collage we used it initially in a whole group setting. Now we are doing it as a station in math and as one of my word stations; the kids love it! However, I feel like they spend more time trying to take pictures, sizing them, and several other tasks or even fixing accidental deletes than actually accomplishing the task. Often times it seems that when station time is over they haven't actually created anything.

On the other side of this problem, I have a couple of students that are the "experts" for Pic Collage and it seems the other students have picked up on this. The experts sometimes spend their whole station time helping classmates instead of doing their own work.

Am I the only one with this struggle?

The iPads are a great addition to our listening station. The student uses the iPad to scan a QR code which takes them to a youtube video of a book. They are really enjoying using this new technology in this station.

Seesaw is the app that rocks my face off! My favorite feature in SeeSaw is how we can integrate the students work progress and special activities into an extremely accessible format. It is a super easy and fun way to share with, and inform the parents. And it doesn't stop there, the students can do it on their own. The students have learned how to scan the QR code which takes them to our class list. They can post any of their work that they are proud of and want their parents to look at. And now, most of my parents have the app and have been regularly looking at what we post. I love that the students can post on their own

My absolute favorite feature is how the students can record and share video and/or audio messages. I have received great feedback on one activity in particular. We record the students reading their writing at different points in the year, share them instantly, and then also save them to show growth. It's a great way to keep parents up to date with their student's work without going through the time hassle of constantly sending a bunch of stuff home.

I have loved having the iPads and the kids are all over them. I feel this has made a positive change in my classroom and I can't wait to learn how to do more with them!

What Can I Add???

I've read the previous blogs.  It seems we are all on the same page at this point.  We're all trying to implement various apps into our classroom, and the kids are loving it.  In my classroom, we use our iPads daily even if it's just to log into Think Through Math or Sumdog or XtraMath.  It's been great to have more access for students than when we had just two desktops sitting in our classrooms. 

We've also experimented with apps like PicCollage and ShowMe, and the kids have had fun "explaining what they know."   My new teacher favorite is Nearpod.  I can use this during small group time at my table, and I love the report I can send myself at the end of each group's session that gives me feedback on how each child did.  I don't have to recall later what they could or couldn't do or spend time making notes while the kids are transitioning to their next station.

I'm still trying to learn what works and what doesn't work when it comes to apps and technolgy.  The kids are even faster and smarter than I am when it comes to using them, but that's ok! You can teach this "old dog" (21 years in the classroom) some new tricks, and she'll use them or at least try to! :)

Emerging Technologies in the Classroom

If we take a look back at education twenty years ago and we compare it with today’s education, we can recognize the complete different approach that fits the new global learner.

Every year we are faced with new challenges that require changes. All these changes have the same purpose; that our students reach their full potential and learn.

It is a fact that technology increases the pace of such changes. Today’s learner is given a variety of tools to acquire knowledge, tools that many of teachers are just familiarizing themselves with.

For some, incorporating technology has been somewhat of a struggle. However, we all use technology in our classes because we know, that our students’ futures might depend on the ability to use technology efficiently and purposefully.

I have had the opportunity to have an IPad for two years in my class. I've always tried to use it in my stations. I've used Istation, some books that can be read it through the Ipad and different math applications.

The IPad has become a pivotal tool for my stations. I still use Istation and different applications for mathematics.

Recently, I have introduced other applications such as: Chatterkid. The students used this tool to create presentations about important historical figures and were able to record their narrations.

 We have used Pieces Basic in math. Through this program, the students are able to manipulate the ten blocks and create the numbers with them.

We have used the camera to take pictures around the campus, relating our surroundings with essential science concepts.

Kahoot is a favorite for the kids. It can be used cross curricular, providing a fun way of checking for understanding.

Pic Collage and Seesaw will be introduced in the near future.

The biggest obstacle to introduce the applications to our kids the race against time.

Nevertheless, thanks to the great support provided by our math specialist, we will introduce Seesaw and she will be directly involved in the process by providing training for the students.

Our students are playing with the Ipads and they do not realize they are actually learning. It’s great to have them!

By Alexandra Hernandez

The YEAR of Many FIRSTS Including this BLOG Post!!

  As I sit here and think about what I want to blog about today, I can't help but think about how I used the iPads in my classroom last year vs. how I have used them to date.  I first received my set of iPads last year because I am a Speed 21 teacher.  After the initial shock of not having desktop computers in my classroom,  I came to the realization that those type of computers were not coming back to the classroom and I really did enjoy having the extra space that I had without that big computer table in my room.  Last year, I will admit that I used the iPads primarily for Lexia, AR testing, QR codes for my listening station and for QR Hunts around the school.  Every once in a while, we used the camera for different things and I would try a math app every now and then, but I was not consistent and my kids were not really creating anything themselves.  This year, to date, my 1st graders have already used the iPad for the Pic Collage App to create different ways to make a number and have taken pictures around the school of nouns (persons, places and things) that they then downloaded into a 3 way template they found on the Pic Collage App to sort them into person, place or thing.  They have amazed me with the things they have been able to do on this APP and we are just getting started!!  They have been very EXCITED every time that I say we are going to use the iPads and of course there will be many more times to come! 

  Then, not knowing the excitement level I had with what we have done so far would Escalate x4 when I introduced them to the Kahoot APP...LOL!  Last week, my class played our first ever Kahoot game that reviewed the 3 forms of energy.  The enthusiasm and energy level in my classroom that came with this game was AMAZING!  I have included a link to a video of my classroom so that you can get a glimpse of their excitement.  I hope that it gets you excited to use it too!  I plan to use this game frequently this year.  Even my own 8th grader says that she plays it at school too and LOVES it!  :)
Kahoot Game: https://goo.gl/photos/p4Y1m8CiVPt68X3N7

  I can admit that I was never ever scared of using/trying the iPads in my classroom, I was just not sure exactly how to use them.  With the training that has been provided this year, I can say that I feel very comfortable to try any APP now and will enjoy using them throughout this school year with my 1st graders.  I am lucky to have been given the opportunity...YAY!  :)

IPADS for the Math Classroom

It has been interesting implementing the IPADS. I was very hesitant initially not knowing how and what exactly it was that I wanted to do.  I had learned about different ideas of apps we could use during the summer. However, I wanted something that could really help me complement/supplement the instruction provided daily.  I was looking for something that would be more specific to use with math.  At the CAMT conference, I learned about some apps that could be easily integrated in my daily teachings.  Some I have already explored and used with the students, and others I still plan to use during this school year.   You can read more about each of them at the Math Learning Center webpage: http://catalog.mathlearningcenter.org/apps. These apps feel a lot like manipulatives, yet they are so much more than that.  In that page you can find a description and an explanation of each app.

 

 

 

Here you can see the students using Number Pieces Basic to learn about decimals:

 

Just today they were using Number Pieces to multiply using the distributive property.  

  

 

The kids have enjoyed using them so far. 

Loving This!!

So, after our iPad meeting the other week and hearing about how everyone was using Pic Collage, I decided to give it a try. I didn't do anything glamorous with it and could only figure out how to save their collages to the iPads' camera rolls, but it was successful and the kids loved it! I used it with a Science lessons on mixtures and solutions and the kids did a fabulous job of learning how to use the app and creating the collages. I've discovered that they are much faster learners than I am with the iPads and they are teaching me how to use some of the apps!

One of my favorite apps though has been 30 Hands. This has been a great app to use with decimals in math! I can have the kids write a decimal or a fraction and then have them record how they would say it out loud. This has been a great way for me to assess which students are really getting the concepts and who needs more work!

I haven't been brave enough to try google classroom yet, but I might have to soon... It's gotta be better than trying to lug all of those iPads home to grade the Pic Collages and 30 Hand creations they've been making!

On a more consistent day to day note, I have loved using the iPads in my math stations this year! The students love sitting around the room with them and are so motivated to get right to work when they are at the technology station! Right now I am mainly using them for Think Through Math in my math stations, because even though they would be great for science, there's a glitch with Adobe Flash Player and Stemscopes, but I know people are trying to find a work around for that. Hopefully soon!

Pic Collage

This week Mrs. Prater came to kindergarten and taught the kids how to use Pic Collage for Kids.  She used a Storybots opening video in Pic Collage for Kids to grab their attention about the number 6.  Then she talked to the students about all the ways they can make six using their fingers.  Once they were put into groups, Mrs. Prater discussed rules and procedures about using the iPads.  She then took the students step by step on how to create a collage pertaining to the number six using stickers, a ten frame, and text spelling the number word six.  The students were very engaged and you can see their final products below.  We plan to continue this lesson with the numbers 7-10 next week.

#kahootrocks

#kahootrocks


Hey there fellow iPad pilot people!  The first app that came to mind when I realized it was my week to blog was the kahoot app.  It was so much fun when we played it as a staff before school started and, now, my class is having so much fun practicing their skills, reviewing, and investigating new learning with the kahoot games!  We have played Math kahoots, Social Studies, and there was even a kahoot about rules/good choices!  I love that you can make your own or use one of the hundreds that have already been created!  The students get SO excited when we play and are so engaged and motivated, it's completely AWESOME!  I have to shut my door to make sure we are not disturbing the other classes!  They love inventing their team names each time we play as well.  If you haven't used this app in your class yet, you should give it a try.  The only problem I've come across is that the game will freeze up from time to time and we have to start over, but other than that it's been a breeze!


#Epicisepic


Another of our big app successes has been the Epic app.  It gives you instant access to hundreds of children's books!  In second grade, we have been reading fairy tales, fables, and tall tales and there have been books on Epic for each of these genres! It's easy to set up a teacher account, search the book you need, and then it gives you the age range for the book and about how long it will take for the student to read it!  Students can rate the book on a 5 star system and mark it as one of their favorites! I have used it for daily 5/literacy station activities and we have used it for group reading during our reading mini-lessons.  I am really excited for all the possibilities in using this app for teaching literacy!

#whydoihavetobeafterKoder

In all seriousness, I have loved reading everyone's post and I am glad we are all in this together. I love having the Ipads because they are very user friendly and most of the time very dependable. I love trying new types of technology in the classroom. To be honest I have lots of failures and flops on the way to success. Each experience teaches me something new, then I typically have to go back and tweak. Anyways, enough about that and onto what's cool that we are using.


We started out using 30Hands and it is a very cool app but I was frustrated with it because I  could not find a way to share the products that they made with the free version. I am now using ShowMe for students to create products. ShowMe would also be an awesome App to use for a flipped classroom.


Go to this link to check it out
http://www.showme.com/


Download ShowMe on the App store. I created one account and signed all of my Ipads into it. After kids created the presentations they can save it to our ShowMe account or they can share it to our Facebook page or Twitter page.


My other favorite App I am using is Nearpod. With Nearpod you can create a presentation and the kids will follow along with you on the Ipad. You can ask them questions during the presentation. You can take a poll, ask for a short answer, multiple choice answer or have them draw an answer. At the end of the presentation it will send you the data of how the students performed on the questions. I have done this whole group but I am loving it in Small Groups. I run the presentation on my laptop and let the kids at my small group each have an Ipad to follow along with. You can create your own Nearpods and you also can turn previous PowerPoints into Nearpod presentations and add an interactive component to your old Powerpoints. I know that is a lot of words but just trust me that this is one you definitely want to get in there and play with.


Go to this link to check it out
http://www.nearpod.com/

Okay so that's the fancy stuff here is what we are using on a daily basis
Xtramath
SumDog
ThinkThroughMath
Stemscopes
Epic

For anything that does not have an App I just add the websites to the Home screen and the kids can just click on it and go.

Please forgive me for not having any interesting pictures. I wrestled with my computer for 30 minutes trying to figure out how to add them to this and I finally gave up. Hopefully, this post will help you not be scared to try this #firsttimeblogging
Good Luck in your technology adventures! If I can ever help, don't hesitate to ask me:)

Katie

Ready, Set, PebbleGO!!!

 

One of the Websites that I enjoy using in the Computer Lab and on the iPads is PebbleGo.com.

•It is a research website

•Targeted for elementary (K-2)

•It contains 4 databases: Animals, Science, Biographies, Social Studies

•Students can independently research

•It is interactive (games, images, video, audio)

•It follows the national standards

•Teachers can integrate it in their lesson plans

•It’s awesome! Kids LOVE IT!

Here are the features that make this  a swell site that kiddos can easily navigate that help to supplement social studies and science!!!  It is a great resource for biographies too!

 

I hope this helps you to READY! SET! PEBBLEGO!!!!

 

 

#oops

Do you ever feel like you say "oops!" more than anything!? Gosh, some days I can't win for losing. I was SUPPOSE to blog last week, but a stomach bug from you-know-where hit. It first took down my four year old, then me, then the baby, and finally, the husband. Between sick kids, and sick men (who are worse than sick kids) and myself, I missed my blogging deadline! Forgive me!!!

All that to say, I'm back, I'm healthy(-ish) and I'm ready to talk iPads!!!

So, before the Sickness Armageddon hit, I introduced iPads into the classroom. One small procedural thing that I've had the kids do is to always turn them in with the plug outlet up- it makes it so much easier to charge!

Also, I took the time to put a cute, colored piece of tape on the back of each iPad, around the charging cord, AND the iPad base with my name on it. I look a wee bit possessive, but it will save me a lot of headache in the future

ALSO, we're getting more power strips, but Miss Nicklas and I saw these at TJ Maxx for $10, and they fit all 6 chargers, and are super sassy with their bendiness, Love this!

 So once I got everything labeled, and introduced the iPads, and shared class rules... I actually started using them!

One app that I highly recommend is Story Creator (Free).

It allows students to take pictures, draw on the pictures, write (either typing or pointer finger), and more. Reviewing nouns should be quick and easy for 4th graders, and it's hard to get higher level blooms activities. So, what I had the students do was take pictures around the classroom, and then write sentences, highlighting the nouns. I also took the time to review capitalization, punctuation, and a very early introduction to what makes a complete sentence. 

Techy Tip: We found out during the activity that you should take your pictures FIRST using the plain ol' Apple camera, and then add pictures to the story by using "existing photos". We were having a hard time adding pictures to 2nd+ pgs, and could only add to the first. Weird, but still, an easy work around. :) 

One of the great things: You can have a lot of different stories from different groups on the app. Students will just scroll through, and select theirs before starting to work. Very easy, very user friendly. 

Looking forward to all the learning opportunities ahead, while realizing "oops" is just a part of life & learning. :) 

-Emily Koder 

Kelley's Kids in 203

What an incredible start to a new school year!! We have been having such a wonderful time in room 203. Kelley's Bulldogs have been using Kahoot in our classroom and it has been a huge success. I love that you can go to Kahoot and find quizzes already made up for you. I will try to figure out how to create my own at some point. Instagram and our classroom Facebook page have been a big hit as well. One thing I tried with my class that needs some tweaking was musical writing. The kids started writing in their journal and then when music started they got up and walked the room. When music stopped they had to sit in another friends seat and pick up where they left off. It was interesting and look forward to trying it again with a general topic for everyone to be writing about when we start. I am looking forward to an amazing year with some wonderful kids. I will keep you posted on our successes and thing we need to work on throughout the year.

A Day of KULEANA!

I loved seeing all the posts in your closed FB groups today!  The kids were excited to be a part of today's activities because of YOU!!  Our specialists did a great job laying out fun, purposeful activities and you did a great job putting your own personal touch on them!

Rockin' and Rollin' with collaboration

How awesome was Matt Gomez!?!?

Ready to Roll Out!

Isn't' this exciting?!  We have been chosen, along with Whitt, to pilot a program that could potentially change the entire district and affect hundreds of kids!  Our hope is that we are able to pinpoint challenges, as well as successes, in order to make a future district roll out be more successful.  As we travel through this journey, this blog is a place you can reflect on anything from amazing ideas, to absolute failures.  By reflecting and sharing, you will be able to, not only help others, but acknowledge your "Ah ha" moments and learn form  your mistakes.  Through your reflections, others will be able to learn about new tools, see what worked, see what didn't work, or even just read about how to manage technology in the classroom.  This is a place to grow!  We are excited about this journey!  We are a strong Smith family and a strong family supports one another, so please let us know your struggles...  Now go be AWESOME!!