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!