Here's my teacher example. (As you can see I'm not an artist!)
Students can write or draw under the apps.
You can download the pages HERE!
That's all I have for now! Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Back to School!
I'm just stopping in to post a quick idea for the first day of school! I made this iPad template that students can use to highlight things about themselves. I plan to have them work on it right away the first day and then hang it up on the bulletin board next to their pictures.
Thursday, May 19, 2016
End of the Year!
I always give my kids a book as their end of the year gift. This year I found the book The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo for only $1.00 at Scholastic! I was so excited! This is a great book!
I also made these bookmarks to give to them with the book. I made the bookmarks on Canva. I LOVE Canva! If you haven't used Canva...you really need to. I could spend hours making things on there. It's FREE! You can check it out here: CANVA
I also made these bookmarks to give to them with the book. I made the bookmarks on Canva. I LOVE Canva! If you haven't used Canva...you really need to. I could spend hours making things on there. It's FREE! You can check it out here: CANVA
Here's a quick end of the year page for the kids to do...
If you want to see some more end of the year activities, check out my previous blog posts HERE OR HERE!
Need some end of the year treat bag ideas? Here are a couple examples:
Have a GREAT summer!
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Making Book Clubs Engaging
My students love book clubs, but just doing the regular old reader's response with pencil and paper can get old after a while. I have been slowly trying to add some more interesting options for them to choose from to respond to their books.
Balloon Stickies was a big hit with my book clubs. They LOVED this. The app is so easy to use and I thought they did a great job! I had them find a picture from their book or use an image from Google that represented someone or something in their book. Then, they had to use the Balloon Stickies app to write what their character might be thinking.
One more activity for book clubs is using Flipquiz to get the reading groups talking and writing about the text. This website is so easy to use and can be used as a fun review for anything.
I created a Flipquiz board with thinking stems and questions for students to respond to in their groups and reading logs. I leave the Flipquiz up on the board and students decide what category and point amounts they want. They click on the one they want and respond by talking with their group and writing in their reading notebooks.
FREE
Balloon Stickies was a big hit with my book clubs. They LOVED this. The app is so easy to use and I thought they did a great job! I had them find a picture from their book or use an image from Google that represented someone or something in their book. Then, they had to use the Balloon Stickies app to write what their character might be thinking.
Here are a few examples from the Freckle Juice Book Club Group...
One more activity for book clubs is using Flipquiz to get the reading groups talking and writing about the text. This website is so easy to use and can be used as a fun review for anything.
You can create a free account here:
I created a Flipquiz board with thinking stems and questions for students to respond to in their groups and reading logs. I leave the Flipquiz up on the board and students decide what category and point amounts they want. They click on the one they want and respond by talking with their group and writing in their reading notebooks.
Here's my example:
When you click a category, your prompt opens up like this:
Thursday, March 24, 2016
My Favorite Book
I have been reading aloud chapter books to my kids all year and book talking many other books that I thought would be good for them as well. They are really getting into finding a good-fit book for them and sticking with it until the end.
Today we took a minute to talk about our favorite books so far this year and even a favorite book from when they were younger. I was impressed with some of their selections and their reasons explaining why they loved these books!
I asked the kids to get their favorite book. I took a picture of them with their book and they wrote a little about it and why they liked it so much on a little poster page. We found book trailers for each book on You Tube and linked them to QR codes to add to our favorite book poster. I really wanted them to create their own book trailers....but it is so busy right now! Maybe after testing season! Later, the kids took an iPad and did a little gallery walk. They scanned the QR codes of the books they were interested in and thought they might like to read.
Here are a few examples of the finished products:
Click below to download the page!
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Analyzing Images
You would think looking at an image and explaining what is happening and how it helps you to understand reading would be a pretty easy concept for a lot of students. Not true, as I have learned the hard way. Many kids just don't take the time stop and look closely and use everything they see to help them comprehend what they are reading. So...that is what led to many discussions and activities using photographs.
I used this anchor chart to introduce the different types of media and some of the ways questions may be asked about photographs and illustrations that accompany our reading.
To practice really looking closely at photographs and making inferences and predictions, we used photographs from The New York Times. They have an amazing collection. This is a great activity to do every morning to start some real conversations and practice really looking at photographs to notice details.
Check out this blog post with ten sample pictures and ideas of how to use them in class for close reading:
I used this anchor chart to introduce the different types of media and some of the ways questions may be asked about photographs and illustrations that accompany our reading.
To practice really looking closely at photographs and making inferences and predictions, we used photographs from The New York Times. They have an amazing collection. This is a great activity to do every morning to start some real conversations and practice really looking at photographs to notice details.
Check out this blog post with ten sample pictures and ideas of how to use them in class for close reading:
I used this blog post to practice with my class. There are 10 pictures listed on this blog, so I made this page to go with the activity. Students write their thoughts, inferences, questions, and captions for the photographs. This activity not only provided many great opportunities for deep discussions, but it was also so fun for the kids...and the teacher.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Open House
I'm just stopping in to post a quick idea for open house, curriculum night or any other school event that brings visitors! I did this for our open house last night.
I had the students create a video about themselves using ChatterPix. This is one of our favorite apps!
Students completed an introduction page just to get their thoughts in order. Then, they took a selfie and recorded their introduction in ChatterPix!
For open house, I linked our ChatterPix videos to a QR code so the parents could scan and watch when they came to school. We put the QR code on a getting to know you page along with a student picture.
I had the students create a video about themselves using ChatterPix. This is one of our favorite apps!
Here's the page we used:
For open house, I linked our ChatterPix videos to a QR code so the parents could scan and watch when they came to school. We put the QR code on a getting to know you page along with a student picture.
Here's my example. :)
Here's the page...
Friday, June 5, 2015
Makerspace: A Creative Answer for your Classroom
This year I added a makerspace area to my classroom to encourage creativity and design. This station was a favorite in my classroom! Here are some ideas from my makerspace this year!
Create a station in your classroom!
*Provide guidelines and directions to get everyone started
*Provide research materials
*Add a writing component to your station
*Make it cross-curricular
Here's what I have at my station:
I always have some type of writing that is expected at the station. Here's the page we started with:
Our first makerspace experience was with recycled crafts. I checked out several books from the library to give them some ideas to help them brainstorm. I added whatever craft supplies I could find in my cabinet and we used recycled paper from our recycling basket. We also found a few great websites with some fun ideas.
Another great idea that my class loved was Origami. I checked out several books from the library again to get them started. We also found some really great sites too.
Another fun idea is doodle art! We love the doodle art alley website. They have a lot of free printables. The kids colored a doodle example from the website and we discussed how they added doodles to a regular picture to make it look more interesting. Then, the kids created their own doodle pictures.
Check out this amazing website:
Here are a couple examples from my class:
We also made a stop motion video of them coloring their doodles. Here's a short example!
I also had the students research a topic of their choice at the makerspace and then create a poster and video to display their facts. To see a complete blog post about this idea, click HERE.
Here are a couple examples of the videos the students created.
Next, I created a design station for my makerspace. The kids had to choose a design card from the bag that told them what they had to create. They used graph paper to create their design. I again had them write about their design.
Probably one of our favorite things to create is Flextangles. I found this idea on this website:
This site has a lot of great crafty ideas! We will definitely be going back to this site to find some more things to create.
After making the Flextangles, the kids created videos with music to show their designs.
LEGO StoryStarters are super fun and really get the kids thinking creatively. Visit their site to learn more about it!
When I have the Legos at our makerspace, I have the students create a scene with the Legos. Then, they use the planning page to plan out a story that they want to create. Here's the planning page they use.
There is also a great app that allows the kids to take a picture of their Lego scene and add special effects, text boxes, and word bubbles. It's a lot of fun!
Here's an example of what one of my students quickly put together using the StoryStarter kit and the app.
Sphero is a super fun ball that you can use to make ANY activity super fun. Here's a link to their site so you can learn more!
Little Bits are also a great addition to the makerspace. Here's a link to their site too!
Here are some great coding apps that would be awesome at the makerspace! Check them out!
Check out this Symbaloo for some more links to coding ideas!
Here's my complete presentation on makerspaces!
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