Hour of Code and Beyond....

   My students love using Code.org to program the angry bird to get the piggy to move. This is simple coding and it's best. If you haven't discovered Code.org yet, you will be surprised at how easy it is for students to manipulate. Oh, and the collaboration is unfounded. Students can choose to work together or not and even if they don't, I am always hearing across the room, "hey can you help me code this?" I can't get the pig to jump correctly."

There are also plenty of unplugged activities you can do with your classroom without any technology. For example, the beading activity introduces students to binary coding with paper and beads. Here is a link to the lesson here:

We've all heard coding teaches collaboration, critical thinking, cooperation, independence so why not give it a try. Plain and simple, this is fun for students. As they become proficient in this, you can begin to design content where the students have to code their own sequence to something or even have them design a game.

Plickers

   As much as I am trying to keep up with technology I don't seem to have time to write about it like before. I know Plickers isn't new, but I have recently discovered it and I am really enjoying the ease of formative assessments with this application.

First set up an account at https://www.plickers.com/ to create your class. Each student is assigned a number and a unique card that keeps track of that student's particular responses. It took me no more than 8 minutes to set up my class. Plickers recommends you print out the response cards on cardstock and do not laminate. The lamination interferes with the scanning.

Teachers can type up multiple choice or true/false questions. These questions are displayed up on a board and students rotate their card to hold up the correct response. Teachers use their smartphones to scan the cards - no devices are needed by students!! Teachers can see the live feed of answers as cards are scanned. Right away teachers can review quickly what was not understood or pull aside those few students that may have responded incorrectly.

Teachers can type up questions based on their content.

This is the live view the students will see.

Create questions for any content.

Get Real time data immediately.

Happy Plickering!!

Edmodo in the Classroom

   

I had played around with Edmodo lots, but had never really gotten the gist of it until I changed my delivery of my homework. You know when you get that "aha"moment..... it came when I realized I could use Edmodo with very little effort on both my part and my students part in terms of management.

We now use Edmodo for our homework assignments. It makes it so much easier to post assignments and short videos for the students to watch at home. For those students who don't have internet access, they can receive a paper version of the homework and watch the videos at school.

The best thing about Edmodo, thus far has been using it to make global connections. Teachers post queries, help, suggestions, etc in the various groups you belong to. I answered a post about an elementary teacher looking to want to connect with others around the world. She created a unique group which only allows our members via a group code join and connect. My students have been able to connect with other classes in Canada, Italy, France, and Thailand.  I can monitor my students' posts, but they have the capability to sign into their Edmodo account from school or home and correspond with others. I have seen my students blossom in terms of the thought-provoking questions and conversations they are having.

 Choose from your favorite apps that are linked with Edmodo for easy

 student access.

Edmodo is the one thing my students consistently go to more than any other site. I highly encourage you to investigate Edmodo and all it has to offer. This is just the tip of the iceberg as there are alot of fabulous things this site can do to help manage your classroom better. Give it a try and see if it doesn't make your classroom management load just a bit lighter.

TLIPAD Conference - November 12-14, 2015

   Please join me at the TLIPAD Conference on November 12-14 in North Carolina.   I will be doing a session on Seesaw - the digital portfolio App and more. Come learn all about SeeSaw and the many things you can do all within this one App.

Ipad Learning Centers

Following on the heels of Mrs. Wideen http://www.mrswideen.com/2013/09/6-ready-to-go-ipad-centers.html and her awsome IPad centers, I created some Ipad centers for third grade. I am trying to move more away from paper and not stand at the copier making endless copies. I created these Ipad Stations to reflect third grade work and then have the students post in their Seesaw Learning Journal which is an online learning portfolio that I cannot say enough good things about.  Have a look at some of the work my class is doing and feel free to use these Ipad Center Ideas as well.

Here's some awesome appsmashing right here!! Using Number pieces and Popplet together.

Here is a link to some of the Ipad Stations I created. Feel free to use:

 https://www.dropbox.com/s/3l3baud33mpxu3u/ICANstationshare.pptx?dl=0

Popplets

   Popplets are an all time favorite and very easy for children to manipulate. This is way more fun than drawing all those boxes on paper and then realizing your boxes are not big enough.   Popplet Lite is the free version of the app and the only difficult thing with the free version is the student must finish their Popplet before logging out or their work is not saved. Here are a few of our popplets:

InstaCollage

It has been sooo long since I have shared anything on this blog.  I moved back to Atlanta, Georgia after living in France for 7 years and it has been quite an adjustment.  I settled into a third grade classroom in a lovely international community setting.

It is almost the end of the year, but I wanted to share some of the things I have been doing with my class this year.  I have introduced them to so much different technology. One idea my class uses and I I use as an assessment is InstaCollage.  Here I have the children create a collage based on whatever topic we may be working on. I add parameters such as minimum of 5 photo frames, must include text boxes with explanations and a title and author.

Here are a couple of images from some of my students.

Cheers,  

Go Noodle!

   Do you know Go Noodle? Its a brain break interactive site that gives students and teachers 3 min breaks by incorporating exercise, dance, and even songs into short brain breaks. My class is hooked on this and ask for Go Noodle all the time.  I love for the exercise breaks, there are real cameos from Olympic athletes.  The brain breaks are well designed and are broken down from energizing to calming.

If you haven't already come across it yet, check it out here,  and your class too will be begging for more GO Noodle!!

Geoboard App

   Reading through my Twitter last week, someone posted a great app for Geoboards. I checked it out and sure enough, no more flying rubberbands. Children can work on creating shapes, symmetry and reflective symmetry with this FREE app. For the moment, I don't see any downside to the app. You cannot save any of the work, but you could take a photo with another device and save it in Evernote Portfolio if you wanted documentation.

Here is a link to the App:


https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/geoboard-by-math-learning/id519896952?mt=8

Tweeting in First Grade - Really?Yes!

   As a teacher, staying connected is so important. Reaching out to other teachers and reading what others are doing helps you grow professionally. So why not do the same thing for your class. We were already blogging using Kidblog and I wanted to introduce my class to Twitter. We started out by writing tweets on our "paper wall" so the children would get used to writing and the concept of Twitter.

Once the class was comfortable, I set up a classroom account under the Twitter name @MrsTsfirstgradeclass. We started out by the children telling me what they would like to tweet and I would write it. Then, I decided to create a "Class Twitterer" who would tweet out our class news. The class offers suggestions of what to write, the Twitterer tweets, and I approve all tweets before it goes live. This has been a slow go in the classroom, but I am confident it will continue to pick up. We began to connect with other first grade classrooms to share what we are learning in the classroom. I also invite the parents to connect with us as well.

We also use the hashtag #mathstories to tweet out math stories and answer any math problems that are here.

I have very limited tech. in my class, but the children are always welcome to use my computer and even my phone to get connected. Don't be afraid to try. There is nothing stopping you. First graders are smart - give them a chance.

You can find me at: @tamatrotti and @mrstsfirstgradeclass

Using Evernote for Digital Portfolios

   A while ago, I came across a great post on using Evernote for Digital Portfolios in the classroom. As I am always looking for ways to limit paper use and make organization easier for me, I thought I would try and implement in my class this year.  We are just getting underway and I have explained to the class why it's important to keep a progress of their work over the course of a school year.  By storing it digitally we eliminate unnecessary paper clutter. This also helps with organization as everything is stored in individual "notebooks" within Evernote.

It was pretty simple to set up. I set up one Evernote account and then an individual notebook for each student in the class. We have access to two Ipads in the classroom so the children can easily take photos of the work they want to post and "pop" it right into their Evernote account. If you only have access to a laptop or desktop, you will have to either scan the images or take a photo and then upload to Evernote.( In the link to the article below, this is explained.) I explained to the students that sometimes I would post work to their notebook and other times, they would choose at least 2/3 pieces a month that they wanted to put into their portfolio to share with their families.  During parent conferences, I can show parents their child's portfolio. Later on, I will show the students how they can share their portfolio from their home. The only downside with this is, there is only one password for the class account so everyone can access each other's notebooks. However, for primary grades it shouldn't be an issue.

I don't keep any annecdotal records in the portfolios. I have a separate Evernote account that I only have access to in which to write comments. At the end of the year, the children will have various stages of progress of their work that they can take with them to wherever. The best part, no loose papers or bulky boxes - viva the paperless portfolio!

Here is the post on using Evernote for Digital Portfolios written by Rob Van Nood. Rob does an excellent job of explaining how to implement Evernote in the classroom.

Quad Blogging

Quad blogging is a blogging platform whereby you, as a teacher sign-up your class and are grouped with 3 other grade-level classes from anywhere in the world. (You can specify countries) The premise is that one school is in the "blogging spotlight" while the other 3 schools comment on the "spotlighted" school's students' blogs. The next week, it's repeated with a new school and so on. You are able to go through a few rotations as it runs quarterly. It is very manageable this way and as a teacher, you don't feel like you need to have your students respond to so many blogs at one time. The focus is just one each week.  My students are first grade and yes, they need help with their writings, but they are so excited to write to children in another part of the world and share their thoughts and feelings with others. They can hardly wait to read other students' comments about what they wrote as well as get responses back from a comment they made.

This is an excellent way to give your class an authentic audience for their writings. It is also a way to teach your class how to write meaningful, kind comments about someone else's work.  Dialogue, exchange of ideas, and friendships are formed in a safe, non-threatening way. For more information on quad blogging, visit this link here.

New School Year and blogging begins!

We're rolling into our third week of school and as teachers we forget how difficult the "rentrée" is. New routines, new children, different levels. I look to my now second graders to get inspiration that it does get easier and to see how far they do progress by the end of the school year.  

We have started on Kid Blogs again this year. All parents are on board and the class is already eager to blog.  We started slow, but this class has caught on very quickly and want to post their thoughts all the time! I am excited about this. If you are not familiar with Kid Blogs, please see my old post from last year on this topic.

I am also going to start "tweeting" with my class. We have an account but haven't begun yet. I found this great post of how teachers are creating a "pretend tweet wall" in their classroom to teach the children how and what to tweet before they even start the real thing.  I love this idea as this introduces the children to social media and gets them comfortable about what things they should be tweeting. Here   is an interesting article from Beth Holland on this topic.

Here also is a great post from Mrs. Wideen's class about how she uses Twitter in her classroom. As you can see from Mrs. Wideen's class, social media, when used correctly and safely can be a powerful learning tool.

Global Read Aloud

   Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Calling all readers to the great global read aloud. If you have not heard of this yet, be sure to check out the global read aloud site which outlines this fabulous program. The program is grouped by grade levels so each reads a book designated for their level. The book for the K-2 group is Marty Mcguire by Kate Messner. I can't wait to share this story with my class and have some interesting discussions with other schools around the globe.  This is a great way for classes to connect with other classrooms around the world and participate in dialogue and genuine conversations about books. Click on the links below to learn more about this program and the book.

                

   HI All,  I am guest blogging over at Rachel Lynette's Minds in Bloom site. Be sure to hop on over to read about using Bucket Fillers in the classroom.

Final Reflections- Thing 23

   Well, I have finally reached the end of my Web 2.0 Class!! Along the way, I learned, discovered, been challenged, and shared many ideas. Some days I just wanted to throw in the towel and say not another blog post!! ARRGH! All in all, I really did enjoy all the "Things" and found the course so much more worthwhile because it was so hands-on.  By becoming active participants within each Web 2.0 tool we got to see how each tool works and if we want to try and use it in our classroom. Sometimes, things work, and sometimes they don't. That's the fun of trying different ideas out.

I anticipate trying many of these tools in my classroom this fall.  I know it's not easy to continue....we get pumped up after attending a class, webinar, or taking a course and then ideas fall to the wayside as we plow into our school year. I sincerely hope to try many of these ideas, and I know I will. A great course!! Thank you! As I begin to implement some of these tools, I'll blog about it and see how it rolls.

Evernote - Thing 21

    I haven't much used Evernote in the classroom so I cannot say for sure if I would use it. I do use it sporadically for writing down notes and ideas for my blog when I am on the train. I do like that you can take pictures and embed directly to your blog. This link will take you directly to an interesting post - I think it sums up how I feel about Evernote at this point - I am sure I am not utilizing it to its' capacity, however I wonder if it is just another organizing app in a long list. At some point I will have to choose the best one for me, and I think that is what is most important. We try out these different apps and we pick the one that best utilizes our needs.

A blog written by Rob van Nood provides some great insight into using Evernote in the classroom - here is link to his blog. After reading Rob's blog, I am going to give Evernote a shot in my classroom and try to set up digital portfolios for my student's.  When I return to the classroom in September and set this up, I will blog about it and let you know how it goes.

Google Drive - Thing 20

Google Drive can make your life so much more efficient. Forget sending out multiple emails to colleagues or sending email attachments. Streamline your efficiency and create a document in Google Drive and easily share it with whomever you like.  The document can be edited in real-time so everyone can see the updates as they are happening.

Three ways to use Google Drive in your classroom

 1. Have your class set up a form to create a survey of some sort. Within the Google Doc form, click Create, then Form. It will then take you through some steps to set up your form. Once that is done, share it and your class could then collect the data from the survey and create a spreadsheet of the responses.

2. Another way is sharing ideas with others. Create a spreadsheet and have co-workers fill in the spreadsheet with their responses/ideas. As I have done for this course,  I created a spreadsheet for this particular "Thing 20" so all course participants could fill-in the form and we would then have a sharing of some great first week ideas of integrating a Web 2.0 Tool the first week of school. Here is a link  to that document.

3.  Sharing a file with another person. Because the file is editable and each of the "shared" participants can add to the file it is immediately updated. This would be great for sharing resources for a topic of study.

However you use Google Drive, I am sure it will make your life even more efficient.

YouTube - Thing 19

    I currently use YouTube in the context of searching for a "how to" video- since I am a hands-on person, I find a visual explanation is much easier for me to understand. For this Web 2.0 Class, we had to search for a few different videos. Two of the videos had to relate to education. I am particularly interested in how to use Symbaloo in my classroom so I searched for a "What is it" video and found this particular video. It gives a good, basic introduction to using Symbaloo. Here it is for you to have a look:



The other video I found was a Livebinder -  "what is it and how to use it" video. I found this helpful as well as I think this would be a great way to organize lesson plans, units etc. and get rid of all the paper! Yes! Here is this video:



I also had to search for a student-produced video. I found this one done by first graders. It was done over 3 years ago - which shows how behind I am!! It is so great! I loved hearing the enthusiasm of these first graders and they set out to show that anyone, even 6/7 year olds can do a podcast! I have embedded it here as well to give you a bit of inspiration to try podcasting if you have not as yet:



YouTube can be a yet another great tool in your belt for not only a teachers PLN but for student uploading of videos as well.

Twitter - Thing 22

   
I have been on Twitter for about 3 months now, but I still consider myself a lurker.  I read alot of my follower's posts, make some comments, and do some tweets, but I still have not amped it up yet. I participated in my first chat last weekend - and I tell you it was something.  Just trying to keep up with the tweets is a bit daunting.  I have to admit though, it was fun. I loved reading other comments coming in thru real time and trying to quickly type mine in as well.

Building a personal learning network (PLN) is very important. No where will you find real-time learning than through social connections. Twitter is a great way to become engaged - learn what others are doing. Start slow, connect with a few, read what they have to say, and before you know it, you will be commenting, retweeting, etc. If you are interested in connecting your classroom with another, Twitter is a great place to find a connection. Tweet with your class - why not!! I am going to have a Twitter account for my grade one class this year so we can connect with others, share what we have learned and let our families know what we are learning in the classroom. No need to make it an extra part of your classroom day - it should be incorporated as part of your classroom teaching.

Below are some links pertaining to Twitter:


Here is an awesome easy to follow guide on using Twitter in the Classroom from Langwitches Blog.

Here is a link to educational hashtags from Cyberyman. Find one you like and join a chat. It's a great way to see what other teachers are doing that maybe specific to your interests.

Here is a link to 35 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom. There are some great ideas and can be tweaked for any year level.

Tweet away!!