Pic Collage

I am completely into fun apps for elementary learning.  I wanted to share an activity that we did last year.  We were doing a lesson about habitats.  First, I had the students draw a picture of their house (habitat) and label where they get their food, space, shelter, and water.  Then, they took a screen shot of it and uploaded it into Pic Collage.  

Next, we discussed how animals get their food, water, shelter and space.  Then, they had to pick an animal and draw its habitat with labels.  When they were finished, they uploaded the second picture to Pic Collage.  This way they were able to compare how a human's habitat is different from an animal's habitat side by side.

Pic Collage is a free app that you can use for so many different purposes.  I am going to use it in my Word Work station this year and have students move letters around instead of using paper letters.  For more information about Pic Collage go to this link: http://pic-collage.com/

Hope everyone has a great school year!

Kahoot!!

One of my favorite ways to do a review is to play a kahoot.it game.  This is a website where you can create a free quiz or review.  Students sign in with the game pin.  Students have to use their own devices to answer questions.
It is really fun for the students, because there is a timer that counts down and plays music.  It feels kind of like a jeopardy game.  When the time is up or everyone has answered, their device tells them if they got the answer correct or not.
As a teacher, this is a great formative assessment.  It keeps the data from each student and you can download it or print it.  It tells you which questions they missed and which questions they did not have enough time to answer.
Watch the video to learn more!

Poll Post: Making the Most of Back-to-School Communication

The following article discusses making the most of communication at the beginning of the school year.
http://www.edutopia.org//blog/making-most-back-school-communications-anne-obrien

The flipped parent communication is very interesting. The principal at my school is always pushing parent communication.  He wants us to make 20 positive parent contacts in the first two weeks of school.  This is a great way to build a parent-teacher relationship, but it also takes so much time to call and talk to all of the parents.  There are ways that make communicating with parents quicker and easier.  Class websites, blogs, email, Class Dojo chats, and much more.  My favorite way to communicate with parents is through Class Dojo, because it is like sending a text.  It is quick and the parent can reply when it is convenient for them.  I am always worried about calling parents when they are still at work and interrupting them.  This way, they can read and respond at their leisure.
What is your favorite way to contact parents?

Audio Post: Bel Pesce 5 ways to kill your dreams

Bel Pesce presented this talk at a TED conference.  She discusses five myths to that people believe and kill their dreams.  This is a very inspiring talk.
Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/bel_pesce_5_ways_to_kill_your_dreams

Class Dojo: Behavior Management

Video from: https://youtu.be/tHCDCKy8F6Q

One of my absolute favorite apps is Class DOJO.  I have used this as my behavior management system for two years now.  In the app, you can give students positive and negative points.  You can customize the behaviors to fit the rules and procedures of your own class.  Parents have an access code so that they can get on and see the progress reports for the student.  They can see that day, last week, last month, and so on.  It is all saved.  You can also chat with parents on the messenger feature.  This is a great way to communicate with parents quickly and even at home without giving them your cellphone number.

I have had huge success using this in my classroom.  If parents have a question about why a student received a negative point, you can look back and see what time they received that point.  This helps you remember what you were doing at that time of the day, and what the student was doing. Other teachers, specials teachers or librarians, can connect to your class and give/take points when you are not there.  This helps with keeping consistency throughout the day even when the classroom teacher is not there.

In my class students get a point for every question that they raise their hands and answer, even if the answer is wrong.  This encourages participation.  It also helps me see who I have not called on for a while.  For every 5 points that a student earns, they get a sticker on their reward chart.  When their chart is full, they get to pick a prize out of the mystery box.
For more information about Class DOJO, check out this site: https://www.classdojo.com/about/.

Explain Everything

Picture from:http://learn.surbitonhigh.com/digitalthinking/explain-everything-beyond-the-confines-of-the-classroom/

One of the best iPad apps that I used last year was called, Explain Everything.  This is an interactive whiteboard.  You can insert pictures, write and type on the screen, record your voice, and so much more.  Below is a link to a review about Explain Everything.
http://www.newschooltechnology.org/2013/02/explain-everything/

I used Explain Everything to make flipped lessons for my second grade class.  For math lessons, I could take screen shots of the virtual textbook and insert the pictures onto the slides.  Then I could narrate the problems as I worked through them on the screen. At the end of the slide, I could export the video into my Google Drive and share it with the students on Google Classroom.

Students were required to follow along with the video and work through the problems on a whiteboard.  Then at the end I had a problem that they had to complete on their own as an "Exit Ticket".  This showed me if student understood the concept.  The video allowed for students to pause, rewind, and work at their own paces.

Explain Everything's connection to Google Drive made the entire process much easier for me.  I took screen shots of the questions that I wanted to use and put them into a folder in my Drive.  Then, when I was in Explain Everything, it linked to my Google Drive and I only had to click on the folder for the pictures to be uploaded.  When I was finished, I could export the video right back to Google Drive.  It was as easy as that!  I hope that you can find the value in Explain Everything, too!