Tablets in the Classroom

A colleague sent me this infographic that lists FREE app for education. Enjoy!

http://www.slideshare.net/gtoews/free-apps-list

26 Newcomers

Last week I had the opportunity to work the new lateral entry teachers that will be entering our county. I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was a day of laughter and learning. I would like to say to all who attended: I truly believe that if you take heed and put into practice the information given during Mini-Camp you will have a very successful year. Remember to always seek wise counsel and be receptive to good guidance. 

 

Preparing for the First Days of School? No Sweat!

Setting Up Your Classroom

Your classroom arrangement has a direct impact on student behavior and learning. Be sure to spend quality time and thought in the planning of your class layout.  Your classroom organization will speak to the students the very moment they step foot into your room. It will speak to them about the type of teacher you are. What message do you want to send to your students on the first day?

Remember:

-         - All students need an unobstructed view of the board or primary instruction area.

-       -  Your layout should promote the ability of interaction between students. Pairs or triples are great for the beginning of the year. (Personally, I would not recommend groups larger than 4 for the start of the year).

-        - You and the students need to be able to move easily through the aisles. Create sections of desks by placing large gaps between rows. This ensures that you will be able to physically reach every student.

-        - Students should have access to classroom supplies. So, be sure to make them accessible.

You can save yourself some back pain by visiting: http://teacher.scholastic.com/tools/class_setup/, on this site you can arrange and rearrange your classroom virtually.

Click here to get started!

I've Enjoyed My Break!

Well, I'm back at it! Please excuse my absence. I took the summer off :-)

 NEW blog posts are coming soon.

Today I spent the day working in my classroom in preparation for the upcoming school year. Here are some pictures of progress. I didn't get very far, but I'll be sure to post the "after" pictures.

 I'm so excited to meet my new kids and to begin sharing ideas with you  again.

What's New!: INFOGRAPHICS

http://smallsworld.edu.glogster.com/infographics/

Click the link above to view the actual infographic on Glogster.com. Be sure that you have the necessary drivers to view the page and watch the video.

 

Topnotch Book Thursday #5

HEY! Get off the hamster wheel and do something different. Don't be ashamed, it happens to all of us. You plan an awesome lesson, your kids enjoy it, and learn the intended skill. GREAT! So you do it again; and again and again.

  I'm a kid in your class and I'm bored out of my mind.

Now, don't get it twisted. Your original idea was awesome, but don't stop there. Continue to search for ways to effectively reach your students. Each strategy you find is a deposit into your instructional bank.

This week's "Topnotch Book Thursday" is a shout out to Dr.Dial-Sellers at UNC at Pembroke. Thank you so much for sharing this with me.

Author Janet Allen provides a plethora of instructional strategies in her thin, convenient flip-books.

 Some things you will find in her book you may have seen before, but for the most part I think that you will find some new ideas that can be used to pump up your lessons. What she has here is a real gold mine. Just a wealth of methods that you can incorporate NOW. She gives you the strategy, explanation, and student samples of the strategy carried out. I love it when when they do that!

Check out these titles from Janet Allen and post your feedback.

Topnotch Book: Change of Plans

Normally on Thursday, I post a book that I think ELA teachers would find useful for instruction. However, today I would like to introduce a new app. Hopefully, all of you hardworking teachers out there are taking a little time to unwind. I have just the thing you need. Have you ever heard of The Grader Game?

This is an app that was introduced to me today. Thanks, Ms. McDougald! I'm already hooked. I really recommend giving this a try. Even if you don't classify yourself as gamer, this one is awesome! So just try it out, there is a free version. Let me know what you think.

Gearing Up for the EOG: Text Features Mini-Lesson

I'm doing a little experimenting with the Educreations app that I mentioned earlier this week. I have put together a mini-lesson slideshow. Click on the link below and tell me what you think. Enjoy!

Click Here: Text Features Mini Lesson

Topnotch Book Thursday #4

This week it was hard to choose which I wanted to share. I decided on The Joyful Reading Resource Kit by Sally Reis. This book is a treasure chest waiting to be pried open and scavenged through.

The table of contents is divided into three phases. Phase 1 being support materials for books, phase 2 is Support materials for independent reading, and phase 3 is support materials for student-selected activities.
Phase 1 includes book lists for grade levels K-8 with lexile levels
Phase 2 includes different types of reading logs and pre-written questions to use when discussing students' reading.
Phase 3 includes activities to incorporate into any book.
These aren't the only things you would find between the covers of this resource, but I hope this was enough to pique your interest.

I'm So App-cited!

Did you know:

There's an app for that?

So, the week before Spring Break, I had a few of my most helpful students do an audit on my classroom library. In the beginning it seemed like an easy task. Well, it wasn't. It nearly took a whole school day to complete.  

That is when I asked myself, "Isn't there an app for this?" To my surprise (though I shouldn't have been surprised at all), There was; not just 1, but several. I chose the "FREE" one of course. Fantastic Library allows you to catalog your books by scanning the bar codes found on the back cover. The app searches and downloads all of the information associated with books you scan: ISBN #, pages, price, publisher, author, and cover art. 

FANTASTIC! Another great aspect of this app is that it also allows you to track the books that you lend to your students. You simply click the on the book in the app, click lend, and then type the name. You can even enter an email address and send a reminder when the book is due back.

This was my inspiration for this week's blog. How many other apps are out there that I could be using in the classroom? Here's what I've found so far:

Edmodo.com



Seat Charter- create electronic seating charts



TinyScan- turn an photo into a PDF

Splashtop- control your laptop from anywhere in your room

Brainpop- watch student-friendly content-related videos

 

Common Core- your CCSS at your fingertips

Educreations- create unique slideshows and post to free website

Class Dojo- classroom management tool



Audible.com-download and listen to audio books









 

Check them out, and let me know what you think. If there is an app that you use and would like share, comment below.

Topnotch Book Thursday #3

My strategy for writing: "Trick'em."

If your students are anything like mine, they sometimes moan, groan and complain when it is time to write. Well soon, if not already, they will be asked to write for assessment purposes. So I "Trick'em" in order to prepare them. Its important to remember to make all of your assignment purposeful and relevant to the student. So you want your class to do a character analysis? How about have them to create Facebook pages for each character in the book? Cool, right? In this book:



Don't Forget to Write, the author has included 50 lessons that are ready for you to implement; such as the character Facebook activity. Which, by the way, comes with a black line master for reproduction. All of the lessons tell, you step-by-step, how to use to successfully use them in your class. In addition to black line masters and step-by-step lesson plans, Don't Forget to Write also has a section called "Superteacher Bonus Activities," where you can find tips on how to really "dazzle" your students.

There is also an elementary edition of this same title (it has a blue cover). And lastly, located in the back of the book is a matrix grid that shows how all of the, 50, writing activities are aligned to Common Core. Strand, standard, and all!

Now all you have to do is pick up this book and start planning for your classes. Oh yeah, and
Don't Forget to Write!

Topnotch Book Thursday #2

In elementary school, students read about 50% fiction and 50% nonfiction texts. With Common Core sweeping through our nation, it is now required that by the time these students reach middle school, nonfiction/ informational texts should be the majority of what is read. As teachers, it is our responsibility to prepare students for the 21st century, as well as the workplace. Most of what they will read as adults will be informational texts. Keeping this in mind, some may wonder, "Where do I begin?"

Well, I know that it is March and testing is just around the corner. But, here is a great resource that you can begin to use NOW, in preparation for end-of-year assessments. It is titled Texts and Lessons for Content-Area Reading, by Harvey "Smokey" Daniels and Nancy Steineke.

This book is organized by strategy. First, the authors will introduce you to an innovative strategy and then explain it step-by-step. They also offer variations of that same technique so you can choose the one that will work best for you.

BUT... that's not all!

They also provide you with the perfect article to go along with the strategy.

What more could you ask for?

Making Global Connections

Are "pictures worth a thousand words"? Yes, sometimes there are. During my first year of teaching, my seventh graders completed a novel unit for Journey to Jo'Burg by Beverly Naidoo. This story is set in South Africa during the time of Apartheid. I really wanted my students to get a feel for the culture and to my advantage, my school just happened to have a "Visiting International Faculty" or "VIF" member from South Africa.
-I love it when all of the pieces fall into place.

Anyway, I partnered with her so that my lessons on culture and government would be as authentic as possible. She provided me with lots of resources and even invited my students to her class. Her room can only be described as "breathtaking." I mean, it was like literally stepping into South Africa. You could just feel South Africa all around you; and to top it all off, she was dressed in traditional African attire. She spoke to the students in English as well as in her native language.
I thought that the lesson was going well, but then something, or I should say someone, caught my eye. One of my boys had a strong expression of disinterest on his face. I knelt down beside him to ask him what was wrong. He told me that I had lied to him. I'm thought to myself, "WHAT!?" So I asked him to explain himself. He said that I had told them that they were going on an in-school field trip, venturing to South Africa, and the best part was that their guide was going to be someone from Africa.
See, the problem that this student had was that the VIF teacher was, in his eyes, a white lady. He could not see passed her complexion. But, she was in fact, South African. This, of course, led to a history lesson.
This whole experience really opened my eyes to the realization that our students need to "see" what and where they are reading about. Simply reading about it is not enough.

To make global connections in my classroom, I map out the places we are studying. This shows the students exactly where we are in relationship to the setting of text.

Right now, my Language Arts classes are studying how children live around the world. They are reading a nonfiction text titled A Life Like Mine, distributed by UNICEF.

As we meet children from different countries in our reading, we locate and pin point them on our map.

Through this activity, my students are able to make connections to the children and to the information that they are gathering from the text. Oh, and did I forget to mention that by doing this, students are using Social Studies skills across content areas. YAY!

Don't limit the MAPPING idea.
Here is the same concept, but the focus is Central America; culture, government, population, religion, landmarks, and landforms.

My students created over sized brochures. One for each of the 7 countries in Central America.

My very good friend Mrs. Gaines, who teaches K-5 Art, has utilized mapping in her class as well. As they study different parts of the world, they create culturally inspired pieces of art. Mrs. Gaines has even "kicked it up a notch," by making a bilingual Word Wall. This is what I call "Global Greatness!"

Mrs. Wright has also joined in the revolution. In her computer lab she created a connections map to show the students PC and Internet usage around the world. So COOL!