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.