Sunday Scoop {4.5.15}

The Sunday Scoop is based on the popular 3-2-1 graphic organizers so many of us use with our students. Tell us three things you HAVE to do, two things you HOPE to do, and one thing you're HAPPY to do. If this is your first time linking up, check out our Linky Parties page for details!

Here is what I am up to the next few days...

I hope that all of you have a very blessed Easter and are able to spend some quality time with all of your families. God Bless. 

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Tech Thursday {Resources for your Reading Series}

Technology Thursday is a weekly linky dedicated to all things technology related. Check out our Linky Parties page for details on how to link up!

Today I'm sharing some tips on how and where to find resources for stories from your basal reading series. My school uses Scott Foresman Reading Street, so the resources I link will be specifically geared towards that, but you can use these tips & sites no matter your series.

1. Google it!

This seems so obvious, but it took me several months of teaching before I realized that I could Google the name of our series and find all kinds of websites filled with resources that teachers have created or curated for me! Some of my favorites for Reading Street are Waltke's Web, and Mrs. Lewis's Classroom. I recently found this site, which has close reads for each story. I haven't tried them yet, because we are in the middle of a novel unit, but I will when we start using our basal again!

2. Games!

We all know our students love to play games online, but who has time to create them every. single. week. (Not this girl!) The good news is, someone, somewhere DID have time! I can almost always find ready to go games on our favorite sites for our reading selections by searching the site, selection title (or sometime unit and week - U1W3, for example), and the series name. For example, I might search "Quia Reading Street Stretching Ourselves." My favorite game sites to search are Quia.com, Quizlet.com, StudyStack.com, and SpellingCity.com.

3. Prezi! 

Prezi has become so popular in classrooms, both for teachers and students to use in creating presentations. By default, most Prezi presentations are public, so you can find all sorts of great resources. I search for Prezis in the same way as games, "Prezi Weslandia."

4. Collect your resources!

Once I find resources I want to use with my class, it is vital to collect them all in one place for easy student access. There are a couple of easy ways to do this. I personally use a Symbaloo WebMix on my class's Weebly page. {Here's a post from a while back on how I set that up.) It's easier than it looks to create a cute, kid friendly site with no ads!

Before I learned about Weebly, I used a PortaPortal site to collect resources for my classroom. You can sort into folders, so it makes links easy to locate. It's not the cutest site on the block, but it works well, and it's free with no ads! PortaPortal is even easier than Weebly to create a site on, so anyone can do it!

Where do you find great resources to supplement your district's curriculum? (Special thanks to Juliet for teaching me some of these tricks!)

Link up and share your tech tips, tricks, and resources with us!

   

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Favorite Things: Newly Discovered Picture Books

The Favorite Things Linky is a great way to share your 3 favorite anythings! Grab the template and button and link up below! If this is your first time linking up, check out our Linky Parties page for more details!

Here are a few of my favorite newly discovered picture books. I admit it... I am a book hoarder and am always searching for more books to add to my growing collection.  I love discovering new books to read to my students!

The Book With No Pictures is an absolute hit with my students.  Some of my kiddos asked for it on their Christmas list. No joke! They beg me to read it again and again.  The book is written by B. J. Novak, a humorist and actor.  The whole book is a cosmic joke on the adult reading it, and the kids love it!

Kathryn Otoshi has a great series of books titled Zero, One, and Two.  These are fabulous for the beginning of school.  The books deal with social lessons such as bullying, being yourself, and getting along with others.  They are simply brilliant! 

Arrggghh! You don't need a pirate project to read this book!  No Pirates Allowed! Said Library Lou is by Rhonda Gowler Greene. I fell in love with this book because Library Lou is a teacher at heart- she sneakily (I think that is a word?) teaches a rough and tumble pirate to read without him knowing. He soon discovers that READING is the treasure! (Read in a pirate voice.) Arrggghh, it does this here teacher's heart good!

What are a few of your favorite picture books that you have recently discovered?  I am always on the lookout for more!

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Sunday Scoop {3/29/15}

The Sunday Scoop is based on the popular 3-2-1 graphic organizers so many of us use with our students. Tell us three things you HAVE to do, two things you HOPE to do, and one thing you're HAPPY to do. If this is your first time linking up, check out our Linky Parties page for details!

Here is what is happening on my calendar this week.

What is happening in your neck of the woods?

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Tech Thursday: Wonderopolis

Technology Thursday is a weekly linky dedicated to all things technology related. Check out our Linky Parties page for details on how to link up!

Today I am sharing all about one of my favorite websites/apps. It is called Wonderopolis and it is a "must bookmark website"!

Okay... this is a super simple website to use. Every day, the post a "wonder of the world". This can range anywhere from a wonder like why is the grass green to what are LEDs. Every day there is a new wonder. Each wonder is complete with a short informative article and a video. The videos range from 2-15 minutes each. We use this site during free-choice time on our classroom devices. Students can go and find different wonders that they are interested in and investigate further.

As a teacher on Wonderopolis, you can research and search even further to find specific wonders that fit into what you are teaching. On the page, Educator Sandbox, you can search by subject or by grade level. They also break it down into popular videos for the month. So this month there are wonders for Daylight Savings, Rainbows, Maple Tree Tapping, Ides of March and Saint Patrick. The list goes on and on! Not convinced yet...?! Keep Reading. Introducing....

Do you have children at home?! If you answered yes... this website provides a way to continue learning all summer long! You can sign your child up for free for Camp Wonderopolis. At Camp Wonderopolis your child will investigate (virtually) 6 different tracks of science exploration. Click the photo above to check it out more details about that.

So basically... you need to go check out the website and see what the daily wonder is for today. It might just help you get your head out of the sand. :)

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