Tech Thursday:The End of School is a Great New Beginning!

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!

The end of the school year is a great time to try new things.  Standardized testing is over.  I've covered most of my science and social studies standards.  It's time to have some fun! I love to try out new websites with my students this time of year. The kiddos become willing guinea pigs- all in the name of learning, of course!  They are not the only ones learning, though.  I am learning how to use the websites and whether or not the are worthy of my (and my students') time.  This is the time of year when I discovered gems such as GoNoodle, ClassDojo, and Planbook.com.

Here are a couple of websites that I am having my kiddos explore at the end of this school year. I don't know much about them yet but I have my fingers crossed that my kids will love them.

Will these websites make the cut and become part of my classroom next year? Stay tuned to find out...

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Sunday Scoop {4.26.15}

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...

What are you up to today and this week?

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Tech Thursday {Code.org}

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!

This week I am sharing about a great way to get your students excited about coding! This has quickly become one of my students' favorite free time activities!

Coding is a 21st century skill that our students will be able to translate into a vast array of jobs and hobbies that probably don't exist yet. For now, coding teaches our students to think creatively while following set rules - and what teacher doesn't want that?!

I found code.org to be a really easy way to dip my toes into the waters of coding. To get started, my entire class completed the Hour of Code. In this one hour tutorial, students learn the basics of coding, watch some motivational & instructional videos, and create one basic online game using easy drag & drop commands. The "official" date for the hour of code is in December, but the program is up all year. 

Here's a game created by an 8 year old that was shared on their public list... click on it to play!

If your students love the hour of code as much as mine did, the next step would be one of their 20-hour curriculum plans. These plans delve further into coding, including algorithms, problem-solving, & even  binary code. My students who want to do more coding work on this when they have free time. You can check out the different plans and choose the best one for your class here. I started my 5th graders on course 2 since they had already completed the hour of code. They are having a blast, and constantly show off their latest games to the class. 

Have you tried coding in your class? I'd love to hear how you did it, and what your students thought. Link up and share your tech tips with us! 

   

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Sunday Scoop {4/1819/15}

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's a peak at my week...

A long week ahead as my school goes through the accreditation process. I am so proud of our efforts to help our kiddos! Hopefully the team will see all the good we are doing...

Looking forward to Friday Night Lights on the the soccer field as our high school team takes on our main rivals.  It will be a nice way to end a stressful week. Can't wait!

What are you up to this week?

An InLinkz Link-up

Tech Thursday {explore.org}

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! This week I am sharing about one of my favorite free time apps/websites.

This website (explore.org)is completely amazing. It offers LIVE webcams of a variety of different animals. My students love to click into the app to see what animals are around the cams at that time. It is the go-to app during free-choice time. My students are so intrigued because you never know what animal will be just a click away. Here are a few screenshots of some animals that I have seen recently.

There are tons of options for live animal cams. It is super easy to switch between the cams because the site has this little tile grid underneath the live video feed. Just click to head over to a different camera. 

Yep! There are kittens and puppies on the website/app too. They are all animal shelters and rescue centers so it is pretty cool to see the puppies and kittens thriving. They also have some options to see oceans and surfing. You can also view "previously filmed footage" from a variety of places (including out of season places). There are polar bears, grizzly bears, sharks, penguins, jellyfish, stingrays, owls, monkeys, pandas, deer... the list goes on and on!

You might be wondering how I use this in my classroom. Every morning, my students do morning work. When they finish their morning work they can get on a device for free choice time. During this time, my students can choose from a variety of apps (all educational). Free choice is usually between 5-10 minutes so I ask that my students be prepared to share one sentence about something that they learned during that time or something they saw. I pick 3-5 students randomly to share at the end of the time. This holds all of my students accountable during free choice time because you never know who is going to be called on.

Correlation to learning? My students are investigating, they are making predictions, they are activating prior knowledge, they are building empathy and awareness of the world. One week our reading series story was all about life in Antarctica. That week, during free choice time, I had students specifically use this app to check out animals that live in Antarctica. They were able to make connections between what we were reading and what they were seeing on the live feed.

**You never know what students are going to see when they click into a live feed. I had a conversation with my students when I introduced this app about "bathroom discussions". Yep. Animals have to go too, but we don't need to know about it. I haven't had any issues with students giggling or freaking out about the bodily functions.**

I have to share two really cool things that have happened this year that we saw. Way back in November, one of my students clicked into an elephant feed and they saw that the elephant was giving itself a bath! Of course I had to pull it up on the projector so the entire class could see. It was so cool to see how they use their trunks to shoot and spray water all over themselves! But even better than that, we saw a LIVE GIRAFFE BIRTH! YEP!!!! How cool is that? One of my students clicked in a few weeks ago to the safari channel and boom. There it was! Happening live. Right in front of our eyes. Definitely brought that up full screen! Yes, it was ishy and gushy, but so COOL. My students were able to look past the nastiness and look at the precious life that was brought into the world. We even checked in on our new friend later in the day to find him/her walking around by his/her momma. Note: I had a parent e-mail me to say THANK YOU for showing that to their child. They said that is one experience they will never forget and it is definitely special. It was the only thing my student would talk about for 5 days straight! Ha. Poor parents!

I hope that you will check out this website and try it with your students! Link up with your Tech Thursday Tips Below!

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Sunday Scoop {4/12/15}

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...

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Five for Fraturday

Hi there! I'm just popping in to share a little about my week... it's Five for Friday time - a little late!

1 - We had a great Easter/Little Guy's Birthday with my parents on Sunday! Little man loved egg hunting, although he didn't understand why they weren't getting refilled with candy every time :) It's so hard to believe he's already three. I am blessed beyond belief!

2 - We've been reading The Westing Game at school, and everyone is hooked! It's such a great mystery, and is pushing my higher readers to really think critically and make lots of inferences as they try to solve the crime. I'm using a great novel study guide from Courtney Schermerhorn, which my class is loving!

3 - We came back from spring break to new laptops that replaced our desktop student computers. I am loving being able to allow my students to work at their seats instead of at the "wall-o-computers" that we had before. Their behavior has even improved... something about not having your back to the teacher...

4 - We've been working this week on our Geometrocity projects from Digital Divide & Conquer. My class is working in groups of three to create the best city plan. The "coop-etition" is great, and they are working so hard! I can't wait to see their final products.

5 - When we got our new laptops, I was more than ready to get rid of my bulky computer tables and store the laptops on top of a few bookshelves I already had. The only problem was that the bookshelves are way too cluttered! Here's my easy, at school on my planning period fix. I made these quick bookshelf curtains using some leftover fabric from another classroom project, hot glue, and my flat iron!

Hop over to Doodlebugs Teaching to see what everyone else has been up to this week!

Tech Thursday: Kahoot!

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!

I am always on the lookout for a new way to assess my students informally.  Call me crazy but I just want to know if they know, and I want to know it rather quickly. But sometimes informal assessments can be the harder to actually design and implement than formal assessments. I will admit that I usually resort to using the same techniques over and over. I mean how many times can I really use whiteboards, exit slips, or thumbs up in a day? I find my kids getting bored and then I don't know if they know what I want them to know or if they have just tuned out. Hope you followed that...

Never fear...Kahoot! is here! Kahoot! is an awesome tool for informally assessing your students.  The exciting thing about Kahoot! is that it is a response system that can be used with any device that is internet ready. No longer do you have to have a specific set of "clickers" to play response games. Cell phones, tablets, laptops, Nooks, Kindles, and even desktops can be utilized. It is super easy to make and design quizzes or you can choose to use some of the public quizzes already made by other teachers.

How it works:  (click on the links for more info)

• Teachers display the Kahoot quiz on their SMARTboard, TV, or whiteboard via a projector.
• The Kahoot! game will display a specific game-pin made of a series of numbers such as 878908.
• Students open the internet browser on their devices.
• Students type in " kahoot.it" in the browser.
• Students are then prompted to enter in the game-pin (specific numbers displayed i.e. 878908).
• The game will then ask students to enter a nickname. 
• Nicknames will display on the projected screen as students sign in.

• Once everyone is signed in, the teacher starts the game.
• The students' devices are now their answer keys. 4 symbols and colors will be displayed on their devices.
• The questions and answers are given to the class via the projector.
• Students select the symbol and color to match the correct answer.
• The main computer will show the results of the order of answers.

Why it is fun:

• It is game-based technology so therefore right up our students' alleys.
• Students are playing against each other.
• Students are racing to be the first to answer and to be the leader on the leader board.
• Students must race to get the right answer.  There is a time set for each question.
• Students earn points for correct answers.

How it helps teachers:

• You can make a game for any subject. And they are easy to make!
• You can add pictures and videos to the game questions.
• There are already public quizzes and games made that you can browse through.
• It is a fun and easy way to informally assess students.
• Teachers can download game results to view and analyze later (just make sure your students have established nicknames).
• It is a blast to play!

Downfalls:

• It takes about 20-25 minutes to make a quiz of about 10-12 questions.
• You have to have some computers or technology to play or it is a no-go!

My school does not have a device for every student.  We do, however, have laptops and desktops.  I plan to use Kahoot! by pairing up the students.  Not the perfect solution but... still more fun than thumbs up!

For more information on Kahoot! Click HERE for a pdf that does a great job of explaining the program.

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