Using Technology to Create Community

Recently, I announced that I will be presenting at the European Council of International Schools’ (ECIS) Technology conference on March 15th. My presentation is called Using Technology to Create Community, and you are welcome to look at the Power Point by clicking HERE. 

During the presentation, we will be talking about which websites can be used to create community for students.  However, we are also going to start by creating community among the teachers.  One of the best ways for teachers to create community amongst themselves is to share their thoughts on available resources.  I have compiled 15 websites that can be used to build community and I am asking the teachers at the conference to answer the following questions about each resource:

1.)  What grade levels is this site appropriate for?

2.)  What makes this a good community building website?

3.)  What are the benefits of this site?

4.)  What are the downfalls of this site?

 

The participants will fill in their answers on a Google Document, which has been set to allow everyone to edit it.  This will allow all of the participants to walk out with not only their thoughts, but the thoughts of others, all in one form.

After designing this presentation, I got to thinking.  There is a well developed teacher community right now in the “blogosphere”, and I’m sure that if we got together, we could create a similar document and help each other out.  So, I’m bringing the same 4 questions and the same Google Document to you.

In addition, I’m offering YOU a chance to receive the same Conference Goodie Bag that my participants will be receiving.  All you have to do is leave feedback on at least 5 of the 15 websites.  After you have left feedback on the Google Document, fill out the form below and you will be automatically entered to win the following goodie bag.

 

The websites we’re reviewing are:

www.docs.google.com

www.wallwisher.com – www.padlet.com

www.stixy.com

www.cacoo.com

www.todaysmeet.com

www.edmodo.com

www.mybigcampus.com

www.moodle.org

www.storybird.com

www.edu.glogster.com

www.livebinder.com

www.prezi.com

www.voicethread.com

www.edublogs.org

www.kidblog.org

 

You have until the day after the conference – March 16th to enter.  Then, on March 17th, I will send out the Conference Goodie Bag to 10 people, chosen randomly from all who participate.  I will also send everyone who enters a link to the completed Google Document, so that everyone can share from the collaboration.  Remember two minds are better than one!

 

Here’s the Goodie Bag you are entering to win – all donated by teacher bloggers, who work daily to increase our learning community:

Multiplication and Division Word Problem Task Cards - As the name implies, these task cards are a great way for students to practice reading word problems to try to figure out if they need to multiply or divide. Then they practice those computational skills!! 

from My Journey to the 5th Grade

 

Missing Subtraction Addends – A Differentiated Activity for Your Math Centers - This is a missing addends activity for grade 1/2 to practice missing subtraction addends differentiated for 3 different levels. The first level - yellow is subtraction facts to 10/The second blue and green are subtraction facts from 15 /The third - red is subtraction facts from 20.

from Tamma Trotti

Ultimate Forms Kit - The ultimate forms kit is perfect for helping you get organized for during the back to school season. This kit includes: ~forms that can help you plan and schedule activities/projects and class schedules ~contact forms ~student information sheet ~hall passes ~class information sheets ~reminder forms (for parents and students) ~missed homework forms ~communication log ~themed writing paper ~student interest survey ~a student reading interest survey and more! This kit is perfect for organizing classroom forms. This set coordinates with the Monster Themed Behavior Punch Cards (and other behavior forms). This item will be marked down until September 1st.

from The Not So Wimpy Teacher

Multiplication 0-12 Magic Square -   These multiplication magic square puzzles give students a fun and easy way for students to practice their multiplication.

 

 

 

from HoJo’s Teaching Adventures

 

 

End of the Year Classroom Awards - This file contains 30 full-color, fully customizable 8 1/2" X 11" award certificates. All fonts can be downloaded for free from www.kevinandamanda.com/fonts Awards incliude: Most Understanding, Hardest Worker, Neatest Worker, Fastest Runner, Boy/Girl Athlete, Most Cooperative. Best Reader, Best Speller, and more...

from Confessions of a Teaching Junkie

 

Problem Solving Task Cards - A total of 24 task cards that focus on solving both single and multi-step story problems such as those that will be seen on standardized tests. Great for math stations/centers, small group RTI instruction, problem of the day mini-lessons, math problem solving journals, and whole class assessment review.

from the Third Wheel

 

 QR Coordinate Graphing - Students will be amazing and engaged while practicing how to locate points on a coordinate graph. This activity will require a QR app from any smart phone. This can be used as a center, a whole group activity, or an assessment! Enjoy!

from Ciera Harris of Adventures of Room 129

 

 

 

 

Fraction Wars - Fraction Wars is played by first dealing out the whole deck of cards evenly among the players. Everyone flips over a card at the same time and compare their fractions. The person with the highest valued fraction wins all the cards in that round. Each card has a colored picture representing the fraction, the fraction in words, and the fraction represented with a numerator and denominator. Great for partners, small group, and math centers! Great activity that have been classroom tested and has had positive results.

from Miss Math Dork

 

Problems with Pets - 20 full color task cards – mixed operations word problems with a pet theme (2 sets of 10 – different problems in each set) plus 4 open-ended fact cards for students to create their own word problems. (includes multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, measurement, fractions, area, perimeter) 20 black and white plain templates of the same (for those who prefer a simpler look or for Math journals). Student answer booklet for task cards. 4 pages (12 problems) of mixed operation word problems in a more “grown-up” format. (different problems from those on task cards) The Fantastic Aquarium Project – open-ended problem solving activity.

from Fun in the Fours

 

QR Code Task Cards for Mean, Median & Mode - Students practice putting numbers in numerical order and than computing the mean, median, and mode for the given set of numbers with this set of 32 task cards. Cards can be completed all at once or only a few at a time using the answer sheet to record which have been completed and which still need to be done. Once they have solved the problem, they use a device to scan the QR code to self-correct their work. (Note: You must have a device (iPad, Smartphone, iPod, etc) that has an app which can scan QR codes) Cards can be printed in black and white or color.

from Mrs. Lyon

 

Affiches des Codes pour taper les Accents Francais - Cute and colourful set of 6 printable posters to use in your FSL class room, library, computer lab, or anywhere students will be typing in French. Includes all 5 vowels with lowercase and uppercase accent codes as well as the letter c.

from Madame Aiello

 

 

 

Telling Time to the Hour and Half Hour Bingo - This bingo game focuses on telling time to the hour and half hour. It includes 24 bingo cards and each card is 3X3. There are 2 different types of caller's cards included (analog and digital).

 

 

from Diving into Learning

 

 

Mystery Unit - This is a complete unit. The kids learn a lot while having a great time and learn using puzzles.  This is a large file. In the file you will find: * 50 riddles, one per page to print out and hang around the room * a student paper to record answers for the 50 riddles * teacher answer key for the 50 riddles * application for a "detective agency" allows kids to practice filling out forms * detective badges for students to earn upon admission to the "detective agency" * a detective worksheet on dictionary skills * an interest inventory to use to create clues about each student (this will be used for the silhouette activity) * a list of ideas for a mystery unit * an "official" search warrant for groups to search for their "prize" * puzzle clues and answers...you will need to make them fit your environment * a secret code worksheet * a certificate to be given at the completion of the unit * a teacher badge to hang beside or on the door * a SMART Notebook file containing: * 16 coin clue puzzles * a silhouette activity * 24 sudoku puzzles (8 each of easy, medium, and hard) * 6 logic puzzles (2 each of easy, medium, and hard) * 5 online mystery websites.

from Joy Hall of Joy of Teaching

 

 

Earth’s Material Glog Project – Research project where students choose an earth's resource to research.
There are questions in this project to help guide their research. Students should use books, kid-friendly search engines and websites to complete their research. Once students have completed their research, they will create a glog using the website http://edu.glogster.com.

from Raki’s Rad Resources

 

Creating Simple Machines with Junk

Who knew that a pile of junk could create such an inspiring science lesson?  A bunch of the teachers at my school keep a pile of random junk – toilet paper rolls, cereal boxes, water bottles etc.  We have used this junk to create a variety of things this year, but this project was one of the best! 

  After our week of reading about and studying simple machines, we took a class to create simple machine out of the junk.  It was a great way for my students to think about the elements of the simple machines and how they come together.  The students worked together as groups and were able to create all 7 simple machines, using some interesting creativity.  Here are two examples of their gears:

                

How do you use the “junk pile” in your classroom?

 

 

 

 

Peer Editing with Sticky Notes

This year, my class is spending 6 weeks on each of our writing genres.  We recently completed our 6 week study of folktales, and now we have begun our 6 week study of informational writing.

At the end of each unit, my students take a class or two to peer edit.  Each student gets 3 sticky notes with a + sign and a – sign written on each.  The students pair up and read each others writing.  Then, the students give each other a GLOW (+) and a GROW (-).  They repeat this process with a total of three classmates.  Then, before students meet with me for their official conference, they take each others suggestions and make corrections on their work using colored pencils.

This peer editing process helps students work on the skills of constructive criticism, editing, revision etc.  Students are also more cognizant of their own mistakes after they have seen the mistakes of others.

How do you use peer editing in your class?

My Word Wall Exploded!

Why is it that I never plan my word wall correctly?  It doesn’t matter what kind of word wall I create, halfway through the year it looks so off balanced!

Last year, my 1st grade sight word and word family word wall was huge, but of course the S and C sections overtook all of the others.  When I took it down, I promised myself I would remind myself to make that section larger the next time that I created a word wall.  But, of course I forgot!

This year, I created a word wall to collect the vocabulary words that we come across in the variety of books we read through guided reading and novel studies.  I love having the words all together, and the kids get to look at the words from books that the other groups read, as well as use it to find the words that they read in a variety of books.

Of course, the S and C sections have exploded again.  Here’s what they look like:

  

How do you prevent your word wall from exploding?

Coordinate Graphing iPad App

My new favorite iPad App is Geometry Pad.  It’s a great app for working on coordinate graphs, perimeter, area, and even negative numbers.

This week, my class connected the iPad to our projector and and projected the main screen onto the board (where I had handily taped a piece of chart paper).  I traced the main axis onto the graph paper, and then the kids used the projected graph paper to find the coordinate graph points for their hearts. (My way of integrating Valentine’s day, lol!)  Then, when we turned off the projector and voila we had a coordinate graph.   

Student Created Live Binders

Recently, I announced that I will be presenting at the European Council of International Schools’ (ECIS) Technology conference. My presentation will be called Using Technology to Create Community. I will be sharing websites that can be used to create community and I have a special way I’d like to get all of the teachers in the “blogosphere” and beyond to truly show those at the conference what a global community can do for teachers and students. I’ll have more details on this next week - February 27th. In the meantime, each week, I will be sharing with you all some of the websites I will be discussing in my presentation.

My students have recently started using this week’s website.  They are researching a scientist and then using Live Binder to present the information they have found.  Live Binder is a website where students create binders with tabs.  Each tab can include text, pictures, videos and links.  The tabs are a great way for students to learn how to segment their information.

Once the students finish their Live Binders, they will be reading each others’ Live Binders and leaving them comments.

Be sure to stop by next week for the big conference collaboration and giveaway opportunity!

5 iPad Apps for ESL/ ELL Students

As a teacher at an International School, many of my students are English Language Learners. Even my native English speakers are living in a non-English speaking country. Due to my unique teaching position, I have had some readers ask for tips on teaching English Language Learners. Here is this week’s Tuesday TESOL Teaching Tip:

ELL Teaching Tip of the Week: Use iPad Apps

Technology can be a great way of providing English Language Learners with additional language models and vocabulary activities.  In my classroom, my English Language Learners are each designated 15 – 20 minutes a day of iPad English time, where they take the iPad and work on designated apps to improve their vocabulary and listening skills.  Here are 5 of the apps we use:

1.)  Action Words - This app provides students with 4 pictures and a tells them an action word to tap.  It has a great variety of different action words including things like: stretching, exercising, climbing etc.

 

2.)  USA Learns – There are actually 4 apps in this series.  Each app has 5 units, which progress through a variety of topics that are important to English Language Learners.  Students get introduced to the vocabulary words and then get quizzed on the same vocabulary.

 

3.)  ListeningMasterLite – In this app, students spin the wheel to choose a topic.  After they choose a topic, they will listen to a brief listening section on that topic.  Then, they will be asked questions about their topic. 

 

4.)  Comparative Adjectives - This app provides students with 2 or 3 pictures and a tells them to touch the _____ object, using a descriptive adjectives. It has a great variety of different adjectives including things like: angrier, thicker, straighter etc.

 

5.)  TalkPath Listening – This app works on objects and sentences, using pictures and words to describe and quiz students.

 

What apps do you use with your English Language Learners?

Do you enjoy the weekly TESOL Teaching Tips? Would you like to view an hour long presentation on this topic? I recently presented on Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners at the Everything’s Intermediate Expo. Now you can grab the presentation for just $3.95 from Teacher’s Notebook.


Find more TESOL Teaching Tips here, and come back every Tuesday for a new tip!

Capturing the Energy of the Sun with UV Beads

My class has been working on machines and energy, so we read a great book called Energy – Make Things Happen.  It’s a great book that explains potential (stored) and kinetic (moving) energy in a very kid friendly way.  It also talks about how all energy comes from the sun.  This concept, however confused my kids a little and one student kept asking how the sun was touching the grass in order to make it grow.  My best explanations weren’t helping, and then I realized that I had a tool to show it to him.  Stuck on a shelf in my classroom – left over from one of my son’s birthday parties – were some UV beads.  These handy little beads turn color only when hit by the sun’s rays. 

So, as an impromptu add in to my lesson (don’t you love when that happens – throw the lesson plans right out the door!) we made necklaces with the UV beads.  Indoors, all of the beads are white and don’t look like anything special.

Then, we headed outdoors, on a rare cloudly day.  (We’re in Morocco, where the sun shines almost every day.)  Even with the clouds, the minute we were outside in view of the UV rays, the beads began to change color.  The kids were so excited, and we were able to have a discussion on how the sun’s light can travel through air, transferring it’s energy to the grass, which then transferred it to a dinosaur, which died and transferred it to a fossil fuel, which we then transfer into energy to move our car.  The sun starts all energy! 

How have you used UV beads in your classroom?

Whole Group Time–What’s your percentage?

My husband is currently getting his Master’s Degree, in hopes of becoming a certified teacher.  I was helping him with some of the activities in his classroom management class the other day, and I realized that many of the strategies were geared for a class where the teacher is at the front of the room instructing all day.  Then, it occurred to me that my room almost never actually looks like this, so I sat down to figure out the percentage of my day that is spent with me talking to the whole class.  Here’s my schedule.  I have approximately 4 hours of classified teaching contact time with my students a day, which means about 20 hours of classified teaching contact time a week. (Of course we all know teaching also happens in all those in between moments, but I’m just being literal here.)

8:30 – 9:45 – Small Group Math/Independent Math:  My students work on independent math activities – calendar books, problem solving path, math websites, etc. while I pull small groups of students to instruct them at their instructional level.  Occasionally,  I will use this time to do a fun whole group activity, but I’d say that is about once every two weeks or so.  (8% of the week spent whole group if I use one day each week, 4% if it’s every other week)

9:45 – 10:00 – Minute Math Tests & Calendar Review: My students take their 1 minute Math Fact Tests and then review the day’s calendar book page.  In the beginning of the year, I led calendar myself, but now calendar is led by one of my students.  Still, I’m pretty involved, so I’ll note this 15 minutes as a whole group section.  (4% of the week spent whole group)

10:00 – 10:15 – Snack & Recess

10:15 – 12:15 – Small Group Reading/Novel Studies/ Independent Reading Activities:  My students work on independent reading activities – vocabulary packets, independent reading, responding in their reading response journals, word work, projects, etc.  Then, I pull them for guided reading or novel study with me.  They also go out for 30 minutes of French and 30 minutes of Arabic during this time, each at different times depending on their Arabic & French levels.  Overall, this whole time is never spent as a whole group activity.  (0% of the week spent whole group)

12:15 – 1:15 – Lunch & Recess

1:15 – 1:45 – Daily Language Review, Grammar/Writing Mini-Lesson:  This is definitely a whole group section of my day.  We work together to build grammar rules, which is especially important to my ELL students.  (13% of the week spent whole group.)

1:45 – 2:30 – Content or Writing:  Once or twice a week, we use this time to do whole group, hands on content activities that work with our unit.  The rest of the time, this is independent writing time for my students, with me conducting one on one writing conferences with students as needed.  I also use this time to pull students for one on one conferences on blog posts and storybirds – which are ways my students practice writing for homework.  (8% of the week spent whole group if I use one day each week, 16% if it’s two days each week)

2:30 – 3:15 – Enrichment (art, music, drama, P.E.)

3:15 – 3:30 – Read Aloud – Definitely whole group, this is the time of the day we read a book together and I model reading strategies.  (4% of the week spent whole group)

These totals mean that I spend between 31% and 45% of my week in whole group activities – that’s less than half.  Of course these total are going to differ, with more time spent on whole group at the beginning of a unit and less at the end etc., but still here’s my question.  If we are only teaching teacher candidates about classroom management strategies for the time spent during whole group activities, what are they supposed to be using for the 55 – 69% of the day that isn’t whole group?  I’d love to see part of classroom management classes be spent on specific strategies for teaching independent work habits, for managing rotations and checklist formats, for strategies that turn teachers into a facilitator etc.

What percentage of your week is spent in whole group activities?

Language & Literacy Week Recap

This year I am the luckiest teacher in the world. I get to teach at the best school ever – International School of Morocco, with some of the best, most creative, teachers ever. Each time I walk into someone else’s classroom, I get inspired and we just seem to spiral great teaching ideas off of each other. It’s a wonderful place to teach, and since we are all collaborating, it’s a wonderful place for our kids to learn – a teacher’s dream, right? I have tried and tried to convince the other teachers to create blogs of their own to spotlight and share some of their amazing ideas, but everyone is super busy. Instead, they have each agreed to let me spotlight some of their ideas right here on Raki’s Rad Resources. So, each Friday night, I will be posting an ISM Spotlight.

First, let me apologize for my absence this week.  It’s been a very busy week at ISM, with Language and Literacy Week and the beginning of MAP testing, so I’ve not had a lot of time to sit down and write.  Then, I compounded the week by catching the virus my husband and son have been passing around my house!

Anyways, this week’s ISM spotlight is an overall school spotlight.  At least once a trimester, we have activities that bring out entire school together with a school-wide focus.  In October, we came together for Heritage Week, to learn about the countries that we come from.  This week, we came together to focus on the words we read and speak and the languages we read and speak them in, with Language and Literacy Week.

Here are some of the things that were included in this wonderful week:

Each morning, the whole school came together for a story or two.  We had stories read in the three languages the students learn at ISM – English, French and Arabic.

 

On Monday, the students and teachers came to school dressed as their favorite book character.

 

We also created a graph of the letters in our first names.

 

On Tuesday, the students lined up to make the letters ISM for International School of Morocco.

 

We created a list of the languages spoken by the students at ISM, and we added them to our Map of ISM – created during heritage week.  We already had our pictures with lines to the countries we came from, now we also have the languages we speak.

 

Throughout the week, parents came in to share stories from their home languages.  Students heard stories in French, Dutch, Korean and other languages.

 

Everyone spent the week reading their favorite books.  Students, teachers, and others were “caught reading” and added to our I Got Caught Reading board at the entry to our school.

Come back next Friday to find out what the ISM teachers are up to.

Art Gallery App Brings African Masks to Life in My Classroom

My class has just finished up our unit on the continent of Africa.  For part of our final project, my kids created an African style mask.
We started by viewing real African masks by using the Collections App.  This is a free app that allows you to view artwork from all over the world.

Then, we designed our own masks, using recycled items from our schools collection of “stuff”.  The kids each chose a box (the shoe boxes worked best) and used masking tape to attach their selected pieces.

Next, we paper machied our mask frames and let them dry.

Finally, we painted our masks and added string and feathers for details.



Tomorrow, we will be reviewing each other’s masks with this simple critiquing rubric – grab your free copy from Google Docs.

Download the step by step directions for this project from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  Also available at my store are the Glogster Project my class completed and the Power Point presentation we used to take notes on each region of Africa.