School Just Started–And I’m Already Behind

Today was the 3rd day of school and already I am behind!  Seriously, I haven’t blogged in a week, I am behind in my math lessons already – blahhhh!   Okay, vent over, I will catch up, I know it, I’ve been teaching for 8 years now and I know this too shall pass, but the beginning of the year can be so stressful!

Now, for the good stuff – since I have gotten so far behind, I have for you in this post: 2 free resources, a website suggestion, an IPad app suggestion and classroom pictures!  Here’s what I’ve been up to in my first 3 days of school:

The first two days, I introduced my kids to my classroom.  We reviewed procedures, procedures, procedures, of course, but we also started calendar, and got all signed up for our Edmodo accounts.  (Here’s that website suggestion I promised you.) Edmodo is a website that helps you monitor all of the technology and communication with your students.  I am using it to allow my students to complete their homework assignments online.  This website is amazing, and I promise to post later in the year (when things calm down) on how to use this to manage technology, assignments, homework etc. for your class.

Here are some pictures of my classroom this year:

  

Our tables – work and guided reading

 

  

Bookshelves and Organization

 

 

Ticket Out of the Door – Update your Facebook Status, someday I’ll get pictures added!  (Note to self – learn to print pictures from the IPad.)

 

 

Our Problem Solving Path – Should have my packets ready by this weekend if you are interested in downloading these.

 

   

Getting to Know You Activities – Grab the “My Numbers” page free from Google Docs.  It was nice to see students connect numbers to themselves!

For more pictures of my school – check out the Global School Tour at Global Teacher Connect.

One of the procedures we learned about was taking attendance.  We are using this super cool app called TeacherKit, which allowed me to upload pictures of my kids.  The kids come in, tap their face, and they are marked present.  Anyone not present gets two taps before I close attendance for the day.  Once a month, I e-mail my attendance to the office – it’s amazing!  There is also a section that allows you to make behavior notes (hello anecdotal notes!) or e-mail parents directly from the app – super sweet!  The best part – it’s FREE!

Today, we began our Vocabulary Packets.  I am super lucky to only have 7 students right now (3 fourth graders and 4 third graders), but within those 7 students, I have at least one student who falls in all 4 of my Vocabulary levels.  This week, we began working on our Back to School Vocabulary.  You can grab this differentiated packet for free at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Okay, my friends, that is all I have been up to in these first 3 days of school.  How are you spending the beginning of your school year?

Create an Interactive Board on Your IPad

I am super excited to have access to an IPad in my classroom this year.  There are so many aps that can be used as instructional tools and I want to explore them all.  So, each week, I will be spotlighting one ap that can be used in the classroom to enhance your learning.  Here is this week’s Learning Ap of the Week:

One Ap that I intend to use in my classroom is called Educreations.  It is very simple and easy to use, and it basically turns your IPad into an Interactive White Board.  You can insert pictures, write on the pictures, move pictures around, just like you would on your white board.  In addition, you can record your lessons.  When you press record, it records everything you say and do on your screen, building a video of your lesson.  These videos can be saved to show students later, or they can be embedded into your blog or website to show parents or absent students.  Here are some ways that I want to use this ap this year:

1.)  Work on the process of writing – I plan to insert a picture or a variety of pictures ahead of time, and then write a story about the picture(s) with my students.  We will record our brainstorming, drafting, editing, and revising together, saving each one separate.  Then, I will post those videos onto our class blog, so that students can go back and re-visit these concepts later.

2.)  Model homework and project expectations – Before assigning homework or projects, I plan to create a short video explaining the expectations (using screen shots of the pages needed).  I will then post these videos on our class blog so when students are at home, they will still have access to an explanation of the directions.

3.)  Give students a chance to explain their thinking – My class consists of mainly English Language Learners, who may have difficulty explaining their thinking.  I hope to use this program to let students walk through a math problem, recording their thinking out loud and writing on the problem at the same time.  Then, I plan to re-visit the recordings with the students, going over their thinking and filling in any needed vocabulary.

4.)  Build an interactive notebook – Rather than hanging anchor charts around my room, I plan to help my students build interactive notebooks with the information we build together as a class.  I plan to draw out anchor charts and graphic organizers on the IPad, using this ap and fill in the pieces with my class.  Then, we will print out the image we have created and glue them into the students’ notebooks for future reference.

I hope some of these ideas will help you use this Ap in your classroom.  Please stop by next week for more Learning Aps to use in your classroom.