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Showing posts with label Websites. Show all posts

Bring Online Communication into the Classroom with Kidblog


Let's face it. We all love blogging! It is addicting, fascinating, and just plain fun to do!Why not let our students blog!? I found a site through working on my Action Research project for my classes that is just AMAZING! (If you don't feel like reading it all, their is a YouTube video at the bottom that I have made!)

Kidblog is a safe, secure site where students, teachers, and parents can blog. Everyone has their own individual password and the teacher is the one who sets everything up. Kidblog also gives your blog a unique URL so you can make it easily accessible. (You could just have it as a QR code!  It is a very similar set up to Blogger. When you make your account, you can add your students and print off parent codes. The teacher also controls what kind of access each person has. You can also control the comments that can be viewed. 

When each person logs in,they choose from a list which name they want to log in as. This was something I wasn't all too sure about because younger students are not as careful when choosing and the mouse tends to slip too. Usually on the sites we use, the students have an individual user name, but all the passwords are the same. Since they do not have to remember a username, I thought about using the generic password we often use at my school along with their mailbox number. This way if they do slip and accidentally hit the wrong name, they won't be able to log in because the mailbox number will still be different!
Once  you are logged in, the screen will show a list of all the posts available. The ones that are new are marked, I just don't have any new right now! A post I wanted to add to this list( and will add when I begin
to use it in my classroom) is a Help post. This would explain what to do when students are not
sure or they forget which button to push. The posts are actually student blogs of their own! Each student can also make comments on each others blogs. This is a great way to get students to talk about their story with more than one word answers, and everyone has the chance to get a say!
When students make their posts, the page is very plain. There are not a lot of distractions and absolutely no ads that will get them off the topic! I really like that the publish button is the only colored one. This way students will easily remember which one they will finish with! Before the post goes live, the teacher has the ability to approve it. This is a great way to make sure students are staying on topic. When I begin in my room, I am going to not approve posts that are not on topic. This way students will want to stick to the main idea so they get posted!


The teacher can add media files for students to use in their posts! They have three options when adding media: computer file, URL, or media library. Everyone can access the media library. This is a super fun way to get students introduced to adding pictures or videos to their work.
There are also several different themes you can you to make your blog a little cuter! KidBlog does not allow you to insert your own theme, you have to use the ones they have created, unless you wanted to upgrade to the paying version.

So why would you want your students to blog?
I was hoping you would ask! ( I have been working really hard on my AR project!) Blogging will not only create a meaningful learning experience for your students, but they will also be super engaged in the task! Students always want to get on Facebook like their older siblings or parents to talk to their friends. This gives them a safe way to do so! Students will want to do well on their blog posts because their friends will be seeing them. They will increase their writing skills, vocabulary, and get more familiar with using a computer keyboard. 
*Gonna get professional for a sec!*
Let's face it, technology is not going away. Students are going to have to know how to communicate properly online. They will have to be able to e-mail their boss, fill out resumes, and prove that they can be professional. I want to start forming those good communication habits early. When students are posting that they have graduated, their post should NOT look like this...

Does that make you cringe as much as it does me!?!
I have created a letter explaining blogging to parents! All you have to do is stick your name at the bottom! 
Want to know how to get started?! Well, I have that ready for you too! I'm super into this blogging in the classroom:)




Click here for the parent letter!!
I also had to make a video about blogging for my class, so here it is! It was my first one ever, so I was pretty excited about it!




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Techy Tuesday: Padllet



This week I wanted to blog about a website I learned to use last year during a Professional Development Course I needed to take.  The website/program is Padlet.  Have you ever used Padlet?






This is a video of one way you can use Padlet in your classroom.  I use Padlet in my classroom to ask the same question "Tell me what you learned today?".  I also have the students answer comprehension questions, I have my word wall on Padlet, I do a KWL chart on Padlet.

It is like an Online Post-it note site!  Best of all, this program is free!  Here is a link to my Padlet Word Wall Word Board!  My students use it to do various Word Wall activities with.  They love using the technology to find the words.
Crothersville Second Grade Word Wall Words

Do you use Padlet?  If so, how do you use it?  Do you have any creative ideas?  If you would like to link up your technology resources, we would love to see what you are using in your classroom (and how you are using them)!!  Link up Below!  Until next week, enjoy Padlet.



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Mystery Person Bingo

So last week was the last week of school. 
ahhh . . . summer break
HOORAY!!
To make the week less long, we played Mystery Person Bingo. Well it was going to be bingo..but it turned into a race to see how many you get right. 
I created a table on Word and started filling it in with facts I knew about my students! They absolutely LOVED trying to figure out which one was themselves first and then their friends. It turned into a race because I was not going to be able to shuffle the squares to make random cards! It would have taken wayyyy too long. Here is what I wanted to do though!
Print-Bingo.com - The world's best web based bingo card generator!
Click here to make your own (easy mixed up) Bingo card!
When you get to the site, there is a yellowish box in the middle. It says, " I've read enough, let me generate Bingo cards!" Click there!  The third bullet point  "custom bingo cards with your own words or phrases", will get you where you need to be! From there you have to click begin custom cards and then off you go! It looks set up like the same table you would find in Word. It will just randomize it better. 
Create a list of your student names and then you will be ready! When you pull the name out, students will write the name on the box they think goes with that person the best. 
Either way you play, your class will probably enjoy it as much as mine did!


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Comics



Through one of my classes this summer, I have discovered a really cool site! I haven't had a chance to use it in my room, since I just found it an hour ago, but I had to share!
Check it out here!
This is a fun site where students and teachers can make their own comic strips. It provides sooo many different clip arts and backgrounds. You can also add your own if they happen to not have what you want! The fact that it is easy to use is the best part.
Once you create an account, this is the screen you get. It has so many options of things to click! I am eager to find out what else I can do, but for now I figured out the comics! To get started, you click ToonDoo Maker.
It will open up a new window for you to start. The first step is to choose your layout. There are a lot of options to choose from. Then you can get started! You can add the clip art, backgrounds, and text to your comic. There are characters and props to add. You could also add your own doodles, if you are handy with the mouse! One thing to make sure of is that your browser is not full screen. In full screen, you will have a hard time seeing the buttons at the bottom, and there isn't a scroll bar! The buttons at the bottom are labeled, and the ones at the top tell you what they are when you hover over them with the mouse. 
Here is how my final comic turned out! The best part, I know there are a lot of best parts, is that for each character, you can change their emotion! The girl with the piggy tails on the phone originally had a WOW face, but I changed it to be happy with one click of one of the bottom buttons! I added the lamp, couch, books, computer, and steak from the props. The others are characters. There are so many awesome ways to use comics in the classroom! 
How would you use them?


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Field Day Fun!



Why is it that when you plan something outside, the weather isn't cooperative?  Today, the second grade classes was going to have field day outside.  Of course, we have all of these fun activities planned and parents want to come.  But, weather stood in our way.  Yesterday, we checked the weather map and decided it wasn't looking good.  Aimee and I made a decision to stay in doors on this cold and dreary day.  We decided to have a Technology Field Day!

We sent a letter home to parents about our decision.  The students could bring in hand-held devices of their choice.  We would spend the day playing and learning.  In the morning, the kids could have free choice of what they would like to play.  I saw some students playing educational activities!  We even had our classroom Promethean boards on and our ActiveTables on (these are portable promethean boards on wheels).

In the afternoon, the students worked with adjectives and technology.  Each student was given a piece of paper to lay on their desk.  Then, the entire class had to go around (scoot) from one desk to another and write an adjective describing that person on the paper (Of course, they couldn't duplicate any of the adjectives.).

When we were finished scooting, we went to the computer lab to do a word cloud of our adjectives.  We used the program Tagxedo to create our word clouds.  This is a website you can use to create word clouds (and it's free!).    Each child made a word cloud with the adjectives that was written on their piece of paper.  After making our word clouds, we printed them in color.  I will pass out the word clouds with our memory books at the end of the year (in 5 days!!)  for students to take home. Below are some pictures of our word clouds.

PS. Last year, I had my students make word clouds with their spelling words, word wall words, and Mother's Day, vocabulary words, etc.







photo CassSignature_zps303652d3.png
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Seating Charts

I love moving my room around! I do it at least once a month, if not more. Students love switching seats and sitting by new friends. This is where we have issues. We all those students who should NOT sit near each other, ever... right?!?  Of course you can take a lot of time planning out who will sit by who, but I found an awesome site that takes the work out of making a new seating chart!
Click here to check out the site!
HappyClassapp.com is a FREE automatic seating chart maker. It is perfect for the elementary teacher who only has one class. The difference between the free member ship and the paid one is that amount of classrooms you are able to have, which in most cases is one for elementary! You enter in the number of desks you want and in the arrangement you want them in.
It is set up on a grid system. For my tables, I try to keep a block in the grid apart so the program knows they are not actually next to each other.
Here is where it becomes easy! You can customize your class based on who they work well with, who they don't, if they need to sit near the front or back, or if they just need to stay where they are while the others move! When a student should not sit by another, use the broken heart. If they are ones who should be near one another, use the regular heart! You can change these through the school year based on who becomes best buds or who becomes a bully. 

This has saved me so much time over the school year in creating my seating chart. I stick it up on the Promethean Board and the kids love seeing who they are going to sit by!

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Lesson Plans


Ughhhhh LESSON PLANS. These may be the worst and most important thing involved with having a classroom.  We know what we want to do, why can't we just DO IT?! Well I guess planning is a great way to keep organized and on track. At the beginning of the year, since I was in a brand new grade, I had to figure out my schedule all over again. Luckily, I had Cass to help me out with this! Once I had my schedule, I had to figure out what kind of template to use for my lesson plans. There are just so many options! Should I use Word, Powerpoint, Excel, a premade template, buy one from another wonderful teacher on TeachersPayTeachers or what? Well after some searching(Thank you Pinterest!), I found an awesome site!
Planbook.com
It was a little confusing at first, but eventually I figured it out! This site gives you a thirty day free trial, you don't even have to give any card information to try it out!  When you sign up, you have to put your classes into the Planbook. 



 From here you can color code the subjects and put in the times you teach them. Everything you do through the day and week goes here. Specials, subjects, lunch, recess, getting ready to go home..all of it! Then you click back into the drop back menu and head over the templates. Templates are the words that will stay in your lesson plans that you won't have to write over and over and over because they will always be the same! Here is where I can list my groups and not have to list them everyday, I can also make a template for my recess duty day so I always have that reminder. This is also a great place to make very detailed plans for a sub! They will always be there and you won't have to stress about sub plans because they will basically be done, all you will have to do is fill in the blanks! I would soooo rather be at school than make sub plans!!!

After your templates are all set up, you are basically done! When you log in to Planbook, you will see your lesson plan page. From here you can click on the class and just fill in the blanks. You can also alter your template for the specific day if something different is happening. Altering the template from here will only change it for that day. All the other days will be the original template.


When you make a lesson, you also have the option of adding homework, the standards, and any notes you might need to recall. One of my favorite parts is that you can also attach files to the plans! If I attach a flip-chart at home, I can access it at school! It is so convenient! I can also extend lessons, bump lessons back or forward days, and adjust times if I need to. Bumping lessons are great for snow days, as we have discovered this winter! Extending lessons are awesome for Daily 5 when students are working through the same activities each day through the week. All I have to do is change the mini lessons for the day! Your plans can be printed from a PDF file so you can create them, then put them in your teacher binder if you want. I like to keep my plans up on my screen all day, it saves paper and space on my (already messy) desk! You can add events to keep track of special activities through out the school year too.

When I log into Planbook, I am able to see my whole week on one page. I love this!! I can plan my lessons for the whole week at one time! These are printable and you can download them as a PDF if you have to digitally turn lesson plans in. 

 If you get addicted to typing your plans like we did, you can get a year long membership for only $12.00. We think it is so worth it!!
To learn more about Planbook.com, check out their site. You won't be wasting your time! It is great!
Click here to find out more!


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