Five for Friday: Keeping Them Engaged!

The days are winding down to Spring Break and the kids definitely know spring is in the air! That means we work extra hard (even though we are exhausted too!) to keep learning fun and exciting! Here are some of the randomness that has been going on to keep us moving forward.

{one} 

This is from the The Literacy Teacher's Playbook, Grades 3-6: Four Steps for Turning Assessment Data into Goal-Directed Instruction. I have loved using this to kid watch during our Read to Self time! Thankfully the kiddos always stay engaged in their reading! :) Love it!

{two}

 Like my facebook page to get updates on free iPad apps! It's hard to find good apps for kids that are educational and free of ads, but when I find some fun/interesting ones for free I will share the info through my facebook page! 

{three}

Have you heard about Kahoot? Or am I the last one? ;) I heard about it on Wednesday and by Thursday we did it in class together! Tons of fun! check out my post here!

{four}

I have been handing these out to a couple kids every day. When I catch them doing something good I write a note about it to their parents on the back. There are a couple kids who need the extra encouragement and it has made a huge difference!
You can find the cards here. I print them four to a page. You can print them in color or in black and white on colored card stock!

{five}

Origami has become our other positive reward! I pulled it out one day when we came back from lunch pretty worked up. But, since it was so novel, they calmed down as they listened and followed along to make a cup, then the next day a dog puppet. Thursday afternoon during dismissal, we made the sonobe unit  to make the one with 12 pieces. Each kid made a piece and when I put it together they all were pointing out the one we made. We decided to keep making pieces until everyone can have one! Aren't they the sweetest! Not only is it fun, but they are learning how to listen to directions and building better spacial awareness, and starting to work on those first grade geometry standards (partitioning!) Plus, origami has always been one of my favorite past times! So we are all having a good time!

This year is really flying by! I can't believe we are nearing the end of March!
Linking up with Doodle Bug Teachings' Five for Friday! Be sure to see what other teachers are up to these days!

Do you Kahoot??

I had seen Kahoot on pinterest and maybe in a blog or two. It has been on my "check that out sometime" list, but I had never gotten around to it. Yesterday our technology specialist brought it to our attention and I decided to set up an account last night.

Best. thing. ever! 

Seriously, it is a perfect tool for formative assessments. Basically, the kids see the question on the smartboard and they answer the question on their device. You can use any kind of tablet, computer, etc to have the kids answer the question.

Sign up for an account at getkahoot.com. It took me less than 20 minutes to make a quiz or you can search through the thousands of kahoots already created. If you need help creating a quiz, there are lots of youtube tutorials out there, and they guide you step by step so it is really easy! I used some clip art and asked kids to choose the correct vowel team spelling of each picture.

So today I tried it out with the kids. We did it in a whole group with partners working together on the iPads. This morning, I opened up the website they use to answer the question (kahoot.it) on the iPads and saved it to the home screen. Now it is like an app on the iPad and they can easily click on the link to get to the site.

Then they type in a game pin and their usernames. We did initials since they were doing it with a partner. It took the first question or two for them to figure out how to answer on their devices, and a couple turns after that to realize if they took their time they would have a better chance of answering correctly. ;) It shows them immediately if they got the correct answer and then there is a graph that shows how many kids got the answer correct. At the end you can also download the data to google drive! 

We played the game twice to really get the hang of it, but the second time they were already typing in the game pin and their nicknames without needing any help! 

I told the kids we would do a new quiz together every day before spring break... if we were making great choices. ;) They were so excited! And now I have an engaging way to review all our third quarter learning before we go off for spring break. 

I'm looking forward to having this be a station activity sometimes too. This is a great tool to add some novelty and excitement into your daily routines! 

Have you used Kahoot before? What are some quizzes you have made?

Finding Good Apps for kids

iPads are a great tool in the classroom, but they need to be used effectively or I think the kids see it just as a toy and not a tool!

There are lots of ways to use iPads in the classroom, in all subject areas. I wrote about how I organize them and use them here. We are not 1-to-1 so we use them mostly during workshop time, but I love reading about how teachers with more iPads use them in their classroom too!

Anyways, it can sometimes be difficult to find good apps for kids that are FREE and don't have ads. When I find out about one I love, I am going to start posting a link at my facebook page. Be sure to like my page to stay up with great apps that have gone free! There is a free app posted there now! ;)

Go check it out! :)

Getting the Most Out of Your Classroom IPads

Whether you have a class set of iPads or just one, they are an effective tool that can promote independent learning in the classroom! Here are some tips/tricks/ideas to help your students learn lots during their iPad time!

1.Figure out a good way to manage your iPads:

*Number your iPads: I saw the idea on pinterest to number the iPads using the background screens. Once I did this my kids had a much easier time remembering what iPad they had been using for a story or game!

*Storing them safely:

I bought this organizer this summer that should hold them perfectly! I am excited to have a good place for the kids to put the iPads back when they are done. Get good cases too. That way your kids can move freely with them. I like the Otterbox or a SuperShell from M-Edge!

*Organize your apps: 

Make it easy for your kids to find games to play by keeping like apps together! You can either do a page for each category or make files for similar games

*Check your iPads often: 

Every couple of weeks I go through each iPad, download new apps on each one, and make sure that that no apps have been deleted or moved. 

*Set up Guided Access (Settings--General--Accessibility--Guided Access) for your special friends who might need a little help staying on task! ;) 

2. Find Quality, Free Apps:

There are some good free educational apps, but I would recommend downloading Apps Gone Free to find out when good educational apps go free. There are not ones listed everyday, but more often then not you will find some good ones that are well made and don't have any pesky ads. Most of my favorite apps for the kids have come from here! McGraw-Hill often has their apps go free! *UPDATE: I am now posting great apps I find on my facebook page! Go here to like the page and keep posted about new FREE apps! 

3. Decide about Restricted vs Free Play Time: 

Do you want your kids to practice skills and increase their knowledge? Give them a folder of games they can play during that time period. I have lumped games together by categories, mostly relating to my workshop schedule. I have Listening, Writing, and Word Study sections. During that station my kids have to choose a game from that folder. Or during math, I have Math Practice and Math Fun files because I have noticed that some math games are less about practicing skills and more going around in the maze or finding the gold coins. I want to make sure when they are using the iPads, they are getting the most academic practice time they can! 

BUT, at the beginning or end of the day, I usually let them have some free iPad time. Usually it is not random games, they are still somewhat educational, but more fun, so they are still practicing skills and learning even if they don't realize it! 

4. Find your Favorite Apps:

Beginning of the Year apps: Great Alphabet and Number Sense apps!

Teacher apps:

 

Math Practice Skills   

 

Math Fun: Still good practice, but more story lines so practice is spread out.

   

Listening: These are great read alouds for your kids to listen to. 

If you can get a subscription to RAZ kids, it will change your life! ;)

Word Study: Word Magic is a great phonics app! I also use a lot of the McGraw-Hill apps too, but they take up a lot of space so add them as I need them.

Toca Fun: I love this app developer! My kids love to play these during free time!

ABC Learning: These apps are fabulous for kids to learn vocabulary or do research. Some of the videos are silly, but a lot can be used for them to listen to get information and take notes.

5. Think outside the box: 

It's easy for iPads to become almost a "game station", but they can be such a powerful learning tool! My students used the ABC food app to research fruits and vegetables, take some notes, and then we made a class book about fruits and vegetables. Another favorite app was My Story and during writing time they could work on books. I was able to send the stories to their parents which was really fun too! They were able to develop typing skills, revising and editing stories. iPads can encourage creative thinking, motivate those reluctant learners, and is great for differentiating to all types of learners! 

Wish you had iPads? My school provided us with some last year, but in years past I was able to get two through donor's choose and am hoping to get one more too (I'm linking to my current project)!

Do you have any great tips or secrets to making iPads work effectively in your classroom? Please share them!

Did you survive this long post? ;) Head over to my TPT store to download a iPad Rules poster!