Meet the Teacher Night

Hey everyone, so it's my first "official" meet the teacher in 7 years! What a thrill. I met some wonderful students and parents tonight. I know this is going to be a great year. We'll learn a lot and have a lot of fun.

I haven't posted in awhile, been busy getting everything ready for tonight.  I thought what can I share?! As I was talking to my parents some were unfamiliar with the Remind service that I use which is FREE. I thought maybe there are teachers out there who still haven't been exposed to Remind.

Remind, formerly known as Remind 101, is an amazing application that allows teachers to communicate with parents via text message. Before you panic, they don't get your cell number and they can't reply to text messages (you know those annoying group texts that go wrong, very, very wrong). However, some wacky teachers (like me) do give families, in time, my cell number.  However, Remind gives me a way to send one big group text to parents to TA-DA Remind them of things. You can even write up the messages and schedule them to send out. This is great for upcoming events!

There are two ways to sign up: online or with the app. Yep, there's an app for that.  Just sign up for an account, all you need is an email address.  Once you sign up, you'll name your class and Remind sets up the code for you.  You can either print the PDF they supply or take a screen shot of the visual directions to put in your welcome back letters! This is very much like when you sign up for Payless Shoe discount or Redbox deals to come straight to your phone.

Parents will text the unique code Remind gives you to a phone number (not your cell) and they are added to the group. Once added, any message you send they will receive. I mainly use the app to send messages; however, you can do it online at Remind.com too.

Here are some ways to use the Remind in your class:

• remind parents of upcoming tests
• remind parents of upcoming events like field trips
• remind parents of holidays or early release days
• send links to your spelling lists or newsletters
• send probing questions to ask their students (ex: Ask your student to tell you what they remember about Thurgood Marshall tonight.)
• send a math problem for them to solve together
• send a string of letters for a boggle type challenge

Communication is so very important between home and the classroom and this is an easy way to make that happen. Also, it's FREE so what are you waiting for?! 

Okay, so I know you had a question like 4 paragraphs back that was HOW DO YOU TAKE A SCREEN SHOT?! Well, on a PC you can just press the screen shot button. It will take a picture of your entire screen.  It goes directly to the clipboard.  Open the document you want to insert the Remind information. Paste it in your document and then crop the picture to the important information.  On a Mac, press both the command + shift keys and tap on the #4 key. Your cursor turns into a target looking symbol. You can let go of the keys and then drag the target symbol to the area you want to capture.  This will create a file on your desktop called ScreenshotXXXX (the X's are the date and time of the screen shot). Insert this file into your document and resize to fit.

I'll share more soon! Get pumped up and enjoy the last few days of summer vacation!

StoryBots

Of course you've seen StoryBots! This isn't anything new to you, or is it? If it is I won't tell.  Read more about how you can integrate this amazing tool in your classroom.

What's great about StoryBots for the teacher is that it works online and it has apps for the iPad. StoryBots also does FREE educator accounts. Click the Educator link on their site and fill out the form to qualify to get free access to their StoryBots Educator Network of stories and apps.

What's great about StoryBots for kids, especially the littles, is that they can add themselves as a StoryBot in their very own story. How awesome is that? You can add characters as the teacher and they can choose who will "star" in their story or video. There are multiple stories and videos to choose from online like: The Alphabet Wrangler, Monster Mayhem, A Princess Perfect Day, Shapes, and Animal Songs.

The fun doesn't end there though. StoryBots also has engaging learning videos, ABC videos, and activity sheets.

Now let's get to the FREE apps!

These first few apps are available also on their web service.

StoryBots Starring You Books: There are 42 Premium books (that means you need that Educator login) otherwise you can only create the one free book.  Click Login. The library pops up just like online and you have access to these books where students can be the "star".  Click the green down arrow to download the book onto your device.  TIP: Download the book before you want the students to use it; otherwise, they could spend their entire station time waiting for the book to download. Under the settings > books there is a button to download all the books.

StoryBots Starring You Videos: This works the same way as Starring You Books. Simply login and you will have access to all the videos in three categories: Shapes, Animal Songs, and Classic Songs. Click the purple arrow to download the video and put your character in the video. There is no setting to download all the videos so make sure you have the videos downloaded before placing it in a station. However, I can see myself using these for brain breaks in my 2nd grade classrooms.

Learning Videos: This app takes awhile for my iPad mini to load. However, like ABC they are the learning videos on their website. Some are free and you have to login with your educator account to unlock all the videos at once. The videos are engaging with catchy tunes in different styles of music.


ABC Videos: Tap on the beginning screen to make this app go. It will start with the first letter and move you right through. You will get a video for A, B, and C free. Use your educator account to unlock all the other letters at once. There is a pause and share button at the bottom. Just tap the screen and these appear at the bottom. This is something fun to use whole group at first with your video adapter. At first glance, you think this is only appropriate for PK and Kinder. However, how great would it be to have 1st and 2nd graders listen and see how many "A" words they can identify and write in the "A" video!


The following apps are app only and not on their web service.

Math Racer: Students go through tracks in multiple levels practice their addition facts. Each level has about 4 facts and they must complete a level before unlocking the next ones. Students earn trophies and can choose their medals when they finish a track or level. The game has settings like color and difficulty level. The settings are for each character so this is a great way to differentiate.  The Beginner level has kids completing the most basic facts (ex: 2+2). The Intermediate levels moves them up to larger numbers (ex: 10 + 10). The advanced level had them regrouping in the teens (ex: 17+18) and finally the Smarty Pants level is also regrouping with larger numbers (ex: 28+26).

Share Timer: This is an iPhone app, but will work on your iPads. This is truly awesome. First you login of course. Then you choose which characters you want to add to your share timer. The share timer puts all the characters on screen. Choose the time each person gets to share. The app chooses who starts, who goes next, and then counts their share time down as a colored bar goes up as a visual indicator as well! Where has this been all my life? Tapping on the screen will let students go to the next turn, restart a turn, resume a turn, or end.

Memory Match: First, you guessed it - login with your educator account. Choose which level you want, 8, 12, or 24 cards. Start matching. The game randomly puts your characters into different hats or costumes and you try to make a memory match. Easy enough!

Coin Flip: This is an iPhone only app, but will install on an iPad.  Here only two kids can flip at a time, but the winner of that flip can then flip with another student (character). The coin is cute because it has their faces on the sides.

Tap and Sing for iPad: This is a cute app where you don't need to log in unless you want more songs! This works like a piano except the keys are bots and you can change what they "sing". You can select songs at the bottom and hit the bots that light up to play the tune. Very cute.

StoryBots Christmas:

StoryBots Halloween:

Beep & Boop:

Kids Radio for iPhone:

Kid Quoter:






Now for the good news!! Want to get started now and not wait around for your educator account to go through? Sign up to get 30 free days with Premium access! Visit the site http://www.storybots.com/summer and use the promo code summer14

Reading Log +

Do you have students fill in Reading Logs? What goals do you set? Do they turn them in at the end of the week or end of the month? A reading log is basically just a way to keep up with how many minutes, pages, and books your students are reading. This amazing app works for you in your classroom or for parents to keep at home. It's fairly simple to set up, set goals, and send reports straight to you, the teacher.

The app is called Reading Log + from Jump Gap Software. It's a paid app for $1.99.

Once you install the app you can add different readers (students) and they can add their books, set their goals, and track their reading.

ADDING READERS

From the front page, click the + sign on the top right corner. Add the name, picture, goal setting start day, and report email. Give parents your email and they can put your email here and send you reports as often as you'd like! You can change these settings at any time by clicking the blue cog below their picture.

ADDING BOOKS

Notice at the bottom there are 3 icons: Library, Goals, and Reports. Let's first add some books.  Click the Library icon. Click the + sign at the top right of the page. From this point there are various ways to add a book: scan book, search, browse, and manual entry. You can add books from your library or reading list.  Students can also add the books they are reading. Whichever way you decide, you MUST add the books to your library BEFORE students can start tracking their reading.

MODIFY GOAL SETTINGS

You can delete and add goals. There are 4 preset goals: minutes per month, minutes per week, pages per month, pages per week.

MODIFY REPORT SETTINGS

You can delete and add reports. There are 4 preset reports: last month's reading, last week's reading, this month's reading, and this week's reading.  However, when you actually get ready to compile and send a report you can modify some of the report settings there as well. 

TRACKING READING

Once you have added your readers they can start tracking their reading. The reader can click on their name and they will see the bullseye to set goals and an add book icon. Click the Add Book icon to add any book from the Library. Multiple books can be added at once. Scroll through the icons at the top to scroll through goals, books, and reports. 

Click the Add Goals and choose which goal you would like to track. Readers can track minutes weekly or monthly or pages weekly or monthly. If you have set other goals they can choose those from the list.

Readers can then choose the book they are going to read. They can also do their tracking after they have read. To track a book, edit your start page and ending page and save it. You can also track minutes in three ways. Scrolling up the reader will see the time settings. Scrolling to the side readers can  set a timer up to 120 minutes, a stopwatch, or manual entry. Once the reader has entered their time click save.  If they go back to goals they will be able to see their progress in a bar graph.

Once the week or month is over, the reader can then send you a report via email. You can look at saved reports from this screen as well. Select the time range can also be set to include custom date ranges. Click the report options you'd like to include, then click create report. You will be able to see the report on this screen. Click the share icon on the top right and choose Send Email. It will email whatever email you set in the reader settings when you added them. To change emails, click the blue cog on the main page under the reader's picture.

This app makes it easy and gets rid of the paper! It is also a great way not just to keep a reading log for participation and/or homework purposes.  This is a great app for classroom reading contests too.

How would you use this app in your classroom?

Welcome Back Trifold Brochure

Hi Teachers! Happy Tuesday. :)

Well today I spent hours on my welcome back brochure. I haven't done this in so long, but now that I'm back in the classroom I need to come up with something that I thought was professional, communicated all the important details, and was something I could use year after year.

I created this brochure with Apple's Pages built in template and found all the clipart online. I love the way it turned out and it folds perfectly!  I exported a copy to a Word document and posted it on my TPT store if you want to do a brochure this year. I deleted the text specific to me so you can add your own flair. If you want the Apple's Pages version, comment below with your email address and I can send it to you.  Here are some thumbnails of my finished product so you can see my clipart choices.

Tips:

• Print front to back with SHORT EDGE BINDING
• If you need to do a screen shot (like my Remind 101 picture) on a MAC do Shift+Command+4. Your cursor will turn into a target with a gray circle in the middle. Simply click and drag over what you want to save. Most likely your screen shot will be saved as "screen shot date&time" on your desktop.
• View in layout mode so you can make sure everything prints.
• If you don't have my fonts, it's okay just use what you have.  Here I used KB Dunk Tank for the title and Gill Sans for the text with a 1.1 spacing. 
• The 2nd grade rocks clipart came from: http://www.fsusd.org/Domain/1385
• In Pages, I masked my picture with a callout (in Pages with picture selected, choose Format > Mask with Shape > Callout. Then you can use the squares and blue dots to modify the callout to fit your needs.

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Using ActivExpressions for Math Fact Fluency

ActivExpression2

At our school, students can arrive 30 minutes before the actual school bell rings. Mostly, they sit outside our rooms in the hallway and read books. Talking is highly discouraged! They are mostly too sleepy anyway to talk - who isn't at 7AM? When our new campus technologist started, he gave me the greatest idea for practicing math fluency with my students. He said that his students used the Activexpressions to practice their multiplication facts.

Immediately I went to work showing my students how to take a self-paced test. This is great for math minutes or mad minutes.  The great thing about making these self-paced tests is the software, ActivInspire, generates the questions for you! You don't have to copy/paste or type in any of the math facts.

Generating questions allows you to do the following:

• choose the numbers for the math facts (0-9 for 1st, 0-10 for 20, etc.)
• choose the operation for the math facts
• add as many or as little math facts
• set the time
• set feedback for correct or incorrect answers
• randomize the question set

What it won't do is level the questions for you. That is up to you, and honestly not particularly necessary for these tasks.

Once you start the assessment, you can see how quickly the students are progressing and if they are getting the answers right or wrong.  Students don't all have to start the assessment at the same time, they can just begin when they arrive. When the school bell does ring, simply stop the assessment and don't worry if they didn't finish.  

You can save the results to look through them later. This is especially helpful for making groups or seeing which fluency facts are being missed the most.

Tips:

• assign devices to students so they use the same device each time (most just number them)
• have them in a place where they are easy to access when the students arrive
• ask your technologist to install the ActivInspire software on a classroom computer to free up your laptop or computer you use
• start with easier facts and move up to more difficult ones
• add more problems as the year goes on
• don't make a new test for every day, remember the facts are asked randomly
• use the feedback and have students make flash cards with the facts they got incorrect

If you've made it this far, you are probably thinking GREAT! now tell me how to do this.  Well, here is a link to a great handout from Grapevine-Colleyville ISD. Check out their resources wikispace for more great and concise handouts. 

Have fun! Let me know how it goes.

Big List Literacy Apps

This is the big list of Literacy Apps that I shared at the TCEA Tots conference in 2014 and the district Tech conference in August 2014. 

Spelling City - create a free teacher account and upload your spelling and vocabulary lists; students then can access these lists and play games to learn their words

Quizlet - amazing digital flashcard, the matching is awesome...but also gives a way for students to learn and study

Pocket Sand - virtual sand for the students to write their letters, numbers, etc. without the mess of real sand; this app is no longer available on the U.S. store BUT I found an alternative: SAND ART

Little Writer Pro - Pro version NOT FREE! $1.99 Students learn to write ABC (upper and lower) also includes numbers. Students can learn shapes, words, and phonics all in this one app! Little Writer FREE

RAZ Kids - also you need a subscription for RAZ kids (runs about $69-$99 depending on the other services you purchase) Set students reading level, students can do running records and sight word assessments right from the app!

Grammar - Contractions - NO LONGER FREE 99¢ students make contractions by tapping the letters that need to be removed

Sentence Creator -  students make up to 4 word sentences using this Bitsboard family app

Opposite Ocean - 99¢ students locate and collect pearls for selecting the correct antonym

Grammar Wonderland Primary and Elementary - these are the LITE versions, but there are paid versions that go free a lot. These are great: explore nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Textropolis and Chicktionary - students build words with a given set of letters. 

LetterBook FREE and Wet Dry Try $6.99 - these are great handwriting apps for students still struggling to make their letters. These are great to share with parents.

Bitsboard and Bitsboard Spelling Bee - use these to study vocabulary and sight words. You can create your own boards and you use IMAGES!! This is an amazing free app.

Big List Math Apps

This is a list of Math Apps I shared at Tech & Tots Conference in Galveston 2014 and also at the district Tech Conference August 2014.

Fluency Apps these apps are great for station work. All of the apps here have students practicing math facts (addition and subtraction).

Mad Minute iOS Mad Minute Android : I have students do the Mad Minute 3x before moving on to any other Math apps. Make sure you pick appropriate levels for your grade. I have students write their missed facts on 1/3 index cards and put it in a ziploc bag called their Fact Fluency bag. They can bring these to small group instruction and you can see what they are missing.

Math Duel HD Math Duel Android : Play one or two players. Players have settings you can put on an index card so they keep the settings you want. Add, subtract, multiply, and divide with this app. You can choose the highest number for the answer and even if you want more than one term in their number sentence. 

HyperBlast, Math Zombies, Math Monsters Bingo: These fun and engaging games are not only “arcade” style games, but also increase student fluency. They want to beat their previous scores and start to compete with themselves. AMAZING. 

10 Frame Fill, Quick Images, and Number Rack: These three apps work on fluency using 10 frames, 5 frames, 20 frames, dot cards, rekenreks, etc. I introduce these apps in small group instruction and then students can work on these things in stations.

Practice Apps these apps are great for all types of instruction (stations, small group, and whole class). These apps practice various skills that aren’t related to fluency.

Numbers, Pizza Fractions, Todo Math, BT Number Board LITE, Bills&Coins, Coins, CyberChase Shape Quest, Concentration: All these apps are pretty self explanatory. However, they cover things like skip counting, 2D and 3D shapes, Fractions, and Money.  I have tons of apps for reviewing practice skills and I will add more and more to this blog.

Whole and Small Group Instruction these apps are great for introducing concepts and using with small group instruction. If you are like me, you are always looking for the right manipulative so let’s go VIRTUAL!! :)

Geometry and Fractions - Geoboard, Pattern Blocks & Fractions by Braining Camp

Place Value (Base 10 Blocks) - Number Pieces (This version has a ruler for beginning number line) Number Pieces Basic (just base ten with different colors - NO RULER)

Number Lines - Number Lines by BrainingCamp is amazing you can set the number line start and exit, the steps, etc. NOT FREE 99¢

Number Rack - You have got to get on board the Rekenrek train! :) Learn more here: What’s a rekenrek? All these amazing games you can play with these virtual manipulatives. 

Challenge Apps these apps are great for higher level learners. Think of those students that are fast math learners and are always finished. Have them grab and iPad and get started on challenging puzzles. It’s okay if there are two or more students on an iPad. If you notice students rushing through their work just to get an iPad, change your approach and talk to that student.

Numbler FREE (like scrabble but with equations - really stretches the thinking), Pick a Path and Deep Sea Duel by NCTM.