Technology and Education

During my career as a teacher, I was chosen for our school districts Pinnacle (technology) program this past year. As being a pinnacle leader, we were given ipads to use in our classroom with our students. In my classroom I had 22 students with 6 ipads. Having the ipads opened up a new resource for my students to use in their learning and creativity.

Using apps with the ipads was a great way to meet the needs of my students. Students worked in groups, with a partner and alone on numerous apps and our classroom kidblog. The ipads were used every day by the students. Kidblog was a part of our morning work everyday. Using the ipads with STEM was very beneficial for my students to discover and share with each other.

In my room, our favorite app was Toontastic. My students had the most fun with this app. Students worked collaboratively in groups with a leader. The groups were assigned different tasks each time. My favorite activity was for them to create a script for a story layout about bullying. There is one of these videos displayed on a post here on my blog.

We also have lots of fun using QR codes. My students always enjoyed the excitement of what would be in the code. A video, a link, a picture or answer to a question.

My classroom loved using the ipads in their learning. Using technology is a major component of my teaching. We used our school computer labs to work on project based learning. Students research about a county they choose. Did a presentation and were evaluated by their peers. Students made a powerpoint Biography that was shared with the class. At the end of the school year, students had to CREATE a newspaper. We used Microsoft Publisher for this. They had to create the layout, theme or newspaper and complete a full page with head line, articles with photos and share with class. My students really got into this one. Most of the boys in my class did it on Minecraft.

I would love to hear about ways you integrated technology with your students and what apps, or programs you use. As I head tomorrow for my 2nd year of Pinnacle. I am excited to see what new resources we will have to use with our students this coming school year. Here is to a new year or endless opportunities to reach every student that enters our classrooms. Happy learning!!!!!!

School Year Coming to an End

This has been my first year teaching 3rd Grade. It has been a great learning experience. My school district adopted Common Core this year, along with Readers and Writers Workshop. SO being in a new grade level with all NEW curriculum has definitely kept me very busy this year.

I have an awesome group of 22 students. Nine of them I had last year in 2nd grade. WE have be lucky to have ipads in our classroom this year by my Pinnacle Induction (technology). Students really love being on the ipads and learning new things. WE were able to be apart of a Pinnacle Technology Showcase, where members of the school board, administrators, etc were invited to see what our students have been creating with technology, specially with the ipads.

Students are working with the ipads. They are so amazing at their ability to use technology and work collaboratively.

Students are showing the apps that they have used in our curriculum. My students favorite is TOONTASTIC!! They love creating the story boards and recording their voices.

Working using QR codes is an activity that we include in all subjects areas. On the display board I use QR codes for students to learn about the bones in their Human Body. I got this great idea from the internet. I wish I had the person's name so I can give them the credit. Thank you for this great activity. My students work with QR codes for reading comprehension, for self checking activities and for locating information in our STEM lessons.

This year has came by so quickly. This time of year is bitter sweet. I am ready for summer break but I will also miss seeing these adorable faces everyday. My journey in 3rd is also coming to an end. I'm lucky to be moving back to 2nd grade. I have taught 2nd for 6 years. I love this grade. So this involves moving my class room again. This time I will be in a totally different room than I was before. But I am so excited to be working with some fabulous ladies on the grade level. 

Using QR Codes In Education

Since I was lucky to being Pinnacle this year in my school system, I have ipads in my classroom. It has been fun getting to explore all the apps and find amazing things for my students to work on. The last 9 weeks I have become addicted to using QR CODES!!!! I think they are amazing! My students have worked with them in all subject areas.

Here you can see that during our Human Body Unit, students used the ipad to scan a QR code. Learn about a specific bone an then locate and label the bone on their skeleton. This was fun for them to learn about how the name of bone originated. The QR code gave them a description and location of the bone on the skeleton.

We have used QR codes in math, students work out math problem then scan the code to self check their work. In Guided Reading students would scan a comprehension QR code to answer a question with their partner.

If you do not have ipads, you can use a smart phone, ipod touch or any tablet that has a QR reader. You can go to a QR code maker website to create your QR code. In the code you can put a video link, document, instruction, question or answer. The list can go on and on!!! I highly recommend that you use QR CODES IN YOUR CLASSROOM!

Amazing Freebies

Come check out this amazing opportunity to get some FREE items from a wide range of educators. The website TEACHING BLOG ADDICT is celebrating 2 years. Go to the site and get on  the band wagon to snatch up great resources for your classroom.

I have already put a bunch of great activities that will have my printer busy for days. I just love being apart of such awesome people. Being an A+ blogger member is great. 

Sunday Super Sale

Come and get some great items for your classroom this Sunday. My store and TpT are having a Sunday Super Sale on February 3rd to celebrate the Super Bowl.You can get 28% of by using the CODE: SUPER

I know that I will be taking advantage of this great opportunity to get some great products for my classroom to use with my students. I have numerous items already on my wish list. I feel so privileged to be a member of TpT. There are some amazing teachers on there that help teachers like myself out in a huge way.

Thank you to all that have made a purchase in my store. It is an honor to be chosen by you. I hope that the products will be a great resource for your classrooms.

Toontastic Videos on Bullying

Students were working in collaborative groups creating a video about bullying to connect to our Rachel's Challenge. Students were actively working together to create each element of the story.

Click on the BLACK BOX and video will begin!!!!
Leave a comment on how you think these students did.

Free Winter Math Wonderland

Come get this quick center activity for students to practice 3-digit subtraction with regrouping. This is a fast center to create for your students. Just print, cut and laminate, then you're ready to go!!!

Game Click to get!

I hope you enjoy this resource as much as I will with my students. This is a great review for this skill for students to continue working with regrouping. Some of my third grade students need practice with this skill, so I made this for them. It is aligned to Common Core.

Marble Roller Coasters

In our STEM lessons with forces and motion, students had to work together with materials to form a roller coaster. This took some engineering design and teamwork. The students had cardboard paper tubes of different sizes. The class was divided into two groups and they had to come up with a design and put it to action.

This group did a great job getting their marble through their roller coaster. The first day of working together didn't go so smooth, but day two was a success!

This was group 1 and in this picture we are missing a few of the members. But this group worked great together. They made a plan and put it to work. 

Students enjoyed getting to work on this project with only a few materials and some teamwork. It was fun to   see them in action. Science is a great way to have students working and learning in groups. Students got to experience what it would be like to design a roller coaster. 

Ghoulish Math Fun

This is a great way for students to have fun working with math. The characters are so cute to see. Math with 3 digit and 4 digit numbers are in this activity. Students can work alone or together in pairs. Ghoulish math will have students working with number representation. I know this was an area that my students needed practice with. Numbers and place value can be tricky for some. Student have to show several ways how to represent the number.

Come get one for your little ghoul and goblins to try out in your math class today. Let your class have a GHOULISH time with Math!!!!

Ipad Fun in School

Today, the students were in groups working with the iPads. The students got to play with a new app that I showed them whole class how to navigate. The app was TOONTASTIC.

This group was working on setting up their story with backdrops and characters. The group did a great job working together to get all the elements of the story completed.

These guys were great working together to come up with a great story line using the characters and motions that could be created with sounds.

This four group had a fun time using the app. It was a fun way to create a story and all were in the decision making process. My students are enjoying the iPads.

These kids had the best time out of all I think. They were really into getting the scenes setup for conflict, plot, characters and setting. Adding music was a great way to set the tone of the story. We are on the road to having great collaboration with each other and using technology in a whole new way.

Each group had a different take on making their story. This is definitely an app that I would recommend for educators to use. It comes with several scenes that are free and you can add more for .99 cents. The students loved it. They cant wait until they get to work with it again. I have them thinking of their own writing and how this will be a great tool to publish their stories.

New Classroom Pictures

I have been hard at work getting my classroom ready for this school year. Here is a picture of my Daily 5 board. I think that it turned out really well.

Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find these amazing Daily 5 posters with cute kids for my board.

I am excited about using Daily 5 in my classroom this year. I have tons of stuff pinned on my Daily 5 board on pinterest if you are looking for resources. 

This image is of my reading area with my books sorted by AR level on the left book shelf and Genre on right book shelf. I love books and you can see that I have loads of them. I even did a good weeding of books this summer.

Students will be able to choose books for their book caddies easily from this wide selection.  I have books for all levels from 0.9 to 7.5 in my 3rd grade classroom.

I love how this title for my Reading board for displaying student work turned out. Great work will be displayed here as we create and sharing amazing ideas about reading. 

I will add more pictures as the next few days come and go with the start of school. We had Open House this past Friday and I had so many complements on my classroom and how great it looked. I had all but one student to show out of 22. I think that is amazing. Monday, August 27th is our first day with the kiddos.

I hope that you find resources and classroom design that can inspire you in your room.

Classroom Progress Update

Here is an update on the progress in my new classroom. This first image is of my room after a fresh paint job and all my junk being moved in. It is so hard to believe how much you can collect in a classroom after 6 years. As I was packing up my room for the big move, I was decluttering and weeding out all the unneccessay items. I gave away tons or stuff and still I am frustrated at all that  I still have.

As you can tell by all the stuff this is not the half or it, still more in the hallway. I moved all of it in all by myself. As I am setting up my classroom, I am getting rid of items that are only for 2nd grade now that I am  in 3rd grade. I have been working all week in my room to get ready for my students. We have orientation on August 24th. I hope, I will have my room ready!!!

Check out this amazing bins I got for my book caddies.

A colleague found these on Craig's List for 50 cents each. They were a gray color and I spray painted them. I am going to add library pockets on them to write student's names. I think they turned out amazing. I picked colors out of my borders Dots on Turquoise that I am using.  I will be posting more pictures as I get my classroom ready. 

Come back and take a look and let me know what you think. I hope this will inspire you with getting your classroom ready for a new year.

Technology Is Awesome

I am currently on my new MacBook Air that will sync my iPads for my classroom. It is so amazing how little something can be and be so amazing. Learning how to add apps and sync them to the iPads is a great experience. This will be an amazing resource for my classroom and STUDENTS!!!! These elements of technology will be a valuable asset for  teaching 21st century skills. This is the technology generation and we must provide them the resources necessary to prepare them for their future here and globally. I am very excited about having these resources for my students to take advantage of in their learning. I have also been pinning technology pins on Pinterest that deal with technology and iPads. You can see my pins on my Pinterest account. Pinterest is a great place for loads of resources for educators. I have gain some value tools to use in my class this year. Here is to a great year with technology in your classroom.

Practice Some Facts

If you are in need of some cute flashcards for your students to practice their multiplication facts 0-9, then look no farther. You can get these cute flashcards right here from me. I made these for my students to use in 3rd grade this year. I hope it will very helpful to them. They can do alone or with a partner.

                                                               
I am new to teaching third grade this coming school year after teaching 2nd grade the past 6 years. So it will be a change for me. I am trying to make things to use in third grade. SO please come back and check my store and blog for updates on room and products.

Workdays and then summer here I come!

Hope your end of the school is near or already came. I have only 3 workdays and then I can begin summer break!!! I have had a great year with my second graders. It is always bitter sweet when I have to say good-bye on the last day of school. Now I have to get paper work completed and pack up my classroom for summer floor cleaning. I also was told that I am being moved to 3rd grade. So I will be including 3rd grade in on my blog. I am very anxious about this change. I have been in 2nd grade and the same classroom for 6 years. It has become very comfortable to me. I feel that this is the right time due to our county changing to Common Core this coming school year. So we all will be new to the curriculum and changes it offers. I have an awesome group of ladies that will be on the grade level with me. Once I have my new room setup and I have pacing guides and lesson made. I will then be ready to start a new year. One added bonus, I will hopefully have some of my students I had in 2nd grade in my 3rd grade class.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!!!!!!!