Redesigning Your Classroom on Any Budget

Here are some ideas of how to incorporate flexible seating on any budget. Some of the seating I purchased really added up. I've since become more creative thanks to my teaching neighbor, Alison Bartels. She gets the credit for being creative on a budget. She was really able to improvise and still create a collaborative environment!

Target/WalMart/Ikea are great for finding comfy chairs and ottomans. The disk chairs and ottomans I have are from Target. Check these stores for great seating ideas over the summer when all the dorm room furniture is out! The disk chairs were $25 and the storage ottomans were $15.

A few years ago I picked up some round bath mats for sitting on the floor. I got mine at Target but you may be able to find them cheaper. I paid $9.99 per math.

Five Below has many different seating options for less than $5. Stability balls, yoga mats, metal stools, canvas chairs, and large pillows (you could even use dog beds!)

Thanks to Alison's creative thinking, we have raised tables in our classrooms with bed risers. I was skeptical at first because I wasn't sure how stable they would be, but they work so well! They kids can lean on the tables and they are sturdy and secure! I think a package of 4 risers was $9.99.

We took the legs off tables to create a work space for students who want to sit on the floor. Very easy to do!

Carpet remnants also make a good work space on the floor. Some stores may even give them to you for free if you tell them you are a teacher.

If you are crafty milk crate stools or benches would be awesome! I am thinking of making these for all my students next year. The crate can double as a place to put their materials (folders, notebooks, reading books) which is something to think about if you get rid of your desks.

Along with stability balls, wobble cushions or wobble chairs (you can find them on Amazon) provide  great alternative seating for your students who fidget or are always on the move! These will be a bit more expensive. Cushions are between $12 and $20 while wobble stools are significantly more expensive.

Having lots of clip boards and/or lap desks available will help those students who like to sit on the floor. Hobby Lobby has some inexpensive lap desks with extra storage...win win!

A great way to fund flexible seating in your classroom is by creating a Donors Choose project. It's simple and easy to do! Share your project with parents, PTO organization, family members and on social media. In the first week of posting your project anonymous donors usually match donations up to $100. This is an easy way to get your project funded quickly!

If your PTO gives you an allotment each year you could use that to fund some seating as well. I know at Kittredge the PTO is very supportive of teachers and what they are doing in their classrooms. Consider asking your PTO to fund part of your seating!

Check back for more posts on flexible seating!

Updates to Google Classroom

I didn't think Google Classroom could get any better! In honor of Teacher Appreciation Day, Google is giving thanks to teachers by introducing new updates to Google Classroom. You can now create an assignment but schedule to have it post at a later date. For those of us who like to plan ahead, this is genius! Later this fall Google Classroom will introduce e-mail notifications for families to help keep them in the loop so they can support and motivate their children! Read all about these new updates here.

Using Google Maps to Virtually Visit and Tour Colleges

Today is college/career t-shirt day in the district! We took advantage of this day to start discussing colleges and careers. We used Google Maps to virtually visit and tour colleges! I loved hearing conversations about which schools students were visiting and what careers they were thinking of. Some students had to utilize Google Search in order to find a college that fit the career they were thinking of. I even noticed one student writing a list of colleges where he could major in mechanical engineering! He wanted to take it home to do more research. Two students asked to come in at recess so they could further explore Berklee School of Music in Boston. A future firefighter spent time exploring the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy.

We just love Kahoot!

We love using Kahoot to review for tests and quizzes! Today we reviewed for our state and capital quiz this afternoon. The best part about this was I didn't have to make up the review! I found some great Kahoots in the public section of the website. With little to no prep I was able to find an engaging and interactive way to review states and capitals. My students can't get enough!

http://getkahoot.com - This is where you create or locate review games/exit tickets

http://kahoot.it - This is where students need to go to join a game

For older students (grades 6 -12) students could create a class review game based on content they are learning!

Waiting For the Next Question! 

Ready and Focused

View of Student Device

Question

Infographics To Support Our Persuasive Writing

I was so excited for a group of students to experiment with creating infographics. I began by showing the students an example of an infographic and explaining the purpose. Students wanted to collect some data from their peers at Kittredge. I showed students how to create a Google Form to survey their peers. I gave a quick lesson in Google Drawing and set students off to create their infographic. These were done with very little support from me! For a first attempt I'm very impressed.

I did spend some time talking with students about searching for images that were not copyrighted and free to use. We used Creative Commons as well as Google Images. When using Google Images, the students used the search tools to search for images that were labeled for reuse. These images are free to use without worrying about copyright and fair use.

Getting Started With Twitter

I just finished leading a quick overview of Twitter with the staff at Kittredge. We are headed off to NYC on Saturday for the 90th TCRWP reunion! I thought this would be a great time for staff to dive into using Twitter professionally. Twitter is a great resource for educators! Here is a copy of the guide I made for staff members. If you are new to Twitter this is a great resource to get you started!

Getting Started With Twitter 

Using QR codes to Improve Fluency and Support Struggling Readers

I love collaborating with other classrooms in our school. Being such a small school our classes don't have as many opportunities to collaborate with classmates their age so I love when they have the opportunity to buddy up with another class!

Our first grade teacher, Gisel, and I always talk about finding ways to have our classes work together so I was thrilled when she was so excited about my QR code idea. It was even more exciting when I found out this supports the last bend in her reading unit.

I started by identifying my readers who struggle with fluency. Next I grabbed some books from the 1st grade classroom that are around the levels of J, k, L, M. Using AudioBoom, my students will record themselves reading these books. We will then create a QR code using QR Code Reader. After I print the QR code, we will tape it to the inside cover of the book. Now the 1st graders can hear their "star" reader or "just right" book read to them! This is a great project to work on during those times when most of your class is in band or chorus!

After we have completed about 20 - 30 books, my class will buddy up with the 1st grade and help them record themselves reading their "just right" books. Their recording will be turned into a QR code and taped to the inside cover of the book. QR codes can also be sent home so parents can hear their child reading their "just right" book.

How great would it be if we could add audio to all the "star" readers in Kindergarten and 1st grade!!

Taking This Idea To The Next Level
Students could record a summary/recommendation of their chapter book, create a QR code and then tape it to the inside cover/back cover of books in the classroom library/school library. Students who may be interested in reading a certain book can listen to classmates' summaries or recommendations before choosing a book.

Students can create a book trailer in iMovie, create a QR code and tape it to the cover. We all watch a video trailers before seeing a movie, why not watch a book trailer before reading a book? Check back in June to see some examples of this!

I will post pictures and examples as we work through this project. Check back to find out if it went smoothly or if we had some hiccups!

Implementing Co-teaching Tools

Last Friday we had a chance to learn about co-teaching with our colleagues. As we learned of different tools to use during our lessons, I couldn't help but think of technology tools that would serve the same purpose. Here are my thoughts..

Blanket The Table/Pass The Plate - Padlet would be a perfect tool to use with these two activities. It would minimize the use of paper and allow students the chance to respond to a question/prompt digitally. Padlets can be saved, downloaded, uploaded and/or printed. If you have a classroom website, the padlet could be posted and students can use it as reference or study tool.

Jessica and Pattie also talked about Wordle. See my posted on Wordle here.

Speak/Add (Charting) - Have you considered taking a picture of the anchor charts you create and posting them on your website? Students would be able to access those charts in class and at home. I know we all save our "best charts" or "most useful" charts and hang them in our rooms. I don't know about you but I don't have nearly enough room! Adding them to your website creates an invaluable resource for your students. If you don't have a class website, I really encourage you to create one! It's a great way for students to connect to your class from home. Blogger is a really easy, user friendly Google App that I use for my websites.

What ideas do you have for making these co-teaching tools digital? Please share, I'd love to hear them!

Google Classroom

I am absolutely LOVING Google Classroom! I can't believe it took me so long to use it with my students. Google Classroom is a platform that allows you to create and distribute assignments. Its goal is to help schools become paperless. It really supports a blended learning/flipped classroom approach.  Google Classroom also allows you to grade assignments and then send those grades to a Google sheet. In Google Classroom you have the choice of posting an assignment where you can link to a Google Doc, Sheet, Slide or Form, a YouTube video or a website. You can upload PDFs or other resources you would like to share. Google Classroom allows you to upload a Google Doc and "make a copy for each student" so each students can complete their own document without ruining the original. You also have the choice to post a discussion question or class announcement. Honestly Google Classroom is SO easy to use! It has streamlined my instruction and allowed my students to take more control of their learning.

If you are on Twitter follow Alice Keeler (@alicekeeler).  She shares so many resources about Google Classroom and other Google Apps For Education (GAFE). She has also published a book, 50 Things You Can Do With Google Classroom. Here is a post from her blog about ways to use Google Classroom.

Here is a screen shot of my Google Classroom Stream.

Using Explain Everything To Practice Fluency

Explain Everything is one of the most versatile apps we use in our classroom! Explain Everything is a whiteboard and screencasting app that is great for flipping the learning in your classroom or using a blended learning approach. It's great for creating informational videos and how to videos. Currently, we are using Explain Everything to practice our fluency. I can't take credit for this genius idea! This idea was shared on Twitter and I knew immediately we had to try this! You could also do something similar using the iPad camera.

Step 1: In Explain Everything, take a picture of a page in your "just right" book.

Step 2: Record yourself reading the page for 1 minute.

Step 3: Listen to your recording so you can hear yourself read.

Step 4: Practice reading that page 3 times.

Step 5: Recording yourself again, reading the same page. Do you sound more fluent? Where you able to read more words? Did you expression and intonation?

My students are begging me to practice fluency, even students who don't like to read aloud!

Using iPads in the Classroom

I asked my 4th graders how using iPads has influenced their learning. Students had to respond to the following prompt...

Using iPads makes learning (more)...

I gathered all their responses and created a Wordle! 

Wordle creates visually appealing "word clouds" based on the text you provide. Words that appear more frequently are larger and stand out more. In our Wordle fun and exciting were used frequently so they appear larger than the other words. You can change the font, layout, color etc in each word cloud. 

Here are some suggestions for using Wordle in your classroom...

Character Traits - Wordles can be created around a character in a book. Students could create a Wordle with traits that describe their character.

Classroom Rules - At Kittredge we ask students to follow KES (Kind and Respectful, Everyone Ready to Learn and Safe). Wordles could be created to show what KES looks like/sounds like. *I've also created Wordles with every students name to frame in our classroom.

To find out what words/ideas are being emphasized in a speech - Copy and paste Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have A Dream Speech into Wordle to find the words/ideas that were emphasized. They would be the words that appear larger than the others. Former presidents' speeches would be another text to to copy into Wordle. 

Student Essays - Have students copy their essay into Wordle to see if they use certain words too often. 

The possibilities are endless! 

Extreme Weather Books

We have finally concluded our second unit in Lucy Calkin's Reading Workshop! The focus of this unit was reading non-fiction text. The second bend of the unit asks students to research and create books on extreme weather. We used the app Book Creator to create our books. Students spent about 4 weeks research information using books and websites. Students spent a few days finding text features that would support the information in each chapter of their book. We also spent a few days talking about copyright and using sources from the internet correctly. Here is a link to our Google site which hosts the books!

Second Grade Ditched The Desks!

Mrs. Bondini spent all Friday night changing out her desks for tables! She was so inspired she didn't want to wait for help! Looks great!! 

Third Grade Has Ditched The Desks!!

Mrs. Bartel's made a big change in her classroom this week! She has ditched her desks! It is not easy to take a risk like this and redesign your teaching and classroom management but increasing the opportunity for collaboration and student led discussions make the risk well worth it! I had been thinking about redesigning my classroom for some time but Erin Klein really gave me the push and inspiration needed to make such a big change in my classroom. Here is an article about "The Cemetery Effect" and ditching the desks. Flexible seating in classrooms also has a positive effect on student learning. Here is another article about making your classroom as comfortable and inviting as Starbucks! If you are on Twitter @Klein Erin and @MrsDelz are two great people to follow. Their classrooms are truly an inspiration! On Twitter search #starbucks4kids to get more great ideas for your classroom! I would be happy to share what has worked well for me and what I found challenging! If you find yourself at Kittredge, stop and see for yourself! 

Weather Books

We are currently working on creating books on extreme weather. Students are working in groups to research and produce a book about either hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzard or tsunamis. This is part of our nonfiction unit in the Lucy Calkins reading workshop. Today we spent some time identifying helpful websites. Once we have finished with our research, students will create their books in Book Creator. Stay tuned for the final product!