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!