Class Timers

Are you looking for some fun alternatives for a classroom timer in your class?   Here's a great resource that will work on your SMART Boards or any classroom computers to time your students for transitions, Rocket Math, etc.

Check out the link here.

Have an awesome weekend!

Storybots

I know that I've posted about the Storybots website in the past, however, they have a lot of FREE videos that are on You Tube for you to access with your students!   Storybots, whose main goal is to make learning fun for kids, is related to JibJab, another fun video site to send ecards.    To learn more about the company, click here.

To check out some of the videos, see below.  Or please visit their You Tube page (which is not blocked at school) and you can check it out for yourself!  They are cute, short, very informative, and lastly FUN!

If you like what you see, you may be interested in joining their Educator Network. To request a code to join the Educator Network please fill out the form here.  By joining their educator network you can access all of their other videos on their website, Storybots.    The YouTube videos are free no matter what.  

Enjoy!

Bones in Your Body
Science

 



When You Breathe (Lungs)
Health




Seasons

Math Rocks!

Today I received an email from the W.B. Goodwin Community Center's mentoring program.  They stumbled upon an old web page that I had created my first year at Roosevelt to share some math resources.  The students in the program really liked some of the games and resources that I had shared, and they wanted to share a fun one with me!   Upon looking at it, I thought is was an awesome resource to share on my blog here!

Now for the new site from my new friends at the W.B. Goodwin Community Center...  Online Math Calculators!  This site upon first glance doesn't look too flashy or engaging, however, once you scroll down and start looking at all of the awesome calculator links that they have, you'll be hooked!  With almost 30 different calculators, it's a great tool to explore with your students.   Some of my favorites include:

• Use a Simple Basic Online Calculator for Math
• Healthy Eating Meal Planner Calculator
• The Kids’ Talking Calculator
• Calculate Your Body Mass Index (BMI)
• The Piggy Bank Allowance Savings Calculator
• Figure Out How Many Coins are in a Jar
• How Much Do You Have to Save to Buy Something?
• Which Day Were You Born On?
• Calculate Your Age in Dog Years
• How Many Days Have You Been Alive?
• How Tall Will You Be As An Adult?
• The Decimal to Binary Calculator Tool
• The Map Scale Conversion Calculator

There's so many more where those came from too!  Be sure to check out the Online Math Calculators with your students!   Thanks again to the students at the W.B. Goodwin Community Center for sharing this awesome resource with me!

Oh, and if you are looking for a refresher on the resources I shared a few years ago, check them out below!

• Khan Academy - modeling of math algorithms & practice exercises
• Study Island - differentiated practice & reteaching
• IXL - Subscription Required - however, sign up for a 30 day free trial!   Great site to practice math skills.  
• National Library of Virtual Manipulatives - collection of manipulatives by grade level to help illustrate math concepts.
• CCC SMART Math - a collection of interactive lessons to help students understand math concepts.
• SMART Exchange - Look for teacher created interactive lessons for use with your SMART Board.  The best part is, if you don't have a SMART Board you can still use them!

Success at the Core Library of Congress Digital Primary Sources

I follow a blog and have a membership at the website, Success at the Core.   Success at the Core's mission is to:

• Strengthens leadership teams' ability to define quality instruction and advocate for it in their schools
• Offers teachers practical methods to implement a shared vision of quality instruction in their classrooms

I follow their blog which offers some great coaching tips as well as resources.   Over the weekend, they shared a great resource at the Library of Congress.  The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effective use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching.    You can also search these primary sources by common core standard, state content, and organizations.   Pulling up some of these resources would be great on your SMART Board.    Check them out by clicking here.

We Give Books

I'm all about a good, free resource.   Especially one that will help others by using it.

Today, a friend of mine shared with me the site We Give Books.  This site allows you to read books on your computer or SMART Board from their extensive library!   They are broken into various age categories.  There are books for various age groups - starting at babies all the way until age ten. The books include a mix of fiction and nonfiction, a range of authors, and an equal balance between read alouds and books for independent readers.    The We Give Books team is committed to adding books every month, together with seasonal offerings.  This digital initiative enables anyone with access to the internet to put books in the hands of children who don't have them, simply by reading online!   The more books you and your class read from We Give Books, the more books they donate to children in need.

To get started, all you need to do is create a free account, then click on read - and scroll through this here.  
surprising large library.   There are also some great educator resources which has activities to go along with the various book - check them out by clicking

After exploring this website today - I could see uses at all elementary grade levels - as well as reading some of these stories to my kids at home!    Some of the "editors picks" books even work on the iPad - no app required.   The library isn't as large, but using the Safari Internet App that is on all iPads, you can log into your account and read books on there as well.    I hope you find this to be an awesome resource - as I think it's truly a fabulous find.

 

Special thanks to Barbie Murphy for sharing this awesome site with me!

SMARTBoard Resource: ABCYa!

http://www.abcya.com/

I know that I've blogged about the word clouds in ABCYa before, however, for all of our new SMART Board users, this is an underused resource!  There are various games and activities that are SMART Board friendly that would be fabulous for whole group, small group, or even as a center.  They arrange their activities by grade level, then by different subject areas.    You can find activities for:

• Letters/Language Arts
• Numbers/Math
• More (Various subject areas)
• Holiday Activities
• Just for Fun

These are a fabulous set of resources that are available to all students... using the SMART Board or even on your student computers.  We also have various ABCYa apps on our iPads.   

To see what ABCYa has to offer simply click the logo above or click here. 

SMART Board Assignment Notebook File

Are you interested in using your SMART Board with the new assignment notebook?   Please visit the Roosevelt Staff Portal's new SMART Board file page to download two pages per month (you can add in your own dates at the top) making a complete assignment notebook.  Click here to visit the page and download the file. 

I'm hoping that we can continue to share files that many grade levels can use, let me know if there is something that you may want to see on the SMART Board file page and I can work to make it happen.

Also, please check the Daily Bulletin for information about Roosevelt Substitute SMART Board Training.   You can access the flyer to share with your favorite subs by clicking here.

Do you want to a SMART Board Smartie?

I know that with the new school year, we added over 20 new SMART Boards at Roosevelt School.  That's a lot of SMART Boards!    Of course, I'm here to support you while you are learning the SMART Board, however, I thought I'd share a great resource to make using the SMART Board a bit easier!

The SMART Exchange is a great place to find ready to go resources created by teachers!  It's free to join the SMART Exchange, and the best part is, when you download the files, you can edit them to fit your needs!   I know that some people find that not every file works perfectly, so it is important to double check and review their content before using them.    Let me know if you'd like help using the SMART Exchange!

Class Dojo

On Monday morning, I started my day in Berwyn School District #100 touring one of their elementary schools as well as one of their middle schools.   We were observing Berwyn's awesome 1 to 1 program, which I thought was beyond amazing.  While touring the school, one of the teachers was using Class Dojo - an interactive tool that helps with classroom management.  I had read about Class Dojo before, however, never had seen it in action.   After seeing it in action on Monday, then showing it to a few teachers today, I think it would be an awesome tool for any classroom teacher!

What is ClassDojo?

ClassDojo is a classroom tool that helps teachers improve behavior in their classrooms quickly and easily. It also captures and generates data on behavior that teachers can share with parents and administrators.  Better learning behaviors, smoother lessons and hassle-free data - and its free! 

How does it work?

ClassDojo improves behavior in class with just one click of a smartphone, laptop, or tablet.

Instantly reinforce good behavior.

Easily award feedback points for behavior in class in real-time, with just one click of your smartphone or laptop. This actually improves behavior.

Engage students in minutes.

ClassDojo provides instant notifications for your students (‘Well done Josh! +1 for teamwork!’). All fully customizable for your classroom.

Get hassle-free data and reports.

ClassDojo gives you behavior-tracking analytics and reports that can be shared with parents and administrators, all with just one click. No data entry needed, ever.

The video below is a great way to introduce Class Dojo to your students.  If you want to see more or want help setting this up for your classroom, let me know and I'd be happy to help!  

4th Graders at Roosevelt "Hangout" with the Atlanta Zoo

This morning, the 4th graders in Ms. Wingader's class had the opportunity to go on a virtual field trip. We were able to "travel" to the Atlanta Zoo this morning to learn about the physics and biology of flight.   This was honestly such a cool experience to be a part of!   We were connected via Google+ and were joined by two different people from the Atlanta Zoo and another 4th grader who is home schooled.   You can check out our virtual field trip below!  Towards the end you will notice that quite a few students were able to ask questions.  A special thank you to the Atlanta Zoo for hosting this "On Air Hangout" and to Jeffery Salvitti from Google for making this possible for us here at Roosevelt Elementary School.  I'm excited for our next field trip later this week with third grade, as well as exploring more opportunities with other museums, zoos, and aquariums that hopefully we can connect with so other students can experience this exciting new way of going on a field trip!

App of the Week: Sonic Pics

App of the Week: Sonic Pics

What is it?

SonicPics makes digital storytelling fun and easy! Turn your photographs or pictures of student drawings or work into narrated slideshow movies to share! 

• Add images from your photo library or snap new ones with your camera. 
• Arrange your photos however you would like. 
• Record a voiceover narrating your images as you swipe through them. 

Once you are finished, you have a movie with your images synchronized to your narration. You can share your recording with students and parents. 

What can it do?

• Create and narrate custom photo slideshows.
• Records your voice while you flip through your images. 
• Automatically synchronizes your images to the audio recording.
• Present your stories on the SMART Board or projector
• Make movies of your images and narrations from the iPad.
• Record up to 60 minutes per session! 
• Easy image selection and editing. 
• Give images unique names and descriptions that can optionally be shown during recording.
• Build slide shows with photos from photo albums, camera roll or built in camera (great for taking pictures of student work). 

Who is it Good For?
This app is good for all ages.   Students in primary can take pictures and reflect on their work or build slideshows multiple images (pictures taken or drawn).   This app can be used more complex in intermediate with inserting images from the internet, students own photos, or drawings.  If you are interested in trying this with your students, let me know!  I'm happy to help!

CCSS Connection
Click here to see the connection to CCSS for ELA.

Balls Bouncing?

Looking for a fun way to manage the noise level in your classroom?   This website, after allowing it to interact with your microphone, will monitor the noise level in your room.   If your kids start getting noisy, the balls start bouncing.   This could be fun with a projector or a SMART board.   Let me know what you think!