Bloggiversary Celebration Time!

If you don't know Lindsey, you should definitely head over to her blog Thriving in 3rd. Lindsey is an incredibly talented teacher/blog designer/artist.  When I was looking for a blog design on a budget, I fell in love with Ms. Spethmann's (Lacquer Teach Repeat) blog design by Lindsey. 

Lindsey used her expertise, style and knack for perfection to create the perfect blog design for me at a completely reasonable price.

Love her. Seriously.

So of course when it was celebration time for the newly wed Mrs. Lindsey Paull, I HAD to participate! 

If you head over to Lindsey's blog, you can enter a raffle to win a pack of PreK-1 resources, where you will find my Sight Word Scramble! Or, If you aren't PreK-1, there are a ton of other raffles going on!

      

      

And last but definitely not least, what teacher doesn't love this?! 

Well friends, may the odds be ever in your favor - hope you win some good loot!

Kinder Tribe Blog Kickoff!

It's finally time to announce my newest collaborative project!

What whhaaattt! Fifteen kindergarten blogger friends and I are working together to bring you ideas for your classroom, test out your ideas & activities, and discuss all things Kinder!

The lovely Yukari from A Pinch of Kinder set out designing the blog for us and everyone else has pitched in to create, collaborate, and inspire each other on our journey teaching Kinder and navigating TPT.

Each of our authors has a unique teaching & creative style. We will be bringing a different flavor to the blog with each of our individual posts. Here's a bit about me to get started:

Posts will range from our Original Blog Posts, to What Worked Well Wednesday, and Feature Friday - where YOU will have an opportunity to post, share, and intrigue others!

Check back often for new news, giveaways, and other ventures. Oh and don't forget to get to know he other authors and visit their pages!

Eeeee :o) Hope you are as excited as I am! Let's kick it off with our first linky party below!

An InLinkz Link-up

iPad Platforms for K

Last week, I posted on organizing iPads for kindergarten to make them most useful day to day.  One of those things is the Showbie app, which I use for my classroom platform. I could NOT be truly effective using iPads without it!

What is it?
Showbie is an app that allows you to upload any PDF, picture, video, or voice memo and send to all of your students. It is a way to send home homework, notes, help students self-monitor improvement, use for center responses, in guided reading, etc.

Why use it?
It streamlines the work you are giving students, cuts down on issues at the copier, reduces paper waste, and provides for both differentiation and immediate student feedback.  The parents also have constant access to student progress and can message you questions, concerns, etc.

Disclaimer: I do understand the need for developing fine motor skills, so we are definitely not completely paper free in my class. The kids also use stylus's to help develop fine motor.


Here is what my Showbie looks like from the teacher perspective.

If you click on an assignment such as "Monday Homework" it brings you here.



Now you can see my last three Monday homework assignments. It can be a document or an uploaded video of you reading. This is what the kids see on their iPads. They can edit each document, send me a note, upload a video, etc. When they make edits it goes directly to me and no one sees their edits.  When I edit the document though, everyone gets it.

Think of it this way - You are virtually passing out papers, and getting them back to grade. Then editing them and handing them back to the students. But, it is SO FAST this way!

Ok, so how do I see the assignments? Just click on "Shared Folder" and then the little people sign in the upper right. Then you can see a list of the kiddos and who has completed the assignment, Just click on the name to grade.  After you press "done" they get the edit.

Want to change an assignment? Just click the tool sign.

Ok here's where it gets fun - uploading documents. Click this little plus sign in the corner. Here is where you add pictures, comments, voice notes, etc. If you want to add a PDF or other file we have to go through Google Drive.

You can actually upload PDFs or other documents two ways, but this is the Google Drive way. If you don't already have Google Drive on your iPad, download the app - l.i.f.e. saver.

Open Google Drive > open your document > click "i" in corner

Click "open in."

 Click "open in" again.

Click "Open in Showbie"

Here it will tell you what folder you are putting the document into. If it is not the right folder, you can exit out, open the folder in your Showbie app, and repeat the process.

Once you click "Add File" it is in and ready to go!

What is really nice, is that you can differentiate work for each student. You can click on a student and upload things only for them, which is fabulous.

Next time, I can go through that process and I will also do a tutorial on uploading from your computer. Uploading files can be a little confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, this process makes like so much easier! Plus, you cut down on copy time, paper usage, and copier problems - hip hooray!

Teaching K in a 1:1 tech district

Part of my reason to hold off blogging til I got settled in my new position is because I transitioned to a 1:1 technology district.

Yes, ALL of my kids have an iPad which they take home daily.

AND we are 83% low income, 37% English Language Learner. WHAT?! It's pretty incredible to put technology in the hands of little ones who otherwise may or may not have the resources to get it.

But there is a catch - you have to use this gift the right way so that it isn't a distractor or bandaid. Enter the SAMR model which is not always easy to incorporate in K.  If you don't really have a goal for the technology, then it isn't really that beneficial.

So, how do I use iPads beyond apps?
I will post about this journey often, so stay tuned.

1. Organize each student's iPad so that the apps you want most accessible are at the bottom.
They will click what they see, so if you want your kiddos to do homework on Showbie each night, have it on the front screen. Teach the kiddos to do this - they can!

2. Turn off Safari!
This saves you from a lot of inappropriate use and abuse. Go into Settings > General > Restrictions > enter password (use same the one for all iPads) > slide buttons for what to allow and not allow.  I turn off Safari, iTunes Store, In-App Purchases, Siri, Face Time, and Deleting Apps.

3. "But wait, now my kids can't access the internet." Not true! They still can. Download QR reader
Download a QR Reader app. Now anything you want them to have internet access to they can through QR code.  I.e. I make a QR code for any web quest activity I want them to do or youtube videos for my listening centers. The website is able to open up through the QR Reader app, but does not allow them to surf the web. It's the perfect fix!

4. Download a classroom platform/course management system
I use Showbie for this, which I will blog on next week. Some of the upper grade teachers use Schoology.

5. Hide all the things the kiddos don't need.
Put all the apps (iTunes, Settings, Newsstand, Maps, Music, etc) that you don't need the kids to use into a folder.  I label this "Apple" because it is all the Apple apps that we don't need daily.

This way of organizing the iPads has made my life SO much easier and the iPads much more useful for the parents and kids. Next week I will write more about the benefits of an classroom platform/course management system.

Back at it!

Hi there!  Super excited to get back into business with my new blog design! HUGE shout out to Lindsey over at L Paull Designs for All for designing this super cute layout on a budget. I am THRILLED to have found her, she is immensely talented and super nice.

I transitioned districts earlier this year and wanted to make sure I had the hang of the new curriculum and my classroom so that I could devote more time to blogging when I was established.  Now that I am up and running, I can devote more time to exploring how to maximize my students potential and develop resources for them and our curriculum.

In our school, we do guided reading, Lucy Calkins, and Envisions for math. We incorporate themes into these curriculums, so you will find lots of thematic resources here.

Please take a look around, email me with questions or requests, and enjoy! I am excited to be back!