Using Google in the Classroom-A Series Today I am going to be starting a week-long series on how to use Google in the classroom. We were very fortunate this year and transitioned over to Google for our e-mail system. We got all of the perks that came along with Google, including Google Docs, Calendar, etc. I am my school's technology coordinator and I am a huge advocate for using technology in the classroom. Please understand that my district does not have a lot of money. We are in the same budget crisis as many public schools. The first post in my series is creating a library book checkout system using Google Forms. Once you are logged into your Google account, you will want to go to documents. On this page, you will create your form. In the first box "Question Title," I have Name and "Question Type" is Choose from List. On all Google Forms, you are only given sample question 1. Next, click "Add Item" again and add another text box. If you want to spice up your form, you can select a theme. Click here to see my sample form.
Teaching in Flip Flops Our Reader's Notebooks Today we had a 6th grade Language Arts teacher planning day. I was really excited about it, but I am bummed at the lack of things we actually got planned today altogether. I wish I could have just had a whole day to plan alone because I know I could have at least gotten a 6 weeks taken care of. I was actually excited to dive into the C-SCOPE materials because I have really struggled with not having a real scope and sequence to use this year. I know that I have blogged about our reader's notebooks a few other times, but I just love them. Sorry for the bad quality, they are from the phone. Darlin' in First... Paper Bag Books: A Simple Way to Teach Story Elements Have you ever made a paper bag book? I hadn't, but I'd seen them floating around pinterest and finally decided we had to try! One of our current favorite activities is creating books. There is no real plot yet in his stories... and if there is, it is really confusing and hard to follow. My goals as we created the book were to... have funbe creative togethermake a paper bag book (since I really wanted to try this)teach the basic story elements of conflict and resolution (in a simple way) These concepts seemed easy to introduce since I feel like we spend a lot of time each day talking about problems and how they could be resolved! Materials Needed for Paper Bag book:several paper bags (I think we used 3-4?) How to Make a Paper Bag Story Conflict/Resolution book: Fold the paper bags in half and then staple them together like a book (staple on the folded part). Conflict: Sneaky pirates stole the chocolate chips.Resolution: Pirate Andrew used kind words to get the chocolate chips back.
A Teeny Tiny Teacher 20 Ways to Keep Your Students' Attention As the end of the year approaches, it can be more and more challenging to keep your students' attention. Brain Breaks are important, but there are plenty of things you can do within a lesson to keep kids from day dreaming...or worse yet, nodding off. Here are some ideas:Desk Switch: Students have ten seconds (count down from ten) to find another desk to sit in that is in a different part of the room than his or her normal desk. Students stay in that desk for the rest of the lesson. Why? Two reasons, first switching desks gets them up and moving. Did you get a new idea?
First Grade Blue Skies DIY Map Magnets I picked up this puzzle at a yard sale a few weeks ago. I intended to frame it in Matthew’s room, but unfortunately I realized one piece was missing. Bummer! I still love the look of the pieces, so I decided to turn the individual states into magnets. I used sticky magnet strips on the back of each piece. The magnets weren’t sticking well, so I ended up using hot glue to stick them on. I attached a locker door front on this little empty wall space in Matthew’s room. It’s the perfect magnet board for a narrow space. When my kids saw it they thought it was really cool, but my little two year old nephew seemed to enjoy playing with it the most! This ended up being a really fun and easy project. As for the locker door front, I love it so much as a magnet board I decided to put one in my studio too!