Classroom Tools

        One tool that I use is the ShowMe app for iPads, it is a free app and there is a way to create logins for each student (I haven't tried that yet). I've had my students just use them as white boards to work out problems in centers, show me their answers in large group settings and many other ways. One of my favorite is having students work out a problem and narrate how to solve it. This allows me to hear how students solve their work, as well as allows other students to hear how a peer solved it. I use this most often in Math, but I've also used it in Science. If you go back to my Ecosystems post, students used the app to take pictures of their Diorama, and narrate their presentation.
     One of the challenging standards in 5th grade is addressing the speaking part. So many of my students are nervous and don't like to talk in front of others. This tool has helped them get over being nervous and afraid and helped them feel confident in explaining their learning to others besides myself.
I hope you enjoy!

Human Body Systems ~ Paper Slide Video

   This month, my fifth graders have been studying the human body. We have gone through each of the systems, discussed the purpose and the organs involved. We also looked at how the systems are related to each other and how they work together.
   After going over all of the systems, I put my students into small groups and explained that they were going to create a paper slide video of they body system that their group was assigned. We started off by watching this youtube video on how to make a paper slide video.

After watching this video, we discussed what materials we would need, and what students would need to do before recording their video. I gave students time to work on their project each day until they were ready to record. Once students had their videos recorded, I put them into iMovie and then uploaded them to youtube. Here is our finished project.

Math Practice

Basic math facts are so important for students. I noticed that many of my students lacked the memorization of basic math facts. I was introduced to xtramath.com from my children's teachers. They started working on xtramath as a part of their homework.

I introduced my students to the program, it is a free website to help practice the basic facts with students. It tracks their progress and shows them what they need to work on. Students earn a certification for completing all of their addition fact, then a different one for subtraction, multiplication and division.

I've already seen a lot of progress in my students with their mental math by knowing their basic math facts. It only takes 3-5 minutes each day for the students to practice their facts. The website can be accessed on a laptop, desktop, chrome book or an iPad. My students use our iPads and desktops in our classroom.

I hope you can use it to help your students improve on their basic math facts.   :)

Ecosystems

My fifth graders have been studying ecosystems this month. They divided into different groups and created a diorama and a 2 page paper reporting what they learned. The projects took us a few weeks for the students to do the research, write the paper and to create the diorama. Students then presented the information to the class.

A few of my groups used an iPad and took pictures of their diorama. They used Balloon Stickies Plus or Skitch to annotate their picture. From there they brought their pictures into Show Me and recorded their presentation.

This helped many of my students that were not comfortable with getting up in front of the class to present. They were ok with watching their presentation, and the rest of the class was very supportive of them.

Here are a few of the presentations.

Saltwater

Taiga

Coniferous Forest

Enjoy!

Technology Decisions

So.. I just found out that I can decide to keep my Dell laptop, Macbook Pro, and 6 iPads (2nd generation) with a docking station....

or trade them in for 10 iPad Airs and a laptop,
or 15 Chrome books and a laptop.

I know that I will have wireless and I work with elementary students. All of my students have Google accounts.

What shall I do???

What would you do and why?

And, I'm a bad blogger, I'm sorry.

Christmas in July

This school year, I went through the application, and interview process to become a Pinnacle Leader in my School as well as district. Today was our first day of training and I found out all of the goodies that I will be using in the classroom.


1) Dell laptop
This tech geek is so excited. My head is swimming with all of the new information. I'm familiar with iOS, so it hasn't been too difficult. I'm already looking forward to tomorrow, but my brain needs rest.

2) MacBook Pro
3) Teacher iPad
4) 5 student iPads with Otter Box covers
5) Charging station
6) $100 to spend on Apps