iPad Integration That Works!

Back in November my class received 10 iPads from our technology department and we were told to "have fun". Our district has gone 1:1 in the secondary schools, but we are only one of two elementary classrooms that recieved iPads. Of course I was thrilled, but then I realized that I would need to spend some time thinking about how to successfully integrate them in to our daily routine and find apps that would fit our curriculum. 

We spent the first few weeks exploring the camera apps, creating blog posts on Kidblog, and using Tellagami. But I knew that I wanted them to be part of our Daily 5 and math rotations, so I spent some time talking to other teachers to learn how they are using iPads and finding the best apps to use. 

For our Daily 5 rounds, I found apps for Word Work, Work on Writing, and Read to Self. I set up folders on each iPad so when the students are doing a rotation, they know which folder to open. 

The folders help keep the apps organized. When they have free time they know they can also use the "games" folder, but that one is off limits during our rotations.

To manage all of the apps and 10 iPads, I am using a MacBook Air with the Apple Configurator app. This allows me to search apps at the iTunes Store and then load them to the ipads all at once, using what I call "mission control", a charging device where all of the iPads can be plugged in and managed at one time.

When new apps are added, I simply slide them into the folders. There is a way to set one iPad the way you want it and then duplicate it on the rest, but I have not ventured that far yet.

Our folders and apps

Reading

Generally, the students use "real" books for Read to Self and Read to Someone, but I have created this folder to give them some variety.

 National Geographic books are great for Read to Self. I have also added the Augmented Reality App 

IMAG-N-O-TRON (.99 - not free) 

that goes with the book "The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore"

Word Work

There are lots of great apps for spelling, phonics, and grammar. Elephant Feed and Octopus Feed are 4 player games that focus on homophones and synonyms. Spell Sam Spell is also very popular.

Work on Writing

Students use a variety of methods for writing including journaling, the writing process, and blogging. These apps are great for impromptu writing.

Students use Kidblog on our desktops and the iPads. Write About This is a fantastic app that gives a picture and a prompt. Students write and record their voice. It works well for a 15-20 minute rotation. I use the FREE version.

Math

We do one math center per day - 4 days a week for about 20-30 minutes.

We just finished a unit on geometry. There are some fun tangram apps and a geoboard apps. We also used the PBS CyberChase Shape Quest augmented reality app using the printed game board. Math Vs. Zombies and Monster Numbers are also great for fact fluency. 

Create

One of my goals with iPads is for the the students to create content for their digital portfolios. I am still working on the work flow, but there are some really good apps where the students can create and share their learning. Each student has a Kidblog for their content. 

Examples can be found HERE. 

There are many content creation apps that are kid friendly. Generally, when they create something, we save it to the camera roll and then upload it to their blog (with my help). 30 Hands, Educreations, Show Me, Tellagami, Sock Puppets, and Haiku Deck allow students to add photos, videos, text, and voice. 

Games and Hour of Code

These apps are used for free time. We do hour of code in our computer lab as a whole group, but I added the apps for the students who really enjoy it. Mr Crab and Egg Race are the most popular games.  

I have only asked to purchase one app - IMAG-N-0-TRON because you have to buy one license per ipad. So the entire purchase was $10.00. There are some apps, such as Write About This,  that would be nice to have the full version of, but for now the free version works fine.

Rules and Safety

I spend a lot of time reviewing the apps with my kids and showing them how they work. Many of the free apps come with the option to make in-app purchases. They are restricted from doing this, but clicking on the links takes them away from the app. They are learning where to find the little "x" that closes the advertisement. 

Also, the headphones can be an issue. We keep them wrapped up in a tub by the iPads. If they are using an app that has sound, they can use the headphones. Of course, the cords get tangled and sometimes the kids have trouble getting the jack securely in the iPad. We have a few "experts" in the classroom who are really helpful when tech issues arise. 

Hygiene

We keep a bottle of hand gel by the iPads to use before picking one up. Every few days, I wipe the screens down with a very soft, damp cloth. Using cleaners is not recommended on the screens or screen protectors. 

What am I doing?

So now that I have my kids fully engaged, you are probably wondering what I am doing. Having the iPads has created some additional work for me, but using them as part of our Daily 5 and math centers has really freed me up so I can meet REGULARLY with my students! The iPads are not a replacement for good teaching - they are a supplement.

Having Fun and showing our learning

The instructions were to have fun, but more importantly my students are learning how to use the ipad as a learning tool for creating and communicating. It's not a replacement for a book or something to keep them busy. It's a powerful device that turns my classroom into a 21st century learning environment!

I Hope This Helps

There are many, many resources out there for iPads in the classroom which I found very helpful. But, to make them work in my classroom took time and and consideration. What works for me, may not work for you, but I hope I have at least given you some ideas on how to successfully manage and integrate your iPads in the classroom.

A Morning of Inspiration From Ron Clark

Getting my fangirl on for Ron Clark!

Today I took the day off so I could see Ron Clark in person. I have been a fan of Mr. Clark's since I started teaching 5 years ago. I read all of his books, saw the movie, and have made every effort to use some of his techniques in my classroom. My principal also heard him speak several years ago and since then, every morning she reads one Essential 55 rule during the morning announcements.  The Essential 55 are simple but effective guidelines to help guide behavior and instill a sense of pride and responsibility in students.  The Essential 55 has become part of our school culture.

Some of the advice he gave to the packed room full of teachers today was not over-the-top or unreasonable techniques, but just good strategies for keeping our kids engaged and challenged:

1.  Keep them moving - for every 45 minutes of instruction, take a few minutes to get the blood flowing to their brain. Songs, dancing, or just plain old jumping jacks will do the trick. He even suggested giving them 20 seconds to find a different seat to sit in!

2.  Use music to help teach. He is really good at changing words to popular songs to fit what he is teaching (and he can bust a move), but there are also tons of songs and videos on YouTube that you can use without ever having to come up with your own.  A few years ago, I changed the words to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" to fit the Daily 5 and Good Fit Books and called it "Read It". The kids even helped me with some of the wording.

3.  Don't teach to the lowest, don't teach to the middle - teach to the highest and have expections for the lowest to learn and achieve as much as the others.

"When you put a label on a kid (person) - you lower expectations." 
Ron Clark

4. Don't let the highest kids chill out and make easy A's - challenge them and raise the bar because when they enter the real world there are no easy A's.

When you push the gifted kids everyone's scores go up. Ron clark

6.  Make lessons exciting and engaging - go outside, do math problems on balloons, make it rain in your classroom by turning down the lights, playing recorded rain sounds, and putting up umbrellas.

7.  Make your kids work for their rewards - make rewards meaningful!  He used the example of doing math problems on balloons: The kids come to class and there are balloons everywhere - they have to grab one and do a math problem on it. The kids who get it right get to pop the balloon - the kids who get it wrong don't...even when they say "please". The next day, have the balloons again. This time, more kids may get it right and get to pop the balloon. Don't just stick with balloons though, because the kids who have already popped them will be ready to move on - mix it up and keep it fun and challenging.

"We have wussified America and education; why do all kids have to get trophies?" Ron Clark

8. Know who your students are - demand eye contact, learn their culture, and don't pretend that you're color blind.

8. Go the extra mile FOR YOUR KIDS - not to make other teachers feel bad or inadequate.

"Don’t take the stairs in life. Use the slide. Try something unusual. Be a disrupter. Do something. Be someone." Ron Clark

Tomorrow when I go back to school, I probably will not be jumping on top of desks, but I will definitely be making more of an effort to reach and engage my kids through songs, physical activity, and high expectations!

Thank you Mr. Clark!

For more information visit http://www.ronclarkacademy.com/

Great Books for November!

Here some of my favorite read alouds for November and some new ones too!

Book Review - Tale of a Baseball Dream

Tale of a Baseball Dream by Jerry Pearlman is a great read-aloud for elementary age students. I can't wait to read it to my 2nd graders while the World Series is taking place later this month! 

Summary: Tale of a Baseball Dream is the fictitious inspirational story of Dusty Hunter, a young boy who loved to play baseball. Dusty had an incredibly strong desire to become a great baseball player, even though he was undersized, and faced many challenges and disappointments. The story evolves to entwine Dusty's life, with "The Legend of Bubba 'The Brute' Brugosee," who was considered many decades earlier, as "The Greatest Baseball Hero of All Time!" Truly an exciting baseball story for the dreamer in everyone! Amazon.com

A Quick Read: I started reading this book on a Saturday morning and read it off and on throughout the day. I was finished by evening.  This will make a great read aloud over the course of a week.

The Plan: 

• Read the book to my students over the course of a week (it has 88 pages, so I will read about 20 pages per day)
• Students will keep track of the characters, setting, and main ideas in their writing journals
• Students will summarize each reading and pose any questions they may have from the daily reading.
• Students will post interesting words on our Daily 5 Cafe Menu.
• Students will generate discussion and questions about the story on their Kidblogs.
• Students will use a Think, Tac, Toe to select and create products to show what they have they have learned. 

Teachable Moments and Big Ideas:

• Hard work = Success
• The more you practice, the better you get
• Don't give up
• Little things make a big difference

Vocabulary Words:
enthusiastically
legend
traded
groundball
pop up
homerun
disgruntled
anticipation
determined
curse
miracle
intimidating
souvenir

Think, Tac, Toe

Tale of a Baseball Dream by Jerry Pearlman

For the plans and the Think, Tac, Toe please click HERE.

New School Year Resolutions

Here's a chance for you to set some goals for the upcoming school year and share them with the world! I am a big proponent of public goal-setting because it forces me to stick with them! Last year I set 3 goals and posted them on my blog. I also shared my goals with the entire staff at my school. Nothing like putting yourself under a lot of pressure...but that's how I roll best. So here's your opportunity to set some goals, share them with the rest of the world, and then go have an awesome year! 


Just write a blog post stating your goals and then click on the picture below to link up!

MY GOALS FOR 2012-2013

1.  IMPROVE UPON THE GOALS I SET LAST YEAR: Daily 5, Blogging, and connecting with the world. Last year I implemented some huge changes and the payoff was enormous! My students learned to be independent learners and thoroughly enjoyed The Daily 5. They also benefited from the the many contacts we made through Skyping and blogging. This year, my students will experience quad-blogging and more global interactions right from the start. I hope to do a "Skype Etiquette" session during the first week of school with another classroom. (Any takers?)

2.  LESS CLUTTER! I envy the teachers whose rooms look pristine all year long. When I look at my room in the afternoon, it looks like a tornado hit my desk because it tends to be the catch-all. My goal is to have a place for everything so that things don't just get thrown on my desk or on the floor behind my desk. I am skeptical about this goal, but I have seen a lot of great organization ideas on Pinterest that may help.

3.  BUILD STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS WITH MY STUDENTS: I sometimes feel that I miss out on opportunities with my students because I am too focused on the tasks at hand instead of what the students need. Taking time to really listen to my students will go a long way in helping build mutual trust and motivating them to work to the best of their ability.

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?

Using Blogging with The Daily 5

Last year, one of my goals was to implement The Daily 5 and The Daily Cafe in my classroom. I was very pleased with the results and how my students responded. I found that by following the routine as recommended in the books really helped my students become independent learners who all worked to the best of their ability.

1 teacher + 18 students with laptops = fun!

Another goal was to implement blogging. I was not sure how this was going to work with 2nd graders, but the second week of school, I checked out the portable laptop station from the library and jumped right in! It was hard for some of the students who had never used a laptop, but some of the others were very helpful in getting everyone where they needed to be. I used Kidblog  because I was able to set up a separate blog for each student. They used their student i.d. as the password, so it was very easy for them to log on.  After a few sessions with the laptops, most of the students were comfortable with how it all worked and were doing short, little posts about themselves.

Anchor charts

When I felt that they were ready to blog on their own, I introduced the "Work on Writing" component of the Daily 5. During work on writing, they write in their notebooks using the writing process: Prewrite, Rough Draft, Revise and Edit, Proofread, and Publish. When they got to the Proofread stage, they made an appointment to meet with me. They read their work and I listened. When finished, I asked them what changes they could make to their story. Most of the time they were able to pick out spelling and grammar errors, but I guided them in making other revisions that were appropriate for their age level and ability. Once all revisions were done and ready to publish, they moved to the computer to type it all in. At first, it took a long time for the students to type their posts, but by the middle of the year, most were very familiar with the keyboard and were able to get their posts done more quickly. Some even figured out how to do fancy, colored fonts.

This handy tool helps keep track of where each student is in the  writing process.

Once we got to the point where the students chose their Daily 5 round, using blogging for "work on writing" worked perfectly. Since we had three desktop computers, I stopped using laptops because the carts took up so much space in my room. Also, since the students were all at different stages of the writing process, three computers worked out fine. Sometimes the students were so in to their writing and blogging that they wanted to choose "work on writing" more than once per day. I did not usually allow this unless they were really close to finishing. 

Students engaged and blogging independently.

When the students finished their posts, they hit the "submit for review" button. I received an email notifying me that a blog post was ready for my review. Generally, I would just look it over and publish it. I am not looking for perfection, I am looking for good, quality work that demonstrates the students' best effort. They are motivated to do their best because they know they have an audience that includes other teachers, administrators, friends, and parents. 

Sample blog post

When I set up our Kidblog last year, I kept it password protected because I wasn't sure how the parents would respond and I wanted to make sure that I was taking all safety precautions.  This year, our blogs will be open so that classrooms around the world can visit and comment. I have it set up so I can moderate all posts and comments. I am looking forward to introducing a new group of 2nd graders to the world of blogging!

Books for the First Weeks of School

As the new school year approaches, I am reviewing my plans from previous years and working on ways to improve my lessons. The Daily 5 has completely changed the way I teach and has allowed me more time to read to my students and teach through mini lessons.  Mini lessons are short periods of time where you focus on reading or writing skills and strategies. Mini lessons at the beginning of the year can also cover classroom procedures, rules, and behavior. Here are a few of my favorites for the first few weeks of school:

First Day Jitters 

This is a good book to help break the ice and let the students know that they are not the only ones who get nervous on the first day of school.

Chrysanthemum

I usually read this on the second day and do activities using the students' names.

What if Everybody Did That?

I already used this question a lot in my classroom and was thrilled to see that there was a book with the same title! I like this book because it shows the action and the consequence. It covers some good areas for discussion such as yelling out in class and littering.

No David!

Another book that shows the action and the consequence. My students and I make anchor charts with the classroom rules. These books helps generate ideas for setting our classroom guidelines.

My Mouth is a Volcano

Another good one to help generate discussion about waiting your turn to speak and being a good listener.

The Recess Queen

A fun book with lots of rhyming and a good message about playground behavior and bullying.

A Bad Case of the Stripes

A great book for getting the students to understand that it is o.k. to be different.

The Brand New Kid

A nice story about a new kid who looks and sounds different from the other students.  

Whoever You Are

I use this book to help introduce our involvement in The Global Classroom Project. Students see that there are kids all over the world just like them!

I hope this gives you some good ideas for the the start of school. What books do you read to your students during the first weeks?

The Original Seat Sack!

When I first set up my classroom a few years ago, I was looking for an inexpensive way for my students to store their whiteboard and markers. I discovered that jumbo stretchy book covers fit nicely on the back of the chairs and the whiteboard slid perfectly into the pocket. This was a great way to keep the whiteboards at their desks without getting chipped and scratched.

However, I soon discovered that this was all the book covers could really hold. If the students added books, workbooks, or folders the book cover would stretch and the pocket would flip over, causing all of the contents to fall on the floor.

Adding books and other items caused the book covers to stretch.  With added items, the book covers drag on the floor and the pockets flip, causing all of the contents to fall out.   

The stretched out pocket would sometimes cause the chair to become top heavy and tip it over. The added stress on the stretchy fabric also caused it to tear.

I decided it was time to look for something sturdier that would hold more items - particularly the books my students read every day for "Read to Self" during The Daily 5. Fortunately, one of my readers contacted me and told me about The Original Seat Sack. These sacks are made of durable denim and have a nice deep pocket that will not stretch, flip, or cause the chair to become too top heavy.

Now my students can store books, workbooks, and folders in the seat  sacks!

The blue denim fabric will match just about any classroom decor

No stretching, dragging, tipping, or tearing!

The Original Seat Sacks are designed and hand made by a 3rd grade teacher who was looking for a storage solution. To learn more about this product please visit The Original Seat Sack Facebook page. 


*UPDATE*
A recent blog post over at Pre-K Pages made me realize that the chair in my pictures looks like a full-size student chair, but it is not. It is actually a smaller chair (27" tall) used for 2nd graders. The stretchy book covers and The Original Seat Sack work nicely on any size chair.

Daily 5 Book Study

If you haven't gotten around to reading the Daily 5 or Cafe books by Moser and Boushey, here is a fun way to read and discuss them with teachers from all over! Please join the Daily 5 Book Study at We Read, We Blog, We Teach and learn how to implement one of the best literacy programs ever!

Don't miss a single thing - just follow the book study schedule and you'll be ready to implement greatness by the first day of school! Abby from Third Grade Bookworm has already blogged about Chapter 1. 

Go check it out!

HearAll Assessment Recorder Giveaway

Enter HERE to win the HearALL Assessment Record!

Hop on over to Thoughts of a Third Grader Teacher! She is giving away a HearALL Assessment Recorder. This tool has many great uses in the classroom. The first one that popped into my head was using it for Daily 5 rounds: A student  records themselves during Read To Self and then plays it back. This would help improve their fluency and prosody! 

How would you use it?

No compensation was received for this post - it just increased my chances of winning one for myself ;-)

A Few of My Favorite Things

Join in on the linky fun! This is a great opportunity to visit some new blogs and meet some great teachers! 

• Create a blog post about your favorite things
• Use the picture above to link to Sharing Kindergarten's post
• Add the link to your post on her blog!

Some of the Frugal Teacher's Favorite Things:

1. The Daily 5 and the Cafe books by Gaill Boushey and Joan Moser have changed the way I teach!

2. Skype in the Classroom! Connecting my students with scientists and classrooms around the world has opened a world of learning opportunities!

 3. Twitter Chats! I love participating in #D5Chat, #teachchat, #elemchat, and #globalclassroom chats. I have learned SO much chatting with educators around the world!

4. Zumba! This is a fairly new love, but it's one that I hope will last a long time. A teacher at our school leads a Zumba class several times a week. It's so much fun and feels really good!

What are your favorite things?

Guest Blogger - Tenille Shade Meets The Sisters

Tenille Shade is a 4th grade teacher with Denton ISD. 

Louise Morgan is such an amazing parent and teacher. I first got to know her after teaching her oldest daughter, Rebekah, years ago when I was still young and green.  We later worked together at Sycamore Elementary, and I was always in awe of her positive energy and creative spirit. Her marriage is an inspiration, and I consider it an honor to be a guest blogger on her website, The Frugal Teacher. Thanks for letting me share Wezie!

The Sisters – Rockstars for Teachers!

Several years ago, I had the privilege of seeing Gail Boushey and Joan Moser present a workshop in Fort Worth, Texas. I had read The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades during the previous spring, and I was pumped about implementing the workshop model in my 4^th grade classroom. At the time, I had struggled to find a manageable way to differentiate reading instruction for every child, and I was hungry to find a system that would allow me to keep kids engaged in literacy task while I worked with individual students and small groups.

During the spring of 2008, I attempted to launch the first “daily”.  I was absolutely blown away by the power of Read to Self. Kids were no longer shopping for books, blowing their noses, or asking to the go the bathroom during sustained silent reading. Instead, they were truly engaged in reading books of their choice. Since Read to Self had worked out so well, I decided it would be best to save the rest of the “dailies” for later. The 10 steps to independence had changed my teaching life, and I certainly didn’t want to mess up a good thing.

Fast forward to the present. Last week, Denton ISD, generously sponsored a trip to San Antonio to see The Sisters present live. A group of 13 teachers carpooled south, hoping for a whiz-bang learning experience. The sisters did not disappoint! As we walked into the hotel conference center, the room buzzed with excitement. The Sisters were welcoming and engaging from the moment the session began, and their wit and humor captured and sustained our attention throughout the day.

As the workshop unfolded, astonishment and awe washed over me each time The Sisters referenced a new, insightful piece of educational research designed to keep educators moving forward. I actually pulled up my old notes from four years ago to compare, and not one piece of research they shared was the same. These ladies are voracious readers and learners, which inspires me to continue on a path of rigorous professional development.

On day one of the workshop, they provided explicit instruction about creating a culture of trust and respect. They spoke of the intangible qualities present in a classroom where these core values are honored. I greatly appreciated how they walked us though the evolution of literacy, looking at a historical overview spanning from the 1970’s to the present. Their willingness to reflect on their previous practices speaks volumes about their commitment to student learning.

As an intermediate teacher who is departmentalized, I was encouraged to hear that they are now recommending two rounds of the dailies for the upper grades. I was challenged to find a way to integrate reading and writing workshop which honors student choice. The Sisters reminded me of the importance of keeping our lessons “mini”, and they cited brain research related to a child’s ability to maintain focus for the length of their age. If my students are 10 years old, then I have ten minutes to talk and instruct. Anything I say or do after this time allotment is lost because their brains transition into the lower cortex, which is responsible for blinking and breathing.

The Sisters presentation style had also evolved over the years. The design of their PowerPoint presentation caught my attention, and I could tell they had studied John Medina’s book, Brain Rules. They purposefully used noise and movement throughout the workshop to keep all participants brains functioning at their highest level.

One of my favorite quotes came from a local literacy coach who said, “It doesn’t matter what journey you are on. Just make sure you are on a journey!” These words continue to resonate with my heart, and I believe our students deserve teachers who are perpetual learners themselves. The Sisters set an example of excellence for all educators, and if you every have a chance to see them in person, I highly recommend signing up! 

Tenille with Gail Boushey and Joan Moser at the San Antonio conference.

For more information on upcoming events visit www.thedailycafe.com

A Day of Reflection and Thought...again

I was recently named Teacher of the Year by my peers and as I was filling out all of the paperwork for Teacher of the District, I started looking back over my blog posts from the last year. I came upon this one that I had done back in the summer when I finally made the commitment to use the Daily 5 in its' entirety.  It's kind of interesting to see what a difference a year can make. All of the frustations I had before using Daily 5 are gone.  My students are all really good readers, and more importantly, they love to read and write! 


A Day of Reflection and Thought July 14, 2011
I spent some time on the computer today exploring Google+ and downloading TweetDeck. I also started re-reading The Daily 5. I read this book 2 summers ago while I was in new teacher training. After the training, I was excited and determined to implement The Daily 5  in my classroom. Well, that didn't happen. In fact, for the last 2 years I am embarrassed to say that my classroom has been more like the one described in the first few pages of the book:


We spent too much time managing their behavior, planning activities, and putting out fires instead of teaching.  We didn't have time to plan for excellent instruction that would meet our children's needs, nor did we have enough time for small groups or individual conferences.  We knew there had to be a better way. (Boushey & Moser p. 5)

How had I let my classroom become exactly what I knew it should not?  I'm not really sure. I was able to implement the "Read to Self" component quite easily, but my inexperience combined with some unexpected situations became too overwhelming. I found myself becoming discouraged and started doing what I had observed in other classrooms and just "winging it". Student behavior, paperwork, and new curriculum all played a part in my inability to have full control of my teaching and my classroom.

As I get ready to start my 3rd year, I am no longer able to play the "1st/2nd year teacher card"  but I feel much more prepared than ever. My PLN (Personal Learning Network) has helped and encouraged me tremendously.  At the end of the 2010-11 school year I had no idea that by visiting a few blogs and setting up a Twitter account would open up a whole world of information that was there for the taking. I did not plan on spending my summer fully engaged with other teachers from around the world...but I'm glad I did!


Anyway, enough about me being a bad teacher...I am rejuvenated and ready to take on the world!

My Goals:

• Implement all 5 components of the Daily 5

• Integrate student blogging into "Work on Writing"

• Skype with other classrooms around the world

There! 3 goals. I never set goals before.  My only goal was to make it to the last day of school!

I think 2011-12 is going to be the best one yet!

So! After reading this, I realize how publicly setting goals can be a very good motivator to do what you say you are going to do! 

• I did implement all components of the Daily 5 and wonder how I taught reading and writing before.

• I did integrate student blogging into the "work on writing" components and have been amazed at how much better my students are at writing than in past years. They are more motivated to write better now that they know they have an audience that includes their parents, the prinicipals, counselor, other teachers, and students and teachers from other classrooms around the world!

• I did join a global Skype community and have brought other classrooms and educators from around the world to our classroom. One very exciting day we even Skyped with a former astronaut and in a few weeks we will be Skyping with Neil deGrasse Tyson (we are hoping to get that Pluto question answered:-)

And yes, 2011-12 has been the best one yet!

Now I must get back to my paperwork.