I am just finishing up parent-conference week. It went amazingly well! I actually had every parent show up for a conference. Even better than that, the sign-up process was soooo easy this time.
I use SignUp Genius to schedule my conferences this year. No more sending papers home for parents to pick their top 3 times, then sending them in and back out again when their times were taken. Parents could see available conference appointments in real time.
Not only can parents sign up at SignUp Genius, it also sends a reminder to parents about what they signed up for. So it saved me time with sign-ups and sending reminders.
About SignUpGenius from Dan Rutledge on Vimeo.
I am now getting ready to set up another sign-up genius for parents to select items they will send in for our Halloween and Fall Festival. This website makes my life so much easier!
Do you have a great site to share?
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Saturday, August 23, 2014
OSMO is Awesome!!!
Check out what I got in the mail this week!!!! I got my OSMO, and it is Awesome! I was so excited and could not wait to try it out and show everyone how amazing it actually is.
For those of you who haven't heard about OSMO yet, check out this video.
I saw the video several months ago and though "Wow, that is amazing and I have to have one!" I was a little skeptical that it could really be that simple and work so well. I figured even if it turned out to be half as cool as it looks on the video, it would still be amazing.
So I went on to www.playosmo.com to see about ordering one. At the time, they still hadn't hit the retail market and were in the early production phase. You could (and I did) pre-order one at pre-production prices. You are probably wondering, so how much? OSMO will retail for $99; that includes all three components above. Right now you can order yours for 40% off. (Click here if you would like to order from my referral link.)
So what do you get and what can you do with the components? The bas, letters and tangram components each come in their own storage box. They have magnetic closures and store your pieces very nicely. You use your iPad with the special base and little reflector piece that slides over your camera. (You do have to take your iPad out of the protective case if you use one.) Then you download 3 apps from the iTunes app store for free. The apps are Newton for OSMO, Tangram for OSMO, and Words for OSMO. It is so simple to set up, nothing to plug in, batteries to add, or charge. The hardest part was trying to decide what game to play first!
My daughters (ages 10 and 13) began playing right away. It really is tangible hands on and interactive play. Interacting with the iPad in new ways and even better, interacting with each other.
We all worked together playing Newton. Drawing lines and moving objects to help the balls bounce and hit their targets. Then we broke out the Tangram. We were able to make several of the shapes without help. A few of the harder shapes, OSMO helped us out by showing us the outlines and colors of the individual pieces. Finally we broke our Words and the competition began! (You can also play in collaboration mode.) This was a face paced and competitive game. I must admit I felt a little guilty for celebrating beating my children. However, the more we play, the better they get and it is harder to beat them.
I am happy to say OSMO exceeded all of my expectations! It really is as fun and easy as the video shows. I was also asked for my feedback and opinion from the company. I hope they plan to make more apps to go with this amazing system! I would love to see an easier word/phonics game for the K/1 set and think a numbers game could be amazing too. I think this will be one of the "it" items this holiday season for sure.
For those of you who haven't heard about OSMO yet, check out this video.
I saw the video several months ago and though "Wow, that is amazing and I have to have one!" I was a little skeptical that it could really be that simple and work so well. I figured even if it turned out to be half as cool as it looks on the video, it would still be amazing.
So I went on to www.playosmo.com to see about ordering one. At the time, they still hadn't hit the retail market and were in the early production phase. You could (and I did) pre-order one at pre-production prices. You are probably wondering, so how much? OSMO will retail for $99; that includes all three components above. Right now you can order yours for 40% off. (Click here if you would like to order from my referral link.)
So what do you get and what can you do with the components? The bas, letters and tangram components each come in their own storage box. They have magnetic closures and store your pieces very nicely. You use your iPad with the special base and little reflector piece that slides over your camera. (You do have to take your iPad out of the protective case if you use one.) Then you download 3 apps from the iTunes app store for free. The apps are Newton for OSMO, Tangram for OSMO, and Words for OSMO. It is so simple to set up, nothing to plug in, batteries to add, or charge. The hardest part was trying to decide what game to play first!
My daughters (ages 10 and 13) began playing right away. It really is tangible hands on and interactive play. Interacting with the iPad in new ways and even better, interacting with each other.
We all worked together playing Newton. Drawing lines and moving objects to help the balls bounce and hit their targets. Then we broke out the Tangram. We were able to make several of the shapes without help. A few of the harder shapes, OSMO helped us out by showing us the outlines and colors of the individual pieces. Finally we broke our Words and the competition began! (You can also play in collaboration mode.) This was a face paced and competitive game. I must admit I felt a little guilty for celebrating beating my children. However, the more we play, the better they get and it is harder to beat them.
I am happy to say OSMO exceeded all of my expectations! It really is as fun and easy as the video shows. I was also asked for my feedback and opinion from the company. I hope they plan to make more apps to go with this amazing system! I would love to see an easier word/phonics game for the K/1 set and think a numbers game could be amazing too. I think this will be one of the "it" items this holiday season for sure.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
A Bedtime Story
Wouldn't it be great if you could read a bedtime story about the first-day of school to every student in your new class? Imagine reading "The Night Before First Grade" to help ease the fears of your new little guys. With a little tech magic you can! Here is what you do.
First record yourself reading the book. I found a digital copy of "The Night Before First Grade" for free on one of my favorite sites: www.wegivebooks.org
I opened the book on my Mac and then used Quicktime to do a screen recording of my reading the story. Once I was happy with the recording, I saved the video as a "public" file in my dropbox account. (I love dropbox! If you don't have it, click here to sign up. It is FREE!)
Next, I copied the public link to my video file. Then I created a QR code that will take my students straight to me reading their bedtime story. At my school, we have the students come and meet the teacher the Friday before school officially begins. I put the QR code on my welcome brochure. The students, and parents love it! You can click here to see my bedtime story video.
This year, I plan to have my buddy readers record books like this for our class. Then later in the year we will record our own stories to share.
First record yourself reading the book. I found a digital copy of "The Night Before First Grade" for free on one of my favorite sites: www.wegivebooks.org
I opened the book on my Mac and then used Quicktime to do a screen recording of my reading the story. Once I was happy with the recording, I saved the video as a "public" file in my dropbox account. (I love dropbox! If you don't have it, click here to sign up. It is FREE!)
Next, I copied the public link to my video file. Then I created a QR code that will take my students straight to me reading their bedtime story. At my school, we have the students come and meet the teacher the Friday before school officially begins. I put the QR code on my welcome brochure. The students, and parents love it! You can click here to see my bedtime story video.
This year, I plan to have my buddy readers record books like this for our class. Then later in the year we will record our own stories to share.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Road Trip!!!
We just returned from a road trip to Washington D.C. and I found two great apps I thought I would share. I know it really has nothing to do with technology in the classroom, but hey it's summer and many of us are on vacay!
The first web site/ app I used to plan everything was Roadtrippers! It is a great site to plan everything ! I was able to map out my entire trip and find locations and accommodations along the way. I planned everything on my computer and can easily pull up the entire itinerary on my iPhone. Check out this short video that explains it.
On our last road I introduced the girls to the license plate game. We played it old-school style, writing down each state we found on paper. However, it was difficult to figure out which states we were missing. So for this trip, we found an app for that!
The License Plate Game app was great on our trip! We found all but 4 plates on our trip.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
End of Year Writing Gone Tech
Hello everyone! I am in the middle of the "May Crazies"! (I mean really, how much more can you pack in a month!!)
It "May" be crazy at school, but great things are still happening!
Every year I have the students reflect on their year. I love hearing what their favorite things were and even what they didn't like. This year I added a little more to the traditional writing.
First, the students wrote their script. On this planning form they wrote about their 3 favorite things and the one thing they didn't like. They did this at their "Write On!" center. (Click here to download this planning sheet freebie!)
After the students finished their scripts, I reviewed it with them. Then they used one of our 3 class iPad mini's to publish/ record their writing piece. Since it is the end of the year and we have used several different recording apps, I decided to let the students choose. They could do a traditional video recording with the camera app, use Puppet Pals 2 or ChatterPix. They would take their script and the iPad and go into the recording studio (my office or the hallway) and finish creating their project.
Once the projects were finished we screened them for the class. The projects turned out better than I ever expected! Check out this video created by Ms. Reina. It literally brought tears to my eyes and reminded me why I do what I do!
Yes, she is in a traditional first grade class and did this all by herself! I love the way she changes her voice to interview herself.
They turned out so well, I am using them to make an interactive end-of-the-year bulletin board. I'm using a QR code linked to each video. I will then post these on the hallway bulletin board.
It "May" be crazy at school, but great things are still happening!
Every year I have the students reflect on their year. I love hearing what their favorite things were and even what they didn't like. This year I added a little more to the traditional writing.
First, the students wrote their script. On this planning form they wrote about their 3 favorite things and the one thing they didn't like. They did this at their "Write On!" center. (Click here to download this planning sheet freebie!)
After the students finished their scripts, I reviewed it with them. Then they used one of our 3 class iPad mini's to publish/ record their writing piece. Since it is the end of the year and we have used several different recording apps, I decided to let the students choose. They could do a traditional video recording with the camera app, use Puppet Pals 2 or ChatterPix. They would take their script and the iPad and go into the recording studio (my office or the hallway) and finish creating their project.
Once the projects were finished we screened them for the class. The projects turned out better than I ever expected! Check out this video created by Ms. Reina. It literally brought tears to my eyes and reminded me why I do what I do!
Yes, she is in a traditional first grade class and did this all by herself! I love the way she changes her voice to interview herself.
They turned out so well, I am using them to make an interactive end-of-the-year bulletin board. I'm using a QR code linked to each video. I will then post these on the hallway bulletin board.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Take Note!
Notability is FREE for a limited time! (Until Wednesday, May 7th, 2014)
Notability is an amazing app for the iPad! You can do so many things with this app; it will increase your productivity! Of course you can take notes with it. You can also take write on top of any PDF, record notes, organize files... the possibilities are endless.
To find out more information about Notability visit their web site here.
Both of my daughters are in paperless iPad classes and use this app for almost everything they do. It amazes me how organized they are with it. They also take their time with their homework and make it their own. It is my goal to learn from them and become the expert they both are with this app! (The teacher becomes the student!)
Notability is an amazing app for the iPad! You can do so many things with this app; it will increase your productivity! Of course you can take notes with it. You can also take write on top of any PDF, record notes, organize files... the possibilities are endless.
To find out more information about Notability visit their web site here.
Both of my daughters are in paperless iPad classes and use this app for almost everything they do. It amazes me how organized they are with it. They also take their time with their homework and make it their own. It is my goal to learn from them and become the expert they both are with this app! (The teacher becomes the student!)
Monday, April 28, 2014
Learn Fit
Today I wanted to share these great desks with you. My daughter (4th grade) is lucky enough to be in one of the first trial classes for the Ergotron LearnFit adjustable desk in the U.S. These standing desk are are amazing. Her class has had them for a little over a month and they seem to be working out great.
You may think standing all day, Oh No! However, this really helps the students focus and be more attentive. Check out this informational video about the desk.
My daughter loves her standing desk! She is a "busy" student and having the ability to move has really helped her. I think these would be amazing in a K/1 class!
They also have a teacher standing desk, I would love to have one of these! Maybe one day...
You may think standing all day, Oh No! However, this really helps the students focus and be more attentive. Check out this informational video about the desk.
My daughter loves her standing desk! She is a "busy" student and having the ability to move has really helped her. I think these would be amazing in a K/1 class!
They also have a teacher standing desk, I would love to have one of these! Maybe one day...
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