626 Educreations Movies

Well, my three years of teaching a 4th & 5th Grade combo class, have resulted in three math series X 2 grade levels worth of movies made by me on Educreations. I have these posted on public setting, so anyone can see them. They are mostly math movies, but some Science, STEM, and Writing movies also. Maybe some Social Studies too. I loved being a combo teacher, but will be switching back to 4th grade in the fall 2016!
626 Educreations instructional movies made, with 16,288 views, are nice to look back on and keep as references for future viewing with my classes in the years ahead teaching.
I recommend for any teacher to check out the Educreations app, and it's worth it to upgrade to a pro account so that even though you pay a fee, as a teacher, the students get access for free with the code provided by the teacher. The student made movies can also be saved on the teacher's pro account.
There's a slight chance there will be more than 626 movies by summer's end!
https://www.educreations.com/profile/1688252/

Classroom App

So cute...one of my fifth graders told me about the "Classroom" app, that could help me monitor the apps that all the students are using, at the same moment as each other. He advised me to update my iPad so that I can add the app, so that we can give it a try tomorrow.
On my iPad screen I would be able to see an icon next to each child's name, of the apps they are using, all at the same time.
Forever (about 3 years now), I have wanted a way to monitor student screen time, in another way other than the honor system (which HAS worked), and I'm thrilled with the idea given to me today by a fifth grader!
http://cdn.redmondpie.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/classroom-ipad-02.jpg

Teach Aide is A+

I've been looking for a way to digitally compile student points and grades that works for me, and have tried several apps before this! Last year I'd write grades on paper as I read student assignments turned in on Showbie, and then record the grades on individual pages in another app on the iPad. It was too many steps, and I wanted a way to record the grades on my iPhone at the same time I was grading assignments on my iPad. I think I've found a solution, and it's an app called Teach Aide with an icon that says A+. The app is on my iPhone and can be backed up on the iPad, or by sending an email to myself of the recorded grades.

It has an email feature for sending the lists of points to parents, for each subject area. There's nothing I don't like about the app. I've found what I've been searching for! So cool to have made this discovery! 

Keeping My Ears Open!

I'm so excited to start another school year of teaching! The BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) thing is awesome! I'm in my third year as a BYOD 1:1 iPad 4th and 5th Grade Combo Teacher, although it's year number 29 in the grand total. Too bad I didn't fit that on my t-shirt!

I'm eager to listen to students as they bring in their enthusiasm and knowledge of new apps and features for using iPads in the classroom. On the first day of school one of my returning fifth graders asked if he could share and teach about the apps we utilized last year that we will be using, and I agreed. It was a beautiful thing to see him presenting and teaching the information to the new students! 

Then another student shared an app called Shou for filming what is on your screen as you are talking. I haven't tried it yet, but the ideas just keep rolling in from the students, and I'm keeping my ears open!

EdmodoCon 2015

This is the third year in a row that I've spent a day in August glued to my iPad all day, watching a live webinar called Edmodocon. This time I heard about a teacher who has her class skype with classrooms in five different countries around the world, and students were paired with those classes to work on digital projects. I heard more about flipped classrooms and making math videos (I do this and love it!) I heard about students being paired with published authors to work on creative writing projects, and student writing improving as a result. I plan on trying some of those ideas, and adding giving more badges on Edmodo and using NoRedInk for grammar in a fun way! I'm really looking forward to trying some of these new ideas in my 1:1 iPad classroom! 

Here's my movie summary of Edmodocon 2015! 

http://youtu.be/btkeluibcvg

Kahoot.it

Kahoot.it is a free site where the teacher can sign up for an account, and find pre made lessons on a variety of topics. This is similar to the Nearpod app, and is a student response system. Kahoot.it shows student answers and the correct answers to science questions. My class and I thought it was an excellent prep activity before the Science CSTs that fifth graders took in May. Totally motivating and fun! We found that one of the kahoot.it science lessons matched the online released science questions that I had printed out into a packet. 

We were so excited about this site, that we shared the idea to use it with our 2nd grade Tech buddies at our school. The buddies were paired and they answered questions about the life cycle of the butterfly. The 2nd graders were studying that in their science lessons, so it was thrilling for the tech pairs to work together to answer the butterfly questions.

What a fabulous discovery for use in an all iPad classroom! 

Rediscovering the Subtext App

My class just started reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland using the Subtext app. I have a class code, and gave the code to my students so they can see the library of books I've included on my Subtext class page. When there is a free book, like the one we are reading now, I can push that book out to the class. Along with the audiobook of the story that I purchased on iTunes, and opened in the iBooks app, the class is reading the book together, with all students having a copy; reading a copy on their iPads.

Students can highlight main ideas and post those for the class to see. They can comment on each other's posts about the story we are reading! Great interaction and collaboration about what is being read. Finding evidence in the text is made easier by using the highlighting feature. 

There are assignment ideas given, that I read verbally, and students follow those directions about what evidence I want them to find in the text, after we read.

Earlier I had posted a blog entry about being able to share library books using Subtext with my class, however that's only one copy of the book on my screen. The free books within the app, can be seen on all student screens. There are many classic novels that are free within the app. Students ask,"Can we read in Subtext today?" Their enthusiasm is inspiring!