Diigo: A Social Bookmarking Tool That's More Than Just Pretty Pictures

I recently wrote a blog post for the International Reading  Association on Diigo.  You can find it here.

Diigo: A Social Bookmarking Tool That's More Than Just Pretty Pictures

Using an iPad in a Grade One Classroom- Part 2

While I think I was quite thorough in my original post Using an iPad in a Grade One Classroom I completely forget to talk about the four apps I have on my student's iPad shelf - you know the little "shelf" at the bottom of the iPad.

The first "app" I have there is a direct link to our class blog.  You see most  of our on-line activities are via our classroom blog so instead of having my students  find a book mark or type in our long class blog address, I created an app looking link that takes them directly to our class blog. I have to thank Kathy Cassidy for teaching me about that one.

Curious how I did it? First open the web page you want to save on your iPad desk top.  Open this web page in Safari. Then, while still in Safari touch the "share" button (you know the rectangle with the arrow pointing out from it).  Next select "Add to Home Screen". It will prompt you for a name - I type "Class Blog" and then it saves it to your iPad desktop. It is a life saver and SO easy to do.  I actually think when I want my students to start doing research I will add direct links to the websites that are best for them.  If you are using shared iPads each teacher could easily have their own folder with their own personal direct links to websites that are best for their students.The "Add to Home Screen" is a wonderful feature.

The other apps I have on the shelf are Safari, Camera, and Photos. I'd assume they are pretty self explanatory but necessary to have easy access too since they are used so often.

#Kinderblog2012: Question numero six!

If we're honest, we all have days when, for any number of reasons (lack of sleep, family issues, minor illness, idiopathic crankiness...) we are just not at our best. There are days when, in any other line of work, we would probably call in sick, but we don't because we know the impact of our absence is so great. What are your survival tips and tricks to get yourself and your students through those days in one piece? Special supplies to keep on hand? Treats that get you through? Lifesaving lessons or activities? 


This month, thousands of brand new teachers will enter their first classrooms and face their very first class of students (some of them within just a few days.)  Share the tricks you wish someone had told you (or maybe the tricks you are grateful someone shared!). 




I'm pretty fortunate that my tired, grumpy, sad, unhappy days come so infrequently that I had to take some time to think about this post. But of course I would be lying if I said that these days didn't come my way so here are my top 5 tips...


1. Let Your Students Know


My class, and the students in it, are my classroom family for the school year  and we care about one another.  What that means is that we rely on one another to help us get through our "grumpy" days.  I am always amazed by how truly caring my students are when I let them know that I'm going through a tough patch.  Since I don't say it too often, and I foster a climate that encourages us to be supportive of one another, it is quite natural for them to be supportive of me too.


2. Get to Know Your Classroom Neighbours


Nothing helps you get through a rough day better than having someone to share the load with. Although I don't have my own kids I'd assume it's a lot like when parents have play dates - one day at my house, the next day at yours.  While that isn't exactly possibly sometimes just having two classes working together on a group project can help take some of the pressure of you when you're not at your best.  It can be something as simple as buddy reading with one another . The kids love it, it's educationally sound, and it's great to see how your students interact with other students.  Another possible job is a buddy letter writing campaign to help fight/support a cause.  If you do rely on your classroom neighbours be sure to be willing to reciprocate with they need your support too. 


3. Find a Quiet Place for Your Break


When I'm not at my best I find it really hard to be social with those much more chipper than I so I tend to find a quiet place (outside of my classroom) to eat my lunch.  Sometimes that means a walk in the neighbourhood (fresh air is ALWAYS good for you) during my break, and other times it just means finding a quiet room that isn't used over the lunch break.


4. Read Alexander and the Horrible No Good Very Bad Day (or any other book about being grumpy)


Sometimes just making light of the day you are having is enough to turn your mood around.  Alexander and the Horrible No Good Very Bad Day is perfect for that. It also allows me to talk to my students about Australia a country I lived in in 2009 and that I have very fond memories of.


 5.Hot Chocolate


If nothing else works I keep a small tin of instant hot chocolate in the staffroom for days when I really need sugar or chocolate or both.  If I need caffeine I add coffee for a quick Cafe Mocha.  Not sure what it is about hot chocolate (particularly the no name brand with the little marshmallows in it) but it usually does the trick. 


What do you do to fight off the grumps?

Using an iPad in a Grade One Classroom

Since November I've had the privledge of teaching with an iPad in my grade one class. Along the way I have discovered a lot of great ways to use it to help my students have their individual learning needs met.  Having just one iPad did bring about its own set of challenges but we were very lucky to have access to some additional iPads in the final term of school.  Next year we will have  iPads again thanks in part to my participation in my school's successful innovative learning grant application and another special project I'm involved with at the school district level.  Needless to say my head has been spinning all summer with ways I can integrate this technology into my classroom with out losing sight of the important non technology based teaching and learning my students need too.

So before I start the next school year I think it's important for me to review some of the apps we used this year and how we used them. To begin with here is a screen shot of my student's page on my iPad.  You'll notice that I have their apps neatly organized into folders which I find really helps when we are looking for a specific app or they are trying to decide on a specific type of app to use. Their folders include productivity, voice recording, story makers, show and tell, fine art, word work, phonics, spelling, abc work, science, math tools, math, books, board games, photography, movie making, and flash browsers. I have the Teach Me 1st grade app too but to perfectly honest we've barely used it.

Productivity

This folder is a little more for me than for my students. At present it contains the Google, Dropbox, CloudOn, Evernote, Google Earth, Qrafter, and Google Drive apps.  While my students use Qrafter to scan into our class blog, and I'd like us to use Google Earth more to discover the places we are connecting with, the reality is most of the apps are in there for when I need to save or access their work.

Voice Recording

My voice recording folder contains the following apps: Audio boo, Say Hi, Active Voice, Dictation, and Audio Memos.  It used to also contained Talking Tom but for some reason it has been removed. Our most frequently used app here is AudioBoo.  We have used it to record reading.  Say Hi is a new app and it's great for my limited English speakers. If the app has their language on it then it will translate their first language (say Korean) into English - both in text and in sound.  Since I work in a high ELL school this app has been a lot of fun to use.  Dragon Dictation and Active Voice are two different speech to text apps which with our newly installed wireless work a lot better. I like to use those apps with my students that struggle with written output but have so much to say. Here is a sample of us using AudioBoo.

Story Makers

These apps were quite popular with my students and different students preferred to use different apps depending on the job required.  Having only one iPad most of the year did bring about its own set of challenges though as only one (or two) student(s) could create with it at a time. With an increase of iPads this became less of a problem. The apps that you can find in this folder include Scribble Press, My Story, Book Creator, Sock Puppets, Comic Life, Puppet Pals, Strip Design, Toontastic, Story Wheel, Story Dice, and Little Book Maker.  Here are some examples of my class using Sock Puppet,  Scribble Press and Puppet Pals.

Show and Tell

These apps are probably my most favourite because they allow my students to demonstrate their learning through pictures, and/or words. They are very open ended and can be used across a variety of content areas. For the most part they are great for any student k - 7. This folder contains Explain Everything, Screen Chomp, Show Me, DoodleCast, Draw and Tell, Idea Sketch, Popplet Lite, White Board (allows you to work on two iPads collaboratively), Skitch, Voice Thread, and Sonic Pics Lite.

Here are some samples of us using Screen Chomp, Show Me, Draw and Tell, Skitch, and Voice Thread.

Fine Arts

This folder contains the following apps: Draw Stars, Doodle Buddy, Virtuoso, Suess Band, Pottery HD Lite, iDraw HD, Sparkle Paint, Singing Fingers, Glow Colouring, Drums Light, Mini Piano, Peg Free Light, Mirror Paint, Read Fireworks.  These apps have been used to help my students practice their word wall words or for just plain creative purposes.  While I have taken photos of my students using these apps I only have one blog post that mentions one of them.  Here is a sample of Pottery HD Lite.



Word Work

This folder seems to be changing constantly as I discover new apps that help my students  either learn their word wall words or learn  some  sight words.  This folder contains Magnetic ABC, Word Wizard, Touch Write, Word Builder, Sight Word Bingo, PopWords, Bluster, Sight Word Touch, Little Speller Sight Words, Sight Words, Sentence Maker, Word Collage, Sight Word Hangman.  Unfortunately these apps were never talked about on this or my  class blog.

Phonics

Phonics apps are also used during our word work time for those that require extra practice in this area.  This folder contains Pocket Phonics, Phonics Genius, Rhyming Bee, Phonics Awareness, Phonics Vowels, Tic Tac Toe Phonics, Phonics HD, and Rhyming.

Spelling

I found later in the year my students loved to use the spelling apps during their word work time.  This folders contains Chicktionary,  Express, Rocket Speller, SpellBuzz, and Simplex Spell Lite.

ABC Work

My ABC work folder contains three apps LetterReflex, Movable Write, and Sound Sorting. I have several other go to ABC apps but they are not on my iPad at this time.  Sound sorting was particularly great for my new to Canada, never been to school before students.  The LetterReflex app is fantastic for those students with letter and number reversals. Here is a blog about my class using Letter ReFlex.

 



Science

The science folder contains the following apps National Geographic Explorer, Colour Uncovered, National Geographic Weird But True, Science 360, Weird Facts, BrainPop, Plants HD, and ButterflyHD. Specific apps, such as Plant HD were used we were studying plants.  Many of the "reading" apps were used during "free read" time in my class.





Math Tools

The math tool folder contains the following apps Ten Frame, Hundreds Chart, Base Ten Blocks, Calculator, and Visual Timer HD.   I must admit that they weren't used too often for most of the year because with only one iPad there are a lot better tools to use than the digital ones. However when we had access to more we utilized the digital tens frame a lot.  I also know when we look at numbers and skip counting the 100s chart tool will come in a handy.  Here is a post about us using the Tens Frame app.

Math

This folder is filled with a variety of different math practice concepts. I have tried to chose apps that are not strictly drill and practice apps.  I also find we do a lot more hands on math but I do have students that love to practice math facts on iPads.  This folder contains the following apps Monkey Math, QCount, Marble Math Jr, Math Drills Lite, Bugs and Button, FingerCountLite, Hungry Fish, Top It Addition, Subtraction Sardines, Squeeze, Adding Apples, Zoom, Caboose, Rocket Math, Math Bingo, PopMath, What's Next, KidCalc, and Find Sums.


Books:

To be perfectly honest as much as my students love interactive books, they are just as excited to read traditional paper books.  I have several iPad books not available on this iPad at this time as I find I tend to add and subtract books as needed. For example during our Fairy Tale study the iPad was filled with Fairy Tales.  At present my books folder contains Monster 1, Chocolate Attack, Bo's Bedtime Story, Slice of Bread, Morris, Cinderella, iRidz 4 Kids, Puss in Boots, I Like Books, The Snow Ball, Bizzy Builds, and a direct link to Tumble Books.

Board Games

When my students have free choice time they are free to chose what ever they would like to do. I like to keep this folder filled with games for them to use if they'd like. Right now this folder contains Blokus, Four in a Row, Game Centre, Checkers, Sudoku2, SimpleS, Scrabble, Jenga, Unblock Me, Fur and Feathers, and Water?.

Photography

My class didn't use these photography apps all that much as they relied heavily on the camera feature of the iPad.  I most definitely can see us using the Photo Booth app as we study feelings and emotions.  I tend to use the PhotoSync app as a way to get their photos off of the iPad and onto a computer.  Super Impose and Snapseed are the final two apps in this folder and I can see great potential with both of them but my class will need a big buddy to help with these.

Movie Making

The movie making app includes Videolicious, NFB Pixstop, iMotion HD, Action Movies, iMovie, and Splice. While I made most of our class iMovies this year on my personal laptop I feel quite confident that next year we will be able to utilize all of these apps.  Here is a link to the Videolicious video they created.

Flash Browsers 

Flash browsers are great when you are trying to use a web based site that relies on Flash since the iPad does not work with Flash.  These two apps help you use those websites. I must admit though I was more likely to sign out and bring in the school's set of macBooks then fiddle around with these Flash Browsers. It is nice to know when the macBooks aren't available I have additional technology I can rely on.

Already just by sharing what's on my iPad I can see so many uses for the apps that I have, and for the apps that I don't have here.  I also know that I need to be mindful of what I have on the iPads as space is limited.  In addition as always I need to remember that technology should not be used for everything that I do in grade one.

It's exciting to know that I will have more than one iPad in my room next year and I can't wait to see what we are going to discover as a class.

What iPad apps do you use that you feel are "must have" apps?  I can already think of many myself but I'd love to have your input too.

*Additional information -  I realized that I forgot to talk about the apps I have on the bottom shelf of my class iPad.  You can read about them here if you're curious. Added Aug 4, 2012*

#Kinderblog2012: Question numero cinq!

While I have been some what neglectful at writing blog posts for some of the #Kinderblog2012 challenge (I missed question 3 and 4), I figure it's never too late to jump right back into it.  So with that in mind here is this weeks challenge.

Choose 5 objects from around your home (NOT your classroom!) that tell us something about you: as a teacher or as a person. Take pictures of the objects and post them with captions. The real challenge here: the captions should be no longer than a regular tweet-- that is, 140 characters.

So with that challenge in mind, here is a little snapshot into my world.

My Siblings

Growing up the middle child of five I am who I am because of them.

The View From My Balcony

 I LOVE my city. It is beautiful, lush, and green.

My Bikes

These are my children and yes they all live with me in my little apartment.

My Ironman Finisher's Medals

Still know it's nuts I've done that race 5 times. I have many marathon medals too.

My Wine Collection

I love to go wine tasting but I need you to come over to share this with me.

Words that Warm My Heart

This afternoon I was direct messaging with one of the parents of one of my students from the class I taught while living in Australia in 2009.  Although I've been back in Canada for almost three years now I am still  in contact with several of the families I connected with that year.  For those who knew me back then, you know that my year in Australia was probably one of the most stressful teaching years of my life.  And no, it wasn't the Australian education system. It was that I was placed in a school that was under going a complete transformation. I went through three principals and three assistant principals in one year.  I was caught in a lot of disorganization and should never have been in that school for that one specific year.  It had NOTHING to do with the students, parents, or staff specifically.  It was a good community to be a part of.  However as teacher wanting to do only my very best  to fit into a system that was filled with constant, unpredictable changes, that I had little knowledge about, it was very stressful. Thankfully,  I made it through and now have a lot of stories I can share and chuckle about.

However, despite some of the craziness I went through I also made some amazing connections.  It's conversations like the one I had today that reminded me about  how special that year really was.

Here's what one of the parents shared with me today with reference to her son.  It has me smiling from deep down in my heart.

He misses you so much. I think you are the best teacher he has ever had. Truly.
You know that he thinks the world of you. You're a great inspiration to him and you always will be. Remember that.


Not bad for a Monday afternoon.


What makes you smile from deep down in your heart?

#KinderBlog2012 - Question 2

Tell us about one (or two, or a few) of the classrooms you have had over the years. Not the kids, the ROOMS. What have you  loved? What have you hated? How did you FEEL in the space? What did you DO with the space that, looking back, seems ridiculous? Or brilliant? We all spend so much time in our classrooms, we really do develop a relationship with the physical space. Tell us about that (those) relationship(s).


In my 20 years of teaching I have taught out of a box, in a hallway, at the back of a staffroom, in a room that was a path through to an adjoining room (twice), in a room with a removable wall, in a kindergarten room complete with bathroom and kitchen, and now in one of the biggest rooms in my school. Each space had its own unique  qualities.


Over the years here are some of the things I loved and hated about my teaching environment:


I loved....

• being portable
• teaching in a small, cozy space
• teaching in an open unstructured space
• having lots of cupboards/storage
• having no carpet so I could determine where to put down my carpets
• having all carpet
• having visitors join in on our learning as they passed by
• having a sink in my room
• having a water fountain in my room
• having SPACE
• having windows
• having bulletin board walls
• having two doors one leading to the outside, and one leading inside
• being close to great outside learning spaces

I hated....

• being portable
• teaching in a small  space
• teaching in an open unstructured space
• having limited storage space
• having no carpet 
• having all carpet
• having visitors interrupt learning
• having a sink that leaks
• having little or no windows
• being away from decent outside learning spaces
• limited display space
• having two doors but being allowed to only use one

The room I am in now is without a doubt my most favourite place to be.  I have added furniture, and I have removed furniture, and I have been super over crowed, and fair bit less crowded. My walls have been plastered with children's creations and they have been quite silent too. My room allows me to provide individual workspaces and small group work spaces in addition to a whole class meeting space.  Most of the spaces in my room are used for a variety of functions and the students know that they are free to use them as they see fit. My room is a happy place to be full of different things to discover at every turn.

If I were to make some changes one of the first things I'd like to change is the meeting area by purchasing a bright and "fun" carpet for us to meet on. So far I've been using donated carpets, which while they work, they aren't what I have envisioned for my own room.  But then again I'd prefer to spend my money on professional resources and books for my class library, then on a carpet for my classroom. Anyone have a fun bright carpet to donate?

I'd also love to change the location of some of electrical outlets.  I'm wondering whose bright idea it was to add an electrical outlet near a counter that often has water on it from the leaky sink.  Speaking of leaky sinks, I'd get rid of that too.


If I could the biggest change I would make would be to add  MORE windows.  I have one small window on my outside door, and one small window beside that and that's it.  What I would do for more natural light but that's the era of my school.  It was built in a time when windows were frequently broken and broken windows cost money to repair.  My school has very few windows. 


The one thing I'm most guilty of doing is over loading my room with "tools" for learning.   I have a really hard time getting rid of things, particularly when I see a purpose for them. I also accept most things donated to me because I can always see a use for things. This desire to keep everything has gotten me into a bit of trouble with having too much "stuff" in my room.  But I am getting better at recycling or donating my "stuff" to others.  Right now I have to say that I am really pleased with the way my room functions.  


For the first time in my career, I actually think I will make very little changes to the set up of my classroom this fall. I finally have found a way to make everything I own fit and I've kept my room functioning well too (I think). I've kept in mind that I can have up to 24 students so I've made sure I have desks for that many students.  What's funny though is in the spring I was talking to some administrators about how "perfect"  my room was feeling.  They were quick to say that now that it's "perfect" it might be time to move on to a new room. They might be right.


What is your classroom like? What changes would you make to it? I'd love to hear.