Notebooking, Teaching, and Technology

I recently taught a class on how to use Bitmojis in the classroom to increase student engagement and help with classroom organization and management. One fun idea was to use them to make custom Google Classroom headers. The idea came from Alice Keeler's blog and she even provided a template for her header . My computer settings weren't the same as hers so I had to tweak my version. Template Link -  http://bit.ly/2RqtFFs This got me thinking about how the headers could be changed out frequently, as something new for students to look forward to, when they opened up Google Classroom. In my head I was thinking they could be changed out weekly (38 total headers needed) if time permitted.  Happy New Year Template Link Birthday Headers Template Link Valentines Day Template Link I have several other ideas, templates, and instructions linked in this presentation . I would love to see other custom Google Classroom Header ideas! ...

I posted a Google Drawings version of this activity and realized that it might not be feasible for everyone. It would be easy to change it to a low tech project. Have students draw out their goals using paper and pencil. They can use the "9" as either a "q" or a "g". I showed two different ways you can lay out the year in the pictures above.  Once they have a sketched out version give students clean paper and colored pencils to do the final copy. Finished versions could easily be hung in the hallway.  Our student HP Tablets come equipped with Microsoft Windows Ink Workspace, if you have that students could use it to digitize their sketch. We also have a Kami subscription but students could use the free version to digitally draw their goals as well.  I used these requirements when filling out my goals sheet: - List 2 things you would like to do (think about things that might make you a better student/person, healthier, or more or...

Looking for a fun back-to-school activity to kick off the New Year? Try this digital Google Drawings goals template . The idea is to take the numbers in 2019 and use them as both numbers AND letters to create four goals for the new year.  Students would identify: 2 things they would like to do, try, or read 0 ne thing they would like to accomplish or stop doing something they would like to 1 earn (personal or school) and someplace they would like to 9 o, get or give this coming year You may want to have students sketch out their ideas on scratch paper before they open up the template in Google Drawings. I had a couple of my friends try out the template and here is what they came up with: This is great activity to introduce students to some Google Drawing tools that could be used later in the year to create content posters. Layers of the Atmosphere Poster Google Drawings I made a video  explaining the project in gre...

This past summer I worked a reading program and I put together a week of creative bookmarks crafts for participants to complete. My favorite were these very easy Star Wars themed ones. I ran across them randomly from a library blog (which I am sad I did not bookmark to give credit 😢). The library site directed me to the YouTube Video  for instructions and the templates. The instructional video for these bookmarks is in Portuguese but since we were following what the child was doing versus what he was saying it was fine.  I downloaded the templates to my Google Drive so I could keep them even if the video or related site went down. Here are the links to each: Kylo Ren Chewbacca Yoda Princess Leia The were a lot of fun to put together. I thought they would make a good back-to-school activity, or project for a Star Wars themed school night, or to complete the week of May the 4th (as in May the 4th be with you...#scifinerd 🤣).  I wi...

I have done a series of training's on how to utilize ReadWorks Article-A-Day and Book of Knowledge in the classroom. I love this resource. In fact I love everything about ReadWorks! (huge FAN here) The general gist of an Article-A-Day is that it is a short 10-12 minute routine you do in the classroom during a transition time (not as part of your ELA block) that exposes students to more ideas, vocabulary, and reading. I work with 15 Title 1 schools and I know how important it is to expose students to more of everything...we just simply don't have enough time and the Article-A-Day idea is a brilliant way to sneak in more literacy (thus more ideas). As a teacher you would pick your dedicated classroom time for the routine. My recommendation is to be religious about it. If you don't take it seriously neither will your students. FYI - I feel the same way about notebooking in the classroom as well. For K-2 students you pick your grade and topic and simply pull up the ...

I just discovered that ReadWorks has a highlighting and annotating feature. Game. Changer! I have always loved ReadWorks and this was the one thing I really felt it was missing. ReadWorks, a free literacy resource for teachers and students, has REALLY stepped up its game. A third grade teacher asked me to introduce it to her students, which is how I stumbled across it. There are four highlighting colors and an annotating feature. To keep students organized with the colors I used the first letter of each color to come up with a guide/anchor chart for students. Since they are new to annotating text I thought having them pick two of the four colors was an easy way to start them learning how to annotate. They can do more for extra credit. I put together a sample of what you might see when students are finished (there is a blue annotation but I couldn't fit it on the screen). If you have different ideas that might work for the colors let me know!

This summer I learned that Amazon sells these awesome scratch off stickers . I posted it in our district's EdTech Group and a teacher showed me how she is planning to use them at the beginning of the year to sort students into houses (see last picture).   With back-to-school mandatory technology training happening next week I thought I would try it out with some some random "give-a-ways" to keep participants engaged. I kept it simple and had three things listed - candy, prize bag (dollar store items), and a hug (that was more for my amusement and to add an element of danger..think of it as scratch off Russian Roulette...I am allowing a fist bump substitute for my non-hugging teachers)  I made the cards in Publisher using a business card template that I modified. I liked the template because it had guide lines for cutting. You could use any program to make them though. I printed them on card stock and used my paper trimmer to cut them down. ...