Our Favorite Tech

The Cool Cats use a lot of technology to support our learning. Here are some of our favorites and how we use them:

Book Creator: An easy way for young authors to create their own digital books. We have created group books, where each student gets there own page, diary books that document our learning over the course of time, research books, where students collect their research and publish their work, and individual students books. Students can add text, images, videos, and voice. Books can be saved as PDF's for viewing on any device, as an iBook that can be read on any iOS, or converted to a video. By far one of the most versatile apps for any classroom!

SeeSaw is the backbone of my blended classroom. I use this app for a number of things throughout the week. Here are a few examples: Spelling Tests: Mashing up Explain Everything with Seesaw allows me to create a differentiated spelling tests both in terms of words and test pacing for my class. Book Talks: My reading groups can read at their own pace and submit the answer to our questions via video. They can practice their digital citizenship skills and respond to each other's posts, give advice, or post their won thought-provoking questions. Word Work: Students can receive an assignment from me, copy and paste it into their own folders, mark up the assignment using the native pen tool, and submit it to me. No more papers to drag around for me! 

ClassDojo: The most used app in our classroom! ClassDojo encourages and lifts us up. It highlights the things we do well, and reminds us to stay on track when we lose our focus. ClassDojo provides a small window into out day for parents, with weekly reports, photos, and messaging. We have made ClassDojo ours by creating our own "belting up" system that rewards us for reaching our goals. Ask any student that has been in my class what they love best about being a Cool Cat, and they will happily respond with stories of ClassDojo. Check out my post on Class Dojo's Group Function

FrontRow Math: Each Friday, we have Free Math Friday where we get to explore, play, work in groups, and try out different math activities. FrontRow Math is a fun program that allows us to practice our skills and earn coins to dress an avatar at the same time. Our teacher loves it because it gives her data and information, highlights students that have mastered certain skills and labels them as "masters", and let's us work from home. 

Padlet: Padlet is a great way to collaborate our thoughts. We use Padlet at the beginning of a Unit to share what we know or questions we may have (similar to the old KWL charts). We use it during literacy block to record when we find the rule of the week in our reading. We also use it as a pinboard to digitally share our work. We like Padlet because we can always go back to it and add, change or modify what we wrote. Here are some blog posts showing how we have used Padlet: Padlet and Thinglink to Support Our Learning and What Will Happen to the Frog Prince?

Thinglink: Thinglink allows us to make any image interactive!    Students can use it to combine research, add video, text, or voice, and curate thoughts, resources and ideas. Thinglink is a fun way to end a project or unit of study. Students can work collaboratively on their own Thinglink, or create their own. Here is how we used Thinglink in our classroom: Global Read Aloud and Padlet and Thinglink to Support Our Learning