Ready, Set, Go!

Wow! It's hard to believe that it August already! Seems like forever since I've blogged, but with good reason- It's been an extremely busy summer here! I won't go into ALL the craziness, but one of the biggest was that I moved my 1st grade classroom to a new building in our district.  Talk about being amazed at how long it takes to pack and move everything, but even more eye opening was how much stuff I truly have and how many boxes I needed! Oh. My. Gosh! What was I thinking moving to a new building??

My classroom went 

from this....

to this! 

On a positive note, it provided me with opportunity to do a lot of purging! I can't even tell you how many trips I made out to the dumpster! Despite the mess of it all, it will be great to connect with new families in the small country school that I am switching to. I'm excited for the new adventures that the new year will bring.

Speaking of dumpsters, this was my backyard just a few weeks ago. Another of the crazy, unexpected things that took place this summer. Our roof sustained hail damage and needed to be completely replaced.

What. a. mess! 

So, here we are... just a few short weeks away from a new school year! There are still a few crazy things on my plate and I can't get into my new building until August 11th, so I've been busy with some Personalized Summer PD! I attended EdCamp Global (#ECG2016) and participated in several fantastic sessions! I've also been participating in various webinars- everything from great uses of Seesaw to using BookCreator in multiple content areas to Google tips and tricks. My mind is swimming with all sorts of new information and I'm continuing to mull over how I can best take this information and apply it into my curriculum. I am a firm believer that tech should not be used for the sake of using tech, but rather to enhance and transform learning!

I also played around with and learned how to use a couple of new sites this summer. Buncee was the first site I played with. On Buncee you can create, present, and share multimedia presentations. I used it to recreate my ABC's of first grade for my new school. I'm thrilled with the way it turned out and am excited for parents to be able to easily access this through my classroom blog, The Dog Blog

I also started playing with Adobe Spark. What a fantastic site to use to create beautiful social graphics! I can see this being a wonderful way to create visually appealing slides for some of my presentations. I really love the way this one in particular turned out!!

So with 3-1/2 weeks left of summer break and knowing that part of that time will be spent setting up my classroom, I can honestly say that with the exception of #10 below (I'm not a coffee drinker) I have enjoyed each and every one of these 12 things this summer! #7 is always near and dear to my heart and I so appreciate having the extra time to dig further into things that during the school year get put on the back burner. 

I hope you enjoyed your summer break as well! Did you get to enjoy most of these as well?

 Here's looking forward to a great new year!

Quick side note: 

#EpicPals will be starting again in the coming weeks. I am currently working on getting the September boards ready to go.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

To all of my fellow teachers, THANK YOU for everything you do day in and day out to make a difference in the lives of children!! Our job is one that brings with it MANY different facets, but the joys and celebrations that we are able to witness on a daily basis are truly a blessing. Personally, I can't imagine doing anything else in life. 

I hope you have a wonderful Teacher Appreciation Week! Know that you ARE appreciated even though you may not hear the words every day.

In honor of this week, everything in my Teachers Pay Teacher store is 20% off from May 3-4th plus you can receive an additional discount by using the code: CELEBRATE

Assessment using Seesaw

I love all of the ways that you can use the Seesaw app to have students show their learning. Today we tried something new. We have been studying the continents as well as learning where our state and city are located and also knowing the cardinal directions. I wanted to assess my students' knowledge of these areas but didn't want to do a traditional worksheet or take the time to do a cut and paste activity. After a lot of pondering on what would be most manageable for both my students and myself I came up with the idea of sharing two different maps with my students on Seesaw. I simply had students touch the "Copy and Edit" button to make a new copy for themselves. 

After each student had their map copied I gave them specific directions such as find Antarctica and put a 1 on it, Find Australia and mark it with a 2, etc. After we marked the continents, I asked students to use the recording feature to tell which continent we lived on and to put a star on it.
On the United States map, students were to label the cardinal directions, locate and circle the state that we live in and as a bonus, mark where we live in our state. They then recorded this information for moms and dads.

At then end of the day I was able to easily see and hear student's responses to my questions. Before sharing this assessment with parents, I put a comment under each students' map sharing with parents what the standard was that I was assessing and shared what number each continent was supposed to be. This ended up being a great way to keep parents informed of their child's progress and gave them a quick glance at what they could help their child with at home. 

Are you anxiously awaiting...

Are you anxiously awaiting...the May Epic Books / Padlet Collaborative Reading project? 
Well wait no longer... the May boards are ready to go. You can access the May Google Doc by clicking here or on the picture below. If you need more information feel free to contact me or check out this post.

Brand new to the project? Here's what you need to know....

Decide how you want to use the project (with a guided reading group, as a whole class, or as an individual project- you decide what fits best for you and your learners) 
Next, print off the doc for those students or post somewhere in your room for easy access.

The QR codes will take your students directly to the coordinating Padlet boards- no url's needed- always a plus with young learners! (Clickable url's are included on the doc for your convenience and for classes using Chromebooks, etc) 

As your students begin to post on the Padlet boards, please don't be overly concerned about perfect spelling, this is meant to be a place where kiddos can read and respond to text authentically. I do check the boards every few days to double check content and if there is questionable phonetic spelling, I'll make a quick fix. I'm sure we can all think of a few words that students generally misspell that we ALWAYS double check- LOL

As for how students should respond, you decide what's best for your learners. Are you learning about text to self connections, retelling, summarizing, informational text, interesting vocabulary (juicy words/word choice)? Be creative, make the boards fit your curriculum and the rest of us will learn from you when reading your students' posts. Most of all, have fun with it! The Padlets are open ended for these very reasons so make it fit the needs of your class. I will at times put a question on the google doc or on the Padlet but these are simply springboards if needed and are not required. Feel free to have your students include images or screenshots of their favorite parts or exciting information.

If you have access to any of the books in another format- feel free to utilize them. Books do not have to be read on Epic although I will say my class is completely engaged when using Epic knowing that they have the ability to also earn badges for reading. Gamification has a strong pull in my classroom this year!

One last side note, feel free to do any or all of the books for the month. Books do not have to be in any particular order. Again, make this fit your schedule and your learners!

Have fun! I hope you'll join in the fun! 
Feel free to pass this on- it's open to all!

If you've not used Epic Kids Books, it is free for educators- so run, don't walk, to check it out!! If you're interested in learning how to set up individual student accounts, click here to access some screen shots that will help you through the process.

April Epic Padlet Collaborative Project

Our April Epic / Padlet Collaborative Reading project is ready to go. You can access the April Google Doc by clicking here or on the picture below. If you need more information feel free to contact me or check out this post.

Simply print off the doc for each of your students, for one of your guided reading groups, or post somewhere in your room for all of your students to access- whatever works best for you!

The QR codes will take your students directly to the coordinating Padlet board- no url's needed- always a plus with young learners!  Please don't be concerned about perfect spelling, this is meant to be a place where kiddos can read and respond to text authentically. 

As for how students should respond, feel free to steer your students in the direction that you'd like and that is appropriate for your group. The Padlets are open ended so they will best fit the needs of your class. I will at times put a question on the google doc or on the Padlet but these can simply be a springboard if needed and are not required. Feel free to include images or screenshots of students' favorite parts or information.

If you have access to the books in another format- feel free to utilize them. Books do not have to be read on Epic. 

One last side note, feel free to do any or all of the books for the month. Books do not have to be in any particular order.

Have fun! We hope you'll join in the fun!

If you've not used Epic Books, it is free for teachers!! If you're interested in learning how to set up individual student accounts, click here to access some screen shots that will help you through the process.

Creating a class in EpicBooks

I've had a few people contact me about how to set up their class in Epic Books. If you're a visual learner like I am this may help you out... I've put together a few screen shots with simple directions that should get you started. Just click on the picture below to view.

Now that you've got your class set up- interested in joining our Collaborative EpicBooks Reading Project? Click here to view the blog posts and find the current month's books for #EpicPals or here to follow the #EpicPals hashtag on Twitter