Mrs. Tech

I'm not sure how observations work at your school, but we have one formal observation each quarter (grading period) and walk-through evaluations at our principals leisure. I know that I am not a perfect teacher, so I really do like when my principal comes in because I think she gives good feedback about some of the things that I might miss in my classroom. Anyways, one of the requirements (or checklist items to look for) in our classrooms is that we are displaying student work. This year I have THE FRIDGE. I found the idea on Pinterest and immediately fell in love. The students can hang things that they are proud of up on the board. I have lots of A+ math tests, a few tests/quizzes from other classes, some principals list certificates, a college acceptance letter, and even one drug & alcohol class certificate (that one you have to take before you can get your learners permit). All of these are small sentiments of my students and the things that make them proud. I love it ...

Flag Day is a holiday I didn't even know existed until this year when I was doing some research on the American Flag. I learned a little about Flag Day and wanted to share some of the resources that I found with you.  If you are interested in talking more about the American Flag with your students, check out these links below!  • Kids Fun Facts on the US Flag • History of the Flag as a story • Information on the American Flag • List of Flag Changes over the years • 10 Facts about the Flag **Use these QR codes to watch videos or read informational text about the American Flag.  I {heart} America, Hilary 

Socrative is a great assessment tool that can be used to quiz/test or review with students from an online platform. It is so easy to use and is quick to navigate on the teacher side. The longest part will be the amount of time you have to spend inputting the questions, but as soon as a student hits the submit button, it will grade it for you. So think about it - spend an hour putting in the quiz (that you can use for years to come with a little updating) and no grading time or still spending the time creating the quiz and making copies of it, and STILL having to grade. Please. This is just common sense.  Once you begin using Socrative, your students will be very familiar with the interface. They can bookmark Socrative on their devices and then easily type in your class code each time they need to interact with you. Socrative also offers these great "quick questions" that allow you to use questions that come to you on the fly or a question you encournter in a book or o...

  Popplet is a fantastic tool for building graphic organizers and for sorting your thoughts before completing and project or writing a paper. Popplet is very user friendly and is completely customizable so that you can map your content however your brain sees it best. You just start with a blank screen and have the ability to drag whatever popples you like onto the screen. You can then easily add popples that come off of your first one. You can add text or pictures to popples and you can even change their color (color coding by paragraph maybe?). Think of Popplet as a more creative way of making an outline. You can add simple facts or short headings and see how they will all come together as the final product.  You can see below one of the popples that I was setting up for my students to copy before they added all of their own information to it about their animals. I love any activity that puts paper and pencil to rest and allows my students to create using ...

Picasso Head  isn't a super educational activity, but boy did my students have fun creating their own Picasso head. They get to add all of the facial elements to their picture to create a very abstract face. The first time I used it, I had my middle schoolers create a self portrait. We laughed and laughed when we showed each other because the elements are so goofy. Because of this great memory, I had to share this site with you. Even if you only use it as a time filler one day when you have 10 extra minutes, or on a rainy day when you can't go to recess, just try it. I can almost guarantee you laughs. My schools art teacher does use this site to talk about the era in which Picasso painted and the way that art has changed over the decades. It is a great activity to do when looking at paintings from this time period to see how these artists created these faces. Try it out & let me know what you think, Mrs. Tech *If you are more of a visual learner, check out my  ...

Comic Master  is a site that allows students to create their own comic book type stories. They provide the characters and the elements, and students just have to drag and drop to make their stories come to life. As you can see below, there are many different things that you can do with Comic Master. They even have teaching resources that you can download to accompany their comics. The easiest way to share their comic with you at the end it to print it. I sometimes even have my students read their comics to the class! They really enjoy this.   Part of what I love about Comic Master is that it gives students the ability to start from scratch and to design it how students envision it in their heads. I have done this activity with 1st - 12th graders and they have all had a great time with it. Students never cease to amaze me with the creative ideas that they come up with when given free rein on projects like this. Try it out & let me know what you think, Mr...

Formative  (like Socrative ) is a great assessment tool that can be used to quiz/test or review with students from an online platform. It is so easy to use and is quick to navigate on the teacher side. The longest part will be the amount of time you have to spend inputting the questions, but as soon as a student hits the submit button, it will grade it for you. So think about it - spend an hour putting in the quiz (that you can use for years to come with a little updating) and no grading time or still spending the time creating the quiz and making copies of it, and STILL having to grade. Please. This is just common sense.  One of the main differences between Formative and Socrative (shown in the video linked below) is that Formative is mainly focused around in class use and isn't used much as a summative assessment tool. One of my favorite formative features is that you can upload a picture of a diagram and have students label different parts of it while you sit there ...

Powtoon was introduced to me by a friend who was working on a presentation for one of our professional development days. She was talking about how boring PowerPoint could get when it was presenting information to those who were forced to attend meetings. She was going to try something different - and that is where Powtoon came in. Powtoon is a presentation software that allows you to share information using cartoons, speech bubbles, and animations.  Basically, you can make cartoons enter and exit your screen at any point, and they can share information while they are there. Think about Saturday morning cartoons that you are creating yourself to share something that is of interest to you! There are some great graphics and you can even add your own images and sound. Let's be real here, who wouldn't like a presentation where cartoons are teaching you about the next latest and greatest in the world of education? Try it out & let me know what you think, Mrs. Tech ...

It's that time of year again! I wanted to share with you some of my favorite online Valentines Day activities that my students enjoy each year! These are all kid-friendly websites and most of them are free of any ads. Some are educational and others are just fun for early finishers or Valentines Day parties! Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments below! xoxo - Mrs. Tech Valentines Day Puzzle Valentines Day Coloring Sheets Tic Tac Cupid Trap Heart Counting Hearts (tally or counting practice) Valentines Day Word Unscramble February Mad Lib Heart Match (vowel sound match) Heart Break Dora & The Lost Valentine

ZipGrade is a tool that I encourage the Middle and High School teachers in my school to use, but it can be beneficial to Elementary students as well if you take standardized tests. This is completely a teacher tool and a super easy way to grade papers. The only difference for students from regular tests/quizzes is that they fill out the answer sheet document with their tests. The answer sheet documents are available here on the ZipGrade website. The only difference for teachers is that the ONLY thing you have to do is hold your phone or tablet over the student answer sheet and it will tell you which ones they got right/wrong and a total number and grade if you so choose. ZipGrade is free (and so is the app) if you only scan 100 or less tests a month. There is a charge if you want to scan more than that, but it is worth it for the ease in grading and prepping your students for these types of tests that they will take in college. Try it out & let me know what you think, ...

Wonderopolis is a fun tool to answer all of those crazy questions that your students answer that you don't really have answers to. It is all fact based information and has such a wide range and variety of questions that they answer. A lot of times when students ask me questions that go beyond our textbook, I direct them here to find answers.  You have two options to inspire your inquiries: Explore Wonders: There will be a list of top things that people wonder or the ones that are popular today for you to look over What are you Wondering? : You can search for anything. Ask it any question or insert a topic. If there isn’t an answer to your question, they will list similar topics. If you aren’t happy with similar topics, you can scroll down on the homepage to the option where it says “Make YOUR wonder a wonderful reality – Add your Question to the Wonder Bank” and add your wonder to be answered. Two things I LOVE about  Wonderopolis : There are always ...

Black History Month is worth recognizing in any classroom because of the significance that many African American men and women have had on our country over the years. It is also important for our students to discuss how the course of history has changed because these strong men and women stood up for what they believed in and made a difference in the world around them. There are many websites that talk about Black History month that would be great to use in your classroom with your students. Some of these websites are: Time for Kids  (also free printables for teachers can be found here for grades K-6)  Book recommendations  and video interviews with authors  Timelines, Facts, and Issues Readers Theater Scripts, Lesson Plans, and more PBS book recommendations by grade level  Interactive Activity talking about African Americans Martin Luther King "I Have a Dream" Speech  If you are looking for some people to mention as you discuss B...

Canva is a web tool that is great for creating graphics that are fun and engaging for your viewers/followers. Canva comes already loaded full of great background images, text, templates, and more. Some you have to purchase the rights to, but there are a TON of great free options. There are a few different ways that I have used Canva in my classroom and personal life that you might like to use it for too!  1) Classroom Webpage Announcements: Is there a better way to post about a new field trip you're going on or event that you are having in class than with a creative invitation? Think of the best invitation you've ever made, and now think of just adding the information online and sharing it on your class website or via email with parents. Yes! Easy and fun. 2) Graphic Design Introduction: I taught a graphic design class (of sorts) for one semester and this was one of the first activities that we did. I just wanted students to fall in love with the ability to create so...

Kahoot is one of my all time favorite tools to use in the classroom for review games. My students absolutely love it. It is a fast paced game that students play on their devices or computers, while you show the question and answer options on your large screen at the front of the room. Your students can also play in groups if you are not a 1:1 classroom. Kahoot is super easy to set up. You can pick your own topic and then just create questions that go with it. When I was teaching 6th grade science, I used to take all of the questions off of the study guide and turn it into a Kahoot game to play the day before the test as review. Sometimes, I like to open the class with Kahoot to see what the students already know. We play through and see their scores. Then I teach the lesson about the topics that we just learned about in Kahoot. To end the class, or after the lesson has been taught in its entirety, I like to go back and play in "ghost mode" and have the students ...

Animoto  is a super fun tool that I discovered in one of my graduate classes. It basically combines pictures, text, and music to present information. I think that it is a great way for students to introduce themselves to a class. This is also a fun way for students to do biography presentations on someone that they read a book about. They can combine pictures of them with facts about their life to show their classmates who they are and why their life was worth studying. One of the best parts of Animoto is that the link to the video is accessible online. This is way easier as a teacher to pull up everyone's presentations than to put flash drives in your computer. It could also be fun to share the links with parents of a presentation that you have put together about an activity that you did in class or of a field trip that you went on! The possibilities are endless. Try it out & let me know what you think, Mrs. Tech *If you are more of a visual learner, check out m...

It's that time of year again! I love school, but what a celebration 100 days is. That means we're over halfway through and so I wanted to share with you some of my favorite online 100th Day of School activities that my students enjoy each year! These are all kid-friendly websites and most of them are free of any ads. Some are educational and others are just fun for early finishers or 100th Day Parties! Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments below! 80 days left? - Mrs. Tech 100 Snowballs Peg & Cat 100th Day of School  Starfall - Count to 100 Multiples Ghost Blaster (100 points) Interactive Number Chart - 100 Splat Square Give The Dog a Bone 100 Days Songs 100 Days Math

Martin Luther King Jr. is definitely a man worth discussing. Your students know that we get out of school for a day because of him, but do they know anything more than that? Do they know the freedoms that he fought for? I compiled a list of some great resources to use when teaching about MLK Jr. These are all kid-friendly websites and most of them are free of any ads.  Do you teach about Martin Luther King Jr. each year around this time?  Dream Big, - Mrs. Tech Lessons on Tolerance Lessons on Respect Seattle Times Tribute Information Page MLK Jr. Coloring Pages I Have a Dream Too! Speech  (A definite win in my class!) MLK Jr. Wordsearch The Meaning of the King Holiday (written by his wife) Full MLK Jr. Lesson for Grades 3-5   and Grades K-2 MLK Jr. Videos & Teacher Guides for Grades 6-8 Bonus: QR Codes for Videos on MLK Jr. which are part of my MLK Jr. Webquest !

Vocaroo  is a voice recording website that allows students to either upload a voice recording or to record their voice directly from the website (as long as the tablet or computer has microphone capabilities). Voice can be recorded as many times as necessary until it sounds right. Once the recording is complete, there are multiple ways for students to share their recordings. I typically have my students email me their link. Sometimes I have them do presentations this way and then I share them in class. One teacher had students read a children's book aloud to themselves and then they shared them with the Kindergarten teachers who now had read aloud items for her students. Another teacher I worked with taught Spanish and she had her students record themselves counting from 1 - 20 so that she could her how the students annunciation was coming along. Try it out & let me know what you think, Mrs. Tech *If you are more of a visual learner, check out my  "how to...

Tiki-Toki  is a virtual and interactive timeline creator. One of the best parts of creating a timeline online is that students have the ability to add direct links to websites (which provide additional information on a topic), add links to or embed videos (which bring the events to life, and to add pictures that stick with the viewer (even after they have stopped looking at the timeline). Tiki-Toki makes it easy to add all of these elements and more. Students can pick the time frame that their timeline encompasses, and then get to work on adding interactive elements to their timeline. Not only can students complete these timelines as project based assessments, but you, as the teacher, can create these awesome interactive timelines for students to visit throughout the course of your lesson to learn more about the topics that you are covering in class. Try it out & let me know what you think, Mrs. Tech *If you are more of a visual learner, check out my  "how to" ...