Mrs. Tech

Newsela reminds me of an app that I used 5 years ago when I was doing my Student Teaching in a Special Education classroom. We used it often because we loved that we could so easily change reading levels. We also loved that our simplest readers could still read the current events that we were discussing. Honestly, I can't remember the name of that site that we used, but Newsela is so similar and I have loved using it in my elementary classrooms.  I'm not going to go crazy in depth, but you can see that the premise of this app is the ability to assign articles for your students to read at their reading levels. They can also work on vocabulary and reading comprehension through the quizzes that are attached to many of the articles. There is also a feature on many articles that allows the article to be translated into Spanish. What a great tool for bilingual students/teachers.  There are a variety of articles to choose from - kids, arts, health, arts & culture, sc...

Earth Day is April 22nd, and even though it is a Saturday, it is definitely something that you should plan to discuss with your students the week before or after! There are some great resources out there to teach your students about Earth Day and it's importance. Some lessons from Education World Earth Day STEAM idea Amazing Earth Facts Jeopardy Game Earth Day Solar Cookout Earth Day Book List from Scholastic Scholastic Video about Trash Mini Garden Craft Earth Day Ideas for Middle Schoolers EcoHaven Emergency Game Earth Day History (article) Build a Pizza Box Solar Oven Compare Light Bulbs Healthy Earth, Sick Earth Discussion   Lots of Printables & Activities for grades K-12 If you like Digital Resources, be sure to check out my digital resource for Earth Day . Happy Celebrating, Hilary *Originally posted 4/17/2017 on MrsTechs Blog

Did you know that April is Poetry Month?! There are so many wonderful poets and so many fabulous poems out there that this is definitely worth a discussion sometime throughout the month of April. I have compiled a list of online resources/apps that are great tools to use during poetry month: Word Mover App Acrostic Poems App Theme Poem App Haiku Poem App Shel Silverstein's Website  Haiku Poems Poetry 180 (for High School age) Giggle Poetry Poetry For Kids Storybird Rhyme Zone Scholastic Poetry site (make sure to check out the Poetry Engine ) Go here for Poetry Writing Forms Check them out! I hope you found a new one you can use in your class this month! If you do, let me know in the comments below :) Hilary **Originally posted on MrsTechs Blog on 3/31/2016

Happy Easter!  Hope that y'all are getting in the Spring spirit and that some nicer weather is coming your way! Do y'all get off for Easter? Do you have school the Friday before or the Monday after? Well if you do, these are some great resources to use as you discuss Easter in your classroom.  Decorate an Egg Easter Story Memory Easter find the Differences Easter Bunny Puzzle Easter Word Search Fill In Puzzle Easter Egg Basketball Easter Egg Hunt Dress Up Game: Easter Egg AbcYa Egg Hunt Free The Easter Bunny Easter Blast Easter Bunny Dress Up When you're done playing all of these interactive games, check out my Easter Webquest , Easter Symbols Webquest , or my Easter Reflections Freebie ! Happy Easter, Hilary @ Mrs. Tech *Originally posted 4-10-2016 on MrsTechs Blog

As I look through the Daily Wonder App, which places a focus on kindness, I wanted to see what I could use this for in my classroom. Here are a few ideas that I came up with to build a better classroom community:  Journal prompts – display or write the daily wonder on the board. Have the students journal each day either virtually or on paper about the prompt (quote). Collect it weekly as a completion grade – this is great for check it at the end of each quarter and spot check for 2-3 entries completed. Quote of the day – explain what this quote means to you or how it can change the way that you act today/think moving forward Class Discussion – use these quotes as you see fit to engage the class in discussion. I always love to hear what the quotes mean to each students, so have them share. You could pick a different student to read the quote each day and share what it means to them, or you could read it and just popcorn the students answers # Choosekind weekly tip – have t...

Pages is similar to Microsoft Word in the fact that it is mainly used for lists, papers, and jotting down notes. Though it is simplistic in its design, there are lots of great ways to use Pages in the classroom. I love to use it to have the students write a quick paragraph about their weekend, or for them to answer a journal question. Another fun way is to have them make a list of their goals for the new year or a timetable of their morning routine. It is a great way to have students use a little bit of technology, and super easy for them to share anything that they create with you via Air Drop or Seesaw.  For 3 projects to complete in Pages, as well as a cheat sheet for Pages to help students navigate it, check out the resource available in my TpT store .  Happy Exploring, Hilary 

Shout out to Numbers for making Excel sit down for a second. My first graders have navigated Numbers so much easier than they have Excel. I'm not sure if it is the layout or the look or that it's on an iPad or what, but wow! They blow me away with how quickly they can pick some of these things up.  Numbers is fabulous because it is a virtual storage for all sorts of data for you - and the best part - it does most of the calculations for you if you know how to. Seriously y'all, teach your kids how to use numbers. Every year for Science Fair, I watch our high school students STRUGGLE with how to make graphs and charts from their data. Teach them young using Numbers (or Excel, too) about inputting their data and creating charts & graphs. I PROMISE they will be thankful to you one day!  If Excel or Numbers are overwhelming to you, I have a quick little cheat sheet, as well as a project or two up my sleeve to take the intense knowledge of the content out of it...