Tune into Technology: Getting Techy with Reading

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Today I have a duel linkup for you again! Just think, more blogs that you can be exposed to if you haven’t found them already!

First up, we have Michelle from Big Time Literacy! She is running a month long blogging challenge so today we are on day #8!

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I’m also linking up with Kristin, from iTeach 1:1 for their Tune into Technology Tuesday. This is a great way to share ideas about how you integrate technology into various content areas. Check out her site for the schedule!
   

Today’s Tune into Technology topic is…….Reading!

This past year, my school/district started following the Reading Workshop instructional method by Lucy Calkins. My goal this year was to do the best I could to combine my passion of technology, with her units of study. So below, you will find some examples of how we used tech during our reading instruction, but feel free to visit the 1:1 Reading tab on my blog for even more ideas.

1) One of my big plunges this past year was getting my 5th graders to blog. I thought they may find more meaning in their responses if they had the opportunity to share their thoughts with the world. One easy way I also tried to connect with today’s techy learners was to incorporate hashtags. This really ignited the light bulb in their head, it was something they had seen and could relate to. So, they used their hashtag about something or a section in their book to be their inspiration for their blog.
As for blogging, my students used Blogger. It connected perfectly with their student Google account, so we jumped in, in hopes they could hold onto it and expand upon it for future grades.

2) Another challenge I faced this year was transitioning my 5th graders into the format of a group mini lesson on the floor. This was something I found they really struggled with to sit there, mostly because of their age. I saw a Tweet come out about a program called Nearpod, so I decided to investigate and give it a try. I began practicing with it in math, getting them used to the program before introducing it into reading, they really liked it! Mostly because it is a slide-show format that keeps them all on the same page, then they can answer confidently at their own table on the dry erase portion without the worry of their neighbor seeing what they wrote.

So, the time came to giving it a try in class, coincidentally it was also the same day I was being observed. ha ha I played with a few more options this time, giving my administrator an advanced warning. Using technology, you never know what may happen. The students brought their iPads to the mini lesson and we had a discussion about character point of view. Students annotated text from the book, watched videos from Disney films, and held discussions with one another about what they viewed. This got them really excited and engaged!

Nearpod photo Bems4OVCAAEQzxU_zpsc9f67588.jpg 
3) My third idea I want to share with you today is just giving your kids the option to have fun with the technology and reading. The reading workshop is about sharing and there are a ton of apps and websites on the devices that allow them to do that. I had students that loved to create advertisements for their books using iMovie or comic making programs, some preferred apps like Tellagami, iStopMotion or Puppet Pals. 

Monday Made It!

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Today I’m using the Big Time Blogging Challenge from Big Time Literacy to also link up with Monday Made it from 4th Grade frolics!

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Remember, the Big Time Literacy blogging challenge is for the month of July. Michelle is celebrating a year of blogging while also encouraging others to do the same. Please check her site out.

Fourth Grade Frolics

4th Grade Frolics is a blog that I am literally obsessed with and I have been for the last few years. I stumbled upon it when I was first hired to teach 4th grade 4 years ago and I haven’t stopped stalking her site since! One of my favorite parts of her blog is the summer Monday Made It linky. It is a page I check every Monday to gather ideas for my class. From there, I create a list on my computer with links to all the ideas I like and those become some of my summer DIY projects!

This is my first time being able to link up with Monday Made It for this summer. I just have been so busy that I haven’t had time to jump on the wagon yet. Then, even Monday night, I didn’t start my Monday Made it until extremely late.

I’ve actually copied what is one of the new trends and started organizing my Pinterest Boards. With some new challenges coming my way next year, I figured it was time to start dividing what had been one large classroom idea board. Now, my Pinterest has blown up into 23 boards. ha ha

Event on my trip to ISTE, I heard many more and more people discussing how they are using Pinterest to gather ideas for education. With that, if I was going to start sharing my collections on my blog, I wanted to make sure that it was neat to look at….not only for my eyes, but for others.

So, I have followed the trend of making my own cover photos that match my blog logo for my pin boards. While it may be time consuming, it is so incredibly simple to do. After hours of organizing my pins, my cover photos became quite simple since I wasn’t in the mood to spend much more time on it. ha ha You will see that Tara’s and Kristin have much more creative looking cover photos. Maybe one day I’ll go back to update mine.

I highly suggest staring by checking out 4th Grade Frolics, Monday Made It… see how Tara designed hers and maybe that will spark some inspiration.

Then, once you are ready to start, head over to Kristin’s page at the Ladybug’s Teacher Files. She has a great tutorial on how to do it HERE.

Mine is still a work in progress as I go back through and upload the photos, but here is an example of what mine are starting to look like.

Thanks for stopping by…..

Summer Getaways

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Linking up again with Michelle, from Big Time Literacy for her July Big Time Blogging Challenge. Check it out if you haven’t had the chance!

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Today’s topic for day #6 is… Summer vacation plans!

This year, we don’t have a whole lot planned for family vacations. We had anticipated a flight back to London to visit my in-laws and friends, but that was put on hold as we are saving for a house.

I would definitely consider my surprise visit to ISTE as a summer getaway. The unexpected trip that was also an incredible learning experience is surely a getaway to me. Even if my brain was about to explode after an hour in there. ha ha

As for upcoming, the only other major trip we have set is to visit family up in Michigan. We have many family members who live near Brighton, MI, and they arranged for us to have a family reunion. Since many are spread out between Michigan, Alaska, Texas and Illinois, this gives us a chance to reconnect since most of my extended family I haven’t seen for over 10 years.

While we are headed up that way, we also help to visit the Detroit area and spend a day there before traveling back. We are very close to the Canadian border, but I would much rather plan a trip back when we can spend an extended amount of time up north.

Hopefully next week I will get back onto the technology blogging bandwagon. Recuperating from ISTE along with the holiday weekend took longer than expected to get back into the swing of things. I guess if anything, I can relate this family trip to social media. It allows us to stay together, even if there is a large distance between us. Instant feedback, even though handwritten letters are still a treat to receive. I’ve always loved using global connections in my classroom as much as I can, giving my students that learning experience of the other cultures around them. ePals is one of my favorite organizations for penpals, but Skype and Google Hangouts are great for a quick 30 minute learning experience if you can’t devote a year to distance learning. 🙂

3 Cheers for the…..

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Getting off topic so I don’t bore you with my ISTE fanatics to jump onto the Big Time Blogging Challenge calendar and go with the topic for the day. If you haven’t done so already, it isn’t too late to link up and join with Big Time Literacy!

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Today’s topic… for which team/teams do you get out your pom poms for?

Having always been a south side gal, my heart belongs to the Chicago White Sox. However, I will admit that even though I am not a cubs fan, I do still enjoy the classic history of the field and the surrounding neighborhoods by Wrigley.

I grew up playing high school softball, and looking up to the MLB players of Paul Konerko and Frank Thomas. It was exciting for me to watch them play my high school position. My bachelorette party was even to a White Sox game. Now, having a child, my visitation to the field has decreased significantly. Although, I have to say that their family afternoon games on Sundays do hold plenty of activities for kids.

I look back and laugh now at how anti-Cubs I used to be. During my career before teaching, I used to work for an events company that held shows at Wrigley Field. I remember as I worked, my mission was to make sure my feet were stuck on the plastic covering and not touching the grass of the field itself. Now that I am older, that has definitely changed.

When I’m not cheering on baseball, I am married to an Englishman, so my weekends tend to revolve around premier league games. As you can image, the World Cup is a pretty big event in our house, even though the USA and England didn’t make it to the finals.

So, what team/teams do you cheer for?

5 For Friday! Happy 4th!

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So, doing two link-ups today. 1) Big Time Blogging Challenge and 2) Five For Friday with Doodle Bugs!

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Continuing with my ISTE reflection, I thought today would be perfect for 5 people you should follow on Twitter. These are all individuals who I didn’t start following until I attended ISTE. There are so many more, but these are just a select few. Please contact me or see my Twitter page if you are interested in more individuals that I follow. Most are ADE (Apple Distinguished Educators), but they have great tips regardless what device you use!

1) Luis Perez (@_luisfperez) – I was introduced to Luis through Shannon Soger (@shannonsoger), who is a colleague of mine. Luis is an ADE, but one of his passions happens to be accessibility features for the Mac and iPad. I had the opportunity to watch him at the ADE Playground and he blew my mind away with some of the features I wasn’t even aware about. Please check out his site! He even has a book out now called Mobile Learning for All.

2) Todd Nesloney (@TechNinjaTodd) – I had the honor of seeing Todd present at an ignite session at ISTE. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Ignites, these are individuals who are presenting ideas and possibly even programs, but they only have 5 minutes to do so and 20 images. The fun part, is the slides for their presentation aren’t controlled by them, they are automatically timed, so the presenter can’t pause, you just have to keep up. Todd touched on a topic that is very close to my heart and that is passion. He gave his students the task of completing a project at home… well they soon came back and blew him away with the math fair they created. It is a clear image of how students really drive their own education when motivated.

3) GripCase (@Gripcase) – There are so many cases that are out on the market for your mobile devices, but Gripcase has a great message and meaning. Brian, the owner, was introduced to me by Shannon Soger (@shannonsoger) and Sue Gorman (@sjgorman). Over a great conversation at dinner, I got to hear more about their company and the reason for designing their case. Brian originally developed the idea because of his son, who had just received an iPad. So, you know it is durable! They are light, have great handles for kids/adults to grasp, and they have a great BOGO promotion to help other schools. Did I mention, they do a great job of listening to customer feedback to help design the cases based on the needs of their clients…one of those needs being for it to fit in mobile carts!

4) Courtney Pepe (@ipadqueen2012) – an ADE and educator from New Jersey, Courtney was another individual I was lucky to see at the ISTE ignite session. She is very passionate about the integration of technology with education and loves her robotics! She had a great demonstration on the use of her Google Glass with Sphero. Students need to learn how to code!

5) Kathy Schrock (@kathyschrock) – I feel ashamed to admit that I only started following her at ISTE. If you want a queen of technology, Kathy Schrock is surely that with over 38,000 individuals following her on Twitter. If you need some great tech resources, follow her and visit her website! There are too many amazing things about her to write a paragraph out here. ha ha

I hope you enjoyed my 5 for Friday. Again, there are a ton more I could add to my list. There are so many great people I am already following and new individuals I continue to seek out!