Power My Learing

 





Looking for a one-stop website to gather ideas for lessons, find videos, locate activities and games for students, and so much more...and it be linked to Common Core?  Check out PowerMyLearning!  This site lets you search by grade level and by subject.  Once you choose the subject you can go deeper by searching specific domains for activities, videos, tutorials and so much more.  You must create an account but it is FREE!!!  You can even set up your own classroom, make assignments, create your own activities and monitor progress on assignments.  There are also ways to access these resources as parents and students.  Thanks to Shasta McFry at Ohatchee Elementary for sharing this link with me! Check it out ... http://powermylearning.org/

 

 

 

Technology Integration in the Classroom

Thank you to Dr. Knighton for helping provide some up-to-date information on several technology tools to our teachers during our Professional Development day on October 10th, 2014. Some of the recent posts on the If You Give a Wildcat and iPad Blog are from the training.  Please share with us how you are using these tools in your classroom with students!

KidRex

Do you worry about turning student loose to search for information on the web?  KidRex my be your answer...this kid-friendly search engine  provides a safe kid zone for web searches.  Since this is powered by Google, kids will be given a list of kid-appropriate sites to aid them in research.  Check out the site at ... http://www.kidrex.org/

What happens if they search something inappropriate?  They get an Oops! Try Again notice!

PortaPortal

PortaPortal is a free bookmarking site that allows you to give students s protected access to a list of websites or links you have selected.  Students and parents may be given a guest login so that they can access the links from home.  This guest access allows them to access the links without having access to alter or add information to your site.  You can create tabs or subject headings to organize your links.   Check it out at ... http://portaportal.com/

Sign up for this free bookmarking tool!

Organize your links for parents and students to easily access by subject or skill.

Math Landing

Math Landing is a K-5 digital resource tool for math teachers that offers both Professional Development tools as well as Classroom tools to help you understand and meet math standards.  This is aligned to Common Core standards.  It is a free resource.  You may choose to use this tool without registering for it; however, if you want to save your searches, you will need to create an account.  Check it out at... http://www.mathlanding.org/

Use the resource or create a login to save future searches.

Search the PD tool for help with understanding, teaching and applying standards.

Use the Classroom tool to find activities and more.

Graphite by Common Sense Media

Graphite helps teachers find apps, games and websites that have been rated by teachers for learning purposes.  Teachers can search by type, subject, grade and price.  Teachers can also search specifically for  Common Core resources/apps/tools in English/Language Arts or Mathematics.  Check it out at ... https://www.graphite.org/

Explore apps rated by teachers.

Find more resource based upon Common Core Standards.

Socrative 2.0

Socrative upgraded to Socrative 2.0 on July 12, 2014.  All previous accounts in Socrative were updated to Socrative 2.0

Want to find out about the new features in Socrative 2.0? Check out http://www.socrative.com/materials/SocrativeUserGuide.pdf

Today's Meet

Today's Meet is an online journaling/discussing board where students can answer questions, make comments, ask questions and so much more.  Teachers can monitor questions directly in the chat and monitor "backroom" chats that take place. 

Here are some quick reminders from Dr. Knighton when using this app...consider making your Room Name unique and double check the room prior to giving it to students to make sure no previous information for another session is there.  Check it out at ... https://todaysmeet.com/

   

See students thoughts as they share.

The Answer Pad

The Answer Pad is an online tool for formative and summative assessments.  Teachers may engage students through quick response feedback opportunities or create quizzes to assess knowledge.  Teachers can generate reports to review student performance.  Check it out at ... http://theanswerpad.com/ 

Website view

The teacher dashboard is always web-based.

TapIt is the student app students can use to respond.
 

Student answer formats

KidBlog

KidBlog is a free and simple way for your students to share thoughts and ideas collaboratively!  You, as the teacher, are in control of topics, blogs and logins.  Students may access the blogs online and through mobile devices. The possibilities are endless for how you could use this tool...enhance your writing standards through collaborative discussions, answer questions of the day, share thoughts from lit circles, and so much more.  What could you blog with your students today?  Check it out... http://kidblog.org/home/

Remind

 

Remind (formally know as Remind 101) is a quick and easy way to alert parents of information regarding your classroom or school activities through text messages.  Parent sign up for your text messages via a secure code....you send information directly to parents...it's that simple!  This is a great tool to increase parental involvement and keep parents informed of tests, field trips, project due dates, BYOD dates, monies due and activities here at school!   This app is available in iTunes and Android Play Store and is accessible through mobile devices and the web.

Check it out by visiting... https://www.remind.com/

Number Pieces

 

 

Number Pieces is a base-ten model application which allows student to manipulate base-ten blocks in order to better understand math concepts and skills.  Students may simply use the blocks to represent numbers to demonstrate number sense.



 

 



 

 

Students may choose to use the base-ten blocks to solve various problems.

Additionally, tools are available to enhance student models as they solve problems.

 

This app is FREE but is only available in the Apple App Store.  Thanks, Ms. Burt for sharing this great app with us during your i21Zone lesson!

Math Duel

Math Duel is a one-on-one challenge that allows students to compete head-to-head in math problems.  The key to winning is accuracy AND speed.  There is a bar that divides the screen which resembles a tug-of-war challenge showing who is winning. 

Students may choose the operation they wish to use.  You can even have one student using multiplication problems while the other uses addition problems.  This is a great tool to increase math fluency and build number sense. 

 

When I purchase the app, it was free; however, currently it is listed as $2.99 for the app.  It is available through the Apple App Store and also available in the Android market.  Let the challenge begin...

Common Core Library

This is an app that is helpful in helping to understand the common core standards...and it's free right now!  The first component of this app is the Common Core Library.  This is a bank of all common core standards by grade level.  Go into the library and select your grade level to explore common core standards.  Remember, Alabama uses a different numbering system for it's COS so look carefully for your standards and how they match up with the national common core standards. 

Select your appropriate grade level.

 

Choose your strand or skill to discover standards.

See the standards.

 

WAGmob (creater of this app) also has several other apps that are reasonably priced (most are $1.99) that offer common core review and example questions for the standards. 



i21Zone Training

 

WPES Teachers are excited about our upcoming training for i21Zone.  Last year, WPES successfully began implementing BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).  This year, we will continue to find new ways to incorporate and integrate technology into instruction through i21Zone Training.  Our training begins on October 22nd.

Apps for Common Core

Looking for apps that will reinforce and practice some of your common core standards?  This app is designed to link you with apps which specifically meet common core standards.  You may choose apps for Mathematics or Language Arts.  You may also choose specific grade levels Kindergarten through Grade 12.  The common core standards are show in the national common core format so in looking the numbers will not line up with the Alabama COS/CCSS numbers.  You may also suggest apps that you find which align with the standards...happy apping!

Web Whiteboard

Thank you, Mrs. Brewer, for discovering this new web application that turns your devices into interactive whiteboards!  Web Whiteboard is a web-based site that allows you instantly interact with others on a common whiteboard.  You may create a whiteboard ID which allows others to access your whiteboard.

Today, Mrs. Brewer's third grade class used Web Whiteboard to solve various math problems.  Students were able to work out problems on multiple devices while collaborating together on various strategies to solve their problems.

Students see the same screenshot on each device and interactions between devices are delivered in real time.

Teachers can monitor on their "whiteboard".

Student solved the real-time interaction; since this is web-based, students see immediately when another writes on the class whiteboard.  Currently, this is free to use and offers many features such as drawing and sticky notes.

Here is what a few of our third graders thought about Web Whiteboard...

Tucker - "I think it was good for us because everyone could see what we were doing and some people could see our different strategies in math."

Gracie -"It was pretty cool how our work showed up on everyone's device. At times it would slow up, but that was because everyone was thinking and trying solve the problem to show what they know."

Ashley - "I like the web whiteboard because you can call on a student and everyone can see them answer on the board. It's a whole lot more fun than writing just on paper."

Fill 'Em Up...10 Frame Fill!

10 Frame Fill is a free app that our kindergarteners love to use.  Teachers have discovered this app as a useful tool to help students in learning to make sets of ten.  This critical skill introduced in kindergarten is foundational for students in addition and subtraction, as well as developing number sense! 

Students fill in with yellow chips to make a set of 10.

As the teacher, you may choose for students to answer questions with dots presented sequentially or randomly.  You may also limit the students have to respond.  Teachers may also select to show the problems in the additive family to help students recognize written equations.



Several options allow teachers to customize the app to meet their needs.
 

Thank you, kindergarten, for sharing this app and how you use it with us!

~Kindergarten, WPES