Friends~Another addiction for me!  I just spend the day with my kiddos putting together QR codes for some of their favorite books.  We have been working on our book responses everyday after our Snack and a Book Time or Silent Reading:)  I let them choose a favorite response and turn it into a book recommendation summary. We then read them into ...

I can't keep it to myself any longer, I'm in love!  Scootpad is amazing and I want to share it with all of you. I've been using Scootpad in my classroom for math and reading practice which is focused on the Common Core Standards. Students have both school and home access which can be used as homework practice if you choose.  In addition to math ...

At this time of year, we see many people sharing their beginning of the year activities and strategies. You see tweets, blogs, Pinterest pins, Facebook posts, articles, and Back to School Conferences. Many people asked me how we started our year, so I shared some of our activities in the post Our First Day(s) of School. In that post I also ...

Wow, I think I've found my newest love for the classroom.Educational Insights sent me 2 sets to try out and they are amazing. I chose one for Reading Comprehension: Getting the Main Idea and one for math: Learn to Solve Word Problems All of the Hot Dot products use this pen that acts as a personal learning coach.When the pen is touched to the ...

At IRA I stopped at the Subtext booth and was completely surprised to find out that it was a FREE app for iPads.  I just started exploring it today to see how it might be used in a classroom, and I thought I’d pass along what I’ve found. First, you have to download it.  Search the app store for Subtext.  Download it.  Ta-da!  Step one complete ...

As my students were putting the finishing touches on their collaborative PSAs that they were creating with students from across the country, we were reading There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar. One of my goals this year is to bring more literature into our day in spite of our rigid schedule and prescriptive reading program. (See ...

My students struggled with Beloved. It was a tough book: intense, confusing, long. I found out that my students have trouble tackling 100 pages at a time on their own. They need more support. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about how best to help them. I could threaten them with pop quizzes. [...]

My students struggled with Beloved. It was a tough book: intense, confusing, long. I found out that my students have trouble tackling 100 pages at a time on their own. They need more support. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about how best to help them. I could threaten them with pop quizzes. [...]

Amazon went crazy today and unveiled three new products: the new Kindle, the Kindle Touch, and the Kindle Fire. Which one is best for teachers and students? The Kindle Fire, Amazon’s new tablet, which retails at a remarkable $199, won’t be useful for the classroom. It’s mostly a media device that’s an extension of the [...]

Amazon went crazy today and unveiled three new products: the new Kindle, the Kindle Touch, and the Kindle Fire. Which one is best for teachers and students? The Kindle Fire, Amazon’s new tablet, which retails at a remarkable $199, won’t be useful for the classroom. It’s mostly a media device that’s an extension of the [...]