Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Fun Christmas Websites


I am sure your normal routine has become not so normal with the holidays approaching. Are you looking for something festive to fill in gaps? Are you looking for a holiday activity to engage your students? Check out a few holiday interactive sites for students!

Northpole.com
This site allows for students, parents, and teachers to set up accounts. Northpole.com has everything from connecting with Santa, to baking recipes to directions for making ornaments. It also includes a more instructional writing activity. 

Google Santa Tracker
The Google Santa tracker site is full of great animation. It has a place to play, learn and explore. Each day in December a new activity opens up, so there is always something new!

NORAD Santa Tracker
When you go to the site, it welcomes you with festive music. This site offers a Santa Tracker countdown, a view of the North Pole, games, music and more.

Other holiday activities

What are your favorite sites for the holiday season?



Friday, December 9, 2016

Bringing the World to Your Classroom Through Virtual Field Trips

What are Virtual Field Trips?
Wikipedia defines Virtual Field Trips as a guided exploration through the world wide web that organizes a collection of pre-screened, thematically based web pages into a structured online learning experience. (Foley, 2003).

Why Should We Go on a Virtual Field Trip?
Take your students beyond the classroom walls and into some of the world's most iconic locations for rich and immersive learning experiences — no permission slips required!

What are Some Virtual Field Trip Resources?



Thursday, December 1, 2016

3 Ways to Use Google Classroom During Literacy Stations

Have you ever used Google Classroom with your literacy stations? Recently many schools I work with have been purchasing chromebooks and are wanting to use the devices during their station/small group time. Here are a few ideas I have seen in classrooms using chromebooks in literacy stations.

The Morning Journal

The teacher linked a video to the Classroom Assignment and then attached a Google Slides where students could type their journal response on a specific slide. This could be a collaborative effort or the setting in Google Classroom could force each student to make their own copy. After the student creates their response, they can turn in the assignment for the teacher to review.

Reading Log Recording Sheet

The teacher created a reading log recording sheet template and then added it to an assignment on Google Classroom. The students were then able to get their own individual copy which was saved in their Google Drive. This made it easy to distribute a paperless reading log which will always be in the student's Google Drive for easy access to complete each time a student completes a book.

Reading Comprehension Activity

If you are looking to create a paperless classroom, this might be the route for you! Google Classroom allows you to upload a reading passage as well as a comprehension quiz. Not only can students read the passage on the chromebook, but they can also take the comprehension quiz online, thus creating a paperless classroom.

After watching a few teaching in action, I put together a short presentation to help other teachers incorporate chromebooks into station work time. 


These are just a few ways I have seen teachers incorporate chromebooks and Google Classroom into their literacy/small group stations. What other ways have you seen teachers use chromebooks during literacy/small group time?