ScootPad

I have been hearing so many great things about ScootPad from teachers and bloggers that I just had to tell you about it right away!

ScootPad is a great common core practice website that...

1) is FREE!

2) Has NO ads

3) Students can sign in from home, from a computer or mobile device (all the apps are free too, for iPad, Android, etc.)

Here's a video for teachers that explains how it works:

Basically, Scootpad is a site where students can go to practice all of the Common Core standards for math and reading.  The site is adaptive, so students can move through the standards at their own pace.  You can also modify the content to meet the needs of specific students!  As a teacher, you will be able to see data {a lot of graphs!!} about how each student is performing and can also get detailed email updates about students' progress.

A fellow blogger, EduKate & Inspire, uses it with her students, and this is what she loved about it:

"1) Rewards... of course!  I am typically not a big fan of having a lot of incentives for students {in my opinion, intrinsic motivation is always the best}, but they sure were a great motivator on Scootpad. As students complete practices on Scootpad, they earn coins.  In your teacher account, you can create rewards and specify the amount of coins that each reward is worth.  You can use tangible items like candy or a pencil, or set other rewards like lunch with the teacher or show and tell {I do not do show and tell in second grade, so this was a highly coveted prize!}  Parents can also set rewards for their child to earn at home. Here is a screenshot of my rewards page:

2)  Social media... students love being able to connect with their friends on Scootpad!  They can send messages to each other, choose a smiley face to indicate how they are feeling for the day, pick out their own avatar, check out their news feed (updates about messages from friends and coins they have earned), look at the class wall (with posts from the teacher), and check out the leader boards. One nice feature is that the messages are pre-selected, so students can't actually type anything to each other {otherwise, they'd spend all day sending messages instead of practicing!}.  As the teacher, you CAN type messages to students, which is great for encouragement.  Here is a screen shot of the cute messages students can send to friends:

3) Badges:  Students can earn badges to show off their hard work!  I love the 100% Ninja badge :)"

Check out ScootPad by clicking the button below! 

Class Incentives.. Yup, there's an App for that!

Remember last year when I introduced you to the amazing TeacherTipster.com guy? Well, he's back and he's even made his own app! It's called Win a Spin ($0.99) and is an app that you can put on your personal iPhone or iPad to use with students when they earn a reward. You can customize the wheel with 6 of your own incentives.. extra computer time, sticker, pencil, recess, lunch with the teacher, etc. Then, whenever your students earn a reward they can spin to win! You can even hook it up to the SmartBoard with one of our iPad adapters so the kids can see. Check out this link for more information.. and thanks to Julie for sharing!

Another incentive app for your laptop and/or iDevice is ClassDojo. You can instantly reinforce positive behavior by rewarding students points in your free class account. You can also customize it to behaviors (think Characteristics of Successful Learners!) and when you reward the student it will show up for why they earned a point; on the flip side you can also deduct points for negative behavior. It also collects the data you put in and you can organize it for parents, report cards, etc. I think kids would love to see their little monsters up on the SmartBoard!

Lion Tips & Tricks

Most of today's iWonder will be in my email to you to help you navigate some technical glitches. But, as we are all now on Lion, here are some of my favorite things about it:

1) Mission Control

If you tend to keep a lot of things open, you can click on Mission Control and see everything you have open. You can also create multiple "desktops" and have different applications open on each. 

2) Air Drop

This is something I haven't used yet, but if you share files a lot with your team, then Air Drop is a better solution when you can't email a large file. You just open up Finder, see all the nearby computers with AirDrop enabled, and you can send files just by dragging them onto a computer's icon. AirDrip will create a network between the two computers and transfer the files for you.

3) Resume

When you shut down your computer, you can choose to save your session, so when you turn your computer back on, it restores all your windows, exactly as they were when you shut down.

You can find out more about clicking this link to a Lion/Laptop Guide.

(You'll need to be logged into the district website to access it.)

Feel free to ask if you want to learn more about them!

Volume Control, Teacher Discounts & a Can't-Miss-Article

You might have asked yourself, "what do volume control & teacher discounts have in common?" Well, I guess nothing, other than the two both make me happy. 

First up this week is a VERY cool website brought to you from Joanna's Pinterest. It looks so simple.. a bunch of "bouncy balls", but if you click the Microphone button, they react to the volume of the room! Want your students to work quietly? Put up the visual and tell them to try to keep the balls as still as possible. I'm so interested to see how well it works with your laptop's microphone!

I also saw this pin that listed several different places that offer discounts to teachers! Some I knew about, but I wish I knew that Michaels and the Container Store offered discounts a long time ago. Check out the full list at the link below... and happy shopping :)

One more thing- about a minute after I published this for the first time, I saw that Megan had posted this CNN article. While it may be geared to new teachers, I think everyone can appreciate the messages the National Teacher of the Year shares. Give it a quick read if you have a moment!

Welcome back!

Welcome back to a new school year! With our first week only halfway over, I hope the kids are settling in (and so are you :)

This week's resources aren't particularly techy, but I hope you find them useful as you start your year!

First, I found this picture on Pinterest of a Classroom Timeline. Throughout the year, you can take pictures and add captions to it for special events and activities you do with your students. And, it's a great visual for them to learn how to read a timeline too!

Next, this teacher posted a link to her Sub Binder Templates.. and how perfect that we all got our sub folders to update today! Check it out and see if it's something that you can use to help subs navigate your classroom in your absence. 

I also found this blog post about getting ready for Curriculum Night. She has cute freebies of the pages she uses for explaining her curriculum, classroom schedule, and parent volunteers.

And lastly, I saw this free Data Binder on Teachers Pay Teachers. What a great way to get organized right away in the year as you get to know your students!

The End is Near

I came across a couple blog posts this week that I just had to share. As the year comes to an end, we are busy wrapping up projects, packing up classrooms, and maybe even thinking about next year. Hopefully the advice I found will help you as you close the book of another school year!

Scholastic had an article entitled "Ten Things to Think About as You Pack Up Your Classroom". Here are some of the highlights:

1. Summer Homework: Try to only take home ONE basket of work to do over the summer, such as professional development books you'd like to read.

2. Start Early: Maybe you already have! Is there anything you can pack away now that you know you won't use again this school year?

3. Take Pictures: So that you can refer back to them as you arrange furniture, bulletin boards, etc.

4. Where Did You Put the Essentials?: Pack a box of items that you know you will need right away: Scissors, glue, tape, a stapler, and anything else you'll need to start setting up your classroom. Make sure it then goes in a safe place!

5. Classroom Inventory: As you pack, make a list of things you know you will need to get for next year. Then you can start the new year ready to go, without having to make several trips to Target or the teacher store.

6. Clean as You Go: As you pack away items, give them a wipe down to have them clean and ready to go for next year.

7. Level Your Books: Before packing away your classroom library, take a little bit of time to organize them. You'll be happy you did in August!

8. Use Giant Ziploc Bags: It makes things easy to see and store.

9. Organize the Cabinets: Organize and label your cabinets and storage shelves to make it easier when it comes to setting up your classroom. 

10. Purge: My favorite thing to do! Get rid of things you haven't used. The more you get rid of, the less you have to pack!

All packed up? Good, now you can do a little bit of reflecting :) In a post on Edutopia called Year-End Tech Reflections, Nick Provenzano encourages you to reflect on things you did this year and evaluate how they went. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

1) What tools did you use?

2) How did you use these tools?

3) Was the tool effective in what you wanted to accomplish?

4) What tools could be removed or replaced?

5) What are your goals for next year?

Check out his post for more!

Student Selectors & Random Word Generators

Do you have a cup full of popsicle sticks with your students names on them? Do you use them to call on students randomly? Well... with the end of the year approaching, you might be looking for something new to jazz up your lessons. Try one of these random name generators on the SmartBoard and make your students want to be called on!

The Random Name Selector allows you to randomly pick names from a list you've created. Once you have entered your students' names and clicked the Go button, a name is selected (and said aloud), you are given several choices. You can start a two minute timer or a seven minute timer. You also have the option of removing the name from your list. It has fun animation, sound effects, and a large fun font so it's perfect for displaying on your SmartBoard.

To use it, just click on Change Names and type in your names, numbers, words, etc. Then click Go!

The Dartboard Student Selector chooses a student from a dartboard.

There are options to save your class, remove names once selected, clear darts after each throw, and reset names. You can also increase the rate of your dart throw. How fun is that!

The Random Name/Word Picker from ClassTools.net is another fun way to choose a student or even a vocabulary word. Just type in your students' names (or copy/paste from another document), choose either the typewriter option or fruit machine, and your random name/word is displayed!

These tools don't have to be limited to just names- you can enter numbers, vocab words, spelling words, writing ideas, characters in a story, geography terms.. basically anything you can create a list of! The possibilities are endless!