My Favorite Apps

Many of you probably teach in schools that are saturated with technology because of public funding.  I, on the other hand, teach at a private school that does not have as much technology as our public school counterparts.  However, this year, I was fortunate enough to get an iPad 2 for my classroom and I'm so thankful.  Some of you may have a 1:1 iPad program at your school and that's awesome, but I say ONE iPad in my classroom is better than none.  ;)

I received my iPad the second week of school and am still learning things about it.  I wanted to share in this post my favorite apps that I use as I work with my 5th grade students.  If you have any to recommend, I'd love to hear your suggestions!  Here's my list:

• BrainPOP--Engaging educational videos for grades 3 and up.  The videos are usually 5 minutes long and include a 10 question quiz at the end. There are several options with this app.  You can stick to a free version that allows you to watch the featured video (it changes each day).  You could also upgrade to various paid versions.  I bought the full access subscription for $6.99/month.  It's a little expensive, but I get access to over 750 movies and quizzes.  It's been a great addition to my lessons and the students really enjoy it.  I've set up my account so that I can choose to not purchase it for a certain month. 
• iHurricane HD--was a very helpful and FREE app I used at the beginning of the year when I had my students tracking hurricanes. 
• Google Earth--FREE; great tool as we study geography
• Atlas for iPad by Appventions--$1.99 (but right now there's a special offer and it's 60% off)  It has large political and physical world maps, regional maps, time zone maps, and various information on over 250 world entities.  There are pictures of flags, comparison tables, etc.  You can also get a lighter version for free.
• NASA App HD--FREE app that will be helpful when we study space.  It includes thousands of images from NASA, news stories, and lots of information about the planets, stars, and galaxy.  There are videos as well.  This app is FULL of cool stuff!
• GeoPop--$0.99; A fun geography game that has three levels of difficulty.  This game poses one question at a time and you must touch the correct answer (i.e. country/continent) before the time runs out.  One you touch, or "pop," the correct place, a new question appears.  Hints are available if you need them. 
• Stack the States--$0.99; Another fun geography game that was voted "Best Kids App for iPad."  I started out with the free version and my students wanted more.  Hey, I've even found myself playing it in my spare time.  We all love this game and are learning more about the 50 states.
• Stack the Countries--$1.99; How could I get Stack the States and not Stack the Countries?!  I do teach World Geography, don'tcha know.  It's just like the game above and again, I play it in my spare time. 
• Lobster Diver--FREE math game dealing with number lines and fractions for upper elementary/middle school students.
• Bookabi--FREE educational app that allows students to write and digitally illustrate their own stories.  You also have the ability to voice record and play back the reading of the story.
• Drawing Box--FREE (There is also a $1.99 version) drawing, painting, sketching app.  I love the video replay of the illustrations because I get to watch how my students created their artwork.

Teacher Apps:

• Groovy Grader--FREE app that replaces your paper E-Z Grader
• QuickVoice Recorder--FREE app that I use to record spelling tests for students who are absent
• Dragon Dictation--FREE app similar to Quick Voice; however, this converts voice recordings into text. 
• ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard--FREE app that allows you to turn your iPad into a personal interactive whiteboard.  With this app, you have the ability to record voice-over tutorials and share them online.

I hope you find these helpful!  Again, feel free to share with me your favorite iPad apps. 

Oh, yes, one more thing...I love using my iPad as a document camera.  It's so easy to take a picture of something and then project it onto the Promethean board using AirServer.  AirServer cost me around $5-$7 (I can't quite remember) and is a mirroring receiver for Macs AND PC's (I'm a PC). 

Cereal Box Book Reports

Each month, my students complete a book report.  For the month of September, they were required to read a fiction book and then complete a Cereal Box Book Report.  I had never assigned this type of report but it turned out to be a hit!

 

Here are some of my students' boxes (names have been marked out):

 The students had to create a game on the back of the box that related to the story:

Each box needed to have a prize inside, or at least a picture of the prize on the front of the box.  The prize needed to be related to the book, of course.

Top of the box:

 Side of the box:

 The other side of the box:

The students had to present their book reports on Friday in a 1-2 minute commercial.  They all did a great job!

If you'd like to use this in your class, here are the instructions and templates:
Cereal Box Book Report Directions
Left/Right Side Templates  (Found this online because Google docs was giving me trouble.  Scroll down to pages 2 and 3 for the printouts)

One of the many things I love about my school...

At my Christian school, we have a group of moms, called Moms in Touch, who meet each week to pray for our faculty/staff, students, and the needs of our school.  Once every few weeks, I'll get a pink prayer slip in my school mailbox that has a scripture on one side and a handwritten prayer on the other side; it's always a pleasant surprise! 

The one I received this week was so specific, especially uplifting, and made me feel so blessed to be a teacher at this school.  I love working at a place where people encourage each other and pray for each other on a daily basis. 

Landform Projects

In geography, we are currently learning about planet earth and its landforms.  We just wrapped up our week-long landform project.  I paired the students up, but had to have one group of three.  I assigned each group a landform to research.  On day 1, we took notes using our textbook, encyclopedias, and various websites as resources.

The students had to define their landform, give a well-known example of this landform, explain how the landform was formed, find out what the weather was like on this particular landform, and discover facts about the flora and fauna.  They could also add any other interesting facts or trivia about their landform (In my classroom, we call these "Funky Facts"). 

On day 2, we finished our research and the students had to take the information they learned the day before and write a report with criteria according to a rubric.

On days 3 and 4, the groups constructed their landforms in class.  I provided the base for each group (extremely thick poster board) and they had to bring in basic materials such as clay, play-doh, paint, sand, etc.

Here's how they all turned out: 

Mountain:

Isthmus:

Canyon:

Delta: (I was a little surprised by all the trees)

Strait:

Peninsula: (Can you guess what their well-known example is?)

Valley: (Wow--a very colorful valley!)

I was unable to give any direction as the students created their landforms; I was out of town those days and had a sub!

On day 5, the students had to present their landform project to the class.  They were also required to point out the "famous example" on a map. 

Here, the students are using the Atlas app as it's displayed from my iPad to the Promethean board via AirServer: 

This pair is explaining the Mississippi River Delta to us.

This was our first major in-class project and the students were so excited about creating their own landforms.  I wonder if we could make this an edible project next year?  We love to eat in this class!  ;)

Wonderful Wonderopolis

Several weeks ago, I posted about creating a Wonder Jar for my class to use.  I shared the post with Wonderopolis via Twitter because I thought they might like to know how I use the website in my classroom.  Imagine my surprise when I received a handwritten note in my school mailbox from the wonderful folks at Wonderopolis!  They even included a sticker for my Wonder Jar!?!    

My students were thrilled and we all felt so special!

Thanks so much, Wonderopolis!  Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Teacher Tip #4--Use timers and music

I consider myself to be an effective classroom manager and one of the things that has helped me tremendously is using a timer to keep students on task.  I use a timer all day long.  I time the students as they transition from one subject to the next and we even create time goals to see if we can "beat" our record.  We try to do things in the shortest amount of time possible so that more time can be devoted to instruction.

I give students time limits for classroom work and I usually set the timer on the desk of a student who has trouble focusing.  I announce that he's the time-keeper, but in reality, the timer is on his desk to keep him on track.  I'll usually whisper a directive in his ear like, "I need you to make sure you've completed five of these problems within two minutes" or "When the timer gets to 5:00, you need to be finished with this side of your paper and moving on to the next."  This strategy has been quite effective with this young man.

In addition to using a timer, I also use music to set a time limit for an activity.  For example, when the students pack up at the end of the day, I'll occasionally play a two-and-a-half to three-minute song and they must be packed up with "nothing on top of the desks and nothing underneath" by the time the music stops.  I've seen my co-workers use music in this way as well.  A former 5th grade teacher at my school would play the "Mission Impossible" theme when all the students arrived.  The children had until the end of the tune to get everything ready for the day (e.g. notes for the teacher and homework turned in, books/paper/pencils out, etc.).  She would also play "Takin' Care of Business" at the end of the day during pack-up time.

Using timers as well as music to set a time limit has been helpful in making my classroom run more smoothly. 

Digital Substitute

Last week, I had the opportunity to go to the Ron Clark Academy in Altanta, GA for a workshop (more about that experience in another post!).  I knew that my students would be missing a lot of instruction over two days and I didn't want to have to review a great deal once I got back to school.  In addition, I wanted to emphasize certain things in my lessons and I knew that the sub would not know exactly what I wanted done.  So, I created a series of videos for my students to watch while I was gone.  I recorded myself teaching the lessons and the sub simply had the job of pressing "play" on my computer, then "pause" when she needed to, and finally, the "stop" button.  This is as close to "flipping the classroom" as I've ever gotten and the subs loved it! 

I asked for feedback from my students today, in the form of a "Substitute Survey."  I asked questions about the sub, how the two days went when I was absent, and I asked their opinions on the instruction videos.  Here were some of the responses:

"I liked the videos because I've never seen another teacher do that.  You are one-of-a-kind."  Aw!
"The videos were fun because we could see you when you were gone."  Aw, again!
"The videos were great!  It was fun to be taught by Video Bowman."  ha!
"Everytime a teacher has a substitute, all of the kids try to say, 'That's not the way our teacher does it.'  Even if there's a designated person to tell the sub what to do, it always becomes the whole class trying to talk at once.  The videos helped because the class wasn't trying to tell the sub all about how our class works and how our teacher teaches."  Glad to know it was helpful.

If I ever plan on being absent again, I'll definitely take the time to create the videos.  It actually didn't take as long as I thought it would.  At times in the lesson, I would say, "Press 'pause' and please discuss this as a group...or with a partner"...or..whatever. 

The students enjoyed it, the subs had an easy job, and I didn't have to spend any time reviewing today or wondering what was taught while I was gone. 

Have any other teachers tried this before?  If so, how did it work for you?