Daily 5 Revamped

I had the pleasure of working with elementary teachers from all over the county at the LISD's Daily 5 Revamped. I was asked to share apps and websites that engage, support independence and stamina. I was lucky enough to "present" in the new CMat center. I loved the comfy, collaborative space to talk and discuss with others.  

I titled my session 5 for 5,  the purpose of the session was to focus on 5 engaging apps to use during Daily 5: Explain Everything/Educreations, Aurasma, Nearpod, Write About This, and Zooburst.

Aurasma was fun to show the teachers. I used the book Grace for President and with the help of my 7 year old daughter we made the book interactive using Aurasma and Explain Everything (check out the video, sorry not the best quality). We made AR flashcards using vocab terms from the book also. 

Video your students reading a piece of writing and make the piece a AR trigger for parent teacher night. 

I become more and more impressed with Nearpod. Publishers like Time for Kids and ReadWorks.org have started producing Nearpod lessons to go along with the magazines and articles. I shared with the teachers that Nearpod is a great way to formatively assess students during and after a lesson.  

In two weeks I will be back to the CMat to present at CRAFTing on A-Z Science, Evernote, and Google collaboration.

I can't wait for our classrooms to start looking more like this! 

  

I'm Back

Whenever I am feeling a bit overwhelmed
this picture comes to mind.  

Summer is coming to an end and school work is starting to pick back up. Even though I have had a little down time over the past month and a half, I have been working on preparing for a few PD events and designing a course for a class I am taking for my Ed Tech endorsement. I love when people ask me if I enjoy having my summers off, I like to reply with "I am on a different shift". It is not easy being a stay at home mom and full time teacher in the summers.

Over the next few weeks I have the privilege of presenting at the Lenawee County Intermediate School District. First is July 30th 5 for 5, The session will focus on 5 engaging apps to use during Daily 5. On August 4th I will be assisting at the LISD's writing camp. August 13th I am back for CRAFTing showing teachers how to use Blogs, Google collaboration tools, and Science A-Z. I am super excited to have been invited to present at Jackson ISD's Digital Leadership for Learning on August 14th. Kellie and I will be presenting on Which comes first? Instruction or Technology?

So, yes I am enjoying my summer. I enjoy working with teachers who are passionate to learn (during their summer) and make their classroom more engaging for their students. 
Back to work. Lots to do!