The School Supply Addict: awesome

Showing posts with label awesome. Show all posts

Hello Edmodo

Nope. Not Quasimodo. You thought about this creepy Disney character at first didn't you? If not, you are now. I recently came across another awesome technology find. It's UHHHHMAZING!

It's called Edmodo and it's basically like a G rated, non weird, useful version of Facebook... for your classroom. You can create a little online community and control everything from it! It has some really cool features:

calendar - post activities, assignments, etc.
class creation - create a different group for each class you have
wall - post on the 'wall' kind of like fb...announcements, questions, engaging discussions for students, videos, links, assignments, etc.
parent notification
assignments - create, post, accept, and grade assignments from one spot
quizzes - create a quiz, post, and grade all internally.
badges - create and award special 'badges' for when students complete a project/unit
... and more!

This site is ideal for middle and high school teachers, but it may also work for intermediate elementary too. I'm not so sure it would work well for any younger students, but maybe?

Signing up is FREE and easy. You enter very little information... took me about 2 minutes! I've signed up and created a profile, but haven't had the chance to use it yet. Looks easy though! Instead of me trying to explain what it is, how about you watch their video... Enjoy. Click to go to their site. You might just love this!

Let me know if you start using this!

{ashley}lllllllllllllll

Build-A-Board-Game... & Giveaway!

I just posted one of my favorite things to TPT... after spending hours making it publishable. Is that a word? Publishable? Anyway, it's something that I use and I thought I'd share!

Drum roll......................... It's called Build-A-Board-Game. You probably already guessed that. You don't actually build anything, so don't worry. Well, there is some cutting, gluing, and laminating involved. No hammers or chainsaws though.

Basically, it's a board game that you can adapt to whatever you're doing in class. It's pretty simple (similar to Candy Land, but they have to use their brains a little more) and I. LOVE. IT. My EFL kiddos love it too. I can't show you their cute little faces (for risk of getting canned), but they got to play it in class on Wednesday and I snapped a shot:

I used it as a center for reviewing our first six chapters. 70 questions over any and everything: food vocabulary, sports, using 'this, that, these,those', verb tenses, family vocabulary, etc. Here's what my questions looked like for this past week: (this is 1 out of 70)

Here's what the set looks like:

I've zipped everything together in a file. You'll receive four documents:

Introduction & Instructions: I show you pictures and give details on how to make your board(s), adapt the cards, etc.
Game Board: the game board is approximately 11 x 16 inches. It's two letter size sheets merged together after printing. Make sure you laminate!
Setup & Rules, Special Cards, & 'Number of Players' Cards
70 Adaptable cards (10 for each color), 10 Sample Questions, an Adaptable Answer Key, and an Adaptable Content Focus Sign and List

Want to see it?! Watch...

Hopefully you can find it useful! It's available in my TPT shop if you'd like to purchase. It's only $5 and you can use it to make as many game sets as you like. I will be posting different version soon too! (different colors, themes, layouts, etc.) If you would like me to make you a custom one, then please let me know. I can change the way the board looks, colors, etc. Just send me a message on here.

So far, there are 3 versions... click on the colors you like to check them out in my TPT store.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!

I'll be giving one of these away (your choice of color) on Friday, February 3rd, at 4:00 pm Eastern Time (10:00 pm Swiss time... my time). All you have to do is...

1. 'follow' this blog (click the blue button to the left)

2. let me know you want it by leaving a comment below

I'm hoping to get my follower count up to 10... hahahaha.

Bon Weekend! (French for 'have a good weekend!)

{ashley}lllllllllllllll

Storybird Love

Ok, I just discovered the coolest website. I almost peed my pants when I figured out what it was. It's Storybird.com and basically you can create your own picture book... and more! I tried it and it's amazing. Here's the description from the site itself...

Here's what the creation platform looks like...

I can't tell you how easy it is and what amazing artwork you can find. Here are thee completed books for you to check out. Books can be emailed, embeded in blogs, linked, and printed (by you or professionally).

Decisions. Decisions! by stad11 on Storybird

The Lonely Panda by JONeal on Storybird

Finding love in all the wrong places by jkrebster on Storybird
This would be such a fun site to use in the classroom. You could...

write group stories

make it a computer center (incredibly simple to use)

print them to showcase student work

assign it for a home project

create your own story to aid in teaching certain concepts

integrate into other subject areas (create math stories?)

and more!

Isn't it the coolest thing!?!?!

And guess what? You can create a teacher account and manage your whole class. They receive a login and password from your account. You can assign them projects, message them, review their work, print, etc. The free plan is the one I created (took 3 minutes). There are also two professional options, but they do cost ($60 & $99). The free one seems to be the way to go unless you plan on making it a big 'to do' in your class. Let me know if you already use this or plan on it! It's an amazing resource. :){ashley}lllllllllllllll

Font Crazy

Over Christmas break I got a new computer. I luv it. It's a Samsung.... not sure what model, but it's fast and pretty. Also, I love the mouse pad and I'm a stickler for mouse pads. If they click too loud I hate the computer. If they are not ergonomically friendly then I hate the computer. Drives me nuts.

I digress. Anyway, I just had to install a ton of new fonts because Word just doesn't cut it for me and I didn't have the geek squad zeal to transfer them over from my old laptop. So.... I went crazy. I searched for 'free fonts' and the madness began. Here are some awesome sites to download (easily) thousands of awesome fonts. You'll get sucked in.

Isn't that the cutest name? Font Squirrel... adorable.

Alright, go crazy.

{ashley}lllllllllllllll

Clip Chart Love

Ok. I L.O.V.E the clip chart. I've tried several other behavior management systems and none compare. Seriously. I was first introduced to it by a good friend (and colleague) a couple years ago. She got it from a mentor teacher, who got it from... who knows. Anyway, it spread through our school like wildfire. Why? Because it works and reinforces positive behavior.

The real source of the clip chart is Rick Morris. I want to kiss him for it. Click here for the eBook which gives you lots of details.

For those of you new to the clip chart concept, here's a run down:

Make a chart (see the various examples below)
Students start out on Green each day (ready to learn)
Good choice = clip up one color
Bad choice = clip down one color
Another bad choice? clip down
Another good choice? clip up
They can go up and down throughout the day. "What's that you say Ashley?" They can move up AND down. They aren't stuck on a stupid yellow or red light once they make a poor choice (don't get me started on the red, yellow, green light / 123 magic system). They also don't get three warnings before I actually make them clip down. They know the rules. If they break them, then they know the consequence. However, they have a chance to redeem themselves if they had a bad morning. I'd be towards the bottom too if I came in without my coffee.
Non-verbal signals work easily with this. No more interrupting class or making a public scene. Thumbs up = clip up; Thumbs down = clip down
Easy to understand and you don't have to even touch the chart. The kids can move the clips on their own and a student can have the job of moving everyone back to green at the end of the day.
Parents get it and LOVE it. They appreciate that their child's day isn't ruined by being stuck on yellow at 8am and not being able to turn the day around.
Easy to communicate daily behavior (you need 7 markers and some sort of recording sheet... see below).
It promotes POSITIVE behavior.
It's awesome.

More proof of it's awesomeness:

I am teaching here in Switzerland and all of my international students 'get it'. I have Swiss, Russian, Italian, French, German, Dutch, and Austrian kids. It took one day to get the hang of it. They love it and they HATE clipping down. I rarely have any behavior problems and when I do it's something minor.

Want to make your own? Great!

Step 1: Make a chart There are endless ways to do it. Just make sure it will be durable and the kids can easily use it. My two versions are below. The first was in my kindergarten classroom (stool next to it) and I made it from page protectors stapled/taped to the wall (so they could get the clips on) and regular sheets of paper.

Here's my mobile clip chart below. It's about 2' tall and I have two different sets of names (for each class). I bought a piece of white plastic/board from the hardware store (not sure what it was for) and painted it, let it dry, then wrote the words with permanent marker (tried painting words, but it looked like I'd been drinking all day so I stuck with black marker). The clips are painted white because I'm a type A person and wanted white. I can paint over them for my next class. I'm pretty proud of myself for accomplishing this in Switzerland because everything seems like a challenge.

More examples...

What Happens in 2nd Grade

Behavior Chart using kids' pictures instead of clothespins

Miss Lak's 2nd Grade

Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten

Finally in First

Teach-A-Roo

Mrs. Grant's Kinder Gators

Reflections from Within

Tales of a 3rd Grade

Seriously cannot figure out where I found this one. Let me know if you know the source.

Babbling Abby

First Grade Fever

Mrs. Bukovan's Class

Step 2: Introduce it to your students (AND parents). They'll get it. Parents might not at first because they're not the ones using it, but they will because their kids will talk about it. Have students practice moving their clips up and down. Make a chart of good and poor choices. Use the rules you already have in class. Don't make up new ones. It's easy to integrate!

Step 3: Let it be awesome You will quickly fall in love with it and you'll hardly touch the thing. It will do what it's supposed to do... as long as you're not a crazy and horrible teacher who delights in kids clipping down.

Improvements & Adaptations:

If a student gets to the top and they're just having an outstanding, super, amazing day, then let them clip up even more. Clip up to the teacher's shirt? What about clipping it to your hair? I know my kids went insane when one of them got to clip up to my pony tail or shirt. Crazy.
If my kids got to the top (purple in my room) then they got to spin a wheel. The wheel had special 'prizes' on it: computer time, sitting at teacher's desk, reading to another class, eating lunch with a friend from another class, etc.... not candy and toys. I don't believe in rewarding good behavior with diabetes. Halloween is enough.
Make one of your class jobs the "clip manager." The clip manager gets to reset all of the clips to green at the end of the day.
Top of the chart = a jewel (you know those sparkly ones at craft stores?) OR you could give them a different color each time they reach the top (which is supposed to be rare).

Things to be aware of:

Clips will break/come apart.... at the. most. inconvenient. times. Be prepared. Have new ones handy or be ready to fix them.
Really young ones (< 5) might have trouble using the clothespin. Give them a week. They'll get it.
Kids will start asking you to clip up. All. the. time. Tell them "asking doesn't work." You have to catch them in the act.
Once you tell one kid to clip up then you'll have 20 other students copying the behavior. It's great, but be prepared to respond to this: "You let Katie clip up and I did the same thing. That's not fair. Why can't I do it?"
Some students might need their own mini clip chart at their desk. You know the ones who have severe control issues. Giving them a mini version serves as a constant reminder. They can even take it to their specials classes (art, PE, music, etc.).
You know that sneaky student? They will try to clip up double spots. Beware. I made a rule that if they got caught clipping up double, then they clipped down double. It never happened again.
"Piggy-back clipping" - the act of clipping your clip on the end of another clip, thus making a long ridiculous chain of clips. This WILL happen. You know what? Who cares?! Let them piggy-back clip... unless it becomes a distraction.

Here's the form I sent home each day. Click it to download! This form was in each student's folder. The circle is to be filled with whatever color the student ends the day on. You need 7 colors and maybe a pen to write an explanation for 'parent contact' students. So easy. I made a ton of copies of this at the beginning of the year and replaced it at the beginning of each month. It's very visual and I even let the kids color in their circles the last quarter of the year (with supervision).... they loved it.