Friday Favorites

It's Friday ... time to share more of my favorites!

Click here to see the full-size flyer. (If you are reading this via email, you probably don't see anything below. Be sure to click here to see the content!)

Boom Writer

Are you looking for ways to get your kids excited about writing? What about creating a class book? BoomWriter seems like a great place to start!

BoomWriter is easy and free (two things teachers LOVE, right?) You can even get a free copy (an actual printed book!) of your first class book.

• The teacher selects or produces his or her own story start, and the students let their imagination and writing skills take over.
• One chapter at a time, the students write, read, and then vote on the submissions they like the most. The winning chapter is then added to the story and the process continues.
• The teacher determines the total number of chapters to be completed, and when the competition is over a new book is ready to be published.

Want to learn more? Check it out ...

If you create a class book, be sure to let us know by adding the link as a comment!

ScootPad

ScootPad is a user-friendly, FREE (even ad-free!) site that delivers personalized math and reading "practices" that are tailored to each student's specific learning needs. It's advertised as "the ultimate way to master math and reading skills. Self-paced and personalized practice keeps kids engaged and challenged."

ScootPad is available on any browser, anytime ... this means students can work in the classroom or from home on a computer or any other internet-enabled device.

This Prezi (another one of my favorite tools!) is a quick tour of ScootPad:

Want to learn more?

This 2 minute overview walks you through all you need to know to get started with ScootPad: 

Are you using ScootPad with your students? What are your thoughts?

Technology Academy 2012

EM-S ISD Faculty and Staff are invited to the second annual Technology Academy.
June 5-6 @ Hollenstein Career & Technology Center

• Sign up in Eduphoria today.
• Don't miss Keynote Speakers Darrell Brown and Dr. Jim Chadwell! (Be sure to sign up for the Opening and Closing sessions too.)
• Smart phones and mobile devices are welcome, but not required.
• Door prizes ... really good ones!

See you then ... at the movies!

Dollar Days at Scholastic Teacher Express!

It's that time of year again ... Dollar Days at Scholastic Teacher Express! Better hurry though, because the sale is only good through Wednesday, 3.28.12.

These downloadable "e-books" and "e-pages" are PDFs and can therefore be read on a computer or most mobile devices.

You will need a Paypal account to make your purchase, but as soon as you do, you will be redirected back to the Scholastic site to download your items (including the items you downloaded last year if you took advantage of their Dollar Days then!)

I just downloaded two books ... what about you?

Grammaropolis

Grammaropolis is a fun site that's been around for quite some time. This recently upgraded site provides lots of great ways for students to learn about nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions and interjections! Some of the content of the site is only available to Passport subscribers ($3.99/month or $29.99/year), but there is quite a bit that is available for free. Be sure to check out the Nouns section - the whole section is free!

Looking for more information or specific ways you can use Grammaropolis in your classroom? Be sure to check out this fantastic post from one of my favorite blogs, ilearntechnology!

Tech Tip Tuesday ... Alphabetimals

Alphabetimals is a fun, free site for that can help younger children learn the alphabet, the sounds the letters make and the pronunciation of animals that begin with each letter. Kids are sure to enjoy "flipping" through the book and clicking to hear the sounds the animals make and how the animal's name is pronounced.

You can even spell out your name or any other word using the fun Alphabetimals!  It's ...



Be sure to scroll down further on the page to download and print free Alphabetimals flashcards, coloring pages, or a wall poster.

Be sure to check out Alphabetimals!
*To save the word to use as clipart, etc., use a screen capture tool like Jing to save your Alphabetimals word as an image!

Tech Tip Tuesday ... Story Starters

Looking for fun ways to get your students excited about journaling? Let them "help" come up with a story starter! Scholastic (one of my FAVES!) has an interactive Story Starter that might just be what you need!

Let one of your students enter their name, pick the grade level, then spin the wheels to come up with the story starter of the day.

Check out the story starter here ... leave a comment with your favorite journal topic!

Tech Tip Tuesday ... Study Ladder

Study Ladder is an exciting online resource primarily for PK-6th grade students (older students may also benefit from some of the activities!). 5000+ interactive activities are available for nearly every subject - math, language, science, music, art, health, and more. Another biggie ... it's FREE for teachers!

You will need to sign up for an account, but then you can choose to use the activities in a computer center, as a class activity on the projector, or in the computer lab. If you set up your class, your students will have full access to all of the activities throughout the day and can even have some access at home (they are limited to 3 activities from home).

Even if you choose not to set up your students with accounts, you can still access the resources for class use.

Some of the activities could actually be used as lesson and others would be great for reinforcement. Each activities gives you the option to be opened in a "Whiteboard version", which simply opens it in a larger, new window.

Be sure to check it out!

Tech Tip Tuesday ... ABCYa!

I've been so focused on our transition to LIVE these days that I wanted to share something totally unrelated to email or calendars! If you've never visited ABCYa!, you're missing out!

ABCYa! is fantastic site for interactive, educational activities that your students (mainly K-5) are sure to love. A few of the activities are highlighted on the site, but if you're looking for activities for a specific age group just scroll down and click on the appropriate grade level.

The activities for each grade level cover all core subject areas as well as computer education too! This would be great for the kids in the computer lab, at the student computers during center time. If you're lucky enough to have an interactive projector or any other type of interactive equipment (SMARTboard, Mimeo, etc.), be sure to try this out on the big screen in your classroom!