These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

This is a jumbled post that is meant to share ideas...just give names of apps, books, and games that are at the top of my favorites list in the classroom. Some are at the top of my teacher list, but the majority are favorites of my students as well.

 

 

Decide Now is a customizable spinning wheel app. I use it to call on students. I am currently working on a Q & A spinner set up to resemble the current pop phenomenon know as Trivia Crack.

 

 

This book is wonderfully useful because it gives ready-made anchor charts for a variety of reading strategies, but I love to reference it when creating my own charts.

 

 

 

This app is called Classroom Timer Lite.  I can't remember if it was free or not.  I subscribe to an app called Apps Gone Free which offers me daily deals, so I think I found the timer through that.  If it did cost money I know it was cheap because I normally don't spend much on apps.

 

 

 

This classroom management app is a fantastic tool. I like it because it helps students stay on task. It does not make them stay quiet.  My classroom is rarely quiet because students should be talking, questioning, and discussing. This app allows you to customize your noise level preferenes.

 

 

The following is a list of apps that my students use in the classroom:

• Kids Discover (several topics and titles)
• Baloney! (multiple subjects and grade levels)
• Crazy Machines (science and engineering)
• iTooch (multiple subjects and grade levels)
• Far Faria (books)
• Frontier Heroes (history)
• Geography Drive (social studies)
• Mr. Nussbaum (multiple subjects and grade levels)
• My Talking Pet (I use it for creating talking characters)
• New-o-Matic (current events)
• Puffin Academy and RAZ Kids are programs purchased by my district
• Reading Timer
• Stack the States (social studies)
• Word Wizard (spelling)
• World Atlas

Anomia is a great game to build vocabulary and get the brain revved up for learning.  I use it at the start of class each day. Sometimes we share our ideas orally, but usually students write their ideas in their Reading Notebooks.

 

 

I love using the app Plickers to quickly assess students using multiple choice and T/F questions.  It is paperless and engaging with immediate feedback for students and teacher.

Know Your Students, Know Your Books

I scored a tremendous treasure at the used book store, The Last Word. I bought 68 books for my classroom library and paid $100.  I added up the original publisher's price and the books would've cost $478! So I am going to celebrate this incredible deal with you by explaining why I bought these specific books.

Teachers not only match their students to books using reading levels, we match them up by interest. My students love the funny Dan Gutman series, My Weird School.

I found 12 of them for only $1 each!

I was excited to find a book to use for teaching. I am familiar with Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, but I did not know that the author, Eleanor Coerr, had written a picture version of the story for younger readers. I look forward to developing a lesson incorporating these two books.

I bought this book because it was a lower level historical fiction book. These can be hard to find.

I have a few students in my class who have low self-esteem. They realize their reading levels are low and are sometimes embarrassed by it. I chose this book because it is about a boy who always strikes out in baseball and how he overcomes his embarrassment. I think books are a great way for students to connect with characters who have similar problems or obstacles.

I bought 10 of these books this summer and I was stoked to find they had 6 more in stock!

I have a VERY talkative class this year, so this book was an obvious choice!

This series is written by the same author as The Bailey School Kids. My students like the Goosebumps books in our classroom library, but those books have too high of a level for some of my readers. These ghostly books are a lower level and less scary (in my opinion).

Girls and science...

There are lots of football and baseball books in my classroom library, but the boys said they would like to read more basketball books.

I love this graphic novel series. I mentioned it in class one day and my students never heard of Babymouse...no excuse now!

A book about the Titanic AND a dog?! Perfect for my third graders. These two topics were at the top of several interest lists.

I was reorganizing the classroom library this year and I noticed that I was on the weak side of literature with male lead characters. I picked up these 3 books because they looked fun and exciting for boys.

More books for my boys.

Yes, I know there are girls that may enjoy reading them, too. 

More male lead characters. The Hank Zipzer books are written by Henry Winkler.

Dogs, penguins, and sharks are the top animals my students enjoy reading about. They were also yelling Marco Polo on the swings during recess the other day, so that was a bonus interest match.

I can never resist legends from other cultures. I found a Cuban, a Japanese, and two Native American books.

This book is stunning. I have never heard of it before, but now I cannot wait to use it in a lesson. It will be perfect for a genre discussion because students might think it is nonfiction, or realistic fiction, or even poetry. This book will be great to launch a genre discussion. The vocabulary is high level and colorful, so it can also be used in a writing lesson.

My current copy of this book is torn and taped. I HAD to buy a new one.

Who can resist Seymour Simon?

The Usborne Discovery books all contain internet links throughout the text so that students can do further research. I think this book will be a useful addition to our classroom since students can now bring their own technology devices to school. 

Fractured fairy tales are always a hit!

I have never read this historical fiction tale.

I consider this book to fall into the category of complex text due to the author's style of writing and organization. It also has some serious themes in it. I plan on using it for a lesson on point of view.

Teach With an Accent!

I have been documenting my use of teaching hooks after reading the book Teach Like a Pirate. I added my own twist to the Drama Hook by using a strange sort of British-sounding scholarly accent when I introduce new vocabulary. These are not content words, just words that I as a teacher use in my lesson. After I use the words in my lessons, I add them to a small pocket chart with a reminder of how I used the word in a lesson.

 

Third graders love new words that they have never heard before and for some reason they really like to hear these words said with a strange sort of Julia Child and Sherlock Holmes blended accent. Now that I have used it a couple of times, the students know to expect that I am using a new word when I start to talk in the accent. I am not really sure where it came from, but they like it so I will keep using it!

 

Beanbag Toss

I was at an NCTM conference when I came up with this idea.  I was actually working a booth for Renaissance Learning and during my down time I would walk around and visit the other booths.  There was a booth selling beanbags for $0.50.  They were advertised to be used with the Smart Board (which is also a great use), but another idea popped in to my mind.

This is a very versatile activity.  It can be used in the classroom or outside. Students can work independently or with a partner. You can use it as a center or during Guided Reading. Here are some ways to use the beanbags:

• I wrote author's purposes on the beanbags. I doubled up on to inform and to explain because my third graders struggle with distinguishing between those two the most.  I include a variety of laminated passages.  Students spread the reading materials on the ground face up. They scan them and read the titles.  They look at any graphics or illustrations. Then they toss the beanbags onto the reading passages that match the author's purpose on the appropriate beanbag.  They check their answers by flipping over the passages (where I wrote the author's purpose).

• Write content vocabulary on the beanbags. Write the definitions or an illustration on index cards.
• Write Marzano's Questions on the beanbags. Spread passages or books on the floor. Toss a beanbag on a piece of reading material and answer the question after reading.
• Write BOOK and HEAD on beanbags. Write questions on index cards. Students use QAR strategies to decide what type of question is on the card. They toss the corresponding beanbag onto the question cards.
• Write genres on the beanbags. Spread out a variety of books. Toss the genre beanbag onto the corresponding book.

Word Wall

There are numerous activities on the internet and in books that describe how to arrange your Word Wall. I add words that I think my students should know how to read, spell, and use in conversation and in writing after we have studied them.  My wall is organized alphabetically. I write the vowels in red. I cut around the shape of the words. I leave them up all year.  I also have a Social Studies wall that contains content vocabulary.  On that wall, I take the words down after we finish a unit and put them in a baggie.  The baggies hang on the wall so that students can go back and use them later.

These are activity choices that students can do using the Word Walls.

• Use the spinner and do the activities listed on it.
• Give your partner a clue and they have to guess which word you are describing.
• Write a sentence but leave a word blank. Your partner has to fill in the blank with a Word Wall word.
• Choose a word and code it with CLOVER.
• Draw a picture of a word and your partner has to guess it.
• Act out a word and your partner has to guess it.
• Create a Tree Map and sort the words that are on one of the cupboards.

I Love Words

This activity can be used with content vocabulary or sight words. A student chooses a heart and reads the word written on the heart out loud. Then she reads the labels on the buckets. Put the heart into the bucket that describes a category the word fits into. For a challenge, a partner must use the word in a sentence. Take turns picking hearts. 

Instead of hearts, you can also make this center with other holiday shapes and just change the title of the center: shamrocks--Lucky Words, snowman--Winter Words, etc.

Hangman

This game is an oldie, but goodie, that can be adapted to become a learning center.  I use this game as a way for students to practice drawing conclusions and spelling simultaneously.  I also link it to Science and Social Studies content by providing flash cards that have facts about the planets, presidents, geography, and animals. Students can choose either the magnetic game or the paper pad.  Plain pieces of paper can also be used. 

One student reads through the fact cards and reads it aloud. Then he selects a word from the text. Now they follow the normal directions for the game and try to get the other partner to guess the word. Students take turns so each person has a chance to guess. They record the words guessed on the record sheet.

Grafitti Window

Students use the special markers (I like Crayola's Window Markers) to write their weekly vocabulary or word study list on the window.  For a challenge they can write a sentence using one of the words, but leave a blank line where the word should be. Another student can then fill in the blank.

Dinner Time!

This is an original center activity that I came up with during one of my walks through Dollar Tree. Someone left a pile of paper plates and plastic spoons on the floor in the middle of the aisle. I picked them up to put back on the shelf and this center idea sparked in my head.

Each plate contains a sentence with a missing word or phrase.  Students find a utensil that has a missing word or phrase to complete the sentence.  They put the utensil on the plate.  I use sentences that focus on new vocabulary being learned during Social Studies.  With each new chapter we read in Social Studies, I add in the new vocabulary to the center.  The center contains all of the words for the year so that students can have a spiral review.  I store the plates and utensils in a drying rack so the materials are easy to carry.