Harlem Shake

The staff at my school are very creative!  A few years ago they made a video to get kids pumped up for our NMSBA standardized test.  You can see that video from my previous post {here}.  Now they are back again with another video to get kids excited about testing, which runs all next week.


If you are wondering...no I am not in this video.  I have been at our Professional Development Center all week working with a team to revise our Common Core Pacing Guides for ELA and Math.  I'll post more on them, once everything is finalized.  I hope you got a good laugh watching our teachers and office staff!

Sign Up Genius

Now that I am no longer teaching in the classroom, I find that my administrative duties have given me a different view. It's often more difficult to find topics to blog about, unless you want to hear about the newest data I have compiled.  Anyhow, I recently decided to use Sign Up Genius to schedule Professional Development for my school for this semester.  It was so easy to set up.  It sends me an email every time someone signs up for a training.  It also sends the people who signed up a reminder email.  There are many uses for this website.  It would be great for scheduling parent teacher conferences or other volunteer events.  Check it out!

Cool Screen Saver

Hi everyone!  I just wanted to share a screen saver that I thought was too cool!  Another colleague showed it to me this summer.  I finally got around to finding it online the other day.

What I really like about this screen saver is that the note pad changes the message, displaying different facts.  I thought that would be too cool for your students!  If you like this screen saver, click on the picture to download it!

Random Name Generators

Hey everyone!  Back in April I remember seeing Shannon from

write a post about using various random name generators.  She has some really cool ones that you can use in your class.  Click on the picture and check them out!

Useful Websites for ELA

Hi everyone!  I have a list of useful websites piling up, and thought I would pass them on.  This first one comes from one of my teamies who recently left our school to become a middle school librarian.  Click on the picture below to see the best websites for Teaching and Learning from the American Association of School Librarians.

This next link is for Reading Rockets.  If you have never checked out this site, it's well worth your time.  There are a ton of resources for Common Core State Stanards ELA.

Now this link was suggested to me at a recent workshop for Common Core State Standards ELA for Close Reading.  It also has other resources worth looking at.

This next link has been around for quite some time.  I have used it for literacy stations in my classroom.

Moving on, this link was also recommended at my recent training.  It's another one great for CCSS.

Wiki-Teacher

Last, but certainly not least, here is Eric Carle's website.  You can show students an animated version of Eric Carle narrating his own book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  This one got me thinking that maybe the next time I want to introduce a book to students that perhaps I should look on the author's website for more resources.

Technology Tailgate & a Few More Too!

I recently came across the blog Technology Tailgate.  Have you heard of it?  If you haven't check it out!  There are so many great tips on this blog.

Here are a few posts that I found really useful (click on the pictures to take you there):

Using Google Voice Search for primary students to search topics

Creating Google Forms

Also Valerie over at 

recently blogged about SEN Teacher.  This is a cool website for making your own "I Have... Who Has" cards.You can check out her post here:

While I'm on the topic of Technology, Tori over at 

has posted some great tips recently for Smart Boards.  You can check out her posts here

and here

Have a great one!

I LOVE DROPBOX!

Have you heard of Dropbox?  I have been using this since last spring and am so glad that I found it!  With Dropbox I no longer need a thumbdrive or have to worry about did I save that file on my home computer or the one at school.  Dropbox is a free Web-based file hosting service operated by Dropbox, Inc. that uses cloud computing to enable users to store and share files and folders with others across the Internet using file synchronization.  If you're interesting in using Dropbox.

Click {HERE} to try out Dropbox for yourself.

Google Rocks!

Well I successfully began my 15th year of teaching and have a great group of kids!  I have already gotten a few requests from parents to text them if I need to contact them.  While I believe that parent and teacher communication is very important, I am not very keen on giving out my personal phone number to parents.  In addition it happens to be against school policy to use personal cell phones for school use.  So I have been looking into a few options on the internet.  I came across www.text4free.net, but it appears to only provide sending a text.  There was no way get a response.   Then I came across Google Voice.  This feature of Google is very cool!  With Google Voice I can send a message through my computer to a cell phone.  It gave me a new phone number and even set up voice mail for me.  I tested it out and it was very easy to use.  I think using Google Voice will satisfy the parents that want to be notified by text, and I don't have to give out any personal info.

Making Pictures for Pocket Charts

I came across the neatest idea that will help save so much time making pocket chart cards with your students pictures and names.  Click here to see In The Teacher's Lounge for a tutorial.

Study Ladder

I recently came across a new site for students called Study Ladder.  I got into the program and it appears to be really great.  It has activities all across different curriculum's for each grade level.  It also has interactive activities for a white-board.  The best part is that it is currently free!  Click on the picture below to check out Study Ladder.

Cool Timer

A while back I remember seeing a post from Step into 2nd Grade with Mrs. Lemons about using Cool Timer.  It's a timer that you can download on your computer and display with your Infocus machine for the whole class to see at a glance.  I am very excited to give this timer a try!  I used to be very good with time, but in the last few years it has become a struggle to make sure that we have picked up and are ready to get out the door in time.  I also think this will be great for transitions.  It will help all of us be accountable and better time managers.  Click on the picture to download Cool Timer.

    

Study Jams

Did you know that Scholastic has short math and science videos for students!  We have breakfast in the classroom at our school, and these videos would be perfect to show during that time.

Learn Boost - Online Grading

Do you use an online grading program?  Our school has used Teacherease in the past.  Due to budget cuts, I'm not sure if we will have it this year or not.  I just learned of Learn Boost!  From their website they say "LearnBoost is 100% free. You get all the wonderful features in all of our modules: gradebook, attendance, lesson plan, calendar, and more. You have everything to gain by signing up because LearnBoost is free and amazing."  It looks worth checking into.  Click on the picture if you are interested.

Dropbox

Have you heard of Dropbox?  I have been using this since last spring and am so glad that I found it!  With Dropbox I no longer need a thumbdrive or have to worry about did I save that file on my home computer or the one at school.  Dropbox is a free Web-based file hosting service operated by Dropbox, Inc. that uses cloud computing to enable users to store and share files and folders with others across the Internet using file synchronization.  If you're interesting in using Dropbox, click on the picture below.

Download Youtube Videos

I recently learned that you can download Youtube videos using Zamzar.  It's really pretty simple.  They will send you an email once the file has been converted and you can download it and save the file to your computer.  I'm excited to use this since our school has breakfast in the classroom and this is an excellent time to fit in these educational short videos.

Zamzar

I just discovered that apparently you can also download the files with RealPlayer too!  It's really awesome and has many different options.  You can download to an iPod, iPad, or save it to the computer and view in RealPlayer.  

Make an MP3 from Youtube

Did you know that you can make an MP3 File of songs on You Tube!

Here's how to do it:
**You need to have RealPlayer installed on your computer.  It's quick & easy... just go to http://www.real.com/.**
1. When your video is playing on YouTube there should be a little RealPlayer tab at the top right of your video.
2. Click the RealPlayer button that says "Download this Video".
3. A little RealPlayer window should then pop up showing the video being downloaded.
4. Once the file is downloaded, hover over the file with your mouse.  Click "Convert".
5. Select "MP3 Audio Only" and then click the green "Start" button.
6. That's it!!

Some searches to look for songs that might be of interest include:

Schoolhouse Rock
Teachertipster
Greg & Steve
School House Rock
Harry Kindergarten
Mark D. Pencil
Rhonda Crigger
Jack Hartmann
Leap Frog

Go Animate

I just saw a post by Primary Graffiti about making videos with Go Animate.  It's looks pretty simple and fun for students.  It looks like I might try to make one.