Another Day in K

This week I found an old post by Meredith Akers about another neat Google Docs add on. In  this post  Meredith shares a Add-on feature that allows you to add your voice to google docs, Story Speaker. You can use the already created templates to add your voice on stories or create your own template. Meredith shared a video of her own creation with Speaker Story. She used the add on to create her own Game Show. This is a great idea that i would love to try to replicate and use as review games in my classroom or as study games at home. I cant wait to try it out. Here is the video Meredith shared. Enjoy!

This week was the week before spring break and my students were wild in anticipation of a week off from school. I did not introduce any new technology tools in the classroom this week but we did spend time on Epic during our reading centers. One of my favorite parts of Epic is being able to send studnets books to read that I have selected for them. I try to pay attention to student's interests in books and select some that I know they would be interested in reading. I also make sure to select books that are on level for their abilities. My students love their time on Epic and I will continue to use it throughout the remainder of the year.

My kindergarten students are an active bunch of kiddos! 2019 has felt like it has been filled with many rainy or cold days and we are stuck having indoor recess or a shortened period of time that the students can be outside. GoNoodle is an online resource that provides vides to get kids moving in the classroom. GoNoodle has been a wonderful resource for me to use with my class for brain breaks, indoor recess or mindfulness activities. GoNoodle is a website that has many different videos that get kids moving! My students favorites are the Koo Koo Kangaroo videos. These are silly videos that encourage movement, dancing and a break for students to get out of their seats. There are also different videos that share educational content like the videos featured in the Blazer Fresh category. My students' favorite is Banana Banana Meatball which teaches about patterns. The have videos about grammar, math, social studies, science and more! Another feature I love about GoNoodle ...

This week I am posting before Meredith has updated her blog so I searched through her old blog posts to find one that would be great for my little learners. In  this post  Meredith shares how to use make a quick change in the technology most teachers use daily to spread positive messages to students. What a great idea to get behind. As an administrator, Meredith shares she walks by teachers rooms and often sees a teacher's desktop background displayed on the smart board, projector screen or clever touch even if it is just for a quick second. Instead of displaying a generic background Meredith suggests having your desktop background display  school rules, class values, PBIS expectations, or a positive quote for students to see each time that screen happens to flash in front of them on the main screen in your classroom.   I love this idea. I know I sometimes leave my computer screen mirroring on the clever-touch at times with my generic background showing. I ...

This week on  MeredithAkers.com  Meredith is sharing about her favorite educational podcasts. I do not currently listen to any educational podcasts so I was excited to learn about her recommendations. I have enjoyed starting a blog this year for class and reading Meredith's and my classmates posts each week so I think adding a podcast into the mix will be a fun addition! Meredith says she listens to podcasts when she needs to feel inspired or motivated and with spring break right around the corner and may days of indoor recess recently- I think teachers can use all the inspiration we can get these days! Meredith provided an interactive link to many of her favorite episodes.  She gave great advice when saying podcasts can be used for school leaders to share with their team or staff, use it to personalize professional development. I love her idea of "Podcasts and Pedometers". Her school used this as a PD opportunity where the staff arrived 30 minutes early or stayed 30 mi...

In my kindergarten class this week our reading series is featuring stories all about space. This is a fun and exciting topic my studnets were interested in. I wanted to find a way to use technology to extend our reading lessons and learn more about space because of my students' motivation and interest. This lead me to find the NASA Kids Club Website. You can visit it by clicking  here. This website is full of amazing information all displayed in a kid friendly, interactive way. There are many categories to choose from when selecting what information you want to share with your students. You can learn about different topics like Earth or Mars, research different missions, view amazing images and engage in interactive learning games. I have shared pictures below of the features I used in class. I am looking forward to exploring the website more and using it for years to come.

In honor of Dr. Suess' birthday and Read Across America Day last week, I wanted to share with you an online resource I used with my students to celebrate Dr. Suess.  Seussville.com  is free website I used with my class last week. I pulled up this website on our clevertouch board.  This website allows you to search for different Dr. Suess books, read and learn all about Dr. Suess on the  author page, watch videos, play games and activities and learn about Dr. Suess characters. It is a fun interactive website with creative noises, pictures and sayings just like the Dr. Suess books. I have included some pictures of the activities below.  There is even an educators page that provides monthly activities, lessons and printables.  If you teach younger studnets who still love Dr. Suess, I recommend checking out this website.

This week I read an old post shared by Meredith Akers about using Google Sheets to make and print posters. You can read this post  here.  In my Kindergarten classroom I try to use bring colors, posters and pictures to make my classroom feel welcoming and inviting. At the beginning of the school year, I always take pride in putting together my classroom but unfortunately this can be a costly task. I found this post to be beneficial because it showed me an easy way to create posters for my class that I can print at school. This allows me to make posters that are unique to our class content, behavior plans or decor.  The font choices you can choose from on google are awesome! Here are the steps to make your own poster on Google Sheets: Open Google Sheets Create and/or insert poster image Go to Insert, Drawing, and use Word Art, Text Boxes, Shapes, etc. to create your poster, Create your poster in Slides or Drawings and then download as a picture (,jpg or .png) and...