Free Christmas Themed Online Timers!

Spice up your winter activities with these super fun, free online timers that Julie Tallman discovered. Visit www.online-stopwatch.com/christmas/ where you’ll find an Elf Race, Snowman Race & Growing Trees timer, as well as a Christmas countdown. Super fun way to moderate and time activities in your classroom during the holidays.

McGraw-Hill Math Apps are FREE!

I don't know how long these freebies will last, so check them out while you can! Most of these excellent math apps are usually priced around $1.99, but are listed as FREE on the App Store now. I have used several including Top It, Monster Squeeze and Baseball Multiplication, and they are all great. Click the image below to visit the develop page on the App Store and check them out!

Reindeer Facts in Seesaw!

I loved working with kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders at Orchard today to learn facts about reindeer and share what they learned using Seesaw! To make our adorable reindeer, we used directed drawing directions that I found on the blog Happy Kids, Busy Mom. You can print the directions HERE. Instead of drawing on paper, we used the Drawing tool in Seesaw to complete these projects, then add sentences and our voice.

Weekly Tech-y News!

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Hand Turkey ChatterPix!

I adore this super simple but fun ChatterPix Kids idea from Mrs. Elenbaas' kindergarten. She had her students draw and color handprint turkeys, then take photos and load into the FREE app ChatterPix Kids to make them talk and tell what the student is grateful for. Some added fun stickers and fall-themed frames. The students then saved and uploaded to Seesaw. Great Thanksgiving project!

Weekly Tech-y News

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Update Reflector 2 to Reflect Your iOS 10 Device!

Have you had trouble using Reflector 2 after updating your iPhone or iPad to iOS 10? I know I have! This has caused a lot of frustration, as I use Reflector 2 to demonstrate what I would like students to do on their iPads MANY times throughout the day! I contacted the AirSquirrels folks who make this magical tool, and they sent me THIS LINK. Basically, it says to do the Reflector 2 update, and it should work. :)

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FREE Code.org Training December 3rd!

Teaching our kids computer science and coding has tons of benefits, including helping them to develop perseverance, problem solving and critical thinking skills. I was a coding skeptic until I tried it with my kindergartners and I fell in love! December 3rd you have an awesome opportunity to be trained by a Code.org trainer for FREE! You can even get OPI & step up credit for attending! Whoop! Whoop! If you're interested, CLICK THIS LINK to sign up. Keep reading for more info.

Adding your ChatterPix to Seesaw!

A teacher just asked me a great question ... "Is there a way to get a ChatterPix onto Seesaw?" YES! Absolutely! ChatterPix Kids + Seesaw is one of my favorite "app smashes". In case you have this same question, I'm posting my answer to that teacher here ... read on to see how to add your finished ChatterPix to Seesaw!

Thankful Buncees!

Buncee is a fun tool for allowing students to make creative presentations. Students can use text, photos, stickers, animations and web searches to make their creation come alive. Have them tell stories or record facts they've learned about a topic. It easily shares to Seesaw or other apps on your iPad. Today in first grade, we used this app to make "thankful for" Buncees to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Weekly Tech-y Newsletter

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Simplify the Wonders login for your students!

Wondering how to best utilize the student portion of Wonders, without wanting to pull your hair out while trying to get your students logged in?! Simplified login to the rescue! By using the simplified login option, students select their icon and name from a list, then enter a 3 character visual password. It works from computers, Chromebooks & iPads and is a game changer, especially for primary teachers trying to get their young learners logged in!

Class Dojo Cards

I love this fun feature on Class Dojo! You can easily share cards with parents using Class Story. Lots of different holidays and reminders available. Check them out by clicking the image below.

And if you aren't using Class Dojo, check out this awesome, FREE tool at classdojo.com. Great for class management and communication. Plus they have an awesome growth mindset video series that you can access for free, even if you aren't using Class Dojo.

Weekly Tech-y Newsletter!

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Troubleshooting Seesaw Folders!

I had a great question from a teacher who is just starting to use folders in Seesaw with her class. I thought I'd share my answer here, in case anyone else is having the same problem as they implement the use of folders into Seesaw!

ChatterPix Story Retell Examples from 1st Grade!

I love the app ChatterPix Kids almost as much as I love teachers who use it and then send me examples of their student work! Wahoo! Thank you Mrs. Lang for sharing how your 1st graders used ChatterPix Kids to retell the story The Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman. And an extra "Yay, you!" for adding them to Seesaw and sharing via Seesaw QR codes! You rock! Scan the QR codes below (using the QR scanner in Seesaw or any QR scan app) to see her student examples. If you have questions about using Seesaw QR codes (which are AMAZING!), CLICK HERE.

Interactive Writing on Your Mimio: iPad Expectations!

Here is another interactive writing idea to use with your Mimio! I found this great "I Can Use My iPad" book online for free - I wish I knew who made it and I would credit them here. I used to print this book out for my students' poetry/fluency binders when I introduced iPads to them. However, I used it in Mrs. Marcotte's kindergarten class to introduce iPads and so some interactive writing using her Mimio.

Don't Have Seesaw? (WHAT?!?!) Don't Worry ... You Can Still Let Students Share Creations!

Today in kindergarten we used the Feltboard app ($2.99) to make some letter sound pictures ... students were asked to make themselves, add their name, and then add other feltboard pieces that start with the same letter as their name.

Here are a couple examples:

 

(Those are piranhas.)

(alligator)

The teacher wasn't quite ready to start Seesaw, but I wanted to save these fun creations the students had made, so they will be shareable. Keep reading to see what I did!

The blog Erintegration has the most creative ideas for using technology in the classroom, particularly the free app PicCollage Kids. Today in Mrs. Westrope's first grade we used her "digital leaf man" idea after reading the story Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. (Always a favorite fall read aloud.) The first graders brainstormed different "leaf things" they could make ... leaf dogs, leaf fish and leaf cats led to leaf princesses and leaf kings. :) Let the kids be creative ... the more fun they have, the more motivated they would be to make a digital story out of this later using a tool like Seesaw, Adobe Spark Video or Puppet Edu (all FREE!). Click the image above to read her instructions or keep reading below to see some examples from Mrs. Westrope's class.