Easy Tip to Let Your Students "Draw" Digitally

Here is a fun tip I learned from Kami Butterfield! Set an image as a background in Doodle Buddy, trace it, then get rid of the image! Such a simple and easy way to support your students' as they draw characters, animals, etc. digitally. The steps are listed below. Happy drawing!

Math Apps K-2

Here is a great collection of math apps for K-2nd grade, compiled by myself and primary elementary TILT teachers from Billings Public Schools! If you have one to include, please email me!

Weekly Tech-y News!

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Weekly Tech-y Newsletter

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BPS Breakout Edu Site

Jennifer Paterson, wonderful Breakout guru from Ponderosa, and Ann Brucker, wonderful TIS Breakout guru, had a FANTASTIC idea to create our very own sandbox for all of those Breakout games BPS teachers have been creating! This is a place where BPS teachers will be able to share and find games created by each other! Find one, play one, create one, submit one... this site is yours to use for all of it. Click the image above to visit the BPS Breakout Edu site, or visit breakoutedu.com to find out more about this engaging learning activity!

Kids Deserve It! Book Study

Join me for a book study centered around Kids Deserve It! by Todd Nesloney and Adam Welcome. This 5 week book study will begin April 3rd, and will feature weekly reading passages, reflections & posts via Seesaw: The Learning Journal. This will be a fun online Professional Learning Community centered around what is best for kids, and pushing the boundaries of conventional teaching in our classrooms. I'll be reading right along with you, and I'm excited to dive into this book!

Register for the book study at bit.ly/2no2uIP - be sure to complete a credit approval form in order to receive step up for this course. PLEASE NOTE: You are also responsible for purchasing your own copy of the book, which is available on Amazon for $24.95. Email me with any questions!

Earn OPI Renewal Units for Attending Seesaw PD in Your PJs

Starting March 28th, Billings Public Schools teachers can earn OPI renewal units for participating in Seesaw's awesome PD in Your PJs sessions! You'll need to sign up and participate in at least TWO of the PD in Your PJs trainings (they need to be at least 45 minutes long, the "sprint" sessions won't work for this). Then, sign up for the BPS PD in Your PJs course at bit.ly/BPSPJsSignUp. After you've completed your Seesaw webinars, you'll complete a reflection form, apply something you learned in your classroom, and provide certificates of attendance from the PD in your PJs trainings. Once all items are received, you'll get 2 OPI renewal units for your work. This is a great opportunity to receive top notch Seesaw training, plus OPI renewal units for your hard work! Email piltzt@billingsschools.org with any questions and check out the upcoming PD in your PJs schedules at bit.ly/SeesawPDinPJs

Weekly Tech-y News!

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Favorite Word Work Apps K-2!

Here is a collection of some of my favorite word work apps for K-2 students. Some are free, some are paid. Click each app to find out more and see the price. Remember to watch for app discounts or apps gone free during Teacher Appreciation Week in May!

Weekly Tech-y News!

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Lucky Numbers

PicCollage Kids is one of my favorite "go to" apps for creating in the classroom. It's so versatile, and kids love to customize their collages with fun colors, fonts and images. This activity involves using PicCollage Kids to allow students to create two digit number collages using images you send to your students via Seesaw.

Feelin' Lucky Breakout Edu!

This Breakout Edu game was created to give 2nd graders an engaging, challenging and fun way to practice math content standards. This Breakout could be adapted for other grade levels. If you'd like to read the instructions and print the materials, check out bit.ly/LuckyBreakoutEdu. Choose "File" and "Make a Copy" to make your own editable copy.  Check out the video below to see more!

You can find other pre-made Breakout Edu games on their website! breakoutedu.com

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss PicCollages!

After seeing this super fun idea on Mrs. Goodwin's awesome Instagram account, I decided we needed to try this project in kindergarten this morning! It turned out to be really fun and pretty simple, if you're familiar with the easy to use, FREE, and amazing app PicCollage Kids. Students took a selfie, then used the doodle tool to draw on top of the photo and add a cat nose, whiskers and Cat in the Hat style hat. They customized their collages with fun backgrounds, fancy text (we all wrote "Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!", but older students could write their favorite stories or characters) and birthday stickers (I let them choose 2). The collages are easily saved to the iPad camera roll and shared on Seesaw! Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!