New Year's Eve with Kids Part 3

My daughter informed me 2 days ago that I better start planning our New Year's Eve bags. So I decided to be adventurous and explore New Year's Eve traditions in other parts of the world to incorporate into our bags this year. I attempted to find traditions for a country in each time zone so that we can celebrate all day long.

**All times will be eastern standard time. Each country will also have a link to the website where I found my information and will often give you more detailed information about the traditions that take place there.

6:00 am - New Zealand - bang pots and pans and sing Auld Lang Syne

8:00 am - Sydney, Australia - it sounds like this country is known for their elaborate fireworks displays, so we will be making a firework craft found here at Growing a Jeweled Rose.

9:00 am - Papua New Guinea - traditional dances

9:00 am - Guam - collect coins to jingle in pockets at midnight, make Bonelos Dago (yam donuts) or Nilagang baka (boiled beef)

10:00 am - Tokyo, Japan - ring bells 107 times, then once at midnight to banish all the human sins and purify participants

11:00 am - Philippines - celebrate with 12 round fruits (ie. oranges, grapes, cherries), wear polka dots, and scatter coins (we are going to do chocolate coins)

11:00 am - Hong Kong, China - learn about the Chinese New Year with crafts from Chalk Academy

12:00 pm - Thailand and Indonesia - both cultures have traditions that have to do with lanterns, so we will be making lanterns with paper bags and battery operated candles

1:30 pm - India - learn about Diwali from the Educator's Spin on It

3:00 pm - Dubai - this country is known for their elaborate celebrations and dinner, so we are going to dress fancy and celebrate by drinking tea and eating a treat (luqaimat recipe)

4:00 pm - Turkey - sprinkle salt at the front door and smash pomegranates, we are also going to let the kids scratch off a few lottery tickets

4:00 pm - Russia - mandarin oranges or sweets for the kids

4:00 pm - Madagascar traditions

5:00 pm - Greece - hang an onion over the door and make vasilopita (cake version or bread version)

5:00 pm - Finland - eat ready-made frankfurters, potato salad, french fries, and crisps. Feeling adventurous, learn all about melting tin to determine your future health, wealth, or happiness

5:00 pm - South Africa - toss furniture (or a bucket of water to be more kid-friendly) out of the front door to signify leaving all of the bad things behind in the new year

6:00 pm - Spain - eat 12 grapes, one for each month of the new year

6:00 pm - France - make paper hats and paper confetti

6:00 pm - Germany - make German Berliner (a jelly filled donut)

7:00 pm - Ireland - bang a loaf of bread on the wall to banish bad luck and bad spirits from the house

7:00 pm - Scotland - build a fire to ward off evil spirits and "burn the old year out", sing Auld Lang Syne

7:00 pm - England - make new year's resolutions, make a Cannelig for good luck

9:00 pm - Greenland - make masks

10:00 pm - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - wear white to celebrate, put a bay leaf and money in your wallet and leave it there all year then next December 31 donate the money and throw the bay leaf in a running water stream

10:00 pm - Argentina - shred old documents and throw the paper like confetti, eat dried fruit and nuts, take the first step at midnight with your right foot to everything goes right throughout the year, eat beans

10:00 pm - Chile traditions

11:00 pm - Puerto Rico - they also throw a bucket of old water out of the front door and they sprinkle sugar outside their house for good luck

11:00 pm - Bermuda - make a paper-mache onion and drop it down at midnight

12:00 am - Colombia - run around outside with an empty suitcase if you hope to travel a lot in the new year, they also eat 12 grapes at midnight

12:00 am - Cuba traditions

12:00 am - Peru traditions

1:00 am - Mexico City, Mexico - learn about how the color of your underwear is a sign of what kind of year you will have!

2:00 am - Calgary or Edmonton, Canada

3:00 am - Vancouver, Canada

(still searching for the Canadian traditions)

If you are a Canva user, here is the link to the cards I made. You can make a copy and then edit them to fit your needs.

Click here to access the Google Slides with the cards for each country.

Do you have any special traditions from countries around the world that I can add to this list?? Let me know!

Previous Year NYE posts:

New Year's Eve with Kids Part 1

New Year's Eve with Kids Part 2

Thankful.

Thankful.

That's my word for this year. As I sit here during the post-Christmas hangover, I was thinking about this past year and realized that so many things happened (both good and bad) and I'm just thankful to make it through another year.

This year we celebrated our 10 year anniversary by sneaking away for a quick weekend to Orlando and visited Universal Studios. We also spent a weekend with my cousin and his wife in New England. I'm thankful for family that is willing to watch our kiddos whenever we want to have a little adult time.

This year both of my grandmothers (ages 90 and 94) suffered strokes. I'm thankful that they are both strong, badass women who overcame their medical issues. Oh and they both still live in their homes by themselves. I've learned a lot from both of them.

This year we were able to pull off a surprise 80th birthday party for my mother-in-law in Pennsylvania. Seeing all of the people there to celebrate her was so amazing.

This year we had so many fun, family trips. We went to Nashville for my cousin's wedding. We went to Gatlinburg to spend time with my husband's family. We had our annual beach trip with my family. 

This year I found a new school that feels like home. Amazing people, awesome leadership, and just a fun atmosphere. Finding a place where you feel welcomed, celebrated, and trusted is not always easy to find.

This year my kids were able to go to the same school for the first time. While this may sound silly, you don't realize how hard it is to constantly be the new kid in a new school. I've enjoyed watching them make friendships, get invited to birthday parties, and participate in a school community that feels like family.

This year we got to celebrate Christmas in our home. When we lived in Maryland, we always traveled to either North Carolina or Pennsylvania to celebrate Christmas with family. Since this was our year in NC, we got to stay at our home. Again, sounds silly, but being able to wake up in your own bed and set up/play with presents in your own home is so relaxing.

Thankful for family and friends. Thankful for good health. Thankful for another year.

Back to School Teacher Tired

I completely forgot how exhausting the beginning of the school year can be!

It is the currently the last day of September and I think I finally feel like things are going smoothly. 

The first week of school is survival mode. The goal: get kids into the classroom, teach them expectations, attempt to learn all of their names, and get them home safely. 

The second week of school is learning mode for the teacher. The goal: learn all the things about your students that will make your teaching effective. This may be assessments, observing them complete tasks, allowing them to explore and work together. Doing these things while attempting to begin teaching curriculum can be a lot mentally, but it is so important to make things go smoothly once you are really diving into curriculum.

The third week of school is trial and error mode. This was the week that I attempted to run writing, math, and reading blocks with all the things in motion. We did whole group and attempted to do small groups/centers. I learned what works and what didn't work for my students. I ditched things I thought were going to work and tried new things to find the methods, organization, and activities that were going to work for my students. It would be easy to just do the same things year after year, but as my principal says we work for children. What worked for last years students, might not work for this my class this year.

The fourth week of school is go time. This is the week that hopefully things are ready to go. You are four weeks into the curriculum. Whole group is going smoothly. After the trial and errors of the previous week, small groups should be good to go. Lots of planning involved to make sure all materials are set. Oh and by the way, after week four you are about halfway through the first quarter so make sure all of your grading is up to date because those progress reports will be due soon!

This serves as my reminder to give myself grace. The first month is BUSY. Keep doing all the things, but make sure to take time for yourself. Pick a night to leave your computer at school or in your bag. Attempt to pick a day to get your planning done for the week. Stay after school one day to get your copies made for the entire week.

Most importantly, breathe. If things don't go as planned just smile and pretend it was supposed to go that way!

Back to School 2023!

Something about this school year just feels different. I am starting at yet another new school (see this blog post) and this year the idea of change is exciting.

I am going to be teaching 4th grade and wanted to share some of the things that I am creating to get started with this crazy time of year.

Digital Planner

I've been using digital planners for a few years now and each year I always think of things to change/add. This year I started from scratch. I put some thought into the things that I truly would use and came up with this design. I usually use one slide per week, but opted to go for the 2 slide format. The slides are also already 8.5 by 11 inches, so if you need/want to print them off it is easy to do!

My favorite thing about using a digital planner is that I can easily link my lesson plans and materials directly to each day/subject in the planner. My second favorite thing is the ability to easily move things to a different day/week because we ALL know that things never go as planned, especially during the first few weeks of school.

Leave me a comment of things you would like to see in a digital planner so I can update this one!

Passport to 4th Grade

Need a fun open house activity? How about the passport to 4th grade to organize the different information and activities you need your parents/students to do during open house!

This has an airport theme that allows for different "destinations" to visit based on the information you need to share. As students/parents enter the room, they will sign in and receive their passport. Destination #1 is all about transportation. Parents let me know how students typically arrive at school and go home from school and if it will be different on the first day. Each stop also has a sticker (or you can use stamps) that students will add to their passport to show that they have visited all of the destinations.

  

Meet the Teacher

Part of the open house stops that I mentioned above include a meet the teacher newsletter that I give to parents with a little bit about me as well as my contact information. I created this design in Canva and then saved it as a jpeg. Then I used Google Slides. I changed the page size to 8.5 x 11 inches, and made the jpeg my background on the slide. Insert text boxes where you want then print!

Class Lists

When I was departmentalized a few years back I had 3 different classes to keep up with. I created this simple list with check boxes that I used for SO many things. First thing I did was take a quick attendance so I could keep up with the students who may be absent each day from each class.

The second main use for these class lists was for grading assignments. If a student turned in the assignment I would check off their name and sometimes even write their score next to it. This allowed me to easily see which students had not turned in the assignment.

I don't know how intermediate teachers keep track of multiple classes! I struggled with only 3 haha!

Random Grouping Cards

I created these FOREVER ago, but haven't used them since the pandemic. However I decided to bring them back and give them a face lift and share them with you all!

These random grouping cards allow you to create random groups in your classroom in a fun way that gets students up out of their seats. I enjoy using these because it eliminates the groups of friends that join together when you ask students to pick their own partners or groups. I don't like that there are always a few students who are left out because they are new or do not have friends in the classroom.

The first few times you use them it can take longer than expected for students to figure out the groups. I often start using them during the first week of school so students are comfortable using them after a month or so. Just as an FYI, I do not use these every time I group students together. As mentioned, it can be time consuming and let's be honest, sometimes I want to create specific groups.

The version that I use with my upper elementary students has multiple grouping options on one card. I like that I only have to keep up with one set of cards.

The grouping cards can be used to create groups of 2, groups of 3, groups of 4, and groups of 5. You can also use the numbers in the middle to create different groups as well. For example, odds and evens. The top right images are for partners/groups of 2. The top right images are for groups of 3. The bottom left images are for groups of 4 and the bottom right images are for groups of 5.

Some of the cards are customized for the area that I teach in. I used 3 local universities, 3 local professional sports teams, and the state I live in with the surrounding states. There are slides at the end that include a blank space so you can customize them.

I also created cards that have individual pictures on them for each group. These would be better for younger elementary students who may get confused with multiple images on a card. You can find the links to those on the second slide of the file.

Click below to get your FREE copy of these random grouping cards!

Random Grouping Cards

Connect with me on Twitter and Instagram!

@mrspotterteach

Teacher Discounts

This blog post is going to share some of the easy ways to get a discount for being a teacher outside of Teacher Appreciation Week!

First and foremost, ALWAYS check your school district's employee benefits page. I have been in 3 different counties now and they all offered something different, but they at least offered some type of discounts or offers for being an employee of that county.

My current county gives their employees access to a website called Tickets At Work which offers discounts on travel, tickets, and more at places around the country. Also, check with the state you teach in because some states (like North Carolina) teachers are considered state employees which can give you access to discounts as well. I haven't tried it, but someone told me that when you stay at hotels in North Carolina as a state employee you can receive a discount.

The next 2 websites I found because my husband is in the military, but they also have a sign up for teachers as well!

ID.me

This website is the first place I look whenever I am planning to travel or purchase something at a store. There are over 500 participating companies that offer discounts to teachers. You will need to sign up with your school email in order for them to prove your status.

Gov.x

This website is similar to id.me, but it also includes more opportunities to save on travel, sporting events, theme parks, and more! You will need to sign up with your school email. I also had to put in my teacher licence state and number so that it can look up your teaching status.

This is the website that I used to get free tickets to the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, NC for 2 years in a row now.

Retail Stores Offering Teacher Discounts: (links take you to the educator discount page)

Michael's - 15% discount

JoAnn's Fabric - 15% discount

Barnes & Noble - their Educator Discount ended in April 2023, but they are offering educators a free year of their Premium Membership which includes many discounts and perks. It will cost $39.99 per year after that free year so don't forget to cancel!

Target - if you have Target Circle, you can verify that you are a teacher and receive different discounts throughout the year (as of July 2023 there is a one time 20% off your entire purchase)

Loft - 15% discount

There are many other retail stores as well, I always carry my ID badge with me and always ask if they offer a teacher discount. The worst they can say is no :) Here is also a link to the NEA website which has a list of other places that offer discounts as well.

Utilities:

Check with your cell phone provider for a discount on your plan. I have used this with Verizon and am currently using it with AT&T. 

Electronics:

Some of the big tech companies will offer discounts throughout the year. 

Apple often has a back to school deal (I scored free Air Pods one year for purchasing a computer!)

Dell has an Educator Marketplace that looks to offer 10% off year round.

Lenovo - their discount sometimes changes throughout the year, but if you sign up for ID.me above you can access their discount

Books:

Scholastic has great deals throughout the year, especially if you use their book clubs. You earn points for all of the purchases for your classroom that you can redeem for a variety of items.

First Book Marketplace - if you work in a Title 1 school you are eligible for this book marketplace. They have many discounted books available for your classroom. They also have books for free at different times throughout the year when different companies sponsor them. Sign up for emails to stay up to date!

The following apps are not specific to teachers, but I wanted to include them as additional ways to save!

Upside - This app allows you to earn cash back at many gas stations across the country and even some restaurants and grocery stores. From someone who used to travel 45 minutes to and from work each day, it does add up. I just let the money sit there until it builds up and then you have the option of cashing out for a variety of gift cards or send the money directly to your bank account. Use this CODE (MK892) to earn an extra 20 cents/gallon cash back the first time you use the app!

Fetch - This app allows you to earn points every time you scan a receipt. I love this one because you don't have to look for the items you are going to buy ahead of time, you just scan your receipt and it looks for any special offers. Use this CODE (7V6P85) when you sign up to earn bonus points after you scan your first receipt!

Happy Saving!

Do What Makes YOU Happy

I saw a post earlier today and it got me thinking. The post mentioned that this person was feeling down because they didn't feel like they were an "expert" at anything. I commented back that there was no need to be an expert at any one thing, but to just focus on the few things that this person feels they are good at.

This particular post also mentioned the impostor syndrome. This is something that I hear so much about in the education world. I absolutely love social media and how it has helped me connect with so many other educators around the world, but I hate that it makes people feel a certain way because of the people that post something super creative they use in the classroom or post about the latest and greatest edtech tool that you haven't even tried out yet or all the cutesy stuff we see from the primary education people.

Moment of honesty... I went through this. I used to be that person. I was always up to date with the newest tool to use in the classroom. I had the blog post that went viral and got noticed by a big name company. I had people following me for the things I was creating in the classroom. Then life happened. The pandemic made us all slow down and completely rethink what works in education. Health concerns made me prioritize other things. I wanted to start being more present for my kids and husband.

Also, guess what? No one can stay an expert at something for long! The world is changing. Technology has and is continuing to change. The world of education changes every single year (maybe even a week or month). The challenge of trying to keep up with everything while also continuing to work and have a life can be hard. Don't stress about being an expert at something. Find your niche. What are you passionate about? What makes you happy? What makes you get up and want to go to work each day? Those are the things to focus on. Those are the things to make yourself "good" at. No experts needed.

I used to want to be that expert. I wanted to know all the things. I wanted to create all the things. Then I realized there are so many other people out there doing the same thing. Yes, I still enjoy creating things for myself, but you better believe I search the internet to see if someone has already created what I am looking for first! Work smarter, not harder right?!

So while social media may make you feel like you are not an expert, the most important part is to stay true to yourself. Find what you are good at and stick with it!

Find YOU. Be YOU. Do what makes YOU happy.

 

Bittersweet

Yesterday I closed out my first year of teaching in North Carolina. The word I used to describe this year is bittersweet.

Last year when I accepted the job in Wake County, I had absolutely no idea where I would be living as I was moving from Maryland and we all know how crazy the housing market was/is. We closed on our house in June and I realized my school was going to be 45 minutes each way. Not great, but not terrible. I have been doing that drive for the past 9 years in Maryland. Plus traffic down here can't be worse than where I was coming from.

I loved my school and the drive wasn't so bad. However, the school hours were the complete opposite of my kids. They got on the bus at 6:55 am and my students didn't arrive until 8:45 am. I used the time in the morning to get things done, but this also meant that I didn't get off until 4:30, then had to drive. I was often picking the kids up from after care around 5:15-5:30ish. We got home, ate dinner, go ready for bed and then started all over the next day. The school district I worked for and where I lived also had completely different spring breaks and winter break was different.

Because of this, I knew by October that I was not going to stay there. Knowing this early was a blessing because it helped me focus on doing my job, learning everything I needed to know about North Carolina schools, without building strong relationships with people that I knew I was may or may not ever see again. The school was super supportive and I was open with my admin and co-workers as soon as I knew I wasn't going to stay.

So this school year was bittersweet. I met some awesome people, learned from an amazing school, and adjusted to live in the south!

I am super excited to join my new school though! I will be in Orange County, at a school that has the same hours as my kids, and is literally 15-20 minutes from my house!

I won't forget my year at Cedar Fork and thanks to everyone there that supported me along the way! I am going to miss those amazing sun lights in my room!

End of Year Activities (non-digital)

We found out a week ago that our fifth graders would be turning in their chromebooks after they take the science EOG, 3 days before the end of the school year. Two of the days are pretty busy, but this means I had to be creative to come up with activities that could be done on paper.

One thing that I used to do every year until Covid hit was to have my current class write a letter to my students for next year. I couldn't find the exact template that I used to use, so I came up with a new one that has a graphic organizer to help them include the items that I want them to use in their letter.

The other activity is a super simple memory book that could be tweaked for any grade level. The past few years I have used a digital copy that included way more slides, but this one is short and sweet so we don't waste a ton of paper, while still allowing the students to reflect on their year.

Another activity that I have used previously, is put a piece of paper on each person's desk with their name at the top. The classmates then walk around to each desk and write one word to describe that person. Depending on your class, you can make this structured where everyone goes to one desk at a time and switches when the teacher signals to move. This way everyone is going to each desk. We also had a discussion about appropriate words to use. After the students have visited all of the desks, I collect the paper and use the website Word Clouds to create a design for each student. I make their name appear more times so that it is larger in the middle of the image and then all of the nice things that people have said about them are around their name. Then print them out and it makes for a great end of year gift. Here is an example of what my students said about me one year:

Lastly, there are plenty of Flag Day activities that have been created that are easy to use. Since I will still have my device, I am planning to find a short video or article that explains the purpose of Flag Day. We then discuss the meaning behind the American flag. Then I give my students a piece of paper and let them come up with their own flag. They have to write on the back why they chose the colors, images, shapes, etc. on their flag.

Links to the activities:

• Letter to Next Year's Students
• Memory Book
• Word Cloud
• Flag Day Activities

Hang in there teachers; the finish line is near!

Science EOG Review Note Pages

As I wrap up my first year teaching in North Carolina, I have started to prepare for our End of Grade (EOG) assessments. In Maryland, our 5th grade state science assessment was given in March, so we barely got through all of the content, which means we definitely didn't have much time for review.

In NC, we take state assessments the last week of school. This means we have plenty of time to review all of the content that we have learned. North Carolina also has their own science standards instead of following the NGSS, which I have been using the past 5 years or so.

It has been fun teaching different topics and I have definitely had to teach myself quite a few things before teaching the kids (hello weather unit!). I decided I wanted to find a quick, easy way to review the content that we have learned this year, but could not find exactly what I was looking for online. So this weekend I used one of my new favorite tool: Canva!

I created one-page scaffolded note pages that students can use their notes or my unit teacher slides to complete. I also created a teacher model for students who need more support in completing the pages.

As I was adding the note pages to TPT, I was able to connect some of them to the middle school NGSS standards. 

Here are the topics:

- Cells

- Heredity

- Body Systems

- Ecosystems

- Matter

- Force and Motion

- Heat Transfer

- Weather

I listed the note pages individually on TPT, as well as, them all grouped together. I usually like to share my resources for free, but this one took quite a few hours of my time and let's be honest I am not getting a paycheck this summer!

Click the name of each topic above to see the listings, or click here for the entire bundle.

Morning Meeting Greetings

This is my first year doing a morning meeting with my class, so I have been collecting resources and ideas throughout the school year.

The morning meeting consists of the following components:

• Greeting
• I do not follow the traditional morning meeting method of greeting where students sit in a circle and everyone takes turns saying hello to the person next to them every single day. I do use this method every now and then, and definitely at the beginning of the year when we are establishing our classroom community.
• Sharing
• This is a time for students to share based on a question. (I plan to share my questions in the next month or so)
• Activity
• Most of the time my activity has to do with what's going on in the current month (for example Black History Month) or includes some type of SEL lesson. (also planning to share in the future)
• Message
• Because I teach 5th grade, I told have the traditional message posted on the board, but instead use this time to talk about the day and anything important that is happening that the students need to know about.

One thing that I have enjoyed creating each day is different type of greetings to keep the kids engaged. Below I am sharing my morning meeting greeting ideas that we have come up with so far. This will continue to grow as we finish out this school year.

There are currently 60 slides (at the time of this post), so make sure you add the Google Slides document to your drive in order to see the growing collection.

The fun thing about some of the greetings, is allowing the students to interpret how they want to use the idea to say good morning to their classmates.

Enjoy!

Morning Meeting Greetings

Top 10 Educational Tech Tools

I used to be on top of the latest and greatest educational technology applications/tools, but now there are SO many that some days it is hard to even keep up. Then you have the ones that have been around for awhile that are constantly adding new features to keep up with the latest trends, needs, etc.

My top 10 tools has changed a lot over the past 3 years because of the pandemic and ever-changing needs of education. We went from using edtech as a supplemental tool pre-2020, to having to use edtech 100% during virtual learning, to now going back to making sure that the tools we are using are meaningful to the learning and not just a replacement or even a distraction.

That last part is extremely important. When we were forced to go completely online with our teaching and learning, it required teachers to make all of their activities digital. While this made some activities/lessons better, there are many things that students can do outside of their device that is more engaging and meaningful. It is all about finding the PURPOSE of the activity. Is the digital tool just simply replacing a worksheet or is it providing students with a deeper understanding of a topic by allowing them to explore something that is not possible without technology?

As we transition to post-pandemic (and I use that term lightly) education, we have to find a balance of using edtech tools. Always ask yourself, how will my students benefit from completing this task digitally? Sometimes it is as simple as immediate feedback from a teacher or peer!

I thought I would share my top 10 favorite tools. Side note - these are not really ranked from 1-10 because honestly, depending on the purpose/goal of the tool being used determines which one is my favorite.

1. Book Creator

This tool has SO many different uses other than having students publish their writing. They even have a book on their main page with the many ways it can be used in your classroom!

2. Pear Deck

It is always a toss up between Pear Deck and Nearpod, but for me I always seem to go back to this tool for the ease of use. I love that I can take slides that I have already created and simply add on an engagement activity for students to use. I love that I can give feedback after a session is done that students can access easily. Unfortunately, my current county has this blocked so I am definitely having some withdrawals from using it this year.

3. Canva

I will be honest, I did not really start using this tool until this school year and it has been a game changer. I have used it to create posters and charts for my classroom, I have used it personally to create invitations, as well as, created my email signature. The thing that I have enjoyed the most though is allowing my students to use the tool to create digital content for school as well. The ease of use for students makes it a top choice in digital creation.

4. Edpuzzle

This is another tool that I have not been able to use this year, but I have enjoyed using it in years past. I like that I can take any video and add questions to get a quick and easy check-in/assessment for my students to inform my teaching.

5. Quizizz

This is another big debate of whether Quizizz or Kahoot is better. I personally have always enjoyed Quizizz more because the answer choices are on the student's screen. I still use both of them depending on the purpose (kids love Kahoot!).

6. Whiteboard.fi

I used this tool more during virtual learning, but I still use it every now and again for one main reason. I love that I can create something on my whiteboard, for example a number line, and then push it to my students. I still use the traditional whiteboard and marker in the classroom, but watching students try to draw a perfectly straight line or draw rectangles for an area model that can barely fit one number inside each box, drives me crazy!

7. YouTube

Obviously every teacher loves YouTube for the insane amount of videos that are readily at our fingertips, but I have started using it "better" over the past couple of years. There are so many features that we all should take advantage of to make our lives easier. I have started using the playlist feature to organize and share videos with students. Also embedding videos into the different Google applications is a game changer as well.

8. Flip (formerly Flipgrid)

I often give this tool as an option for students to choose when producing work in the classroom. Some students absolutely love the idea of recording themselves on video and being able to add different features to it, while some don't.

9. Prodigy

Students LOVE playing this game to practice math skills in this game-based learning tool. It is FREE to use with an education account and now even has a language arts side to it as well. 

10. Edulastic

This is a great tool for online assessments. There are many different question types that you can use including a passage with questions that show up side-by-side, math questions that include equations, and tech-enhanced items like hotspots, drawing, etc. You can also attach standards to each question so that you get immediate data as students are taking the assessment.

Now a bonus tool because I have always been in schools that are Google-based, but I absolutely love all of the Google Drive based applications. I am biased because I have never had the opportunity to learn the Microsoft apps, but Google Drive deserves its own list. :)

Now let me know... what are you favorite educational technology tools? What is something that I should try in my classroom? I am always up for experimenting with new things!

Writer's Block

I used to love blogging. I would have blog posts planned out a month or so in advance. I used it as a way to share ideas or resources I was using in my classroom, as well as, a way to decompress or get my thoughts out of my head.

However, this past year has brought about a huge writer's block. There have been times I have wanted to get my blog going again and I will make a post, then nothing for weeks. The main culprit is time. 

Since moving to a new state my schedule has been completely turned around. Unfortunately I have always worked in a different county than my kids. In Maryland my school hours were 7:30am-2:45pm and my kids did not get out of school until 4pm. I was able to get up and be out the door by myself and after school I had time to run errands or get things done before the kids got home off the bus. In North Carolina, we are the opposite. My school is 8:45-4:00pm, while my kids get on the bus by 6:55am each morning and get out at 2:45pm. They go to after care until I can pick them up around 5:15pm.

It is currently March and I still have not adjusted to this new schedule, haha! It has also prompted another big change for next year. While I currently love my school that I am teaching at, I have realized that I can't keep up with this type of schedule everyday. I accepted my current job before we bought a house, which is why I currently drive 45 minutes (sometimes more) each way. I am interested to see how next year will be while teaching in the same county as my kids for the first time ever. We will finally have the same breaks/days off!

I am using this post to get myself motivated and hold myself accountable. I am making a plan and can't wait to start blogging again. I do find that it is therapeutic for myself and hope that if this does reach anyone else out there that is in a writer's block or want to get started with blogging again, you can do it!