But I teach elementary...
Small steps that make a BIG difference in your classroom!
Never spend your Friday night in your classroom again!
As much as we all love spending every waking moment in our classrooms, I have found a few apps/websites that have really eliminated the extra time I spend grading papers each week! These apps have been a real game changer when it comes to having more time to spend with my family without stressing about getting behind on grading papers.
First thing first...BOOKMARKING
Symbaloo is a visual bookmarking tool that I use daily, for myself and my students! The first page that I open when I log into my computer is Symbaloo. By using Symbaloo, you can instant access to all of your most frequented web pages. How does this help in an elementary classroom? You can create a Symbaloo page for your students with websites that they need access to on a regular basis.
Class Dojo
Class Dojo is a classroom management tool, as well as a way to keep parents in the loop! It is a great way to build your classroom community and reinforce the positive behavior you desire in your classroom. It is also a way to communicate with parents on a daily basis. Parents have instant access to behavior reports without ever having to call you! Class Dojo is constantly updating and adding new tools for your classroom.
https://teach.classdojo.com/#/classes/55da460dd049f02a5c81137c/points
Explain Everything
Explain Everything is a device agnostic app. It is a wonderful tool for both teachers and students to use. Teachers can record lessons and share the lessons with students and parents. Explain Everything is also a wonderful tool for students to use to well...EXPLAIN EVERYTHING! This app provides endless opportunities for checking student understanding across all subject areas.
Explain Everything Tutorial
Emily, Lilly, Shayne
What is Duck Soup?
Duck Soup is a web-based worksheet creator with its own grading system already in place. You are able to upload any PDF that you want to use with your students, and they can complete the activity online. This program works very well with Google Classroom.
Google Classroom
Google Classroom is a great way to send links to your elementary students. I am able to push links straight to my students instead of my students having to type in web addresses. We use this feature ALL of the time! If I have a YouTube video, webpage, Quizizz quiz, or any other online activity I want my students to access, I send it through Google Classroom.
https://classroom.google.com/u/0/c/ODk1NDU1NTFa
Our Classroom!
Quizizz
Quizizz is a fun way to give a quick assessment that is full of fun memes! Quizizz can be used individually or in a group. It can also be sent directly to your Google Classroom!!
QR Reader
One of the most versatile apps I have used is QR Reader. I have used this app in some fashion in all subject areas. There are tons of resources available to use QR Codes in your classroom, rather you use what is already out there, or use the Google Extension to make your own. One of my favorite uses is Listen to Reading. I have binders set up with QR Codes of favorite books being read aloud. The ones that I have not only read the book, but also show the pages of the book.
There are also task cards that you can use QR Codes to have your students scan to check their answer. QR Codes can be created for tons of activities!
Fairy Tales
Listen to Fairy Tales using QR Codes.
Social Studies using QR Codes
Learn about important American Heroes using QR Codes!
QR Code Task Cards
Self-checking task cards with QR Codes.
Trading Cards
Trading Cards by Read Write Think is a great way for students to show what they know about various topics. It is available on the web, as well as IOS and Android apps. Students are able to create trading cards for a variety of categories, including:
- Fictional person
- Real person
- Fictional place
- Real place
- Vocabulary words
- Events
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/trading_cards_2/
These are a few of my favorite things...
Chatterpix-Mary
Damien