Staying Current ~ A Must for Any Good Teacher or Libarian !

   When thinking about this important topic and how it relates to me currently as a third grade classroom teacher and hopefully in the future as a librarian, I look for ways to "keep up" and remain fresh. Luckily, AASL (American Association of School Librarians) has created a list for the 2014 Best Websites and Apps. Today, we are going to take a look at three of these websites and share some fun, innovative ways that we can use them in the library or classroom.

   I know teachers are not supposed to have favorites, but I do ~ with websites of course! Today's Meet is the first site I am sharing. My students and I use this site in my third grade classroom every day! In using this site for the first time, I set up my room (online), post my room details for students to log in--doing this step requires them only to sign in with their name. They do not need to join anything, pay for anything, agree to anything!! It is 100% FREE and totally easy to do! My kids log into my room every morning on their iPad. I can post it onto my Smart Board---all you need is a connection to the internet to make this little gem work. Now, WHY would you want to use this? Oh let me count the ways! In my language arts class, it has several uses:

•  In the morning, I will post a journal topic or writing assignment, soemthing I want kids to work on as they arrive. This eliminates the need for me to repeat myself 20 times as students enter the room! They will log in on their iPad or see it projected on the Smart Board and get right to work.
• I use it for a paper free, SAVE a tree exit pass! I will simply type in a question for them to answer. Say the lesson was on prefixes and suffixes ~ List two words that use the prefix re- and give the meaning of the root word with the prefix. They simply type their names and their answer!  (Criteria ~ I always say you have to come up with your own, no copying what someone else did--as they can see other answers on their screen!)
• Guided Reading ~ Literacy Stations ~ My students know that when I am with a group and they need me, instead of interrupting a classmate reading, they send me a message and I can see it on my iPad and respond without creating a disruption! 
• Food for Thought ~ I tell my kids that this is visible by classmates and me--So, think before your speak. This is not a chatline, we use it for educational purposes. 

   From the list I found a site that I have not used before but am brainstorming all the fun ways that I can use this one in class! It is KAHOOT! https://getkahoot.com/

    Here is what I learned about KAHOOT! It is a classroom response system that my students can access through their i Pads. Gonna make a QR code for my kiddos to use when accessing this one! I can create quizzes, discussions or even surveys--which they call "KAHOOTS" Funny!! This reminds me of an App I use called Socrative. It allows you to track progress through your assessments.

Here are my Classroom Thoughts for Implementation ~

• Using it for formative assessments ~ Quick Checks/On the Fly; Exit Passes.
• Post a Thick Question ~ Something I want kids to think about and respond to.
• Take a Survey ~ After reading a story, post a survey to allow students to share their thoughts and responses.
• Using it to create a fun review before an assessment

    The last website and certainly not least is POW TOON. I had fun creating a project in my class I with POW TOON. Now, I may just be going POW TOON crazy. POW TOON allows you to create this dynamic presentations that you can animate and show. It is a really exciting tool to give any presentation a real WOW factor! I am thinking of creating a POW TOON to introduce parents to me for our Open House and run it on my Smart Board. Check it out at http://www.powtoon.com/

   Hope you will take the time to check out these FREE sites and perhaps implement some of them this school year!

    Want to check out the list in its entirety? Here is a link to see the full list
http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards-guidelines/best-websites/2014#curriculum