technology

Literacy Links – Volume 50

creating, graphic novels, literacy links, technology

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There’s been a lot of tinkering in Writers’ Workshop since Writing Clinic #2! Truthfully, I wasn’t sure what to expect. In fact, I worried. Would students “get” it? What if they were *still* stumped for writing ideas? What if it got out of control? But over the past week, I’ve seen or heard about tinkering in three classrooms, and students have blown me away! They’ve been so respectful and CREATIVE in their builds! Now, I’m so eager to use tinkering throughout the writing process.

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment:

Literacy Links – Volume 44

book list, literacy links, professional resources, technology

 

Inspired by all the amazing PD I’ve done recently at Teachers College and Literacy for All, I’m hosting Writing Clinics on all of Center’s teacher-led staff meetings. Each session will have a different focus, and no registration required. The first session is this coming Monday, and I can’t wait!

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment:

Literacy Links – Volume 43

book list, literacy links, reading, technology

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Last weekend, I took the train to Manhattan to go to Teachers College’s biannual Saturday Reunion with one other teacher from Center. This is a day of FREE PD for teachers and well worth the crack of dawn wake-up and travel. At one of the sessions, a staff developer shared that the anchor chart sticky notes are NOW AVAILABLE as a single page. Since teachers have been taking screen shots or adjusting printer settings to print four-six to a page, this news received an enthusiastic response from the teachers in the audience. I can’t wait to share it with Center teachers!

Here is this week’s roundup of literacy links for some quick inspiration, tips, and refreshment:

Summer Reading – Online Reading Resources

literacy, reading, summer, technology

This list comes directly from this awesome blog post from the Nerdy Book Club, “Digital Device + Free Texts = Reading All Summer Long”. Check out their post if you want more background, but here are all of the links to free online reading resources!

  1. Storyline Online: Artists from the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists read stories aloud.
  2. Open eBooks: Michele Obama and the Obama White House launched this app to give students and educators access to free books.
  3. Wonderopolis: If you have students who love reading informational texts, introduce them to Wonderopolis. Each day Wonderopolis posts and answers a new question. Readers can search by topic or explore the question of the day.
  4. Just Books Read Aloud: Alma College shares over eight hundred videos of stories being read aloud. You can sort by author, narrator, reading level, language, and topic.
  5. The Poem Farm: The Poem Farm is Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s website and is filled with poems for students to read. Readers can sort by topic or technique to find poems they love.
  6. Dogonews: This site is loaded with articles and videos about current events, sports, and human-interest stories.
  7. Sports Illustrated Kids: Do you have sports fans in your classroom? On this site, students can read about favorite sports and sports teams.
  8. Readworks: When the classroom sets up an account, students have access to so many texts are a variety of topics and interests.
  9. International Children’s Digital Library: Looking for texts from around the world and texts written in a variety of languages? On this site, students can search for books by author, topic, and even country.
  10. YOUR Local Public Library: Don’t miss the digital reading opportunities available at your local public library. So many children’s libraries now give students ways to borrow eBooks and digital audio books without leaving their house. Just look at the digital public libraries available in the United States.

Happy reading!

5th Grade WIN – Padlet

reading, technology, writing

Click here to find the Padlet for our WIN group.

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I’ve posted before about Padlet, the digital interactive bulletin board, but I haven’t had the opportunity to use it authentically until now. For the next several weeks, I’m meeting with fifth graders to work on reading responses during WIN. In addition to using critical thinking skills, collaborating with other writers, and writing clear ideas, I also want students to use the computer for this work. Padlet seems like the perfect platform to accomplish these goals! I’ll provide an update after we’ve tinkered around a bit more!

SMP #3

math workshop, professional resources, technology

I created my very first glog (I created a trial week-long Glogster account), and it’s about Standard of Mathematical Practice #3: Construct a viable argument and critique the reasoning of others. This SMP is my favorite because I believe it has the greatest impact on students’ learning across ALL subjects. When students have to discuss their reasoning, they all benefit. See what these students shared in their exit slips after a whole-class share of work on a low floor high ceiling problem from youcubed:

I love that they used words/phrases like: “get more ideas for later” and “yet.” This implies that not only were they engaged with the task, but they also benefitted from the discussion because it “gave me an idea.”

Students can share in a variety of ways:

  • whole class after a week of working on the problem during Math Workshop
  • small group work – this way a teacher can hear the math talk and encourage students to share with the whole class later
  • fish bowl discussion – all students can benefit from reflecting on what went well and what could be better

How do you get students to share their reasoning or the critique reasoning of others?